Today was the coldest I can remember Melbourne being for many years. It snowed in the hills surrounding the city. It barely stopped raining. The wind, blowing from the south and west, kept the temperature down and people inside.
Perfect soup weather, you’d think.
But we’re not having soup tonight. Tonight we’re in the mood for green chicken curry.
Last week, though, we had pumpkin soup with a difference.
The first difference was that the pumpkin wasn’t very orange, was more yellow in fact, and it really didn’t have the depth of colour that my pumpkin soup usually has.
The second difference was that I didn’t garnish the soup with cream or sour cream but with strips cut from a capsicum I’d seared until black, over an open flame, and then peeled.
The third difference was the addition of veal tortellini. D is not fond of meals without meat and I have to find some way to incorporate at least some flesh into my soups. I managed to slip one meatless soup past him, which he absolutely loved — the Curried Lentil, Carrot and Cashew soup that Miss V posted two weeks or so back and which is well worth making as it’s flavoursome, hearty and it has cashews — and I didn’t feel like pushing my luck. After a little thought, I hit upon the idea of cooking some tortellini (alas not from scratch. I wasn’t feeling that industrious) and stirring it through the finished soup.
I should have known that he’d be suspicious of the tortellini out of their natural environment (a simple, cream based sauce). He pushed those little dumplings of goodness around that bowl for a while before finally committing to them as an ingredient in his soup.
The next time I looked, his bowl was empty.
It must have been good.
That pumpkin soup with a difference sounds good and it’s definitely a good night for a green curry.
I’m glad you liked the curried lentil soup!
All Kiko will eat at the moment is soup, and he loves pumpkin, curry, carrots and lentils so I’ll have to check that one out.
Is it cold with you too? It’s absolutely brass monkeys here, I nearly froze going to the park.
Miss V: It was a great night for a green curry. The curry kept us warm when the heater couldn’t
And we loved the curried lentil soup — I’ve been trying to convince most everyone I know to give it a try.
Helen: The pumpkin could probably be substituted for the carrots in the lentil soup with no problems. And at least Kiko is eating something. At the moment I could probably eat soup every night.
Freezing here, although today was not as cold as yesterday. Apparently, it was the coldest July day in ten years. After the string of mild winters we’ve had I’d almost forgotten how cold it can get here.