Italian Wedding Soup

Italian Wedding Soup

Avid readers of Minnie's Soup Kitchen will recall that on the 4th September I considered making Italian wedding soup because the older offspring had expressed an interest in a meaty soup. He's just back from a week away in Scotland and no doubt has missed his parents' home cooking, so he deserves some spoiling. Yesterday I baked him a rich chocolate almond cake with orange and lemon, using a recipe from a favourite book, Chocolate by Gill MacLennan. For chocolate lovers everywhere I will list the ingredients: white chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, grated orange and lemon peel, eggs, butter, caster sugar, ground almonds, white breadcrumbs and cocoa powder. Now wipe all the drool away from around your mouths and pay attention to the soup.

Cake batter in progress

Chocolate by Gill MacLennan

Ingredients for chocolate almond cake

A slice of chocolate cake

Italian wedding soup - the raw ingredients

As I write, the meat ingredients are simmering away in a pan on the hob - stewing beef, belly pork, salami, chicken, onion, beef stock (commercial), a sprig of rosemary and a bay leaf. Mmmm! In about an hour's time I'll be taking out the chicken, discarding the skin, chopping the meat and returning it to the pan. Then I'll be adding shredded Savoy cabbage (the long-suffering spouse was unable to locate the spring greens or cavolo nero listed in the recipe), pasta shapes and chicory. The spouse used to object vociferously to pasta that didn't come in long strips but he is prepared to overcome his prejudice in the interests of adhering to the recipe. I did wonder about the the lavish and romantic title of the soup. Apparently, it's a mistranslation of minestra maritata ("married soup"), which according to Carolyn Humphries (who wrote the introduction to the recipe given in The Soup Book) "simply means the flavours marry well together." She also notes that recipes for this soup vary, as I discovered when checking on the internet.

Is there an olfactory equivalent to the term euphony? It's what's taking place in my kitchen at present, what with the delicious smells from the soup mingling and mixing with those of the Christmas cake I've just taken out of the oven. Only three months to go, after all. The recipe I use is one for a light fruit cake I cut out of the magazine Woman and Home in the late 1980s.

The completed soup

P.S. Dinnertime

The soup was cooked. I added the pasta, cabbage and chicory, warmed up the bread and dished up. The younger offspring didn't express horror or disgust, which I interpret as enjoyment. The spouse used the term "epic." Then this exchange took place between him and the older offspring.
Older offspring: "Do you know who'd like this soup?"
Spouse: "No. Who?"
Older offspring: "Men."

Bee fun

During the week I met the spouse's co-worker, "Ruby" (not her real name), who asked me how I got on at the beekeeping course last weekend. We also talked about the older offspring and the spouse finishing the bee box. The purpose of the bee box is to provide an egg depot for solitary bees. Our parish church holds an annual pet service. It's too late for this year's, but Ruby and I did talk about the possibility of my bringing along a few bees in a jam jar next year!

Tuscan Bean Soup

Tuscan Bean Soup This recipe calls for canned beans (borlotti, flageolet or cannellini) and as I have been tidying and cleaning out our cupboards I've used cannellini beans. I have to mention that the younger offspring has done an impressive job on the cupboards. That's enough about him. Back to me and my soup! Other ingredients include onion, carrots, leek, garlic, tomatoes, tomato puree (I substituted sun-dried tomato paste as there was an open jar of it in the fridge), chicken stock (I had to use a cube as my home-made reserves have been used up) and spinach.When ready it's served with ciabatta bread, grated Parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil. So it's quite a rich soup. We've just had the Tuscan bean soup for lunch. All enjoyed it. The adult males were particularly forthcoming in their praise. The spouse liked the "tomato-ey sharpness" and mused that ham stock should be considered as an alternative to chicken stock. Bees' Cheese and other recipes H

Lovage Soup

Lovage Soup Today I made lovage soup, the second recipe by Sophie Grigson in The Soup Book that I have used in the last four days. She introduces the recipe with these remarks: "If you don't grow this old-fashioned herb yourself, ask around among your gardening friends or head down to the nearest garden centre to see if they sell it. " As I mentioned in my last blog entry (18th May), lovage now features among the herbs in my front garden. As the spouse left the camera at home, I took some photographs. Parsley, sorrel and lovage in Minnie's garden. Rosemary, parsley and lovage in Minnie's garden. I had hoped to add chervil to my collection of herbs - there's a recipe for vegetable and chervil soup in The Soup Book - but "Young Stephen" wasn't able to source any for me. At least he tried. Just while I'm mentioning Stephen, I have to reveal that the spouse and the older offspring claim that he has been mention

Mulligatawny Manoeuvres

Mulligatawny I see it's only been six months since I last made mulligatawny. The first time was back in May 2011 when I followed Roopa Gulati's recipe in The Soup Book ; last September I used The Essential Asian Cookbook . Today I used Rick Stein's India , a Christmas present from the spouse. It's one of those luxurious recipe books with thick paper and beautiful, vibrantly colourful photos. We had all been impressed by Roopa's recipe, less so by the second book, so how would we fare today? Well, those two recipes both involved apple. Rick's did not, so I felt that this must be a more authentic recipe. If Anglo-Indian cooking has any authenticity these days. Still, Rick states that his recipe is on the menu at the Madras Club in Chennai. It involves making a spice paste first and then the soup. Ingredients: The paste called for coriander seeds, cumin seeds, peppercorns, curry powder, turmeric, garlic, ginger, and fresh coriander, curry and mint leave

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