Minnie's Soup Kitchen

Cucumber and Walnut Soup  Looking east from the northside quays  on the first glorious  day of  2012 Yesterday was that one glorious Irish summer day and it was by chance that my decision to make a chilled soup fell on that day. The recipe for cucumber and walnut soup is by Celia Brooks Brown . Aside from the obvious ingredients, it calls for Greek or thick and creamy yogurt, a clove of garlic, walnuts, mint leaves and lemon juice. It was perfect for the day as I had marched the younger offspring from O'Connell St, down Sean McDermott St to North Strand Rd, then along Ossory Road, around the East Wall area and along the quays in the hot sunshine. So when we arrived home, I was glad there was no cooking involved. All I had to do was peel, dice, stir, pound and chop. Then everything was left in the fridge to chill. Cucumber chopped and ready to be souped up We had the soup for dinner. It doesn't sound like a substantial meal but the younger offspring and ...

Wild Salmon Chowder Chowder is one of my favourite things to eat. Whenever I see chowder on a menu I choose it. In anticipation of its arrival at my table, I wonder what will be swimming about in the bowl: will there be a variety of fish?, will there be mussels?, will the stock be thick or thin? To eat chowder in different places is to take part in a big adventure. So, it was with some trepidation that I undertook Angela Nilsen 's recipe in The Soup Book . Wild salmon chowder: starring the spouse's new saute pan. The finished chowder absorbs the flavours of the dill and grated lemon zest. Among the ingredients are streaky bacon, spring onions, thyme, bay leaves, small waxy potatoes, fish or chicken stock, salmon fillets, cream, dill and lemon zest. You need a wide, deep saute pan (I wish I could insert diacritics!), and serendipitously the spouse had bought one during the week - a big beast of a pan! I started by crisping up the chopped bacon, then removed it and...

Well, no soup-making for me this week as we're on holidays in west Co Cork. The spouse, younger offspring and I are enjoying a break on Heir Island. The weather has been glorious so far, but is due to change tomorrow. Walking around the island in the evenings, we are inhaling the heady scent of wild honeysuckle. The house we're staying in has piles of books around the place, one of which is C J J Berry 's First Steps in Winemaking . This was first published in 1982, shortly before the spouse and I bought our own copy and began our own venture into making country wines. There was ample space in the hot press in the house where we were living at the time, and we duly filled it with demi-johns of rose petal, clove and ginger, and other wines. One wine we definitely didnt' get around to making was "bees" wine. Berry explains it thus: "You used to stand it in the window, and the bees used to go up and down in the liquid ... it made quite a pleasant drink...