Two notes, on the making of soup. And a PS. And a PPS.

[desperance]

Note to self: when making soup, it does help to put the blade in the processor before whizzing it. Trying to whizz it. Whatever.

Note to world: soup! Make more soup! Why does no one make soup any more? It's easy! It's fun! And, y'know what? At the end of this brief and entertaining process? You have soup!

Oh, all right, since you ask:

Last night I put a pound and a half of cherry tomatoes in an oven dish, on a bed of herbs from the garden - winter herbs, thyme and rosemary and bay. Added half a dozen garlic cloves in their skins. Splashed a little olive oil over all and gave it a shake, then slid 'em into a medium oven for forty minutes or so, till the tomatoes were split and wrinkled and starting to colour and the garlic was softening.

Turned the oven off and left it till now. Sliced an onion and a fresh chilli and sizzled those in olive oil, while I picked out and discarded the herbs from the tomatoes, and slid the garlic cloves out of their skins.

Put everything in the food processor, and whizzed it. Tried to whizz it. Tipped everything out of the food processor, put the blade in, put everything back. Whizzed it. Added salt and pepper and a little chicken stock to loosen it. Done.

For a smooooth soup, I would've sieved it after, but I like a bit of texture. Right now it's all simmering gently, and I am off to luncheon.

PS - serve with bacon croutons, a dollop of cream, a dollop of pesto. But you didn't need telling that, did you? Nom-nom-nom.

PPS - and a grating of parmesan. Obviously. And black pepper. It's actually more fuss in the serving than the cooking, but ain't that always the way...?

Comments

[wakaba-chan.livejournal.com]

That sounds absolutely delicious. I think I may have to try it sometime this week!

I love soup and making soup, especially curry soup!

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Come to think, you could probably stir a spoonful of curry powder into this without causing any harm at all...

[wishwords.livejournal.com]

Okay, so how do I find a good soup cookbook? How do I know if it's good before I order it off of Amazon? Because, I'm not familiar with cooking soups, but I bet they would fulfill my diabetic eating requirements. The only two soupy things I know how to do well are Chicken with Egg Noodles (they have to dry on the table all day) and Ham and Bean Soup.

[affreca.livejournal.com]

If my handy Joy of Cooking doesn't have what I want, I usually turn to the internet. Googling "foo soup recipe" turns up lots of options for most varieties of foo.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

I was given one of the New Covent Garden Soup Co. books - the one arranged by season - and was rather suspicious, because recipes from food manufacturers tend to be... odd. But there are very good, and I recommend it.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

If you can find Crescent Dragonwagon's soup and bread cookbook, buy it. It's lovely.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Plenty of copies available via Abebooks; am pursuing (how not? Crescent Dragonwagon!). Thanks, Mris...

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I do make soup. But I don't make more soup because my household disagrees on the role of soup. I feel it's a meal. The guys feel it's a side dish. So I make soup either when we're having lots of company so I can justify putting a lot of chopping and blending effort into "just a side dish," or else when it's a thicker, heartier, more stew-like concoction.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

I can see where that would be a difficulty. The only related problem we have in this house is the cats' inability to distinguish between meum and tuum; what's mine is theirs. Apparently. I have told them that cats don't like soup, but they don't believe me.

When I was a younger man with a heartier appetite, I did feel that soup was not a meal in itself; but I didn't want to make soup and a main course just for me. Any more than I wanted to make a main course and a pudding just for me. So I used quite often to subtract the common factor and make soup and a pudding.

These days, I'm with you. Soup is plenty.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

The things I sum to make a meal when the guys aren't with me just makes them shake their heads in bafflement.

You know why people don't make soup any more? Because 1) people don't cook as much any more and 2) canned soup companies (mostly Campbell's) have convinced them that soup is something you heat rather than something you make. That canned soup is the same thing, really. Uff da.

[julesjones]

My view of canned soup is that it is a perfectly adequate substitute for those occasions when you do not have the time, energy or ingredients to make it yourself. And that if one has a decent freezer, those occasions will be *very* occasional.

At the moment I do not have a decent freezer, nor a food processor, nor even a decent set of knives. Or a stockpot. In fact, I'm sure I had a better equipped kitchen when I was a student, but I am not permitted to go out and buy things, because things are on the ship, on their way. Slowly. In the meantime I am most grateful to Mr Campbell...

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Now, see, if you'd made it up to the play, I could've sent you home with a basic batterie de cuisine on loan; I could probably equip three kitchens with a set of good knives and a stockpot.

[julesjones]

This thought had occurred to me...

