Minnie's Soup Kitchen

Well, what a surprise! I have made two soups in the last week, one from The Soup Book and the other from Riverford Farm Cook Book (Watson and Baxter, 2008). The first soup was a spicy lentil soup I have made twice before and I used up the spice mix I had made for the curried parsnip soup. Today's soup was leek and potato with chicken, bacon and sage . I even made my own chicken stock, something I haven't done for a long time. Into the stock went thyme and a bay leaf from the garden, and the sage in the leek and potato soup was also from the garden. It still pleases me to use herbs I have grown myself.  Leek and potato soup with chicken, bacon and sage Not only did I make soup today, I also made carrot and parsnip compost cookies (Liam Charles, The Guardian ), so called because you're supposed to use the entire vegetables, skin and all. I have to admit I wasn't brave enough to do so.  Any one who knows me knows that I am not a fan of parsnips and yet I have u...

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...

Cauliflower and Stilton Soup I like cauliflower but I love Stilton cheese. Always a good combination. The spouse and I have long since disposed of a cheese recipe book we bought in the 1980s but I remember making Stilton and cauliflower soup in that decade of the big shoulder pads. A more recent addition to our cookery books is the Riverford Farm Cook Book , which is where the current recipe can be found. Check out the website too. I ate the soup on my own, the spouse and younger offspring being otherwise occupied by a significant rugby match. I enjoyed it. The next day the spouse enjoyed it too. The offspring made positive noises but did not finish his portion. Hurrummph! Honey Bakes After a little faffing about, some of my improv acquaintances came round to practise last Saturday. Just as well, because I had baked for them: a traditional honey tea bread and walnut and honey cookies, the recipes for which are in the Collins Beekeeper's Bible . Bee Brief   A few month...

Winter Minestrone with Barley and Beans This weekend I have something to prove, namely that this blog is regularly updated. The older offspring was lonely and sad in his temporary accommodation so the spouse and I phoned him. During our conversation he mentioned that my blog was more regular than my spouse's, which led to my decision to make soup sooner rather than later. I chose a book given to me by my brother-in-law "Tod" and his wife "Sal" a couple of years ago: the Riverford Farm Cook Book   by Guy Watson and Jane Baxter. The spouse, younger offspring and I were staying with them and they had a glut of courgettes, which they had cooked using various methods. On leafing through the book I came across a recipe for chocolate and courgette cake. I baked it for them: you couldn't taste the courgette at all, smothered as it was by the cocoa. I digress. Back to the minestrone. The recipe in the Riverford book lists leek, celery, carrots, turnips, garlic, ...

As you may have guessed, I've been on holiday for the last fortnight and out of the country. Fear not, though, for I have had been on bee alert. En route through South Wales I called into my relatives' family honey farm , where I bought a few jars of honey and honey marmalade. The younger offspring tried the honey icecream (delicious) and I bought a packet of honey fudge. It has a very distinctive taste, and is made using honey and oil rather than sugar and butter. Not bad. From the honey farm we went on to the National Botanic Garden of Wales at Llanarthne. There is a small section of the garden where beehives are kept. You can view the bees safely from behind perspex windows. Bee Garden, National Botanic Garden, Wales Hives in the Bee Garden, National Botanic Garden, Wales Bee on Echinacea, National Botanic Garden, Wales We just spent a couple of hours at the Botanic Garden, then headed on to Devon to stay with in-laws. While ther...