What I had for dinner:

Orange Soup and Black Bread

31 Oct 1995 22:07:45 -0500

The color orange; we're not talking about a soup made with oranges. Not yet at least.

This one developped naturally as I was walking along Broadway doing my shopping and dodging the little monsters. No grinning cucurbitaceae chez moi, but why not a pea soup? Yellow peas of course. It not being Thursday, the holy day of the Swedish yellow whole pea soup (Hej Jens!), I went for the more easily handled split ones: They cook in half the time.

A large handful of yellow peas was then put in a pot with 4 bruised cloves of garlic, a 1" piece of ginger, the peel of one lemon, 3 bay leaves, a pinch of saffron, 1/2 tsp of garam masala, and 1/2 tsp of ground cumin. A quart and a half of water and a few drops of oil were added, and the pot brought to a boil. (The oil breaks up the foam that otherwise would cause the pot to overflow instantly upon ebullition.) It was then left to simmer over low heat until the peas had fallen apart (almost 1 hour).

Meanwhile, I sauteed a couple of smoked sausages cut in thin slices, and stewed one large red onion (sliced, 10 min in the microwave).

When the split peas were done, I removed the bay leaves, ginger, and lemon peel, added a dash of chipotle sauce, the sausage, and about 2 tsp of tomato paste, just enough to bring the color to a warm orange shade. After simmering a further 10 min, the soup was salted and peppered, garnished with blood-shot eyes (sliced baby carrots), purple ichor (the stewed onion), and moldy slime (chopped parsley), and served with a large chunk of old-fashioned pumpernickel.

To drink, a bottle of black New England Oatmeal Stout (from Connecticut) during the preparation, and then an orangy-brown La Trappe Dubbel ale (from Holland).