Minnie's Soup Kitchen

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...

Turnip Soup with Chilli, Pimento and Noodles Just like buses, you wait ages for unusual root vegetable recipes to arrive, then two turnip together! Sorry, I couldn't resist. You see, I was shopping on Saturday 20th October and there were those red-skinned turnips, just like the ones pictured in The Soup Book , so I bought them. It was decided that I would cook the dinner that evening and the spouse would get some of the ingredients for me. He's discovered this wonderful shop not too far away and has come home with tales of wondrous types of honey. I shall bestir myself to venture to this awesome place. So, I arrived home from work on Wednesday (24th October) and laid out my ingredients: spring onion, turnips, jalapeno, dried chilli flakes, star anise, tomato puree, soy sauce, stock, Chinese egg noodles, preserved pimento and coriander. Carolyn Humphries advises you to use larger turnips with a stronger flavour - I consider myself lucky to find any turnips at all. P...

Pumpkin Soup Hallowe'en was upon us last weekend, so the obvious choice for a soup was pumpkin. Last year I made Jeanette Orrey 's pumpkin and apple soup (see my blog of 30th October 2010 ), leaving only Monty Don 's recipe to make this year. (By the way, did you see his series Italian Gardens ? Great stuff!) The spouse bought the pumpkin so that the younger offspring could have a Jack o' lantern. I picked out two designs (one cheery, the other spooky), drew them on opposite sides of the pumpkin, and let the child cut out the shapes. Then I had to scoop out the flesh for the soup and for a cake recipe . The other ingredients were potatoes, vegetable stock, tomatoes, fresh sage leaves and seasoning. I have tried various pumpkin soup recipes over the years and have usually been disappointed by how bland they were. The spouse suggested that I use a chilli from one of his plants that are growing on our kitching window sill. I thought, "Why not?" Good decisio...

Pumpkin and Apple Soup   It's Hallowe'en weekend and so pumpkin is on the menu.  There are two soup recipes in The Soup Book involving pumpkins: Monty Don 's pumpkin soup (which includes potatoes and tomatoes) and Jeanette Orrey 's pumpkin and apple soup. I was going to make both, but then changed my mind, having decided to make fudge (more on this later). I asked the spouse to choose between the two recipes and he opted for the latter. He does the shopping, so he deserves the power of choice. Sometimes. He headed off to the shopping centre and after a while he phoned to say there were no pumpkins left and that I should call down to "Young Stephen" (our local green grocer). So out the door with me in my new faux fur leopard print coat on the trail of pumpkins. I arrived down at Young Stephen's place of business to find one big pumpkin and lots of little ones. (When did little pumpkins come into vogue?) I bought the big one and when I got home decided ...