Sniffle, sniffle, hack
Nov. 30th, 2006 03:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hrjI valiantly dragged myself in to work today, but after putting together the most urgently needed data I told my boss I was going home sick and not to expect me tomorrow either. It's just an ordinary head/throat cold, but what's the point of having a job with sick leave if you don't use it when you're sick? (I've actually taken very few sick leave days since I took this job. Just haven't gotten sick that much.) So now I'm ensconced in the comfy chair in front of the tv with a pot of tea with lemon at my side trying to be good and actually rest rather than getting up and getting stuff done. But this is an excellent time to expound upon Soups. When the wind gets chill and damp, I start yearning to make scratch soups. The sort where you start with a pile of soup bones or a chicken carcass or the like and go on from there.
Sour cabbage soup
Start with a bunch of lamb neck bones or shanks. Simmer all evening in a stock pot full of water. Let cool overnight then de-fat the broth and remove the meat from the bones. Chop up a couple onions and any other seasoning vegetables you have lying around (e.g., celery, carrots, but not too much). Add any herbs you like (bay, thyme, sage, etc.). Simmer until the vegetables dissolve. Core a head of red cabbage and chop more coarsely than you would for coleslaw. Add it to the soup and cook until tender but not limp. Adjust the salt but less than you would ordinarily like. Add vinegar to taste. (The acid also makes the color brighter.) Serve with dollops of sour cream or unflavored yogurt.
Dissolved chicken soup
Take the carcass of a roast chicken after you've used most of the meat. Simmer it in a stock pot full of water for a couple of days, replenishing the water as necessary. (I don't actually leave it simmering when I'm asleep or out of the house, which makes it take longer.) Remove anything still identifiable as a bone. Decant, leaving the dissolved bone sludge in the bottom of the pot to be discarded. Add chopped leeks, celery, and what you will as well as your standard poultry spices. Toss in a couple handfuls of pearl barley or rice. Cook until the grain is mushy. Adjust your salt to taste.
I'm also quite fond of the oxtail soup recipe in Joy of Cooking but I won't reproduce it here since I do it straight out of the book.
Sour cabbage soup
Start with a bunch of lamb neck bones or shanks. Simmer all evening in a stock pot full of water. Let cool overnight then de-fat the broth and remove the meat from the bones. Chop up a couple onions and any other seasoning vegetables you have lying around (e.g., celery, carrots, but not too much). Add any herbs you like (bay, thyme, sage, etc.). Simmer until the vegetables dissolve. Core a head of red cabbage and chop more coarsely than you would for coleslaw. Add it to the soup and cook until tender but not limp. Adjust the salt but less than you would ordinarily like. Add vinegar to taste. (The acid also makes the color brighter.) Serve with dollops of sour cream or unflavored yogurt.
Dissolved chicken soup
Take the carcass of a roast chicken after you've used most of the meat. Simmer it in a stock pot full of water for a couple of days, replenishing the water as necessary. (I don't actually leave it simmering when I'm asleep or out of the house, which makes it take longer.) Remove anything still identifiable as a bone. Decant, leaving the dissolved bone sludge in the bottom of the pot to be discarded. Add chopped leeks, celery, and what you will as well as your standard poultry spices. Toss in a couple handfuls of pearl barley or rice. Cook until the grain is mushy. Adjust your salt to taste.
I'm also quite fond of the oxtail soup recipe in Joy of Cooking but I won't reproduce it here since I do it straight out of the book.
