Since my last blog entry I have made two soups from The Soup
Book: smoked cauliflower cheese and black-eyed bean. The former was a mid-week
dinner; the latter our weekend dinner.
Smoked Cauliflower Cheese Soup
The spouse was going to make cauliflower cheese (love it)
but I proposed Sophie Grigson's recipe as an alternative. He screwed up his
face and declined. Then he changed his mind. I thought mind-changing was my
prerogative. Anyway, smoked cauliflower cheese soup calls for cauliflower,
onion, a floury potato, garlic, a bouquet garni, butter, stock, smoked Cheddar
and garnish. Sophie suggests cayenne pepper, chopped parsley or chives,
croutons or soured cream to garnish.
I sweated the vegetables, garlic and bouquet garni with the
butter before adding the stock. When the cauliflower and potato were tender, I
took out the bouquet garni and gave the mixture a whizz in the blender. Next I
reheated the soup, jumping back from the bubbles that flew in all directions.
This is when you put in your grated cheese. The spouse and younger offspring
were out being sporty, so I tested the soup on my own. My garnish of choice
(given that it was what was available) was cayenne pepper. I liked this soup
and would advise anyone who likes strong flavours to stick with smoked Cheddar
rather than unsmoked. I also recommend cayenne pepper – the soup needs it. When
the Y-chromosomed ones returned they tucked in and enjoyed it too.
Black-Eyed Bean Soup
Unlike the smoked cauliflower cheese soup, Celia BrooksBrown’s black-eyed bean soup was a gala of colours. You need leeks, a red
pepper, a yellow pepper, garlic, ginger, a small red chilli, cumin seeds,
canned black-eyed beans, coconut milk, stock, fresh coriander and lime wedges
(the last two are for garnishing). The spouse wasn’t able to find black-eyed
beans so I headed down to Young Stephen’s. First, though, I met a friend for
lunch in a nearby cafe where one of the staff bore a striking resemblance to
Young Stephen. I asked him if he was related and he was. So when I went round
to the green grocer’s I told Stephen I’d just met his brother. In typical
sibling fashion Stephen listed off how his own attributes were superior to
those of his brother. I commented that I hadn’t been conducting assessment
tests on his brother so couldn’t confirm his (Stephen’s) statements. (By the
way, Stephen is still trying out his own soups.) He had only one can of
black-eyed beans (I needed two) so I bought some cannellini beans to make up
the deficit. I also tried another local independent grocery store, but had no
luck there either.
Back to my cooking. The leeks and peppers looked glorious in
all their traffic light colours. While they were cooking I whizzed the garlic,
grated ginger, chilli and cumin with water to make a smooth-ish paste. This was
added to the pan. Next in were the beans, coconut milk, a little sugar and lots
of black pepper. When it was ready, I dished it up and garnished with coriander
and lime. As the younger offspring was out, it was up to the spouse and I to do
the honours. A very tasty soup and one to make again.
 |
| Colourful black-eyed bean soup |
What's the Buzz?
Continuing with my observations of bees and their produce in
what I read, I came across another two references to honey in Girl with a Pearl
Earring: “honeyed words” and “honeyed voice” are used in relation to van
Ruijven’s (Vermeer’s patron) attempts to seduce Griet.
In yesterday’s Irish Times Magazine, Roisin Ingle referred
to Janis Ruksans’ interest in bees. Elsewhere in the same magazine Ross O’Carroll-Kelly
mentions his mother “wrapping her big bee-stung lips around a vodka martini”!
Bye for now!
Minnie
Comments
Post a Comment