Innocent victim of vile perversions
I’m not in the habit of reading recipes, nor in the habit of writing them. But in this particular case I was mercilessly forced to submit to the perversions of home cooking. Mind you, I never did anything even mildly inappropriate on my own initiative; I was just an innocent (but admittedly willing) victim of vile premeditated seduction.
A background of joyous death
This is how it all came to pass: a girlfriend of mine works once a week as a volunteer at a hospice. That’s a place where the terminally ill come to die, and to get the best possible treatment before passing away. The food is always, well –- heavenly, to say the least. But on this particular day my girlfriend observed that the smiles on the faces of the dying were extraordinarily bright. “It’s the soup we had yesterday”, they all offered as an explanation to their seemingly incongruous joy.
Soup of Heaven
So my girlfriend went to the cook (a former chef at a gourmet restaurant) and got the recipe. She subsequently invited me to dinner at her house, where she seductively prepared the soup, under my very eyes. As we were slowly consuming the resulting culinary triumph, our faces lit up in smiles of earthly pleasures and of heavenly bliss, like of love embracing death. In the process the soup –- previously unnamed –- automatically found its predestined name (in French, of course): Soupe Céleste.
This is what you do if you wish to experience the pleasures of terrestrial love bordering to heaven (the complete dish consists of two components: SOUP and BASIL OIL):
Soupe Céleste
Serves 2-3 people
SOUP
BASIL OIL
- 1 small pot fresh-growing basil
- 0.5 dl olive oil
- juice of ½ lemon
PROCEDURE
1. SOUP:
Peel and cut the celeriac and the onion into coarse pieces.
Heat the oil in a saucepan.
Fry the celeriac and onion pieces for 3-4 minutes, until the onion is soft.
Add the wine and the stock cube. Let the wine boil for a short while.
Add the water and the cream. Make it all boil.
Boil on low heat under lid for 15 minutes (the celeriac should have a soft feel).
Mix everything in a mixer or with a staff-mixer.
2. BASIL OIL:
Mix the fresh basil, the oil and the lemon juice with a mixer (or staff-mixer) until it forms a smooth sauce.
3. SERVING:
Pour the SOUP onto soup-plates. Then, with utmost French culinary artistry, gently drip the BASIL OIL in bow-like patterns (or some other patterns which may come to your mind) onto the soup. Now take your spoon into your hand and start absorbing the taste of Heavenly Love and Death.
Bon appétit ou Mahlzeit!