Minnie's Soup Kitchen

Recipe Round-Up An e-mail went around at work on 1st June: baked goods were being sought for a fund-raiser. Great! I was home early from work but I had to cook the dinner before going out. Somehow I managed to make two batches of scones (one containing sultanas and the other cheese and chives) and a coconut jam slice from Successful Cooking: Slices . We were planning a quiet bank holiday weekend after the spouse's busy week. Flicking through Doreen Fulleylove's Country Fare I came across a recipe for wine cobbler, the ingredients for which are a bottle of white wine (this book was published in the days when no one was expected to know anything about wine regions), ice cubes, sliced lemon, mint, maraschino cherries (I substituted fresh blueberries), lime juice and a pint of soda water. This quantity was supposed to give you fourteen cups! The spouse and I had about two glasses each before it disappeared. Very tasty and refreshing, all the same. I also baked a cheesecake....

Root Vegetable Soup Chopped vegetables coated in oil and ready for roasting What else would you do on a cool May bank holiday weekend except make soup? This roasted root vegetable soup from Complete Comfort Food looked interesting. Lots of vegetables to be prepared: butternut squash, onions, leeks, turnip (swede), parsnip (yes, I hate them but surely one parsnip would be overwhelmed by the other ingredients) and carrots. Prep work done and bay leaves, rosemary and thyme interspersed, I popped the vegetables into the oven to roast. I had to leave the house for a few minutes and when I re-entered, the aroma of rosemary rose to greet me. Mmmm!  Roasted vegetable soup with creme fraiche and cayenne When softened, I simmered the vegetables in stock and then liquidised them. The soup was a little too thick. We ate it with a dollop of creme fraiche sprinkled with cayenne pepper. A little bland, I thought, but the spouse and younger offspring were very pleased.  Pea...

Cheddar and Chive Soup The recipe for today's soup is by Carolyn Humphries , who suggests that you serve the soup with "plenty of warm, crusty bread." Cheddar and chive soup is the last of four from the cheese section of The Soup Book and calls for celeriac, onion, carrots, potato, vegetable or chicken stock, bay leaf, chive, milk, Cheddar soup, and creme fraiche. I have plenty of chives in my back garden: they seed themselves, seem to grow easily and I don't often use them. The flowers are quite pretty and are attractive to bees so I let them be.  The only ingredient I didn't have was celeriac so I had to pop down to Young Stephen's to buy one. Back at home I prepped the vegetables and got on with the first stage of the soup. This involved frying the root vegetables, adding the stock and bay leaf, simmering the mixture, and pureeing (yes, I had to get out the food processor). In the second stage you add the finely snipped chives, milk, cheese and creme fr...

Emmental and Beer Soup The weather has been really good for over a week - good for warmth seekers but not for soup-makers.  I was ready to make soup yesterday, it being Sunday and my habit being to make the soup at the weekends, but it was not to be. Too hot and I wasn't feeling up to the task. Not to worry - I made it this evening instead. Emmental and beer soup, a German-style cheese soup, calls for onions, garlic, chicken stock, German wheat beer (I substituted a Belgian beer), Emmental and Gruyere cheeses, and thyme (garnish). Obviously it's quite a rich soup. The thyme on top is the perfect tangy garnish, complementing the luscious cheese. The spouse and I enjoyed it, the younger offspring wasn't too keen and I've yet to hear the older offspring's verdict (yes, he's back). I would make this soup again when the weather is less hospitable and I look forward to trying out the other cheese soup recipes in The Soup Book : pear and stilton, cheddar and chive, an...