Minnie's Soup Kitchen

January started off at its usual crawl then got a wiggle on. I didn't do too much out of the culinary ordinary for the first half of the month.  I found a recipe for a marmalade fruit cake that I remembered making years ago. The recipe turned out to be in our old M&S cookery book, bought in 1983. Not an exciting recipe but it was a good way of using up some rather dull shop-bought marmalade. (As an aside, I thought my handful of readers might be interested in the spouse's marmalade venture . He even designed his own jar labels.)  Muttleys with cheese and walnut scones and fruit scones Later in the month I travelled to North-East England to look after my youngest sibling (I can't remember my earlier pseudonym for her so I'll call her "T Rex" for now). She broke her leg before Christmas and is enduring enforced rest at home. Anyway, my other sister J'Zo gallantly took care of T Rex for ten days then I jetted over for five days. It gave me a grea...

Eggs molee with vegetable biryani If you're still reading this blog then you'll know that my posts have become quite infrequent compared to when I was still enthusiastically engaged in my soup-making project. That started about ten years ago. I was gung-ho to work my way through the 200 recipes. Still, 170 wasn't bad going. Yesterday I made curried parsnip soup, which I first made in May 2012. It was very tasty and well received by the spouse and younger offspring.  So much has happened in the last ten years and even in the seven years since I first made the parsnip soup. The older offspring is now married. The younger offspring is at university. The spouse has become prodigiously creative in the last eighteen months and  blogs prolifically  about his accomplishments. I have dabbled in various things - poetry, calligraphy, comedy improv, knitting - but baking and cooking remain my favourite pastimes and creative outlets. So far this year I've tried about ...

As I write I'm listening to Summer Breeze sung by the Isley Brothers . Makes me feel fine.  Salted coffee, pecan & lime rocky road Lots of baking since my last blog entry. At the end of June I revisited a couple of lemon and lavender combination recipes - Bronte Aurell's blondies and Paul Hollywood's loaf cake. But an absolute triumph was Ottolenghi's salted coffee, pecan and lime rocky road . Oh yes. Make it. Make it soon. Make it often.  Now I'm listening to July by Mundy. Oh my my, July.   July is baking competition time.  The baking competition is just one section of a local horticultural society's annual show. It took place last Saturday. In preparation, I made sticky gingerbread using Doreen Fulleylove's recipe (Country Fare published in 1972) on the previous Wednesday and set dried fruit soaking in chai for my tea brack which I baked on the Thursday evening.  Pistachio shortbread I took a half day on the Friday and set to with m...

Butternut squash and shallots roasted with smoked paprika and caraway seeds Puffed Up with Pride My first new recipe of 2017 was from Norfolk's Own Cookbook: Everything Stops for Tea . The book practically fell open at "Sausage rolls with roasted vegetables." There were some unused shallots and carrots in the fridge, smoked paprika, and a few of the other listed ingredients in our cupboard. At the butcher's I asked for sausagemeat and was given the choice of having the meat removed from prepared sausages or a lump of frozen meat. I chose the former but not happily.  Sausage and roasted vegetable rolls Butternut squash - the tough nut of vegetables. You have to batter through the skin with a sharp knife. Then the dicing begins. Carrots are grated. Oh, the anxiety! Will I sever a finger or break a nail? Phew! I got through the prep work with no mishaps.  I can't remember when I last used puff pastry. I thawed out a packet for the sausage rolls - ...

