Apple Crab Curry Soup

You may or may not like this soup, but you're unlikely to groan, "Oh, not another apple crab curry soup!"

3 T butter or mild oil of some sort

1 medium onion, chopped

2 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped. Get Granny Smith or equivalently tart apples. Even if you prefer a milder apple for eating, these have to hold their own with some pretty definite other flavors.

2-3 T curry powder

3 T flour

2-3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 can water chestnuts, drained and halved

3 c. chicken or vegetable broth

1 c. apple cider (or apple juice)

4 cloves garlic

1 pound crabmeat. This is how much meat you should end up with after you've cooked it and pulled it out and picked it over, not how much weight of crab you should buy if you buy it still in the crab.

1 c. heavy whipping cream. Why do they call these "half-pints?" There is a convenient term just for that very unit of measure. It is called a cup. I can see why no child is nicknamed "cup," because it's kind of a lame nickname. But when saying how much cream to use? Use a cup. Honestly.

Melt butter or heat oil. Dump onions in and saute them until they're kind of limp but not browning. Add in apples, curry, flour, potatoes, water chestnuts. Cook, stirring, for several more minutes. They will be brilliantly yellow. They can't help it.

Add in the broth and the cider/juice. Press the garlic in a press (or chop it finely). Add half the crabmeat. Partially cover the soup pot and let simmer for half an hour, stirring occasionally. Add other seasonings (salt, pepper, etc.) to taste and dump in the rest of the crabmeat and the cream. Let simmer 5-10 minutes before serving.

This soup will be brilliantly yellow. I had mine with a bottle of pear cider. It was a lovely combination.