More Soup

I seem to be all hung up on hot soups right now. Probably the bone cold weather we’re all having. Yes, I live in Florida, but it’s plenty cold here right now too- things are relative. Our 50° is the north’s 20°. Although anything relative to the north’s minus 40° probably will never happen in Florida. But we did get cold enough for snow in the mid 70’s; really- I was there- I was driving the kids to school. Still, our homes just aren’t as well insulated as the northern homes are- the cold sort of oozes in around windows and doors.

My son and his family in Michigan are right in the middle of this wretched weather, although for some odd reason, he never complains to me about it- neither does my daughter who lives in New York City. I do know my son would love to move to Florida if he could do the following: 1. Sell his home and 2. Find a job down here. If these two things happened (unlikely in Michigan’s economy- well, in everyone’s economy right now.) he would be down here in a flash. I also know his daughter would like to graduate with her high school class in Clarkston and that will happen in 2010 so it’s coming fast. When his friends express surprise at his wish, they forget he was raised here from the time he was 9, so it seems like home to him. And his brother is living down here too.

Michiganders (and the far north in general) turn out some of the best soup-makers around. When I lived there, I had an enormous repertoire of hot soups and my sister, who lives there still, has homemade soup nearly every day for lunch. I am still watching my weight after my splurges over the holidays so I have been searching for low cal, healthy soup recipes.

Several months ago I was watching Nigella Lawson on some channel or other and she threw together a soup that looked delicious, comforting and low cal. I printed it out but have not had the chance to try it until this week. I had a couple lunch guests coming for a meeting and decided to try it; we only wanted a light meal so I thought this would be perfect. The point of the recipe is to use whatever you happen to have in your refrigerator; of course, Nigella just “happened” to have Udon noodles ( I found them in our Whole Foods store.) and also had bok choy, ginger, bean sprouts and mushrooms handy. I don’t keep those items on a regular basis so had to make a trip to the store; but I think her point was you could substitute other noodles for the udon noodles, or regular mushrooms for shiitake- just use what you have. Nigella can turn even soup-making into a sexy event- cooking while in her bathrobe and giving a sly wink and grin when she takes a mouthful.

If you get a "snow day" perhaps you could give this soup a try. Hopefully you will have some of the ingredients in your pantry; if not, improvise! It's the flavor of the broth that counts so stock some star anise and ginger.

It barely takes any time at all to make this soup and the star anise gives it a slight licorice flavor; you certainly can omit it if you like, but I find it an unusual and delicious addition. I served it along with some toasted whole wheat pita pieces sprinkled with sesame seeds. The entire lunch had an Asian flair. Everyone smacked their lips in delight and asked immediately for the recipe.

Udon Noodle Soup

Adapted from Nigella Lawson, Nigella Express

Ingredients:

6 ounces udon noodles (dried, from a packet)

3 cups chicken broth

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 star anise

1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger

2 tablespoons soy sauce

3/4 cup bean sprouts

3/4 cup sugar snaps (zucchini or any fast cooking vegetable you happen to have)

3/4 cup sliced shiitake mushrooms

2 heads baby bok choy, finely sliced

2 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro leaves (optional)

Method:

Place the stock, brown sugar, star anise, ginger and soy sauce in a saucepan. When the soup comes to a boil, add the noodles. Once these are nearly done (read the noodle package for instructions- udon noodles take about 4 minutes)) add the bean sprouts, mushrooms, sugar snaps and bok choy. These vegetables will be done in 3 minutes. Pour the soup into two bowls and top with cilantro, if desired.

Prince

My daughter has a cat that is borderline certifiable. Don’t ask me how I know, I just do. It’s not that he’s unfriendly, just that he marches to his own drummer- and not the way most cats do. When she puts makeup on, he climbs a corner wall nearby, hangs there precariously and watches her. When she goes to the loo, he goes to the loo. Once, when taken for a meet and greet with a man who accepts cats for temporary boarding, ( for, among others, Dan Ackroyd,) she was told her cat “ does not play well with others”. After watching Tracy taking a bubble bath for a while, he decided it looked interesting, decided to join her and leapt in. (It was never repeated.) When she has to go out of town, he sits in her suitcase so she can’t pack. When she comes back, he's excited when she walks in, then suddenly remembers he's supposed to be mad at her and proceeds to snub her the rest of the day. In other words, he thinks he’s human.

When my kids were younger, we had several cats at different times so I am familiar with the ways of felines. Trust me, this one is different. He never used to be but one day last year Tracy took him to a fancy grooming service. When she went to pick him up, they had shaved him. He was almost embarrassed about it. And never has been the same since as far as I am concerned.

