A Soup Maker recipe - spicy parsnip soup

Back at Christmas my gift from my mother was a soup maker.  She knows me and my love for kitchen gadgets well!

They were everywhere at the festive season and seem to be the next ‘thing’.  (Move over bread makers, cool your heels ice-cream machines, talk to the hand, cake-pop makers.)  Although I wasn't sure whether they were just a gimmick – after all – I had a blender didn't I? – I was now the proud; if slightly dubious, owner of one.  

A few days later once I was back home I cracked it out for a test run and thought I'd try an adaptation of my spiced roasted parsnip soup recipe.  (May have had something to do with the 4 bags of parsnips I picked up for 25p a go from the CFC too...)

I skipped the roasting this time as I wasn't putting the oven on for anything else and it seemed a bit unnecessary just for a few 'snips.

For some reason the post got lost in the ether but in case anyone is considering the merits of owning one of these, or have recently acquired one, I thought I‘d finally post the recipe.

Spicy Parsnip Soup, for Soup Maker machines

600ml veg stock. 

0.5tsp ground turmeric

0.5tsp ground cayenne

1tsp garam masala

1tsp ground cumin 

1 small Onion

3 sticks Celery

4 small Spud

250g (4sml + 1 larger) Parsnip

100ml water to top up + rinse spices from jug

100ml milk- to taste

100-150ml plain greek yoghurt - taste

Stir spices into stock and leave to cool.  [My soup maker insists on cold stock.]

Chop veg into 2-3cm cubes.

Pop everything bar the milk and yoghurt in measuring jug of your soup maker and check you’re within the volume limits of the machine.  (This will vary from model to model.)

Pour the contents of the jug into the soup maker and press the ‘on’ button.  I used the puree option; my soup maker also comes with a ‘chunky’ option.

Once the cycle has finished taste it.  A little thick and / or on the spicy side – add the milk and yoghurt as desired.

So 20 minutes later and ta daaa – I for one was very impressed.  Super tasty soup in a minimal time frame, especially if you’ve thought ahead and have cold stock to hand.  A short cut for that which I’ll try next time would be to make the stock cube up with a minimal amount of water; just enough to dissolve it, then top up to the required amount with cold water.*

This is invaluable for making fresh soup to take to work for your lunch – you can chuck everything in the jug the night before and just press on when you rise in the morning.  Pop it in a flask and in the colder months it was a lifesaver for this office worker in a building with no microwave!

Having not been totally sure about the benefits of a soup maker, this is a gift that has very quickly convinced me of its value amongst my kitchen gadgets.  It’s fast and it’s proving to be economical as it’s great for those ‘bottom of the veg drawer’ soups –chuck it in and hit ‘puree’.  It’s not the quietest thing in the world when it hits the blend part of the cycle but then, neither is a regular blender or FP.  I’m a firm fan!   Now, just to find somewhere for it to live...
*I've tried this since and it works a treat.

Easy chunky fish chowder

Having taken some fish snaffled up from the bargainous CFC out of the freezer yesterday  with the intention

A mere £3.75 for all 4 fish fillets.  :-)

of making my crunchy topped fish pie, I realised tonight as I got home late from work that I really just could not be bothered.  So - what to do with the fish?  A nice chowder would suit the freezing outdoor temperatures nicely I figured, and should be easy to knock up.
Atypically for me I didn't then embark on a 2 hour research project comparing the relative merits of each and every recipe on the interwebs but I adapted this one from the BBC good food website and made it even easier and chunkier.

Chunky Fish Chowder
EVOO
2 sticks celery - diced
1 leek - sliced then the rounds sliced in half
500g spuds - diced small as I didn't bother peeling them.  I used waxy spuds as that's what I had and what I prefer
1 litre fish (or use veg) stock

Skinning salmon is easy, cod - not so much!

Zest of 1 lemon (if you haven't got a lemon in the house feel free to leave this out - I wasn't convinced you could taste it in the final product tbh)
1 tsp cornflour
2 salmon fillets (my pack was 260g) - skinned and cut into chunks
2 cod fillets (my pack was 220g) - skinned and cut into chunks
300ml full fat milk
150g sweetcorn - defrost if frozen
2 heaped tbsp Greek yoghurt

Soften the celery and leeks in the EVOO for 5ish mins while chopping the spuds.
Add the spuds, stock and lemon zest.  Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer.

Stir the cornflour into a small amount of cold water and add to the pot.
Once the potatoes are soft (up to 15 mins) use a masher and crush them into the soup a bit.  How much is up to you.  It saves getting the FP out though!
Add the milk and sweetcorn and warm up.
Add the fish and cook gently for a few minutes until done.  Don't boil or the fish will fall apart.
Serve - I put a little more lemon zest on mine.  The original recipe suggests chives but I didn't have any.

Tasty, easy and filling, I enjoyed this greatly.  Helped warm me through too.  :-)
As I'd used reduced fish it was a cheap dish for me to make and I just used veg that was to hand, so no need to shop especially for this dish.

Massively late - it's my Caribbean recipe - Jamaican Veg Soup

The rather fantastic blog Cooking Around The World by Chris has food from every continent on an almost daily basis it seems. Chris writes in an endearingly idiosyncratic style all of his own that I love. To make things even better he has a newish monthly challenge ‘Bloggers around the World’. Each month he picks a different country (or group of, this time round) and one should cook a recipe from that country. This month was the Caribbean. As the title may have hinted I’m somewhat tardy in getting this post up, I should have had it written and published by the 13th! Anyway, having made my recipe I figured I’d share it anyway. Maybe I can sneak it in the comments section of this month’s round up…
I had problems finding a recipe for the Caribbean. The Caribbean covers a lot of countries; mainly islands, all of which have a very different climate to our own and therefore a very different selection of ingredients readily available. Each time I looked for a recipe it seemed it had breadfruit (??), or there would be meat sneaked in. Looking for fish recipes I realised a lot of them used salt fish – not readily available in my corner of the West Country. So – I eventually settled on this veg soup recipe. Ok not as exciting as some of the recipes on this rather good resource site but at least do-able. It said it serves 8. I must say on reading the ingredients list we scoffed at this. However this is how it went – their ingredients in black, my differences in purpley-blue:

