Yet Another Cycling Forum
Off Topic => The Pub => Food & Drink => Topic started by: Mrs Pingu on 19 October, 2023, 05:57:42 pm
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Care to share? :)
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London particular soup (source HF-W)
★★★★★
Soups
Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 6
Description:
The delightful name of this thick pea and ham soup comes from the peasouper fogs that used to engulf London until the late 1950s. Traditionally made with split green or yellow peas, which require soaking overnight, you can speed up the cooking time if you like by making it with no-soak green lentils instead – it will taste just as good. Serves six to eight.
Ingredients:
For the ham:
1 smoked ham hock soaked overnight in cold water
1 onion peeled and halved
1 stick celery roughly chopped (reserve the leaves for garnishing)
8 black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 handful parsley stalks
For the soup:
200g green split peas soaked overnight in cold water (or 200g green lentils)
40g butter
1 onion diced
1.8 litre ham stock from cooking the ham
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Some leftover cooked boiled ham
Celery or lovage leaves
Directions:
Drain and rinse the soaked ham hock and put it into a large saucepan along with the onion, celery, peppercorns, bay leaf, thyme and parsley stalks. Cover with cold water, bring to a boil and simmer, partially covered, for two to two and a half hours, until tender. Leave to cool in the liquid, then remove and strain the stock through a sieve into a bowl. Reserve the stock for making the soup, and shred the meat into bite-sized chunks. Taste the stock: if it's too salty, let it down with a bit of water.
Rinse the soaked peas until the water runs clear (if you're using lentils, pick over them and rinse).
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a medium-low heat and sweat the onion until soft and translucent. Add the peas (or lentils) and the stock, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and skim off any scum. Simmer until the peas (or lentils) are very soft, between 20-45 minutes. Blitz about three-quarters of the soup in a blender until smooth, adding a little more stock if it's too thick. Season to taste. Return to the saucepan with the unblended soup, add some of the ham and warm through. Serve in warmed bowls, with some celery or lovage leaves scattered over the top.
Slope notes:
Used 3 leeks instead of onion + Puy lentils
Could maybe add some frozen peas for colour?
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Curried Chunky Parsnip & Swede Soup (source Slope)
★★★★★
Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 5
Description:
Wonderful colour rustic earthy soup.
Ingredients:
2 medium onions chopped
3 or 4 celery stalks chopped
125 g green lentils
500 g parsnips peeled and cut into chunks
300 g swede peeled and cut into chunks
50 g butter
3 tbs hot curry pwder
3 birds eye chillies each cut into 3
1.5 litres veg stock
yoghurt to serve
Directions:
Boil lentils in some veg stock for 10 minutes
Heat the butter in a large saucepan and sweat the onions and celery until soft. Add 2 cloves of chopped garlic towards the end. Add the parsnips, swede and curry powder, stir to coat and then add the hot stock. Bring to a soft boil. Drain the lentils and add to the pan with the fresh chilli bits, cover and simmer for 20 minutes until the vegetables are tender.
Blend half the soup, return to the pan and mix well so it is chunky. Check seasoning.
Serve with yoghurt and coriander or basil or parsley.
Serve with bread rolls - either soft white or crusty brown
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Smoked haddock chowder – slice two leeks and saute till soft in butter, add some finely chopped parsley stems. Add a minced garlic clove as the leeks start to turn translucent. Don't colour them. In the meantime peel and dice a potato or two depending on how substantial you want your chowder (two decent-sized potatoes will make enough for four). Add a glass of wine to the pan and reduce till the leeks are sticky and then add the potatoes and nearly enough water to cover, then a glug of milk. Cook till the potatoes are nearly done and then add a good handful of sweetcorn (frozen is fine, or a can). Cook until the potato is coming apart and the sweetcorn is warmed through. Attact with a stick blender till you get your preferred texture. Add additional milk as necessary and then submerge two smoked haddock fillets and let the whole lot simmer till the fillets flake. Take off the heat, grate in a generous dose of cheese (smoked cheddar is ideal) and the chopped parsley leaves.
It's substantial enough without bread, but what the hell, go to town. Is very nice with garlic baguette.
