Skip to main content

Welcome to Minnie's Soup Kitchen

Well, this is it - my first blog. I'm paying homage to the film Julie and Julia, but going for a lower level of achievement than Julie. My chosen recipe book is The Soup Book published by Dorling Kindersley in 2009 and I hope to try out at least one soup recipe a month in 2010.
I bought the book from a book seller who occasionally drops sample books into my office, leaves an order form and comes back a fortnight later to fill the orders. At each sample drop-off, my colleagues and I paw the books. The childless ones complain about the number of children's books and everyone swears they're never buying another cookery book, but we always renege.
The Soup Book contains over 200 recipes so I'll have plenty of choice. There is a handy table showing when "British-grown" vegetables are in season (I live in Ireland but am happy enough to go along with this term). My husband and I are old enough to remember when vegetables were available only in season but are well accustomed to buying everything whenever we want. Anyway, my plan is to use only those vegetables that are in season when I cook the soups.
My first choice of recipe was spinach and rosemary soup, which I made for our starter course on Christmas day, 2009. The ingredients include butter, onion, potato, vegetable or chicken stock, milk and cream, as well as the eponymous items. My spouse had made and frozen chicken stock a few days earlier and I took a sprig of rosemary from the garden. Our blender nearly failed us, but the processor saved the day. Preparation and cooking time took less than an hour. Everyone enjoyed it - even the picky child!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Miso Soup with Tuna

Miso Soup with Tuna This weekend I made a soup from the soup and shellfish section of The Soup Book , mainly because I'm aware this is the section through which I have made least progress. Leafing through the fish soup recipes, miso soup with tuna was the first one I came across that I hadn't made (the last fish soup was the creamy scallop bisque in December 2012). I read through the ingredients listed by Carolyn Humphries : what is wakame ? where do I get it and dried shitake mushrooms and miso paste? Apart from those three items, it was easy enough to obtain a carrot, spring onions, ginger, fresh tuna and chives. The spouse made a detour from the usual shopping route to his f avourite fishmonger's shop  then went into town for dried wakame. So, at about 5.30pm yesterday evening, I set about making the soup. I made up chicken stock from a cube and left the shitake mushrooms and wakame soaking in cold water while I prepared the vegetables and diced the tuna. Next, I ...

Traditional Chicken Soup

Traditional Chicken Soup The weekend just gone was another busy one but for happy reasons. The younger offspring has just become a teenager. Fortunately there were no tantrums, no sulks, no studied indifference. The excitement was occasionally muted but for the most part he was unselfconscious in his enjoyment of the celebrations. I made him white chocolate brownies which are one of his favourite home bakes. The celebrations meant delaying the preparation of the soup. It was a two-staged recipe anyway which meant I could make stock in advance. We had lemon-roasted chicken for dinner yesterday so I saved the carcass to make stock for the soup. The ingredients for the stock were the chicken carcass ( Marie-Pierre Moine suggests this as an alternative to using a whole chicken), carrot, leek, garlic, dried mushrooms (which the spouse bought but which I forgot to put in the pot), celery, parsley and thyme. When I got home from work this evening I got stuck into making the soup. T...

Minted Pea and Ham Soup

Minted Pea and Ham Soup I didn't get a chance to make soup at the weekend. Sometimes life gets too complicated to make soup. Not to worry. I made some this evening. Although the recipe is by Roopa Gulati , no spice was used in its making. The ingredients include shallots, butter, potato, stock, peas, mint and cooked ham. When I arrived home from a busy day out, I had a cup of tea then got stuck in to making the soup. We had ham stock in the freezer (I'd left some out to thaw before going out this morning), and the spouse had cooked a piece of ham yesterday so I diced up the leftovers. The chopped shallots were softened in the butter, then the chopped potato was thrown into the pan. When this was tender I poured in the stock. While the stock was simmering I cooked the peas, adding mint for the last twenty seconds. When ready I added them to the stock then whizzed the lot in the blender. I reheated the soup and stirred in the diced ham. The younger offspring and I ate the so...