Jamaican Veg Soup

3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion chopped – 3 small red onions
2 sticks celery – 3 plus the inner small sticks to use it up
4 cloves garlic – ours were huge so I used 3
2 tbsp root ginger minced – grated mine on the zester
1 tbsp demerara sugar – had none so used 2/3 white and 1/3 dark brown
2 tsp sea salt – 1 tsp only [sea salt is stronger than normal salt]
0.25 tsp ground turmeric}
0.25 tsp ground allspice } I added some later on as you’ll see to make a heaped 0.5 tsp of each in total
0.25 tsp ground nutmeg }
2 potatoes peeled and diced – we only had small ones so I used 4 then added another 2 when I realised I was short on courgette = 6 in total

450g courgette chopped – my courgette was small and was only 220g
1.5 l veg stock
1 pinch cayenne – 2 pinches
30g fresh spinach chopped – I added extra so about 80g in total
½ red pepper minced to garnish

Heat the oil in a large pot and add the onion, celery, garlic ginger and sugar. Fry gently for 5 mins until softened.
Add the salt – having added 1 tsp I decided against the second one as it seemed too much, especially as I was using stock cubes for the veg stock which have salt in already. Add the turmeric, allspice and nutmeg then the spuds and courgette. At this point I added only 0.25 tsp of each spice as per the recipe.
Add the stock and bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 mins until the spuds are soft.
Turn off / remove from the heat and stir in the cayenne and spinach – at this point I added the 30g spinach quoted.
Blend. At this point it’s an entertainingly vibrant green colour and tastes of…not anything that zingy to be honest. It was a nice veg soup, but that was it. So…
Having only blended half of the soup I then added the extra spice to the unblended portion still in the pot and brought it back to a boil then simmered for a couple of mins extra to cook off the spices. Turn off the heat then added the extra spinach. Blended that portion then mixed the 2 batches together.

Verdict now – much tastier. Still not sure it’s shouting ‘Jamaican’ at me but then I’ve not exactly had a lot (any?) Jamaican food in my life to compare it to. It was nice and a good thick warmer for the colder weather we’re apparently headed for. I’m not so sure I’d bother again though.
The Chap liked the contrast provided by the minced red pepper, I was less of a fan finding the bits too cold and watery against the thick warm soup.  Oh, and that 'serves 8' thing - well it did make a mahoosive pot full.  :-)
Soooo – that’s my Caribbean recipe. Chris’s next country for us to visit is Mexico – now I just need to find a recipe, cook it and post it all on time….

Slow cooker Broccoli (Stalk) and Silton soup

Although I've was a little slack in posting on here over the festive period and January (sorry 'bout that) I have been pretty industrious with the slow cooker once again.  This colder weather is what they excell at - nothing is nicer than coming in the door after a long day at work and being greeted by the aroma of a hot meal ready to eat.  Mmmmm - it helps with the cosiness factor I can tell you!  This soup was one I had in mind to try in the slow cooker for a while having come to the realisation that Broccoli (Calabrese really) stalks are actually very good and should on no account just be ditched into the nearest bin.  Now - I won't pay for excess stalk on purpose and am one of those people with no compunctions or embarassment about standing in the stupormarket or outside the veg shop breaking off the massive stalk from the head of calabrese I want.  If you get it on offer when it's prepackaged you don't get the option of breaking it off but I'll only buy it like this if it's a very good offer - like Aldi's super 6.   However you buy it though; you always end up with some excess stalk so this is a great way to make something of it.  We had, I was somewhat startled to realise, a whole pound of the stuff sitting in the fridge from just a few heads worth along with a surfeit of stilton (festive work gifts for the Chap along with a rather good bottle of port) so this was the ideal combination.

Broc' Stalk & Stilton Soup
1/2 an onion - chopped
2-4 cloves garlic - chopped
EVOO
1lb broccoli stalks chopped plus a few florets to jazz up the soup if you have some
2pt vegetable stock
2-3 bay leaves
A pinch-.5 tsp each of dried parsley, thyme, oregano and rosemary or use a bouquet garni
1 spud chopped
Couple of tired cabbage leaves (not essential fairly obviously but chuck them in if they're lying around needing to be used up)
2-3oz stilton
S+P if/as needed
Small splosh white wine if you happen to have a bottle open - optional
To serve - a little soured cream / creme fraiche if wanted

Heat the evoo in a frying pan and add the chopped onion and garlic.  Fry off gently until softened.
Add them with all the other ingredients bar the florets, stilton, wine and salt to the SC on high for 3 hours.

Add the florets and leave a further 2 hours (I'm sure you could leave this less time or the whole lot on low for longer  - adjust to suit your schedule.)
Crumble 1oz of the stilton in and blend. 
Taste and adjust seasoning - leaving the salt out for now as cheese contains salt.
If wanted add another 1oz of stilton and blend again then taste again.  Add the final 1 oz if wanted / to taste.
Add the wine and gently reheat when needed.  Can be served with a little soured cream / creme fraiche on top. 

Makes a virtuously cheap yet tasty, nourishing and warming dish.  Couple with some freshly baked warm beer bread rolls and you're onto a frugal winner! 

Slow Cooker Carrot and Coriander Soup

Short on time and heavy on carrots?  [They were on the Aldi super 6!]  Knock up this slow cooker soup with a bit of chopping and finish it off when it's wanted.  Time frugal as well as cost frugal!  I'm good to you aren't I?  [Well - to myself!!] Although carrot and coriander is one of my favourite soups I realised I don't have a single recipe written down for it, the horror!!  I made this up with a bit of looking at a parsnip recipe from Sophie Grigson's veg book.  It can just as easily be made conventionally on a hob as well as in a SC [in fact I finished it off on the hob] - just simmer for long enough until the veg are soft enough to blend rather than leaving them in the slow cooker for several hours.
Carrot & Coriander Soup
2 red onions (or use one decent medium sized yellow one - I happened to have red ones in the cupboard)
2 lg / 4 sml cloves garlic

1 tbsp EVOO
'Thumb' of fresh root ginger*
1.5 lb / 700g-ish carrots
0.5 lb / 225g-ish spuds
1.5pt veg stock plus 0.25pt or
0.25 pt milk to slacken soup if liked
Living plant coriander (69p-ish Aldi!) / big bunch of it
Knob butter
S + P
0.5 tbsp lime juice
A little grated cheese - medium - mature cheddar or red leicester I'd suggest

Put the oil in the SC and turn it onto 'high'.
Roughly chop the onions and add them to the SC.  Add the finely chopped garlic and stir.
Grate / zest or finely chop the root ginger and stir into the SC pot.

