Minnie's Soup Kitchen

For the sake of keeping this blog alive I am making notes on some of my activities in 2015. Edmund de Waal's The White Road: A Pilgrimage of Sorts appears to be a collection of notes made as he strove to uncover the origins of porcelain while at the same time exploring the creative process. Not that I am claiming to uncover the origins of soup-making. 2015 was not a year for breaking soup-making records. I made six soups from The Soup Book : wild salmon chowder (3rd January), brandied lobster chowder (17th January), beef chilli (31st August), soupe de poissons (3rd October), chunky turkey (26th December) and minted pea and ham (28th December).  Baking Log I continued to bake frequently for fetes and other fund-raising events, baking being an activity that soothes me and the results of which bring pleasure to others.  From Martha Day's Baking :  Cherry marmalade muffins (15th January)  Orange cake (14th February) Toffee bars (16th March, 28th March and ...

Kitchen Notes Has it really been over four months since I last wrote up my soup-making activities? Oh dear. I've only made soup three times in the that time: cabbage, tomato and meatball soup, wild salmon chowder and brandied lobster chowder. Preparing brandied lobster chowder (2015) I first made the cabbage soup from The Soup Book  five years ago in January 2010 . On that occasion the tasters were the younger offspring (then aged ten), his cabbage-hating pal and myself. I made it again on 8th November 2014, the husband and younger son having booked their places in front of the TV to watch Ireland vs South Africa, so I was on cooking detail. I've made the salmon chowder three times: twice for the sister J-Zo and brother-in-law G-Cro. Always a pleasure. Most recently I made the brandied lobster chowder again (cheap lobsters in the local supermarket: duty calls) without setting fire to my hair. Cherry marmalade muffins and pamperato I still enjoy cooking and bak...

Lobster Bisque If you've read my previous blog entry, when you see the words "lobster", "brandy", "white wine" and "cream" you may immediately think "fire" and "burnt hair". Surely I can't have made another lobster soup so soon? Well, I have. Don't forget that I mentioned having bought two lobsters from the nearby German discount store. (By the way, the spouse and I have called in a couple of times and managed not to be tempted by telescopes and tambourines.) My one hundred and sixty-eighth soup from The Soup Book was lobster bisque and the listed ingredients include lobster, onion, carrot, celery, leek, fennel, bay leaf, tarragon, garlic, tomato puree, tomatoes, brandy, dry white wine, and cream. What's not to like? I had to make a couple of substitutions: fennel seeds for fennel bulb, dried tarragon for fresh, a mix of tomato puree and sundried tomato paste, and a mix of cream and creme fraiche. The b...

I've made two soups from The Soup Book so far this month: creamy kidney bean by Roopa Gulati (7th December) and brandied lobster chowder by Carolyn Humphries (yesterday - 21st December). Creamy kidney bean soup The kidney bean soup was the 166th from The Soup Book and the first soup from the Pulses and Nuts section in six months. With ingredients such as fresh root ginger, green chillies and lime juice to counteract the kidney beans and tomatoes, I expected my tastebuds to be tingling with delight. Unfortunately, they weren't. As Eamon Dunphy might have said, it was a good soup but not a great soup. The older son was the food critic on that occasion and I think he was a little disappointed. I brought the remainder into work for my lunch the following Monday and thought it had improved slightly. It's not on my "make again" list. Brandied lobster chowder   Now this is my sort of soup! Lobster , white wine , shallots, brandy , tomato, anchovy essence ...

Hot Cucumber and Tarragon Soup   This is my third cucumber soup from The Soup Book and the fifth recipe by Marie-Pierre Moine . She writes that cooked cucumber has a subtle flavour and combines well with the "more assertive but still delicate" tarragon. The ingredients include cucumbers, oil, butter, chopped fresh tarragon, vegetable or chicken stock, cornflour and cream cheese (this is optional and is spooned on top of the soup when serving). I had hoped to use tarragon from my front garden but my single plant has not flourished to the same extent as the parsley, sage, lovage and sorrel growing adjacent to it. The spouse wasn't able to find any tarragon when he went shopping yesterday morning, but while we were out for lunch at the Dublin Food Co-op I had a look around and found some. The Co-op was very quiet yesterday and the spouse, the younger offspring and I had a delicious and very reasonably priced meal from one of the Indian food stalls. Incidentally, the spo...