Minnie's Soup Kitchen

Chilled Melon and Ginger Soup   Chilled soup hesitators, look away now! I was chatting to "J-Zo" (a sibling) about the soup I made yesterday, but once I said the word chilled, she pursed her lips and said, "Urrgh." (By the way, has anyone noticed that no one writes "urrgh" or ""ugh" any more? It's all "ee-uu" with an upward inflection now.) So, anyway, chilled soups are not to everyone's liking. But if you can cope, read on. Ginger is the spiciest ingredient in this soup. Unusually for a recipe by Roopa Gulati , it's the only spice.  Fennel seeds are also used but I'm not sure if they count as a spice - fennel is a herb, isn't it? The other ingredients are a ripe Galia melon, fresh root ginger, white seedless grapes (white? I used good old-fashioned green grapes), the juice and grated zest of a lime, dried mint, Greek yoghurt and a garnish consisting of fresh mint and crystallised ginger. There's no cooki...

Aubergine and Red Pepper Soup Today was a double effort as this aubergine and red pepper soup comprises two separate soups. In her introduction to her own recipe in  The Soup Book , Sophie Grigson sums it up as "a two-in-one" with the "mild and gentle aubergine cream yanked into high gear with a swirl of the sweeter, hotter red pepper." The aubergine soup ingredients are olive oil, onion, carrot, parsley, coriander seeds, aubergines (obviously), risotto or pudding rice, and chicken or vegetable stock. The first seven ingredients are sweated together before the stock and seasoning are added. Similarly, the first few ingredients for the pepper soup (olive oil, garlic, red chillies and red peppers) are sweated together before tomatoes, tomato puree, sugar, seasoning and stock are added. The two soups are whizzed in a blender and reheated separately, of course. The aubergine soup is divided between the soup bowls and then a ladleful of the pepper soup is added to eac...

Cheddar and Chive Soup The recipe for today's soup is by Carolyn Humphries , who suggests that you serve the soup with "plenty of warm, crusty bread." Cheddar and chive soup is the last of four from the cheese section of The Soup Book and calls for celeriac, onion, carrots, potato, vegetable or chicken stock, bay leaf, chive, milk, Cheddar soup, and creme fraiche. I have plenty of chives in my back garden: they seed themselves, seem to grow easily and I don't often use them. The flowers are quite pretty and are attractive to bees so I let them be.  The only ingredient I didn't have was celeriac so I had to pop down to Young Stephen's to buy one. Back at home I prepped the vegetables and got on with the first stage of the soup. This involved frying the root vegetables, adding the stock and bay leaf, simmering the mixture, and pureeing (yes, I had to get out the food processor). In the second stage you add the finely snipped chives, milk, cheese and creme fr...

Cherry Soup   I had been wondering recently how I could even out my progress through the different recipe sections in The Soup Book . It had also occurred to me that I hadn't made a fruit soup for a while (there are only six recipes for fruit soups in the book). Today, serendipitously, a solution presented itself, literally on my doorstep. A friend, "Bella", called around for coffee bearing a punnet of morello cherries! I remembered that there is a cherry soup recipe in The Soup Book and hence today's blog entry. In his introductory note, Shaun Hill states: "This Hungarian soup is meant to taste fresh rather than sweet." The ingredients are morello cherries (fresh or canned), white wine, water, sugar, lemon and soured cream. I simmered the cherry stones and stalks in the wine and water, strained out the debris, and then heated the fruit, sugar and lemon in the cherry stock. The final addition was the soured cream and now the soup is being chilled. It'...

Sweetcorn Chowder   Today I have made my seventieth soup from The Soup Book . The recipe is by Celia Brooks Brown and calls for fresh corn on the cob, bay leaves, onion, sage, thyme, carrot, celery, potato, cream cheese, cream and paprika. It always gives me a little thrill when I gather the herbs that I have grown myself! My thyme and sage plants are doing surprisingly well this year and perhaps I'm imagining it, but during cooking they are much more aromatic than pre-packed leaves. The recipe states that the "prep" time for the sweetcorn chowder is just ten minutes. I need to speed up my gathering, washing, peeling and chopping. The chowder was supposed to take thirty minutes to cook, but it wasn't that straightforward. Apart from preparing the vegetables, you then have to strip the corn kernels from the cob and set them aside while you simmer the cobs with the bay leaves. Then you cook the onions, adding the other herbs, carrot, celery and potato. While these a...

