Tag: soup

Spicy fish and fennel soup

I bought a bag of fennel that was reduced, an impulse buy as I had been planning to cook a cauliflower and potato curry. I’d remembered that I had a large piece of poached salmon in the freezer, and I made this delicious stew. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 shallots, finely chopped (or use an onion)
  • 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • 3 small fennel bulbs, finely chopped
  • 1 can chopped tomatoes
  • 3 tbsp pureed red peppers
  • salt and pepper
  • a dash of hot chilli sauce
  • a pinch of saffron
  • 1.3 litres of fish stock 
  • around 400g fish, off the bone (could be salmon, could be any fish, including shellfish)
  • a piece of orange peel
  • Grated cheese, to serve (optional)

METHOD:

  • Heat the oil in a large pan, and gently fry the onion. After a few minutes add the garlic, and then the fennel, and cook together for around five minutes. 
  • Add the tomatoes, orange peel, a good pinch of salt, and freshly ground black pepper, 3 tbsp red pepper puree, and a splash of chilli sauce. Simmer for five minutes
  • Add the stock, then bring the soup to a simmer, reducing slightly. Meanwhile, steep the saffron in a little hot water.
  • Once the soup looks to be a good consistency, slip in the fish and the saffron, and bring back to a simmer. 
  • When the fish is just cooked, and hot through, give the soup a good stir to mix everything up. If you can, retrieve the orange peel from the soup. 
  • Serve in large bowls with grated cheese on top. We tried it with cheddar, parmesan, it was good with gruyere as well. 

Potato and mushroom soup

I am still focusing on recipes with potato in them. This is a very simple soup, quite rich and buttery with a great flavour. There are a lot of versions online, with differing herbs and proportions. This worked for me. You could substitute thyme for dill, or add cheese if you wished. 

I made this at the new house on the induction hob, and discovered my soup pan was not compatible. I ended up simmering the soup over the solid fuel stove, which worked perfectly. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 x 50g butter
  • 2 large leeks, chopped
  • 2 large carrots, chopped
  • 1.5 litres chicken stock
  • 3 tsp dried dill
  • 1 tsp salt
  • black pepper, to taste
  • 2 bayleaves
  • 1kg potatoes, peeled and diced
  • 500g mushrooms, sliced
  • 300ml sour cream (or double cream)
  • 2 tbsp plan flour

METHOD:

  • In a large saucepan, melt 50g butter, and when it is foaming, add the carrots and the leeks, and fry over a medium heat for around 5 minutes, until the leeks start to colour brown a little at the edges. 
  • Add the stock, then the dill, salt, pepper and bayleaves. Finally, add the diced potatoes, and bring to a simmer. Cook for another 20 minutes. Check the seasoning and adjust if required. 
  • In a frying pan, melt another 50g butter until it is foaming, and fry the mushrooms. Stir these into the soup. 
  • Take some of the liquor from the soup, and mix with the flour, to form a smooth soft paste. Add the flour mixture and the cream into the soup, and simmer without boiling, so that the soup thickens. 
  • Serve with toasted brown bread. 

I don’t know that the flour is essential, but the soup was really good, and I haven’t tried many variations. If you use a vegetable stock, you have a vegetarian option. One online version also added soup pasta, another used onion and garlic. I prefer leeks with mushrooms, though. 

Hungarian potato and sausage soup

I have a lot of potatoes this year, so I have been hunting about for innovative ways of cooking with them. I found this online, but adapted it for the UK. I sourced the smoked sausage online. It served six. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 50g butter
  • 200g smoked Hungarian sausage, sliced
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3 tbsp plain flour
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 2 tsp sweet unsmoked paprika
  • 1.2 litres chicken stock
  • 1/2 cabbage, chopped (to fill a 1/2 litre jug)
  • 700g potatoes, peeled and diced (I used charlotte potatoes)
  • black pepper
  • a pinch of cayenne pepper
  • 2 bayleaves
  • 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
  • 100ml sour cream
  • 2 tbsp chopped spring onion or chives

