soupsong.com

My Dad took an awful fall this past Friday night and split his hip bone in half.  Not something a former B-29 pilot likes to admit, even if he is an octogenarian+ with the weakest pins a man could ever be cursed with.  The good news is that it happened in Durham, NC, and he’s in the great Duke hospital for care–now titanium/ceramic man, convalescing with a hip replacement.  The bad news is that it happened in Durham, NC, and I’m here in Paris, France, feeling like a complete dumbbell of a daughter.

When in doubt, make soup.  In this case, I made a completely magnificent chicken stock last night and got in tonight from work to skim off the congealed fat and find it pure, strong, and heady.  Add pressed garlic, soup noodles, salt, and white pepper.  Toss in chopped greens at the end and top with parsley.  It’s called Savoyarde soupe de fides and is a soup famous for curing farmers in the snowy French Alps of what ails them.  You DO know about chicken soup curing what ails you, right? So why not use it to hasten the cure of a hip replacement?  That’s what I’m thinking.

There it is pictured, can’t you just smell the fragrance and imagine biting into those slices of pavé châtaigne pain (chestnut bread) slathered in AOC butter…sipping that glass of flinty Sancerre?

Open your mouth wide, Dad.  I’m about to email you some big spoonsful of Soupe de Fides. I think I can already hear the sweet sounds of it knitting your bones back together.

Soupe de Fides (for 2)

3 cups rich chicken stock
1 garlic clove, pressed
1/2 cup broken-up fine soup noodles
1/4 cup chopped fresh greens and herbs
salt and white pepper to taste
sprigs of parsley to garnish

Bring the stock to a boil over medium-high heat with the garlic and cook for a minute.  Add noodles and cook, uncovered, until they’re just done, from 3-5 minutes.  Add the greens/herbs just as you take the pan off the fire.  Stir, season with salt and pepper, ladle into two bowls, and top with sprigs of parsley.

Bon appetit…and get better, Dad.