A Comforting Soup to Share with Others

This past weekend as ominous warnings about Hurricane Sandy were reaching the air waves, I found myself at a book-signing at the farmers’ market in our small New England town. An engaging local bookstore owner had set up a table for me where copies of my recent cookbooks were displayed. Although the storm was still two days away, dark clouds and intermittent rain were discouraging signs that sales would not be brisk. But the bookseller and I were both wrong!

The town was teeming with visitors (many from the East Coast and the Midwest) since it was Amherst College family weekend, and the local folks too were out in full force. Everyone wanted to stock up on food supplies for the days ahead. As people stopped by, concerned about what to cook to have on hand in an emergency, they eyed my book, Sunday Soup, and asked if I could suggest an easy recipe they might prepare from it. Quickly I suggested Fabulous Fall Roots Soup—a humble creation made with carrots, leeks, and rutabagas.This scene was repeated so frequently that I began to refer to this dish as the “storm” soup.

At home I prepared a batch myself as Sandy approached, knowing that this potage could be heated up

Emergency Red Beans and Rice!

I live in western Massachusetts, and so far this year we’ve had a day of tornados in the spring, a slight earthquake and a major hurricane in the summer, and just a few days ago a totally unexpected, out of nowhere, fall snow storm!  The latter, a true Nor’easter, did so much damage that almost everyone in our little college town ended up for the better part of a week without power or heat, and in some cases without phone and water.

At my house we had no electricity or heat, but my trusty Viking gas stove top worked, making it possible for me to cook during the black out. The first dish I made was “quick” red beans and rice. Instead of following tradition and using dried beans, which are soaked, and then simmered slowly with ham hocks for several hours, I used canned ones, rinsing them off first to remove their salty taste.