Cream of Stone Soup

The other night I made Cream of Stone Soup, by the seat of my pants.

Have you ever concocted a meal out of thin air?

On a song?  Off the top of your head?  Out of hand and low on supplies?   I cook like that a lot.  Sometimes it’s great, sometimes… not.  It is always an adventure though.  No plan, no recipe–no heels or lipstick.  Just blue jeans and an empty pot.

And an onion.

So, it was after five and I hadn’t even considered dinner options.  And I was facing Hubbard-like cupboards.  But.  Inspired by the Stone Soup story, I’ve learned not to panic.  Plus I love to experiment.  So I quickly took the creative plunge (I have to be fast, or people start foraging and the whole dinner concept disintegrates into disheveled self service stations all over the kitchen).  There was the onion; that was a start.  Actually I have onions stashed in my garage, shared by a neighbor.  Diced and sauteed just til it started browning, my onion lent rich flavor to the leftover chicken broth I’d found and  put on to boil.  I added surplus potatoes bought to support a school fundraiser.  Cubed ham, milk, the last of my cream cheese, a can of corn, a few remaining carrots, and oh joy! a bonus zucchini found in the crisper, still fresh.  Zucchini, friends, is kind to our stomachs.  At least it is to mine.

I searched for more ingredients in my winter garden.

Thankfully, I always have thyme (forgive the pun).

Fresh thyme is perfect in winter soups.  Right  now I’m wishing I’d planted more.  It is evergreen and harvestable all winter, but it doesn’t grow and replenish itself again til spring.  If I am not careful, I could whittle my bushes down to nothing before the end of January.

By now my soup was bubbling and I knew I had something good going.  Added fresh ground black pepper.  Deep breath, and The Secret Surprise idea came to me:

freshly grated nutmeg.

I keep my nutmegs (is that how we say that?) in the freezer til I need them, and then I grate less than half of one per recipe.  Love the nutmeg nuance.

Finishing touch: minced fresh parsley (which still hasn’t succumbed to our deep frosts).

The soup was delicious.

Truly.  Even the kids said so.  We all sat at the table and ate it together (happily ever after, or at least til 7:00).