Chinese Egg Drop Soup

Chinese Egg Drop Soup

Yesterday I made my one hundred and first soup from The Soup Book and my first in 2012. I had originally intended to make one of the three clam soup recipes but the spouse and I were unable to find any clams. The spouse's favourite fishmonger told him that clams aren't usually available after Christmas. Another fishmonger that I tried said there wasn't much call for them in his locality, but he could order them. You never know - I might get to make another soup during the week. Anyway, back to the Chinese egg drop soup.

The recipe is by Carolyn Humphreys, who suggests that the soup could be a simple chicken broth, but is made tasty and filling with the addition of vegetables and Chinese seasonings. The ingredients include chicken stock, garlic, fresh ginger root, spring onions, soy sauce, Chinese five-spice powder, corn on the cob or canned sweetcorn, baby leaf spinach, cornflour and eggs. The first stage involved cooking the crushed garlic, ginger, spring onions, soy sauce and spice in the chicken stock. Unable to make my first choice of soup, I had to pop out to Young Stephen's for spinach and the five-spice powder (pepper, star anise, cinnamon, clove and fennel seed). He told me how he now makes his own vegetable stock using up wilting vegetables from the shop; he has also ventured into soup making!

The second stage of my soup now required the addition of the sweetcorn and the spinach. I was using canned corn so this was added now rather than during the first stage as with fresh corn kernels. Once the spinach had wilted, I added the cornflour mixed with water to thicken the soup slightly. Finally, I trickled in the beaten egg and stirred it gently so that it would form the thin strands referred to in the recipe. Then it was time to eat. The three of us all enjoyed it - even the younger offspring took a second bowlful! The spice mix and the soy sauce gave the soup that familiar Chinese flavour, and the cornflour and strands of egg gave it the approximate texture of Chinese restaurant soup, but without the cloying monosodium glutamate flavour and thickness. Another one for the list of those to be repeated.

Bee is for Books

A couple of new books I have in the pile beside my bed are Sean Borodale's Pages from Bee Journal and Carol Ann Duffy's The Bees. Borodale's book (it's more a pamphlet, really) is a "poem-journal" of bee-keeping over a two-year period. Here are the opening lines from "4th January: The Honey Jar":

I do not take the honey but lift it down:
The jar of it on the high shelf
is a ghost of goings-on
a kept world-part of their summer

And now for the opening lines from Duffy's "The Human Bee":

I became a human bee at twelve,
when they gave me my small wand,
my flask of pollen,
and I walked with the other bees
out to the orchards.

That's it for this weekend.

Minnie

Tuscan Bean Soup

Tuscan Bean Soup This recipe calls for canned beans (borlotti, flageolet or cannellini) and as I have been tidying and cleaning out our cupboards I've used cannellini beans. I have to mention that the younger offspring has done an impressive job on the cupboards. That's enough about him. Back to me and my soup! Other ingredients include onion, carrots, leek, garlic, tomatoes, tomato puree (I substituted sun-dried tomato paste as there was an open jar of it in the fridge), chicken stock (I had to use a cube as my home-made reserves have been used up) and spinach.When ready it's served with ciabatta bread, grated Parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil. So it's quite a rich soup. We've just had the Tuscan bean soup for lunch. All enjoyed it. The adult males were particularly forthcoming in their praise. The spouse liked the "tomato-ey sharpness" and mused that ham stock should be considered as an alternative to chicken stock. Bees' Cheese and other recipes H

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

A Sting in the Tale

Nettle Soup I have hesitated to make nettle soup from The Soup Book but last weekend I decided to overcome my doubts. The spouse and I were having a leisurely, offspring-free day in town and I spotted bagged nettles on a vegetable stall in Meeting House Square . I checked with the stall-holders that they would have nettles again this weekend and determined to go back. The next day I was at a friend's and her husband was about to make nettle soup. My fate was sealed. I had to bring the younger offspring into town this morning and once I had completed various other errands I made my way to Meeting House Square. I bought the nettles and some chard and spinach for my next soup-making stint. Yesterday the younger offspring and I could have picked all the free nettles I could ever have wanted down by the local river, but I wondered if they'd been sprayed with anything or by any beast. On arriving home from town this afternoon I put on my rubber gloves and washed the nettl

Minnie's Soup Kitchen

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