Her cat’s name is Prince. Not because he is one, or ever was, because I know for a fact he came from a back alley someplace- no breeding at all. But Tracy adores Prince, the singer, (who actually calls himself “The Artist Formerly Known As Prince” for some reason unknown to me) and so she named her cat after him. I doubt he would be pleased to hear it.

Just after Christmas, we were window shopping in Palm Beach and saw a funky cat doormat outlined in red in Barzina, one of our favorite shops. Gretchen, the owner, travels the world looking for fascinating things to stock her small shop; turns out the doormat is from Vietnam and she carries them in four different animal shapes. They are unusual, inexpensive and funny so we bought one for my daughter’s front door. There is a slight opening under her door and Prince is forever pushing his toys under the door and out into the hall. We thought the doormat would bring a smile to the faces of company as well as prevent the cat’s toys from shooting down the hall outside her apartment door. True to his personality, Prince took one gander at the mat, pounced on it and declared it was his personal possession. And so, no surprise, the mat remains inside the apartment, which was not quite the point; now it has to be moved aside to exit the apartment and the cat’s toys are still ending up in the hallway.

When Tracy’s away, Stu, a very kind neighbor who loves Prince

( he has many fans just like the real Prince), comes over twice a day, feeds and plays with him and in general gets him stoned on catnip. I guess this is comfort food for him. When he doesn’t have Tracy, at least he has Stu and catnip. Dontcha wish comfort was that easy for the rest of us?

All of which got me to thinking about what gives me comfort. Do we all crave special foods which make us feel better or safer or comfy from time to time? When we're worried, ill or far from home we all want the equivalent of Mother or a favorite blanket. For me it’s always things like puddings, custards or warm soup. For others, it’s mac and cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy, ice cream, and even chocolate.

I have recipes from my childhood for all my favorite comfort foods, but if I have to pick one, especially if I feel really wretched and need something quickly, it’s Mother’s egg drop soup. It can’t be simpler to make and you probably have the makings in your kitchen right now. Or if you don't you should have. It’s rather pathetic to fall back on clichéd chicken soup, but it’s the truth. Luckier still would be if you had homemade chicken broth in the freezer. We always did. My grandmother made it with (brace yourself) chicken feet. I told that story to someone years ago and have been razzed about it ever since. I thought of her the other day when I saw a package of them in the grocery store. I wonder how many people look at them and say Ewwwww! I mean they do look like little hands. But they make super tasty stock and are worth the extra effort. If you can find them in your market and you’re game to try them, just make certain they are well cleaned to begin with, then boil them briefly, drain them, cut off the claw tips and throw them in with your chicken parts.

So to begin with, here’s my basic chicken stock recipe-it’s really, really good and makes 6 quarts.

Homemade Chicken Broth

Ingredients:5 pounds assorted chicken feet, bones, necks and wings

2 medium onions, peeled and roughly chopped

3 celery ribs with leaves, roughly chopped

3 carrots with tops, roughly chopped

2 leeks, green parts only

15 sprigs fresh parsley

10 sprigs fresh thyme

8 sprigs fresh rosemary

8 sprigs fresh dill

2 bay leaves

15 peppercorns

6 sprigs parsley

1 large clove garlic, unpeeled, cut in half crosswise

Method:

Rinse feet and bones in cold water. Place remaining ingredients in a large stock pot, add bones and cover with cold water. (About 7 quarts or so) Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer for 3 1/2 hours. Strain the entire contents of the pot through a colander, pressing down on the bones and discard the solids. Chill the stock overnight. The next day, remove the surface fat. Pour into individual containers and freeze or use immediately. Do not refrigerate for more than 1 day.

( And hey! Nobody’s going to tell on you if you use canned chicken broth. It’s just not as good- and be sure to buy the low sodium. )

So now when you have a rainy day, are snowed in, feel lonely, have a cold, have the flu, need comfort food, or just plain love quick hot soups, here is Mother’s recipe for egg drop soup. It will only take a couple sentences and while my diet is not something I usually think of when in need of comfort, this one is only 81 calories a serving. Perfect.

Mother's Egg Drop Soup

Ingredients:

4 cups chicken broth or stock

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 a green onion, minced (optional)

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

Method:

Bring the 4 cups of chicken broth to a boil. Add the white pepper and green onions. Cook for about another minute.Very slowly pour in the eggs in a steady stream. To make shreds, stir the egg rapidly in a clockwise direction for one minute. To make thin streams or ribbons, gently stir the eggs in a clockwise direction until they form.

