Not Grace with Potato Soup

If you know me, you know my name is not Grace.

If you don't know me, let me assure you that mishaps are my mother's fault. She did not name me Grace.

I like soup. When Cleatus just happened to mention Leak & Potato Soup, it sounded good. (Note: the term, "just happened" does not apply to chance. "Just happened" is the result of a Bigger Plan.) So she emailed the recipe for her Leak & Potato Soup. I looked at it, thinking I'd make it soon.

This recipe came a just the right time! Dutch (she's 86) found a cold. She was congested, with the works coming up. Dutch left much of her lungs with a doctor at Ceders Sinai, so anything involving breathing is a major issue for her. What's practical? Chicken soup. I took Dutch some chicken soup, freshly brewed at Safeway. I was going to visit her, so the idea to take chicken soup wasn't planned.

Dutch was probably happy to see the bought-en container. When I make chicken soup (or any soup, really), the end result is a creation. One never knows what will swirl in the broth. I use whatever strikes me as a nice ingredient at the time, and, occassionally, whatever ingredient was available, and struck me at the time, doesn't result nicely. Anyway, Dutch likes chicken soup to be predictable. My soup is not predictable.

"What do you want me to bring you? 'Potato Soup.'" So I was at Safeway, again (it's close to my house and I get miles with my purchases), on my way to visit Dutch. I sleuthed the aisles. I found two cans of Campbell's Potato Soup. Two cans! That Soup didn't sound too good to me, but I quickly snatched those two cans, for Dutch, before the person two aisles over could get a chance see them.

"Hmm," I thought. Maybe I can make Cleatus' Leek & Potato Soup. I wonder what's in it: leeks, potato, chicken broth. I coaxed "Okay brain, what else?". There was no reply.

So I bought what I thought was leeks. (Note: I had never, knowingly, cooked a leek before.) I put have a dozen, various color, potatoes in bags. I was sure there was the chicken bullion at her house I like, so put back on the shelf the carton of all-good chicken broth.

Fast forward to arrival location. I anxiously looked for Cleatus' email with the recipe. I was so disappointed. "5 leeks", she wrote. I had bought one. "One potato", she had itemized. There were six potatoes, various colors in the bag. Oh, Oh. Cleatus' recipe needs ham & chick peas. I can forfeit the peas, but not the ham. Ham is a must! My wanting to make Cleatus' potato soup became a matter of challenge.

So I put on the Galloping Gourmet hat. Remember him? He did everything better with wine.

Backtrack, now. Dutch liked the sound of Cleatus' Potato Soup. No, the cooked & shredded pork butt isn't the same as ham. That's what she had in the freezer, cooked pork butt. "I have some bacon in the freezer," she said. Bacon? That's always nice.

So I diced the bacon, about 2/3 of two pounds, too substitute for the ham. Then I looked at Cleatus's recipe, again. It called for 1/4 c ham while more than a pound fried in the pan. Oops! But, bacon is nice. Wine is good.

Remember, my name is not Grace. But it's cooked, and the bacon fat must go out. So, I begin to separate the bacon from its fat. The bacon is easy to blot. The bacon fat, bubbly hot, is just not nice when you don't know how to coax it. "Okay, fat", I instructed, "Pour into this can!" It was more willful than I, for it splattered on my foot. Hot bacon fat isn't gentle. Then I see LittleDoggie, curious about what I was doing. I shooed him away, out from under my feet and all those things not protected by wine. (He's all of seven pounds, a little thing.)

Now it's time for the chicken broth, but none in the refrigerator, just those salty cubes. Okay. I used those to cook the potatoes, diced in 1/4" cubes. Don't know what condition they were supposed to be in, but 1/4" cubes is what they became. Chick peas? Why couldn't my brain cooperate while at the store, to let me in, in what it knew?! (That last punctuation is supposed to be an interrobang, a combination of ! & ?.) Canned corn became chick peas. The wine was good.

As I stated previously, I was thinking of being the Galloping Gourmet. He cooked liberally, with wine.

"What are these little things?', she asks. I don't have a clue. The wine is good.

The second batch of Cleatus' Potato Soup was better. This wine is good, too.

11/2007

aloha!
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