Jeanne Foster put me in the mind of soup. She described a recipe of hers which resembled one of mine. When my friends Jim and Nancy invited me to Thanksgiving dinner and asked what main dish they could provide for my vegetarian sensibilities, I gave Jim my thick potato soup recipe. He acquitted himself superbly.
I drove home from Oakland this morning as the rain began again. After a day’s respite, we’re deluged. Wednesday’s shower washed the heavy smoke from the Delta but today’s will threaten the refugees of the Camp Fire. I spare a few more prayers for their warmth, for the safety of those assisting them, and for the integrity of the hillsides above the ashes of their lives.
My body protests the chill in the air. I’m not complaining, though; my house stands whole and inside the heat murmurs. But I feel the cold. My throat hurts. I came away without leftover soup, so I set myself to making some. It’s the right antidote to rain.
What Jim made involved a thick, near-mash. I used a different approach today, wanting a rich comforting broth. I succeeded; and so I share a tale of soup-making while rain surrounds my house and wind blows across the meadow.
From Angel’s Haven with love, on the twenty-third day of the fifty-ninth month of My Year Without Complaining, as life continues.
Mama Corinna’s Mushroom-Potato Soup
Ingredients (no need to be fussy about it; use what you have/prefer)
- 2-cups chopped potatoes, skin-on. Use what you like; I used purple
- ½ cup diced celery
- ½ cup diced carrots
- ½ cup diced onion. I used yellow but you use the kind which you prefer.
- ½ cup diced red, yellow, or orange peppers. Note: I DO NOT LIKE GREEN PEPPERS. Like Nigella Lawson, I consider green peppers and white chocolate to be abominations of nature.
- 2-cups chopped mushrooms. Note: As far as I am concerned, anything less than cremini will not suffice. If you’re well-heeled, use portobello. I don’t recommend using white button, which I find boring.
- 1 box GOOD stock. I used organic vegetable.
- 2-T or so of a light oil. in which to saute the vegetables. I used grape seed oil. During the sauteeing, if you eat butter you can add some to richen the mix.
- A small amount of a red wine that you would actually drink. I used Old Soul (a local wine) because I had the tag-end of a bottle left.
- Salt, pepper, granulated garlic, or any other seasons or herbage that you like in soup.
Note: These measurements are neither binding nor completely accurate. I guesstimated.
Instructions:
- Begin saute with potatoes, onions, celery, and carrots. I use a heavy-bottom pan (the French kind, but I’m not a snob, I just happen to have it). You can add salt, pepper, or garlic to the soup at this point.
- Add the mushrooms and peppers (remember, don’t dare use green bell peppers or Mama Corinna will disown you!).
- When the veggies seem caramelized, deglaze the pan with your red-wine-of-choice. If you have no wine on hand, you can use balsamic vinegar. (You can use that anyway, to be honest.)
- Once it’s deglazed, add your stock-in-a-box. This is a vegetarian dish but if you want, you can use chicken or beef. If you do, then you could also crisp some bacon bits to go into the soup at any reasonable point. I’m a vegetarian but go ahead, throw in that bacon if you want!
- Bring the soup to a boil, then turn it down and simmer. At this point, you can adjust the seasoning to your preference.
- When it’s simmered for a bit, fifteen or twenty minutes, take your potato masher (you have one, right?) and give it a good mash to get some of the lovely veggies to act as a sort of thickener. This is a broth soup, so it doesn’t need much. Just the right amount.
- I absolutely insist that you serve yourself in a beautiful dish with a silver spoon, a cloth napkin, and ice-cold water in a crystal glass. I had crackers (you might see them peeking at you on the upper left of the soup cup). You can do bread or croutons if you prefer.
- As you can see, I thoroughly enjoyed the soup and hope you do too.