Minnie's Soup Kitchen

Broccoli and Gruyere tart: oven ready Yesterday (23rd January) I made broccoli and Gruyere tart using the recipe from Norfolk's Own Cookbook: Everything Stops for Tea . The listed ingredients for the filling include eggs, cooked broccoli, grated Norfolk Dapple or Gruyere cheese, chives, double cream and mustard powder. The spouse is on a weight loss maintenance programme in advance of a family wedding later this year. I'm sure he'll appreciate that I substituted yoghurt for double cream. I couldn't get hold of fresh chives so used parsley instead. I made the pastry in the food processor. I don't mind making it by hand. I was thinking of the woman who taught me how to make pastry. She was a friend of my parents. My sisters and I were staying with her one summer. She lived in Cardiff near a park that I now know is called Pontcanna Fields. She brought us to Porthcawl, Barry Island and up into the Brecon Beacons. I've always used her method for making past...

Potato Soup with Broccoli, Shallot and Mascarpone I think this is my one hundredth blog entry. Looking back over the soups I've made from the different sections of The Soup Book I realised I was falling behind in the Winter Vegetables section. A mere 31% of the forty-five recipes. I'd better get on with it and catch up. Hence last weekend's and this weekend's choices. Yesterday I made the potato soup with broccoli, shallot and mascarpone from Marie-Pierre Moine 's recipe. The ingredients include shallots, floury potatoes (I used Roosters), broccoli and mascarpone (Moine suggests Caerphilly or Wensleydale as substitutes). I got out the spouse's new saute pan and set about my task. I cooked the shallots and potatoes in butter and oil, then added boiling water and cooked for a further ten minutes. Next in were the broccoli florets. It took a further twenty-five minutes for these and the potato pieces to become tender (smaller potato chunks next time). Then ...

Broccoli Soup I suppose I could try and get away with writing that as this week encompassed the St Patrick's Day celebrations, it was appropriate that I made a green soup. I won't try. I chose broccoli as I had a lot of it in the fridge and decided to use it up. The Soup Book contains two recipes with broccoli: broccoli soup and potato soup with broccoli, shallot and mascarpone. Another reason I chose the former is because it also includes leeks and celery and I had some of those in the fridge too. The other ingredients are lemon juice, butter, flour, cream and chives (garnish). I made the soup this afternoon (Saturday 20th March). I didn't have quite enough homemade chicken stock, so I topped it up with the water in which I cooked the broccoli (Step 1). Good idea - I was very impressed with myself. The recipe involves cooking half of the broccoli and putting it aside for later when it is added to the soup. It's ready now and we'll probably have it for lunch to...