Butternut Squash, Ginger and Orange Soup

Disease and illness have been stalking the Soup household for weeks now.  Every room in the house is strewn with discarded boxes of potions pills and medicines.  Enough cough sweets have been bought to make the pharmacist think that I may be making crystal meth in my kitchen.  Far from that, I have in fact been labouring to produce the perfect vitamin laden soups to aid in cold-recovery.

As we hit the new year, everyone's  thought turn to feeling and eating a little more healthy.  And that's where it is soup's turn to shine.  Just think - pretty much every bowl of soup is just a whole heaping pan full of vegetables, with added garlic, ginger, turmeric and other things that science may or may not have decided are good for you.  And even if they don't possess any actual medical or restorative qualities, they certainly make you feel like they do, when served in a bowl of soup.

So the first soup I made in this bright and shiny year of our lord 2015 was this healthy and tasty butternut squash soup.  Its a perfect combination of vegetables, sweet and spicy bits. To be honest, you could make a brilliant soup by cooking pretty much any vegetables, adding some chilli and coconut milk (except sprouts) but then if you all did that, there would be no reason to come back and visit this blog, would there.

So remember, freestyling soup is dangerous.  Only attempt to make soup recipes that have been prepared by a soup professional.  You have been warned...

Ingredients
1 Butternut Squash
1 Onion
2 Stalks Celery
1 Orange
1tbsp Ginger Puree
1tbsp Garlic Puree
1tsp Dried Chili Flakes
1tsp Cumin
750ml Vegetable Stock
250ml Coconut Milk
Salt and Pepper
Chili Oil

Method.  
1.  Heat the oven to 180ºc.  Peel and de-seed them squash, then cut into chunks.  Put the chunks in an oven proof dish and toss in olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper then put in the oven and roast for 45 minutes, until the squash is soft and the edges are starting to go a golden brown.  Remove from the oven and set aside

2.  Finely chop the onion and celery.  In your soup pan, heat some oil and add the onion and celery,  Gently fry until the onion is soft and staring to brown.

3.  Add the Ginger and garlic and cook for another 2 or 3 minutes.  Then add the cumin, chili and roasted butternut.  Stir it round so the spices cover everything then add the stock and juice of the orange.  Bring the soup to a simmer, put the lid on and cook for 20 minutes.

4.  Remove the soup from the heat, let cool and blend until smooth.  Add the coconut milk, adjust seasoning to taste and re-heat, then serve with a swirl of chilli oil.  Enjoy!

Duck, Ginger and Orange Soup

 

Oh the joys of moving house - boxes everywhere, days spent packing and unpacking, trying to squeeze everything you own into the smallest space possible and then realising you accidentally packed the cat at the bottom of the box...

Yes I'm moving house, and one task that I have had to do is to empty the freezer in order that it can have it's once a decade defrosting before the move it.  It has turned up all sorts of fun things, like random bags of unidentified frozen herbs, Tupperware full of goodness-knows-what and the remains of a duck.

It was this bird that prompted today's soup.  The rest of the duck was eaten as part of Mrs Soup's birthday celebration - regular readers will remember I roasted it upside down - but as we never knowingly waste food, the rest of it was frozen for later.

Now, as I'm very un-organised, I forgot to defrost the duck in enough time, so to speed up the process, I hacked the frozen carcass into chunks.  When I had thawed them and put them in the pan, I noticed that the knife I had used to cut it up with had broken, and a tiny but pointy shard of steel had come off and was, presumably, in the soup somewhere, just waiting to shred someones insides like a Jagged Metal Krusty-O (Simpsons reference).  I was pretty sure that, having sieved the stock and shredded the meat with my fingers, the knife fragment hadn't had it to the bowls I served, but it still made for an interesting dining experience...

Anyway, on with the soup...

