Sunday Supper

Sometimes, when my humble dishwasher is watching horrible sitcoms on BBC America, I like to sneak away into the kitchen for some meditative vegetable chopping. Though my kitchen is more like a cubby hole, so deficient in storage space I must store bakeware and pots and pans in my oven and can't actually chop vegetables in the kitchen. It is a wonderful reminder of how lucky I am to have pots and pans in the first place and a little oven nook in which to store them.

On this particularly warm March afternoon, a colorful soup full of spices and magic was in order, as was a variation Momofuku's famous crack pie. Here it goes...

Gypsy Soup (adapted from The New Moosewood Cookbook)

2 chopped and seeded plum tomatoes from a can (or 2 fresh seeded and peeled tomatoes, chopped)

1 tbs. olive oil

2 c. chopped onion

2 cloves of garlic, crushed and minced

3 stalks celery, chopped

2 c. sweet potato, peeled and chopped

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. turmeric

1 tsp. dried basil

2 dashes cinnamon

2 dashes cayenne

1 bay leaf

3 c. water

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 can chick peas, rinsed and drained

Heat olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven. Add onion, garlic, celery, and sweet potato, and saute over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add salt, and saute for 5 more minutes. Add seasonings and water. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. 

Add tomatoes, bell pepper, and chick peas. Cover and simmer for 10 more minutes. Serve and enjoy with a cool glass of water. 

And then there was dessert...Momofuku's crack pie is perhaps the most egg-, butter-, and sugar-laden pie I've ever encountered. A surefire way to satisfy any sugar craving, it's actually not as labor-intensive as people make it out to be. It basically involves making a giant cookie, cooling the cookie, crumbling it into some butter and sugar and molding it into your pie pan. Then, pouring some more butter, sugar, and egg into the pie shell and baking it for about 20 minutes. Peas Love Carrots has a lovely version of this pie as well, complete with step by step photographs.