Minnie's Soup Kitchen

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, ...

 Bean and Rosemary Soup   Yesterday morning (Saturday 5th March), just as the spouse was getting ready to go shopping, I thought about what soup I would make and when. We've had a busy weekend - gardening, a post-confirmation party, more gardening, a voucher from M&S to spend and more gardening - so I also had to think about when I would get around to making the soup.  This morning seemed the most likely time, so I forewent a long leisurely lie on for the sake of the blog. In the course of my recent review of what soups I had made, I observed that I hadn't made anything from the pulses and nuts section for a while - since last October, in fact - so plumped for bean and rosemary soup on the basis that I wouldn't have to soak beans overnight. The ingredients for this soup include onions, chopped fresh rosemary and sage leaves, celery, garlic, tomato puree, canned borlotti beans, chicken stock and 2.5kg potatoes. It took me about half an hour to get the ingredients ...

Tuscan Bean Soup This recipe calls for canned beans (borlotti, flageolet or cannellini) and as I have been tidying and cleaning out our cupboards I've used cannellini beans. I have to mention that the younger offspring has done an impressive job on the cupboards. That's enough about him. Back to me and my soup! Other ingredients include onion, carrots, leek, garlic, tomatoes, tomato puree (I substituted sun-dried tomato paste as there was an open jar of it in the fridge), chicken stock (I had to use a cube as my home-made reserves have been used up) and spinach.When ready it's served with ciabatta bread, grated Parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil. So it's quite a rich soup. We've just had the Tuscan bean soup for lunch. All enjoyed it. The adult males were particularly forthcoming in their praise. The spouse liked the "tomato-ey sharpness" and mused that ham stock should be considered as an alternative to chicken stock. Bees' Cheese and other recipes H...