Roasted Red Pepper, Fennel and Tomato Soup   The recipe for roasted red pepper, fennel and tomato soup in The Soup Book is by Roopa Gulati so expect spice. The ingredients include fennel, a red onion, red peppers, tomatoes, garlic, rosemary leaves, fennel seeds, nigella seeds (I substituted cumin seeds for nigella seeds), passata, vegetable stock and a red chilli. I didn't have some of the ingredients so I called down to Young Stephen's greengrocery. As soon as he saw me he said, "I've got something for you.!" "Chervil?" I guessed. "No," he replied, "I can't find chervil. It's this - summer savory ." There was no way he could have known I'd be calling to his shop today, but he had the savory in a pot ready to go. It wasn't a gift - I had to buy it but did so willingly. Back to the stove. The fennel, onion, peppers, tomatoes and garlic were sprinkled with sugar, olive oil and the rosemary leaves before being roa...

I'm not writing about soup today. I thought I'd just write a few notes about the family visit to Bloom 2011 . Not the entire family, I should add. The older offspring is away enjoying irresponsibility ... while he can. The spouse, the younger offspring and I cycled over to the Phoenix Park yesterday, arriving at the Conyngham Road entrance just in time for the rain. Then we cycled up Chesterfield Avenue, ringing our bells at pedestrians who had the temerity to walk on the cycle path. We locked our bikes to railings close to the entrance to Bloom and made our way in. The flowers are something to behold. I love fuchsia and was very taken by one called Black to the Fuchsia ! At the food stalls I sampled Mella's Fudge . The stall-holder and I chatted about whether to use evaporated or condensed milk and whether to use a thermometer or go for the boil (she uses a thermometer). We both wrinkled our noses in unspoken agreement at another brand of fudge which really isn't...

Avocado, Cucumber and Sorrel Soup   It's a beautiful sunny June bank holiday here in Dublin and despite the recent cucumber scare I decided to make a cucumber soup. There are five soups in The Soup Book requiring cucumber and this recipe by Sophie Grigson calls for "a ripe, buttery avocado, ... a generous handful of sorrel leaves", a quarter of a large cucumber, Greek yoghurt and garlic.  I'm still not sure what exactly a handful is, generous or otherwise, but I seemed to have enough sorrel in the front garden for this soup. It has continued growing since my last raid.There is no cooking involved in this soup: just blending. The mix turns out a rich shade of green and is very tasty. The younger offspring like it but couldn't finish his portion. Cold soups are an acquired taste, but a taste definitely worth acquiring. Blooms and Buzzes   The spouse and I are planning to go to Bloom 2011 tomorrow. I mentioned in my last blog entry that the County Dublin Beek...

Curried Broth with Peppers  Today is a lovely sunny day in early June but I have chosen to make a hot curried soup. I was pondering what to make for dinner this evening and the spouse said that we had a lot of vegetables in the fridge. I knew there were quite a few peppers so checked in The Soup Book to see how I could use them up. This soup is based on yet another recipe by Roopa Gulati and contains star anise , nigella seeds , fennel seeds, fenugreek seed s, onions, root ginger, an orange pepper and a yellow pepper, basmati rice , turmeric, garam masala , vegetable stock, date palm sugar , lemon and coriander leaves. If you can't find nigella seeds, there are a few spices or herbs you can substitute for them. I didn't use a substitute for the nigella seeds, but I did for the date palm sugar - I just used dark brown sugar and hoped for the best. The different seeds smelled delicious as I fried them together before adding the onion and ginger. Star anise is a new addition...