a Quickie

Not like that! Get your mind outta the gutter. ;-)

Last semester was crazy busy for me. I was deep into data collection for my dissertation as well as planning teaching a research methods course and working part-time at UCLA to qualify for tuition remission. I soon realized that due to my packed schedule I regrettably did not have much time to spend in the kitchen. While this realization was an unfortunate one, it got me thinking about how to prepare quick, easy meals without sacrificing freshness, healthfullness, and deliciousness.

Around the same time a dear friend gave me Nancy Silverton's latest cookbook, A Twist of the Wrist: Quick Flavorful Meals with Ingredients from Jars, Cans, Bags, and Boxes. In the book's introduction, Nancy talks about the guilt she felt when she didn't have time to go all out and cook a huge involved dinner. I could relate. I, like Nancy, thought that anything less than "from scratch" was not good enough to feed my family and me. Luckily, my busy schedule and her cookbook helped me see the error in my thinking. Her theory is simple: one can combine a couple store bought, lightly-processed ingredients with other fresh ingredients and end up with a lovely time-saving meal. I was inspired by two recipes for corn soup in her cookbook, which utilized boxed soup, and I came up with this one of my own.

Roasted Corn and Split Pea Soup with Dungeness Crab.

1 quart boxed corn soup (I like Imagine's Organic Creamy Harvest Corn Soup from Whole Foods. The key is to try out a couple different brands until you find one you like. An additional advantage to this particular brand is it is low in sodium, always something to look for when cooking with processed goods).
1 cup frozen peas
salt and pepper
5-8 oz fresh Dungeness crab meat

Heat the soup in a saucepan and add peas. Once the peas have warmed, use an immersion blender to puree the peas into the soup (if you don't have an immersion blender, a regular blender works just as well, even if a little messier). Season with salt and pepper. Pour the soup into serving bowls and top with the crab meat.

This meal serves 4 and comes together in less than 15 minutes! And better yet it's easy on the wallet, ringing in at about $4 per serving. The flavor of the corn is refreshing; the peas add an interesting depth to the soup; and the crab meat is a simple delicacy that elevates the soup to entree-worthy.

Enjoy and lemme know what you think!