Chicken pot no-pie soup Chop a couple of shallots, half a carrot and celery stick. Saute in olive oil through till mostly translucent. Add a minced garlic clove and cook till fragrant. Add a glass of wine and reduce slightly, then four or so chicken thighs (you can brown these beforehand, but honestly, it doesn't add much). Add a teaspoon of flour and stir everything around till the flour starts to cook and then add enough chicken stock to cover. Add a teaspoon of mustard (your choice, don't worry if it's English, it'll temper), a bayleaf, and half of a pack of chopped fresh thyme leaves (or a generous teaspoon of dried). A generous helping of tarragon also works. You can now cook on the hob till the chicken is coming apart or – far better – in the slow cooker. Once done, adjust consistency with milk, add frozen peas and warm through. No need to blend, pull the chicken thighs apart with two forks.
You can, of course, avoid adding extra milk and turn it into actual pies, easy enough with frozen flaky pastry. Add cream at the end to either if you want a party in your mouth and aren't worried about the calories.
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I’d add that tarragon works well in the chicken soup. Also with the chowder, leave out the sweetcorn and fish and substitute chicken stick for the water, but add some small cubes of cooked ham (or fry some cubed pancetta with the leeks) and add some creme fraiche (also works in the chick recipe) for a leek and potato soup. This can be left lumpy as I prefer it, or blended smooth, as my wife prefers.
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I took a recipe off the internet and bastardised it.
Brussels sprout soup
Chopped up a couple of rashers of smoked bacon and fried them off before leaving to one side.
Then sauted a couple of shallots. There were some baby potatoes in need of using so I threw them in (diced), along with a litre of stock (made from vegetable bullion bouillon).
Simmered this for a couple of mins and then added 500g of (frozen) sprouts.
5 or 10 mins later they were done so I blitzed it and then added the bacon.
The original recipe contained cooking chorizo and chestnuts but I had neither.
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@ian, Tarragon mustard? (I have several jars in the cupboard...)
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Tarragon always goes well with mustard, I guess combining them makes sense. I do a good chicken stroganoff with lots of tarragon and mustard.
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Courgette soup
Fry an onion. Chop up a couple of large-ish potatoes. Put them in the pot with the onion and add enough water to just cover them. Crumble in a stock cube or two. Bring to the boil and boil for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, finely slice your courgettes. Add them to the pan, just sitting on top of the potatoes. Cook for 5 minutes, then stir, give it another 5 - 10 minutes until the courgettes are well cooked. Blend thoroughly, and add 100g* of cheese and a teaspoon of nutmeg, blend some more. Can be frozen.
* my recipe copied from somewhere says "100kg" cheese which is definitely a TOBAGO.
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Vine tomato soup.
1 big onion, softened, then,add a few garlic cloves( I use 4 or 5 big ones)
Cook a minute or two, then add a diced large carrot and 2 dices celery sticks. Cook till soft. Good dose of coarse ground pepper.
Then about half a tube of tomato puree. Mix in well.
Bung in about 7 large ripe vine Tom's (Lidl is a good dource) de-cored and roughly chopped.
Lid on, medium simmer for 15, then add about w.5 litres of stock. Lid on simmer for 25.
Blend (I use a blending stick).
Check for seasoning. Mix in a whole bunch of basil leaves, they'll wilt in the heat
Serve with a drizzle of good extra V olive oil and a twist of pepper.
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Spicy Parsnip Soup
Ingredients
2 tbsp of good olive oil
600g of parsnips (peeled and diced)
2 cloves of garlic (smoked is good - or smoked garlic puree)
1 litre of vegetable stock (although I tend to use a mixture of vegetable and chicken stock)
1/2 tsp of dried chilli flakes (this works best with dried chilli flakes rather than fresh chilli)
Black pepper (coarse ground)
Sea salt (smoked if possible)
Optional
200 ml cream
Chilli flakes to serve
Equipment
Heavy bottomed pan
Blender (stick blender is fine)
Method
Add oil to hot heavy bottomed pan.
Fry parsnips and garlic for 4-5 minutes until beginning to brown.
Add chilli flakes and cook for 1 minute.
Add stock and a good grind of black pepper.
Bring to the boil, cover and reduce heat to simmer for 12-15 minutes until parsnips are soft.
Blend the mixture until smooth.
Adjust seasoning to personal preference.
Optional
Add 200 ml cream and stir through (i prefer not to as it makes it a bit too rich).
Sprinkle with chilli flakes before serving.
Storage
Lasts 2-3 days in the fridge (if you don't eat it all in one sitting)
Can be frozen (but you may want to freeze it before adding the cream and add that when reheating).
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I took a recipe off the internet and bastardised it.
Brussels sprout soup
Chopped up a couple of rashers of smoked bacon and fried them off before leaving to one side.
