Monday, May 17, 2010

An evening victory


Finnish Summer soup, toasted bread (homemade) and a selection of cheeses (cheddar, havarti and gruyere). While its not summer and many of these vegetables aren't in season yet, it'll be an appropriate 'local-seasonal' meal come mid summer.

Finnish Summer Soup: Bring 2C of water to a boil then add 6-10 baby potatoes halved/quartered (whatever makes sense to you) and turn down the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Then add 1t of salt, 1/8t pepper, baby carrots (or ordinary carrots cut to size) and green beans. You're shooting for about 2C of each of those veges. Also cut off about half the tops of a bunch of scallions (I like to use scissors). Cook this mixture for about 8 minutes. Then add 2C of peas (fresh or frozen) and cook for a further 2 minutes. In a seperate bowl, mix 2C of half-and-half and 3T of flour until smooth. Mix this into the soup and cook for another 5-10 minutes until thick enough for your tastes.

What I like about this recipe is its simplicity. You can mix and match veges, the times they cook depend only upon how tough/hard they are. Naturally potatoes cook longer then carrots, but save the peas for the end. It ends up being quite creamy but crammed with fresh veges which give it a wonderful flavor. The little bit of salt and pepper are just right for me, though you may want to adjust it for your own tastes.

This is the kind of recipe I'm on the hunt for, simple, direct, flexible and understandable. I 'understand' why certain things are added and I 'know' that the quantities are up to me. This is a lesson more than a recipe. Bon Appetite!

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