It's actually not quite as bad as it sounds. I've got a reasonable cook's knife now, borrowed from kalypso_v, and a new potato peeler, and it's surprising how far one can get with just those as long as they're of adequate quality. But I am missing horribly my big stockpot with the glass lid, which gets used for all sorts of things.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Right: canned soup is a substitute for a quick sandwich, not a substitute for a pot of fresh homemade soup.

[brisingamen.livejournal.com]

I have told them that cats don't like soup, but they don't believe me.

Minnow is convinced that my homemade soup is finer than any catfood in the world, which is why one is so often treated to the improbable sight of her tucking into the lickings of vegetable soup with great gusto.

[arkessian.livejournal.com]

Plenty of soup made over here!

Making winter vegetable soup now for sunday supper -- slow roasting chopped parsnips and carrots and onions and leeks and swede and potatoes and garlic cloves in their skins. And speaking of texture, only half will get whizzed with veg stock to make soup; the rest will be added to said soup to make roast vegetables in roast vegetable soup. Served with hot crusty tomato bread (also home made).

Yum.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Yum-yum. Roasted veg are just so good, in so many ways. (And when I was a kid, apart from potatoes of course and the Xmas parsnips, nobody roasted any veg at all, anywhere near me; everything was boiled, always. Is it any wonder we grew up thinking vegetables just dull...?)

[arkessian.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I'll always roast vegetables for preference. Or braise, stir-fry, steam... For some strange reason, boiling vegetables is way down my list of options!

[brisingamen.livejournal.com]

Why does no one make soup any more? It's easy! It's fun!

I make soup almost every week of the year; and my own stock too. Minestrone variant tomorrow, as there is some tender black kale in the veg box this week.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Ah, that "no one" was not meant to include my friends list! I knew you-all were sensible and discriminating people.

And now I'm thinking, damn! Why wasn't there any black kale in my veg box?

*wants*

[brisingamen.livejournal.com]

It's very beautiful black kale, too. I don't think I've ever seen any so nice as this.

Tonight, though, was mutton chops. My butcher has just started to stock mutton from Romney Marsh. Delicious. I've been hoping to lay my hands on some mutton for a while now. Am entirely happy.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Ah, I've always had a cheat on mutton: I live the exotic end of town, and my corner-shop is one of the finest Asian foodstores in the country. Their butchery section sells both lamb and sheep. Sheep is half the price, and, well. Mutton.

[julesjones]

I must find out where the mutton shop is. I live on the road that closer into the city centre houses the Curry Mile -- there *must* be a purveyor of mutton along there somewhere....

[desperance.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, marsh mutton? Nom-nom-nom.

[gauroth.livejournal.com]

What excellent timing! I have quantities of tomatoes in the fridge, I have garlic and chilli and herbs, and even though the food processor has ceased to be, the liquidiser still works. Though liquidising is dangerous on two counts: 1)it can make soup into baby food if run too long; and 2)it erupts like a volcano if over filled.

One question: are bacon croutons croutons fried in bacon fat, or are they bits of yer actual bacon?

[desperance.livejournal.com]

In this instance, bits of yer actual bacon: rashers of streaky, chopped into a hot pan and let sizzle till crisp, then tossed into the soup with the fat that has run off them. Exciting sizzling noises result, and yumminess: it they're properly crisp when they go in, they will stay crisp to the last spoonful.

Tho' bread croutons fried in bacon fat, of course, are also gorgeous.

And yes, my liquidiser does the same eruptive thing; I think they all do. Which is one reason why I tend to use the processor. Tired of scalding my hand and wiping up spillage.

[leela-cat.livejournal.com]

I make soup all the time. Leftovers from my last pot (roasted squash, pear and ginger) are in the freezer waiting for a night when I don't want to cook.

This soup sounds yummy. I'm going to add it to my collection.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Roasted squash, pear and ginger? Yum!

*swaps*

[leela-cat.livejournal.com]

The recipe's here in my LJ.

http://leela-cat.livejournal.com/124750.html#cutid1

You should be able to see it without any problem.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Yowie! That looks - sounds - reads utterly gorgeous. Thank you!

[wishus.livejournal.com]

The last soup I made was semi-successful, as emailed to me in last year's River Cottage newsletter. It involves a whole pumpkin, lid sliced off, seeds removed, some gruyere put into the hollow, topped up with cream, a wee bit of nutmeg on top, then lid back on and baked in the oven. Results, ideally, are supposed to be creamy pumpkin soup with stringy cheese bits in an edible bowl. What I got was some soup and lots of pumpkin mash! Still, quite nice!

[desperance.livejournal.com]

...and at least it didn't split and spill the soup all over the oven floor. Always a worry.