Cauliflower Cheese Soup

 

I think we can all agree that winter is finally here and that means two things - 1) everyone moans about the weather and 2) my blog gets more hits as everyone rather sensibly says 'ya know what, now the nights are drawing in, I need some soup, tasty and comforting, to take my mind off the rain and the fact that I can't afford to put the heating on any more...

And like some kind of soup supplying fairy, I can make that wish come true! And there can be few better and more comforting soups than this cauliflower cheese recipe.

One of the things that we did here at soup HQ over the summer was convert the patch of weeds behind the house into a vegetable garden.  Being that I was our first year of properly flexing our green fingers, the garden more or less resembled the patch of weeds it had previously been, but with some brave veggies poking their way through the canopy of bind weed (next yearm I shall be more prepared for just how much work even a small veg patch can be to maintain)

Amongst the things that did grow really well were cauliflowers. I love caulis and ours were turned into all manner of tasty dishes (gobi aloo being my favourite) but I realised that not a single one had been soup-ified.  That was quickly rectified with the last two being added to this recipe.  The stronger the cheddar the better when making the soup, and if you feel like you need some meat in the dish, garnish with some crispy bacon bits, although the soup works fine without them.

Next year, I'll be growing lots more stuff - if anyone has any suggestions for their favourite veg to , grow, especially ones that are fairly idiot proof and grow anywhere, Id love to hear from you...

Ingredients
2 Carrots
1 Onion
2 Stalks Celery
1 Large Potato
2 Cloves Garlic
1 Cauliflower
150g Mature Cheddar Cheese
800ml Vegetable Stock
400ml Milk
40g Butter
2 Sprigs Thyme
1 Tbsp English Mustard

Method
1.  Peel and slice the carrot, potato, onion and garlic, chop the celery and cut the cauliflower into florets

2.  In your soup pan, heat the butter and then gently fry the carrots, onion, garlic and celery until it starts to soften.

3.  Add the cauliflower, potato, thyme, mustard and stock, bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer, covered, for 30 minutes, until the cauliflower is softened

4.  Remove the pan from the heat and allow the soup to cool

5.  Blend until smooth, then return to the pan

6.  Add the milk and cheese and bring to a simmer again.  Adjust seasoning to taste and then serve

7.  Garnish with some more grated cheddar and some crispy bacon bits

Boerewors Stuffed Mushrooms

I don't know if you noticed, but we had a Jubilee celebration this week. And rather sadly, the street party we were scheduled to attend was, in true Great British style, rained off...  Rather than be deterred by this sad turn of events, we staged an impromptu BBQ in our living room. 

As at least one of Team Soup is a colonial type, we thought that it would be a good idea to celebrate the Jubilee with a bit of meat from South Africa (being as that's where Mrs Soup calls home) so one trip to the rather brilliant Leeds market later, we had procured some boerewors, which a) I can never pronounce properly, and b) is rather tasty. 

So as we sat in our living room, eating boerewors in buns with tomato sauce (and being told that British BBQs are no where near as good as a proper South African braai) I tried to think of something to to with the left over boerewors sauage.  And this is what I came up with, as a sort of Jubilee celebration of meat and mushroom.

Ingredients
4 Large Open Mushrooms
250g Boerewors (or any other sausage that you can find...)
1 Large Onion
1 Slice of Brown Bread
20g Butter
Olive Oil
White Wine
Fresh Thyme
Fresh Rosemary
Cheddar Cheese

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180ºc

2. Place the Mushrooms in large over proof dish or baking tray.

3.  In each one, pour 1/2 tbsp of olive oil, a splash of white wine and a knob of butter, then spinkle each with fresh thyme leave

4.  Put the mushrooms in the oven and cook for 20 minutes

5.  Heat some oil in a frying pan.  Gently fry the onion, finely chopped for 3-5 minutes, until it starts to colour

6.  Remove the sausage meat from its skin and then add this to the frying pan, breaking up the meat as it gently cooks.

7.  Put the onions and sausage meat in a mixing bowl.  In a food processor, turn the bread into breadcrumbs

8.  Chop the rosemary.  Add this and the breadcrumbs to the onions and sausage meat.  Mix thoroughly with a fork, and season to taste.

