Lunch

Sometimes I think my blog really should be called pretty desserts and ugly soups, or something along the lines of that, because those are the two types of foods that I cook the most often (of course, I don't consider making a salad as cooking). So when it came time to make a big batch of something for lunch during the week I unhesitatingly whipped up a good hearty soup.

I guess soups aren't the typical summer food. But since (luckily) the DC weather has cooled down significantly to the point where I don't get heat exhaustion every time I go for a run I felt perfectly justified for keeping the stove on for a full three hours to make this delicious soup.



I didn't make too many changes to this recipe, other than giving the short ribs some salt and pepper to start and browning them in the pan before adding everything else. After that brown butter experiment, I am now of the belief that everything tastes better when browned. And I think adding the pepper helped the soup's flavor to pop a little more and cut the richness slightly (Of course, following the recipe and only adding 2 ribs instead of 5 probably also would have helped, but honestly I have no regrets on this front. The short ribs from whole foods were delicious). I also thought that three whole leeks was way too many and ended up only adding the white and light green parts in.



Anyway, this soup was so good I brought it for lunch for the past two days, along with a tomato avocado salad. I bought a bunch of extra limes (10 for $10!) a few weeks ago and have been using them slowly. Before I left the house, I cut the avocado and tossed it in lime juice to prevent it from turning brown (I guess this is one exception to my new-found belief in browning) added the tomatoes, and sprinkled some sea salt over the whole thing.

Simple, right? The heirloom tomatoes and ripe avocados I got this past weekend are so good that they really don't need any other dressing. My labmate commented that this salad is kind of like a deconstructed guacamole, and frankly, given the choice, I'd chose this over guacamole any day. To me, the texture of an intact avocado is unbeatable.

Good to go!