I think the thing to do is gather more recipes for comparison. As it happened, The Guardian food mag had a recipe for Durban Bunny Chow a couple of weeks ago - and an accompanying one for Leaf Marsala (which Isaacs mentions, but gives no info on).
I tend to use recipes as jumping-off points in any case.
Inspired by this thread (possibly my favourite thread on the Ship at the moment) I'm making a leek and potato soup for supper: 1 leek sweated in butter and blitzed, one large spoonful of leftover mashed potato, water, milk, pepper, nutmeg, and a pinch of salt.
I made a leek and potato in the course of last week. 'Sall right, but no vichyssoise.
I did a redd of the vegetable drawer. Parsnip and celery look like the main contenders for soupifying, with carrot and butternut squash coming up on the rails.
Butternut works quite well. I ensouped it tonight for Captain Pyjamas who sickens of the plague and has been turning his nose up at diverse kinds of food.
Today's soup is going to be the remains of last night's steak diced up in a Tom Yum stock cube and sprinkled with spring onion.
I'm saving my serious effort for this evening when I'm making Worteljiebredie, which you will all instantly recognise - well @MaryLouise at any rate - as a Cape Malay stew of lamb and carrots.
@Firenze. Nervously inquiring as to how the Worteljiebredie went?
Cleared plates and happy faces.
I haven't entirely made up my mind about the Isaac book. There is a serious editing error where the text talks about delicious lamb marinaded in tamarind followed by the recipe which mentions neither tamarind nor marinading. Some of the recipes are entirely European - minestrone and 'potato bake' aka potato dauphinoise. Some of her timings seem odd - she gives the bredie about 30 minutes, whereas I think shoulder lamb needs at least an hour/hour and a half. Also I tweaked the spicing a bit.
But I haven't cooked any of the curries yet, so I'm prepared to stick with it.
Shoulder anything needs several hours in my experience or you end up having to dissect the fat out on your plate.
I slow cooked a mutton shoulder the other day and made soup from the leek, onions and vegetable stock I cooked it in. I had to dilute it was the stock was very salty, and ended up adding three spuds and a few carrots to give it some body. Flavoured with garlic, rosemary and thyme.
Indeed. I have just made curried vegetable soup in the pressure cooker for our lunch — fry a bit of chopped onion until just starting to brown, then some chopped garlic and ginger for a minute, turmeric, madras curry powder, fry for another minute, then added broad beans, carrot, potato, and red lentil, fried for another couple of minutes, then poured on stock made from vegetable bouillon and tomato purée, a good stir, lid on, up to pressure, then maintain the pressure for ten minutes, quick release, little more water and some coconut cream stirred through, finished with a pinch of chilli flakes.
Five minutes prep, ten minutes cooking, and a delicious hearty fresh soup for lunch.
Being a sucker for novelty I bought some Kaffir Lime & Ginger stock cubes a while ago. I added one to some mince left over from Asian meatballs, along with julienned veg and a fresh chilli. OK, though probably needed some coconut milk for a bit more body.
I've mentioned the Boxing Clever cookbook before. It is a recipe book for dealing with seasonal gluts. The recipes vary between "outstanding success" and "WTF??" and it's impossible to predict which it will be until you've tried it.
I have a glut of cabbages so tried the cabbage, barley and tahini soup. It was lovely. Substantial, tasty and not too cabbagey. I will definitely make this again.
I also tried the cabbage and carrot bhaji recipe. I started it thinking it was going to end up as a fried fritter type thing, but my future son-in-law tells me that "bhaji" is a mixed vegetable dish. Which this was - spicy mixed cabbage and carrot. It was ok as a side dish, but there was far too much of it for us to eat it all. I swithered about adding some mayo and turning it into a sort of spicy coleslaw, but there was too much of it for that. So I shoved the remainder i.e. most of it through the blender, added stock and called it bhaji soup. It was ... well ... it counted towards our five-a-day, which is good, but I've put a cross against it in the recipe book.
The other day I took a fancy for veggie chilli, as I had tins of tomatoes, kidney beans, tomatoes and sweetcorn. It almost counts as a soup: on the day it was made it was sufficiently liquid that I ate it with a spoon, although it's subsequently thickened a bit.
It's quite nice (although I think I overdid the crushed chillies a bit), and it needed a bit of moderation with soured cream and chopped avocadoes, but it's not bad. There's rather a lot of it though; I've had it twice and there's probably another two portions left, which may end up being frozen.
The other day I took a fancy for veggie chilli, as I had tins of tomatoes, kidney beans, tomatoes and sweetcorn. It almost counts as a soup: on the day it was made it was sufficiently liquid that I ate it with a spoon, although it's subsequently thickened a bit.
