Minnie's Soup Kitchen

Rocket and Parmesan Soup Soup 160 from The Soup Book . The recipe by Celia Brooks Brown looked simple, the preparation was simple. No processing: just the hand blender. Simple. What did I need? Olive oil, onions (chopped), potatoes (skins left on and cubed), garlic (crushed), vegetable stock, Parmesan rind (yes, that's right - rind ; "tiny diced"), and rocket (roughly chopped). What made it even simpler was that I had everything except for the rocket. I had to go into town anyway so I decided to go to Temple Bar for fresh organic rocket. My first stop while in town was at Merrion Square to see what was happening at Dublin Pride 2013 . Then I sauntered along Nassau Street, through the Trinity College campus, across College Green, down Anglesea Street, an errand in Cope Street and then to Curved Street. Having bought rocket from the stall-holder, he told me about pesto he'd made using rocket, mantega and walnuts (mmmm!). Home. The spouse was back from Be...

White Gazpacho We've had a few lovely sunny warm days here in Dublin so yesterday I thought I'd pick a recipe for a chilled soup  from The Soup Book . On a hot day you don't want to spend too much time peeling and chopping and standing over a hot saucepan.  Similarly, while the recipe requires you to grind blanched almonds, I had a rebellious moment and used pre-ground almonds. Naughty me. I cut up white bread and left it soaking in iced water while I whizzed the ground almonds with a little iced water in the processor. I probably shouldn't have used ice cubes. Then I put the bread and garlic into the processor and whizzed the mixture together. This was followed by the addition of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. A little seasoning and I was ready to go. I placed seedless green grapes in the bottom of the bowls and ladled in the soup. Verdict: The poor younger offspring wasn't able for much, mainly because of the garlic. The spouse and I both liked it but h...

Minnie's chervil three weeks after planting Vegetable and Chervil Soup This recipe from The Soup Book is by Raymond Blanc and in order to make it I had to plant chervil specially! You'll see how it's grown in the last three weeks (see my blog of 11th May). The vegetables needed were onion, carrots, celery, leeks, courgette and tomatoes (yes, I know: technically a fruit). I peeled and chopped as necessary then went off for a rest. I also needed "a scant ounce" of chervil. By the time I'd obtained this, there was very little left of my plant! The photo to the right shows it before I'd stripped it nearly bare. When it was time to start cooking, I set to, pleased with myself at having everything ready. The first step involved sweating the onion, garlic, carrots, celery and leeks in melted butter. After this in went boiling water, the carrots and tomatoes for a five-minute fast boil. Finally, I added a little more butter and the finely chopped chervi...