The Soup Season

Actually, it has always been soup season for me. But now is the really serious soup season. I make at least one huge pot per week, sometimes two, from October until May.

Yesterday, I made this irresistable Sweet Potato, Corn, and Jalapeno Bisque. It was velvety, colorful, and comforting, while being strikingly low in fat, sparse on ingredients, quick to make, and cheap. I had everything on hand except the molasses, and I really regret not making a special trip out to buy it. I used some wildflower honey in its place, but there really is no substitute for molasses. I topped the bisque with shredded monterey jack cheese, which was just the thing to make up for no molasses. I think that next time I make it, I may add bacon or black beans to make it heartier, or serve it alongside some roasted shrimp. Or for a lazier version, substitute canned pumpkin puree for the sweet potatoes.

My freezer is now completely emptied of corn. Kind of shameful, so I won't discuss how much corn was in there a couple of weeks ago. I really want to make this recipe for roasted corn pudding in acorn squash, but it hurts me to think that I would need to buy corn to do it.

Items I received in the CSA last week were:

1. Sweet potatoes. I used half for the bisque, and will make oven fries with the rest.

2. Hot peppers: lots of them. Very timely for the above recipe.

3. Celeriac: I have often yearned to try celeriac, but have been sort of afraid that the grocery clerks will ask for a price check on a rock. I have some recipes for mashed celeriac, but I think that it may end up in a stew instead.

4. Yellow-skinned, yellow-fleshed potatoes that are not Yukon golds, but look like them.

5. Red-skinned, white-fleshed potatoes

6. Kohlrabi. I got one bulb, and then found another that some unadventurous person had abandoned in the choice box. Probably the same sad person that tossed a fennel bulb in there months ago, which I also took. Kohlrabi puree is on my mind.

7. Garlic

8. Winter squash: One heirloom acorn and one delicato. Trixie is so thrilled!

9. Red crispy lettuce head

10. Carrots: a GIANT bag of GIANT carrots.

That was the second-to-last delivery. This week is the last. I am already cautiously leafing through cookbooks and wondering what to do when the CSA veggies are gone. Can I really just pick any old recipe and make it?