hiatus broken with amazing soup

Hello there.

With another soup swap coming up and questions from a slew of friends, I'm recommitting to blogging. My new work at Peace Learning Center has kept me happily busy, but the itch to write about good food has returned. So, here goes...

I can think of no better way to return to this blog than by sharing the most surprising dish that I had last year, a glorious clear soup shared by my friend Andrea. She's German, so maybe her European origin is what makes this soup so elegantly delicious, with its warming spices and touch of sherry. But maybe the secret is that amazing spiral of parmesan pancake you see floating in the soup, pictured below. Whatever it is, it is so very, very good that I urge you to immediately make it and devour it.

Andrea's Amazing Soup

Here's the recipe, just as Andrea shared it with me. Again, please make this. There will be no regrets!

Recipe: Andrea's Amazing Clear Tomato Soup with Parmesan Pancake

Ingredients for the soup
1 onion
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
2 allspice corns
2 sprigs of thyme
4 egg whites
3 cans of whole tomatoes (800g)
1 bay leaf
800ml vegetable broth
1/2 tsp salt
1 pinch of sugar
2 cl dry sherry
grape tomatoes

Ingredients for the pancakes
3 egg yolks
50g flour
50g ground parmesan
50ml milk
salt
a bit of oil for the pan

Prepare the soup - Cut unpeeled onion in half. Peel and dice one half of it, leave the other half intact. Crush the peppercorns and allspice corns. Wash the thyme, leaving it on the sprigs. Beat the egg whites half stiff. Roast the onion half with the cut surface down in a large pot (no oil). Add all the ingredients except the sherry and grape tomatoes. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Let simmer on low heat for 1 hour. Line a fine colander with gauze and strain the soup slowly into a large bowl or pot. Don't push or stir in the colander; it will make the soup cloudy. When ready to serve, heat soup, add salt, pepper and sherry to taste. Add sherry after the soup is hot so it doesn't evaporate.

Prepare the pancakes - Mix all the ingredients. Fry THIN pancakes in a little bit of oil. Roll the pancakes tightly (works best when still hot).

Serve it up - When ready to serve, cut pancakes into thin slices. Add pancake slices and grape tomato halves to bowls before pouring the soup. Note - There is a lot of waste, so once you served it clear, press everything that is left in the colander through the gauze. Tastes the same, it just doesn't look as fancy.