What I love about things like cured meats and homemade stock, is that when you have those things on hand, simple things become elevated. It doesn't take much to make a five minute soup that is stellar. And I'm not the only one. I had just taken these photos and was eating my soup and reading when I came upon this post by Peter at cookblog who eloquently discusses the merits of having wonderful things like cured meats on hand.
All I did was heat up some chicken stock, throw in some frozen spinach (organic--once the bag is open you can grab a handful and toss it in, not like those big blocks you often find), a handful of frozen scallions (from the garden) and once in a bowl I topped it with a few slices of duck prosciutto. I didn't need to add any salt or flavoring because the duck took care of that. It just takes a few minutes for something amazing once you have a few items on hand.
a beautiful picture! thank you duck (prosciutto)!
ReplyDeletem
Yummmm! Love the simplicty, except for the duck proscuitto. Still working on that.
ReplyDeleteMichael - you are too kind! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteTwo By Sea - Ha, ha! You've got a point, but it's really easy! I don't do anything hard, just things that take a long time.
I have been told many times how wonderful prosciutto soup is, but have yet to try it. Maybe I'll finally get around to it! I have tried the parmesan rinds thing but I think I got my proportions mixed up--it wasn't all that great of a soup. But, no great loss either as I wasn't out buying parmesan rinds! Have you had any luck with that? I should try it again. Kitchen thrift and all!
ReplyDeleteSara - I LOVE cheese rinds in my soup. I just did an orzo-tomato-cheese rind soup and it was awesome. Steve said, "this is like spaghettios, but like really good spaghettios. Uh-oh, that was a compliment! No, really!"
ReplyDeleteDo you put the cheese rinds in, in addition to a good stock or broth, or do you make a broth solely out of the rinds? I'm trying to figure out if that is where I went wrong (I only added it to water). Or maybe I didn't use enough salt (I can see myself thinking it isn't necessary with parmesan, but maybe it is since it's diluted after all) or maybe I used too much water for the amount of rinds I had.
ReplyDeleteI love cheese, so I am certain there was a bungling on my part, because how could anything made with parm be bad ;-)
Your soup sounds great. I have orzo and canned tomatoes in my pantry...