Roughly chunk the carrots - being frugal aware make sure you get all the veg from round the tops - see pic.
Peel and chunk the spuds.  (Most of the time I don't bother peeling veg but for a smoothish soup you're blending you really need to.)
Add both to the SC and pour on enough stock to cover.  Mine needed 1.5 pints.

Trim the leaves from your coriander and put them in a glass of water in the fridge.  Chop the rest of the stalks (you've probably got about 2-3"), ensuring you get all you can from the pot and stir them into the SC.
Turn the SC down to medium or low, depending how long you've got / are out of the house for.  Mine was on low for 6.5 hours.
Blend.  Don't be disappointed by the taste at this point.  Once we add the seasonings it comes into it's own.
When ready to eat retrieve the coriander leaves from the fridge, reserve a few for garnishing if liked and chop the rest.  Stir into the soup and gently reheat on the hob. 
It'll be quite thick so slacken with a little more stock / milk at this point if liked, or leave thick if that's your preference.  I added 0.25 pint milk.
Stir a knob of butter in and add salt and pepper to taste.  It did need salt to bring the flavours out.
Remove from the heat and stir the lime juice through. 
Serve scattered with a little grated cheese and the reserved coriander leaves.

This was really good - the zing added by the lime worked so well but next time I'd up the amount of ginger used.  Guess it depends how big your thumbs are!!* Adaptable too - just leave out the cheese, butter and milk for a vegan dish.  I can also see it working with a little coconut milk in place of the extra 0.25 pint liquid at the end.  As ever with any 'recipes' I make up it's adaptable as you wish / are dictated to by the fridge & cupboard contents.  More of a guideline than a strict recipe.  Just so long as it's enjoyed.  :-)
[I've noticed this post gets a fair few hits, if you try it out - and I hope you do, please leave a comment and let me know how you got on.  It'd be nice to find others enjoyed it too!]

* What in the world is a 'thumb' of ginger?  It really is one of the most useless measurements in the world.  What if you're a big burly bloke or a dwarf - the size of your piece of ginger will bear no relation at all to each others.  I can cope with a 'knob' of butter and a 'glug' of olive oil - in fact I now believe them to be measurements which mean 'enough to add the desired flavour to the dish and that you're comfortable with in relation to your waistline' but a 'thumb' of ginger?  I ask you!  (Although I suppose that it could be argued there's a potential for difference in 'knob' size as well...)

Well...I am a little bit Irish...

Beannacht Lá Fhéile Pádraig!
Or more conventionally Happy St Patrick's Day! Now as I'm a person that would celebrate this in a non-secular fashion [and tbh I'm just an eighth Irish] I have been looking up some foodie ideas for a veggie Irish dinner tonight. Looks like it's gonna be either Irish Potato Soup or Leek and Oatmeal soup with soda bread. I must admit I'm leaning towards the Oatmeal version; or 'Brotchán Foltchep’ [Brotchán meaning 'broth' and Foltchep the oatmeal.] It's also known as ’Brotchán Roy’ - King's Soup. I'm not sure whether this is because it was regarded as fit for a king or because it was actually a favoured dish of some historical monarch but I fancy giving it a go. And soda bread is great; warm from the oven slathered in butter - ok maybe not the healthiest but tasty and true to what seems to me to be the basic roots of much traditional Irish cooking - made with easily available inexpensive ingredients but nourishing all the same. Anyway - I shall let you know what combo I go with on the morrow

I can't claim credit for this cake - a colleague made it and brought it into work for us but I can attest that's it's very very good (and I don't eat a lot of cake) and you can't taste the Guinness in it - it just seems to add depth of flavour. Good for me as I can't stand the stuff personally! Enjoy the day, and celebrate the food of the Emerald Isle with me.

Slow cooker spicy root soup

I adapted an old favourite of mine - this spiced carrot and lentil soup recipe - for the slow cooker. Piece of piss; if you'll pardon the expression. I'm loving the SC more and more!
It ended up being carrot & swede as I had less carrots than I thought but once blended I'm not sure you could even tell. I think it's a good base recipe to use with most root veg to add some warming flavours in the winter months.

Spiced Carrot & Lentil Soup - the SC way
400g carrots }
200g swede } Or 600g carrots in original recipe
2tsp cumin seeds
0.5tsp dried chilli flakes - or adjust to taste
2tbsp EVOO
1l veg stock
140g red lentils
125ml milk

Dry fry cumin and chilli together for a few mins to release the flavours. Keep an eye on them to ensure they don't burn - give them a shake around every half min or so.
Meanwhile stick the kettle on for the stock then peel the swede and chop this and the carrots into chunks. Place in base of SC.
Add the spices and all the rest of the ingredients and switch on. I put mine on high and it had about 6 hours in the end.
Walk away.
Several hours later return and blend soup. This came out quite thick so I added another 0.5 pt veg stock but let your tastes guide you here. And that's it. YAY for Slow cooking!!
This is a nice simple but tasty recipe. It's cost effective too; especially if you keep your eyes peeled for deals or CFC bargains. This week Aldi has both carrots and swede on their Super 6 for 39p. Just remember to pick the biggest one you can find! :-D

Duet de panais part deux

Second soup of the weekend was a stonking roast spiced parsnip affair. Deceptively hot, it tastes as if there's a smidge of coconut milk in it (there isn't) and comes across spiced and creamy until the heat hits you after a few seconds. When feeding some to the chap to try he didn't look like he thought it was spicy enough and I told him to 'wait for it' then watched in gratification as his face changed a few seconds later. He he he :-p It's not too hot - just unexpected but deffo a good one for these cold frosty nights we've been having.