Then sauted a couple of shallots. There were some baby potatoes in need of using so I threw them in (diced), along with a litre of stock (made from vegetable bullion).
Simmered this for a couple of mins and then added 500g of (frozen) sprouts.
5 or 10 mins later they were done so I blitzed it and then added the bacon.
The original recipe contained cooking chorizo and chestnuts but I had neither.
Ooh - I shall try that as we seem to be getting lots of sprouts in the veg box. :thumbsup:
I made sprout and asparagus rissotto last night. Sounds :sick: but was really tasty. Even Mr R, who is not a sprout fan, came back for seconds.
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All this is great stuff. I love making soups and need a few additions to my repetoire.
Here's one that usually goes down well.
Spooner's Sexy Can Moup
(My creation, my name)
Red onion/s, tin red kidney beans, chopped celery, some chopped chillis and/or chilli powder, lime juice, tin (or tins) of chopped tomatoes and/or passata, bunch of fresh coriander (chopped), some diced peppers, and ground black pepper. For quantities - play it by ear, or to your taste. (I'm not your boss). But take care with the lime juice - the only time I've spoiled it is when I used too much.
Soften the onions in oil, chuck the rest in, bring to the boil and simmer for around 20/25 mins. For extra crunchiness, delay the chucking in of some of the celery and peppers; and the same for the coriander for extra coriander-ness. I like to use yellow pepper and green peppers for the colour.
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For quantities - play it by ear, or to your taste.
Indeed. I can't quite get with the idea of having a "recipe" for soup - generally, I just follow basic soup-making principles and use my judgment. Usually starts with softening onions in butter, adding other veg. And don't use too much stock/other liquid, especially if the soup contains lots of veg, which will release its own liquid.
One we have quite often is broccoli and stilton (or other blue cheese, whatever's available). As above, it's very much a make-it-up-as-I-go-along affair. The only important things to remember are: Blitz the soup to smoothness before adding the cheese at the very end. And go easy on the cheese when adding - mix it in well, taste and add more if necessary - if you're using a very strong cheese, you only need a small amount.
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Spicy Parsnip Soup
Just made a variation of this, it was an Anthony Worral Thompson recipe I already had in the files. Pretty similar except the spicy bit came from some toasted cumin & coriander seeds and some ground ginger. Less water (stock made with veg bouillon) as I cooked it in the pressure cooker. (10mins on high in a stovetop PC).
No cream, grated a cooking apple in it after I'd liquidised it.
Yum.
A successful morning relearning how to use the ancient pressure cooker without woosing out or painting the ceiling.
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I just made
https://www.riverford.co.uk/recipes/chestnut-chorizo-brussels-sprout-soup
It was alright but I don't think I'd bother again, I'd never have guessed there was sprouts in there as everything was so overwhelmed with the spices, YMMV, I prefer the veggie + bacon version I made upthread.
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There's an entire lake of parsnip soup in Hell. They drown the Damned in it for fun. That says all you need to know about that rooty muck.
Tell us what you think about pumpkin soup, ian?
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I got Sainsbo's to deliver some sweet potatoes this week with the intention of trying some roasted veg soup of some sort. There's also a bag of frozen broccoli.
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There's an entire lake of parsnip soup in Hell. They drown the Damned in it for fun. That says all you need to know about that rooty muck.
Tell us what you think about pumpkin soup, ian?
Parsnip I can tolerate works quite well with cauliflower and of course added cubes of pancetta, but butternut squash (and by extension, pumpkin)? Why?
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I've started up the Sunday soup kitchen in the last few weeks making enough for the working week ahead - something of a Sunday night ritual in the winter months. My two favourites -
Gran's lentil soup (a must every New Year's Day)
- red lentils
- onions
- carrots
- white potatoes
- stock (marigold vegan veggie based)
- curly parsley
Sweat the veg, add the stock and cook. Add the chopped parsley and season. Job done
Spiced cauli & potato
- chop the cauli, lightly coat it in a mixture of 50/50 olive oil/butter & curry powder or any other spice you like
- roast cauli in oven until its got a char about it
- stick in the pan with chopped spuds and sweat a little
- add stock (marigold vegan veggie based) and cook
- finish with lots of chopped curled parsley.
- as somebody who would otherwise not eat cauli this is a boon.
Overall I've found that the biggest difference when making soup is to use a pressure cooker - nothing else gets soup close in terms of getting a glossy consistency. I also find lots of chopped curly parsley added at the end enhances any soup and reduces the amount of seasoning required esp salt so that's good for the ticker etc.
