My Very Best Soup Ever

My Blue Leg chicken is still giving us great meals. It started as a roast chicken with crispy skin and wonderfully moist and tasty meat. Then it was chicken salad, followed by chicken sandwiches. Finally, it was chicken broth that made the basis for the best soup I've ever made.

This is a riff on Tyler Florence's Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup. I used my homegrown Paul Robeson tomatoes (they are incredibly rich and sweet) and added two ears of fresh corn that the recipe didn't call for; at this time of year I add corn to as many dishes as possible - it's just too delicious to miss! The chicken stock was made from the bones of our Sunday chicken with onion, celery and carrot added to the water as the broth bubbled into chickeny heaven. Because we are spice wimps, I used only one jalapeño chili and was careful to remove the hottest rib. The resulting soup was warm but not volcanic.

I'm not kidding when I say this is the best soup I have ever made, hands down, bar none, end of the dance. The color, the rich scent, the flavors were perfectly balanced and the addition of creamy avocado and salty, crispy tortilla strips added varied texture with the corn and cilantro. I can die happy - I have achieved Sopa Nirvana.

Celeburgers

Okay, so what if I didn't know who Tyler Florence was before reading the July issue of Sunset magazine? Big deal!

Actually, it is a big deal - Tyler Florence, that smartypants whippersnapper of a TV celeb chef, taught me how to make hamburgers. I've made hamburgers all my life - he just taught me how to make them truly delicious.

Use brisket. That's all you have to do, he said. I will admit to some initial skepticism but I bought one on his advice (by the way, that's one giant cut of meat!), the smallest one I could find, and lugged it home to cut into five one-pound portions and froze the other four. Hauled out my ancient but reliable Cuisinart and whacked up the unfrozen portion, shaped it quickly into patties (no salt, no pepper, no nothing else) and left it for a few minutes to rest. I'm not sure why meat benefits so much from that but I've been known to enjoy a nap myself from time to time so why the heck not?

Tyler Florence maintains that the meat-to-fat ratio of brisket is perfect for hamburgers. I have to admit that I trimmed the fat on mine just a bit before chopping it for the Cuisinart - it looked just a little bit too rich, even for me.

I decided to pan fry the burgers this first time, just to see how they performed in the simplest preparation. "We'll just see about this whizkid's credentials, now, won't we?," I thought. First, I sautéed some sliced mushrooms in the pan and set them aside while I gave the burgers a quick sear in the same pan to caramelize the top and bottom but leaving the inner reaches still pink and moist.

The first bite swept away any reservations I may have harbored and convinced me for all time. It was simply the best hamburger I've ever tasted and My Beloved rolled his expressive blue eyes to heaven, a sure indication of hamburger nirvana from him.

Okay, so the younger generation may have a thing or two to teach me after all. At least now I know who Tyler Florence is so I don't look quite so clueless at cocktail parties.