Spiced Roast Parsnip Soup

1lb trimmed peeled parsnips

2tbsp EVOO + a small splosh

0.5tsp ground turmeric

0.5tsp ground cayenne

1tsp garam masala

1tsp cumin seed

1tsp black onion seed - not necessary but I had them in the cupboard

2 sml/1large onion

2 sticks celery

1 big (mine was a baker) / 2 small spuds

1 pint veg stock

0.5 pint water

0.5 pint milk

'Dollop' (approx 1-2 tbsp) soured cream - optional

Prefeat oven to Gas 6.

Peel and chop parsnips and put in ceramic roasting dish.

Mix the oil and spices in a jug / mug etc and pour over the parsnips. Mix really well.

Place in oven and roast for 45-60 mins.

As near end of cooking time peel and chop your onion and chop the celery.

Heat a small splosh EVOO in a big pan and gently fry off the onion and celery to soften.

Chop spud into small chunks and add.

Add stock + water + parsnips.

Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer covered for about 10 mins until veg esp. spuds soft.

Blitz in the FP until quite smooth adding soured cream as you go.

Return to pan, add milk and warm through.

My personal version of the classic spiced / curried parsnip soup. You can adjust this to make it less hot / more hot or use your particular fave spice blend. You could even use coconut milk in place of the regular milk if wanted though I think that'd give a fairly sweet result. This is warming and filling; rich in flavours but relatively low in fat and of course - low cost to make. Yum!

Quick Found £'s update - 40p yesterday. Now have a box on the right with the latest update in so I can keep track of progress over the year. As can you. How exciting. *rolls eyes* *snort*

A Parsnip duet - sweet music in the mouth

I made a duo of parsnip soups on sunday and I'm very pleased with how they turned out if I say so myself. They were both roasted but there all similarities end. One was a roast version of spiced parsnip soup, the other however was an idea that I've been tossing around in the back of my mind for some time. It's not one I've seen anywhere though that's not to say no-one's thought of it before - I'm resisting googling it until at least after I've posted this!

Roast Balsamic Parsnip Soup

EVOO - splosh

1lb trimmed peeled parsnips

2.5tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 small-med onion

2 sticks celery inc the leaves

1.5 pints veg stock

Put oven on Gas 6 to preheat. Splosh of EVOO in a ceramic dish in oven to heat up.

Peel and chop the parsnips into chunks.

Place in preheated dish and pour balsamic over - stir well.

Roast for 45mins-1 hour stirring every 15ish mins. (How long dep' on size chunks / age of your parsnip.)

As come to end of cooking time peel and chop onion. Small splosh more EVOO in large pan and fry onion off gently.

Chop celery and add to pan. Fry both off gently for a few mins to soften up.
Add stock and chunks of parsnip - putting a little stock in the roasting dish to deglaze. Give it a good scrape to ensure you get all that lovely balsamic goodness.
Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer covered for 10mins until all veg soft.

Remove from heat and let cool slightly then blend in batches.

Gives a fairly thick soup so could loosen up with a little more stock if preferred.

This is actually a very simple soup to make but the taste belies this. It allows the flavour of the parsnip to come through but cuts across it at the same time; preventing it from being too sweet. I really really like this and considering I tried it as a pure experiment I'm pretty chuffed. I wouldn't complain at being served this in a gastro pub. It's pretty cheap as well; even more so if your parsnips were from the CFC at 50p for a 750g bag. :-)

Rescuing the Ash-e-jow, or a blow-by-blow account of the spices in my cupboard

Not all the spices in the cupboard though - I'm realising there's a few too many in there!

You may recall I wasn't so enamoured with this Persian soup I made last Sunday. I thought it was bland and needed some flavours to 'lift' it. In no particular order and with no quantites then I added:

Cayenne Pepper

More Turmeric

Garam Masala

Ground Coriander

Mushroom ketchup - it needed some 'depth' to the flavour

A good 6+ tbsp tomato puree - the concentrated kind from a tube

Ground cinnamon - a little only - got this idea after reading a comment online from a similarly disatisfied maker

Lime juice - ditto

This turned this into a deeper, complex and warming dish, with a little fresh edge from the lime juice. Very nice indeed and considering I didn't measure anything pretty well judged on the warmth from the Cayenne front. It was probably a couple of sprinkles / sploshes of each thing; other than those specified.

I wouldn't make the straight Ash-e-jow again but I'd use the pearl barley with these flavours for a rib sticking warming winter stew.

Poor pun part 2, or 'Souper Sunday - The Return!'

The second soup I made is a good one to use up veg and cheese languishing in the fridge. The recipe is here, and incidentally the man behind that site wrote the very useful 'Vegetable Growing Month by Month' which I can thoroughly recommend along with this soup recipe from his wife.

Leek, Spud & Stilton Soup

2 small onions

2 fat cloves garlic

2 big leeks

EVOO

1 large potato

Bouquet Garni

0.5 pint buttermilk [put 1tbsp lemon juice in glass and fill to half pint with milk then let stand for a few mins]

1.5 pints veg stock

4 oz stilton - crumbled

S+P

Put EVOO in big pan and put on low-med heat. 1-2 tbsps-ish.

Chop onions and crush and chop garlic and add to pan.

Chop leeks - washing free of grit as necessary, and add.

Cook for a few minutes to soften. 5-10 should do it nicely.

Peel spud if wanted - I actually did this time rather than have bits of skin in the soup. Chop into smallish chunks and add to pot.

Add Bouquet Garni [recipe said bay leaves but I was out] and a good grind of black pepper.

Add milk / buttermilk and bring to boil.

Add veg stock and return to boil.

Simmer covered for 15 mins until potatoes and veg soft.

Add cheese and stir in.

Blend in batches, unless your FP is huge!

Taste and add salt if necessary.

