Quite busy lately, what with WITCHWEEK2022 starting in just a couple of days, so I’ll keep this one short.

SOUP

Hot soups are back on the menu! Ones with lots of vegetables and colors are best, with thick ones running a close second. I’d already tried a few from this month’s recipes (Saint Seraphim Soup, with peppers and saffron; Soup au Pistou, a lovely vegetable soup flavored with pesto sauce; Leek and Potato Soup; and Southern-Style Vegetable Soup), so my options were few. I went with Ossobuco Soup and Corn Soup.

Ossobuco Soup, made with neither meat nor bones, is an odd concoction of onions, celery and carrots, flavored with a dry-ish paste of sage, rosemary, thymes, garlic, and green olives, and thickened with rice. Simmer in wine and vegetable broth, add a few capers, and garnish as you see. I’m wondering if that mixture of herbs and olives is meant to approach the taste of actual Ossobuco. This recipe was good, but not one I’m tempted to make again. The Corn Soup, however, was a winner: onions, garlic, red and green peppers, tomatoes, and corn. Lots of corn, cut fresh from the cob. Instead of using the frozen corn called for in the recipe, I substituted two ears of corn, fresh from the farmer’s market. Simmer them with the soup for just 2-3 minutes, pull them out with tongs, slice off the corn, and put that back in the pot for a final hotting-up. I’ll be making this one again.

SALAD

Of the twenty recipes Brother Victor-Antoine includes for October, eight were similar to salads I’ve made before. I had tried a ninth recipe and not liked it, and two others just did not appeal. But two looked interesting, and one of them was a hit. Carrot and Black Olive Salad is just as it sounds: grated carrots, minced shallot, chopped kalamata olives, and chopped parsley, in a citrusy mayonnaise-yogurt dressing. Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer my carrot salad with raisins rather than olives. The Green Bean and Tomato Salad, on the other hand, was wonderful. Visually gorgeous, and just the right combination of fresh farm produce: green beans, tomatoes, red onion and parsley, with a light lemon-olive oil dressing. The next day I added pasta and feta cheese to the leftover salad for a perfect lunch. Versatile recipes are great.

The year nears its end, and I near the end of this project. However, this is not yet the time for reflection: two months to go, both with big holidays. We’ll see what the rest of the year brings. Happy eating!