Shrimp 'n Hotroot Soup

Inspiration in the kitchen can come from the oddest places. One of our daughters came up with a delicious recipe for pot pie after seeing a McDonald's commercial while cooking for a cancer client years ago. It has become a winter family favorite - it's in my "Winter Comfort Food" cooking class at Francis Tuttle.

This shrimp soup recipe was inspired by Brian Jacques's Redwall series. Our three youngest children were huge fans of the series. John read all 34 of them out loud to a captive audience, we listened to the recorded books in the car, and Zossima, now 23, still listens to them. 

I bought  The Redwall Cookbook when the children were little, never really expecting to actually use the recipes, but we loved the illustrations of the dibbuns scurrying around the kitchen, the fat mole in her apron, otters eating and various other animals busily at work and feasting on rich food. There's a lot of sugar, butter and cream in these recipes and the children and I had fun imagining how these forest creatures managed to cook these dishes. 

We did find a couple of recipes that, with some changes, we could enjoy. Shrimp 'n' Hotroot Soup was one of them and it became Timothy's special dish. Here's the recipe, adapted from the Redwall Cookbook.

2 T olive oil

1 large onion, diced

1 medium leek, washed well and diced

4 cups vegetable stock

3 medium golden potatoes, peeled and chopped in 1 inch cubes

3 T tomato sauce

1 t. chili powder

1 cup shrimp, deveined, tail off

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat and add onions and leeks. Cook, stirring, about 5 minutes.

2. Add stock, bring to a boil and then add potatoes, tomato sauce and chili powder. Simmer about 15 to 20 minutes until the potatoes are soft but not mushy.

3. Add shrimp and simmer another 5 minutes.