A winner - as previously mentioned on yesterdays post I've made this before. I love leek and potato soup - it's one of my faves and the addition of stilton here gives it a nice flavour without being overpowering. Thick and creamy whilst only actually having half a pint of milk in [mine's semi-skimmed] this is pretty healthy. A good winter soup you could add extra stock or make with just stock and no milk as a lighter option for summer. It's very good chilled too - as I discovered when taking from fridge to bowl to microwave for lunch at work. Yum!

Pic of both soups - as you can see the Iranian Barley one turned out pretty thick rather than 'soup' like. More stew consistency but in the winter that's no bad thing.

Souper Sunday!

I know, I know, I should be writing for a parish magazine with titles like that eh? It's more of a wry nod to Red Dwarf than a crap pun all of my own though, honest.

Anyway, I made 2 lots of soup on Sunday; an Iranian Barley soup and a Leek, Potato and Stilton one. The Iranian one I've been meaning to try for some time whereas the other's a recipe I've made before and I had leeks to be used up in the fridge. As the barley effort takes a long time simmering I thought I could make the other in between as it were. I'll post them seperately to avoid any confusion though. Most likely mine rather than yours... ;-p

Ash-e-jow, Iranian barley soup

2 tbsp EVOO

2 onions

1 litre veg stock*

0.5 litre water*

0.5 tsp black pepper

1tsp turmeric

1tbsp parsley - dried [or mint but I used parsley]

1 cup pearl barley

0.5 cup lentils [I used green]

Put oil in big soup pan and put on low-medium heat. Chop onions and add to oil.

Put kettle on.

Cook onions for a few mins to soften.

*Recipe calls for plain water but I was a little concerned at that as I thought it may give a bit of a bland dish so I made mine with 1.5l water and 2 cubes designed to make 450ml (or near enough 0.5l) stock each. So in essence 1 litre veg stock and 0.5 litre plain boiling water. Whichever way you want to do it add this now. [You may want to try with 1 stock cube and taste further on in the cooking process to see if you think it needs the second cube. I used Quixo veg stock cubes from Aldi as seen in this pic, I find they're not so distinctive in flavour as Oxo's. Previously discussed here and since down in price to a bargainous 65p for 12.]

Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil.

Reduce to a simmer and simmer covered or 1.5 hours. Stir every so often.

Expect it to get thick and frankly not very soup like to my western eye.

Hmm - I was hoping for more from this I must admit. It was nice and simple so bonus points there - another time-frugal thing really, though you must stir it so it doesn't stick on the bottom of the pan. I just thought it a bit lacking on flavour really, it needs something extra. Looking at some reviews on another site it seems some people agree with me. What I may try is adding the half tin of chopped toms I've got in the fridge and some extra spices with a squeeze of lemon and see what that gives us. Hey ho, we have to try these things!

Curried Roast Cauli Soup

I have to admit that I actually made this on my week off but haven't posted it yet. Whereas perhaps sometimes I'd not bother this far after the fact this was so very bloody lovely that I feel it's justified in its slightly tardy arrival to the reading public. :-p
I adapted this recipe from one I found on the Martha Stewart site - the only thing I can really say about Martha Stewart is neatly summed up by fellow CSH forum visitor Betsy: "Martha Stewart pretends to be the lady of the manor with nothing better to do than whip up insanely complicated handwoven-edible-birdseed-lavender-beeswax-table-decorations, while she's actually head of an entire corporate empire which bears her name. She probably spends her days in boardrooms and on her Blackberry."
I did say I adapted it though right? Here goes then:

Curried Roast Cauli Soup
1.5 lb cauli florets [save the leaves for soup]
1tbsp EVOO + a splosh
1tbsp veg / sunflower oil
1tsp salt / seasoned salt
1 biggish onion
2 sticks celery
Knob butter
2 heaped tsp curry powder [mine's korma]
0.5tsp garam masala
0.5tsp cayenne
500ml / 1 pint veg stock
500ml / 1 pint water

Preheat oven Gas 6.
Break cauli into small florets and spread on a baking sheet. Drizzle with the veg/sunflower oil and 1tbsp of the olive oil. Sprinkle salt over and toss with your hands so all reasonably well covered.
Roast in oven for about 30 mins - until florets just start to brown on edges. [Incidentally if you've never tried roast cauli do so - it's lovely! Leave florets a little larger and roast a little longer, prob with less/no salt too.]
Roughly chop onion and celery. You don't need to be too conscientious at this point as it's all getting blended later.
Heat butter and splosh olive oil in big enough saucepan to cook whole recipe in. Add veg & cook until softened.
Add spices; adjust depending how hot your curry powder is / how hot you like it.
Mix well and add stock and water.
Add approx 2/3's of the cauli ensuring all the biggest florets and any stalk bits that *crept through go into the pot, leaving out only those small florets you'd be happy to see floating in your bowl at mealtime.
Cover pan and bring to the boil. Cook 5-10 mins until veg soft. Liquidise with a stick blender or FP.
Return to pan and add the reserved florets.
Heat gently until all warmed through then serve.

This was frankly lovely. I was fair chuffed I must say. I had been slightly concerned that it would be a little thin as there's no spuds in it but it pureed to a good thickness and was smooth and tasty.
It could take a little more heat; I'm not a massive fan of very hot stuff as I like to be able to taste the flavours but I think I'd add a whole teaspoon of cayenne next time rather than the half, just to give that little extra kick for winter.
I can also report that it freezes well, and keeps it's flavours. [In fact I ended up adding about 1/3 of this to 2/3 of the roasted onion soup I made but didn't rate much, and it was lovely like that too. Flavours still came through really well in that proportion and against the onion.]
A definite keeper recipe for me. :-D
*When I say 'crept through' I don't really mean it. Don't throw out stalks of cauli and broccoli; keep them and use for soup, discarding the tough outer layer. The inside of a broccoli stalk is a sweet and lovely thing!

