Iroquois soup from loren martin

4 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
4 eaches Large mushrooms, sliced
2 eaches 10 1/2 oz cans beef consomme
2 tablespoons Yellow corn meal
2 tablespoons Minced parsley
1 clove Garlic, crushed
½ teaspoon Basil
1 each Onion, thinly sliced
Fresh ground pepper, dash
¼ teaspoon Salt
Haddock fillets, 12 oz
10 ounces Baby lima beans
⅓ cup Dry sherry (optional)

Directions

Place the mushrooms, consomme, corn meal, parsley, garlic, basil, onion, pepper and salt in a large saucepan, and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Add haddock, lima beans, and sherry and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, breaking haddock into bite-sized pieces. Serve hot.

The Iroquois were blessed with clear, cool lakes and sparkling streams, and both served up an abundance of fish. Fish soup, or u'nega'gei, as the Iroquois called it, was a favorite. One early recipe is described, "Fish of any kind is boiled in a pot with a quantity of water. It is then removed and coarse corn siftings stirred in to make a soup of suitable consistency." When wild onions and greens were available, they were usually tossed into the soup pot, adding both color and flavor.

From: The Art of American Indian Cooking by Yeffe Kimball and Jean Anderson, Avon Books, New York, NY, 1965.

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