It's quite nice (although I think I overdid the crushed chillies a bit), and it needed a bit of moderation with soured cream and chopped avocadoes, but it's not bad. There's rather a lot of it though; I've had it twice and there's probably another two portions left, which may end up being frozen.
Tonight we are finishing off the minestrone I made on Monday. I generally followed a recipe, but reckoned that there would be countless variations, so I adapted to what I had in the house. E.g. wombok in place of savoy cabbage. In any case, I have no idea what ditalini is, nor had any macaroni that was suggested as a substitute. So I used some of our excess risoni, and we both found that enjoyable.
It's also called Chinese cabbage, I think. A much lighter and delicate leaf vegetable than ordinary cabbage. I much prefer it. It may not be a brassica, but I've never investigated.
Wambok is what we call siu choy (larger than bok choy), also known as Napa cabbage. One source I looked at claimed it is the result of a natural hybridization between turnip (Brassica rapa subsp. rapa) and pak-choi (Brassica rapa subsp. chinensis). Great in stir fries.
Ditalini is just a larger pasta rice than orzo or risoni.
Making a cold roasted tomato gazpacho for supper, very hot right now and I have made salsa verde and basil pesto to use up my potted herbs before they bolt.
@LatchKeyKid Don't confine yourself to a recipe on minestrone! I use minestrone as a fridge clearer. Beyond certain standard ingredients (onion, carrot, celery, tomato) the fridge is your oyster. That fennel bulb/bunch of spinach/broccoli/cauliflower/mandrake looking a bit aged? In it goes! I'm also fond of adding lentils or chickpeas to the mix.
I was given a huge portion of very undercooked broccoli a couple of days ago, so I made it into soup using a new recipe. The soup was very good, but way too salty for me. (I don't usually add salt to recipes, but added half the amount the recipe called for just to see how it turned out.)
Rather than throw the soup out, which I absolutely hate to do, I think I'm going to make a baked potato tomorrow and throw the soup on it!
I can almost hear the gasps and cries of 'Nooooo' from those of you who think it's a terrible idea to put broccoli on a baked potato! It's very tasty IMVHO!
I was given a huge portion of very undercooked broccoli a couple of days ago, so I made it into soup using a new recipe. The soup was very good, but way too salty for me. (I don't usually add salt to recipes, but added half the amount the recipe called for just to see how it turned out.)
Rather than throw the soup out, which I absolutely hate to do, I think I'm going to make a baked potato tomorrow and throw the soup on it!
I can almost hear the gasps and cries of 'Nooooo' from those of you who think it's a terrible idea to put broccoli on a baked potato! It's very tasty IMVHO!
I'm on a low salt diet so often I leave out the salt for it to be added later. I have relented on my dahl, as LKKspouse always remarks if it is not salty enough. I generally use unsalted butter. Once I looked at a cake recipe that asked for unsalted butter and then added salt. It worked out that using salted butter would put four times as much salt into the cake as the salt specified in the recipe.
I suppose your broccoli soup must be fairly thick for it to saty on the baked potato.
I did play with the idea of putting some whole, peeled spuds in the soup pot and cooking it a bit longer to see if it would do anything about that excess salt! Alas. Only one old baking potato in the fridge that was only half edible.
@LatchKeyKid, yes, it's very thick! Had I tried the potato de-salting idea, I would have had to thin the soup first. I cooked the half edible potato mentioned above and put the soup on it. *sigh* It's not worth the effort.
That would have been an excellent idea, but I'm just too sensitive to the salt. I can't imagine what it would have been had I added what the recipe called for!!!
Lamb Chopped, I wondered that, too! It wasn't an excessive amount, but it really confirms that my habit of not adding any salt to anything is correct (for me!)
I've found myself in possession of some blue cheese, and as it's not a delicacy I'm overly fond of, I'm about to introduce it to some broccoli and hope that together they'll make a harmonious SOUP.
I've found myself in possession of some blue cheese, and as it's not a delicacy I'm overly fond of, I'm about to introduce it to some broccoli and hope that together they'll make a harmonious SOUP.
I'll report back later.
Putting two foul ingredients together in the hope they produce something edible? Worth a shot.
I made some broccoli and stilton pasta, because soup is still off the menu for my daughter, which I liked. (Working on the basis if I like it as a soup it might work as a pasta sauce or risotto, again.)
I've found myself in possession of some blue cheese, and as it's not a delicacy I'm overly fond of, I'm about to introduce it to some broccoli and hope that together they'll make a harmonious SOUP.
I'll report back later.
Putting two foul ingredients together in the hope they produce something edible? Worth a shot.
David used to reckon the mark of a good restaurant was the ability to turn ingredients he didn't like (which included most vegetables) into a soup that he did.
