Minnie's Soup Kitchen

Lamb Meatball Soup Yesterday I decided to go off piste from The Soup Book . I leafed through The Lebanese Kitchen by Salma Hage and found a fairly simple recipe for lamb meatball soup. Meatballs, tomatoes, sweetcorn, spices: what's not to like? Whenever I think of minced meat I think of minced beef rather than minced lamb, but minced lamb is becoming increasingly available. The recipe calls for seven spices seasoning (also known as Lebanese mixed spices ), which I haven't heard of before. The spouse searched on the internet for me and found several different combinations of spices. Eventually I opted for a mix of black pepper, cumin, paprika, coriander, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and cardamon. Decision made, I set to making the meatballs. These consisted of minced lamb, grated onion, flour and the spice mixture. Rings off and hands washed, I began mashing and pounding the ingredients together. I then shaped seventeen meatballs, all the while thinking of an old song my f...

Roast Squash Soup Soup number 164 from The Soup Book was made from butternut squash roasted with tomatoes, garlic, rosemary, thyme and red onion. They smelt deliciously rich as they roasted away until ready to be whizzed in the blender with some hot stock. Sophie Grigson suggests that winter squash such as onion squash, red kuri, crown prince or pumpkin can be used for this recipe. I knew that I would be lucky to find any of those so I plumped for butternut. Nothing wrong with that. Having blended the soup, I made the rouille to be spread on croutes. This rouille was made from saffron soaked in warm water, garlic, a red chilli, egg yolk, red wine vinegar, and olive and sunflower oils beaten together. Not all together at the one time, just a little at a time. I prepared the croutes, re-heated the soup and set the table. Then I called whichever male persons were still in the house, ie, the spouse and the younger offspring. I ladled the soup into warmed bowls and left everyone t...

Chicken pieces rubbed with spice mix The first time I made mulligatawny was back in May 2011. On that occasion I used The Soup Book , of course. Yesterday I used another book that has been idling away, not earning its right to be on my kitchen bookshelves: The Essential Asian Cookbook (edited by Jane Bowring and Jane Price).  The ingredients include chicken pieces, flour, Madras curry powder, ground turmeric, ground ginger (I used fresh ginger on the last occasion), cloves, peppercorns, an apple(!), chicken stock, lemon juice and cream: not dissimilar to, but less extensive than the ingredients listed in The Soup Book recipe. The spouse had bought a whole chicken, which I cut into pieces. These pieces were then rubbed with the mix of flour, turmeric, ginger and curry powder. I fried them in butter, threw the cloves and peppercorns into the pot (not wrapped in muslin. Where do I buy muslin, anyway?), poured in the stock, added the diced apple and left the lot simmering for ...