Ingredients
1 Duck
1 Orange
60ml Sherry
6 Large Cabbage leaves
Large Piece Fresh Finger
2 Star Anise
1tbsp Dried Mushrooms
1 Large Carrot
1 Large Onion
10 Pepper Corns
2 Bay Leaves

Method
1.  Roast your duck.  I found that Hugh FW had all the answers when it came to doing this, so I'll leave you in his capable hands (But remember not to roast it upside down)

2.  Let the roast cool down then strip off the meat and save for later.

3.  Place the carcass, and the drippings form the roasting tray in a large pot, with a roughly chopped carrot, onion, the pepper corns and bay leaves, then add 2 litres of water.  Bring the pan to a boil and then simmer for 3 hours.

4.  Let the pan cool and then strain the liquid, removing all the bits of duck carcass and the vegetables.  At this point, you should try to skim off as much of the fat from the top of the stock, or even leave it in the fridge overnight, so the fat sets and can be removed easily (Don't throw it away as duck fat is amazing and can be used to make roast potatoes even more tasty...)

5. Heat up the stock, and add the sherry, dried mushrooms, star anise and the juice and zest of the orange.  Simmer the soup for 45 minutes.

6. Shred the duck meat - how much you want to put in is up to you.  A good sized duck should have enough meat for the soup and something else as well - and the cabbage leaves and stir them in about 5 minutes before serving.  Enjoy!

Courgette, Ginger and Orange Soup

 This week, doing our bit to support local producers, as well as doing the whole 'organic' thing, we at Soup Towers signed up to get a vegetable box delivered each week.  I like the whole 'pot-luck' aspect of getting one of these boxes of produce, but it does make for an interesting experience of conjuring up a new soup every week...

For instance, this week, in the box, we got broad beans (which went into a risotto with some bacon and chorizo), onions and new potatoes (which made a fine accompaniment to some pork steaks and caramelised apples) and some locally sourced butter (Lemon drizzle cake!) which just left come fine looking courgettes, which meant that I had to make, you guessed it, courgette soup.

So I tried to make it both summery (because, well... it's at least meant to be summer) and healthy (as in - no bacon, black pudding or random bits of offal) because yet again, disease is stalking Soup Towers in the form of a rather nasty summer cold that Mrs Soup picked up at the weekend whilst *shudder* glamping...

So here is what I came up with, a citrusy and creamy, light courgette soup, hopefully packed with enough vitamin C to clear off the most virulent of summer colds...

Peking Duck Soup With Pancakes

Last Tuesday it was pancake day, and someone on twitter asked me why I wasn't making pancake soup.  A few thoughts went through my mind - the first of which was Wow, what an awesome idea, closely followed by Pancake Soup? That sounds awful, surely.  This was then followed by a quick Google search which revealed that yes, pancake soups do exist and yes, they seem very nice.


At about the same time, Mrs Soup returned from the market with a duck (Why does this sound like it is turning into a fairy tale?  Perhaps I should have checked to see if the duck laid golden eggs before I cooked it...) and several things clicked into place.  Duck... pancake... duck and pancake soup!

So after Sunday Lunch, where the majority of the duck was consumed, I set about making duck stock in preparation for the soup

Ingredients
For the stock
1 Duck Carcass
1 Onion
2 Carrots
2 Stalks Celery
2 Bay Leaves
1tsp Black Peppercorns
2 Cloves
4 Egg Whites

To make the stock, simply put all the bits in a large pan. Don't worry about chopping the vegetables too neatly, just rough bits will do.  Then add 2l of water, bring the pan to the boil, cover and leave for 3 hours.  This will make your whole house smell wonderful - I did it before I went to bed and ended up having dreams about this very soup!

Let the stock cool and then strain all the bits out.  You can skim off the fat at this point, or let the stock cool completely, when it turns into a jelly.  Then the fat can be collected and used, either for the soup recipe, or for making rather wonderful roast potatoes to go with your Sunday Roast.

To clarify the stock, you will need the four egg whites, whisked and then stirred into the COLD stock, otherwise they just cook straight away and you end up with a horrible mess.  Stir the egg whites into the stock and then slowly bring the pan to a boil.  Don't stir it at all, but the eggs will start to cook and form a scum on the top. After about 5-10 minutes on a gentle boil, you can skim this scum off the top and you will be left with a nice, clear stock.  Passing it through a fine sieve or muslin bag wouldn't hurt either!

Once the stock was done, I could start on the soup itself.

