{"id":349,"date":"2014-03-30T09:00:50","date_gmt":"2014-03-30T14:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pcandres.com\/?p=349"},"modified":"2015-11-06T15:43:03","modified_gmt":"2015-11-06T21:43:03","slug":"icebox-soup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/?p=349","title":{"rendered":"Icebox Soup"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0;float:none\"><iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fthesoupblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D349&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=true&amp;action=like&amp;font=arial&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;width=450&amp;height=30\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width: 450px; height: 30px;\"><\/iframe><\/div><div id=\"attachment_350\" style=\"width: 390px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Ice-Box-Picture-BW.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-350\" class=\"wp-image-350\" title=\"Ice Box Picture B&amp;W\" src=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Ice-Box-Picture-BW-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"380\" height=\"285\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Ice-Box-Picture-BW-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Ice-Box-Picture-BW-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 380px) 100vw, 380px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-350\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Ice Maker Cometh<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how spring was coming.\u00a0 The snow was melting, crocuses and snowdrops were blooming and the mercury was up above 50 for the first time in months.<\/p>\n<p>False alarm.<\/p>\n<p>Chicago will do that to you. Veteran Midwesterners are used to this meteorological bait and switch.\u00a0 We Californians still get fooled every time.<\/p>\n<p>Spring does come.\u00a0 It just comes on its own time. That\u2019s why there\u2019s a local gardening understanding that you don\u2019t put anything in the ground any earlier than May 15<sup>th <\/sup>, in case there\u2019s a late frost. (shudder) \u00a0In Los Angeles the weather is so mild, a random tomato seed in February could volunteer new fruit out of a crack in the sidewalk.<\/p>\n<p>Here you learn to wait and make do with what you\u2019ve got. For now fresh garden vegetables exist only in the future tense, and we rely on the pantry and the frozen food section for a few more weeks (months?).\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t mean we settle for lower quality, just that we have to be more innovative, more resourceful.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a stigma about cooking with canned or frozen vegetables in California because fresh local produce is available year round. In Chicagoland, the growing season is closer to 24 weeks. In the intervening time not only do we live in an icebox, we cook out of one too.<\/p>\n<p>As such, when the temperature dropped below freezing again this week, I was ready. My plans for clam chowder went out the window and I ran for the freezer.\u00a0 I pulled out frozen broccoli and Italian sausage and threw them into the stock pot with a can of diced tomatoes (organic, of course, you can take the man out of California, but\u2026), celery &amp; seasonings and put the whole thing on to simmer.\u00a0 After forty minutes the house was filled with a warm and hearty aroma.\u00a0 Next I stirred in the pasta and let the soup finish on low.<\/p>\n<p>It was fast, easy, and delicious.\u00a0 All good things.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes it\u2019s fun to spend all day in the kitchen.\u00a0 Sometimes it\u2019s more fun to spend all that time with your family and throw something together at the last minute.<\/p>\n<p>Since I came to the Midwest, I&#8217;ve learned to appreciate <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">all<\/span><\/em> the time I have.\u00a0 In California, my Midwestern wife would ask \u201cWhere are the seasons?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWe have seasons,\u201d I&#8217;d reply, \u201cthey\u2019re just subtle.\u201d\u00a0 Yet because I could wear short pants pretty much year round (and when I couldn\u2019t, I did anyway), the passage of time was something I noticed more on the calendar than felt in my bones.<\/p>\n<p>Not any more.<\/p>\n<p>(Fun fact:\u00a0 Bone marrow makes a delicious soup, an Italian delicacy no less.)<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re feeling the chill in your bones too, there\u2019s no better soup than this.\u00a0 It will keep you warm through a false spring.\u00a0 The real spring will get here eventually.\u00a0 But you won\u2019t find me waiting around for it.\u00a0 There\u2019s too much to do, too many last minutes to fill.<\/p>\n<p>And if I can\u2019t coax you out here with me, maybe I could recommend a bowl of nicely seasoned soup.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sausage &amp; Broccoli Soup<br \/>\n<\/strong>(serves 6-8)<br \/>\n6 cups stock, anything except fish stock will do<br \/>\n3 stalks celery, sliced<br \/>\n1 lb broccoli<br \/>\n6 sweet Italian sausages, sliced<br \/>\n1 14.5 oz. can, diced tomatoes<br \/>\n2 T Italian seasoning<br \/>\nSalt &amp; pepper, to taste<br \/>\n4 oz. farfalle pasta<br \/>\n\u00bc cup parmesan cheese, grated<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Put the stock into a 3 quart sauce pot, add celery, broccoli, sausages, tomatoes, Italian seasoning and salt &amp; pepper, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 30-45 minutes.<\/li>\n<li>Add pasta and continue to simmer for another 15 minutes.<\/li>\n<li>Remove from heat and stir in parmesan.\u00a0 (Look Ma, no immersion blender.)<\/li>\n<li>Serve with crusty bread and salad with Italian vinaigrette.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><em>Photo Credit:\u00a0 A favorite appliance<\/em><strong>\u2014<\/strong><em>the Ice Maker, shot by the author.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Don\u2019t just talk about the weather. Do something. Put a sweater on.\u00a0 Put some soup on. Once you\u2019ve warmed up, I\u2019d like to hear from you.\u00a0 Leave comments. Ask questions. \u00a0I\u2019ll be listening <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">and<\/span> responding.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how spring was coming.\u00a0 The snow was melting, crocuses and snowdrops were blooming and the mercury was up above 50 for the first time in months. False alarm. Chicago will do that to you. Veteran Midwesterners are used to this meteorological bait and switch.\u00a0 We Californians still [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[121,15,22,10,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-broccoli","category-cheese","category-noodles","category-pork","category-tomatoes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=349"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2281,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349\/revisions\/2281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}