Ingredients list
Taking a month off made me forget that I was supposed to take pictures along the way as I prepared my recipe. Also, the whole working outside in the blistering heat made my brain soft. So there's a photo of the soup cooking, and one of the soup served. Most everything came in cans and packages anyway, so there wasn't much to see.
As hinted at by the title of the column I had saved - "Desperation Dinners" - the emphasis was on easy and quick. So here we go.
Heat the oil over medium heat in a soup pot or Dutch oven. The recipe says to use a 4 1/2 qt pot, but I had a relatively new 3 1/2 qt Dutch oven, so that's what I used. Not like I was going to go out and buy yet another one. Peel and chop the onion and add it to the pot. Stir for a couple minutes until the onion starts to soften up, then add the broth, salsa, corn and ravioli. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil. In the meantime, rinse and drain the beans, then add them to the pot. Boil for about five minutes until the ravioli is cooked, then take off the heat and let it sit for five minutes.
Serve in a bowl with a dollop of sour cream, if desired.
Verdict - Desperation dinner indeed. I'd have to be desperate to make this again. The soup part was alright, but I couldn't get past the ravioli, It just tasted like ravioli, and therefore was out of place. Another problem for me was the lack of seasoning. I suppose the writers figured that using salsa would take care of most of that, but I needed more. I even added some ground chipotles that I had in the cabinet, but that wasn't enough. The fast cooking time didn't help either, and I purposefully waited until I'd had leftovers twice before posting this, hoping that maybe the flavors would meld as the pot sat in the refrigerator - like chili the day after No such luck.
Lessons Learned - go ahead and add spices and seasoning, even if not explicitly called for..
Tools needed - nothing new this week.
Skills needed - nothing at all.
