Long time ago, when I lived in Washington D.C. I worked in the Watergate office building.  As you probably know, or at least, as you probably suspect, a snow of an inch or so in Washington, D.C., nearly shuts down the city.  The result of such weather is that everyone in the office building eats in the Greek-owned deli on the ground floor, crating a huge crowd.  When I worked in the building, the deli served the best twice-baked potato and the best lentil soup in Washington, D.C.

During one such snow storm, I was in line for lunch at eh deli.  I ordered lentil sop, which was served to me in a Styrofoam bowl.  As I turned to leave, I spilled the entire bowl on the Swedish consular, who was standing behind me.  He was so polite that he insisted that I get back in line ahead of him to get a new bowl of soup.  I did, and immediately spilled the second bowl all over the floor.  Because most of those in line were diplomats, they didn’t say a word as my face and ears turned totally red, and the deli personnel came around the counter to clean up the mess I had made.  The third helping of the lentil soup was given to me in a bowl, placed in the center of a large tray so any spill would be caught in the tray and not by the Swedish consular.

All cultures have great soups. Some soups are light and make good starter and some make a meal on their own. Lentil soups are still my favorite.

Lentil Lemon Soup with Cilantro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Krty6C34I2E

serves 6-8

6     cup cooked garbanzo beans

4     tablespoons olive oil

1     medium carrot, chopped

1     medium onion, chopped

1     celery, finely chopped

2     cloves garlic, mashed

2     cups chopped  green cabbage

1     teaspoon chili paste or chili powder

1     16-ounce can crushed tomatoes

1     teaspoon sage

salt to taste

-In a heavy soup pot, heat the olive oil, and then saute the onion, the carrot and the celery for five minutes.

-Add the garlic, the sage, the chili paste and the cabbage.  Stir and cook for couple of minutes.

-Add the crushed tomatoes, the salt, half of the cooked garbanzo beans and 4 cups of water.  Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

-In a food processor, puree the rest of the garbanzo beans with 1 cup of water.  Add this puree into the soup.  Stir, adjust the seasoning and cook over low heat for 10 minutes.  Enjoy

Chili Paste

Make 1 cup

3         cups dried red pepper

1/4     cup olive oil

1         teaspoon sea salt

-Bring 8 cups of water to a boil.  Drop the pepper in the pot, bring back to a boil. Boil for couple minutes.  Turn off the heat and allow the pepper to rest for 4 hours.

-Squeeze the water out of the pepper and place in a blender with the oil and salt.  Puree into smooth paste.  Scope into a jar, cover with little olive oil and place in the refrigerator.

2       Acorn squash

1        butternut squash

1       12-ounce can pureed pumpkin

4       tablespoons olive oil

1       medium onion, finely chopped

4      celery stalk, chopped

4      carrots, peeled and chopped

1/4   teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/8   teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

1/8   teaspoon fresh shredded ginger

1/4   cup slivered almonds, toasted

salt to taste

-Cut the Acorn squash and the butternut squash, scoop the seeds and place the cut side down on cookie sheet and bake in a 400 F. degree oven for 20 minutes or done.  Remove from the oven and place on the side and allow it to cool.

-In heavy pan, heat the olive oil and add the vegetables.  Stir and cook over low heat for 5 minutes.  Add the red pepper, the nutmeg and the ginger.  Stir and cook for 1 minutes.  Remove from the heat and set aside.

-Spoon the baked flesh into a pot and discard the skin.  Add 8 cups of water and bring to a boil.  Bring to a boil, cover and allow to simmer for 5 minutes.  Spoon mixture into food processor and puree until smooth.  You can do that in patches.  Spoon back into the pot, add the pureed pumpkin, the vegetables and the salt.  Stir, adjust the seasoning and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 10 minutes.

-Spoon into a bowl, sprinkle with the almonds and serve.

Although many countries claim a cold soup as part of their national cuisine, the credit really goes to Spain for inventing the original.  We now are blessed with cold potato soup, which the French call Vichyssoise, pureed potato and leek soup with a cream base; from the Arab world and from India we have cold cucumber soup with yogurt added; and more than one variety of gaspacho from Spain.  All are quite tasty, and are quite wonderful.

Creative chefs around the country have taken this basic idea and have adapted it to almost anything that can be pureed and served cold.  On various menus, I’ve seen watermelon soup, avocado soup, mango and cream-based soup. There is really is no limit to what can go into cold soup.  If you can drink it, you can make it into a soup.  Even if you’ve never considered soup in the summer, please give it a try.  You may pleasantly surprised both at the taste, the cooling effect, its ability to quench both your thirst and your hunger at the same time.

Here is the a basic Gaspacho recipe

Gaspacho

serves 4

2        pounds fresh ripe tomatoes

1        clove garlic, mashed

1        teaspoon lime juice

2        tablespoons finely chopped cilantro

1/2    teaspoon ground cumin

2        tablespoons olive oil

salt to taste

1        small cucumber, finely diced, for garnish

1       green pepper, finely chopped, for garnish

1       tomato, finely diced, for garnish

1/2     cup  chopped cilantro, for garnish

-In saucepan, heat the olive oil and saute the garlic for few seconds.  Add the cumin and the cilantro, stir and cook for one minute.  Remove from the stove, and add the rest of the ingredients and place in a food processor.

-Puree all ingredients until smooth soup.

-Strain tomato mixture adn put into a bowl.

-Cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.

