Friday, February 26, 2010

Comfort

This is a simple soup:

Chop up some onion, garlic, carrots and celery;
saute in a little olive oil. Don't ask for measurements --
I only measure when I bake. Give it some life
with a grinding of black pepper and a teaspoon
or so of kosher salt. After a few minutes, throw in
some chicken (or vegetable) stock, a large can
of chopped tomatoes, some chopped green cabbage,
a bay leaf, some basil (fresh or dried) and a generous
bit of chopped fresh Italian parsley. Simmer, gently.
I splash a little red wine in, too.

This soup reminds me of my mom (minus the wine).
It was a staple at lunchtime at her apartment
when she was in her late seventies and early eighties.
It's good humble eating, without pretensions of any kind.

I miss my mom.

She was born March 1st, 1916.
She would be 94.

Here's to you, Mom.
Here's to your soup.

8 comments:

  1. Lovely minestrone and memories.

    I think of my mother, too, and miss her. Our irreplaceable ones . . .

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  2. This must be food night on blogger; I posted a shot of my stir fry. The soup sounds good.

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  3. A lovely soup. A lovely tribute to your mom.

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  4. Saludos to your mother, T.

    This sounds like a good thing to try at the beginning of this week. Would pesto work ok as a substitute for the basil? Fresh basil around here at this time of the year is prohibitively expensive for my food budget, and likely not worth the money even if it were less expensive -- or can even be found. Right now some items are very iffy because of the interruption of deliveries due to this long, roosted snow storm we've experienced this weekend, remnant of which are still dropping some stuff on parts of our region, whether snow or rain.

    Love, c.

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  5. Foxessa -- pesto would work great. I used dried basil. You can add any other vegetables, also: potatoes, broccoli, white beans, cauliflower.

    (Woke to brilliant sun here today, and temps in the 60's predicted for tomorrow. If I could send you some I would!)

    Here's to happy souping!

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  6. Thanks!

    And now I'm tempted to add some orzo, the rice shaped pasta also called risoni.

    Is this good warmed up or should it be made and eaten right away?

    I ask because on Wed. night Himself and a Friend are running uptown in a hurry to catch a music performance. I could make it ahead of time and he could eat it with a crusty bread right before that.

    Love, C.

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  7. Foxessa, it will still be good on Wednesday, or you could freeze some.

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  8. Yay!

    You have performed menu thinking on my behalf. Many thanks!

    Love, C.

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