We always loved the old fable about Stone Soup.
This fable/folk tale takes many forms. As I remember it, a starving hungry
woman arrives in a village, asking for food. No one will help her, until she
claims to have a magic pot. She insists the pot has the power to make soup from
a stone.
Everyone scoffs, of course. As the story unfolds, she adds the stone
and water and brings it to a boil over a fire in the town square. Tasting, she
says, “Not bad, but it could do with an onion.” An onion is produced. Another
taste and the pronouncement that “a carrot will enhance the flavor”.
Soon
villagers happily add seasonings, celery, sweet potatoes, parsley, potatoes and
even a chicken, to help the stone soup which is always missing a little
something, In the end the stone soup is
done, a huge success, the magic pot and the woman are revered. No one is hungry. Everyone is happy, especially
the poor woman who finally got a meal out of the gullible villagers.
Every time I look at the very old cast iron Dutch oven I have
from my mother, I think of that story. We usually make stews in it, but we do
sometimes make soup too. It’s quite
magic: all it takes is an onion or three,
celery,
sweet and white potatoes,
carrots,
seasonings (and yes, a chicken or turkey bones or chicken legs)
and presto, an hour or two simmering on your stove top and you have
your soup.
You can fiddle with the ingredients and the amounts and it's hard to go wrong.
We try to get a bit of grated cheese out of our ‘villagers’
too.
It’s a perfect pick-me-up on a cold winter day.
Come by some time and we’ll
show you.
What about you? Any magic pots? Surprising soups? We’re all
about sharing the magic here!