Review of 2016 Berries and cream celebration cake for New Year's Day, 2017 Last year was a bonanza year for baking. I made a total of fifty different baked items, including a berries and cream celebration cake on New Year's Eve for a special lunch on New Year's Day. This total was achieved because of the baking competition I entered in July, a fund-raising coffee morning I co-hosted in November, and various other occasions during the year. Some items didn't work out well or didn't taste as good as I'd anticipated, while others were ambrosia! Here's the big list for 2016: Ale fruit loaf 17-Jan2016 Broccoli & Gruyere tart 23 Jan2016 Fig and apricot scones 30-Jan2016 Marbled peanut butter brownies 3-Feb2016 Cup cakes 3-Feb2016 Spicy biscuits 13-Feb2016 Lemony cookies 13-Feb2016 Blondies 18-Feb2016 Apple crumble cake 18-Feb2016 Vintage cheddar & walnut scones 18 Feb16 Morning muffins 3 Mar16 Pistachio & white chocolate shortbr...

Carrot and pineapple cake Oh October! Last month we hosted a teenage boy from overseas for two days and so what do teenage boys like? Cake. I made coconut and jam tarts and carrot cake from the Norfolk cookbook and a rich chocolate cake with orange and lemon from Gill MacLennan's Chocolate . According to my note in Chocolate , I last made that cake about six years ago. When making carrot cake I usually use the Good Housekeeping recipe from 1989 and I think I'll go back to it. The Norfolk recipe included a lot of sugar both in the cake batter and the cream cheese topping. The coconut and jam tarts were a big hit.  Now for November Amaretti plum cake This morning the spouse and I co-hosted a coffee morning fund-raising event for the younger offspring. He'll be heading off to sunnier climes next year to take part in a charitable project. What an opportunity for me to engage in a bake-fest!  From the Norfolk cookbook I made the morning muffins which I fi...

September: it's all back to school, sunny days and increased traffic volumes. Then someone injures himself and earlier events fade from the memory. But there's always baking. My fifteenth recipe from Norfolk's Own Cookbook was for lemon and blackberry cake. The key ingredients were grated lemon zest, rapeseed oil, sugar, ground and flaked almonds and sugar. The blackberries were added to the top for the last fifteen minutes of baking. I have to admit I didn't pick my own blackberries. I bought these ones and I am not a fan. Next time I will put my boots on and scramble among the brambles.   As it was the younger offspring's birthday earlier this month I made him one of his favourites: rocky road muffins from Gill MacLennan's Chocolate recipe book. He was appreciative. Then as a treat for when he was in hospital I made him Nigella Lawson's rocky road crunch bars .  Yesterday I reverted to The Soup Book and made a lentil and vegetable soup that I...

Pottering and Potting I'm still cooking away and trying out new recipes, perhaps not as frequently as I might. My excuse: it's August and everyone's on holiday. That said, I made potted shrimps and strawberry ice cream with shortbread biscuits from the Norfolk cookbook for a family lunch earlier this month. I loved the potted shrimps and the ice cream wasn't bad. Would you be surprised to learn there was freshly ground pepper in it? Strawberry ice cream in preparation A former colleague presented me with homegrown courgettes quite unexpectedly. They're not my favourite vegetable so I knew I'd have to make something interesting with them: charred courgette with tomato and bean salad from the Riverford Farm Cook Book helped to brighten things up.  A couple of days ago I got home from work earlier than I'd anticipated and so had time to make a mushroom tart from a Martha Day recipe. (I strayed from Martha's path by making wholewheat pastry and...

Baking and Boasting Last year I entered a local baking competition for the first time. There weren't many entries and I achieved a couple of seconds and thirds ... out of twos and threes! I decided that I would re-enter this year, having identified that the competition is quite old-fashioned and that the judges don't seem to require anything too fancy. Fortunately, I was on leave in the run up to the competition so had the time to prepare and make seven entries: shortbread, tea brack, scones, gingerbread, cupcakes, apple tart and a deep chocolate fudge cake.  Shortbread (Norfolk recipe) I tried out two shortbread recipes: one from Delia Smith's  Complete Cookery Course , the other from the  Norfolk cookbook . Delia's book was first published in 1978 and my copy was a twenty-fifth birthday present from one of my siblings. I have to state that I was not twenty-five in 1978 - I was still a teenager. The Norfolk cookbook was a more recent present from my other sibl...