Crabby Corn Soup

I picked up my copy of Soups and Sandwiches: Wholesome Ideas for Quick Lunches at the recent library sale, and piled it onto the other cookbooks. Hungry for something to cook, I grabbed the book as I headed to the laundromat to wash the bed linens.

Once the comforters and sheets were slurshing around in the commercial washer I perused the cookbook and found the Crab and Corn Soup on page 31. It looked easy and simple, so I added it to my "Make This Soon" list.

(I have no idea what "slursh" means, but I like the way it sounds. I also do not keep a "Make This Soon List" although  perhaps I should add a list like that to my Remember The Milk account.)

I noticed a few odd things about the cookbook. First, it was hard to understand how the soups were organized. Sure, there is a table of contents, but when you're looking through the book, there's no chapter titles to indicate that you've moved from vegetable & exotic soups to creamy soups. Same thing's true of the sandwiches.

The index is also seriously lacking. It merely lists the titles of the various recipes, not the actual ingredients - which would be more helpful to any reader searching for a recipe to prepare quickly.

Likewise, I found the sandwich area not...lunchable. These seem more like canapes, finger food, little nibbles for parties, rather than something to sustain me through a busy work day. And with a subtitle like "Wholesome Ideas for Quick Lunches," I was surprised to find so many recipes with multiple steps; for example, the Salmon Pinwheels I made involved a rolling pin, rolling bread, and a two hour waiting period. Finally the recipe ingredients are sometimes vague: what "mixed herbs" do the authors mean? I have no idea.

And with two authors who are "home economists" -an outdated term if there ever has been one- I was wary. I shouldn't have been.

The Crab and Corn Soup was easy, tasty, and I imagine wholesome as well. It was definitely a quick soup to prepare, and a nice twist on your typical egg drop soup. I substituted shrimp for the crab with no problem. I was stymied with the "small piece of gingerroot" because what do the authors mean by small? I guessed.

One small chunk of gingerroot.

Ingredients: egg, cornstarch, scallions, shrimp

Finished Soup

Despite the general oddness of the book, I enjoyed this soup. I could have added more gingerroot. I also like that each recipe has a photograph that clearly illustrates what the finished product should look like. As a bonus, many soups have a suggested accompaniment recipe. For example, the Cream of Cauliflower Soup on page 27 also offers a recipe to make Cheese Snippets to flat in the soup, while the Cream of Carrot Soup on the same page has Herb Croutons (with one teaspoon of "dry herbs" as the flavoring.)

Crab and Corn Soup

3 3/4 cup chicken stock
1 small piece gingerroot, peeled
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon dry sherry
1 15oz can creamed corn
salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
4 oz crab (or shrimp) chopped
2 eggs, beaten
2 scallions, minced

In a large saucepan, combine stock and gingerroot. Simmer 15 minutes. Remove gingerroot and stir in soy sauce, sherry, and creamed corn. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, blend cornstarch and water. Stir in stock mixture. Stir in crab (or shrimp) and heat until mixture thickens.

Bring mixture to a slow simmer and slowly pour in beaten eggs in a thin stream, stirring constantly. Do not allow soup to boil. Garnish soup with sliced green onions. Makes 4 to 6 servings.