Green Bean and Almond Soup

The inspiration for this soup came from nothing more than "I have green beans, I don't need them for anything else.  Can I turn them into soup?" From there my mind went to 'green beans and... erm... what goes with green beans?'  Then I remembered green beans with almonds, which in my mind was always a side dish to a Thanksgiving dinner in America, possibly alongside a weird salad that has marshmallows in it.  I have to admit that I have absolutely no idea where this assumption comes from, apart from that I possibly saw it in an episode of Friends (The one where Joey gets the Turkey stuck on his head I assume...)

And then I googled Green Bean and Almond soup, and lo and behold, it is a thing.  When does a soup become 'a thing'? As in an accepted soup variety? Does it ever?  Is that the beauty of soup, that it can have literally any combination of meat, vegetables, herbs and spices and still be an acceptable thing? This is just another reason why I love the stuff...

Anyway, this is a tasty and sweet soup, thickened by the ground almonds, and although you don't have to put the white wine in, it will improve the flavour of the soup by 237% if you do...

Ingredients
400g Green Beans
2 Carrots
1 Onion
75g Ground Almonds
25g Butter
3 Cloves of Garlic
Slivered Almonds
900ml Stock
200ml White Wine
Salt and Pepper

Method.
1. Peel and roughly chop the carrot, garlic and onion.  Heat the butter in your soup pan and then gently fry the vegetables until they start to soften

2. Cut the ends off the green beans and then slice the remaining beans in half.  To the onions and carrot add the beans, stock, wine and ground almonds.  Bring the soup to a simmer, cover and cook for 25 minutes.  Remove the pan from the heat, allow to cool and then blend until smooth.

3.  Adjust seasoning to taste and then reheat.  Serve and garnish with slivers of almond.  Enjoy!

Wild Garlic Soup

It's springtime! The sun is (sometimes) in the sky and everywhere, nature is erupting from its winter slumber like an, erm, volcano of green things.  And one of the greatest things about this time of year is wild garlic!

I've done a few soups with wild garlic before, but out of every one I've tried, this is by far the best and the most simple.  On  Sunday afternoon, we had guests for a roast dinner, so I served this soup as a starter, which meant a quick walk down the the canal, following my nose until I smelled the unmistakable smell of the wild garlic, grabbed a carrier bag full of the stuff, headed home and an hour later the soup was on the table - how's that for 'straight from nature'?

Wild Garlic, yesterday, in a secret location

 Of course, it goes without saying, if you are going to pick wild garlic, make sure that you know what it is first, no picking deadly poisons and then trying to sue me, okay? Secondly, wash it thoroughly - there are lots of dogs and dog walkers around where I pick mine, so it needs to be cleaned properly.

Even more wild garlic. Surely no-one will miss a few kilos for soup purposes, right?

Bearing that in mind, wild garlic is about the easiest thing in the world to forage for, and its a brilliant ingredient that you never see in the shops, for reasons I can only guess at. Anyway, the addition of some cream, black pudding slices and croutons will make this a quick, easy and tasty soup.

Ingredients
150g Wild Garlic
1 Large Onion
1 Large Potato
40g Butter
900ml Vegetable Stock
100ml White Wine
Juice of half a lemon
Double Cream
Black Pudding Slices
Salt and Pepper

Method
1. Peel and chop the onion and potato.  In a large pan, heat the butter and then gently fry the onion and potato until they start to soften.

2.  Wash the garlic and remove any tough stems.  Add to the pan and allow to wilt.

3.  Add the stock, lemon juice and white wine, bring the soup to a simmer and cook for 25 minute.  Take off the heat and allow to cool

4.  Blend the soup until smooth, passing through a sieve to remove any lumps, then return to the pan and reheat gently, adjusting seasoning to taste

5.  Fry some slices of black pudding

6.  Serve with a swirl of cream, some black pudding slices and a few crunchy croutons.  Enjoy!

Creme Du Barry : French Cauliflower Soup

A cauliflower recipe, my kingdom for a cauliflower recipe!  A few weeks ago I had a surfeit of cauliflower, doe to getting them two weeks in a row in our veg box delivery and not quite getting round to eating them with anything.  I asked around on twitter and got quite a few suggestions for what to do with the vegetable, as all I could think to do was either cauliflower cheese or a curry, neither of which took my fancy at the time.

