Minnie's Soup Kitchen

Pottering and Potting I'm still cooking away and trying out new recipes, perhaps not as frequently as I might. My excuse: it's August and everyone's on holiday. That said, I made potted shrimps and strawberry ice cream with shortbread biscuits from the Norfolk cookbook for a family lunch earlier this month. I loved the potted shrimps and the ice cream wasn't bad. Would you be surprised to learn there was freshly ground pepper in it? Strawberry ice cream in preparation A former colleague presented me with homegrown courgettes quite unexpectedly. They're not my favourite vegetable so I knew I'd have to make something interesting with them: charred courgette with tomato and bean salad from the Riverford Farm Cook Book helped to brighten things up.  A couple of days ago I got home from work earlier than I'd anticipated and so had time to make a mushroom tart from a Martha Day recipe. (I strayed from Martha's path by making wholewheat pastry and...

Mushroom Stoup  Mushroom stoup: prep work done Yesterday (12th March) I made Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's mushroom stoup. In his book River Cottage Veg Everyday , he describes this mushroom fest as "somewhere between a soup and a stew." The ingredients include dried porcini mushrooms, onions, carrots, celery, fresh mushrooms, garlic, parsley and dill. There's the usual chopping in order to prepare, but there is also the soaking of the dried porcini mushrooms, the liquor from which is used later in the stoup. What really tempted me to make this stoup was the addition of dumplings. As might be expected from a vegetarian recipe, vegetarian suet was required. Vegetarians should look away now. I couldn't find any vegetarian suet so I used the well known non-vegetarian brand.  I haven't made dumplings in a long time. The spouse thinks he remembers me making them but can't say when. I can remember making them in domestic science at school as an accompa...

Two Soups Celeriac and Bramley apple soup ingredients Last Saturday (27th February) I made celeriac and Bramley apple soup using Tom Kerridge's recipe in his book Proper Pub Food . I should have ended up with enough soup for 4-6 people but I was lucky to get two bowls. Because I'd used too much celeriac, once I had processed the cooked mixture, the resulting soup looked liked stodgy porridge. I strained as much as I could and it was very tasty indeed, especially with the crumbled Roquefort and chopped walnuts. Celeriac and Bramley apple soup with walnuts and Roquefort cheese Ingredients for butternutsquash soup and tomato salsa The next day I made roasted garlic and butternut squash soup with tomato salsa from Complete Comfort Food (edited by Bridget Jones). Lots of nice ingredients: whole garlic bulbs to be roasted, thyme, squash and ground coriander in the soup; tomatoes, red pepper and red chilli in the salsa. Much to my surprise, I have just found a ve...

My current project is to work my way through recipes from Norfolk’s Own Cookbook: Everything Stops for Tea , which was a present from J'Zo and G-Cro. J'Zo is delighted that I'm using the book and is even more delighted to be mentioned in my blog. She told me not to write that in my blog. Too late. Last Thursday (18th February) I made three things from Everything Stops for Tea : blondies, apple crumble cake and vintage Cheddar and walnut scones. The spouse, younger offspring and I were heading west to stay with family for a couple of days. I was pleased to have a good reason to progress my project. Everything was well received. Blondies Blondies: Rapture! Blondies are the heart of class! One way or another, you’ll want more of these. You’ll be in raptures after one. I’m dreaming of when I’ll next make them. Ingredients: 200g unsalted butter 450g light muscavado sugar 2 medium eggs and 1 medium egg yolk 3 teasp vanilla extract 280g plain flour pinc...

It's 7th January 2016 and the new year is well under way. We still have foodstuffs from Christmas: dried fruit, cheese, etc. The parsimonious streak in me has come to the fore. Yesterday I flicked through the cookery books in search of a recipe to use up some dates I'd bought for my Christmas festival cake. In Doreen Fulleylove's Simple Country Fare I found a recipe for date and walnut cookies. I doubled the quantities of the ingredients (self-raising flour, semolina, butter, caster sugar as well as the fruit and nuts). The younger offspring was favourably impressed, as were my colleagues when I brought the surplus into work. This evening I made pear and stilton soup using the recipe in The Soup Book. I first made it in August 2010. I made half the quantity, substituting a shallot for the onion and some lime juice for the lemon. Very nice, if sweeter than I expected. 

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...

Cucumber and Walnut Soup  Looking east from the northside quays  on the first glorious  day of  2012 Yesterday was that one glorious Irish summer day and it was by chance that my decision to make a chilled soup fell on that day. The recipe for cucumber and walnut soup is by Celia Brooks Brown . Aside from the obvious ingredients, it calls for Greek or thick and creamy yogurt, a clove of garlic, walnuts, mint leaves and lemon juice. It was perfect for the day as I had marched the younger offspring from O'Connell St, down Sean McDermott St to North Strand Rd, then along Ossory Road, around the East Wall area and along the quays in the hot sunshine. So when we arrived home, I was glad there was no cooking involved. All I had to do was peel, dice, stir, pound and chop. Then everything was left in the fridge to chill. Cucumber chopped and ready to be souped up We had the soup for dinner. It doesn't sound like a substantial meal but the younger offspring and ...