We rarely puke anymore. Borrrrring.
Yeah, perhaps. We blame it on the slow, silent exit of whiskey from our diet and it’s jolly replacement: fancy beer. It makes for earlier bed times, a regular body clock and generally happy guts.
But we are not without our moments of reverting: usually loud records and a late night’s start are involved. Oh, and maybe a last breath breakfast that sits in your belly until a mid-morning tumble to the water closet floor, yeah?
For those mornings, we advise heavily against eggs and potatoes. There’s only one option and it involves the sweet, hot hug of mildly spiced tomato in a spoon. Somewhere between hangover soup and the Brit-o-phile treat of a blackened-grilled tomato — bloody breakfast stew.
“Fir whan thay whole wooorld lock lake shite.”
(Makes 4 servings)
2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 white onion
2 white potatoes
4 cloves garlic
2 Tbs. parsley
1/2 cup crusty bread cubed
1/2 tsp fresh thyme
1/2 cup peeled and blanched fava beans
1/2 cup white beans
1/4 cup tomato sauce
2 cups water
1 Tbs. sumac
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
fresh black pepper and coarse salt to taste
1 whole tomato
1 Tbs. olive oil
lemon peel for garnish
1. Lube your sauce pot with olive oil and set on high heat. Toss in chopped onion, pressed garlic, chopped potato and minced parsley. Saute the stuff like its hash browns in the making. Once hash is browned, add bread cubes and continue stirring. Add thyme.
2. Next, stir in your beans, fava and white, and then tomato sauce. Stir well and add 2 cups water. Finally throw in the sumac for a lemony bite and the ground cinnamon to round it all out (and aid in the settling of your poisoned bowels).
3. Let your pot reach a rolling boil and reduce to a low simmer for 20-25 minutes.
4. Heat a saute pan and add more olive oil. Bifurcate your beautiful tomato, and slice off the round bottom of each slice so you have a flat surface on both ends of the fruit. Place the tomato face down in the pan and grill for about 5 minutes or until blackened around the edges. Flip and cook for another 2 minutes. Salt the top liberally.
5. Ladle stew into a small cup and place the warm grilled tomato in the middle. Garnish with flat parsley leaf and thin slices of lemon peel.
Soundtrack: The Sex Pistol’s “No Feeling”
Beverage: Guiness Stout (in a bottle)
firstie. that’s a purdy soup but garnishing a grilled ‘mato is not a task for the hung over.
Au contraire. Focusing on a task is sometimes the only thing between you and tiny barfs.
Also, zesting a lemon – rocket science it’s not.
cooking real food (i.e. not just toast with butter) when hungover is tricky…sometimes the sights and smells of sizzling or simmering vittles wakes you up, kick starts your appetite and reminds you that life is worth living. other times, the old tum just turns over and you’re back in bed til sundown. the stew looks exceptional, though!
Just tried it! Real good and I only had a slight headache from drinking a lot of German lager. I especially liked the grilled tomato. However, the soup didn’t come out so nice and red as in your picture. I think it is because I didn’t peel the fava beans.
My stomach is feeling real good, though!
Thanks!
Could you make the soup before a party, and just save the tomato slicin’ and grillin’ for the morning after? Gadz, could you freeze the soup, and have a hangover cure on hand? Summer, oh summer.
Hey Clay! Definitely peel the favas. The other thing that might help: double the tomato sauce level, we may have skimped.
Carissa. You bet your sweet matoes you could fridge the stew and just reheat! Good e-deh
I especially liked the grilled tomato. However, the soup didn’t come out so nice and red as in your picture. I think it is because I didn’t peel the fava beans.