Minestrone

This is based on Jamie Olivers minestrone from his 15 minute meals book. Rather than following his recipe to the letter we just used it as the base for ours.

Serves 2 easily

Start by frying a chopped red onion, diced stick of celery and diced carrot in olive oil in a deep pan. After they have softened slightly, add 2 cloves of crushed garlic, the leaves from a small bunch of thyme and a couple of bay leaves.

Add 1L of hot chicken stock and bring to a simmer.

Dice two chicken breasts or 3 boneless thighs into bite sized chunks and them to the hot stock, along with a large handful of small pasta shapes. Then add some broccoli and cauliflower florets and continue to simmer for 5 minutes or so.

In the meantime, prepare the accompaniments...

Make the salsa verde by blitzing herbs (we used parsley, basil and chives) with 4 cornichons, 1 clove of garlic, 1 tea sp capers, 1 tea sp of dijon mustard, 2 anchovies and a good glug of olive oil.

Dry fry a few rashers of pancetta with some rosemary and some chunks of slightly stale bread until they are crispy and browned.

Grate or shave some fresh parmesan into a bowl for scattering on the top.

As soon as the pasta shapes are cooked, the soup should be ready to serve. Let people add the toppings to their bowl at the table.

Bits and pieces soup



I couldn’t decide what to call this one. It’s sort of like a minestrone with a few tweaks.
We love the savouryness of this soup. It’s also great for using up bits and pieces from the fridge, including veg which is just past its best.
Ingredients (suggestion):
Leftover roast meat (we used beef)
Carrots
Celery
Onion
Garlic
Green beans and/or mange tout
A handful of tomatoes
Mushrooms
Kale, cavolo nero or cabbage
1L of stock (veg, chicken or beef)
Splash of white wine
A handful of small pasta shapes
Herbs (parsley, thyme, rosemary, bay)
Salt and pepper
It’s not a recipe as such… Chop the veg (carrots, onion, celery, garlic, mushrooms) and sauté in a little oil until starting to soften. Then add the stock, wine, tomatoes and herbs. Leave to simmer for 10 minutes before adding the beans, cabbage, pasta shapes etc. When the pasta shapes are almost cooked add the leftover roast meat for the last few minutes to warm through. Adjust the seasoning. Top with some grated parmesan to serve. It would also be good with a chunk of buttery garlic bread to dip.

Celeriac and apple soup with cheese croutons

Makes approx 3 servings

Peel and dice one celeriac and 2 medium sized potatoes. Fry in a little oil with one chopped onion and a couple of cloves of minced garlic. After 5 minutes or so add a peeled, cored and diced brampley apple and a couple of sprigs of thyme.

Add 1.2 litres of veg stock and season with salt and pepper.
Leave to simmer for 15-20 minutes until the potato and celeriac are soft.

Blend the soup (adding a little water or milk if it looks too thick). Warm the soup through again once blended.

Whilst the soup is warming, top mini ciabatta rolls with small chunks of cheddar and stilton. Put them under the grill to brown and then seve with the soup.

Pork belly, noodle and cabbage soup

This is a really tasty and spicy soup but you can make it less spicy if you like. Make sure you cook the pork belly for long enough on a low-ish heat so that it melts in the mouth.

For two people:

Roast a small piece of pork belly in advance. We did it the night before when we were cooking a roast anyway. Before you roast the pork, rub plenty of chinese 5 spice and a diced hot chilli into the flesh side. Once it's roasted (on a low/medium heat for about two hours), remove the crackling and eat it as a snack if you're greedy like us!

For the soup, fry a pack of shitake mushrooms in a little oil. After a few minutes add 3 diced spring onions and then 750ml of chicken stock. Then add a table spoon of mirin, a table spoon of light soy sauce and half a tea spoon of sugar. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes before adding some shredded savoy cabbage and the pork belly cut into slices. After another few minutes taste the soup... you may want to add a little more soy, some dried chilli flakes or a little more chinese 5 spice. Now add a packet of ready cooked noodles and continue to simmer until the noodles are warmed through.

Serve in warmed bowls with sesame oil and extra soy sauce on the side for people to add if they wish.

Chicken and pesto tortelloni soup

This was a really fresh tasting soup and was very quick to make.

