Talk Soup
Why we need to hurry up and slow down...
Sunday nights for me are such a highlight. A little different to most I guess in that I’m not snuggling down to watch a movie; but I’m donning headphones and connecting to Newstalk ZB studio in Auckland to do my Sunday at 6 show with my co-workers and good friends Frank Ritchie and Producer Josh.
The chance to interact and share with my listeners about a huge range of topics is something I always enjoy and to hear some of the incredible stories from everyday people is a constant reminder that we are all special and have something valuable to bring to the table. I also love the fact that Frank and I have; amongst our very obvious differences; one very prevalent shared passion, Food. This Sunday gone we discussed the fact that winter was approaching and asked the question “what is it we love about the cooler months ?” Many people responded with various winter comfort foods, slow roasted joints of meat, stews and casseroles and of course soup. We then ended up chatting for an hour on what constitutes a soup vs what’s a broth, sort of a which comes first, the chicken or the egg type discussion. The conclusion was that a broth proceeds a soup and is clear. Soup is made using broth and has ‘bits’. You may think that a conversation like this is trivial and far too ‘fluffy’ to be on New Zealands top rating talk back station but when people started adding questions on gazpacho, consommé, stock and others to the talk we realised that this was a complex and very consuming (consomming ?) topic that had been let simmer for far too long.
One of the by products of making soup and indeed most wintery comfort foods is the fact you need to do it slowly. Longer cooking time makes for depth in flavour and more time for the immunity boosting goodness we need at this time of the year to be extracted from the ingredients.
The rhythm of the colder season is one that dictates we decrease our pace and yet I have been guilty of trying to pack as much productivity in the shorter days as I was in the drawn out days of summer….it simply does not work. Autumn and Winter will prevail.
There is too a sense of melancholy that I feel as summer leaves and it’s a feeling I’ve resisted in the past, after all we’re meant to be 100% happy all the time right ? Not this year. This year I’m really acknowledge that feeling, letting it pass through when it needs to and listening to it’s direction. I’m taking time to stop, to rest, to let my body re set for the seasons to come. I’m spending time creating warming, nourishing food to share with my family and friends and I’m letting my body soften with the absorption of those good things and it feels brilliant. To stop fighting my instinctual desire to slow, to surrender to what my body needs in this season is the best, I’m going to do winter well.
After our show on Sunday I was inspired to make a couple of my favorite ‘go to’ winter dishes. One is a really simple country style soup and the other a fragrant yellow dahl packed full of ayurvedic beauties to beat the bugs. I’d love for you to try these and enjoy them …. slowly x
Bacon Hock Winter Warmer
Ingredients
1 Bacon Hock
3 Carrots chopped
4 Celery Stalks with tops chopped
1 Onion Diced
1 Packet of Kings Minestrone Soup Mix
Parsley to serve
Method
Add all the ingredient to a big soup pot and add water to well cover ingredients. Bring to the boil and reduce to simmer for at least 4 hours.
Remove the skin from the hock and discard and then shred the meat and return it to the soup.
Season to taste and top with parsley to serve.
Geeez Dahl This Is Nice
Ingredients
2 tablespoons coconut or olive oil
1 large onion (diced finely)
1 chili (diced finely)
4 garlic cloves (minced on a microplane)
2 tablespoons ginger (grated on a microplane)
1.5 cups yellow lentils
1 tbsp ground turmeric
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 tsp garam masala
3–4 cups vegetable broth
1 can diced tomatoes
8 large silver beet leaves washed and chopped (stems too)
juice of half a lime
salt and ground black pepper (to taste)
Coriander to garnish
lime wedges to garnish
cooked basmati rice
Method
Add olive oil to a large pan over medium heat.
Add onions, garlic, ginger and chilies and allow to sweat over medium heat. Do not allow any color to be achieved.
Add lentils, spices, tomatoes, 2 cups of broth and season with salt and pepper.
Bring to a simmer and reduce to low. Cook with a lid slightly open for 20 minutes. Stir frequently to avoid burning the bottom and to check for liquid. If the lentils have absorbed the liquid add in more broth. You want this thick but still have plenty of liquid.
Once the lentils have reached the desired doneness and texture add chopped silver beet, lime juice and adjust for seasoning and heat and serve over rice.
Garnish with coriander and a squeeze of lime x