October 2022 came in with an attitude and plopped itself down on all of our plans like it didn’t care. And just stayed there. Seriously, how many of you were caught short without a sweater or a decent pair of jeans? I had to spend my “weekend with Ian” changing over my summer to winter wardrobes. Aaaagh!
And now it’s time to put the grill into dry dock and haul out that stock pot. So I’m here to help make the transition from fresh berries and ice cream to that oldest of anti-freezes…SOUP!
Folks, did you know, or even care, that soup is one of the oldest and certainly the most universal foods on the planet? Like 25,000 years old. I mean, it couldn’t have taken long to go from discovering fire, to boiling water in an antelope-skin bucket, to throwing in a few left-over mastodon bones…although how to get that first slurp from pot to mouth without 3rd degree burns may have taken a bit of I-double-dare-you ingenuity. I imagine this is the moment when the neanderthal equivalent of a light bulb popped on and the art of pottery was born.
Eventually some saber-tooth-fur-clad nonna tossed in a handful of grain, and maybe some sweet grasses or bulbs she had dug up and left it to simmer. Soon people were lining up for the stuff, and before you could say “mm-mm good!”, civilization took a giant step forward. Because soup was life…literally. Rich or poor, high-born to low-, soup was the great equalizer. The crust of bread came a little later.
It would be hard to come up with an ingredient that couldn’t have something to offer a pot of potage. Today, in every climate of the world, soups are a distillation of the local foods and flavors. Sweet, sour, salty, simple or complex. Plain or fancy.
Here in northeast USA, while we do have some hot-weather options, soups are mostly the chill-chaser variety. And in case you haven’t noticed, the produce stands are ready to serve up everything you need, whether for a new recipe, Mama’s chicken noodle, or one of your own concoctions. Because soup is what you make it. Just throw it in the pot and see if it sings.
What’s your preference…a hearty chowder or a delicate consommé? Or are you ready to just let the vegetables and greens direct you? Maybe this week a complex french onion, or a peasant-style beet borscht? A creamy potato or butternut squash puree? Next week, how about an Italian minestrone that will take any vegetable you throw at it, as long as tomatoes are the base. Carrots, we got that. Garlic, we got that. Green beans, cabbage and even the last of the corn are on the table. We got that, too.
What else do you need for that supreme comfort food? Duh!…some crusty Big Sky bread, of course! Or if you need to go gluten-free, maybe some Plant Station Pasta to bulk up that broth.
The beauty of soup, once you’ve conquered the base and the basics…is that it’s as unique as you are. So just let those creative juices flow. At the moment, I’m being stared down by a bunch of beets that are daring me to try my hand at borscht…we’ll see…stay tuned.
Say…if you’ve got a go-to, crowd-pleasing soup recipe, please come to the LFM tent and tell me about it. It could get you a Market Buck, which could get you a dollar’s worth of beans.
In case you didn’t know… this week, in addition to our weekly market, the fun will be extended until 3:00 P.M. for a Paint the Streets Pink event hosted by Mayor Magda Byrne…all for breast cancer awareness. Stuff to buy, swag to snag. Go now and read all about it on the full version of The Lansdowne Link.
In the meantime, it’s back to the closet to see if those favorite jeans still fit.
Stay in the know and in the pink!
Terry Baraldi
STOP THE PRESSES! I made the borscht! And it was mm-mm goooood!