Soup?

[Printehr]

So maybe it's just because I've been recovering from oral surgery these past few days, and have been unable to chew solid foods, but I've been thinking about D'ni soup a lot. When I picture it in my head, I see less of a "soup" and more of a broth- orange, maybe, with lots of subtle spices. I'm sure they had more traditional soups as well, with meat and noodles and veggies, and probably stews as well. For the variety of soup that I'm thinking of right now, though, I'm wondering which way to go with it- vegetable or meat stock? Perhaps chicken stock with vegetable flavoring, simmered with lots of spices, with the veggies strained out for another dish right before serving the soup?

I dunno, I might come up with a simple recipe. What about your thoughts? Any other types of D'ni soups you think would be tasty? (A nice mushroom soup seems almost certain )

[soniclight]

Was the orange color influenced by the lake at all?

I was thinking they might end up with more vegetable stock, or at least in our case, seeing as we only have a mention of livestock. Beef broth perhaps, but I've never much cared for beef broth.

You had to know that the mushroom soup would come into play at some point, as that is the only vegetable we know they had for certain. But mushroom soup rocks, so I'm not complaining.

I have some recipes for broths in one of my cook books. I'll check and see what the recipes call for and see if we need to substitute anything, but I think that could be a fairly solid base for some recipes.

[Printehr]

I'd say we stay on the safe side and stick to a vegetable stock- we know that the D'ni had livestock, so it's likely they had something approximating beef broth, but we don't know for sure which animal provided it.

Here are two recipes for vegetable soup that show along what lines I'm thinking. The first one I've made before, so I can attest to it being tasty by itself; the second I haven't made before but I believe would be good. The only differences between these soups and the D'ni versions I envision would be to strain the D'ni soup before serving, so that only the broth is consumed, and simmering it for hours with a very subtle but exotic spice blend. I'm still coming up with the spice blend, I'll let you know when I hit upon something good.

6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup onion, finely chopped
1 cup sesame or olive oil
4 cups carrots, peeled and chopped
5 cups celery, chopped
Salt and pepper (to taste)

Sauté the chopped onion in ½ cup of sesame or olive oil over low heat until transparent. Add the rest of the oil, and the carrots, cooking over low heat until browned, about 30 minutes.Add the celery and cook 10 more minutes on low heat. Pour in the stock, salt, and pepper, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let soup simmer for about an hour.

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
2 tablesthingys of olive oil
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
flesh from 1 small pumpkin (winter squash) or butternut squash, peeled and cut into cubes.

Gently sauté the onion in the olive oil in a large saucepan for a few minutes until softened. Add the pumpkin and cook for another few minutes. Add the broth, bring to a boil before reducing heat, before simmering, covered, for 30 minutes. In a blender, puree the mixture in batches and then strain before returning to the pan. Warm before serving.