Souping

This winter's soup initiative is in full swing! In addition to a second take at the cauliflower (a little dark and spicy, almost curry and stewlike, instead of a more classically soupy texture), I tried to recreate a friend's corn chowder. It is a little southwestern and has gorgeous bright colors - great for lifting spirits during the dreary winter!

I didn't whirl the soup for very long, thinking that a coarser, chunkier texture might be fun to "chew". Next time, I think I'll test the mettle of my immersion blender.

I tried my hand at vegetable stock - we've been saving all the vegetable scraps and leavings from various dishes and I threw in some freezer-burned greens. It looked beautiful:

and the stock came out nice and dark, but it's a little sweet and doesn't have the depth of flavor of meat stock. Still, it should serve as a nice base for soups to come.

While the cat's away, I made some chicken soup just for me, using up the stores of turkey stock and freeing up some precious, precious quart containers. Ummmmmmm, warming and delicious.

I've learned to use celery! It's really not that bad, as long as you cook it down forever, and it's actually a nice filler for soups. I guess that's why everyone uses it...