Minnie's Soup Kitchen

New Recipes Since my last post I have tried out a few new recipes. Well, not exactly new as I have owned the books in which I found the recipes for many years. Except for the muffin recipe in Yotam Ottolenghi' s Ottolenghi: The Cookbook . Couscous with seafood and fresh tomato sauce On the 7th February I made coucous with seafood and fresh tomato sauce. The recipe is from Claudia Roden 's Tamarind and Saffron (first published in 1999). The sauce was delicious, rich and interesting. For the spouse's birthday on the 9th February I made Gill MacLennan 's seriously chocolatey muffins. The spouse is on a man diet but told me he'd like muffins with chocolate chips in them. I knew I could rely on Gill. The recipe came up trumps and was worth the effort of tracking down chocolate chips. For Shrove Tuesday (12th February) I made apple and yoghurt pancakes with blueberry and honey sauce using a recipe in the Irish Times magazine. A little bit of effort but agai...

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, gin...

French Country Soup Today's soup was French country soup from a recipe by Marie-Pierre Moine . I made it yesterday, having chosen the recipe on the basis that I need to make more progress through the winter vegetables section of T he Soup Book . Also, the ingredients were simple (leeks, potato, carrots and stock) and wouldn't take too long to prepare. I was having a busy weekend and was trying to use my time well. Leeks, potatoes and carrots According to the introduction, this mixed vegetable potage is "traditional family fare [and] is ladled out of a tureen into wide shallow bowls as a starter all over [France]." The spouse, younger offspring and I ate our soup this evening and while they liked it, I was not overly impressed. I think I like richer, more flavoursome soups. I didn't use a tureen, but I don't think it would have made any difference to the taste. Having checked on line, I find that other recipes include meat: chicken, beef shanks, etc....

Butterbean Soup with Rocket Pesto Angela Nilsen (contributor to The Soup Book ) describes this soup as perfect for serving at a supper party. I'm not really sure what a supper party is, so am not in a position to agree or disagree. The soup ingredients are olive oil, onion, celery, garlic, prosciutto, dried crushed chillies, basil, stock, spaghetti and a can of butterbeans. The onion and celery are fried in olive oil, then the garlic is added and fried. Next in are the prosciutto and chillies. No more frying. The basil, stock and spaghetti are added and brought to the boil and simmered until the spaghetti is al dente . You whizz a few ladlefuls of the soup in a processor or blender then pour it back into the pot with the rest of the soup. The pesto (rocket, basil, Parmesan cheese, toasted pine nuts, garlic and olive oil whizzed in a small blender) is spooned on top of the soup when serving. I made this soup last Saturday (13th August) and the four of us had it for dinner....

Büsumer Fish Soup Büsumer (or Büsumer Deichhausen ) is situated on the North Sea coast of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany and is apparently the source of today's soup. I haven't made very many of the fish soups in The Soup Book , mainly because I haven't felt sure that I would be able to get the necessary ingredients. There are thirty-two fish soup recipes and so far I have made just five; Büsumer fish soup is my sixth. The listed ingredients include carrots, potato, onions, vegetable stock, a bay leaf, haddock or pollock, lemon juice, prawns, chestnut or button mushrooms, and fresh dill. I bought the fish in a recently opened fish shop. I was agreeably surprised that the fish monger had both haddock and pollock on display. I asked him what the difference was between the two. He said that pollock was "meatier," more like cod. When I told him I was following a soup recipe, he immediately urged me to buy the pollock. He also shelled the prawns for me. I used some v...