Roast Onion Soup

This soup came about through me watching the Channel 4 programme 'Lakes on a Plate'. Basic premise is bloke traipses round the Lake District cooking a few bits as he goes. Not the most cohesive of programmes I thought but pleasant enough idle daytime watching. This recipe was from an episode in week 4 - have to say looking at the C4 website seems like all the other weeks sounded far more interesting and local-food based which is what I imagined on seeing the title of the programme.

Anyway, the presenter chap served this soup up on there to the CEO of the Vegan society and it sounded a) tasty and b) simple so I thought I'd give it a go. I went from the recipe as given on the programme which differed from that which I've now seen on the C4 site as you will see.

Roasted Onion Soup

3 large and 1 med onion (Prog' suggested 6-8 smaller ones)

2 bulbs garlic

2 pints veg stock

1 tbsp flour

S+P

Preheat oven to gas 5-6. (Mine was at 5 as I had another lot of beer bread in but more of that later.)

Place onions and garlic whole; with some skin left on, in a roasting dish. Roast 45 mins - 1 hour depending on your oven and size of onion - until softened and 'squidgy.' Let cool.

Place stock in a pan. Whisk the flour into the stock really well.

Once the onions and garlic are cool enough to handle snip off the base with scissors and squeeze the innards out into the pan. This bit's messy! [Tip - when washing your hands after handling garlic always use cold water as hot water 'cooks' the smell onto your skin.]

Blend well with either a stick blender or FP. Add lots of freshly ground black pepper and return to pan.

Bring to a boil and simmer for 5-10 mins.

Now don't - like me, taste this after the blending and think "yeurgh - how disappointingly bitter and raw tasting." Wait until it's cooked on the hob and it transforms into a 'golden' tasting soup.

That said... I did after half a bowl conclude this was a bit one-dimensional as a soup. It needs something else to give it depth. As a base for an onion gravy or something it'd be good though, I even thought you could freeze smallish amounts for a 'stew starter.'

The Channel 4 site recipe has the addition of olive oil, thyme and rosemary at the roasting stage. I'm not convinced this'd add enough to elevate this to something I'd do again as a soup.

The stew base idea lurking in the freezer though - that's a possibility when the onions are cheap. (These were the Aldi Super 6 39p for 3 big 'uns deal from last week - still on now!)

Chinese-Takeaway-Leftovers-Soup [or a bowl of noodly goodness...]

This started with me looking at the scant 1/3rd portion left of my previous nights prawn chow mein and wondering how it could become a more satisfying meal. It ended up growing exponentially based on what was in the cupboards and freezer.

I commenced thinking I'd add some stock and soy & fish sauce to make a noodle type soup then I started checking the ingredients list on an (empty) jar of Thai green curry paste and adding what I had of those. Then it needed bulking out a bit so a fridge / freezer raid for fresh ingredients was in order. Then...

Leftover noodle soup

Oil - a flavourless one - tiny bit

1tsp / 1 clove minced garlic
0.5tsp chopped dried lemongrass [or fresh if you've got it in]

0.25 tsp cayenne

0.25tsp turmeric [was on the *TGC list but not sure it added a lot other than colour.]

1tsp fish sauce [Nam Pla] plus another 0.5tsp to counter the too strong soy - see below

0.5 pt veg stock

0.5 pt water

0.5tsp sugar

Mushrooms - 1-2 regular, I used half a big field shroom

Beansprouts - handful

0.5 tsp soy sauce [I have the dark strong stuff and this was too much so beware!]

0.5 tsp lime juice

0.5-1 fillet raw white fish - in small chunks

Last nights Chinese takeaway leftovers [Prawn Chow Mein]

Heat the oil gently in a saucepan big enough to take all the ingredients. Add the garlic and cook lightly. Add lemongrass, cayenne and turmeric and stir well to combine.

Add fish sauce then stock and water. Stir sugar in to dissolve.

Pop in the mushrooms and beansprouts and bring to a gentle simmer.

Add soy sauce - as mentioned above my dark strong stuff was too much - you want to use a light one or far less of the strong one - add a few drops at a time and taste as you go.

Add lime juice then the fish chunks. This was where I added the extra fish sauce as well - hopefully this won't be needed next time.

Finally add the chinese leftovers and cook on a gentle simmer so the fish is cooked and the noodles and prawns are safely heated through properly.

Couple of things - this really was crying out for the addition of a little grated fresh ginger but I didn't have any. :-(

If there's no leftovers in the house just make with a regular pack of noodles and ensure they're cooked properly in the broth. Maybe start them first before adding the fish, depending on the firmness of fish you have.

Omit fish and prawns and it's veggie. :-)

Happy days.

*TGC - Thai Green Curry

Pearl Barley and Carrot Soup

This was a bit of an experiment on my week off with a view to submitting it to the No Croutons Required challenge, which for this month was based on carrots. In the end I wasn't happy enough with how this turned out to send it in but with a few small tweaks I think this could be a nice satisfying warming autum or winter soup at a fairly frugal cost. I'll document how I made it and what changes I think it needs.

Warming Barley & Carrot Soup
1 cup pearl barley (dried)
0.5 cup yellow split peas (dried) [leave out next time]>Pour boiling water over to cover and leave to soak overnight / mine was 24 hrs.<
3 pints veg stock
2 tsp cumin seed
2 tsp black onion seed
1 tsp fennel seed [leave out next time]
1 tsp celery seed
0.5-1 tsp dried chilli flakes; to taste
0.5 onion finely chopped
2 tbsps EVOO
1-2 cloves finely chopped / crushed garlic
200g grated carrot [Up this next time to 300g]

Drain off and rinse barley & split pea mixture. Add 2 pints of veg stock and bring to the boil. Simmer covered until done. [The barley was done in 15 mins but the split peas took a lot longer. Next time I'd lose the peas altogether and put more carrot in. It'd be a shorter cooking time then as well.]
After 30-40 mins in a clean large heavy based frying pan dry fry off the seeds and chilli flakes for a few minutes to release the flavours. Add the oil to the pan, then the garlic and onions. Saute gently to soften. [Next time leave out the fennel seed; you couldn't detect it in the medley of flavours so no point in having it in.]
Meanwhile grate the carrot. Add the onion mix to the barley. Add the 3rd pint of stock and the grated carrot. Simmer for 15 mins.
Can leave as is for a rustic finish or blend for a far silkier texture. If blending do so in batches loosening with a little extra stock or water to your preferred consistency. [I added an additional 0.5pt water.]

