Yam Spinach Broccoli Soup - Hearty and Delicious

There is something especially soothing about a warm savory soup on a cold winter day, but soups are good any time of year.  Their wonderful flavors are the result of steeping together the ingredients until the flavors blend into a bouquet that is richer and more complex than the original ingredients--to quote the great Stephen R. Covey completely out of context "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts".  There is evidence of soups having been made as far back as 6,000 BC.  They began soon after the discovery of waterproof vessels which included animal hide bags and clay pots.  The early methods of boiling involved dropping hot rocks into the liquid.  Later, because they had no refrigeration, the North American plains Indians kept a pot simmering constantly to which they'd periodically add water, meat scraps, herbs, roots etc. and from which they'd regularly dip bowls of soup which morphed over time depending on what was added.

The base of this soup was a bone from a pork roast.  I bought the inexpensive roast and rather than cooking it all at once, I parsed it out over 5 different meals (I save money and get more enjoyment out of using meat as more of a garnish than as a heavy-hitting main course).  When I cut the irregularly shaped bone out of the roast it inevitably came with pieces of meat still attached so after boiling it for about an hour and letting it cool I was able to pick off the bits of cooked pork and add them back to the soup stock.  By the time it cools you can also get out most of the fat because it floats to the surface and solidifies.  Another innovation was to use yams rather than potatoes for the root vegetable in this soup.  We had some broccoli on hand and added that for nutrition and flavor.  Next came salt, herbs, and spices, and after boiling that down for about an hour I made it creamier by adding a can of coconut milk.  Finally, just before serving the soup I stirred in chopped spinach for a nutrition and color boost.  You need to add it after you're done boiling or it will simply disintegrate.  This hearty soup turned out to be slightly sweet from the yams yet deliciously savory.

Here's are the ingredients and instructions to make this delicious soup--

Ingredients:

• 6 cups Pork Stock and Bits (boil a pork bone for an hour, cool and pick the bits of pork from the boiled bone to add to the Stock
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 Large Onion Chopped
• 1 Large Yam Peeled and Diced
• 2 cups Broccoli chopped
• 1 Tbsp Celery Salt
• Salt - To Taste
• 1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
• 3 Bay Leaves
• 1 Tbsp Black Pepper
• 1 can Coconut milk
• 2 Tbsp Corn Starch
• 1 large handful Spinach chopped

In a large pot fry onions in the olive oil until tender, add the pork stock, yam, broccoli, and all the salt, spices, and herbs.  Bring to a boil then turn down the heat and simmer for an hour.  Mix the corn starch into the coconut milk and stir in.  Simmer for at least another 20 minutes (you can slow cook like this for as long as you have--the flavors just get richer).  5 minutes before serving remove the soup from the heat and stir in the chopped spinach.

Now it's time to gather your family around and enjoy it.  You are having dinner together right?