-Serve in a large chilled bowl then surround it with with the garnish bowls.  The diner make his selection from the vegetables, place them in the soup bowl then pour the chilled soup on top. Enjoy

I never got excited, that is, until last week, when he brought home a paper with his test on it, accompanied by a broad grin, as though he had done something good.  When I saw what he was so proud of, I began shouting.  “These triglyceride levels are dangerous,” I said.  I felt betrayed, both as a nutritionist and as a chef.  “How could you?” I shouted.  “I cook healthy.  I serve you only the healthiest meals, and now, this?

After my shock and anger subsided, I decided I had better get to the core of the problem. Not only was he endangering his health, but my reputation was at stake.  I tried writing down everything I cooked and he ate.  I used only good olive oil, a lot of vegetables, and hardly any refined carbohydrates, and good grain and beans.

Like a betrayed wife, I found myself looking through the trash can in his car.  The first clue was the discarded wrapper for a Heath Bar.  The second clue came to me one day when my daughter and were shopping in the grocery store.  We came to the isle where strawberry twizzlers were displayed.  My daughter wanted one, and I said, “No junk food for you, young lady,”  “But dad has a lot of these in his desk drawer in his office,” She protested.  That was it. I decided to invade his office.  At first he was happy to see me visit his office, that is, until I started opening his desk drawers.  When I located his stash, I screamed, “I found it!   He was trying to go around me to escape from the embarrassment of being caught, but I had him trapped.

“But you told me to eat carbohydrates,” he protested.

When a nutritionist tells you to eat carbohydrates, it means brown rice, whole wheat bread, fruit and vegetables.  It doesn’t mean strawberry twizzlers, Heath Bars or Crispy Creme Doughnuts.

When a nutritionist tells you to eat good fat, it doesn’t mean double cheeseburgers with bacon slabs on top of the cheese.  It mean olive oil, walnuts, almonds  and small amount of good cheese.

The most important tip for eating healthy is cooking from scratch, I mean chopping, sauteing and cooking on the stove, not opening a can and warming in microwave.

How about a soup recipe:

Acorn Squash Soup

serves 4  

4            tablespoons olive oil

I             medium onion, chopped

1            leek

1            medium acorn squash, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes

1            yam, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes

1            cube vegetable broth

1/8      teaspoon nutmeg

2          cloves

8          cup of water

1/2      teaspoon grated fresh ginger

salt to taste

-Chop the white part of the leek.  Heat the olive oil in heavy saucepan and saute the onion and the leek for 5 minutes.

-Add the squash and the yam plus 1/2 cup of water and continue to cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

-Add the vegetable broth, the nutmeg, the clove and the rest of the water.  Bring to a boil, cover and cook over medium heat until vegetables are soft.

-Remove the cloves, add the ginger, and then puree the soup in a food processor or blender until smooth.

-Adjust the seasoning and cook over low heat for 5 minutes and serve.

One supposes that meals of soup, or stew, have derived form absolute necessity. I can see in my mind farm wives or fisherman’s wives putting together a hearty soup by using everything they could find in the larder to make it into a full meal, as well as seasoning it with herbs and spices to improve the taste by concealing the flavor of day-old bread and old vegetables.

Despite necessity, it’s no big secret that winter is a good time for soup, and if one does it right, one can make an entire meal out of a hearty soup.

Potato Leek Soup

serves 6

5      tablespoons olive oil

2      medium onion, julienned

2      small leeks (use white part only), thinly sliced

1/2 cup fresh fennel, chopped (optional)

2      large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

2     cups cooked cannellini beans

3     tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

salt and pepper to taste

-In heavy pot, heat olive oil and saute the onions over low heat until slightly golden.

-Add the leeks and the potatoes and saute for 5 minutes.

-Add 6 cups of water and bring to the water.  Cover and simmer until the potato almost done, about 10-15 minutes.

-Add the beans, the fennel, the tarragon, the nutmeg, the salt and the pepper.  Continue to simmer for extra 5 minutes.

Serve this soup with fresh garlic cheese bread and you will have good meal.

When I tried to tell my husband he as in issue with food, he would say, “I am not overweight-it’s not my fault-I’m lumpy I just like to eat.”

As proof of my point, however, when he was on a business trip to London, he called me late in the evening U.K. time.  I thought he was going to tell me how much he missed our daughter and me, but I was only slightly shocked when he opened the conversation by telling me he was calling on a cell phone from a new Italian restaurant he had discovered in London.  “You won’t believe the sauce I having,” he said, excitedly.  “And how are you,” I asked. “Fine, but you should taste the pasta they served as a side dish.”

He continued like this for next 10 minutes, describing in intimate detail the food, the service and he was going to go back again the next night.

It was not the first time something like this happened.  He once came back  from trip to Italy.  When we got home from the airport, he couldn’t wait to show me what he got me from Rome.  He opened his suitcase to present me with 25 pounds of Italian Lentils.  “They cook up so much better than the one we buy in the store here,” he said with very sincereand innocent smile.  As a family, we’ve come to accept his relationship with food and love him anyway.

Here is a recipe for Italian lentil soup, which I obtained from Lilly, who ran Giovanni’s Restaurant in Rome.

Lentil and Tomato Soup

serves 6-8

1       pound lentils

4       tablespoons olive oil

1        medium onion, chopped

3        stalks celery, finely chopped

4        medium carrots, peeled and finely diced

2       bay leaves

1      teaspoon sage

2      cloves garlic, mashed

1       16-ounce can crushed tomatoes

salt and pepper to taste

-In a soup pot, heat the olive oil and saute the onions for couple of minutes.

-Add the carrots and the celery, stir and cook over low heat for 5 minutes.

-Add the lentils and 10 cups of water, the sage and the bay leaves.  Bring to a boil and allow the lentils to boil until done but not soft and mushy.

-Add the garlic, the crushed tomatoes, salt and pepper.  Bring back to a boil.  Turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.