One of the recipes that I made was a Cauliflower cake, which was savoury and much nicer than it sounds - indeed, I mainly only made it as a challenge and due to the fact that I seem to be drawn to odd recipes.

Another suggestion, made by Jac on twitter (@clickerjac if you want to follow her) was Creme Du Barry which, contrary to my first guess, is NOT a soup made by or from a guy called Barry but instead a cream of cauliflower soup.  Anyway, Jac sent me a recipe, which I have to admit to slightly altering, just because it's cold and miserable and I felt like jazzing things up a bit to make it a bit more rich and comforting, and here it is...

You could always add some meat to the mix if you wanted - I'm thinking some crispy bacon or cubes of black pudding liberally sprinkled on top would be great too (In fact, what am I thinking, I have no idea why I didn't try that myself.  I must be slipping...)

Ingredients
500g Cauliflower
1 Large Onion
1 Potato
2 Leeks
3 Cloves Garlic
20g Butter
1l Chicken Stock
200ml White Wine
150ml Single Cream

Method.
1.  Heat the butter in your soup pan, then gently sweat the finely chopped leeks and onion for 5 minutes

2.  Add the cubed potato and garlic then cook over a moderate heat for a further 5 minutes.

3.  Add the wine and simmer until the liquid has reduced by half.

4.  Add the stock and cauliflower florets, but put a few aside for later.  Bring the soup to the boil and then simmer for 30 minutes, until the cauliflower is cooked through and soft.

5.  Take the soup off the heat, leave to cool and then blend until smooth, then return to the pan.

6.  In a frying pan, heat some more butter and then gently fry the remaining cauliflower florets until they are golden.

7.  Heat the soup up, then add the cream and season to taste.  Serve and garnish with the fried cauliflower florets.  Enjoy

Creamy Turkey, Mushroom and Sage Soup

So Easter came and went, and was declared by all and sundry to be a bit of a damp squib, but life goes on and so does the soup making.  And here is a bit of a cracker - more of a winter soup than a light, summery thing, but once you've tasted it, I think you will forgive me.  Oh, and the way the wether is at the moment, it will go down a treat!

You could use left-over turkey for this one, especially if you've had one for Sunday roast (I'll have to remind everyone of this soup come December when people are moaning about what to do with surplus xmas dinner - not me, however, I love turkey and I'm always a little bit sad when it's all gone...)

Also in this soup, I've used red rice, which has a really nice nutty flavour, but if you can't get that, just use brown rice instead (I think I own way to may types of rice.  At present, we have Arborio, Paella, Thai Jasmine, Brown, Red, Black, Long grain, Pudding, Sushi and Basmati.  Is that too much rice?)

250g Turkey Breast
250g Chestnut Mushrooms
75g Red Rice
20 Sage Leaves
1 Onion
1 Leek
1.2l Chicken or Turkey Stock
250ml White Wine
200ml Double Cream
3tbsp Plain Flour
Butter
Oil
Salt and Pepper

1. If you are using fresh turkey instead of left overs, dice the turkey and fry in a little oil until it starts to colour slightly.  Drain and set aside.

2.  Finely chop the onion and leek, then finely slice the sage leaves.

3.  Heat some more oil in your soup pan and fry the onion, leeks and sage leaves until the onions start to soften.  Add the flour and cook for another minute or two, stirring constantly

4.  Slowly add 200ml of stock and the white wine, stirring all the time, making sure no bits get  caught on the bottom of the pan and burn.  This should start to thicken nicely

5.  Add the rest of the stock, season to taste and then add the rice.  Bring the soup to the boil and then simmer for 30 minutes, until the rice is cooked through.

6.  Slice the mushrooms.  In another pan, heat some butter and fry the mushrooms gently until they start to brown on the edges.

7.  Add the mushrooms and cream to the soup, along with the turkey, and simmer for a further 10 minutes. Check the seasoning one more time

8.  Serve and garnish with fresh sage leaves.  Enjoy!

Asparagus Soup

Summer is here, with all the associated trappings - my hay fever playing up again, the English guy losing at Wimbledon (or has he gone back to being Scottish again yet?)

But most excitingly, as soon as the sun starts shining properly, we get to enjoy all the summer fruits and vegetables in their glory, especially asparagus.  It really is the perfect soup for a day when the sky is blue and the bumble bees are buzzing.  Goes well with a glass of Pimms, I can tell you