I made soup for the bread group on Thursday and for Men in Sheds on Friday. Both lunches were very enjoyable for me and people ate all their soup so they probably enjoyed it too. I was just thinking, though, that I don’t actually have a recipe for soup.
Men in Sheds
I have a range of ingredients, and a size of pan, but no measurements or fixed ingredients. Normally it doesn’t matter, but at times like now, when I’d like to write down a recipe, I can’t.
Basically, for Spicy Pumpkin you want some potatoes, garlic and onions lightly fried till soft, then you add some pumpkin you’ve roasted in the oven, half a biggish red chilli and a a chunk of ginger slightly smaller than one of my thumbs. Add ground cumin if you have any (I didn’t so I decided to use nutmeg but I’ve lost the grater so I ended up using thyme). Boil it up with a couple of litres of water and two stock cubes, check the seasoning, blitz it and you’re done.
Spicy Pumpkin
If you think that’s vague you won’t like the Leek and Potato soup, which has fewer ingredients and features a few onions, some potatoes (enough to justify their place as a main ingredient) and some leeks (ditto). Ignore where books say “white parts only” as that is pathetically short on most bought leeks, and the green still tastes good. Stock etc, blitz, done.
Leek and Potato
Not sure what sort of cook this makes me but I do know it makes me a lousy cookery writer.
Today I made soup for the shoot, but that was easy, I just opened cans. They had canned soup (supermarket), bread roll (local baker), sausage roll (local butcher), fruit pie (supermarket) and cream – all for under £1 per person for 28 people. I’m not saying it’s good food, but it isn’t that bad either, and it’s cheap; i couldn’t feed them for that.
The soups I just made run out at around 50p per person when you press the supermarket button on recipe websites.
I’m going to pause now and remind myself why I make home-made soups.
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I have to second Julia’s assessment. Soup should be a reflection of the cook, and not necessarily a strictly followed recipe. My father was not a common sight in the kitchen while I was growing up. But he could make a mean pot of soup. Typically in late summer and early fall – following a butchering – he’d gather some left overs, some extra this or extra that, and an oxtail. When he was done we’d have an oxtail soup, and it was fine. The next day we’d have more oxtail soup… and it was better still. Everything in the soup came from the farm. You could bite into a piece of potato and recall planting and weeding them. Coming in from the fields on a nippy fall evening to big bowl of hot soup was fantastic. Who needs a recipe for that sort of enjoyment??
You’re making me feel hungry…
I totally love your approach to soup! And I agree about the green parts of leeks. 🙂
I always knew you were a woman with opinions to be trusted! Thank you. 😉
That makes you a cook who knows what he is doing
I will hold on to that thought. 😉