Cancellation Soup!!

We had Saturday dinner planned. Our daughter was flying home from Thunder Bay, ON and we  were going to send out for her favourite chicken - Churrasco from a restaurant nearby. Everything was in order. Then the gremlins started to get into the works. Her flight was delayed; she wouldn't be getting in until 10:00pm, well passed dinner time. We had to rethink our menu. OK, we had Chilli and yes, we could do this and that. Things would work out.

Unfortunately, they wouldn't. Her flight was not only delayed, it was cancelled. Toronto's island airport was snowed in, so her plane wasn't flying up to Thunder Bay to pick them up and then coming back to TO. Dinner plans had changed. You have to know that dinner, for my husband, at anytime is an important part of the day and particularly important on the weekend. So we couldn't just have the Chilli and silly to have Churrasco for just the two of us. We inventoried the fridge. Yes, we could have - sausage, egg and chips (french fries) and call it an English meal. We could have the salmon, that we had bought for tomorrow. I could thaw hamburger and make just about anything!!!

You would think that two adults with a minor change of plans could cope. Hmmm, maybe not. We hummed and we hawed. We made lists. Yes, we could do Indian take out, but we couldn't find their menu, not even on-line. We really didn't want to travel very far, because this would mean travelling by foot through several inches of snow, with more falling and driving would be even worse. Finally my husband suggested soup!!

Why hadn't I thought of that. I always make stock on Saturdays to use during the week and yes it was cooling, but not cold enough to skim off the fat!! Who cares; any of the food that we would be ordering in, would be ladened with fat, a fine layer in the soup, couldn't be that bad!!

Now what to make? I had accidentally opened a can of black beans instead of kidney beans for the chilli. Yes, I know that I could have used them, but I live with a family of purists, so black beans were out of the question. These would be reserved for the soup during the week, which suddenly now has become our Saturday night dinner. What goes with black beans and chicken stock? Here is what I found.

Cancellation Soup

1 onion chopped and sauted in oil.
add 3 cloves of garlic and an inch (not a pinch) of fresh ginger both chopped and added to the onion.
Dashes of Cayenne and Paprika, plus a sachet of chicken bouillon, just in case.
1 can of black beans
6 cups of chicken stock.
simmer all for a few minutes & puree.
Then add as after thoughts - we buy these in bulk and they come in handy, when things don't go as planned, for example, as an after thought I decided to......
I added two chopped mushrooms and a very small head of Bok Choy chopped.
I let it all simmer, while my husband cut up the baguette and opened the wine - well, it was Saturday.

The soup was delicious. It's yours! Use it; vary it; make it your own. My daughter has been rescheduled for tomorrow, hopefully there will be no changes and we can have Sunday dinner as planned - Salmon!!

Have a great evening.