Sometimes, as a change of pace, you can add some flour to the beaten eggs to make a paste and then drop into the boiling broth and make tiny little dumplings.

Ina's Fruit Salad

I'm a pretty faithful Food Network watcher- mostly Ina Garten and Giada De Laurentiis. Ina is a classy woman with classy recipes and Giada is a young, innovative Italian chef. I use and adapt their recipes on a regular basis.

Some of the other shows have me puzzled. I mean who would really use a recipe Guy Fieri makes? I watched him once and that was it for me. Whatever he was making was colorless and the ingredients were spicy hot. Nothing wrong with spicy, but a grey blob on the plate? I think food should look good as well as taste good. I like color on a plate. Maybe it's an age thing but I would hate to think so- Giada is young too and I love her ideas. Perhaps Mr. Fieri has the personality the cooking public wants to watch. I think I read someplace he was a Food Network Star winner; I have never watched that show but I wonder what the judges' criteria for the winner is?

I want recipes that fit my life. That I can serve my friends and family with confidence. I have cookbooks I depend upon too, plus recipes from friends and family.

Maida Heatter is, as far as I am concerned, the all-time greatest dessert chef. All her recipes are easy to follow- some are complicated, some are quick and easy. All are thoroughly researched, tested and explained in minute detail. You cannot mess up even the most involved Maida Heatter recipe if you follow her exact directions. I have every one of her books and use them constantly. She and her husband actually had a restaurant in Miami Beach many years ago and her father was Gabriel Heatter, the famous broadcast newsman. What a fascinating life she has led; wouldn't you love to have her as a dinner partner?

Various Junior League cookbooks are chock full of good ideas too; some are better than others but I have listed a few of my favorites opposite this column.

My mother had a fabulous cookbook collection which I went slowly through book by book. I don't think my children have the time nor the inclination to go through any huge collection of mine so I have really pared down my cookbook collection by entering all of my favorite recipes from old cookbooks (and all of my mother's favorite recipes) on my computer. In fact, I have a pile of recipes I have cut out, printed out or heard about sitting right on top of my printer, waiting to be tested. There are some super food programs out there and most are simple to use. Now I try a new recipe and if we like it, I enter it immediately into my food program. I just don't have the space for all those cookbooks anyway- and if you can't find an old recipe, type it into Google. It's amazing what you will turn up.

Back to Ina: I was watching one of her shows before Christmas and she made a fruit salad with Limoncello and served it with a luscious sauce. I perked up because we love fruit salads but there are just so many things you can do with fresh fruit. My answer, up until now, has been this: years ago I came across a recipe in the newspaper for something called Coconut Curd. I tried it the next day and began serving it with my fruit salads. It perks up the mundane fruit salad and nobody can figure out what it is which is fun. It might also be fun to combine the two followiing recipes in various ways and make it your own.

Coconut Curd

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
2 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup sugar
3 1/2 ounces grated coconut
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Method:
Sprinkle gelatin over cold water for 15 minutes. Stir over hot water until dissolved. Heat milk, cream and sugar and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add coconut, gelatin and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Stir until gelatin is dissolved.
Pour into square cake pan that has been rinsed with cold water, but not dried. Refrigerate. When set, run knife around the edge of the pan, dip the pan in hot water for 30 seconds, and invert a plate over it. Either cut into small squares and serve in fruit salad or cut into diamond shape and serve with tinned litchis or mandarin oranges, both drained.

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I keep wandering off the subject of this post: Ina Garten. She made a heavenly salad with Limoncello on her Food Network program. Just the normal fruits one would use to which the Limoncello adds some zest; but the topper is the sauce she makes to go over the fruit. It's ambrosia. I served it Christmas morning with our brunch. I promise you, it will be on my menu every brunch I serve.

Fruit Salad with Limoncello
Adapted from Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa

Ingredients:
7 ounces Greek yogurt (recommended: Fage Total)
1/3 cup good quality bottled lemon curd
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups sliced strawberries ( 1 pint)
1 cup blueberries ( 1/2 pint)
1 cup raspberries (1/2 pint)
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoon Limencello liqueur
1 banana, sliced
Fresh mint sprigs

Method:
For the lemon yogurt topping: stir together the yogurt, lemon curd, honey and vanilla until smooth. Set aside. You can leave it at room temperature, or make it ahead and refrigerate; but bring it to room temperature before serving.
Carefully toss the strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, sugar and Limencello. Allow to stand at room temperature for at least 5 minutes. Fold in the banana just before serving.
I serve it in pretty glass bowls with some lemon yogurt on top; put the sauce on the table as well as everyone always wants more. Garnish with fresh mint sprig.