Lentil butternut squash soup, Mama ía blog

January 22, 2018

Lentil and Butternut Squash Soup, ‘Tis the Season

Natacha Sanz Caballero Soups and Stews calabaza, chorizo, comfort food, plato de cuchara, pumpkin, snowy winter, soup, squash, stew, winter soup

Do you have the feeling that the Christmas and winter holiday season was ages ago? I certainly do, not so much because a long time has passed, but because so many events and activities have happened since. And I’m not talking about out of the ordinary or amazing events. In fact, January is probably one of those months (September would be another one) when everything goes back to normal —the restart of old routines, the beginning of new projects; but more than anything, a month of inwardness, of restarts, of cleaning and organizing, in literal and figurative terms. In one word, January is a month of resetting. This lentil and butternut squash soup, that I make often during winter, seemed appropriate for this time of year (a particularly cold January).

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March 22, 2017

Soupy Seafood Rice, and thinking of Las Fallas

Natacha Sanz Caballero Soups and Stews, Rice, Grains and Pasta, Fish Fallas, fish soup, Las Fallas, mussels, rice, seafood, seafood rice, seafood stock, soup, soupy rice, Valencia

If you subscribe to Mama Ía blog, or if you’ve been following it, by now you’re probably familiar with Spain’s dry rice dishes, like paella in all it’s varieties, or arroz al horno (click here and here and here). But there’s a different category of rice dish in Spain, which is not as familiar outside of the country as paella is. In Spanish we call it (more…)

Piquillo pepper and chickpea soup with rice, Mama ía

January 10, 2017

Piquillo Pepper and Chickpea Soup with Rice —eating light after Christmas

Natacha Sanz Caballero Soups and Stews, Rice, Grains and Pasta chickpeas, Christmas, garbanzos, gluten free, light, piquillo pepper, rice, soup, vegetarian

Today is the day that marks the end of Christmas in North America, at least for Christians: it is the feast of the Epiphany, when we celebrate the adoration of the Three Kings, the Three Wise Men, to baby Jesus at Bethlehem (click on this link, to read or hear a children’s story I wrote for Highlights for Children magazine a few years ago, where (more…)

October 10, 2016

Tomato Basil Soup —easing into Autumn

Natacha Sanz Caballero Soups and Stews autumn, fall, farmland, Indiana farm, otoño, soup, tomato soup

Early October, and the fields are beginning to show it. Colors have started to turn from green to shades of yellow and golden brown, leaves are drying, and corn stalks look as if ready to crumble under the hands of a giant. And yet, we have been enjoying summer temperatures. I’m not kidding you! This week we’ve been enjoying (more…)

November 13, 2015

Lentil Soup with Chorizo and Bacon, comfort in a bowl

Natacha Sanz Caballero Soups and Stews autumn, bacon, bowl, chorizo, fall, Indiana farmland, lentil soup, lentil soup with chorizo and bacon, lentil stew, soup, stew, winter

As a child, I thought lentil soup was okay. Just okay. In fact, I wasn’t a soup person, or a stew person. I didn’t like anything that had much broth in it. I much preferred dry rice dishes, like paella or arroz al horno, baked rice. And beans, in particular, weren’t my thing. I still remember my mom’s singsong, “Las lentejas tienen mucho hierro. Y fibra”, lentils have so much iron, and fiber. And her lentil soup with chorizo and bacon not only had a lot of fiber and iron, but was full of flavor. (more…)

September 4, 2015

Andalusian Gazpacho

Natacha Sanz Caballero Soups and Stews, Drinks Andalusian gazpacho, cold soup, Gazpacho, green pepper, soup, tomatoes

I find it hard to define gazpacho. In general, you’d see it classified as a cold soup —like what one usually eats with a spoon, served in a bowl or in a soup plate. Yet, that’s not how I remember my mom having gazpacho in the summers of my youth. And she should know, because (more…)