Soup with Cider-Glazed Vegetables
At dusk my neighborhood smells of woodsmoke. This scenario never fails to invoke Grandma Annie, who kept a "burn barrel" in her backyard, as did many of her neighbors in those pre-recycling days. I never got too close to the barrels, but I am imaging they were filled with old newspapers and egg cartons and other materials that we recycle today.The burn barrels may have been dangerous and harmful to our air quality, but they filled the neighborhood with a pungent aroma that I liked as a child. Today wood-burning stoves and fireplaces fill my neighborhood with the same pleasant, smoky aroma that never fails to bring me back 40 years or so.
Back then, when Grandma Annie had to step out to her neighborhood store before suppertime, she would return with that aroma clinging to her coat and hair, until the smells of the evening meal began to permeate the house in Frenchtown. A particular night when Annie donned her black coat and slipped across the way to the Sobieski's store has stayed with me all these years.
She went there to buy chicken, as I recall. Annie always used matches to rid the chicken of any remained fuzz that clung to its pinky skin. Soon the odor of sulfur filled the kitchen. It was quickly replaced by the aroma of roasting chicken.
When I roast a chicken, I am usually thinking ahead to the soup I will make from the chicken carcass. I knew Tuesday that my Wednesday night meal would be a soup of roasted vegetables.
And so it was. A day later, into the stock goes the carcass, along with remaining shallots, garlic and thyme and about five cups of water. It's ready to serve as a soup base.
Here's what I experimented with:
Cider-Glazed Vegetable Soup
- 1 large potato, cut into chunks
- 4 medium carrots, cut into thick slices
- 1 parsnip, cubed
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 3 shallots
- dash salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- 2 cups apple cider
While the stock is simmering, pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. Clean and trim vegetables. Coat them in olive oil, season, and place in shallow baking dish in the oven until they began to turn golden.When vegetables are beginning to turn golden, melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Remove vegetables - now a warm golden color - from the oven and place in saucepan containing melted butter; add apple cider. Bring to a mild boil, then lower the heat until the apple cider is reduced and absorbed by the vegetables.
Add broth, straining it first. Next add chicken, salt, pepper and chopped thyme. Simmer for about 15 minutes.
I added some freshly roasted garlic - about four cloves - to balance the sweet taste. The soup was savory, sweet and herby.
Some buttered rolls, a hunk of Gouda and a mild white table wine were all were needed to complete the meal. A cheese-and-roasted-red-pepper sandwich would be a good accompaniment for lunch.
Like cider? Here are some links you might enjoy:
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