CULINARY COMFORT
This Month…Soup!
BY KAREN PERRY & DEE
DEE GOIDEL
This month we are continuing
our campaign to bring back
comfort food. During difficult
times (and even during normal
times!), it is necessary to feed both
the body and the soul. You can look
to the Seven Food Groups to feed
the body. Feeding the soul is a little
more complicated. It requires good
company and a positive spirit. What
better description for friends enjoying
a steaming bowl of this month’s
comfort food, soup?
Called everything from “a spoonful
of warm comfort” to “a comforting
gift of love,” soup is one of those
universal delights that is partaken by
every culture around the world. You
can find “Black Bean Soup” in Cuba,
“Lentil Dal” in India or “Beer and
Cheese Soup” In Germany. Spain’s
contribution is “Gazpacho,” while
“Pomegranate Soup” hails from Iran
and “Curry Laksa” from Malaysia.
Looking to our own shores, one
cooking blog claims that Americans
eat more than 10 billion bowls of
soup each year. Naming the top five
American soups also varies from
source to source. One cooking show
declares them to be: Chicken Noodle,
Tomato, Clam Chowder, Potato, and
Minestrone. With some overlap, a
popular culinary magazine presents
them as: Chicken Noodle, Chicken
and Dumplings, Broccoli Chowder,
Cream of Chicken and French Onion.
No matter what your favorite, each
provides warm, filling coziness.
Of the many soups submitted
to us, we have decided to present
two to you. They are Chicken and
Dumplings and Minestrone.
For generations, as soon as we felt
a cold coming on we instinctively
made a pot of chicken soup or
ordered some from the local deli.
Chicken soup has become the Jewish
mother’s homeopathic remedy to
New Yorkers and many Americans.
It remains known as “Jewish
Penicillin.“ After devouring a hot
bowl of chicken soup, we miraculously
recover. The soup is a classic
comforting cure-all for whatever ails
you. It’s an internal hug.
Jean Louis, well known chef and
cookbook author of “Top Chef
Masters,” has recently written “The
Chicken Soup Manifesto.” Her
130 global recipes are all based on
chicken and broth. The cookbook
has been described as a “slurpable
drug- free mood stabilizer.” Jean
Louis has realized that what countries
all share, more than anything
else, is a love of “comfort.”
The final touch to these ultimate
comfort foods is an element
Chicken and Dumplings Soup (6 Servings)
2 tablespoons butter ½ large onion chopped 3 stalks of celery chopped
2 large carrots sliced -1/4” rounds 2 cloves garlic finely minced ½ tablespoon dried parsley
1 ½ tablespoons flour 6 cups chicken stock 1 bay leaf
Salt & Pepper to taste 2 cups cooked chicken –cubed 1 cup frozen peas
1 cup flour 2 teaspoons baking powder ½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar 2 tablespoons unsalted butter ½ cup milk (2%/Whole)
½ tablespoon poultry seasoning
Melt butter over medium heat in dutch oven or stockpot. Add onion, celery and carrots and cook until fragrant. (approx. 4-5 minutes).
Reduce heat to low. Add garlic, parsley and poultry seasoning; cook for 1 minute stirring constantly. Sprinkle in 1 ½ tablespoon flour, cook
for 1 minute stirring constantly. Stir in chicken stock and bay leaf. Simmer for 25 minutes.
Remove bay leaf and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add chicken and frozen peas and simmer for additional 5 minutes.
In medium bowl mix 1 cup flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Cut in butter with pastry cutter. When crumbly, add milk and stir just
until combined. Drop by small spoonfuls into simmering soup. Cover and cook for 15 minutes without removing the lid.
Mom’s Minestrone Soup (6 Servings)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine 1 28 oz. can whole tomatoes chopped
1 clove garlic chopped 2-32 ¼ oz. cans vegetable broth
1 10 oz. package frozen peas thawed 1 cup cabbage chopped (red or white)
1 cup carrots diced 2 zucchini chopped
1 cup celery diced 1 16 oz. can red kidney beans
1 cup onions diced 1 16 oz. can white kidney beans
1 tablespoon parsley chopped ½ cup spaghetti broken up
1 teaspoon basil Salt & pepper to taste
Grated Parmesan cheese
to thicken the broth and make it
heartier. It is the idly in India and
orzo in the Mediterranean or tofu
in the Orient. In Italy it is gnocchi
or tortellini. In today’s soup, it is the
all-American dumpling.
How to share your recipes
Now that you’re good and hungry,
let’s talk about next month’s comfort
food. A staple for all the people and
lands is EGGS! Your shared memory
can include anything from omelets
and blintzes to quiche and crepes.
Even if you don’t have a recipe, we
want to hear about your fond memories
as well.
Recipes can be sent along with a
note explaining your pleasant memory.
Please leave all replies with the
concierge as follows:
Buildings 1 & 2: Dee Dee
Goidel (Building 2/29N)
Building 3: Karen Perry
(Building 3/9U)
Even though Minestrone soup
has an international audience,
many fans do not know its heritage.
The earliest origins of Minestrone
soup predate the Roman Empire.
At that time the diet consisted
mostly of vegetables.
The 2nd century B.C. brought
the opening of trade routes and
more meat for soup stock. Finally
the mid-16th century brought the
introduction of tomatoes and potatoes
to Italy.
Gathering ingredients from
ELEANOR ULRICH
leftover meals, Italian peasants
would make this “poor man’s
soup.” To this day, Minestrone
belongs to the style of cooking
called “cucina povera,” literally,
“poor kitchen,” meaning dishes
that have rustic, rural roots. The
problem with such cooking is that
there is not one exact recipe for
Minestrone. It could be made from
whatever vegetables are at hand. It
can be vegetarian or contain meat.
Today we present a vegetarian
Minestrone.
THE PERRY FAMILY
1. In a large pot melt butter or margarine over medium flame.
2. Add garlic, peas, carrots, celery, onions, parsley and basil.
Cook for 10-15 minutes stirring until soft
3. Stir in tomatoes, vegetable broth, cabbage, zucchini, and
kidney beans. Cook for 20 minutes over medium low heat.
4. Add spaghetti, cook for 15 minutes
5. Salt and pepper to taste
6. Serve with grated Parmesan Cheese
20 NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER ¢ April 2021