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....

Rocket and Parmesan Soup Soup 160 from The Soup Book . The recipe by Celia Brooks Brown looked simple, the preparation was simple. No processing: just the hand blender. Simple. What did I need? Olive oil, onions (chopped), potatoes (skins left on and cubed), garlic (crushed), vegetable stock, Parmesan rind (yes, that's right - rind ; "tiny diced"), and rocket (roughly chopped). What made it even simpler was that I had everything except for the rocket. I had to go into town anyway so I decided to go to Temple Bar for fresh organic rocket. My first stop while in town was at Merrion Square to see what was happening at Dublin Pride 2013 . Then I sauntered along Nassau Street, through the Trinity College campus, across College Green, down Anglesea Street, an errand in Cope Street and then to Curved Street. Having bought rocket from the stall-holder, he told me about pesto he'd made using rocket, mantega and walnuts (mmmm!). Home. The spouse was back from Be...

Butterbean Soup with Rocket Pesto Angela Nilsen (contributor to The Soup Book ) describes this soup as perfect for serving at a supper party. I'm not really sure what a supper party is, so am not in a position to agree or disagree. The soup ingredients are olive oil, onion, celery, garlic, prosciutto, dried crushed chillies, basil, stock, spaghetti and a can of butterbeans. The onion and celery are fried in olive oil, then the garlic is added and fried. Next in are the prosciutto and chillies. No more frying. The basil, stock and spaghetti are added and brought to the boil and simmered until the spaghetti is al dente . You whizz a few ladlefuls of the soup in a processor or blender then pour it back into the pot with the rest of the soup. The pesto (rocket, basil, Parmesan cheese, toasted pine nuts, garlic and olive oil whizzed in a small blender) is spooned on top of the soup when serving. I made this soup last Saturday (13th August) and the four of us had it for dinner....