Mom wants to try my carrot-greens soup. I made a batch at home recently and had it for lunch with some ground pork sautéed with chili powder. Apparently I sloshed the soup carrying it to the table.
I told her that I would make it if we could find good carrot greens, and we did find carrots with nice greens. I pretty much dismantled the entire carrot display at her local Sprouts finding the best two bunches, those with nice looking carrots and nice looking greens. But I did put everything back once I had retrieved my prize.
Yesterday we made the soup.
First we sautéed onion and the minced carrot stems.
While the onions softened, mom grated two carrots and minced some garlic. We let everything soften in a bit of dairy-free butter, although I sometimes use chicken fat, ghee, or olive oil at home, depending on my mood,
Then we added the chicken stock and the chopped carrot leaves. I've learned from years of experience that it takes a lot of washing and spinning to get all the grit out of carrot leaves.
When the soup was done and had cooled, we tried pureeing it, which was an adventure, as mom does not have a blender. She does have a food processor, but its highest setting is chop, and it does not seal tightly. It is not meant for pureeing soup. My first attempt was a bit of. mess, with green soup leaking out everywhere. But I figured it out. The soup was more of finely minced bits of vegetable in broth than a pureed soup, and greens are a bit stringier than I like to crunch on. Pureed is better.
Mom wasn't sure what she thought. Frankly neither was I. She thought we should buy a blender, but I was reluctant to have her buy a blender for a soup she might not even like, a blender she would otherwise never use, so we slept on it. We were going to my brother's for dinner anyway.
This morning I found mom's magic bullet and pureed a cup of soup in that, which worked very well, and the soup was vastly improved. Mom thought the magic bullet wasn't working, but really, only something was jammed in it, and it now works fine. I recognize that the flavor is very much something I think of as "green", a rich savory green, but green nonetheless, and it may not be her thing. I also recognize that the boxed stock we used does not contribute the mouthfeel of my own collagen-rich homemade chicken broth. That can be solved by cooking the soup with unflavored gelatin, or pureeing it with a bit of unflavored collagen protein powder I suppose. But I also admit that although my morning cup of soup was good, I like the soup far better with the added pork as it adds complexity and rich contrast of flavors and texture.
We will reheat the soup for dinner tonight with the added pork and I'll see what mom thinks,
Comments
2 responses to “Making Soup with Mom”
Hmmm, never heard of soup made with carrot greens, and I’m intrigued BUT I have a very low tolerance for grit. Intellectually, I know it’s not health-threatening, but I just can’t relax and enjoy. . . Spinach gets washed and washed, but at least grit gets sluiced off the leaves; I can imagine that’s tricky with the lacy carrot greens which might trap and hide tiny bits.
Your post, though, makes me think about what I might make for my mom, what she might ask me to cook for her, if she were still here. . .
I have a very low tolerance for grit as well, so I have leaned to wash and swish and spin and wash again and again. I actually think the washing is more work than the cooking for this soup. But I love the flavor, and I love the idea of using something nutritious and edible that would otherwise get thrown away. I learned to make the soup from an old Italian woman who ran a farm stand who would always complain that her urban customers would discard the best parts of her vegetables. And yes, I think saving up these memories of cooking for and with mom, is a good thing.