“BAM!” AND EMERIL LAGASSE SAVED THE SOUP!

 

From Linda Lee Greene Author/Artist

 

The weather was biting; your brain was fried; your body was toast. But it was a college football Saturday, so you turned on the TV. It was only pre-game talk. You turned the TV off, and then what did you do? You made soup!  

You washed and then cut half a bunch of celery into bite-size pieces, put them in your Crock Pot on high, and keeping in mind the 2 . 1 . 1 rule (2 parts onion, 1 part celery, 1 part green bell pepper) of Louisiana’s Creole Trinity base for a plethora of dishes, you diced the right amount of onions and scraped them into the pot. You opened the frig to get two green bell peppers, but darn…there weren’t any there. Your frig was close to bare. There was that little jar of minced garlic on the shelf of the frig door. A tablespoon of it was just what your soup called for.

What about the bell peppers? No way would you brave the weather and drive to the store. What to do? What to do? You scrounged around in your cupboards for something more. That carton of low-sodium veggie broth would boost the soup. But it was gone too! Oh well poo! Well, just enough water to cover the veggies would have to do. That bottle of Worcestershire sauce would give the soup a boost, and you dropped in a couple tablespoons, added half a teaspoon of black pepper, and gave the concoction a stir and a taste. It was blah! It was beyond bland! “Oh Julia Child, please give this woman a hand!” An envelope of that onion soup and dip mix would fix the brew. You tore open the envelope and sprinkled it in. You then covered the pot and let the soup stew.

An hour later the soup was hot, BUT TASTY IT WAS NOT! Chef Jonathan Banno livens his dishes, including soup, with balsamic vinegar and parsley. A couple dashes of vinegar and a handful of chopped parsley looked right to you. Your team will kick off at noon. You covered the pot and headed to your living room.

At one on the dot, the celery smell filled the air. You hurried to the pot, pulled the cover off, and like Pavlov’s dog, your mouth pooled. A fork test said the celery was tender and the onions were too. You opened a can of sliced carrots and stirred it in. A sip from a spoon said your soup needed some salt. “No! No, the doctor says you must stay salt-free!” A can of low-sodium V8 juice it would have to be. A half stick of butter would smooth out the soup. A quarter cup each of almond and garbanzo bean flour as a thickener went in next in place of grain-based roux, which is no good for anyone, especially you. The cover secured, you went back to your living room.

A  Crock Pot on high cooks any soup fast. A few minutes later, it was ready… AT LAST! Another sip and darn it, the soup was still flat. What in the world to do about that? That sodium-laced bouillon stash you avoid like its fatal: “A tablespoon of tomato bouillon can’t hurt all that much.” Like a guilty Eve biting that apple, you swiftly scooped the bouillon in, but just a touch. Another taste and wallah! The soup was almost right. It was missing that tang, though, that particular bite.

Emeril Lagasse from a bottle said, “Hey Dummy! My Original Essence will do the trick. A couple shakes will give it that kick.” BAM! And it did just what the chef said it’d do—you swear it on Lagasse’s big-old, magnificent head!

The last step in my soup-making foray was to place the soup in my blender and puree it (low and slow) to a creamy consistency. Because of a chronic gastro-intestinal condition, my body doesn’t digest celery well, even when as bite-sized pieces it is cooked thoroughly. And besides, I love creamy soups. Gobble it down with a helping of homemade almond and garbanzo bean flour bread, or a chunky bread of your choice. I guarantee that this soup-and-bread-meal will hit the spot, whether or not your team comes out on top.©

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Multi-award-winning author, Linda Lee Greene’s GARDEN OF THE SPIRITS OF THE POTS: A Spiritual Odyssey, is a novella in which ex-pat American Nicholas Plato relocates to Sydney, Australia to escape the mental torture of devastating losses back home. Strange encounters in Australia’s outback with an Indigenous potter reveal to Nicholas unexpected blessings and a new way of living. The novella is available in eBook and/or paperback. Just click the following link and it will take you straight to the page on Amazon on which you can purchase the book. https://www.amazon.com/GARDEN-SPIRITS-POTS-SPIRITUAL-ODYSSEY-ebook/dp/B09JM7YL6F/