I experimented with a roast winter veg soup last week using the turnip (swede to some of you) from a Halloween carving - there's no Americana in this Scots house on 31 Oct, butternut squash, onion, sweet potato and red lentil. Bearable but I'll not make it again - I blame the butternut squash.
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Butternut squash soup is improved by the addition of chilli.
I like carrot and parsnip soup, though I have not made any for ages.
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There's an entire lake of parsnip soup in Hell. They drown the Damned in it for fun. That says all you need to know about that rooty muck.
Tell us what you think about pumpkin soup, ian?
Parsnip I can tolerate works quite well with cauliflower and of course added cubes of pancetta, but butternut squash (and by extension, pumpkin)? Why?
My wife made a butternut squash soup the other day using a Jamie Oliver recipe. It was great. We'll definitely be having that one again. :thumbsup:
https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/superb-squash-soup-with-the-best-parmesan-croutons/
She's been trying out a few of his recipes. Another one we liked very much was his storecupboard minestrone - a "use what you have" type recipe, which is what soup recipes should be.
https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/soup-recipes/minestrone-soup/
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Roasted butternut squash with onion, spices and creamed coconut works well
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Celeriac and chestnut is a favourite.
But always use fresh or frozen chestnuts, as dried are tasteless and tinned or vacuum packed are just disgusting.
And for absolute comfort food, Yellow Split Pea Soup.
Just sweat the usual leek, carrot, celery or whatever, bung in the YSP and stock, simmer and liquidise.
The famous Capheaton Village Hall Tearoom used to serve "Red Soup".
Red lentils, carrots, tinned tomatoes etc. In a big bowl with bun the size of half a loaf of bread.
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Celeriac and chestnut is a favourite.
But always use fresh or frozen chestnuts, as dried are tasteless and tinned or vacuum packed are just disgusting.
And for absolute comfort food, Yellow Split Pea Soup.
Just sweat the usual leek, carrot, celery or whatever, bung in the YSP and stock, simmer and liquidise.
The famous Capheaton Village Hall Tearoom used to serve "Red Soup".
Red lentils, carrots, tinned tomatoes etc. In a big bowl with bun the size of half a loaf of bread.
My mother makes her own version of 'Red Soup' using up any veg in the fridge and chucking in a tin of tomatoes and a bit of puree.
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I can't tolerate butternut squash either, it's too sweet for soup. Pumpkin belongs in pumpkin pie. I imagine you can make sweet butternut squash pie, though I've never tried, and the Americans are obsessed with pumpkin, to the point of the abomination itself, the pumpkin spiced latte. A drink so sweet you can get diabetes through simply placing your order. Starbucks in the US offer free insulin shots.
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I can't tolerate butternut squash either
It's one of those vegs that really, really need to be roasted.
They just become an entirely different thing.
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I can't tolerate butternut squash either
It's one of those vegs that really, really need to be roasted.
They just become an entirely different thing.
Indeed. It needs a little bit of char on the edges.
I'll roast it in olive oil with chilli flakes, pine nuts, sage and garlic, and occasionally add any or all of red pepper chunks, red onion wedges or quartered vine tomatoes. Serve with pasta, couscous or some bread to soak up the flavoured oil.
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The Jamie Oliver soup wasn't too sweet at all - the sweetness of the squash was balanced by the herbs and chilli, and the salty tang of the parmesan croutons.
I think that's the key point with most soups, really - balancing the flavours, not letting one dominate. I love a can of Heinz cream of tomato because the creaminess offsets the sweet-sour tomato flavour nicely. But your artisanal Covent Garden tomato soup can fuck right off - it's one dimensional, too harshly tomatoey, no balance at all.
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I can't tolerate butternut squash either
It's one of those vegs that really, really need to be roasted.
They just become an entirely different thing.
Indeed. It needs a little bit of char on the edges.
I'll roast it in olive oil with chilli flakes, pine nuts, sage and garlic, and occasionally add any or all of red pepper chunks, red onion wedges or quartered vine tomatoes. Serve with pasta, couscous or some bread to soak up the flavoured oil.
I think God created butternut squash specifically to be partnered with dried chilli flakes (She likes it spicy).
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I've never had a butternut squash that wasn't too sweet, but then I don't eat sweet stuff. I could probably make it work, I can do bitter, sour, spicy and everything else, but sweet makes me so-so. I know, I should have built up a tolerance being a regular in Indonesia and Malaysia.
