Fresh Tart

I am obsessed with food writer MFK Fisher (1908-1992).

No one writes about food more sensually, with as much humor, and common sense, all together, and I can't get enough. I took her book With Bold Knife and Fork, published in 1969, with me on vacation last week and was highlighting so many passages on the plane that my husband suggested I perhaps highlight the parts I wasn't interested in.

One whole page I highlighted includes the recipe below and the following introduction to it: "For fun, here is another way to serve a more impressive buffet, either stand up or with small tables where people can sit with their plates and/or mugs. A good white wine is fine with it, and a fruit compote afterward - cookies with that, and coffee, and of course crusty bread or crisp buttered toast with the soup.

This is a fairly easy and entertaining meal to assemble. It tastes fresh and tempting, and seems to please people. It can be developed, up or down, but for myself I like it to remain simple, with things hot and well seasoned, or chilled, according to their natures."

I made a double-batch of chicken stock on Sunday, then served the soup on Monday night to my dear and marvelously food-loving friends Ana Scofield, Rudy Maxa, Debbie Williams, and Stuart Williams. A couple of years ago I spent three days making cassoulet for them and I think they enjoyed this meal just as much if not more than the cassoulet (which was good). It might have been the ridiculous number of bottles of wine we opened, but I don't think so.

Don't skip the "flavored lightly with curry if wished." I actually added a particularly nutmeg-y garam masala to Cedar Summit Cream and it basically made the whole dish (nutmeg, cream, and chicken are delicious together). And no surprise here, but the chicken broth needs to be the real deal, rich and salty, without too much of its fat skimmed away. Make a double batch, like I did, then use some of it to cook the rice. Freeze any extra for a future quick dinner.

MFK Fisher's recipe for A Chicken Soup Supper at Twin Cities Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

Popovers! I love them so dangerously (as a delicious delivery vehicle for Hope Creamery butter) that I don't let myself make them very often. But tonight, aka Crazy Wednesday, when I needed a quick, hot something to go with a quick, hot soup for the whole fam... Eggy, buttery popovers, yep. So easy. So perfect. To die.

Although I'm almost still full from dinner last night - a gift certificate extravaganza at The Capital Grille, courtesy of Ana Scofield, for Debbie Williams and...lucky me! It was very sweet of Ana to share her bounty with us, and oh boy, did we do it up. Wine and king crab with drawn butter and huge, juicy steaks (that we could hardly put a dent in) and killericious truffle-Parmesan fries (holy fries). The place was hoppin', quite a scene, I must say. Lots of good holiday cheer (even a table of revelers in Santa hats!), it was a perfect Holiday Ladies Dinner. Thanks Ana and Debbie!

And thanks to Cooper for such a fun afternoon today - I missed him last week, but he had a great time in Maine, visiting Stacey's friend Caroline at her family's amazing home. Horses, a pot-bellied pig, dogs, beach - a postcard perfect pre-Christmas visit to one of the most beautiful places in the country. NICE! I don't know (yet!) what Stace is doing for a Christmas card this year, but this picture could do - Happy Merry Sweet Baby Cooper, awwww.

And oh! Lest I forget, have a look at the Famously Fabulous Amy Brown Christmas Cookies that we gratefully receive and devour each year. I'd offer a taste - but they were gone in mere minutes. All that hard work! All that loving care! And John and I ate them so inelegantly, I was rather ashamed - which is actually a compliment, a testament to how amazingly irresistible they are.

Dangerous time of year for the waistline, very dangerous...