Sunday, September 18: Soup and Salad

There is something soothing about making soup on Sundays; my mom always used to throw all the leftovers into a big pot, calling it "Soup of the Week." It always turned out to be delicious, no matter what went in there. In a different way, this helped me use up the leftover potatoes, onions and garlic from the past two weeks veggie boxes. 


Ecuadorean Peanut-Potato Stew:

The recipe for this awesome, hearty stew comes from "Everybody's San Francisco Cookbook: Recipes Celebrating the City's Best Ethnic Cooking" by Charles Lemos. pg. 110. Without divulging the exact proportions (Buy the book! It has been a favorite since I purchased it for my father in 1998.), this soup uses peanut butter, peanuts, onions, garlic, shallot, potatoes -- it is a thick and fragrant soup. I added a little cayenne pepper at the table, which I thought was a nice addition. Harry, my husband, thought it was too good as is to mess with it.


Cucumber Herb Salad:

This salad was an attempt to a) use up some basil and cilantro and b) provide a cooling, green antidote to the thick soup. I used my fancy Cuisinart slicer (ahh, the joys of getting married) for the cucumber, and chopped up a few tablespoons each of basil and cilantro. Add in some olive oil, red wine vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. It sat for about 30 minutes while I finished the soup, and I think it made it more delicious.


What's left:
- grapes
- the last bits of basil
- pepper
- 2 weeks worth of green beans
- garlic
- onions
- AND MELON! Surprise! I didn't include it in the original list because I didn't know we got it...