green soup

So spring is getting on with it. The first tomato seeds have sprouted and stuck their necks outta the soil. The blossom is already falling and the broccoli is trying to turn into flowers the second you turn your back on it.

So I decided to pull up my patch of broccoli raab (aka cime di rapa). It was my first time growing it and I'd say it was a big success. Except I didn't know how quickly I had to eat it so now what's left has gotten quite tough as it turns into bright yellow flowers.

So, in our new friend Mr Red Pot we have - green soup. Should you find yourself wondering what to do with all your going to seed brassicas you might like to try it.

Fry some chopped almonds.
Add some garlic.
Fill the pot with chopped up broccoli and cime di rapa.
Cover with water or stock.
Boil for quite a while.
Blend.

It wasn't bad at all. The almonds add a good creaminess. The only problem was all the long fibres. I reckon a food processor woulda helped - I used the stick blender and that was quite ineffectual. Or maybe strain it somehow?

There is not much that makes me grin more than this picture:



From urbandictionary via tal. (thank you.)

soup

I'm all snuffly head full of mucus feeling sorry for myself right now. But I have the memories of a glorious weekend with hysterical ladies, insanely beautiful wild places and me hot missus to keep me cheery. Of course we had too too much food and ate ourselves into a stupor.

I think though, that the best bit had to be the wombats... so many wombats. See hungryhead for pictures of the cutest bleached blond surfie wombat you have ever seen. Damn I love wombats. They eat all the time too...

Anyway, people apparently want more recipes and less of me waffling so here's the delicious soup I made on friday night. Lish made this soup for me on marmalade night all that time ago and I was hooked. It's from the most excellent Moorish by Greg and Lucy Malouf.

Fennel Soup with Lemon and Cinnamon
Maree: "I was worried you were putting cinnamon in with those things but it's really good".

2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions sliced
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 leeks, roughly chopped
2 bulbs fennel*, sliced
2 potatoes, in chunks
1.5 litres stock
1 cinnamon stick
peel of half a lemon
1/2 tsp allspice
2 bay leaves
2 egg yolks
150ml thick cream
juice of 2 lemons
extra good oil
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp rough chopped parsley

*The recipe calls for 3 large bulbs. I tried that once and they disastrously didn't fit in the pot. This recent time I just used 1 bulb and that was fine. 2 would be good I think.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and saute the onions, garlic, leeks and fennel until they soften a little. Add the potatoes and chicken stock, then the cinnamon stick, lemon peel, allspice and bay leaves. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Remove and discard the stick, peel and leaves and season to taste with salt and pepper.
In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks with the cream, then ladle in a bit of the hot soup. Whisk together well, then tip the egg mixture into the soup.
Slowly return the soup to just below boiling, stirring as you go. Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice. Adjust the seasoning.
As you serve drizzle each bowl with your good oil - no really, do this it totally lifts the soup. Sprinkle with a little cinnamon and parsley. Yum. That'll make you feel less sooky.

garlic anyone

Well, i'm not feeling very good at the moment. whether it's because of brain damage caused by my big bike stack or something else i dunno. But it made me think of this good tonic.

Garlic Soup
Not much beats this Mexican garlic soup. I forgot how good it is until Shane came and stayed and I made him make it. He made it over and over and it always went down a treat. It's warming, golden and delicous.

Particularly good if you’ve been being a trash bag, then on Monday you start to feel crappy and suddenly want to act like you’re taking care of yourself by eating good warming garlicky food. Although I know I said it about pickle soup, this is also definitely vegetarian jewish penicillin (chicken soup).

The key is to buy good garlic if you can (not that imported Chinese crap) and be really careful not to fry it for too long. It's basically foolproof but if you burn or overcook the garlic you better start again or it'll taste bitter and crap.

You will need
olive oil
1 whole head of garlic
1/2 baguette
2 ancho chilies*, crushed dried chilli or good chilli powder
4 medium tomatoes (tinned ok if you have to)
7 cups vegie stock
salt
sour cream

Separate the garlic cloves, peel and chop them coarsely (while muttering coarse language.) Chop the tomatoes into smallish chunks. Slice the baguette into 1cm slices. If using the ancho chilies stem and seed them and chop them coarsely too.

Heat 1/4 cup of oil in a large heavy frypan until smoking. Add the garlic and stir over medium heat for one minute – or until lightly toasted. Don’t let it go more than pale golden. Transfer the garlic to a large soup pot.

Add as many slices of bread to the frypan as will fit in one layer and fry for a minute or so until it goes nice and golden and a bit crunchy. Turn it over and do the other side. Drain on some old paper and set aside. Do all the bread this way. You will probably need to add a bit of extra oil.

Now place the tomatoes and chilli in the frypan and stir until the tomatoes are a bit wilted (1-2 minutes). If you’re using the chilli powder use 1 – 2 teaspoons, the soup should be warm but not hot, chilli wise. Transfer to the soup pot and add the stock and salt. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until the garlic is soft.

Ladle the piping hot soup into bowls and garnish each serve with fried bread and a dollop of sour cream. Serve to your adoring housemates, friends and lovers.

* These are a dried chilli available from Mexican and Central American suppliers. In Melbourne try Casa Latina on Johnson St.

mmm pickle soup

I've been writing about pickles so much on this blog I can't believe I haven't posted this yet.

I discovered pickle soup (zupa ogorkowa) at Borscht, Vodka & Tears when Marion and I went there earlier this year. I was smitten - a slightly thickened broth packed with potatoes and grated pickles. Just the right amount of sour mixed with the dill flavour to make a winter favourite.

So I went digging for recipes. There's a lot of variations - some thicken the soup with eggs, or flour. Many have celery, some add leeks which I'm keen to try. The version I've been making has won a lot of converts. Sarah makes it endlessly and Shane just asked me for the recipe. It's a great soup for when you're feeling sick - a kind of vegetarian chicken soup replacement.

A note on ingredients:

• Using instant stock makes this very quick but of course using real stock would make it so much better. The traditional recipes recommend beef.
• You need pickles that are good and sour - not sweet. Bick's Polski Ogorki are good, so are the tinned Israeli ones you can find at some supermarkets. Avoid any Australian ones unless they come from a good Polish deli.

Now go get:

• 6 cups stock (I use Massel's fake Chicken)
• 1 medium carrot, diced very small
• 1 big potato, diced smallish
• 1/2 onion minced
• 6 big pickled cucumbers, grated or finely chopped.
• pickle juice from jar
• 1 cup sour cream and more to serve.
• a little flour
• dill
• butter

1. Heat the stock up and add the potato. Leave it to simmer while you saute the onion slowly in some butter.
2. Add the carrots to the onion for a minute, then the pickles.
3. When the potatoes are almost tender add the carrots, onion and pickles to the pot. Continue to simmer until the potatoes are nice.
4. Mix two teaspoons of flour with the sour cream then slowly stir into the soup to thicken it.
5. The sour cream might break up and look a bit mucky but that's ok.
6. Taste the soup and add some of the pickle juice to taste - the sour taste should be distinctive but not outta control.
7. Serve with masses of chopped dill, rye toast and more sour cream for the dairy pigs.

This is a very easy soup - it's the pickles that make it taste so good. So feel free to muck around with the recipe and let me know how you go. Other thickening tricks could be good too if you want it thicker - this version is still very thin.