cooking with mom: miso soup

I make pasta sauce. You know, drizzle a little olive oil in the pan; sauté some chopped onions and garlic; add ground beef or turkey, a can of tomatoes, a handful of chopped herbs and maybe a gurgle of wine - if there's a bottle already open. It's simple and easy, to me that is. Similarly, my mom makes miso soup from scratch, but I buy instant packs of miso soup and she buys jarred tomato sauce. I'm sure it pains her that I don't make something that's "so simple to prepare". I like going home and having her traditional version but if I ever start making miso soup from scratch, I'll probably just use the miso paste as a base and add other things like TVP, diced slab bacon, chicken stock, chopped frozen spinach, or maybe barley. You know, something simple and easy.

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thick as (chilled) pea soup

Peas are all over the farmers market these days. Good thing for me since I love them, especially sugar snap peas. Not only do you get sweet-tasting peas out of the deal but you also can eat the shell - bonus food! Since it's been so bloody hot in NYC these days, I thought a chilled pea soup was just the thing to make.

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thai-inspired coconut chicken soup

I collect ingredients like some women collect handbags and shoes. I've got authentic abuela-made mole paste on the top shelf of my fridge chilling alongside a jar of preserved lemons I picked up in Marrakech; Japanese and Chinese soy sauces sit next to eight different bottles of vinegar in my cupboard. Don't ask how many different salts I own (ten+). So of course I've got a bag of dried shrimp, spicy bean paste and nam pla just waiting to be used.

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