Sunday Soup 10 and 11

Okra and I seem destined never to meet. One of the stories from the early days of my parents' marriage that entered our family lore (along with The Crazy Landlady and the Columbus Day Storm and Make Sure You Take Your Checkbook to the Grocery Store) is The Time Mom Made Okra.

Canned okra was on sale, you see, and they were trying to be frugal. Both of them agreed that the results were awful, and as a result, Mom never again served okra. Considering she used to feed us liver and onions and daily doses of cod liver oil, I think that's saying something. I grew up convinced that okra was the worst food in the world. Or at least America.

So when I looked at Soup 10 (Gulf Coast Shrimp Gumbo) and realized it had okra in it, I was dubious. Still, I promised to work my way through the cookbook, so off I went to get okra.

As it turns out, that's not an easy thing to do around here. I checked the produce and frozen food sections of both grocery stores, and neither had okra. I had suspected it might be difficult to find, so I had researched substitutions ahead of time, and purchased some asparagus. Not being able to find the andouille sausage, since I'd seen some last month, was unexpected. Pulling out my trusty cell phone (90% of all my cell phone calls are made from a store to home), I called Michael and asked him to google substitutions.

So, I can't actually tell you how Gulf Coast Shrimp Gumbo tastes. Apparently, a soup can't even be called gumbo if there isn't okra. However, Gulf Coast Shrimp Soup with Asparagus and Chorizo Sausage got five thumbs up.

Okra eluded me again.

Today I made Fennel X Two Soup with Vegetable Pitas with Goat Cheese and Fresh Herbs.

The soup is six cups of chopped fennel, one potato, two onions and some chicken broth, simmered, pureed, and mixed with cream that has been infused with tarragon and crushed fennel seed. Very tasty.

The goat cheese, fresh basil, and kalamata olives made the vegetable pitas especially yummy, although I think next time I'll reduce the salt slightly. Again, five thumbs up for both soup and sandwich, although NB notes that the pita is a bit messy to eat.