Hoppo Bumpo (n): A children's game. Played by folding one's arms and hopping on one leg. Aim is to bump opponents, so that they lose their balance. Last person standing wins.


August 11, 2008

A stand-back-and-throw soup



Braving the elements yesterday morning, I ventured out to the local Farmers' Market. It was 3oC and pouring rain. Instead of the usual stroll admiring produce, sampling wares and chatting with the producers, I had to employ my emergency smash-and-grab technique. This is usually reserved for trips out with Argy and Bargy and makes for a far less satisfying shopping expedition. Never-the-less, I managed to come away with some rather scrumptious things from here and here.

As my nose went red and fingers a little numb and I slid clumsily in the mud, I found myself drawn to a huge stand of pumpkins. And so it was that I came home armed with a mountain of butternuts. This could mean only one thing: soup, the lazy girl's way!

After completing the detested task of chopping all the pumpkin, I petulantly tossed it into a baking dish. This was followed with a liberal glug of olive oil and a smattering of salt and pepper. Then I roasted it all in the oven until the pumpkin was partly caramelised. And yes, that is a fancy term for I-got-engrossed-in-something-else-and-they-went-a-bit-black-at-the-edges. Next I threw it all into a pot with a packet of red lentils and about two litres of chicken stock. I then popped it onto the stove and neglected it 'til the lentils were soft. To add a little extra flavour, I fried a bit of bacon and hurled that in with some chives for the last minutes of cooking.

Finally I confronted the pot with a potato masher. A bit of judicious mashing always ensures that the kids - and, more importantly, Mr Hoppo Bumpo - are not able to identify or reject the pumpkin that hasn't already disintegrated.

Isn't deception the key to all successful family meals?

12 comments:

  1. Yummo, there's nothing better than a thick pumpkin soup on a cold winters day.....bbrrrrrr
    I've never added bacon before, I'm going to try that one next time...thanks for the tip!

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  2. Your soup sounds delicious! I find that deception works very well with my lot as well. What they don't know, won't hurt them, right?

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  3. Yum! I'm all about the deception. I was told I had to include more vegetables in my diet, so now my favourite meal is spag bol with lots of veg ... only I mash the veg up with a blender and I can't see it and I pretend it's just meat and tomato!

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  4. OMG - this is you being lazy? I thought the lazy girls way was opening a can of something. Hmmmm, I must try harder in the kitchen.

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  5. Mmmm...I had..uh...caramelized...pumpkin last night; and pumpkin soup the other night; but I've never tried them together in the same dish. Sounds YUMMY.

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  6. delicious !

    I do something similar ( i'm all for lazy ), but the lentils are a new addition - will have to try that next time.

    Oh, and BTW - your 3degC looks like 30degrees to me - but i'm sure you weren't in a *tropical* downpour :)

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  7. That is so funny, my son has a frim belief in eating only from the beige food groups so I can so understand the covert operation. Looks delicious.

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  8. Great post ;) You're lazy is much more effort than I ever do, so I'm very impressed.

    My method of making soup - get a can of Campbells soup, get husband to open the can of soup, plop it into a saucepan, stir it a bit and it's done.

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  9. Yum!

    You should post the recipe in my flickr group called "Make Me Hungry Veggies and Vegans".

    The blog is here: http://make-me-hungry.blogspot.com/

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  10. yummo! If thats lazy then can I have some of your laziness please. My laziness comes in the form of a can or phone.

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  11. The soup looks lovely...kind of colorful too!

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