9.  Spoon this mixture into the mushrooms, and top with grated cheese.

 10.  Return to the oven and cook for 30 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and browning slightly, then serve!

Leek and Blue Cheese Soup

So this might be a bit premature, but I spent this weekend planning what to grow in the garden (and by garden I mean the tiny 2x4meter balcony outside our flat...) because hopefully, Spring is coming soon.  I have quite a bad track record when it comes to growing things - instead of green fingers, I have death-fingers, or so it seems, with a rubber plant that now adorns my flat being the only thing I've ever grown that has lived longer than six months.

A tiny evil creature.  Elvis had the right idea.  Eat 'em!

With the help of Mrs Soup (and the valiant efforts of Suttons Seeds and the local B&Q) we now have seeds a' plenty (two varieties of beetroot, kohlrabi, borlotti beans, raspberries etc) and some nice specially designed growing containers just for teeny tiny balconies.  So the scene is set for some growing type actives come spring.  We shall see what happens, and whether the plants survive for more than a month against the terrors of inclement weather, forgetting to water them and the marauding squirrels that dive-bomb the balcony (and were responsible for destroying not one, not two but three bird feeders...)

I will certainly keep you updated, and hopefully, the results will be incorporated into a few soups come harvest time (and I might organize a mini Harvest Festival like we had in school)

But one thing that I keep trying to grow, and that keep dying, is a good crop of herbs.  If anyone has any tips, please let me know in the comments section - you could just be a life-saver.  One herb plant that I have tried at least three times, and three times have watched in horror is it turned brown and whithered, is Rosemary - it's one of my favourite flavors, goes so well with lamb (my favourite meat) as well as so many other things, including being used in this soup, which is a really nice variation on the classic Broccoli and Stilton soup.

Anyway, this soup is great for these spring-is-not-yet-here evenings...

Ingredients
5 Leeks - Trimmed
1 Small Onion
2 Medium Potatoes
3 Sprigs Fresh Rosemary
1tsp Minced Garlic
1.5l Chicken Stock
1tsp English Mustard
150g Soft Blue Cheese
Salt and Pepper
Cooking Oil

Method

Peel and cube the potatoes, chop the onion and strip to rosemary sprigs of the green bits (just pull them off roughly and don't worry about chopping them at this stage)

In your soup pan, heat the oil and then add the potatoes, onion, rosemary and garlic.  Cook this with the lid on over a low heat for around 5 minutes, until everything has started to soften and the rosemary starts to release its wonderful smells and flavour.

Roughly chop the leeks (green bits and all) and then toss them into the pan, stirring them in and cooking for another 5 or so minutes, until they are nice and soft too.

At this point, add the stock and bring the pan to a simmer, then cook the soup for 30  minutes.

Cut the cheese up into cubes and then stir these into the soup and add the mustard, then with either a stick blender or a food processor, blend the soup until it's smooth.  As always, pass it through a sieve for a smoother texture if you wish (and I do wish - I hate soup that's more puree than soup)  This also helps get rid of any bits of rosemary that might be lurking in the soup

Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste and then heat through, garnish with a bit of grated nutmeg, before serving with some nice (preferably home-made) bread to warm you up on a cold winter's evening.  Enjoy!

Beer and Cheese Soup with Bacon

I'm always on the lookout for strange and interesting combinations of flavours, and when someone told be that beer and cheese soup was an actual thing, how could I resist making it?  Combining, as it does, three of my most favourite ingredients in the world - namely beer, cheese and, ummm, bacon (which you have already guessed, due to the fact that this IS a recipe for Beer and cheese soup with bacon...)

I know it sounds like a very strange combination of ingredients, but trust me, once you try this soup you will be a convert.  As well as tasting delicious, it is possibly the most manly soup possible.

The beer flavour isn't too strong, and neither is the cheese, but combined with the bacon, it's a really nice and savoury taste.  I imagine this is the soup that lumberjacks eat before chopping down trees in the Canadian wilderness, or perhaps contestants in The World's Strongest Man eat before lifting cars with their ears, or whatever it is that they do.

Anyway, eat this soup and put hairs on your chest.  Grrr....