Ingredients:

1 pack of tortelloni (we used walnut and gorgonzola)

1 sml courgette, diced

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/2 bunch parsley, chopped

a handful of chopped mixed greens

a handful of cooked chicken, shredded

800ml chicken or veg stock

1 tea spoon of pesto

shaved parmesan, to serve

• Fry the diced courgette in a little olive oil in a deep pan
• Once the courgette is soft, add the stock and allow to simmer
• After 5 minutes or so, add the peas and mixed greens, allow to simmer for 1 minute
• Add the filled pasta, pesto, chicken and parsley and simmer for 3-5 minutes or so, until the tortelloni floats to the surface
• Serve in deep bowls and scatter with shaved parmesan

Mediterranean Fish Soup

Ingredients: serves 2

a couple of shallots or a white onion

2 celery sticks

1 carrot

2 cloves of garlic

3 tomatoes

sml bunch of parsley, chopped

a bay leaf

a pinch of saffron

600ml fish or veg stock

a selection of fish and shellfish (we used a monkfish tail, mussels, clams and prawns)

• Dice the onion/celery/carrot/garlic and fry in a little oil until softened.
• Dice the tomatoes and add to the veg. Saute for 5 minutes or so.
• Add the stock, saffron and bay leaf and simmer for 20 minutes.
• Cut the monkfish into bite sized pieces and wipe/de-beard the shell fish.
• Add the fish and shellfish to the soup, put a lid on the pan, and allow to simmer for 5 minutes.
• Add the chopped parsley and season with salt and pepper if necessary. Discard any shellfish that haven't opened.
• Serve with crusty bread.

Celery, stilton and thyme soup

Ingredients (makes 2 large bowls):
5 celery stalks

50g stilton, broken into small pieces

a handful of fresh thyme leaves

1 potato

1 leek or onion

800ml veg stock

olive oil

pepper

• Finely dice the celery, potato and leek/onion and fry in a little oil for 5 minutes or so, until soft
• Add the veg stock and allow to simmer for 10 minutes
• Season with black pepper and then add the thyme and the crumbled stilton
• Allow to simmer for a further 5 minutes before serving

Christmas Soup

We know it's only November but it's been very foggy and cold today and we wanted to call it Christmas soup so there!!

Ingredients (makes 2 whopping bowls):

1 pheasant, roasted and the meat removed from the carcass (we only used half the meat and are using the rest for a pie)

4 rashers of smoked pancetta

1 carrot

1 onion

2 sticks of celery

1 clove of garlic

6 chestnut mushrooms

a handful of cooked chestnuts

a couple of handfuls of kale

800 ml beef stock

50ml marsala

1 tbl sp redcurrant jelly

pinch of dried thyme

1 bay leaf

olive oil

salt and pepper

• Chop the onion, carrot, celery and garlic and fry in a large non stick saucepan for a couple of minutes in olive oil.
• Dice the pancetta and mushrooms and add them to the pan.
• Once the pancetta has browned, add the pheasant carcass to the pan and cook for a couple of minutes, turning the carcass every so often.
• Meanwhile, in another large pan warm the beef stock through and add the marsala, redcurrant jelly, bay and thyme.
• Pour the stock over the sauteed veg and pheasant carcass and leave to simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the carcass.
• Turn the heat down to a low simmer and add the reserved pheasant meat.
• After another 5 minutes add the kale and chestnuts. Simmer for a further 5 minutes, season to taste and then serve in warm bowls.
  

Chicken soup with dumplings

Even though we cheated with ready made stock and dumplings it was very very nice. And it was a work night so a little cheating is allowed!

Ingredients (for 2 large bowls with a little leftover):

4 chicken legs

approx 800ml good quality chicken stock

1 carrot, diced

1 onion, diced

3 celery sticks, diced

bay leaf and a pinch of dried thyme

salt and pepper

olive oil

dumpling mix or ready made dumplings

• Pre heat oven to 200 degrees
• Roast the chicken legs for approx 30-40 minutes until cooked
• Meanwhile, add the diced carrot, onion and celery with a splash of olive oil to a large saucepan and cook on quite a high heat until softened
• Once the chicken legs are cooked, pull the meat off the bones and chop the chicken into bite sized pieces. Put the meat in a bowl and set aside.
• Add the chicken leg bones to the sauteed veg and then add the stock and herbs. Leave to simmer on a low ish heat for approx 30 minutes.
• Remove the chicken bones and bay leaf from the soup and add in the diced chicken and dumplings. Correct seasoning and leave to simmer with a lid on for 5 minutes.