Rum Soup

Wednesday I went out for dinner with friends.  I had pre-ordered a vegan meal for this event and was pleasantly surprised by the thoughtfulness with which it was prepared.  I did have to do my own thinking for the bread and salad.  There was only butter on the table and in fact in the restaurant, which doesn’t surprise me any more, so I just asked for some oil.  They brought some in a little cup and I sprinkled some pepper on it and it worked out fine.  I could dip or drizzle it.  Also the only dressings they offered were not vegan so I just asked for oil and vinegar.  The meal was, not plain white pasta with red sauce, not another salad to go with my house salad, and not a collection of plain steamed veggies they had lying around from other meals.  No, someone had to think about this.  They gave me what appeared to be whole wheat penne tossed with steamed broccoli.  This didn’t seem to have sauce, so I just added my oil.  Also there was a pepper stuffed with mushrooms, olives, and bread crumbs, and there was a beautiful grilled corn on the cob, which again I oiled.  It was wonderful.  We provided our own cakes, and one was a vegan and kosher Napolean.  Dessert in a restaurant, what a treat!!

Cuban Black Bean Soup and Nut Brown Ale Bread

Thursday I made Cuban Black Bean Soup.  I was afraid, especially when I saw the simplicity of the seasoning, that this would taste like watery Southwestern Black Beans, but it was very different and wonderful.  I was afraid and didn’t put the rum right in the pot.  Instead I put a little in a bowl and added a little soup.  It was good!  I am not a fan of liquor, but I liked the complexity this added, so I added more to the rest of my soup.  I have no idea how much I added proportionally.  Since this did not have the alcohol cooked off like following the directions would do, technically my soup was an alcoholic beverage.

Speaking of this, I recall a recipe in The Gallery of Regrettable Food for Sherry Cream Cocktail.  You would heat up some cream of chicken soup, add some sherry and serve hot in glasses, topped with chives.  They’ll be talking about your party for years to come!  You can search inside the book there at Amazon for “cocktails” for more great crowd-pleasers.

I would have liked the soup better if it was thicker, I think.  I substituted canned beans and may have miscalculated.  I was hungry by 11 pm, which is unusual for me, but sometimes happens on soup night.  A soup fills me up but doesn’t have as many carbs/calories/protein/whatever.  So I just had a snack.

With it we had the last of the Nut Brown Ale Bread.  “Beer then liquor, never sicker.  Liquor then beer, never fear.”  Nah, this was a great combo.

Poor Little Walnutless Maple Cookies

For dessert I made Maple Cookies.  Quick: Maple ______.  I say I made a dessert with Maple and you must immediately follow with “Walnut!”  Never have I seen a dessert recipe with maple flavoring that did not also include walnuts.  Ice cream, cookies, pudding, whatever.  It’s not that I don’t care for walnuts, which I don’t, but we sometimes let walnuts out on their own; can’t we let the poor maple have it’s day?  I want to enjoy its flavor without chunks of what seems to be soft wood.  So I purged the inevitable walnuts from this recipe, and you will have to buy the book or scour the internet if you want to put them back.

These cookies were really good.  The texture was amazing.  It calls for tapioca starch, I looked in my cupboard, and what do you know, I had it!  Some other cookbook had told me it was useful, along with the Gram flour I used a few days ago.  I bought them and it was nice to have them on hand.  I think the tapioca flour adds moistness.