Episode 223: Simple Soups, Hummus Toppings, Mid-Winter Cooking

Not Joy, not Marisa, not soup. But we like this sweat shirt.

What’s cooking in this episode?

In food news this week, we recap a New York Times story about how a drought in India, which happens to be the largest chickpea producer in the world, is affecting hummus prices in Britain and potentially elsewhere.

In our What’s for Dinner segment, we’re talking through our recent simple soups and wondering where you get your soup making inspiration.

We talk you through how to make toppings to crown your hummus and why you’d ever want to do such a thing.

In the Mid-Atlantic region at least, the local produce situation is grim. It is the deep dead of winter, after all. We talk about some of the ways we try to sidestep a seasonal cooking slump.

And in What We’re Loving, Marisa gives a seal of approval to West End Cuisine Mediterranean style chicken skewers from Costco. 

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6 thoughts on “Episode 223: Simple Soups, Hummus Toppings, Mid-Winter Cooking”

  1. Loved your show and missed you last week! 🙂 Always appreciate the tips. I am certainly going to try the tomato soup cashew version. I don’t do dairy but I usually use a bit of rice. The cashew nuts sound intriguing. So, Joy – my question – do you use raw cashews on that? Seems like that would be what would work best and be more prone to creaminess. 🙂

    1. Hi, June! Yes–I should have specified raw cashews. Whenever you are using them to create creaminess you need them to be raw. Unless you have a high power blender, such as the vitamix, you’ll also need to soak them at least a few hours in water to soften them up.

  2. I eagerly look forward to all your podcasts & often think of something to reply when you ask for feedback, so this time I thought I’d follow through & truly take the time to do so! You asked for other winter soup ideas…. Have you tried the Creamy Curried Sweet Potato Soup recipe from the James Beard Foundation? It’s a favorite of mine! It’s luscious & satisfying. There’s ONE addition I make, I add a can of coconut milk at the last step just before blending. Keep the ideas coming! I loved hearing about the toppings for hummus.

  3. I may have mentioned this before, but in winter, I highly recommend going to the Fitler Square farmers’ market on Saturday morning in addition to or instead of Rittenhouse – you can get SO many more vegetables at Fitler! The only reason I even go to Rittenhouse this time of year is for fish at Shore Catch.

    Cookbooks are definitely keeping me inspired this dreary time of year. While I prefer print cookbooks, there are excellent e-cookbook sales every week. In the past month I’ve gotten Kindle versions of New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, Ottolenghi + Jerusalem, Lucky Peach 101 Asian Recipes, Melissa Clark’s Dinner, and Night + Market, all for only $1.99 each. I’d love to have these in print, but I have neither the storage space nor the budget, so in the meantime, even if I just pick a few recipes a week from these digital cookbooks, there are so many new things to try. Some of my favorite winter recipes recently were spaghetti squash with mushroom ragout form New Vegetarian Cooking, and green papaya salad (using green apples instead of papaya) from Night + Market.

    I’ve been ordering organic chickpeas from Washington State and have been quite pleased: http://a.co/7OL8qUE

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