Charmed Life
Can you feel it in the air? Or, rather, can you NOT feel it in the air? I’m talking about the plague of extreme heat and humidity we’ve suffered for the past three months. Lord, how we’ve suffered. But, it appears that this hot and hellacious summer is finally drawing to a close. Sure, we’ll have more sticky days—it wouldn’t be the Maryland State Fair without the smell of perspiration to balance out all the fried oreos and cow manure!—but we are on our way to Fall. And that means one thing mainly in my house: the start of soup season.
I am, in fact, planning to make a vichyssoise this evening. A month or so ago, I took frequent Style writer Sarah Achenbach to lunch at Petit Louis and we both had the prix fixe, which included a vichyssoise that I am still remembering vividly. So I thought I’d make my own. But just potatoes and leeks and cream seems too decadent. And besides, there’s zucchini to be used up! So this is what I’m going to make. And to do it, I will use my favorite tool in the kitchen: my stick blender. I have to admit to a bit of schadenfreude when I read recipes that instruct one to “puree the soup in installments in a food processor.” Heck, no. Just stick that blender right in the soup pot and let her rip. No chance hot soup will overflow your food processor. No bowls and blades and lids to clean. No worries.
In the Fall, I keep my stick blender plugged in at the outlet next to the stove, ready to be submerged into pots of cubed squash simmering in broth (butternut squash soup is a staple in our house), and all manner of bean soups. And now that my six-month-old is eating “solid food,” I use my stick blender to make him sweet potatoes, carrots, peas—anything.
There are so many kitchen tools that take up a ton of space and perform just one function. The stick blender is the antithesis of these, and for that, I sing its praises as I commence yet another soup season.
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