When people say that summertime is too hot for eating soup, I think what they really mean is summertime is too hot for eating soup in public. I’m perfectly fine with wearing PJs, eating soup, and sweating it out in the comfort of my own home. Twice.
I’ve been on a central market kick lately because I’m crushing hardcore on their produce department. It lures you in with sheer beauty and then, once you realize how cheap everything is, you’re a total sucker, totally willing to sit in rush hour traffic to get your produce fix. Two dollar-ish shitake mushrooms. Dollar-ish bok choy, green onions, and cilantro. Four cent serrano pepper. Umm yeah, this gigantic boat of soup hovered around the ten dollar mark.
FoodFash Summer Soup (yields 4 servings)
12 cups of water
2 heads of baby bok choy, chopped
1/2 cup of fresh cilantro, stems removed
1 bunch of green onions, chopped
1/4 lb of shitake mushrooms, sliced
1 serrano pepper, sliced (remove seeds if you’re sensitive to spice)
juice of 4 limes
8 oz of udon noodles
Bring water to a boil and add everything but the udon noodles. Let boil for 5 minutes and then add the noodles. Let boil for an additional 10 minutes and then remove from heat. Let cool for a couple minutes and then serve.
I LOVED this soup. Spicy cilantro lime should be the basis of every soup that even thinks about getting in my belly. It’s tangy and spicy and, even though it’s temperature hot, still maintains that freshness vibe. The moral of this story – embrace a good summer soup and sweat it out. It’s totally worth it.