A warning to our beloved readers: this is a new article aimed at soup lovers (and in special to the traditional Catalan soup lovers, “escudella”). Put it in other words: aimed at those who feel the most absolute pleasure when eating a cozy dish of soup on a cold Winter day (a plus if it is raining outside). Isn’t that one of the greatest pleasures in life? If your answer is YES, then you officially are one of us, soup lovers (welcome aboard!).
Well, we might have gone too far, but the truth is that even Andy Warhol made art with soup cans! So here is this new article which could also have been titled “An ode to soup” ;-)
Soup in the United States: Campbell’s soup cans
The day after I landed in the United States, I went grocery shopping with my roommates (an experience). I don’t remember if that very first time I actually got to buy that iconic Campbell’s soup can I had always seen and linked to Andy Warhol’s art. But I definitely did at some point: those soups were an attractive option especially when I got home and had no more than 20-30 minutes before returning to class.
I missed the kind of soup I used to make back home in Barcelona, but I was definitely open to trying new products created in the country I was living and getting to know (through food, as I love to do when exploring new cultures). But it was not until I got sick (cold Montana Wintertime) that I discovered soup’s world in a deeper way: I asked a friend of mine to bring me some homemade soup, and he came back with three different homemade soups from the Whole Foods Market (they were absolutely delicious).
Since then, cold nights in Montana were perfectly in harmony with that ‘cozy’ feeling of homemade soup. And the best part: Campbell’s was still there (especially at lunch, in case I was in a hurry).
Andy Warhol and Campbell’s soup cans
“Campbell’s Soup Cans” is an artwork produced in 1961 by artist Andy Warhol, consisting of 32 canvases in which Campbell’s soup cans were illustrated (one of each of the canned soup that Campbell’s offered at that time). The fact that Warhol’s creation was directly linked to pop culture was key for the art-pop’s evolution as a powerful artistic movement.
Traditional Catalan soup: Escudella
A dish we highly recommend you to try when in Barcelona (or anywhere in Catalonia), specially if you are a soup lover (as we are). Even though it is one of the typical Christmas dishes in the country, it is cooked throughout the year. You can try this yummy food at restaurants (specially those who are specialized in Catalan traditional cuisine). Here are three suggestions:
But you can also cook it at home…
How to make this traditional Catalan soup called “Escudella”?
Even though Catalan soup “Escudella” requires a bunch of ingredients, it is really easy to prepare:
For the soup broth (recipe for 3-4 people):
- Vegetables (1 leek, 2 carrots, 1 radish, 2 sticks of celery, 2 large potatoes, 1 onion, 1 piece of cabbage).
- Meat: (¼ kilo beef bones, 2 chicken breasts, 1 ham bone, 1 pig’s foot, ¼ kilo pork back bones, a piece of black botifarra and white botifarra).
- 150 grams of soaked chickpeas).
- 500 grams of galets.
For the meatball:
- 150 grams of lean ground pork.
- 100 grams of ground beef.
- Salt.
- Persil.
- 1 egg.
- 2 tablespoons of breadcrumb.
Catalan soup Escudella’s recipe, step by step
1. Boil water (approx. 5 liters) and add the vegetables, the bones, the pig’s food and the two chicken breasts (let the mixture boil for 2 hours approx,).
2. While it boils, time to prepare the meatball: mix the pork and beef meat with some persil and the garlic (cutted into small pieces) and some breadcrumbs. Then add the egg, two tablespoons of breadcrumbs and the salt. Mix all the ingredients and make the meatballs. Once they are in a rounded form, roll them in flour. Add them in the boiling mixture when it only needs to boil for the final 30 minutes.
3. When the boiling mixture only needs 10 minutes to boil, add the chickpeas and the butifarras.
4. When the time is up, leave the meat and the veggies on a plate apart. Add the galets and let them boil for about 14 minutes.
5. And ready to eat! You can add the meatballs on the same dish with the galets, or leave it to eat later (as a second dish). There is also this other combination: filling galets with the meat mixture and then boiling altogether.
Bon appétit! ;-)
And to keep discovering yummy food such as this Catalan soup, here is the article Catalan food you need to try.
Header image: ecoarrels.cat