Samphire Soup with Poached Eggs
My one hundred and sixty-third recipe from The Soup Book is by Carolyn Humphries. I'd been looking to making this soup once I realised it was possible to buy samphire. Of course, when I wasn't looking for samphire, I could see it on sale in various shops; but when I wanted to use it, it couldn't be found. Anyway, the spouse found it and bought it for me yesterday: "€8 for 300g is not cheap," said he. I trotted down to Young Stephen's for a potato and a leek. I asked him if he ever stocked samphire, to which he replied in the negative.
Another reason I wanted to make this soup was because of the addition of poached eggs (or "pouched eggs", as they were called on the menu in the Italian hotel I stayed in recently). I love poached eggs and the spouse is becoming quite an expert at making them for me. Carolyn Humphries specifies that white wine vinegar should be added to the water in which you poach your eggs. We had it in stock and I used it. Well, the spouse used it. But I'm jumping ahead.
Back to the start. The soup ingredients: fresh or frozen samphire, unsalted butter, a leek, a potato, a thick sliced of lemon, fresh parsley (loads in the garden), and light chicken or vegetable stock. The usual preparation: wash, slice and dice. I boiled the samphire (two thirds of what the spouse had bought) and drained it. I have to admit that I didn't scrape the flesh of the stalks as I convinced myself that the samphire was young and fresh. My sister J'Zo commented ealier today that preparing samphire is fiddly work (or words to that effect). As an aside, I don't really see J'Zo as a samphire scraper.
Next I fried the leek and potato for a couple of minutes. I then poured in the stock, added the lemon and
parsley, and sprinkled in plenty of pepper. When the vegetables were tender I discarded the lemon and whizzed the lot together with the samphire in the blender. At this stage the spouse was preparing the poached eggs and the bowls were warming up. Suddenly it was "go time". We dished up and called the younger offspring. The spoons were dipped in and raised. Mmm! We all liked it: the tanginess of the samphire and lemon, the substance provided by the potato, and the blending of egg yolk with the mixture was delightful! Yes, I would make it again and I would let the spouse poach the eggs again.
Bee Music
I've just browsed quickly on YouTube for bee-music and found the following:
"Bee-keeper's Daughter" by the All-American Rejects
"Bumblebee" by Joseph Vincent
If you want something less cheesy, try these:
"Music Made with Bees" by ToneHammer
"Honey Bee" by Zee Avi
Or something light-hearted:
"Buzz Lightyear and I know it" and "Buzz Lightyear - Gangnam Style" (Okay, so they're not about bees, but there's a bit of a buzz to them!)
That's it for this weekend.
My one hundred and sixty-third recipe from The Soup Book is by Carolyn Humphries. I'd been looking to making this soup once I realised it was possible to buy samphire. Of course, when I wasn't looking for samphire, I could see it on sale in various shops; but when I wanted to use it, it couldn't be found. Anyway, the spouse found it and bought it for me yesterday: "€8 for 300g is not cheap," said he. I trotted down to Young Stephen's for a potato and a leek. I asked him if he ever stocked samphire, to which he replied in the negative.
Back to the start. The soup ingredients: fresh or frozen samphire, unsalted butter, a leek, a potato, a thick sliced of lemon, fresh parsley (loads in the garden), and light chicken or vegetable stock. The usual preparation: wash, slice and dice. I boiled the samphire (two thirds of what the spouse had bought) and drained it. I have to admit that I didn't scrape the flesh of the stalks as I convinced myself that the samphire was young and fresh. My sister J'Zo commented ealier today that preparing samphire is fiddly work (or words to that effect). As an aside, I don't really see J'Zo as a samphire scraper.
parsley, and sprinkled in plenty of pepper. When the vegetables were tender I discarded the lemon and whizzed the lot together with the samphire in the blender. At this stage the spouse was preparing the poached eggs and the bowls were warming up. Suddenly it was "go time". We dished up and called the younger offspring. The spoons were dipped in and raised. Mmm! We all liked it: the tanginess of the samphire and lemon, the substance provided by the potato, and the blending of egg yolk with the mixture was delightful! Yes, I would make it again and I would let the spouse poach the eggs again.
Bee Music
I've just browsed quickly on YouTube for bee-music and found the following:
"Bee-keeper's Daughter" by the All-American Rejects
"Bumblebee" by Joseph Vincent
If you want something less cheesy, try these:
"Music Made with Bees" by ToneHammer
"Honey Bee" by Zee Avi
Or something light-hearted:
"Buzz Lightyear and I know it" and "Buzz Lightyear - Gangnam Style" (Okay, so they're not about bees, but there's a bit of a buzz to them!)
That's it for this weekend.
Minnie
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