Saturday, February 27, 2010

Name the soup

I've seen several blogs devoted to recipes and the like. The problem with these, for me, is when I cook I almost never use a recipe. I'm a guy. I view recipes about the same way I view asking others for directions...

On Saturdays I like to experiment with whatever I can find in the refrigerator. Usually I have no idea what I'm making as I start the creation process. Thoughts and ideas just come as I'm cooking. I knew that I had a fair amount of produce in the fridge. Sandwich or soup I pondered? However, when I saw the box of Campbells Butternut Squash soup on the shelf I had to go with soup.

Since I measure nothing, here's my best guess as to what I cooked and how I made it:

Cook three strips of bacon in a pan (It's hard to go wrong with a recipe that starts with bacon.)

While the bacon is cooking,
Julienne half a green pepper and half a red pepper. Then chop down to bite size bits.
Chop three green onions
Slice up a handful of mushrooms (hand sizes may vary)
Chop up a large handful of cilantro

Remove the crispy bacon and set aside.

Add the produce to the pan of bacon grease and cook for about 5-10 minutes.
Add a tablespoon of minced garlic and salt and pepper to taste.
Re-add the bacon and then pour in the box (18 oz) of butternut squash soup.
Let all of this cook together until the soup is nice and happy.

I thought that I was done at this point. When I tasted the concoction it screamed, "curry and cumin please." I added a few shakes of both of those and knew instantly that was the right call.

As I'm writing this it dawns on me that I should have taken a picture of the soup for you to see. Oops, too late. It tasted pretty good though. Here's a picture of the empty bowl...



I have no idea what to call this soup so please feel free to add a comment and offer a suggestion. One final thought, if I was serving this for guests I might have added some half and half to lighten the color. However, the green and red peppers contrasted with the butternut squash was aesthetically pleasing.

5 comments:

オテモヤン said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Tristi Pinkston said...

That sounds really good, Dan!

Michaela Stephens said...

I recommend that you delete that first comment. The same thing was posted in a comment on my blog and I put it in my translator widget..and the translation indicates it is something to avoid.

On the topic of your post, I'm right with you on experimental cooking. Unfortunately it gets me in big trouble.

Dan Olsen said...

Thanks guys. I know Michaela sometimes I experiment and say to myself, "Yup, I'm never going to do that again." Sometimes they come out pretty good. This was one of those experiments.

Unknown said...

Thanks for visiting my blog, Dan and Wendy :-) Your soup recipe looks pretty interesting. Wish my non-recipe soups turned out nice. Unfortunately, they's always nasty so I don't make them too often!