Laborless Sweet Corn Soup

I spent the end of summer in Vermont at my parents house in Stowe. And it was lovely. I finished the book I had been reading for the last month, I read the Sunday New York Times in actual paper form and drank coffee from a good mug and remembered how much I like textures and realized how much they have been missing in my computer-life. (My next thing is forming the "Texture Revolution," it's going to be huge...) I took a 30 mile bike ride on dirt roads and mountains and grass and it took me over 5 hours. While wondering where I was and where the trail had gone I looked ahead and saw this hanging frame. And I stopped and considered it and ate my apple. And it was a very good apple. That and it was my only piece of food. I ate it slowly.

But back to soup. I made a whole thing of this week's soup. My parents had friends in town, friends I have known my whole life, and on Sunday morning we met at the Farmer's Market to get supplies. The soup was a group effort. It should be noted that Judy Edling, no stranger to the kitchen, helped a lot, all the while giving me helpful advice on future dinner parties and recipes. Thank you, Judy.

The Farmer's Market, Stowe, VT

This soup is especially good right now when sweet corn is wonderful. I added about half 2% milk and half chicken stock but this can played around with if you want a less creamy soup. I don't see why you couldn't also just make it in a broth if you don't want to include the milk- vegan friends. Do I even have any vegan friends?

Either way, enjoy!

• Simmer 4 cups of milk, 6 corn cob halves (not kernels), 2 sprigs of rosemary and thyme in soup pot
• Melt 1/4 stick butter in large saucepan over medium heat
• Add 1 chopped large onion, sprinkle with salt and saute until translucent
• Add 3 chopped zucchini, 2 big carrots chopped, 2 stalks of celery chopped
• When that is mostly done, add the corn kernels from the cobs

• Remove the cobs and herb sprigs from the soup pot
• Add the sauteing veggies
• Add 4 cups of chicken broth (or whatever you think is enough)
• Allow to simmer for 20 minutes to blend flavors
• Puree the soup in a blender (we did this for half the soup and then mixed it in with the other half so it's still got bite. Also, helpful tip from Judy let the soup cool before putting it in the blender.)
• Add salt and pepper to taste.

Goo outdoors!

Oyster Stew

This how family helps you make soup

Alayna's email to her sister:

Do you know mom's oyster stew recipe? I want to make it tonight.

Sister's email to Alayna:

Mmm... no. I asked mom once and she was like, you know, just throw in potatoes, onion, butter, celery, cream, oyster and call it a day. I'd ask her for a more specific recommendation.

That sounds delish, though!!

Alayna's email to her mother:

Hey Mom,

Can you send me the oyster stew recipe? I know it's easy!

Mother's email to Alayna:

Ok, no recipe. Use a can of oysters- add it to: onion/celery/potatoes that have been sauted and cooked and then add milk/butter and pepper to taste.

Today's soup?

I'm sorry I wasn't so talkative last night... last 10 minutes of new Law & Order....

Love,

Mom

Alayna's email to her mother:

Haha! Definitely understandable. There was some good Law and Ordering happening last night.

Do you think the stew will be bad if I add some stuff to it? Like maybe spinach for iron? I guess that's it.

Love you!

Mother to Alayna:

I think it would be delicious!!! Love, mom

Thanks for understanding.

Alayna's Mom's Oyster Stew

Set 2 handfuls of red potatoes chopped into bite sized pieces to boil in a separate pot

Saute 1 medium sized yellow onion chopped in olive oil (in soup bowl)

and 1/2 a stick of butter

Add 2 or 3 leeks cut into bite sized pieces (just the white parts)

Chop 5 celery stalks, with the stringy ends cut off, into bite sized pieces and add to saute

Add 1 box of baby portabella mushrooms

While that's cooking add another 1/2 of butter

Wait until the veggies aren't all the way soft, but still sort of crunchy (same with potatoes) Drain the potatoes and add to the soup.

Pour in 2 cans of oysters with their juices

And top it off with whole milk just so you cover all the stuff you put in

Add salt and pepper to taste

Add an additional 1/2 stick of butter (optional but Alayna really likes butter)

Presto!

We also made roasted eggplant, asparagus and brie sandwiches on whole wheat pitas.

Follow up:

(Tuesday, lunchtime of leftovers, at work)

Alayna: Mary! I just found a wee pearl in my oyster stew

Mary Lorraine: ??

Alayna: By biting it

Mary Lorraine: liar!

Alayna: no! true. i will photograph for evidence with camera phone

Mary Lorraine: holy heck!

Alayna: I took a picture of it next to my pearl earring

Mary Lorraine: We will figure out how to transfer camera phone picture to blog.

Turns out, we could not figure this out.

We just make soup.

The Veggies in Your Fridge Soup & Pizza

Well, well, well, wasn't last week an exciting Monday? For reasons unknown Alayna had the Monday after Easter off. Did anyone else in the world have that day off? I haven't heard of a soul except for the Easter bunny... ba-da-bing... but I was still excited because that meant she could start cooking earlier.

Sometimes Alayna and I worry that we aren't going to be fed enough so we make things in addition to soup. Turns out we're always fed enough. But still. So we made soup, and a pizza because she had a vat of left-over pesto she made last week. (That I would sometimes stick various objects in, cover entirely, and eat.) And a sheet of brownies.

We ate all of this within an hour. Granted we had Lindsay's help. And Kate's meager attempts at slicing off the smallest brownie sliver I have ever seen. But still. Everything was eaten. And we were merry. Even after we realized Gossip Girl was a repeat.

Sigh.

Mmmmkay, now that you're getting the hang of soup you should have realized that veggies can be swapped pretty easily. Especially for soups like these which are mostly a hodgepodge based on what we have a lot of in the refrigerator and what we worry is going to go bad.

So ladies and gentlemen, cats and kiddies, here you go...

The Veggies In Your Fridge Soup ... & Pizza!

Start by heating 2 cups of water in the microwave for 3 minutes

and then adding 1 oz of dried porcini mushrooms for 30 minutes

chop up 1 yellow onion and saute in olive oil
add fresh rosemary and thyme, a few shakes of red pepper
add in 3 celery stalks, also chopped
add in a large handful of chopped carrots
add 1 smallish eggplant, cut into pinky sized pieces (Alayna always likes to compare her veggie slices to parts of the human hand.)

Cover the pot to catch the steam
cut up 1 box of baby bella mushrooms,

2 porta bella mushroom caps (optional)

& a handful of shitake mushrooms (with bottom of stems cut off)

& add to the mix once the eggplant is becoming more cooked

let it all hang out together until things are becoming cooked through.

Once they're almost done,

add in the porcini mushrooms WITH THEIR SOAKING JUICE
add chicken broth (or water with cubes) to cover the rest of veggies

bring to a light boil
toss in several handfuls of spinach and cook until wilted (about five minutes)

stirring occasionally
blend (in a blender) chunky and serve!

Adding milk (whole) is optional (but good).

Here is the lovely pizza we had in addition to the soup.

Alayna put on (store bought pizza dough) home-made pesto, andre cheese, tomatoes and broccoli

and it was all DELICIOUS

Look at that. I just learned how to make fuzzy things around the edges so it looks like a postcard from long ago.

While we enjoyed our soup, Zizi enjoyed her shoes.