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I like butternut squash. So there!1 It's very useful for adding creaminess to a soup without using milk or cream.
For lunch today we had spicy butternut squash soup. Finely chopped onion and celery softened in that low calorie spray oil stuff, the garlic added. I roasted the squash as suggested upthread, using the air fryer. The squash had been frozen--some left overs and the remains of a packed of pre-prepared squash MrsC had bought for another recipe a few weeks ago.
Vegetable stock cubes, ras el hanout and chilli flakes.
I had intended to drizzle balsamic on it before serving, but the spices would have killed the taste and I think we may have run out anyway.
Not the most exciting soup I've ever made, but pleasant enough and there is more for tomorrow's lunch.
1: As MrsC is fond of saying, 'there is no accounting for taste'. I suspect ian and I would chose very different items if we ever found ourselves in a restaurant together.
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I'm just making a Roast Butternut Squash and Pumpkin Soup.
- Cut the butternut squash and pumpkin into large pieces (I don't bother to peel them.
- Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with EV olive oil.
- Roast in a hot oven until soft and a char has developed on the edges.
- Once cool enough to handle, you can remove the skins or leave them on (to taste).
- Fry off a soffrito until soft.
- Add 3-4 cloves of garlic or a good squeeze of garlic puree.
- Cook off for a few minutes.
- Add the butternut squash and pumpkin, together with stock (I tend to use chicken but vegetable is fine as well).
- Add dried chilli flakes to taste.
- Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or so.
- Blend the mixture (a stick blender is fine).
- Serve with another sprinkle of dried chilli flakes for decoration.
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I confess I was once taken upon the idea of concocting a root vegetable tagine, an idea that, as I ate the damnable thing, I was forced to lament. O the indigestion of regret. I evidently don't get on the stuff. I like carrot, but the concept of carrot soup, eek.
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Carrot's too sweet for soup on its own, I do carrot & lentil. Plenty of worcestershire sauce and you're good.
But as whoever said upthread, I don't have recipes for soup, I just sweat veg, add stock & seasoning, simmer, blitz.
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In the correct thread this time
First I used up my stockpile of parmesan rinds (350g of them) to make parmesan broth in the pressure cooker.
Then I made this https://www.dontgobaconmyheart.co.uk/roasted-vegetable-soup/
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First I used up my stockpile of parmesan rinds (350g of them) to make parmesan broth in the pressure cooker.
Intrigued. How do you store the rinds and what to you do with them to make broth?
I've just been storing them in the door of the fridge but the shelf has gone quite greasy, I believe you can keep them in the freezer so I'll try that next time.
I had about 350g of rinds. I sweated an onion and some celery in the pressure cooker, put the rinds in a trivet on top (they stuck to this so you might want to put them in muslin to avoid pan stickage) with a bulb of garlic with the top cut off and a teaspoon of peppercorns. Covered it with water (1.5L), pressure cooker on high for 40mins and then let natural release.Then strained all the lumps out.
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Thank you. We get through a fair amount of parmesan, so I will give this a try.
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I tried it once, never got much out of them rinds, unless you like homoeopathic cheese. Maybe it protects you against mouse outbreaks.
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Parmesan rind? I just eat it. Yum.
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I jnust chop them up and add to minestrone.
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Parmesan rind? I just eat it. Yum.
Me too. Cook's reward.
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As previously mentioned in the 'what did you do on the plot today' I have made some Artichoke soup.Rather nice it is too. Due to the bumper crop I will have enough to make some more.
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A lentil soup today, starting with carrots, onion, garlic, bay leaf (removed before blitzing), oregano, cumin, some dark chicken stock and red lentils. A bit on the thick side, but that can be diluted.
ETA and a can of tomatoes. I omitted the chilli flakes in deference to my wife.
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I think I'm going to make broccoli soup next. Haven't quite ruled out stilton (though I'd need to buy it) as we do have some nice Isle of Mull cheddar from the cheese shop :P
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I think I'm going to make broccoli soup next. Haven't quite ruled out stilton (though I'd need to buy it) as we do have some nice Isle of Mull cheddar from the cheese shop :P
I love broccoli soup... :thumbsup:
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I think I'm going to make broccoli soup next. Haven't quite ruled out stilton (though I'd need to buy it) as we do have some nice Isle of Mull cheddar from the cheese shop :P
Burp! Stilton it was.