Frugal fail - a fish soup

This came about as I pondered how to stretch a tin of lobster bisque (aldi) I had in the cupboard to make it more substantial and for preference, into at least a couple of meals. I wanted to make a £1 tin of soup (£1 really is too much for a tin of soup right?) earn it's keep, perhaps use up some odds and ends in the meantime but definitely not purchase anything new for it. Thing is I realised after making the soup, and incidentally whilst being quite smug that I'd bought nothing especially to go in it but had cleared things from the freezer etc, that the ingredients list isn't really that frugal, it just seems that way if you have all of it in the house already like me. Therefore this is another *'idiosyncratic Ruth recipe' that was made up as I went along with what was to hand.

A fish soup

Butter - knob

Olive oil - little splosh
Black Pepper - freshly ground

5 Spring onions - given to me by a good friend from their allotment and used here in lieu of onion

2 pints veg stock

650g ish mixed fish (like pie mix - mine had white fish, salmon and tuna chunks)

3-4 avg size potatoes - grated

Pinch tarragon
Pinch saffron

Tin lobster bisque

White wine - splosh (If forced to guess it was 4-5 tbs)

Melt the butter and the oil. Chop the spring onions finely adding as much of the green as liked (or use an onion if you have one to hand). Fry gently until soft seasoning with a good few grinds of black pepper. Add the stock and the grated potato and bring to a gentle boil to parcook the potato.

Stir in the tarragon, saffron and tin of lobster bisque.

Then add the fish mix. Cook gently until the fish is cooked through - you do not want to boil harshly or your fish will be destroyed and if like me you have chunks of tuna steak these will be tough and 'orrible.

Once fish is cooked flake with a fork to break up or 'mash' lightly. You still want chunks of identifiable variety of fish.

Stir in the white wine.

Cover, remove from the heat and let the flavours develop. Enjoy the next day.

A few words on the non-frugality of this recipe - fish pie mix is great if you have a proper fishmongers nearby but if you're buying it in little trays from Scumerfields or S'burys etc forget it. The chunks are, well, not chunks but pathetic wee scraps and the price is ridiculous. Yet people actually buy it??! Mental! Anyway - even if buying it from a ^proper fishmongers like mine, 650g is a fairly hefty amount to put in a soup I think. I bought the mix a while back and it has been in the freezer since. Sadly not in a couple of sensible sized amounts - oh no - but as one big frozen amorphous mass so I really had to use the whole lot at once. Either that or take an electric saw to it... ^Fishes in Exeter is absolutely fab. Friendly, very knowledgeable, happy to offer advice, recommendations or suggest a cooking technique, I cannot praise them enough. Top chaps - go and see them now and buy some of the chilli prawns with fresh coriander or the hot oak smoked salmon whilst you're at it and tell me I'm wrong.

Lobster bisque - not a frugal tin of soup hence the original aim of this recipe. It just happened to be in the cupboard.

Saffron - notoriously not a frugal item but ditto the 'happened to be in the cupboard' from above. Add nearer the end next time though as apparently that's better for it's flavour.

The soup was very tasty the next day - I was right to leave it be to develop as it was a little disapointing on immediate tasting after the cooking was finished.

It'd stand the addition of a splosh of cream, soured cream or creme fraiche if you had that about. Or it could be made more of a winter warmer with a gentle edge of smoked paprika and a tiny hint of cayenne.

This amount made a good 8 portions - so it's a definite win in the 'stretching a tin of lobster bisque' stakes if *not particularly reproduceable as a specific recipe. Unless you shop exactly like me. Which would be frankly scary. ;-)

*: one equals the other. Go back and check both the asterix again. You're with me now? :-D

Thai Green Curry Coconut Noodle Soup

As inspired by a visit to Wagamama where I had the kare noodle 'Itame' - tofu option which was gorgeous. Wagamama describe it as "rice noodles in a spicy green coconut and lemongrass soup topped with stir-fried chicken or fried tofu, beansprouts, chillies, red and spring onions, bok choi, peppers and mushrooms. garnished with coriander and lime".

Mine was nothing like it but hey - you gotta try these things right?!

TGCC Noodle Soup

Handful mushrooms - I used bog standard white closed cap ones as that's what was in the fridge but straw mushrooms would be more authentic. Sliced - I used 6 but only needed 4 really.

0.5 bag beansprouts

Handful cooked frozen prawns - defrosted

Sweetcorn - 2 small handfuls

1 layer / nest noodles

1 400ml tin coconut milk

[Up to] 5tbsp thai green curry paste - I had Blue Dragon's

1 tbsp oil

0.5 tbsp fish sauce

0.5 tbsp sugar

Fry the *paste off in the oil for 30ish secs.

Add the coconut milk, fish sauce and sugar, stir and bring to a simmer for about 3 mins until all dissolved.

Add mushrooms, sweetcorn and noodles and simmer 2-3 mins.

Add beansprouts and prawns and simmer again, up to 2 mins / until prawns thoroughly heated through.

Serve with both a spoon and chopsticks.

*The jar said 3 tbsps or up to 5 for a hotter taste. I don't like things too hot as I like to still be able to taste the actual flavours but found 5 cut through the richness of the coconut milk better.

Now whether I simmered too much and so reduced the coconut milk more than was ideal I'm not sure but this was pretty thick and very rich with the coconut a bit overpowering, hence me adding the extra curry paste - although I ended up doing this at the end rather than the start. Although not really bearing any resemblance to what I was served in Wagamama's it was very good. I had the rest for lunch the next day and added a little veg stock at this point to make it more like the 'broth with bits in' that Wagamama produced, and that seems more oriental to me.

I'd recommend making it to the consistency you like - I'd deffo add stock next time for my taste, keeping an eye on how much it had thickened to enable me to judge the amount of stock needed.

