Everyman's soup

I went to work last night to use their kitchen which lays sad and fallow during the week. I have been fighting with my mother, and I didn't want to occupy her space, so I asked James, our kitchen manager, if I could come over, and make some brownies, pretty please. He gave me a very unexpected "sure, of course", which is a welcome change in my world. But that is not why I am writing you, dear reader, I am writing you to share my last minute bravura, a great soup that I made last night which was also unexpected, and very delicious. It is the last bit of my mother's matzah ball soup with some chickpeas I added (I hadn't had any all weekend, and when I saw the tupperware full of matzah balls, a few carrots, and only a few ounces of chicken stock, I knew I could make something of it). So I stopped at the market to pick up some cilantro, always an excellent addition to most any soup, and got some shrimps and enoki mushrooms at the last minute. First thing I did when I got to the restaurant, was to peel the exoskeletons off the shrimp to make a quick stock which would simmer for a good 40 minutes. I put the meat aside in a hotel pan filled with ice, and set off to make my brownies. When they were in the oven, I prepped the rest of my soup, cleaned the cilantro, shrimps, and mushrooms, and cooked it all together (actually, I rough chopped the cilantro and placed it into the serving bowl, and when the soup was ready I poured it over it, to preserve the fresh taste of the herb) in the two stock mixture. What a delight! I tossed some red pepper flakes, and of course some salt, into the final product, and I really enjoyed this masterpiece, a pan-Asian delight if you will, that I hope to make again.


Look Ma, I really am the devil! But I prefer to think that shrimp and matzah ball can coexist. I dont expect her to agree.

A close up of all the varietal goodness.