I'll have to disagree about broccoli being foul - I rather like it. The soup is OK, but I probably should have used two Stockpot thingies in a litre of water rather than one - it's a wee bit bland. Not unpleasant though - 7/10.
I plan to make a "Mediterranean" White Bean soup tomorrow (the beans are currently soaking). I am using "Great Northern" beans. It also includes some tomatoes, a ton of garlic and a rather heavy dose of olive oil. Oh, and parsley. And I am using my usual substitution of lemon juice in place of salt.
So my white bean soup is now simmering. The full recipe:
Take 16 ounces of white beans (such as Great Northern or Cannellini) and soak over night. Then drain them and put in soup pot with 14 cups of water, 1.5 teaspoons of dried rosemary and (wait for it) 16 cloves of garlic (chopped). Bring to a boil and then cover and simmer for about an hour and a half or so.
Then add a cup or so of tomatoes (peeled & chopped), a half cup of fresh parsley (chopped), a half cup of virgin olive oil, 8 teaspoons of red wine vinegar, 4 teaspoons of lemon juice* and 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper. Give it a few minutes to heat up those ingredients and serve.
*Like I said earlier, I like to substitute lemon juice for salt. This time, I did it one-for-one, so if you would rather use salt, it would be 4 tsp of salt. Rather A Lot really.
I love black bean soup, Firanze! Yummy and satisfying!
There were two ribs leftover from the Christmas rib roast, so I made a beef broth with them yesterday. The ribs and mirepoix simmered on the stove for about two hours then it was strained, the meat removed from the bones, and refrigerated. Today I did a fine cut mirepoix and cooked them in olive oil for about five minutes, added a half tablespoon of dried oregano, a tablespoon of tomato paste, and a half tablespoon of chopped garlic. Cooked that almost a minute, added yesterday's meaty broth and brought it to a boil. Then I added a quarter cup of pearled barley and simmered it for a half hour.
I didn't add any salt or pepper, and it really didn't need it! It was pretty good and sticks to the bones! I'll make this again before too long.
Southern hemisphere heatwave, so I'm making an ice-cold gazpacho for lunch with basil and garlic chives from the garden, cucumber, gherkins, spring onions, ripe tomatoes, garlic, a little sour-dough bread, olive oil and red-wine vinegar. In the fridge to chill and I'll add few cubes of ice when I dish up. It would help if we could sit inside the fridge ourselves for a few hours...
@Piglet If you're looking to get rid of some Stilton (never a problem for me, as I always have Port on hand) I would say that you should make a potato and leek soup, and crumble it on top, perhaps with a bit of crisped, streaky bacon. For those not so fond of Stilton, it's best used as an accent rather than a feature.
I am no fan of soup but we had a soup-bread-and-cheese meal with friends yesterday evening. The soup was corned beef and cabbage which was nicer than I was expecting. Which is not saying much - what it means is that I managed to finish my bowlful, and didn't ask for seconds.
I am no fan of soup but we had a soup-bread-and-cheese meal with friends yesterday evening. The soup was corned beef and cabbage which was nicer than I was expecting. Which is not saying much - what it means is that I managed to finish my bowlful, and didn't ask for seconds.
Corned beef and cabbage soup (assuming the corned beef wasn't the British-style canned kind...!) sounds almost like a goulash or bigos soup, which sounds pretty good to me. Was it tomatoey or more plain? I think it's something where you want the cabbage to not be *too* prominent but be pleasantly bland.
I didn't ask after the nature of the corned beef; I was just relieved that I found the soup edible having been told what was in it. It wasn't really tomatoey at all and seemed to contain a lot of mustard grains. I think there was quite a lot of cabbage (they admitted they were using up two that they'd received in their vegetable boxes) but it had all been liquidised so you could just swallow it down. There was some really nice homemade bread to go with it; I ate quite a lot of that. And drank a fair bit.
Comments
I tend to use recipes as jumping-off points in any case.
I did a redd of the vegetable drawer. Parsnip and celery look like the main contenders for soupifying, with carrot and butternut squash coming up on the rails.
Shoulder anything needs several hours in my experience or you end up having to dissect the fat out on your plate.
We make a lot of soup and use an ancient pressure cooker, it works perfectly - scrumptious soup in no time. 🍜
Five minutes prep, ten minutes cooking, and a delicious hearty fresh soup for lunch.
I have a glut of cabbages so tried the cabbage, barley and tahini soup. It was lovely. Substantial, tasty and not too cabbagey. I will definitely make this again.
