What we eat

Dennis and I eat together almost every day. Almost every time we eat together, in this house, I cook something. I blog about maybe 2 out of 10 things I make. Why? Because so often, the food we eat is - I think - uninteresting to the rest of the world. It's repeats of old favorites, or it's experiments gone slightly wrong, or it's food that's ok, or even good, but not really 'wow' or 'you have to make this'. And because I don't see this blog as a chronicle of things I eat, but as a report on things I find good enough to share so other people can make them too, many meals remain unmentioned. (And then there's the fact that sometimes I make something fabulous by accident, but did not take notes so there's no way I can blog about it).

Today was one of those "let´s see what´s in the fridge oh I could make soup and salad" kind of days, and I really did not expect anything exciting to happen with that. But it did. I invented a soup that was truly delicious and really worth repeating.
It has the sweetness of the pumpkin and the softness of potatoes and then the slight bitterness of the swede, and in the background the haunting spiciness of mild curry powder. Be really careful with the curry powder (and taste it before you use it: if it's been in your cupboard forever it will probably taste more like dust than spices): you don't want this to be a curry soup, in fact, you want the curry flavor to be so elusive that it will be hard to determine.

As with all silky smooth pureed soups, I think it's vital to have something crunchy to use as a topping (croutons, crispy onions or bacon or maybe even some toasted nuts) - just to make sure it doesn't feel like you're eating babyfood.



Root vegetable soup
dinner for 2, starter for 4
equal amounts of swede, pumpkin and potato (I had about 250 grams trimmed weight of each), peeled and cut into chunks
1 onion, minced
1 clove of garlic, minced
a knob of butter
a tablespoon of olive oil
750 ml. light chicken stock
a little milk to thin the soup later
a pinch of mild curry powder (see note above)
salt, pepper
croutons and sriracha, to serve

Heat the oil and butter together in a large pot. Add the onion and garlic and sweat them until they´re soft and beginning to brown. Add the root vegetables, curry powder and stock, bring to the boil and then simmer until the vegetables are tender (the swede will take a while - 30 minutes or so).
Puree, add a little water or milk until the soup has the consistency you like. Taste for salt, pepper and curry. Serve hot with croutons and an optional swirl of sriracha.