Stepping Back
It has been a long time since I have made a soup or stew, which is odd. After all, soups and stews are the heartwarming creatures of sadness and over contemplation, moods to which I'm often prone. In fact, I remember a period of time when I went on a soup and stew bender, more like a craze, feeding the spice monster with dried chiles and pork and beans and the like, while simultaneously fostering the hermit deep within. Not this time though. I took a step back this time, away from the heat, though maybe not away from the hermit. Stepping back is, whether fortunately or unfortunately, something I do often in life. I might do it so much, in fact, that I wonder if stepping back is the reason behind why I am, where I am now.
I suppose, knowing my own personality failings, that this is very probable. I'm not the type of person that can go hard for very long, a trait deficit which lends itself well to the passing of time without much getting done. Such a day was yesterday. Nonetheless, although I've crawled out of bed later this morning than usual, I've done some housework and finished some cleaning, even completed a set of push-ups (hey hey hey, Adi), and now I'm ready to try try again.
Someone once told me that it's all right to change your journey, so long as you never give up on the final goal. I very much agree with this point, although not very many people will see it as sage advice. After all, changing your journey is, in a sense, giving up on the original means to your goal...and people who give up are weak and filled with denial and excuses, no? Nevertheless, I may be better understood if I perhaps point out that the phrase "try try again" thing doesn't much jive with Einstein's whole "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" thing. Really, how many chances does try try again get before it morphs into a monster of sorely apparent stupidity? And so, in my mind, there's wisdom in acknowledging that, maybe, the initial path is no longer the smartest path, that while your mind wasn't quite mature enough to get there then, it is now, and that really, you needed that extra bit of time to just be a human again. So, while laced in crypticisms, the point I'm trying to get across is to be wary of try try agains. Give them the benefit of the doubt, but don't let the eat up so many years of your life, as they have mine.
So I stepped back and thought about all this last night, made it coherent this morning, and now give you this soup. Pinky and I visited a newly opened Asian supermarket here in Baltimore, and they had a sale section that sold squashes, 3 giant ones per dollar. I ended up buying six. Three of the squash were long squash (they look like acorn squashes but pale green in color and much less gourd-like), also called opo, which is what you will find in this warming and savory soup. Long squash imparts a sweet zucchini-like flavor to the soup, while the flesh picks up all the surrounding flavors of the andouille and spice, kind of like a delicate and lighter turnip. So, step back with a bowl of this relatively healthy stuff, and do some thinking, clear your mind. It'll work out.
Someone once told me that it's all right to change your journey, so long as you never give up on the final goal. I very much agree with this point, although not very many people will see it as sage advice. After all, changing your journey is, in a sense, giving up on the original means to your goal...and people who give up are weak and filled with denial and excuses, no? Nevertheless, I may be better understood if I perhaps point out that the phrase "try try again" thing doesn't much jive with Einstein's whole "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" thing. Really, how many chances does try try again get before it morphs into a monster of sorely apparent stupidity? And so, in my mind, there's wisdom in acknowledging that, maybe, the initial path is no longer the smartest path, that while your mind wasn't quite mature enough to get there then, it is now, and that really, you needed that extra bit of time to just be a human again. So, while laced in crypticisms, the point I'm trying to get across is to be wary of try try agains. Give them the benefit of the doubt, but don't let the eat up so many years of your life, as they have mine.
So I stepped back and thought about all this last night, made it coherent this morning, and now give you this soup. Pinky and I visited a newly opened Asian supermarket here in Baltimore, and they had a sale section that sold squashes, 3 giant ones per dollar. I ended up buying six. Three of the squash were long squash (they look like acorn squashes but pale green in color and much less gourd-like), also called opo, which is what you will find in this warming and savory soup. Long squash imparts a sweet zucchini-like flavor to the soup, while the flesh picks up all the surrounding flavors of the andouille and spice, kind of like a delicate and lighter turnip. So, step back with a bowl of this relatively healthy stuff, and do some thinking, clear your mind. It'll work out.
Long Squash, Hominy and Chicken Soup
serves 8 to 10
1 large chicken breast (or 8-10 oz. ground chicken)
1 stalk scallion, diced
1 large egg, beaten
salt and smoked pepper, to season ground meat
5-6 stalks of celery, diced, leaves included
1 medium yellow onion, diced fine
2 long squash, seeds removed, peeled and diced into medium cubes
1/2 C rehydrated and diced shitake mushrooms
15.5 oz (1 can) white hominy
10 bunches of Chinese broccoli tips, sliced into strips
1 TB Goya Sazón con culantro y achiote (or other bouillion)
1 TB unsalted butter, for cooking
1 TB olive oil, for cooking
*if you'd like to add spice, use sriracha or add some ground chile de arbols to the meat
We're going to prepare all our ingredients first, before throwing it all into a pot. Ah soups.
Using a meat grinder (if you bought ground chicken, then you will not have to do this), grind the chicken breast and the chicken andouille sausage (remove the outer casing) together and collect the meat in a large bowl. You can also use ground pork and pork sausage if you'd like. I would have, but chicken was what was in the freezer...and I suppose it's much healthier? Once finished grinding, mix the diced scallion and the beaten egg into the ground meat, seasoning liberally with pepper and some smoked salt for taste. Cover this bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator while preparing your vegetables.
Dice up your long squash into cubes and slice your mushrooms. I love this squash, it's truly the best part of the entire dish. In terms of the long squash, also called opo, remove the skin and scoop out the seeds and squishy material in the middle before dicing up the flesh. It's all edible, but I didn't want seeds and pith confusing this soup. Mix the diced squash and mushrooms together, and toss this mixture with the tablespoon of Goya Sazón, or as Goya calls it, "a unique seasoning." Place this bowl aside. Lastly, dice your onion and celery very fine and reserve together in one bowl. In another bowl, reserve your sliced Chinese broccoli tips. Drain the white hominy.
Now for the cooking part. You're going to need one large pot and one pan. First, in the pan, heat up your 1 TB of unsalted butter. Using a small spoon, drop spoonfuls of the chicken meatball mix into the hot butter and brown the spoonfuls of ground meat on all sides. I wanted the meat to be hearty in this dish, not crumbled and scattered everywhere (hence the mini meatballs plan). Reserve these browned chicken mini meatballs in a bowl and deglaze the pan with 1 C of water. Reserve this liquid as well.
In the large pot, heat up the 1 TB of olive oil on high. Once oil is smooth and shiny, add your celery and onions to the pot. The goal here is to sweat the aromatics on high heat so that you'll get a bit of caramelization, but once the aromatics start to sweat, they'll let loose some liquid and help with deglazing. Toss often to avoid burning. After the aromatics have softened, add the squash and mushrooms and hominy to the pot, mixing it all together and cooking on high heat for another couple of minutes. Finally, add in your browned chicken bits and the deglazing liquid. Then add just enough water to cover everything in the pot, place the lid on the pot, bring the flame down to low heat. Simmer the soup for at least 30 minutes, or until the flavors have melded together.
About 10 minutes before serving, add the shredded broccoli tips to the pot and let steam until bright green. Once the broccoli tips have turned bright green, the soup is ready to serve.
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