  
Ingredients
250g Shredded Duck Meat
25g Fresh Grated Ginger
1.2 l Duck Stock
1 Onion
2 Cloves Garlic
Duck Fat
1 Orange
2 Star Anise
1 tsp Sechuan Peppercorns
2 tbsp Plum Sauce
1 Red Chili

For the pancakes 
55g Plain Flour
1 Egg
Pinch of Salt
100ml Milk
35ml Water
25g Butter


1.  Chop the onion roughly.  Heat some duck fat, or oil (about 2tbsp) in a pan.  Add the onion, garlic and ginger and fry gently for 3-5 minutes, until the onions have softened but not coloured.

2. Remove the zest from the orange.  Add this, and then the juice from the orange to the pan, along with the half of the duck stock (500ml), Star Anise and Peppercorns.

3.  Bring the soup to the boil and then cover and simmer for 30 minutes

4.  Let the soup cool slightly, then sieve out all the vegetables, return to the pan and add the rest of the stock, the shredded duck meat and season to taste.

Disclaimer : I hate making pancakes.  There was swearing!

5.  Prepare the pancakes, roll them up and slice them into thin strips.  Place a pile of the sliced pancakes in the middle of warmed dishes, then serve the soup over these.

[I'm sure you don't need telling how to make pancakes, but if you need a reminder, let Auntie Delia guide you.  I made half the quantity she makes]

6. Garnish with chives and thinly sliced red chili. Serve and enjoy!

Weekly Bake Off : Farmhouse Orange Victoria Sandwich

After last week's fantastic chocolate cake I decided to follow this week's Weekly Bake Off recipe to the letter, and was very pleased with the result. Before Christmas I made a rather large batch of Orange, Lemon and Brandy marmalade (a big hit in Christmas parcels), and so I had a good supply of marmalade on hand.

The sponge was very easy, and my new 18cm cake tins were the right size (they looked rather teeny next to my deep 23cm tin, and I was a little worried that there might be overflowing cake, but they were just right).

I was generous with the marmalade in the icing, and found the tang of the oranges and lemons a good contrast to the sweetness of the cake.

All in all a good, moist sponge cake with minimal fuss - I'd recommend the recipe if you're in a hurry but still want to impress with something a little different!

Weekly Bake-Off : Maple Syrup Cake

I won't be writing much about this week's Weekly Bake Off bake, mostly because I'm typing this in the last 10 minutes of my lunch hour! This cake really illustrated to me the value of participating in the Bake-Off - I wouldn't ever have picked this to bake myself, but it was a spectacularly lovely tasting cake, with the flavours of orange, pecan nuts and maple syrup balanced beautifully (I was under the impression right up to writing my shopping list that the recipe called for walnuts and was thrilled to see it was pecan nuts - my favorite). My cake didn't rise quite as much as everyone else's, and had a bit of a dip in the middle - I blame peeking at 1hour to check its' progress (my oven doesn't have a light)!

I decided to use an orange butter icing instead of the cream icing, as I am not the biggest fan of cream cakes and was very happy with the result, even though you can't see the middle layers, there's a nice bit of orangey sweetness as a highlight.

Experimenting a bit with photos taken on my iPod using Instamatic (background is a lovely green chopping board from Ikea!).

Spicy Carrot, Bean and Coconut Soup

Winter is coming... well, winter is here, actually*.  The trees and the ground is dusted with a fine sprinkling of silver frost, one's breath can be seen as a mist on the chill air, the sunlight is brittle and bright and everything has a slightly unreal, fairy tale quality about it.  It really is quite spectacular.

See how nice everything looks at this time of year?

Apart from the cold I have got.  Now my nose is blocked, my throat feels like it's caught in a vice and my mind seems to wander at the slightest distraction.  It really is rather unpleasant and another rather annoying side-effect it the magical disappearing sense of taste. So I thought that to ease this, and also to make myself a little bit more healthy, I would cook up something hearty, wholesome and perhaps a little bit spicy to see if I could actually taste anything.

