pork and zucchini soup in a boule bread bowl

Here in Pachuca, we've been having ridiculous weather...no surprise there. Yesterday, at noon, it was about 87°f and sunny. Then out of nowhere, by 3 pm, it had cooled down to 50°f and it was pouring rain. My boyfriend has been feeling a little under the weather due to these crazy changes, so in anticipation that today would also be cold, I decided to surprise him with something he had never even heard of before...soup in a bread bowl.

Then it was 85 all day.

But it didnt matter; he appreciated the soup, it was delicious, and the bread turned out great.

Since i didnt have days to make sourdough, i settled on the master boule from Artisan Bread. Considering I had about 4 hours to make it, i was worried it wouldnt rise enough, but it did, and was yummy, although a little flatter than i would've liked. Oh well, it still worked for the bread bowl. The only changes I made were adding some basil and thyme, and since I dont have a pizza stone, I baked it on a plain old cookie tray.

The soup I made was a delicious pork-zucchini (I still have zucchini from my father-in-law coming out of my ears!).

boule

boule again

bread bowl

pork soup in bread bowl

a simple salad of red lettuce and mustard vinaigrette

Pork Zucchini Soup (for 3-4)
Note--these are all estimates. I never really measure. Add more or less to taste:

• 3/4 - 1 pound pork meat, cut in chunks (the cut I used said pulpa pernil...i dont know what that is in spanish or english... I assume its from the back part of the pig) but basically you just need stew meat.
• 2 zucchinis (sliced .5 inch thick)
• 1 small green bell pepper, diced
  
• 1 onion, roughly chopped ( i like chunks)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 serrano chile, seeded and minced (optional. i didnt seed the pepper and it was pretty spicy)
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp cream
• 1/4 c milk
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Dredge pork in flour (i season my flour with s&p and basil)
2. brown in stock pot. remove from pot.
3. to pot, add 1.5 tbsp oil and sautee onion, garlic, and chile. return pork to pot and add zucchini and bell pepper. Sautee a couple minutes.
4. Meanwhile heat stock, milk, cream and cornstarch. When warm, add to pot. Simmer about an hour, until meat is tender.
   
5. Season to taste.