Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Fall Colors



Not all the appealing colors of autumn are found in the turning trees. The soup pot can take on its own sort of autumn splendor.

In a nice pool of olive oil, sweat down a leek, a half a red onion, that leftover piece of shallot; add a chopped anaheim, a rib of celery or some fennel stalk, a diced carrot. A couple of large cloves of garlic, chopped, are next. Now the red cabbage and some biggish chunks of butternut, or another squash. Add water and/or stock about two-thirds the way up the pot. Salt can go in now, just add it by the pinch, and taste. You'd be surprised the sort of savor you can get out of a mess of vegetables. When you're getting your simmer on, toss in diced patty pan, green beans, a potato.



Some shell beans, a bit of kale, a tomato--all those would be welcome. Have to have thyme in a soup like this; I'm pretty much addicted to that herb, I think. Simmer it until you're ready to eat. A drizzle of olive oil, a piece of grilled bread, a scatter of grated cheese, if you like.

The soup simmered on the Bide-A-Wee hearth while three brown trout from the season's final outings smoked on the grate on this sunny October Sunday.



Text and photos copyright 2010 by Brett Laidlaw

4 comments:

  1. Oh, I love soup. Luckily my family does too: it's a vehicle for buttered bread, after all!

    Can you believe there are people out there who hate to prepare and chop up vegetables? Apparently there are a ton of them out there, and it's the main reason Americans don't eat them: my gosh, they have to be prepped before being eaten! I just took down a fellow blogger who--honestly--asked if there were anyone out there who could wash, pare and chop up her CSA share for her. She'd pay them! It's a mad world.

    Me, I'd take a pot of soup over an open flame any day. And I am with you on the thyme. Luckily, it grows year-round in the greenhouse here!

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  2. Hey, El: Well, I would take that assignment, chopping veg for cash! Once you know one end of the knife from the other, I think it can be very enjoyable, meditative, even, to prep a mess of vegetables for soup, stir-fry, what-have-you.

    Another big old autumnal soup is on the menu at Bide-A-Wee this weekend--even though the temps feel more like August--80s predicted tomorrow!

    Have a great weekend~ Brett

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  3. I think you should be applying for work as a photographer. Beautiful images.

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  4. Thank you, Fred. I'm just a duffer behind the lens, but I do my best....

    Brett

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