If this soup tastes awful, don't blame me - I can't taste a thing at the moment and I'm more pre-occupied by why you can't get Lucozade in glass bottles wrapped in orange cellophane any more.  That's what I had when I was a child and it always made me feel better and I demand it now (Lucozade in plastic bottles doesn't taste the same, and I'm sure its restorative powers are somehow dimished as well - its chicken soup for those of us without wise Jewish grandmothers to make it for us...)

When Mrs Soup came in, the first thing she said was "That smells amazing", sadly I can't smell a thing, so you should take her word for it and give this recipe a go, nop matter what I say, being grumpy and with cold and all that...

Ingredients
2 Onions, diced
500g Carrots, Chopped
400g Tine of Mixed Beans
40g Ginger
1/2 tbsp Garam Masala
1tsp Cumin Seeds
1 Red Chili
2tbsp Oil
Juice of 1 Orange
800ml Vegetable Stock
250ml Coconut Milk
Fresh Coriander
Salt

Method
In a large thick bottomed pan, heat the oil, and then add the chopped onions and carrots.  Cook them for about 10 minutes over a low heat, until they are soft and starting to colour.


Whilst the vegetables are cooking, grind the ginger,  chili, cumin seeds, salt and Garam Masala with a pestle and mortar, until they make a thick, smooth paste.


When the vegetables are ready, add the paste and cook for anothr 2-3 minutes over a low heat.  Then add the stock and orange juice and bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.

With a hand blender, blend the soup until it's smooth (you might want to let it cool down a bit first) and then add the beans, cook for a further 10 minutes and then add the coconut milk, heating through before serving with chopped coriander leaves on top.

I served mine with hmoe made naan bread - aren't I a fancy-pants today? Enjoy!

*I've been reading too much Game of Thrones recently, hence the quote and hence some of the flowery language in this post.  It's coming back in April on the telly!  Yay...

Chocolate and Orange Meringue Roulade

I was extremely lucky to receive a copy of Mary Berry's 100 Cakes and Bakes this Christmas, and can't wait to join in the Weekly Bake Off! While perusing, I came across a recipe which has already been covered by the Weekly Bakers, and with some leftover egg whites and double cream in mind, I decided to whip up something based on the Raspberry Meringue Roulade (pg 175, and see the Weekly Bakers' fantastic looking versions here).

For my version I halved the mix, added some cocoa to make a chocolate meringue, and used homemade marmalade mixed with cream for the filling.

Considering this was thrown together in 5 minutes and the only things I measured accurately were the caster sugar and the baking tray (to ensure I was using an appropriate size to get the thickness right), I'm amazed by just how well it worked...

Here is the meringue just after it came out of the oven - it puffed up nicely :

And here is the freshly rolled roulade :


According to Mr Soup, it looks rather like a sand worm from Dune :

This is being served as dessert this evening with our traditional (3rd year running!) New Year antisocial celebration where we stay in, drink bubbly, eat snacks and watch trashy action movies! Happy New Year to you all - I hope you're doing something equally enjoyable (to you) to see in 2012! We'll be back in the new year with all sorts of excitement - pasta machine (responsible for the leftover egg whites), tagine dish, jam thermometer and various cookbooks were discovered under the tree this year, so there will definitely be more than soup on the menu!

Strawberry and Cardamom Soup

I was thinking about whether, in the quest for more variety of soups to write about, I could include any recipes for sweet or desert soups.  Did such things even exist?  And more importantly do they count as soup at all.

A quick search later revealed at least two varieties of sweet soup (and a rather odd Korean soup that is said to be a fertility aid, that has sweet ingredients as well as frog's fallopian tubes - which may well be sweet as well - but the local supermarket was out of them when I stopped by)

So here is the first of two sweet soup recipes, a Strawberry soup, which I decided to put up today as I have just been to a pick-your-own strawberry plantation and am in the middle of making all sorts of strawberry related food and drink (including strawberry liquor!)

Is it a soup, or just a glorified smoothy eaten from a bowl with a spoon?  Why don't you try it on a hot sunny afternoon and make up your own mind?

(Oh, the other sweet soup recipe is a Scandinavian one that seemed so Christmassy that I'll post it nearer December.  If you come across any more, feel free to let me know)