_______’s General Store

Out of respect for the proprietor’s hatred of publicity, I will refrain from dropping his name in this post. Just know that eating at this restaurant is probably one of the most sincere experiences you will ever have in New York City. This guy just does not give a shit, and that is something I can really get down with.

Last month, I had the pleasure of eating there with Chris and my friend Parvoneh. The fact that they were both tourists was a good enough excuse to do crazy shit like wait in an hour-long line for brunch. The wait felt so long that when someone asked me what I was waiting for I forgot for a second. Totally worth it though, and here’s why:

CHEESEBURGER SOUP!

EGGS, BARBEQUE PULLED PORK, TOAST AND MACARONI AND CHEESE!

VEGAN SAUSAGE!

MACARONI AND CHEESE AND BLACKBERRY PANCAKES!

A HUGEASS PUMPKIN SHAKE!

Bam, motherfucker.

Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash Soup

Hey guys! Yeah, I’m still alive.

It’s snowy and cold and all sorts of unpleasant here in Iowa, and that spells soup season! I tried this badass recipe from the New York Times that was under the ambivalent header of “Recipes for Health.” It turned out awesome, and made my friend Tim like butternut squash and sweet potatoes! Yay! I’m all for teaching kids how to eat new things.

Thanksgiving was sweet, too. Chris and I made two pies: sweet potato and apple. For both, we used the Cook’s Illustrated pie crust recipe (with vodka!). And, inevitably, there were plenty of beers and bonfires the whole weekend.

I’ll try to update this post with photos soon, but for now, here’s the recipe for the soup, excerpted from the New York Times’ website.

Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash Soup

• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 1 pound butternut squash, peeled and diced
• 1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 medium-size Yukon gold or russet potato, peeled and diced
• 6 cups water, chicken stock, or vegetable stock
• Salt to taste

1. Heat the oil in a heavy soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the ginger and stir together until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the squash, sweet potatoes, regular potato, and water or stock, and bring to a simmer. Add salt to taste, reduce the heat, cover and simmer 45 minutes, or until all of the ingredients are thoroughly tender.

2. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup (or you can put it through the fine blade of a food mill or use a regular blender, working in batches and placing a kitchen towel over the top to avoid splashing). Return to the pot and stir with a whisk to even out the texture. Heat through, adjust salt and add pepper to taste.

Asparagus and Potato Soup

Yesterday the Farmer’s Market in Grinnell opened for the summer; they sell a modest assortment of vegetables and baked goods along with creepy blankets and soy-based candles. Sojourn Farms, which is based in Brooklyn, IA, was selling both purple and green asparagus at their stand for $3 a bunch. Asparagus is their specialty, so I didn’t mind the price so much. I don’t think that there’s very much of a difference between green and purple asparagus other than regionality: French asparagus is purple while American asparagus is green, s’all.

Since I work during dinnertime, I figured I’d make something that wouldn’t get all weird sitting in the fridge: soup! I’ve never been a big soup-maker, but maybe that’s something that should change. I bought purple asparagus at the market, but the color seemed to shrug off during boiling. Ah, well. I have another half of a bunch that I can roast or something.

The matter of seasoning was a tough one. I had used leftover pho stock, so it was already infused with fish sauce, star anise and other pho spices. But even then it was missing something. I dug around in my bootleg spice rack and tried a whole bunch until something stuck. Sage seemed like a pretty weird thing to add, but it imparted a really interesting and deep smokishness to the soup, which I really didn’t expect. Besides that, I ground a while bunch of black pepper into it. The soup ended up being a really nice mixture of refreshing and filling; a great meal for a chilly spring afternoon.

Asparagus and Potato Soup

• Half a bunch of asparagus (color doesn’t matter a whit)
• Three or four potatoes, diced
• Two to three cups of chicken stock
• Sage, to taste
• Salt and pepper, to taste (I didn’t use salt, but if you’re using regular chicken stock you might want to add it.)

Snap off the ends of the asparagus and discard them. Chop up the asparagus into manageable pieces and throw them into a pot with the chicken stock and potatoes. Have it all boil until the potatoes are cooked through. Puree everything in a blender. Season accordingly.