Place a SOUP pot over medium low heat and add a few tablespoons of BUTTER, a medium sized peeled ONION sliced into quarters and a few cloves of GARLIC. Give it a stir and put the lid on. Allow the onion to sweat and become translucent. While the onion is wilting, take a large squash – ZUCCHINI or yellow, slice it lengthwise and with a spoon, scrape out the seeds (seeds make the soup bitter) then cut the squash into pieces which will FIT in the pot. Peel & quarter a medium sized POTATO. Drop the squash and potato in with the wilted onion and garlic. Add WATER until it’s the same LEVEL with the vegetables. Add a CHICKEN or vegetable bouillon cube, cover the pot and allow the soup to simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Once the largest piece of potato is fork tender, turn off the heat and puree the soup with a stick blender*. If you like, add some leftover ROTISSERIE chicken. A small handful of RICE will need to simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, but will add some HEFT to the soup. Maybe add a rinsed can of BEANS (trust me, pour the can in a colander and rinse them off for a few seconds. Don’t have a colander? Get one at a garage sale). TASTE the soup. Does it need salt? PEPPER? Perhaps all it needs is a hunk of bread and an old fashioned radio mystery – The Shadow!
The price of the INGREDIENTS will cost just a bit more than a can of soup, but will LAST at least twice as long, taste so much BETTER and be better for you. On a tight BUDGET, soup can fill the emptiest of hungers and your FLEMISH heritage obliges you know how to make it. There’s something about COOKING for yourself that turns a place to live, into a HOME.
*No stick blender? With a sharp knife & patients, cut vegetables into bite-size pieces. Listen to TEXAS, while you’re HANDLING a knife – the cat on bass will soothe you and that guitar will keep you going.
AAN TAFEL!
LOVE, MAMA & PAPA