{"id":1523,"date":"2007-02-06T01:10:00","date_gmt":"2007-02-06T01:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elitemporaryblog.wordpress.com\/2007\/02\/06\/the-soupiest-month"},"modified":"2015-09-24T03:53:56","modified_gmt":"2015-09-24T03:53:56","slug":"the-soupiest-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/02\/the-soupiest-month\/","title":{"rendered":"The soupiest month"},"content":{"rendered":"

February always feels to me like a funny limbo period. Winter has gone sort of tired and stale, but still, short sleeves are a little way away. Over most of the northern globe, it\u2019s nippy, damp, and grim. February is the shortest month, the Valentine\u2019s month, the scant sum of four weeks of frost and fog and those funky, crumbly candy hearts. It isn\u2019t much to speak of, quite honestly, except for all the soup.<\/p>\n

The way I see it, February is the soupiest month<\/b>. The giddy hubbub of holiday cooking is behind us, and summer barbeques feel like pure fantasy. So here in the middle, in Limbo Land, it\u2019s high time for soup. All I want these days is a bowl and spoon \u2013 and soup at noon, stew for supper, stock in the fridge, broth on the stove, soup soup soup<\/i>! What with all the spoonable meals around here, you\u2019d think I\u2019d had some sort of major oral surgery. But nah, it\u2019s just Old February, sticking its fingers in the stockpot again.<\/p>\n

And take it from me: when it does that, it\u2019s best not to resist. If I were you, I\u2019d fire up the stove, throw a few potatoes its way, and call it locro de papas<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Mine looks nothing like the photograph in this month\u2019s Gourmet<\/i>, but I don\u2019t care one bit, because this Andean potato stew is a deep-winter dream. It\u2019s warming, rustic, and immeasurably soothing, the sort of soup that makes you want to dock your spoon at the bottom of the bowl and hang out, right there, for a little while. I can think of many worse ways to spend February \u2013 can\u2019t you? \u2013 than in the company of potatoes like these, stewed<\/b> into a mellow, cumin-scented broth and smoothed with milk and crumbly Mexican cheese. Creamy and subtle, topped with crescents of avocado, it\u2019s a little homey, a little homely<\/b>, and quietly delicious \u2013 in other words, just the kind of food for February.<\/p>\n

Now, that said, I should warn you, however, that this is not<\/span> Saint Valentine\u2019s fare. That\u2019s not what it\u2019s for. There are plenty of other, sexier dishes to spoon delicately into someone else\u2019s mouth. (Ding, ding<\/span>! Hello, chocolate!) This one is just for you<\/span>. It\u2019s for a gray day, to be eaten in a cool room, and with a wool blanket across your lap<\/span>. I\u2019ve been doing just that since late last week, and I\u2019m not the least bit sick of it yet. In fact, I\u2019d be happy to drop anchor here indefinitely \u2013 (Can you tell we watched both Pirates of the Caribbean<\/i> movies this weekend? Argh<\/i>, matey.) \u2013 so long as the supply of avocado holds up. Or until the end of the month, whichever comes first.<\/p>\n

Locro de papas<\/b>
Adapted from Gourmet<\/i>, February 2007<\/p>\n

Fancy it ain\u2019t, but pay no mind, because this potato stew is a keeper. The only tricky thing about this recipe is the annatto \u2013 also known as achiote \u2013 seeds. They\u2019re small, triangular, rust-colored<\/a> pellets that bring a red color and earthy, resinous flavor to many Latin American, Caribbean, and Filipino dishes. That means, unfortunately, that they\u2019re a little tough to find in the typical American grocery store. I bought mine at World Spice<\/a>, but you could probably find them at your local Latin American or Mexican grocery, or at Penzey\u2019s<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And while we\u2019re on the topic of annatto, a word to the wise: when you make your annatto oil, below, use a stainless (or other light-colored) saucepan or skillet. I made the mistake of reaching for our well-seasoned omelet pan, which is black as tar and therefore made it damn near impossible for me to gauge the color of the oil as it steeped. And judging by the fact that my soup looks nothing<\/i> like the sweetly burnished red-orange business in Gourmet<\/i>, I think it\u2019s safe to assume that I didn\u2019t let my oil get red enough. Or that Gourmet<\/i> did some sort of tricky retouching. Either way, don\u2019t use a dark pan, and don\u2019t say I didn\u2019t warn you.<\/p>\n

2 tsp. annatto (achiote) seeds
2 Tbsp. olive oil
3 \u00bd lb. russet (baking) potatoes
1 cup chopped yellow onion (about 1 medium)
Rounded \u00bd tsp. ground cumin
2 \u00bc tsp. salt
A few grinds black pepper
7 cups water
1 cup whole milk
1 \u00bc cups coarsely grated queso fresco<\/i> or queso blanco<\/i>
2 firm-ripe avocados<\/p>\n

In a small saucepan or skillet, heat the annatto seeds and oil over low heat, swirling the pan often, until the oil is bright red-orange and barely simmering, about 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, and set aside to rest for 10 minutes.<\/p>\n

While the annatto oil is resting, fill a large bowl with cold water. Peel the potatoes and cut them into \u00be-inch chunks, dropping them into the bowl of water as you go. The water will help to prevent discoloration.<\/p>\n