The flavours in Thai Green Curry are fab though so give it a whirl - don't be put off by the word 'curry' as this does not in any way have to be a hot dish. It's also relatively inexpensive - the jar of paste I got from Scumerfield only cost £1 and has lots of servings. Better value than buying the ready mixed sauces.

Oh - and if like me you have a jar of pickled ginger in the fridge remember to actually add some yeah?! :-D Doh!!

Octopus / Seafood soup

This was something I knocked up ultra fast for a wee snackette and to use up some more of the jar of marinated octopus chunks I have sitting in the fridge since I opened it for the seafood pasta dish I made a while back. I'm afraid because I made this up as I went along the ingredients list is a little random, just depends on what's in the cupboard at the time.

A word on the 'thickening granules' - I know it sounds like chemicals but they're actually made from potato starch - just quicker than adding potatoes and waiting for them to cook through and better if you don't want to puree the soup too. Doesn't have the danger of giving that 'flour' taste if you neglect to cook out flour properly if using that as a thickening agent. IMO dead handy to have a tub sitting in the cupboard.

Oct Soup

Olive oil

Clove Garlic

Chunks marinated octopus

0.5tsp smoked paprika

2 spn tomato puree
1 pint water

Pinch each dried oregano, basil and garlic/herb seasoning mix

Flavoured / plain salt

1 spn mushroom ketchup

Handful frozen cooked prawns

Spoon thickening granules.

Gently heat oil. Chop few chunks of octopus into bite size pieces & fry off.

Slice clove garlic finely and add to pan.

Sprinkle in paprika, add tomato paste then water. Stir well.

Add dried herbs, salt and mushroom ketchup.

Simmer gently for a few mins to cook flavours through and soften the octopus; although these marinated ones are already cooked.*

Chuck in the defrosted prawns and a sprinkling of thickening granules and simmer again to thicken up.

A quick tasty soup to knock up with whatever you have to hand. It was just a bit 'tomato-y' to start with - it really need the depth given by the mushroom ketchup.

*Unlike squid, octopus needs a relatively long cooking time to tenderise. Squid needs a short cooking time otherwise it'll go rubbery, octopus starts off more rubbery and in the absence of a handy Greek island upon whose rock bound shore you can beat your octopus 50 times (25 each side); bash it with a mallet [when using fresh octopus this is] and give it a longer cooking time.

Voyage into the unknown - Dried Bean virginity

As it was a bit cold and miserable and I'm still feeling a bit under the weather I decided to make this nice sounding soup from the Veg Inspirations blog. I had meant to make it Weds eve but didn't get round to it so did it last night instead. I put the beans on to soak before leaving for work Weds morning. I bought dried Haricot beans from the Weigh & Save, first time ever I've used dried beans! Hated pulses when I was younger though so it was a long time before I'd consider buying them in any form let alone dried. They're a very frugal way of buying an ingredient though being only 19p per 100g. The recipe called for a cup which by chance was exactly what I had - 150g for a measly 29p. Not bad. Here's how I made it; mostly following the recipe just with a couple of ingredient substitutions where I didn't have the stated item

Bean & Barley Soup

1 cup dried beans - I used Haricot

1 onion

1 tsp gound ginger [I used this as I didn't have any root ginger in the house]

0.5 cup pearled barley

2 tomatoes

2 carrots

1.5 cup sweetcorn

4 bay leaves

1 tsp cayenne peppper [I used in place of chilli powder]

2tsp cumin seeds [recipe called for powder but I only had the seeds]

4 cups (1 litre) veg stock, I used Marigold Bouillon

2 tbsp oil

4tsp lime juice

Soak beans overnight / day time with pinch of soda.

Drain, place in a large pan with fresh water and boil until soft but not mushy. After their 2 days of soaking my beans had 50mins boiling which was possible slightly over, 45mins may have been better. Drain and reserve.

Rinse pearl barley off and reserve.

Score toms all way round through skin 2x as if cutting into quarters. Cover with boiling water and leave. This will enable you to remove the skin.

Heat oil and fry finely chopped onions gently until approaching transparency. Add ginger and stir.

Skin toms and chop into small bits, add to pan and cook until soft, stirring occasionally.

Add bay leaves and spices and stir.

Add carrots, sweetcorn, pearly barley and stock. Bring to a gently simmer until veg / barley cooked. Mine had 20mins.

Add beans and stir well. Simmer for 15 mins to amalgamate flavours.

Remove from heat and add the lime juice. Stir through and serve.

A hearty looking soup however I was a little disappointed by how this tasted. First off next time I would halve the amount of cayenne / chilli pepper used. I like a little heat but I also like to taste the flavours in my food and all I was getting was chilli.

I kept my pan covered whilst cooking, and as a result the soup was a bit more watery than I expected and the broth part not particularly flavoured (except with chilli) so next time I'd leave the pan uncovered at least to start with and see how it went. I also think that this is an occasion where I'd be tempted to use the deeper flavoured OXO veg stock cubes as I feel they'd stand up better.

I like a bit more crunch to my carrots so I'd add these at the same time as the beans. I'd also double the amount of them in the recipe, ditto the toms; there didn't seem to be a lot of point to their presence.

As I was using cumin seeds rather than powder I really should have added these with the onions to get more flavour from them. I'd halve the amount of oil used to saute the onions.

I ended up adding milk to this after cooking to temper the chilli a little. I added 100ml to 3/4 of the total amount of the soup as left in the pot. I also added a handful of oats to soak up some of the liquid and hopefully some of the chilli. Later in the evening I mashed the beans in a bit to thicken the broth part; although that may be more because I overboiled them in the first place!

Had a second portion for lunch today and it was improved. I know the original recipe says serves 3 but I got 4 generous portions from this (2 in the freezer) and I didn't even have bread with it last night. If you served this as a starter with bread I reckon you could do 6 easy.

Verdict - nice but not as nice as I expected. Needs tweaking to suit my tastes.

Re: Dried Beans - easy just time consuming for the cooking. Cheap although I wonder how much extra power I used for the long cooking time.