Issue link: http://www.wacmagazine.com/i/644745
12 | Washington Athletic Club Magazine | MARCH / APRIL 2016 A soup for you! Finding simple pleasures in an ancient meal A s a Seattle native, I have experienced enough cold, gray, blustery days to become a huge fan of soup. ere's something especially welcome about a hot bowl of potage when it's raining. From American chicken noodle to Russian borscht, soups are enjoyed by cultures across the globe. It's a universal comfort food, which comes as no surprise. Belly- warming and often simple to prepare, soup may be as old as cooking itself. In fact, ancient cookware found by archaeologists indicates that the tradition of making soup may have begun as long as 25,000 years ago. This should come as no surprise. Boiling a bit of water and tossing in the day's harvest—by spear or spade—seems a logical and instinctual thing to do. Next thing our ancestors knew, they were drinking down every last drop of broth. Yum! Clearly, the soups we enjoy today have come a long way from those first bowls, but some of the basic concepts remain the same. I've held many different roles through my culinary career, but I always come back to my favorite things—soups and sauces. I learned about the simplicity and versatility of soups by watching my mom mix up new concoctions, all the while adjusting flavor until she was satisfied. Here at the Club, I have many tools and ingredients my mom never had. The selection of quality ingredients in today's market blows me away, and experimentation in the kitchen— here or at home—never grows old. Every time I make a soup I get the opportunity to create something new. But there is also joy in making the same thing again and again, a sort of satisfaction in being able to exactly replicate something that tastes so delicious time after time. If there is a soup you love, please let us know. In the meantime, enjoy this recipe for Jamaican Corn Soup. It's a spring special that islanders enjoy while taking a break from their annual Eastertime celebration. With any luck, it'll warm you up during one of those gray Seattle days. L U K E R U TA N 1 cup chopped onion 2 tbsp. chopped garlic ¼ cup olive oil ½ cup diced green pepper ½ cup diced carrot 1 cup yellow split peas 1 cup garbanzo beans 2 ears of corn on the cob, shucked 1½ cups cooked, diced chicken breast meat 2½ quarts chicken stock ¼ cup fresh chopped cilantro 2 tsp. thyme 2 tsp. cumin 1 tsp. red chili flakes Put olive oil in a hot stockpot. Add onion and garlic, sauté until onion is translucent. Stir in green pepper, carrot, yellow split peas, and garbanzo beans. Cut the corn off one of the cobs and add to the mixture. Add thyme, cumin, red chili flakes, and chicken meat. Pour in chicken stock. Cut remaining corncob into 1- to 2-inch chunks and add to soup. Bring to a boil and simmer for at least 30 minutes. Check the split peas for doneness and season with salt and pepper to taste. Before serving, take out the corncob chunks. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy! Jamaican Corn Soup By Bronwen McBride, Lead Line Cook { a la carte }