METHOD:

  • In a large soup pan, melt the butter and cook the sliced sausage over a medium heat, around 3 minutes, and then remove the sausage from the pan using a slotted spoon. 
  • Next, fry the onion in the butter for around 5 minutes, until it is beginning to colour, and then add the garlic. After a couple of minutes, add the flour and paprika and cook for another couple of minutes.
  • Add 1.2 litres of chicken stock, stir to mix in well, and turn the heat up high to bring to a boil. Stir in the cabbage and sommer for a couple of minutes and then add the potatoes, black pepper, cayenne pepper and bayleaf. 
  • Simmer on a low heat for around 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure it is not sticking. It is ready for the next step if the potatoes are tender. You can adjust the consistency of the soup by adding more stock. (I think I added around another 300ml in the end).
  • Add the sausage and vinegar, and simmer for another 10 minutes, and adjust the seasoning to taste. 
  • Serve in bowls with a swirl of sour cream and a garnish of chopped spring onions or other fresh herbs. 

I think this recipe would lend itself to a little adaptation. For example, you could use any smoked sausage, or oil instead of butter at the start. I was wondering about using kale as that would hold up better than cabbage to the long cooking time. It was pretty good though. 

Uist beetroot soup

This year, I have grown some great beetroot, and I made this soup with it. I supplemented the ingredient list with a neep and some carrots purchased from Tagsa gardens. It is really tasty, and I was pleased to find some Polish soured cream in the local shops. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 medium onions, sliced
  • 50g butter
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1.8 litres beef stock (or vegetable stock if you want to make a vegetarian version)
  • 1 large beetroot, around 500g, peeled and diced
  • 1 swede/turnip/neep around 500g, peeled and diced
  • 2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 1 large potato, peeled and grated
  • 2 bayleaves
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • juice of half a lemon
  • Soured cream or plain yoghurt, to serve

METHOD:

  • In a very large pot, melt the butter and cook the onions over a low heat until soft. This will take around ten minutes. Add the garlic for the last couple of minutes of cooking. 
  • Pour in the stock, and raise the heat. Add all of the chopped and grated vegetables, and the herbs, and bring to a simmer, and season with around 1 tsp salt and a good grating of black pepper. Simmer for an hour or so. 
  • Stir in the lemon juice, remove the bayleaves, and adjust the seasoning to taste. 
  • Serve with each bowl containing a spoonful of soured cream or yoghurt. 
  • This is lovely with plain or cheese scones. 

Beetroot, cumin and coriander soup

A nod to the BBC good food site, which is a source of reliable recipes. I was looking for new ways to cook beetroot, of which there is a plentiful supply in one of our local supermarkets. I had also grown a few more puny specimens which I added to the mix. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 red onions in wedges
  • 1kg raw beetroot (about 3 very large beetroot) peeled and diced (or you can add a carrot if you don’t have enough beetroot)
  • 2 tsp chilli flakes
  • 1 tbsp cumin seeds
  • 1 1/2 tbsp coriander seeds
  • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1.2 litres marigold stock, or other vegetable stock
  • 30g hazelnuts
  • 1 tbsp sesame seeds
  • natural yoghurt
  • salt and pepper
  • (I also added some chopped celery)

METHOD:

  • Heat the oil in a large soup pan, and gently fry the onions, optional celery, and a good pinch of salt.  Cook for around 10 minutes
  • Add the Chilli flakes, and 1 tbsp each of cumin and coriander, turn up the heat and cook for a few minutes until the smell is fragrant with spice.
  • Add the vinegar, stir and add the stock. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for an hour. Check seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. 
  • When the beetroot is tender, use a soup wand to blend. 
  • Meanwhile, chop the hazelnuts roughly. In a dry frying pan, add the nuts, sesame seeds and 1 tsp cumin, and 1/2 tsp coriander, and gently toast until the nuts are golden. 
  • Serve the soup with a swirl of yoghurt in each bowl, topped with a good sprinkling of spiced toasted nuts. 

