Minnie's Soup Kitchen

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 ...

Turkey Broth Turkey? No, I'm not mixing up my religious festivals. Yesterday (31st March) was Easter Sunday and the spouse marked the occasion by cooking turkey and ham. There was lots left over. I used some of it by making sandwiches for unexpected visitors. Today I made the turkey broth from a recipe by Roopa Gulati . This soup was my 153rd from The Soup Book . It's been about three months since I made a soup from the book that kick-started this blog. I missed it! I missed the clear lay-out and the listing of the ingredients. The ingredients are simple enough: leek, celery, carrots, parsnip and turnip. Of course, turnip is never as simple as it should be. I couldn't find any so I used an additional parsnip (even though I don't like them) and threw in a few mushrooms. All the vegetables had to be finely diced, as did the cooked turkey meat. I defrosted some home-made chicken stock and brought it to the boil with a good dollop of dry white wine (the cheapest I coul...

Creamy Scallop Bisque I hadn't planned to make soup at the weekend of the 8th-9th December but the older offspring was at home, keeping his room tidy, and I let myself be persuaded. The recipe is by Marie-Pierre Moine and calls for dry white wine, onion, shallot, a tomato, prawns, cod or pollock, scallops, parsley, dill seeds, brandy, cream, chorizo or black pudding, and chives. One of the factors driving this choice of soup was the presence of some delicious black pudding which the spouse had bought at the National Crafts and Design Fair the previous Friday. White wine, prawns, scallops, brandy and cream can be pretty persuasive, too. Scallops, prawns and blossom fish with the younger offspring's spatula! On the Saturday morning I prepared my list. There was a little breakdown in communication regarding the type of scallops needed for the recipe but we overcame any difficulties. The spouse headed off to his favourite fishmonger 's where he was told that pollock ...

Waterzooi I hadn't heard of it before but apparently waterzooi is a classic Belgian dish . In her recipe Marie-Pierre Moine lists the ingredients as potato, carrot, courgette, asparagus, monkfish, sole, fish or chicken stock, dry white wine, spring onions, mussels and cream. Oh yes, and chopped tarragon to garnish. A quick internet search tells me that these are not typical ingredients. What do I know? I'm just following The Soup Book 's orders. Ingredients for waterzooi Anyway, I wanted to make a special soup to celebrate the older offspring's presence. We don't often splash out and buy monkfish, sole and mussels. The spouse was assigned to fishing duty. He headed up to his favourite fishmonger 's shop and did the necessary. Mr Fishmonger kindly advised him that the mussels were from a different supplier and that we should give them a good wash. The prep time for this soup was given as twenty minutes and the cooking time thirty minutes. Not for this...

Pork Vindaloo Broth Making Roopa Gulati's pork vindaloo broth from The Soup Book has been a two-day event. It began yesterday morning with my ruling out recipes because I didn't know where to get curry leaves or kaffir lime leaves . Eventually I decided upon pork vindaloo broth because I knew where I'd be able to obtain the necessary  tamarind pulp  if it wasn't available at the supermarket we use most frequently. The spouse was working outside Dublin so I had to take up the supermarket shopping slack. And what did I find in the spice section? Only dried curry leaves and kaffir lime leaves! Later on I had to accompany the younger offspring to a party in town and I planned to call into the Asian shops near the city centre in search of tamarind pulp or paste. I bought the tamarind on Drury Street before heading off to Lower Clanbrassil Street to see if I could buy fresh curry leaves or kaffir lime leaves. First I stopped into an Indian sweet shop the spouse had told ...

Jane Grigson's Melon and Wine Soup When I dip into The Soup Book I can sometimes spot which soups are worthwhile sharing with guests. Sophie Grigson 's take on her mother Jane Grigson 's soup is one such soup. As I flicked through the book last weekend, the melon and wine soup caught my eye and I read through the ingredients (a melon - charentais or canteloupe -, sugar, dry white wine, lemon juice and creme fraiche). "I could make that for my book group," I thought. The instructions looked reasonably straightforward. Timing was the tricky part. The spouse bought the canteloupe last Saturday and I wondered if the melon would last for five days. Isn't that where a fridge comes in handy? The next timing hurdle was how to get the soup ready in time for my book group as the recipe involves making and chilling syrup. The book group was meeting on Thursday evening so I made the syrup on Wednesday evening while I was preparing ginger shortbread with chocolate cloa...

Mouclade  I hadn't heard of mouclade until I read The Soup Book . I love mussels and was looking forward to trying out this recipe. In her introduction, Marie-Pierre Moine describes mouclade as an "aromatic soup ... from France's Atlantic coast." The ingredients include fresh mussels (bought from the spouse's favourite fishmonger ), butter, banana shallot, dry white wine, sprigs of parsley, fennel bulb, a bay leaf, cayenne, an egg yolk, soured cream or creme fraiche (we went for the latter), garlic, paprika or curry powder and saffron. You also need bread to soak up the broth. The spouse was horrified at the thought of polluting our store cupboard with curry powder, but bought some any way. In the end I used paprika, so sorry, spouse. Minnie's mouclade The spouse very kindly sorted out the mussels for me (scrubbing and debearding) so that I could murder them with minimal hassle. This I did by bringing them to the boil in a sauté pan with some butter,...

Fish Soup with Fennel  Let me begin by saying this soup was gloriously successful! No false modesty here, and I have MH (the only liberal in the French village where she spends some of her time) to back up my claims. Described in The Soup Book as "rustic", "Mediterranean-style", "robustly flavoured" and "sure to please", the verdict in this house was that it was a great soup. The ingredients include fennel, garlic, leek, plum tomatoes, brandy, saffron, orange zest, bay leaf, fish stock, potatoes, white wine, mussels, monkfish (you can substitute another firm white fish) and tiger prawns, so it's something of a luxury and you should share it with friends. As usual, the spouse trotted off last Saturday morning to do the shopping and obligingly went to his favourite fishmonger for the fish.  Then he walked down to Young Stephen's for the fennel - there's surely a tonguetwister there: Favourite Fishmonger is Fine for Fish but Fai...