{"id":1101,"date":"2008-10-28T04:41:00","date_gmt":"2008-10-28T04:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elitemporaryblog.wordpress.com\/2008\/10\/28\/your-work-is-done"},"modified":"2008-10-28T04:41:00","modified_gmt":"2008-10-28T04:41:00","slug":"your-work-is-done","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2008\/10\/your-work-is-done\/","title":{"rendered":"Your work is done"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been a little wishy-washy, I know, about the coming of fall this year. One minute, I\u2019m moaning about wool scarves and rain<\/a> and the end of the world, and the next minute, I\u2019m chirping giddily about kale<\/a> and apples<\/a> and flannel sheets. It must be hard to keep up, and I\u2019m sorry about that. If it\u2019s any consolation, know that I too have a hard time keeping up, and I<\/span>\u2019m the one doing the moaning and chirping. Fall makes my head feel spinny.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fall also, incidentally, makes me absolutely crazy for soup. C-R-A-Z-Y. Does anyone else experience this phenomenon, or is it my own peculiar seasonal pathology? I mean, is it weird to set the table with only napkins and spoons for weeks on end? Is it sad to eat a diet composed entirely of soft foods if you are under the age of ninety and still have a full set of teeth? Because there is a lot of soup in my life right now, and I intend to keep it that way until sometime in early to mid-2009. No matter how I feel about other aspects of fall, I am consistent, at least, about soup, and I hope that counts for something.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
I\u2019ve written about a decent number of soups here in the past few years, but there is one that I seem to have, until now, completely forgotten to mention. It\u2019s a tomato soup with red onion and cilantro stems, and it is the most effortless, biggest-bang-for-your-buck soup in my repertoire. There are, of course, a million recipes out there for tomato soup, but this one, I think, is worthy of note, both for its utter simplicity and its unusual seasoning. It\u2019s bright and warming, and though it is nothing but good for you, it feels surprisingly hearty, which makes it perfect fall fare. It is also one of my mother\u2019s favorite soups, and that\u2019s a solid endorsement, because the lady is a very fine cook. She\u2019s the one who found the recipe, actually, in the April 1995 issue of Martha Stewart Living<\/span>, in that \u201cWhat\u2019s for Dinner?\u201d section with the perforated, tear-out recipe cards. (I love that section.) I was in my sophomore year of high school at the time, and though I can\u2019t entirely endorse my taste in that era – my wardrobe back then consisted largely of mouse-brown oversize men\u2019s pants that I bought for 11 cents each at a thrift store in Edmond<\/a> – I did know a good soup when I tasted it. In the years that followed my mother\u2019s discovery of this recipe, we ate it on a regular basis, usually with a dab of sour cream on top. Even my father liked it, which says a lot, since I remember him mainly as a cream-soups-and-
clam-chowder kind of guy.<\/p>\n

But recipes come and recipes go, and for a while, I kind of forgot about that old tomato soup. I am often distracted, I should admit, by the shiny lure of a new recipe, and sometimes, against my will, the older ones wind up ignored. I can\u2019t help it. But this past weekend, my mother happened to mention the tomato soup, and I thought, Oh, <\/span>right! That soup with the cilantro stems! <\/span>No matter the time of year, tomato soup always sounds good, doesn\u2019t it? Fresh tomato season may be over, but canned ones don\u2019t care about the calendar. So I went to the store, and today, in a grand total of 40 minutes – 30 of which I spent sitting at the kitchen table, writing this – I made a potful. Basically, you start by warming some olive oil in a large saucepan, and then you dump in a diced red onion and one clove of garlic, minced. While they cook, you mince half of a jalape\u00f1o and chop up the stems from one bunch of cilantro. That\u2019s my favorite part of the whole recipe, those cilantro stems. I don\u2019t know about you, but ordinarily, when I buy cilantro, I use only the leaves. Until this recipe came along, I didn\u2019t know that the stems could be used at all. But the truth is, they have loads of flavor, fresh and sprightly and clean, and their delicately crunchy texture is perfectly suited to a rustic, chunky soup like this one. So you add them, along with the jalape\u00f1o, to the softened onion and garlic, and then you pour in the juice from a can of tomatoes, the tomatoes themselves, and some water. Bring it to a simmer, and ba-ding<\/span>! Your work is done. Now, go sit down with a glass of wine. Dinner will be ready in half an hour.<\/p>\n

Thank you, Mom.<\/p>\n

Tomato Soup with Red Onion and Cilantro Stems<\/span>
Adapted from Martha Stewart Living<\/a>, April 1995<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For this recipe, I like Muir Glen canned tomatoes.<\/p>\n

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium red onion, diced
1 medium garlic clove, minced
\u00bd tsp. kosher salt, or to taste
1\/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
\u00bc cup cilantro stems, cut into \u00bd-inch lengths
\u00bd of a jalape\u00f1o pepper, seeded and minced
1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
Sour cream, for serving<\/p>\n

Warm the oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onions and garlic, and cook until the onions are soft and translucent, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the salt, pepper, cilantro stems, and jalape\u00f1o, and stir well. Strain the tomatoes, and add the juice to the saucepan. Then seed the tomatoes, chop them coarsely, and add them to the pan as well. Add 2 cups water, and stir to combine. Simmer for 30 minutes. Add the lime juice. Then taste, and adjust the seasoning, if needed.<\/p>\n

Serve hot, with a dollop of sour cream.<\/p>\n

Yield: 4 servings<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been a little wishy-washy, I know, about the coming of fall this year. One minute, I\u2019m moaning about wool scarves and rain and the end of the world, and the next minute, I\u2019m chirping giddily about kale and apples and flannel sheets. It must be hard to keep up, and I\u2019m sorry about that. If it\u2019s any consolation, know that I too have a hard time keeping up, and I\u2019m the one doing the moaning and chirping. Fall makes my head feel spinny. Fall also, incidentally, makes me absolutely crazy for soup. C-R-A-Z-Y. Does anyone else experience this phenomenon, or is it my own peculiar seasonal pathology? I mean, is it weird to set the table with only napkins…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nYour work is done | Orangette<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/2008\/10\/your-work-is-done\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Your work is done | Orangette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019ve been a little wishy-washy, I know, about the coming of fall this year. One minute, I\u2019m moaning about wool scarves and rain and the end of the world, and the next minute, I\u2019m chirping giddily about kale and apples and flannel sheets. It must be hard to keep up, and I\u2019m sorry about that. If it\u2019s any consolation, know that I too have a hard time keeping up, and I\u2019m the one doing the moaning and chirping. Fall makes my head feel spinny. Fall also, incidentally, makes me absolutely crazy for soup. C-R-A-Z-Y. Does anyone else experience this phenomenon, or is it my own peculiar seasonal pathology? 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One minute, I\u2019m moaning about wool scarves and rain and the end of the world, and the next minute, I\u2019m chirping giddily about kale and apples and flannel sheets. It must be hard to keep up, and I\u2019m sorry about that. If it\u2019s any consolation, know that I too have a hard time keeping up, and I\u2019m the one doing the moaning and chirping. Fall makes my head feel spinny. Fall also, incidentally, makes me absolutely crazy for soup. C-R-A-Z-Y. Does anyone else experience this phenomenon, or is it my own peculiar seasonal pathology? 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