Minnie's Soup Kitchen

Roast Squash Soup Soup number 164 from The Soup Book was made from butternut squash roasted with tomatoes, garlic, rosemary, thyme and red onion. They smelt deliciously rich as they roasted away until ready to be whizzed in the blender with some hot stock. Sophie Grigson suggests that winter squash such as onion squash, red kuri, crown prince or pumpkin can be used for this recipe. I knew that I would be lucky to find any of those so I plumped for butternut. Nothing wrong with that. Having blended the soup, I made the rouille to be spread on croutes. This rouille was made from saffron soaked in warm water, garlic, a red chilli, egg yolk, red wine vinegar, and olive and sunflower oils beaten together. Not all together at the one time, just a little at a time. I prepared the croutes, re-heated the soup and set the table. Then I called whichever male persons were still in the house, ie, the spouse and the younger offspring. I ladled the soup into warmed bowls and left everyone t...

Bouillabaisse Sophie Grigson's introduction to this recipe in The Soup Book describes bouillabaisse as "nothing more than a humble fisherman's soup using the remains of the day's catch [that] has evolved into one of the great Provencal dishes." For the mix of fish she suggests gurnard, John Dory, monkfish, red mullet, prawns and mussels. The spouse took the list up to Fergal (his favourite fishmonger   - by the way, that link will bring you to a radio item about the fish shop) and bought monkfish, John Dory, hake, salmon, tuna, crevettes and mussels. Not a cheap selection but only for the fishmonger's advice it would have been almost twice as expensive. I first mentioned this fishmonger in my blog on 16th August 2010 because he gave me a bag of samphire free of charge to try. Today he boned the fish. If I'd thought about it, I should have asked the spouse to bring the bones home so that I could make my own fish stock. The Soup Book advises soup-makers t...