Minestrone 1

I’ve marked it as number 1, because I know that there will be variants and I might post some more minestrone recipes. I’ve previously done a summer vegetable version as well. 

This is a more solid affair, this soup. As usual, after making the broth, you add the vegetables in the order in which they will cook, saving those with the shortest cooking time until the end. You can vary the vegetables in season, to include chopped beetroot, celeriac, fennel, peas, leeks, kohl rabi, or substitute rice or barley for the pasta. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 onions, finely sliced
  • 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • 2 rashers of bacon or 100g pancetta, or more if you wish
  • 2 tsp marjoram or mixed herbs
  • a can of chopped tomatoes
  • 150ml red wine
  • 1 can of haricot beans, drained. 
  • 1.7 litres of boiling water or stock
  • 2 carrots, peeled and diced
  • 2 small potatoes, such as charlottes, peeled and diced
  • About the same volume of turnip, peeled and diced
  • 1 stick of celery, chopped
  • half a small cabbage, shredded
  • salt and pepper
  • 50g small pasta
  • Parmesan cheese

METHOD:

  • Heat the olive oil in a very large soup pan, and cook the onions very slowly for 5 minutes so that they soften. Add in the chopped garlic and cook for another couple of minutes before adding the bacon and herbs. You can actually use just about any herb; thyme, basil, marjoram all work well. 
  • Once the bacon is cooked and the mixture is hot through, add the chopped tomatoes, red wine and haricot beans. Bring this to a simmer and then add the boiling water or stock. Bring to a simmer and cook very very slowly for the flavour to develop, and for the beans to be hot and cooked through. 
  • You can pause at this stage, and then finish the soup off when you are ready, about 45 minutes before serving, to ensure that all of the vegetables are perfect. 
  • Add the carrots, simmer for 15 minutes.
  • Add the potatoes and turnip, simmer for 15 minutes
  • Add the celery, cabbage and pasta, season with salt and pepper, simmer for 10 minutes
  • Stir in 2 tbsp grated parmesan, and serve with more parmesan. 

Curried Pumpkin Soup

INGREDIENTS:

  • 30 g butter
  • 25 g plain flour
  • 15 g curry powder
  • 950 ml vegetable broth such as marigold
  • 900g cooked pumpkin
  • 355 ml single cream
  • 30 ml soy sauce
  • 10 g sugar
  • salt and pepper to taste

METHOD:

  • Preheat oven to 190C.
  • Cut thepumpkin into wedges, remove seeds and then bake, skin side down, for approx 1 hour. Allow to cool then remove skin and mash pumpkin flesh.
  • Arrange pumpkin seeds in a single layer on a baking sheet. Toast in preheated oven for about 10 minutes, or until seeds begin to brown (I cheated and used prepared pumpkin seeds, because I hate shelling them.)
  • Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat, then stir in flour and curry powder until smooth. Cook, stirring, until mixture begins to bubble.
  • Gradually whisk in the broth, and cook until thickened.
  • Stir in the cooked pumpkin and cream. Season with soy sauce, sugar, salt, and pepper to taste. Bring just to a boil, then remove from heat.
  • Garnish each serving with roasted pumpkin seeds.

Leek and celery soup

This recipe is dedicated to my friend Anna. The soup is much better than she led me to believe, a delicate pale green with a smooth consistency. The dominant flavour is of celery. It is very useful for using up all the celery that we end up with after recipes that ask for just one or two stems. This version is from Delia Smith’s Vegetarian Collection.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 350g Celery stalks, trimmed and finely chopped
  • 25g butter
  • 110g potatoes, peeled and finely chopped
  • White sections of 2 leeks, cleaned and sliced
  • 1 pint stock
  • 1/4 tsp celery seeds
  • 150ml single cream
  • 150ml milk
  • salt and pepper

METHOD:

  • Melt the butter in a large pan over low heat.
  • Add the chopped celery, potatoes and leeks, and stir. Cover and cook on low for 15 minutes
  • Add the stock and celery seeds, and a little salt, and simmer very gently for a further 20 minutes.
  • Puree the soup by blending it, then add the cream and milk, and season to taste.

