The idea took shape after a dispute with my husband regarding distribution of labor, wherein I cried, "You are so spoiled! You think everyone has two soups to choose from!" A ridiculous statement that nevertheless allowed me to win the argument and spawned a dream.
I have a fridge full of soups, sandwich spreads, marinated salads and casseroles. The freezer is stacked with containers of sauce (red chili, green chili, marinara and pesto), cooked beans, empanadas, stewed greens and discs of homemade pie dough. There is almost always a pie, cake, scones or a batch of cookies on the counter. We are a family of four and yet I cook for ten, apologetically delivering leftovers to neighbors. I think, wouldn't it be cool – just the funnest thing! – to own a restaurant?
My morning walk takes me past an abandoned restaurant. It's small (or cozy), biscuit-colored stucco, big windows shaded with black canvas awnings. This is my restaurant. I've painted the interior a grayed-down periwinkle, accents of cream, white, charcoal and bright coral. I've planted a small garden out back; herbs for my kitchen line the brick path. There's a little patio strung with vintage lights where my musician friends play acoustic sets on Friday nights. I've selected tableware and staff attire, planned a menu – which changes seasonally – right down to the fonts.
I hustle on and the vision disappears. Behind me, the faded awnings sag, weeds strangle my basil and overtake the patio stage.
When I imagine a spacious restaurant kitchen, cooking in my cramped home kitchen is disappointing, but I make do. Our friend Sue lives nearby and drops by for dinner frequently. At the end of the evening, when the plates are sopped clean and chairs are pushed back from the table to create room for stomach expansion, invariably some version of this conversation will take place.
My husband sighs contentedly and says, "Bell, you should open a restaurant."
I say, "Yeah, that's heaven spelled backwards."
Sue chimes in. "Seriously, you should!"
I nod agreeably. "I should poke my own eyes out."
Unbeknownst to them, I'm already a restaurateur, accomplished chef, bon vivant. I'm hard working, wise and patient, a humanitarian, community leader and – all four lobes agree, except for a rogue group of cells in the ocular region and they are well known liars – very attractive. I am also a Grammy winner!
My nightmare is closer to the truth. I'm wrecked with fatigue, dealing with iffy kitchen workers, their rusty Ford Probes on temporary tires and probation or immigration issues. Young waitresses who spend most of their time in the bathroom, hurling last night's tequila or texting or peeing on pregnancy sticks. Suppliers who promise broccolini and deliver yellow broccoli florets. Customer-idiots who want sauce on the side and can you make it without the cilantro. And the owner! After a year of eighty-hour work weeks and superhuman enthusiasm in the face of financial ruin, she now shows up at three in the afternoon wearing a stained housecoat, the pockets full of tissues and pills.
Yes, even my daydream believer is a skeptic. My (uninsured) restaurant would go down in flames and if I came within a hundred yards of a Grammy stage I'd crap my Spanx and bawl like an emo kid. So, it's best to let my daydreams hold hands with my cracker jack self. She's made of buttery popcorn, caramel and prizes.
But every morning as I walk past my restaurant, I ask myself "What are our soups today?" Restaurant kitchen or home kitchen, when I'm in charge there are always two soups to choose from.
I typically make soups on Sunday or Monday – one brothy or bean soup, and another creamy soup. These two soups make a regular appearance.
Creamy Carrot and Tomato Soup with Galangal
Ground galangal used to be known as Laos powder, and is similar to ground ginger. The flavor is slightly floral and peppery, without being hot. It can be difficult to find outside an Asian market, but you can find it through online spice companies like Penzey's or The Spice House.
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
1 cup sweet yellow onion, finely diced
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes (San Marzano if they're on sale!)
5 large carrots, peeled and diced
2 cups low sodium vegetable broth
1 tsp ground galangal
1/8 - 1/4 tsp ground red pepper (optional)
1/3 cup cream
Kosher salt to taste
In a three quart saucepan over medium-high heat, saute the onions until they are translucent and beginning to soften. Add the tomatoes, carrots and vegetable broth. Reduce the heat to medium low, and simmer for 25-30 minutes or until the carrots are very tender.
Using an immersion blender (or a food processor or blender, in batches) puree the soup until it's smooth. Add the galangal, red pepper (if using), and salt to taste. Simmer over very low heat for five minutes, giving the ground spices a chance to bloom. Adjust seasonings to taste. Stir in the cream.
Vegetarian Onion and Mushroom Soup
In vegetarian brothy soups I like to use Wondra, a superfine flour, to slightly thicken the broth so that it mimics the body of meat stocks without adding additional fat or the opaque color of a roux. Wondra comes in a round blue canister and is sold alongside other flours.
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 and ½ large sweet yellow onions, chopped into one inch pieces
8 oz crimini mushrooms (often labeled "baby bella"), chopped
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 heavy Tbsp vegetarian Worcestershire sauce ( anchovy-free versions are available at most health food stores.)
1 Tbsp soy sauce
4 cups low sodium vegetable broth
3 Tbsp Wondra flour
Kosher salt and plenty of fresh black pepper.
In a large, wide-bottomed pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring often, until the onions are opaque and soft, but not brown, about ten minutes.
Turn the heat up to medium-high, and add the mushrooms and a sprinkle of salt to get them to release moisture. Cook until the mushrooms and onions are a light caramel brown and any liquid has evaporated, about five minutes.
Add the tomato paste and cook until it gets sticky. Add the Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and vegetable broth, making sure to scrape the nice browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Bring to a slow boil and then whisk in the Wondra flour 1 Tbsp at a time. Taste for salt and pepper (use lots of pepper!). Serve with buttered cheese bread (I mix fontina and manchego) and a big green salad.
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Comments
Anyone who has two soups a day can do anything..
HUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
That said, I love the simple soup recipes, and will surely be making them soon. Like greenheron, I would patronize any establishment that you graced.
I love soup, especially now that autumn leaves are beginning their turn...
I'd bet you'd run a great restaurant with fresh-faced-or-not, dedicated employees who can't wait to come to work and help you make a fortune!
♥R
Scarlett -- Oh I'd be so bamboozled. I mean, I forgot about coke. I'd think they were in the parking lot making cupcakes and that's why their noses were white and dusty.
Zanelle -- That would be the life! I'm sure she has more than a few stories to tell about the restaurant biz!
Lamm -- I fear I need a new director of photography for my food porn. It's hard to make a bowl of brown soup look sexy, and I'm not really up to the task.
Linda -- The restaurant dream is part of my lottery-winning dream, because when Mr. Vance says I should open a restaurant, he never says where the money would come from.
Jon -- Thank you! Honest self-awareness is the best way to avoid some serious pitfalls. I really would be a terrible restaurant owner.
Design -- Now that's a valid reason to put off owning a restaurant.
Christine -- You've got a lucky family. I hope they know how lucky.
Miguela -- He is soooo spoiled. I fear, however, that once you're forced to cook day in and day out on someone else's schedule that would ruin all the fun. But it's still a nice dream.
Susie -- Work. Hard work. Day after day. I'd be toast after a week.
Owl -- I did watch the Truck Race show on Food Network. That looked like a lot of fun too. Karaoke you say!?
Dianaani -- That sounds like the perfect compromise. The fact that I'm exhausted thinking about a dinner party for thirty once a month tells me I'm right to keep on walking.
Renatta -- We have NO vegetarian restaurants in our city. None. Nada. Which is why we eat at home a lot (although we're pescatarians).
Candace -- Mama Candy's! I've got a theme all mapped out...
Sheila -- One day, maybe. I do keep looking at my children -- both artists (one working as a restaurant cook and the other working as a waitress) and think that I'd at least be able to give them JOBS.
Lea -- On a TV show I'd be like Bobby Brady, mutely watching that red light. But I am working on a memoir/cookbook.
Sophieh -- Soup and sandwiches are my favorite meals, a feast. It's good to know someone else agrees.
Mhold -- When we go out I almost always order soup. I've never actually ordered two in one sitting. Hmm....you've blown my mind.
Matt -- Well, it is a Holiday Tuesday which means it feels like a Monday. Wondra flour is an amazing ingredient. It's great for soups, stews and gravies and pot-pie fillings and also as a coating for calamari or really fresh fish when you want a very thin crispy sear but not a bunch of breading.
Just Thinking -- I love your optimism. :)
l'Heure -- Come knock on the door. There's always extra food. I do song requests but I'm apt to change the lyrics.
Fusun -- I'm a bit of a fontaholic. Only two at at a time though (one serif, one sans serif...as I was taught in my typesetting class).
Stim -- I actually do make a nice cream of celery. Still it IS likely to be on the menu at the end of the week when all I have left in the produce drawer is celery.
Julie -- Love YOU!
Abrawang -- Thanks for confirming my beliefs. Every restaurant owner I know says the same thing. Though they admit to enjoying what they do, they are all very tired.
Felicia -- My son works as a restaurant cook (for two different restaurants) and he loves it. But he's young and energetic and not financially responsible. That would be the worst, I think -- having to expend the energy AND the money!
Anyhow, do you deliver? (r)
-r-
B. Your nightmare graph is so funny and good.
C. Yes, a cookbook.
I bet that you can make a broccoli floret shame a brocollini. Love the way you write. Same comment as Greenheron too.
2) Adopt me...... please????
But Bell, have you tried fresh Galangal, beaten to a pulp in a mortar and pestle? Dried is OK but fresh is best.
Dunniteowl -- I knew owls were smart. I think the dream is so much better than the reality.
Catherine -- He begins every morning with me barking, "Drop and give me twenty." Then he hands me twenty dollars. We don't eat meat, so we can splurge on cream in the soup!
Joan -- That Ina. I'm sure she could cut a bitch.
Jane -- Pumpkin pie mix with ice cream? Why didn't I think of that?
Fernsy -- It's fresh galangal in the Thai soups, and it is divine. Your faith in me is so sweet. I feel like my cracker jack self!
Chrissie -- (Looking around at my motley crew of mutts) I guess I'll adopt anything, so come on!
McKenna -- I'm going to print out your comment, frame it and also embroider it on my pillowcases.
Oryoki -- I do the same thing. It keeps cooking exciting. The fresh variety is quite different from the ground spice. Kind of like ginger is to ground ginger.
Thoth -- Aw thanks! It's good to see your avatar in the feed again.
Jobaby -- I love fresh galangal! It is such a vibrant ingredient. The ground version is, I think, just a completely different thing. Far sweeter and more muted and flowery. That's why I used the ground galangal -- with the heaviness of pureed texture, the earthiness of the carrot and the sweetness of the cream, the ground variety seems like a much better fit.
Ann -- I did think of you and your path to professional cook when I was writing this. You KNOW!
Jane Smithie -- You're back! My four lobes are also liars. I don't trust any of them.
Jaramelle -- Thanks a bunch. These were last weeks soups. This week we have vegetable and brown rice, and a creamy asparagus. Also lentil. Which I'm going to freeze for cooler weather.
Mumble -- I watch those same shows!!! Nightmare. I have enough sense to know I'm not cut out for restaurant ownership. But the dreams are nice. I'd trade my empanadas (eggplant and smoked cheese) for some of your Indian food any day.
Realities aside, I think you'd make a terrific restauranteur. If you ever do open your own place, I'll be sure to visit :-)
Just got your rating and took a look, Priceless! Thanks!