Monday, January 4, 2010

Mr. Hawthorne Makes Lamb Soup.

It's cold here on the Outer Banks. Temperatures have been in the mid-twenties and the howling wind has made it highly uncomfortable outside. So I'm staying warm inside. Taking my sweet time un-decorating the tree. I got the balls and bows and ribbons off today. Maybe I'll do the lights tomorrow. And I'm in soup-mode. We're starting out with lamb soup which Mr. Hawthorne made Saturday night. I had cooked a leg of lamb Christmas and there was still a lot of meat on the bone.
This was a hearty, filling soup. Perfect for this weather.
Mr. Hawthorne removed the rest of the lamb meat from the bone and chopped it into small pieces.
He chopped 2 carrots into coins.
And he chopped 2 celery stalks.
He chopped half of 1 large onion.
And one potato.
Carrots and celery went into the pot.
Along with the onions ...
... and the potatoes.
Mr. Hawthorne then added in some ELBOO (That's Extra Light Bertolli Olive Oil.)
And some butter.
Turned the heat on and stirred the veggies while the butter melted. Now, I would have heated the pan first, added the oil, melted the butter, then tossed in the veggies, but Mr. Hawthorne is making the soup so I'm keeping my mouth shut. (Yes. I know. It's hard to do.)
Oooh. What's this I found in my freezer? Has it really been that long since I made veal stock? Time flies when you're in the kitchen. Here's Day 1 of making the stock. Day 2. Day 3.
All my little cubes of veal stock went into the veggies.
I know. This is blasphemy. But he added beef stock from a can to my veal stock.
Sacrilege! He added two bouillon cubes. My heart was racing and my blood pressure escalating dangerously. He explained that the soup needed salt and he wanted to add a "seasoned salt," hence the beef bouillon.
Next the lamb went in.
About a cup of frozen peas. As I've said before, if you use canned peas, I will hunt you down and hurt you.
Stir and heat through.
Mr. Hawthorne buttered one of those baguettes from Schwan's and baked it for about 15 minutes. I always keep these in my freezer. My boys love them.
We had a container of spaetzle Mr. Xmaskatie was kind enough to give us. I don't know his recipe, but he's German, so it's the real deal.
Right at the end, Mr. Hawthorne added in the spaetzle and heated through.
Serve with a buttered slice of baguette. This was soul-satisfyingly good. How do I describe the addition of the veal stock? Veal stock is gastronomic gold. It's like liquid velvet. It is subtle. It is sexy. It caresses your tongue with flavor and warmth and happiness. It leaves you wanting more. It's comforting. Take your can of beef stock. (Please. Take it.) Beef stock is like hard rock. Say Aerosmith. AC DC. Kiss. Veal stock is soft. Like Mel Torme. Tony Bennett. Perry Como. A bouillon cube is like fingernails on a blackboard. The two Hawthorne Boys finished off this whole pot of soup. Plus 2 baguettes.

3 comments:

Debbie said...

I like Mel Torme, I like Perry Como, I'm sure I would like veal stock too, now that you mention it.
mmmmm.....soup looks good.

Marilyn said...

That looks so good.

And I would hurt that man if he tried to add those cubes to my food.

Kathy said...

Mr. Xmaskatie is German? Uhhh . . . I seem to recall . . .