I like to cook. Moreover, I am good at cooking, and so I would like to share my abilities with the world. FEEL BLESS-ED (two syllables, thank you). Therefore, I am beginning a weekly feature where I share with you, my darling readers, one of my delicious recipes to grace your taste buds with a world of delight.
Furthermore, because I feel that cooking should be a loving and all-embracing experience, I shall do so in my usual voice, so that you may feel loved and embraced until the part where everything burns and then you shall feel every bit as frustrated as I do because cooking is awful horrible stupid sometimes.
Ahem.
Without further ado, my weekly feature, With Thorough Foodiness, or WTF for short, presents our first recipe, a lovely soup for a chilly fall evening.
(No, seriously, keep reading. Just trust me on this.)
“Leek and Carrot Soup, or The Soup You Dream of When You Hear the Words ‘A Nice Hot Cup of Soup.'”
Makes two servings, half hour prep
Ingredients
-1 carrot
-2 leeks
-butter
-a handful of cooked chicken or raw fish, the white, flaky kind
-lemon juice
-chicken bouillon cube
-water
-salt and pepper to taste
*
To cook:
- Wash leeks. Slice off roots, then slice the white and light green part of the leek finely, each slice between 2mm and 5mm in width. Discard dark green tops. Wash carrot. Dice into 2-5mm width pieces. Then roughly chop all vegetables together for about twenty seconds or until they looks sufficiently ‘subdued.’
- Take out a large-ish frying pan and put it over medium-low heat. Put butter in pan. How much butter? Put as much in as you think is sufficient to sauté the vegetables, then double it; that’s how much butter. Allow butter to melt, then add vegetables. Mix them in until the buttery-goodness is evenly spread about.
- Begin mincing chicken or fish*. Scallops might be especially nice with this, or some kind of white fish, the kind that can be adequately described as ‘white,’ ‘not too fishy,’ and ‘flaky when cooked.’ Possibly cod. Mince chicken until it is in quite tiny pieces and vaguely resembles a handful of playground sand in consistency, or dice fish. Throw into the pan with the vegetables and give it a good stir.
- Allow ingredients to simmer gently as you begin preparing chicken broth. For this, you will need a drinking glass and a bouillon cube. Heat up the water, or don’t, it really doesn’t matter, and add the bouillon cube. How much water, you ask? How watery do you like your soup, I ask. Personally, I use a 500ml drinking glass, the kind from which you might drink ice water or a pint of beer. Pour water and cube into the pan when the carrots are tender on the outside but still not entirely cooked.
- Allow mixture to simmer gently on the stove, whilst inhaling the delicious fumes. Taste it with a small spoon. Or a large spoon, even. Add salt and pepper as necessary. I’d suggest only a dash of pepper, but then again, I don’t like pepper, so there you have it. When soup is all but totally finished, with the vegetables cooked but not mushy, add a dash of lemon juice**.
- Ta-dah! You are finished making soup! Eat with bread, potatoes, rice, or just a quiet sense of personal conviction.
*HINT: If you add fish instead of chicken, you must eat all the pieces of fish that day and only refrigerate the broth and veg. If using chicken just refrigerate the leftovers as you normally would.
**OTHER HINT: If you add too much lemon juice, add milk until the soup once again seems the right flavor. Sounds crazy but works well.
*
Well, I hope you have enjoyed the first installment of WTF!
Have a recipe you’d like to see? Request it below! If you try this recipe, please share your personal experiences with us, possibly pictures.
Next week, we shall discuss how to make popcorn with a temperamental air-popper, with photos. See you then!
Under-Paid, Over-Enthused 