Pour the annatto oil through a fine-mesh sieve into a large (7-8 quart) pot, discarding the seeds. Warm the oil over medium-high heat, and add the onions and half of the potatoes. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is softened, about 4-5 minutes. Add the cumin, salt, and pepper, and cook, stirring, for 1 minute more. Add the water, stir to scrape up any brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pot, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the potatoes are very tender, about 25-30 minutes; then mash the potatoes into the broth. (You could do this with a potato masher, I assume, but I couldn\u2019t find ours \u2013 the kitchen utensils drawer is a madhouse<\/i> \u2013 so I used my immersion blender instead.) Remove the remaining potatoes from their bowl of water, drain them well, and add them to the pot. Simmer, partially covered, until they are tender, about 20 minutes more. Stir in the milk and the cheese, and increase the heat to bring the pot to a simmer again, stirring. Remove from the heat.<\/p>\n

Cut the avocados into small cubes or slices. Ladle the soup into bowls, top with avocado, and serve.<\/p>\n

Yield: About 6 servings<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

February always feels to me like a funny limbo period. Winter has gone sort of tired and stale, but still, short sleeves are a little way away. Over most of the northern globe, it\u2019s nippy, damp, and grim. February is the shortest month, the Valentine\u2019s month, the scant sum of four weeks of frost and fog and those funky, crumbly candy hearts. It isn\u2019t much to speak of, quite honestly, except for all the soup. The way I see it, February is the soupiest month. The giddy hubbub of holiday cooking is behind us, and summer barbeques feel like pure fantasy. So here in the middle, in Limbo Land, it\u2019s high time for soup. All I want these days is…<\/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":"\nThe soupiest month | 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=\"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/02\/the-soupiest-month\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The soupiest month | Orangette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"February always feels to me like a funny limbo period. Winter has gone sort of tired and stale, but still, short sleeves are a little way away. Over most of the northern globe, it\u2019s nippy, damp, and grim. February is the shortest month, the Valentine\u2019s month, the scant sum of four weeks of frost and fog and those funky, crumbly candy hearts. It isn\u2019t much to speak of, quite honestly, except for all the soup. The way I see it, February is the soupiest month. The giddy hubbub of holiday cooking is behind us, and summer barbeques feel like pure fantasy. So here in the middle, in Limbo Land, it\u2019s high time for soup. All I want these days is…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/02\/the-soupiest-month\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Orangette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/molly.wizenberg\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-02-06T01:10:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-09-24T03:53:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/Locro-de-papas-030-1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mollyorangette\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@mollyorangette\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Molly\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/\",\"name\":\"Orangette\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/02\/the-soupiest-month\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/Locro-de-papas-030-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/Locro-de-papas-030-1.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/02\/the-soupiest-month\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/02\/the-soupiest-month\/\",\"name\":\"The soupiest month | Orangette\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/02\/the-soupiest-month\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-02-06T01:10:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-09-24T03:53:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/#\/schema\/person\/72d7c362f82fa0578c635d88a69d07fe\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/02\/the-soupiest-month\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/02\/the-soupiest-month\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/02\/the-soupiest-month\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The soupiest month\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/#\/schema\/person\/72d7c362f82fa0578c635d88a69d07fe\",\"name\":\"Molly\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/orangette.net\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/orangette.net\/author\/molly\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The soupiest month | Orangette","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/02\/the-soupiest-month\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The soupiest month | Orangette","og_description":"February always feels to me like a funny limbo period. Winter has gone sort of tired and stale, but still, short sleeves are a little way away. Over most of the northern globe, it\u2019s nippy, damp, and grim. February is the shortest month, the Valentine\u2019s month, the scant sum of four weeks of frost and fog and those funky, crumbly candy hearts. It isn\u2019t much to speak of, quite honestly, except for all the soup. The way I see it, February is the soupiest month. The giddy hubbub of holiday cooking is behind us, and summer barbeques feel like pure fantasy. So here in the middle, in Limbo Land, it\u2019s high time for soup. All I want these days is…","og_url":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/02\/the-soupiest-month\/","og_site_name":"Orangette","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/molly.wizenberg","article_published_time":"2007-02-06T01:10:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-09-24T03:53:56+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/Locro-de-papas-030-1.jpg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@mollyorangette","twitter_site":"@mollyorangette","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Molly","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/orangette.net\/#website","url":"http:\/\/orangette.net\/","name":"Orangette","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/orangette.net\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/02\/the-soupiest-month\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"http:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/Locro-de-papas-030-1.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/Locro-de-papas-030-1.jpg"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/02\/the-soupiest-month\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/02\/the-soupiest-month\/","name":"The soupiest month | Orangette","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/orangette.net\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/02\/the-soupiest-month\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2007-02-06T01:10:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-09-24T03:53:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/orangette.net\/#\/schema\/person\/72d7c362f82fa0578c635d88a69d07fe"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/02\/the-soupiest-month\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/02\/the-soupiest-month\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/02\/the-soupiest-month\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/orangette.net\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The soupiest month"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/orangette.net\/#\/schema\/person\/72d7c362f82fa0578c635d88a69d07fe","name":"Molly","sameAs":["http:\/\/orangette.net"],"url":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/author\/molly\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1523"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1523"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1909,"href":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1523\/revisions\/1909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}