Mexican Peasant Soup Full Of Spicy Flavors

Mary Aegerter’s favorite story about Mexican Peasant Soup involves her ex-husband, who loves spicy foods. Toward the end of their 22-year marriage, he began to do some cooking, and thought this easy recipe would be a good one for him to start with.

“The first spoonful was memorable - or, should I say, breathtaking - for all of us,” Aegerter recalls. “He’d figured that if a few drops of Tabasco were good, a whole slew of drops would be even better! We all survived, sort of, to eat on another day.”

Uniontown, Wash., resident Aegerter, who is a vegetarian (and a former member of The Spokesman-Review’s reader food panel), loves to cook with vegetables and grains. She altered this recipe, originally printed in the Boston Globe many years ago, and substituted vegetable broth for chicken broth. (You can save some time by heating the broth in the microwave while the veggies cook.)

To perk up the color of this bland-looking but very flavorful soup, Aegerter suggests using red bell pepper instead of green and topping the soup with sprinkles of Cheddar cheese and tortilla chips.

Ironically, the meat-avoiding Aegerter is also co-chair of Uniontown’s annual sausage feed on March 3. She laughs at this, but her commitment and loyalty to her town shines through.

Uniontown, about 100 miles south of Spokane on Highway 195, hosts a sausage feed the first Sunday in March. The German town gets together and makes enough sausage for 2,000 people. It’s an all-you-can-eat meal, served with mashed potatoes, corn, sauerkraut, pickles and homemade pies for dessert.

The meal is served from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m in the community building. Cost is $8 for adults, $4 for children 6-12 and $1 for those under 6. Call Aegerter at (509) 229-3672 for further information.

Plan your Sunday afternoon trip to Uniontown while enjoying Aegerter’s soup for dinner tonight.

Mexican Peasant Soup

Adapted by Mary Aegerter of Uniontown, Wash., from a Boston Globe recipe.

Vegetable spray or small amount of oil

3/4 cup chopped onion

3/4 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

Hot pepper sauce to taste (a few drops)

2 cups vegetable or chicken broth

1 (16-ounce) can refried beans

Optional but nice: grated Cheddar cheese and/or tortilla chips

Cook vegetables over low heat until tender in a nonstick skillet lightly coated with vegetable spray or oil. Add the spices, broth and beans. Heat through. If desired, top with grated cheese and/or chips.

Yield: 4 servings.

, DataTimes MEMO: The goal of Five and Fifteen is to find recipes where you can do the shopping in five minutes and the cooking in 15. Merri Lou Dobler, a registered dietitian and Spokane resident, welcomes ideas from readers. Write to Five and Fifteen, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210.

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