I also tried the cabbage and carrot bhaji recipe. I started it thinking it was going to end up as a fried fritter type thing, but my future son-in-law tells me that "bhaji" is a mixed vegetable dish. Which this was - spicy mixed cabbage and carrot. It was ok as a side dish, but there was far too much of it for us to eat it all. I swithered about adding some mayo and turning it into a sort of spicy coleslaw, but there was too much of it for that. So I shoved the remainder i.e. most of it through the blender, added stock and called it bhaji soup. It was ... well ... it counted towards our five-a-day, which is good, but I've put a cross against it in the recipe book.
It's quite nice (although I think I overdid the crushed chillies a bit), and it needed a bit of moderation with soured cream and chopped avocadoes, but it's not bad. There's rather a lot of it though; I've had it twice and there's probably another two portions left, which may end up being frozen.
I recommend: CHEESE.
Ditalini is just a larger pasta rice than orzo or risoni.
Making a cold roasted tomato gazpacho for supper, very hot right now and I have made salsa verde and basil pesto to use up my potted herbs before they bolt.
Rather than throw the soup out, which I absolutely hate to do, I think I'm going to make a baked potato tomorrow and throw the soup on it!
I can almost hear the gasps and cries of 'Nooooo' from those of you who think it's a terrible idea to put broccoli on a baked potato! It's very tasty IMVHO!
I'm on a low salt diet so often I leave out the salt for it to be added later. I have relented on my dahl, as LKKspouse always remarks if it is not salty enough. I generally use unsalted butter. Once I looked at a cake recipe that asked for unsalted butter and then added salt. It worked out that using salted butter would put four times as much salt into the cake as the salt specified in the recipe.
I suppose your broccoli soup must be fairly thick for it to saty on the baked potato.
I did play with the idea of putting some whole, peeled spuds in the soup pot and cooking it a bit longer to see if it would do anything about that excess salt! Alas. Only one old baking potato in the fridge that was only half edible.
@LatchKeyKid, yes, it's very thick! Had I tried the potato de-salting idea, I would have had to thin the soup first. I cooked the half edible potato mentioned above and put the soup on it. *sigh* It's not worth the effort.
I'll report back later.
Putting two foul ingredients together in the hope they produce something edible? Worth a shot.
David used to reckon the mark of a good restaurant was the ability to turn ingredients he didn't like (which included most vegetables) into a soup that he did.
I'll have to disagree about broccoli being foul - I rather like it. The soup is OK, but I probably should have used two Stockpot thingies in a litre of water rather than one - it's a wee bit bland. Not unpleasant though - 7/10.
Take 16 ounces of white beans (such as Great Northern or Cannellini) and soak over night. Then drain them and put in soup pot with 14 cups of water, 1.5 teaspoons of dried rosemary and (wait for it) 16 cloves of garlic (chopped). Bring to a boil and then cover and simmer for about an hour and a half or so.
Then add a cup or so of tomatoes (peeled & chopped), a half cup of fresh parsley (chopped), a half cup of virgin olive oil, 8 teaspoons of red wine vinegar, 4 teaspoons of lemon juice* and 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper. Give it a few minutes to heat up those ingredients and serve.
*Like I said earlier, I like to substitute lemon juice for salt. This time, I did it one-for-one, so if you would rather use salt, it would be 4 tsp of salt. Rather A Lot really.
Makes in the neighborhood of 5 quarts of soup.
Will have to come up with something to use a half tin of black beans tho'.
There were two ribs leftover from the Christmas rib roast, so I made a beef broth with them yesterday. The ribs and mirepoix simmered on the stove for about two hours then it was strained, the meat removed from the bones, and refrigerated. Today I did a fine cut mirepoix and cooked them in olive oil for about five minutes, added a half tablespoon of dried oregano, a tablespoon of tomato paste, and a half tablespoon of chopped garlic. Cooked that almost a minute, added yesterday's meaty broth and brought it to a boil. Then I added a quarter cup of pearled barley and simmered it for a half hour.
I didn't add any salt or pepper, and it really didn't need it! It was pretty good and sticks to the bones! I'll make this again before too long.
FTFY
I am no fan of soup but we had a soup-bread-and-cheese meal with friends yesterday evening. The soup was corned beef and cabbage which was nicer than I was expecting. Which is not saying much - what it means is that I managed to finish my bowlful, and didn't ask for seconds.
@KarlLB Please don't change the quotes of other Shipmates. It can be confusing and certainly isn't a helpful addition to the discussion.
Thank you.
jedijudy-Heaven Host
with her lightsaber safely clipped to her belt again
Corned beef and cabbage soup (assuming the corned beef wasn't the British-style canned kind...!) sounds almost like a goulash or bigos soup, which sounds pretty good to me. Was it tomatoey or more plain? I think it's something where you want the cabbage to not be *too* prominent but be pleasantly bland.