Okay, people in this house are on the brink of colds, so I took it as my mission to stop that nonsense in its tracks.
The Get Better Bacon Soup:
1 large red onion, large chop
4 large cloves of garlic, chopped
thumb of fresh ginger, chopped
olive oil to cover and saute
salt, pepper
sage
2 dried red chili's
add water and stock to taste
simmer it for a bit
chop 1/4 rasher of bacon and pop it in
simmer it for another bit
Serve with a beautiful sunflower shaped pull apart bread from L'Epicerie deli on the corner, along with a dish of olive oil for dipping, with 4 cloves of chopped garlic sunk to the bottom of it, salt and pepper. And Whitstable Ale, the get better beer.
Feeling better already!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Soup's Ahoy!
I am on a roll with soup making, I don't mind telling you.
A couple of years ago, I worked as a cook at a conference center in Scotland, a place called Iona. It was a gorgeous setting and an amazing place, but what I really loved was the work. Along with a team of 4-5 volunteers, I churned out breakfast, lunch and dinner for up to 80 people a day. The team taught me so much about having fun with cooking and what a collaborative art it can be. But I also found my own style in the midst of the group and I love how it has stayed with me. I have a cooking sense now that I never did before, and sometimes recipes just appear in my head and I work them with a kind of natural ease that I find very delightful. Nothing complicated, mind you, but the results are sometimes just wonderful.
Take my soups lately. Very simple fresh spinach soup:
a couple of onions, some cloves of garlic, all chopped and sweating nicely in a good covering of olive oil
a bit of veggie broth mix
great handfuls of fresh spinach
enough water to cover
salt and pepper
a dab of butter to deepen the flavor
when the spinach is cooked down, blend with a stab mixer and serve with grated haloumi cheese and cracked pepper
It's so green and good you feel as strong as Popeye after a couple of bowlfuls.
Next time - the stilton and celery soup I brazenly copied - and improved - from my favorite buddhist restaurant here in London.
In honor of all things green, this pic from Cambridge last weekend.
A couple of years ago, I worked as a cook at a conference center in Scotland, a place called Iona. It was a gorgeous setting and an amazing place, but what I really loved was the work. Along with a team of 4-5 volunteers, I churned out breakfast, lunch and dinner for up to 80 people a day. The team taught me so much about having fun with cooking and what a collaborative art it can be. But I also found my own style in the midst of the group and I love how it has stayed with me. I have a cooking sense now that I never did before, and sometimes recipes just appear in my head and I work them with a kind of natural ease that I find very delightful. Nothing complicated, mind you, but the results are sometimes just wonderful.
Take my soups lately. Very simple fresh spinach soup:
a couple of onions, some cloves of garlic, all chopped and sweating nicely in a good covering of olive oil
a bit of veggie broth mix
great handfuls of fresh spinach
enough water to cover
salt and pepper
a dab of butter to deepen the flavor
when the spinach is cooked down, blend with a stab mixer and serve with grated haloumi cheese and cracked pepper
It's so green and good you feel as strong as Popeye after a couple of bowlfuls.
Next time - the stilton and celery soup I brazenly copied - and improved - from my favorite buddhist restaurant here in London.
In honor of all things green, this pic from Cambridge last weekend.
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