White Soup Bowl by Anne Coster Vallayer 1771

I made soup last Friday morning, and as happens so often when I cook, it was an unreasonable amount of soup. Enough to feed at least six when we are only two: My Best Beloved me, and sweet small dog. So, three really, but Maggie the Minx doesn’t eat soup.

I am not a terribly social person. I am old (ish) and have a mind prone to darkness and a body prone to addiction (30 years sober this month), and I am most comfortable in a quiet room filled with books and a bottomless cup of strong tea next to me.

But… the soup. What to do with all this soup? No one really enjoys freezing soup, thawing it out, and reheating it. It never tastes the same. Some things are best shared, not hoarded. Quite a lot of things are like that. Like health care. Like education. Like water.

(Sidenote – Robin Wall Kimmerer talks about this concept of abundance and reciprocity so beautifully in her book, “The Serviceberry.” I highly recommend it.)

Gazing at my abundance of sweet potato and cauliflower soup, I called a couple of neighbors and invited them to an impromptu lunch. Then I turned on the television, just in time to see The Malevolence in Charge (whom a friend calls Dick Tater) and his odious minions attempt to humiliate President Zelenskyy, a man so brave and resolute I feel humbled every time I hear his name. I burst into tears. Is this what America — never a perfect place — has become? It is. It is. My neighbors arrived, both just as profoundly alarmed, enraged, and grieving as us.

At the table, we talked and talked, and like almost any four people talking together, we didn’t agree on everything, but we agreed on this: hard times are coming. One of my friends is married to a man from Peru who lived through the brutal authoritarian regime of the Shining Path. He has a sense of what we’re facing.

We’re going to be called on to do something, that I know. Perhaps that something will be a big thing. Perhaps it will be a small thing. I remember years ago listening to a woman (I think she was on Oprah, God help me) talk about starting a free lunch program for the children she’d seen rooting about in a dumpster behind MacDonalds. It turns out their crack-addicted parents had abandoned them. At the end of her story, she said, “God doesn’t ask everyone to feed children out of their kitchen, but God does ask something of everyone.” That stuck with me. We must be on the lookout for whatever is in front of us, for every opportunity to be one of those helpers Mr. Rogers recommended we look for in times of trouble.

I was reminded of the quote by author Barry Lopez: “We cannot, of course, save the World, because we do not have authority over its parts. We can serve the world, though. That is everyone’s calling, to lead a life that helps.”

Last Friday, there was bread, and soup, and olives, and herbed cheese, and mugs of tea. Our shared meal did not change Dick Tater’s actions and will have no effect on the fallout. But it might just put a little starch in the spines of the people around the table, as it did mine. It might just make us a little braver, knowing we are not alone, and that’s not nothing.

Here’s the recipe for the soup, which was very good indeed. Maybe you want to make it and share bowls with a few neighbors. Maybe talk about John Lewis’s good trouble and how to make it. Talk about how to be a helper.

Spiced Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Soup

• 1 head cauliflower chopped
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon tumeric
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
• 1 large onion chopped
• 1 cup carrot diced
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 2 teaspoons fresh ginger grated
• 1 15 ounce can canned diced tomatoes
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 3 cups sweet potatoes diced and peeled
• 1 15 ounce can coconut milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Combine coriander, cumin, cinnamon, turmeric, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add the cauliflower to the spices along with 1 tablespoon oil and toss to combine. Transfer the cauliflower to the prepared baking sheet and roast until the edges are browned, 15 to 20 minutes. Set aside.

3. Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and carrots and cook until the onions soften, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant, about 1 more minute.

4. Stir in diced tomatoes, vegetable broth and sweet potatoes. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook, partially covered and stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, about 35 to 40 minutes.

5. Stir in coconut milk and the roasted cauliflower. Blend with an immersion blender until smooth and consistent.

6. Garnish with roasted sunflower seeds and parsley or cilantro

7. Serve with warm naan, olives, maybe a little herbed Boursin and lots of love.