Minnie's Soup Kitchen

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, ...

Harissa and Chickpea Soup A couple of week's ago the spouse expressed an interest in making this soup from The Soup Book . Well, it's my blog and I make the soups. That said, I let him make the harissa that's needed to flavour the soup I made last Saturday (10th November). The recipe is by Roopa Gulati so I expected spice and richness. We weren't disappointed. The spouse is becoming a collector of harissa pastes and enjoyed making this one, which called for a red pepper, olive oil, seeds (coriander, cumin and caraway), tomato puree, garlic, red chillies, smoked paprika and lemon juice. I don't know how this was made as the spouse was the boss of the harissa. I needed only a couple of tablespoons for the soup, but we can use the rest with couscous (a favourite with the younger offspring). By the way, we now have three jars of smoked paprika due to inadequacies in our spice filing system. I hope that binding them together with a rubber band will help prevent any m...

Cannellini Bean and Carrot Soup It suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't made a soup from the Pulses and Nuts section of The Soup Book for a while, not since March in fact. The recipe is by Livia Firth , wife of the actor Colin ( Pride and Prejudice - great series!), who uses leeks as the base of her soups because they are sweeter than onions. The ingredients are leeks, olive oil, butter, canned cannellini beans, carrots and curry powder (optional; I used garam masala). It took me over two hours to prepare, what with slicing, chopping, simmering and whizzing in the blender, rather than the hour and ten minutes stated in the book. The final soup is tasty but bordering on bland. A reasonable warmer-upper on a cold winter's day rather than a meal for a mild summer's day. Where the Bee Sucks While I was away, the oregano and/or marjoram in my back garden flowered and I have noticed bees buzzing around. Meanwhile in the front garden the lavender is also a-buzz with b...