THERE is always too much celery. It needs some attention. It is the needy child in the kitchen. You can serve it with cheese or as a base for canapés but that is a bit retro for me. Celery’s greatest virtue is as part of the base for any soup. It is a fast flavourContinue reading “What to do with celery…”
Category Archives: Soup
Fair game..broth with lentils, roots, kale and chestnuts
THERE are usually plentiful game birds – pheasant, partridge, pigeon etc – in the farmers market around now and typically they are cheap. I bought four partridge for £10 where four mince patties for burgers were £6. Of course you can roast the birds and use the carcass for the recipes below but you getContinue reading “Fair game..broth with lentils, roots, kale and chestnuts”
Celeriac soup and other good things…
Vegetables at this time of year seem to be at their most beautiful. The above makes a celeriac soup with celery, fennel, parsley and kale. Or you could try it with… a cauliflower looking wild and mild…or even an autumn classic a squash in moroccan terracotta
Fennel and apple soup
THIS was a soup they always used to serve at the original FX Mayr clinic in Dellach, Austria. It was used with a stale spelt roll to practice chewing – 30 times. It is quick and easy although better if you some vegetable stock. Mix it half and half with apple juice to poach theContinue reading “Fennel and apple soup”
Herb minestrone
I LOVE minestrone when you are never sure what the weather will do. Somehow it manages to fill the gaps. This is a strictly vegetable version – no pasta, no beans but no worse for it – very busy using up everything that is still around like broad beans, peas, radishes, a fistful of herbsContinue reading “Herb minestrone”
Green gazpacho
THE green sauce of Frankfurt – essentially herbs with some gherkin – is well known, but finding it as a gazpacho was a surprise. Frankfurt is better known for its bratwurst and hunks of pork but also for its apple wine which if you subscribe to the benefits of cider vinegar is interesting. Potent. InContinue reading “Green gazpacho”
The spinach trick
SPINACH is a handy route if you are not feeling confident that your stock is really a soup. It is also really good for transforming a basic first day alkaline minestrone into something totally different the next. Popeye had a point. The health benefits of spinach are virtually too long to go through in detailContinue reading “The spinach trick”
Green soup
The first real signs of spring, the green shoots that sustained village life and staved off scurvy, are the sorrel, the wild garlic, the nettles any one of which gives this essential green soup an edge. Here I have used wild garlic, just a handful not to overpower. This evolved from using up theContinue reading “Green soup”
Vegetable tea
A VEGETABLE tea is a viable alternative to the acidity of coffee, black tea and even alcohol. It does not take long to make and you can adjust different according to that you can fund in the market. At this time of year rhubarb can substitute for lovage. Best to make it on the strongContinue reading “Vegetable tea”
Sweet soup
All the sugars here come from the vegetables which should be chopped small and neat to cook quickly. Simple sweet soup Bring a large pan of water to the boil… As the water comes to the boil prepare the vegetables and add in order Fennel – halved and diced…Onions, two small – skinned and sliced…Potato, oneContinue reading “Sweet soup”