Moroccan-Inspired Bean Soup

Dante was right. The center of hell has no fire. It's a lake of ice.

I don't know how it is where you are; but here in New England, we've descended into the deep freeze. It's cold. Really cold. We haven't made it above freezing in a couple of weeks.

Which is fine for Christmas and New Year's. Sort of makes the season. And Dreydl seems very happy, chasing his tire in the snow. But I've got my fingers crossed that come the second of January, we'll be in the mid-70s. I washed my bathing suit this morning. Or was I being too hopeful?

With the chill, we've been having great comfort food--like this bean soup I concocted the other night while Bruce was out teaching knitting. I used the template for Bean Soup in COOKING KNOW-HOW. If you haven't heard me say so about a zillion times already, that's the book that won the best-in-the-world award at the Paris Book Show. Quite the little tome we wrote--which you can find here.

The spice mixture I used is a rather classic Moroccan blend. But my soup was inspired by Moroccan flavors. As you'll see, there's a significant deviation. Significant.

So let's get to it. You'll make six to eight servings worth.

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Salt Cod Cakes

Let me tell you this: the very last thing I need in my life is some idiot locavore wagging a finger in my face, telling me how I must only eat in season. In my part of the world--rural New England--there's nothing in season right now. Not even eggs. The chickens have stopped laying with the loss of daylight. Nothing. Zip.

Which is why salt cod was invented. (Well, not because of the chicken part of all that.) It's a way to preserve the catch for the long winter: the fish so highly salted that it can't go bad. In other words, the only way to eat locally in a world of snow.

Isn't it funny that something that was created as a means of survival has now got high-falutin' culinary aspirations? We can even find salt cod at our local supermarket these days!

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Hot Hot Sauce

Lately, I've been hankering for culinary fire. You know, a real spike on the tongue, Maybe it's because of this:

That's the skating rink that is our driveway. Ah, New England. Ye gave us Puritans and schoolmarms.

I can't possibly understand what made them so bitter.

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