Skip to main content

Brussels Sprouts Soup

Fortieth Soup: Brussels Sprouts

Well, it is the 30th December 2010 and just over a year since I first followed a recipe from The Soup Book. I have now made forty different soups! The recipe for Brussels sprouts soup is by Sophie Grigson and calls for onions, thyme, chicken or vegetable stock and a garnishing of soured cream, creme fraiche or yogurt with paprika or cayenne pepper.  I do not particularly like the taste of sprouts but was determined to get this soup over and done with. Yesterday I called down to "Young Stephen's" green grocery, expecting to be able to buy loose sprouts, but no, they were pre-packed. Young Stephen and I swapped tales of cats' less desirable habits then bade each other a happy new year.

Back to the soup. I sweated the sliced onions, added sugar, and eventually put in the sprouts, thyme and stock. Once the sprouts were just tender and the mixture had cooled a little, I got out the liquidiser and finished the soup. As a non-sprout eater, I have to say the soup is quite tasty. The spouse likes it too, but when I broke the news to the older offspring that we'd be having sprout soup for dinner, the corners of his mouth turned down. Never mind.

Onions sweated, sprouts added.
Stock added and ready for simmering.

Bee Ready for the New Year

I recently received a notice from the County Dublin Beekeepers' Association about a seminar on bee health that's taking place on 23rd January. Unfortunately, I shan't be able to attend as I'll be out of the country.

Wishing my regular readers a very happy new year, with plenty of running water!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Lovage Soup

Lovage Soup   Today I made lovage soup, the second recipe by Sophie Grigson in The Soup Book that I have used in the last four days. She introduces the recipe with these remarks: "If you don't grow this old-fashioned herb yourself, ask around among your gardening friends or head down to the nearest garden centre to see if they sell it. " As I mentioned in my last blog entry (18th May), lovage now features among the herbs in my front garden. As the spouse left the camera at home, I took some photographs. Parsley, sorrel and lovage in Minnie's garden. Rosemary, parsley and lovage in Minnie's garden.  I had hoped to add chervil to my collection of herbs - there's a recipe for vegetable and chervil soup in The Soup Book - but "Young Stephen" wasn't able to source any for me. At least he tried. Just while I'm mentioning Stephen, I have to reveal that the spouse and the older offspring claim that he has been mention...

2019: Another year over ...

I was very busy last month as I prepared for Christmas. My cooking ventures included making three soups from The Soup Book : zuppa di verdure, Brussels sprout soup and kichidi, which I first made in January 2013, December 2010 and November 2011 respectively. I'm not sure what happened to the kichidi when I made it two days ago, but pouring out the water in which I simmered the lentils, rice and ginger was probably not a good idea.  Jamie Oliver's Christmas rocky road I spread the Christmas love by making Nigella 's and Jamie Oliver 's Christmas rocky road. Nigella uses amaretti biscuits, Brazil nuts and glace cherries while Jamie uses popcorn, coconut and stem ginger syrup. Cut and put into bags left over from the older offspring's wedding, both types of rocky road were well received as gifts. A large cake tin full of Nigella's was put to good use at my sister T's house over Christmas.  Nigella's Christmas rocky road One of my colleagues p...

North Sea Fish Soup

Shaun Hill is the author of today's soup, North Sea fish soup, and he advises that as the seafood must be "just cooked", dense fish should be cut into small pieces or added earlier. It was a simple soup to make as there was no frying or whizzing. The only panicked moment or ten that I experienced was when I couldn't find the cod loins the spouse had bought. I am terrible when it comes to finding things and can usually rely on the spouse to find whatever it is I'm looking for. It's the main reason I married him. But even he was almost as useless as I was. I could remember riffing on the topic of cod loins earlier in the day. The older offspring had asked: "Why cod loins? Do cod have loins? Do they walk?" Fair point. I remembered asking was it a spelling mistake? Had the packager meant to write "cod lions", and so it continued.All very silly. North Sea fish soup: final addition of the tomato and parsley Ready to eat The ingredient...