It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to be in the kitchen for more than ten minutes at a time lately, but today I got my chance.
A few years ago, someone in my family had a great idea to switch out a cookie exchange with a soup swap. We did a cookie exchange in January, and no one really wanted junk food in January, and it just became stale (no pun intended). We decided to do a soup swap instead. We make the same soup and fill up as many quarts as there are people. Everyone goes home with lots of different soup for the freezer. I can even remember what I’ve made all five years (shrimp bisque, Italian wedding, curried butternut squash, pasta e fagoli), and this year I made wonton, with baby bok choy and shittake mushrooms in a miso broth.
After explaining our swap a few times, I decided to host a soup swap for my friends. In preparation, I made my soup today (everyone brings theirs frozen). This time I did a navy bean and bacon. So, this happened today.
I also made a salad with dinner. Red onion, cherry tomatoes, mint, parsley, pomegranate seeds, and roasted lemon. The lemon was the best part. You slice them paper thin, take out the seeds, blanch them, toss them in olive oil with sage, brown sugar, and a little salt, and then roast them. I dressed the salad with some olive oil, salt, and brown sugar. So good. The recipe came from Plenty More, by Yotam Ottolenghi. I improvised a bit (Who has pomegranate molasses? What even IS pomegranate molasses?) and it’s very good, will definitely make it again.
Here it is. It looks like the picture in the book, if I can toot my own horn for a second.
Last but certainly not last, Elise’s dinner. Blueberries, carrots, peas. Not pictured: oatmeal and salmon (not a fan of the salmon).
Do you need a taste taster?
Looks absolutely delicious! And I love the idea of a soup swap! I might have to work on organizing something like that in my circle.