A True Lightweight

As I sit at my computer thinking about this next post, I can come up with any number of credible reasons why I chose to make Pear and Pepper soup this week:

The nearness of Valentine’s Day inspired me to create a soup out of bell peppers as red as roses.

Because my youngest daughter rushed down the stairs tonight telling me that it was five o’clock and the sun was still up. “The days are definitely getting longer,” she declared, e.g. this soup is the first prelude of spring.

It’s even possible that I made this soup to thumb my nose at New York because the Times was mocking Chicagoans for being wimps about the latest blizzard.  In short, it was smaller than Philadelphia’s biggest snowstorm and no big deal for the people of Buffalo (forget that NYC was paralyzed by far less).

Okay, maybe that last reason isn’t so credible. Still, each of these reasons has a grain of truth to it.  It’s just that none of them really ring true because none of them are true.  As the new media gurus would say, they’re all “inauthentic.”  (This from the people who claim that modern advertising is less about selling and more about “having a conversation.”)

I expect that if I just made up a bunch of stories and posted them here, they wouldn’t be all that engaging (as opposed to this?).  My proof lies in a pastor who used to preach occasionally at a church I attended.  He would make up stories to illustrate the point of his sermons, but because the stories were so clearly fabricated, they lacked any real human element.  The result was that his messages were not only tedious, they were positively lightweight.

And believe me, I know a thing or two about lightweight.  I write about soups.

Right, that again.

The fact is I chose to make this soup because I had made it many, many years ago and the sight of all those lovely red peppers at the local Dominick’s reminded me of that old concoction.  (Maybe I should have stuck with a made up reason.)

This soup is fresh, easy and delicious.

It’s also real.

All right, maybe I do just make these recipes up, but then I put the raw materials into a soup pot and turn them into something concrete (though not as thick). If I do a good job, the soups stand on their own and I don’t need to contrive a grand narrative around their origins.

This Pear & Pepper soup definitely stands on its own.

Which means I’d better shut up now.

Pear & Pepper Soup
(serves 6-8)
1 T canola oil
1 large onion, chopped
8 bell peppers (red, yellow and/or orange), cored, seeded and chopped
6 cups stock
salt & pepper to taste
3 pears (I used Bartletts), peeled and cored
1 T tarragon

1. Heat the oil over medium heat in a 3 quart soup pot, add the onion and peppers and sauté until tender.
2. Add the stock, seasoning and pears, bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for about thirty minutes.
3. Puree the soup with an immersion blender until it has a smooth, almost creamy, texture.
4. Add the tarragon and heat through, then serve warm, maybe with a nice sandwich, maybe a grilled cheese or a something on a nice fresh baguette.

Image Credit: “A True Lightweight”  ClipArt fun that won’t weigh you down, mashed up by the author. 

After wandering around in the dark for most of this posting, I manage to find a light source.  Let me know if you find it illuminating, you know, in the comments. I’ll be reading and responding.