Soup for the Soul

Here is my basic recipe for soups.

 

There are all sorts of fancy recipes for all sorts of fancy soups, but if ever you are stuck for something nourishing and healthy to eat and you have some veg in store, you can always make yourself a tasty meal.

 

 

 

 

Peel onions and prepare whatever veg you have – peel, wash, clean or whatever and chop. Put some oil in a saucepan and heat gently. Then add the onions and soften a bit, before adding the rest of the veg. Stir them over and leave to sweat a bit – 5 mins. max., with the lid on, then pour on boiling water, or stock. Bring to the boil and simmer gently until all the veg are cooked. Add salt and pepper and if you want, a stock cube. You can either leave the soup chunky or puree it.

Some examples:

Mixed veg soup – onion, carrot, potato, lettuce and celery.

Broccolli soup – onion and broccolli.

Spinach soup – onion and spinach. With this soup, after softening the onions, I would add a spoonful of flour, stir that up a bit and let it cook for a few minutes before adding the stock, bringing it to the boil and then adding the washed spinach.

Courgettes soup – onion, courgettes and potatoes.

Pumpkin soup – onion, pumpkin and potato.

Parsnip soup – onion, parsnip and potato.

 

Have fun.

 

Parmesan Baked Parsnips

This is one of my all time favourites vegetarian dishes.

I did some playing around with a recipe originally from Delia Smith.

The quantities given serve 8 people.

They can be prepared in advance, up to 24 hours, or prepared and frozen and will then cook perfectly if allowed to defrost first. This recipe also works very well with Sweet potatoes.

1.25 kg parsnips

175 g plain flour

50 g freshly grated Parmesan cheese

knob of butter

groundnut oil

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 200˚ C.

Combine flour, cheese, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl. Peel parsnips and quarter lengthways and cut in half. Cut out any woody centres. Put parsnips in saucepan and pour in enough boiling water just to cover them and add salt. Cover and boil for 3 mins. Drain and whilst streaming drop a few at a time into the flour and cheese mixture, shaking the bowl to get them well coated. Transfer to a plate. Do this swiftly as the flour mixture will only coat them whilst they are still steamy. They are now ready to roast or to store or freeze. Any leftover flour mixture can be kept in the fridge or freezer for another time.

Place a large solid roasting tin in the oven to heat with enough oil to cover the base and a knob of butter for flavour. When the oven is ready remove the tin and place it over direct heat, turned fairly low and, using tongs, place the parsnips quickly side by side in the tin. Tilt it and baste them with the hot fat. Then place the tin in the oven and bake for 20 mins, turn them over, drain off any surplus fat and continue to bake for a further 15-20 mins.

 

Bon appetite.

Perche à la Sauvigny (Perch in Cream Sauce)

Perca is the genus of fish referred to as perch or yellow perch, a group of freshwater fish belonging to the family Percidae.

This fish recipe is borrowed from Anne Willan’s “French Regional Cooking”.

Serves 6

6 large filets of medium size perch, approx. 250 g each

1 carrot, sliced

1 onion, studded with cloves

350 ml dry white wine

herbs

salt and pepper

pinch of nutmeg

150 ml water

For the sauce:

30 g butter

20 g flour

100 ml double cream or creme fraiche

3 cloves of garlic

2 egg yolks

juice of 1 lemon

parsley, chopped

salt and pepper

Lay the fillets of fish in a shallow pan and add the carrot, onion, garlic, wine, herbs, salt, pepper and nutmeg with enough water to cover by half.

Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and poach the fish for 2-3 mins. on one side; turn them over and poach for another 6-7 mins or until they flake when tested. Drain and transfer to a baking dish. Boil the cooking liquid until it is reduced to about 375 ml.

Set the oven to 230º C.

To prepare the sauce, melt the butter in a small pan and stir in the flour. Cook until foaming but not brown. Stir in the cooking liquid, followed by the cream. Season. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly and simmer for 2 mins. Beat the egg yolks in a bowl and stir in a few tbspn of the warm sauce. Pour this mixture back into the rest of the sauce and stir until well blended. Add lemon juice to taste. Pour the sauce over the fish and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Bake in hot oven for about 5 mins.

This recipe would also do for other white fish. Anne Willan suggests pike or carp.

 

 

 

Chicken Soup (from Roald Dahl’s Revolting Recipes)

Roald Dahl has always been one of my favourite authors, not only for his children’s stories. I once was fortunate enough to sit next to him on a sofa. He was a very tall man. Impressive.

Occasionally, Roald Dahl published recipes in his stories. I have tried some of them. They all seem to work.

Try this one. It serves 6:

large saucepan
2 small or 1 large corn-fed chicken (2’5 kg approx.)
4 small onions
100 g mushrooms
3 large carrots
2 leeks
15 ml tarragon
salt & pepper

Quarter the chicken and roughly chop 2 onions. Place the chicken and onions in a large saucepan and cover with water.

Bring to the boil and simmer until the liquid has reduced by half. Skim the surface when necessary. Top up and reduce by half again. This takes at least 4 hours. Cool. (Alternatively, mix in a chicken stock cube with hot water).

Strain and reserve the liquid – you should have approx 1’5 l – 1’75 l.

Pick the meat off the bones, chop and set aside. If you have time, continue boiling the bones in fresh water to add more flavour to the stock.

Chop remaining onions and other vegetables, add to the stock with the tarragon and cook until tender.

Season to taste.

Before serving, add the meat and heat through.

Bon appetite.