Take just one loving tablespoonful
Twist my arm for a negative comment about a thick slice of finest rare roast beef served with an ultra-smooth sour-cream and horseradish sauce, French gratinated potatoes and an assortment of lightly-braised garden vegetables, accompanied by a bottle of full-bodied robust red wine, and you still wouldn’t get one. A platter like this is among my all-time favourites.
Especially on a cloudy Sunday afternoon when afterwards the only logical thing left to do is lie inert on the sofa with my husband of almost 38 years and watch a love-story video.
Naturally, not all the dishes we like best induce a state of inertness. You know us well enough by now. Jeff makes our Hungarian Love Soup often.
Ingredients: 1 fresh brown egg, 2 cups rice, 2 whole garlic bulbs, 1 huge tomato, 1 large onion, 1 1/2 pints home-made chicken stock, paprika, parsley and 2 tablespoons cognac. (Serves two lusty sexagenarians.)
Preparation:
B> Chop garlic into rice-grain-sized pieces. Mix with uncooked rice. Bring 3 cups of water to a vigorous boil and throw-in rice and garlic. Let boil for 2 minutes before turning-off heat. Allow to stand until water is absorbed and rice soft and dry. Finely dice and season tomato and cut onion into wafer-thin rings.
Boil chicken stock turbulently. Gently whisk egg and pour into stock stirring tenderly for 2 seconds. Turn off heat and add onion without stirring. Let stand for 2 minutes.
Divide tomato equally between two broadest-possible soup dishes (no bowls) and cover with garlic rice. Ever-so-gently ladle in egg and onion stock taking care not to disturb rice bed. Sprinkle chopped parsley and paprika. Add tablespoon of cognac in each dish.
What’s so special about what is, in effect, a most simple soup? You’re probably asking. That’s exactly what we thought too when the Hungarian innkeeper who introduced us to it claimed it had paranormal properties.
That was during an overnight stop on a trip from Vienna to Budapest. Suffice to say we stopped at the same inn again on the way back. For a large helping of seconds.
What’s the secret ingredient? Who knows? But watching a love-story video doesn’t spring immediately to mind after tasting it. Making one is more likely.
We’ve considered submitting the recipe to the Heart Association for their seal of approval, because although it probably doesn’t reduce cholesterol any soup that makes hearts grow this fonder deserves widespread worldwide recognition.
