For my first soup, a couple of weeks ago, I made The Pioneer Woman's Italian Meatball Soup. It was pretty yummy. The next week, Linda made Turkey Vegetable Soup, which was delicious! Last week it was my turn again. I had some of those wonderful organic carrots left, so I made Winter Warm Up. The recipe was published in The Vancouver Sun about 20 years ago. I have kept the newspaper clipping in a photo album of similarly clipped recipes. I make it 2 or 3 times every winter, it's such an old favourite at our house.
Before I get to the soup, I want to tell you about the spider.
It's spider season just now. There are webs everywhere, with all kinds of interesting looking spiders living in them. You have to watch where you walk when you go outdoors or you will be snagged with web, and perhaps carry a spider away with you. I have been watching this gorgeous spider for a few days. She lives on one end of our porch, near the rosemary plant (seen at the extreme left of the photo). It's pretty easy to avoid her web in daylight. You just look for the lowest strands and duck under. My challenge was that I made my Winter Warm Up Soup at about 6 in the morning last Wednesday, when it was still quite dark outside. The recipe calls for rosemary, and fresh is best. I turned on the porch light and looked outside. I could see Madam Spider, but it was just too dim to make out the path of the web. So I crawled along the porch floor, hoping I was low enough. When I got to the very edge of the porch, where the rosemary pot sits on the railing, I stood up, snipped off some rosemary, then dropped down and crawled back beneath the spider and her web. When I got back to the doorway I turned around to look. Phew! The spider was still there. I knew that if she was not still suspended above the porch, then she would be somewhere on me - in my hair, or on my pajamas. Did I mention I was cooking carrot soup in my pajamas? Oh well. Fortunately I was not giving that particular spider a ride that dark morning. It's possible I snagged another spider on my way, quite unknowingly, but probably not. I went back inside and added the rosemary to the soup. At lunchtime, Linda and I enjoyed it very much. I downplayed the spider part when I told her about making the soup. Linda really doesn't like spiders.
Anyway, here is the soup:
The recipe says to garnish it with crumbled bleu cheese, which is really, really, yummy. I didn't have any at home, so this is an ungarnished bowl, which is also really, really, yummy. Here's my adaptation of the recipe from the newspaper so many years ago:
(Spider Friendly) Winter Warm Up Soup
1 Tbs butter
1 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp sesame oil
6 large carrots, peeled and dice (or not peeled -just scrubbed- if they are really great carrots)
2 large onions, diced
1 large potato, peeled and diced
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp ground cumin
dash each tabasco, worcestershire and soy sauce
1 Tbs finely chopped fresh rosemary - mind the spiders!
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup whipping cream
crumbled bleu cheese or feta or some plain yogurt
Melt the butter. Add the two oils. Saute the carrots, onion and potato in your big stock pot, for about 10 minutes, until they are softened, but not browned. Stir in the herbs and spices and saute for a couple more minutes. Add the dashes of sauces and the stock. Stir it all up. Cover, bring to a boil and simmer for about half an hour until the veggies are all really soft. Use a food processor or immersion blender to puree the soup until it's smooth. Stir in the whipping cream. Serve and garnish with crumbled cheese or just a blob of yogurt.
This is a simple but very warming and filling soup, thanks to the earthiness of the vegetables, and the warmth of the spices.
The recipe makes about 12 cups of soup, so share it.
While you are gathering food or walking outdoors, be kind to spiders, and grateful for the good work they do, capturing and eating all kinds of insects. Where do you think all of the fruit flies go at the end of the summer? Yup, spider chow! When you come inside, if you see a spider, kindly escort it out to your porch or front walkway. Then go inside and make some really good soup.