If you have a few celery leaves, chop them finely as a garnish, before serving with hot buttered brown toast.

Garbure

Garbure is a thick French soup, almost a stew, based on cabbage and beans with some form of meat and other vegetables, often with bread added. It originated in the south-west of France, around Bearn, the Pyrenees, Gascony and Landes. It may vary from household to household and season to season, depending on what is available. The basic principle behind this dish is the lengthy simmering of an assortment of vegetables and meats, generally meats preserved en confit. As far as vegetables go, anything is possible. The cabbage may be accompanied by any kind of beans, potatoes, turnips, celeriac, kohl rabi, nettle tops, borrage, leaf beet, beetroot, in fact just about anything that can be grown in the area.

I started with an enormous home-grown cabbage. I didn’t use all of it; this cabbage weighs more than an average baby, and is about the size of a basket ball. I just shaved off about a quarter of it.One word of warning: this involved a lot of chopping and I used a very large pan.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 small cabbage (or part of a larger one), coarsely shredded
  • 3 tbsp goose fat
  • 2 carrots, diced, or use celeriac
  • 1 turnip, diced, or use kohl rabi
  • 1 large onion, sliced
  • 1 large leek, split lengthways into quarters and then chopped
  • Parsley, thyme, bayleaves
  • 1 stick of celery, finely chopped
  • A good pinch of salt
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 2.3 litres of stock or water
  • 1 can of borlotti beans (you could use any sort of bean, especially canellini beans.
  • 350g potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 250g butternut squash or pumpkin, peeled and cubed.
  • 1 serving of meat per person, for example ham hough, sausage, confit of duck or goose. If you cooked the hough yourself, use the stick in the soup.

    METHOD:
  • Bring a pan of salted water to the boil, add the cabbage, simmer for ten minutes and then drain well.
  • In a large soup pan, heat the goose fat and add the carrots, celery, turnips, onion and leeks, and stew very slowly for fifteen minutes, stirring from time to time.
  • Add the drained cabbage, and cook for another ten minutes
  • Add herbs, salt, cayenne and the stock, then stir in the beans, potatoes and pumpkin and cook, uncovered, at a very slow simmer for around 40 minutes. You may need to top up with water as required.
  • Submerge the meat in the soup and continue to cook for another thirty minutes.
  • To serve, line each bowl with a slice of home-made bread, ladle the soup over the bread, and top with a portion of meat.

    There are other versions, which include cloves, or garlic, or other ingredients. You can make the base soup, cool before the step where the meat is added. Then, when you need to, reheat what you need.

Courgette and sweet potato soup

I got this recipe from the women who run the cafe at Hebridean Jewellery, which is just down the road. I’ve now made it a couple of times, using slightly different herbs, and it is delicious and creamy, whilst being completely vegan. I got the idea of using mint from the incomparable book ‘A celebration of soup’ by Lindsay Bareham. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 onions, chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
  • 2 large courgettes, peeled and sliced
  • 1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped
  • 4 white potatoes, peeled and chopped
  • 2 red chillies, finely chopped, or a 1/2 tsp dried red pepper
  • 3 tsp dried basil, or 2 tsp dried mint
  • 1 litre vegetable stock
  • Salt and pepper
  • Olive oil and chopped parsley to serve

METHOD:

  • Saute the onions in the olive oil over a low heat. When they are soft, add the chilli and garlic and cook for a couple of minutes more. 
  • Add the other vegetables, herbs and stock, and bring to a simmer. Cook for another 20 to 30 minutes, until all of the vegetables are tender. 
  • Use a soup wand to blend the soup thoroughly so it is smooth
  • Season to taste with salt and pepper; I used salt-free stock and I needed to add a level tsp 
  • Serve with a small swirl of extra-virgin olive oil and chopped parsley.