Saturday, May 21, 2011

Time of Year for Green Soups

I have too many cookbooks. I won't tell you how many I've never even cooked a single recipe from. I do get ideas, though, so that's good.
But I have one cookbook I could happily eat my way through. It's no longer "new" and it has never been hot or trendy. It's a book of delicious, homemade foods. Soup to nuts (and I've used recipes in the book for both nuts and soup).
It used to be called the Good Fat Cookbook by Fran McCullough, but then in subsequent printings, Dr. Barry Sears horned in and claimed co-authorship (he wrote the introduction). I think everything is back in balance now; the current edition has Fran as the rightful author.
Ms. McCullough used to edit Deborah Madison's books. She knows her way around a recipe, and likes to keep them simple and tasty. Here's my point: Everything always works. This is a book to USE.
So I have been loving her chilled, grated cucumber soup with buttermilk, onion, dijon mustard and sour cream. Made it a zillion times.
Today, though, I dared a little departure. There were fresh English peas in the fridge. Wouldn't they be so CUTE in this summery soup?
Bang, we shelled and lightly cooked a handful and stirred them in. Honestly, I was just going for cute. Didn't know how it would taste.
Tasted great. Sweet, springy, perfect.
Fran, I dicked with one of your recipes. Still friends?

12 comments:

Ms Brown Mouse said...

Sipping soup *sigh*.

cookiecrumb said...

APOCALYPSE NOT NOW

cookiecrumb said...

Mouse: I know we share a love of soups. I want to hear about your southern hemisphere menus, while I'm sliding into warm weather here.

Greg said...

The soup sounds wonderful. I am really digging the photo. Blow that up big and put it on the wall.The colors make me happy.

cookiecrumb said...

Greg: Darn, it's still too cold, really, for chilled soup. But it was good.
Thanks for the compliment!

Zoomie said...

I think I might have whizzed the soup base to make it smooth before adding the peas but the combo sounds screamingly delicious.

cookiecrumb said...

Zoomie, I'm not sure how blended cucumbers would come out. Just don't know. Plus, I like the texture of the peeled, grated bits. But, yes, the flavor combo was a success.

cookiecrumb said...

Zoomie, no, I just looked. I made a blended pear and cuke soup a couple of years ago, and I liked it.
http://madeater.blogspot.com/2008/08/pear-soup-2.html

Zoomie said...

I have a cuke and some fresh peas in the fridge... might have to try something like this.

cookiecrumb said...

Zoomie, let me know!

Also, I found out this cookbook is out of print, but there are copies for sale online.

Denise | Chez Danisse said...

Hmmm...I could do this. I like the ingredients and it is pretty.

cookiecrumb said...

Denise, serve it in little glass teacups! (Now I want little glass teacups.)