My take on Gazpacho

For those that don't know it at all Gazpacho is a Spanish soup that is usually served cold, sometimes with ice. I don't actually make real Gazpacho becasue I'm not a fan of cucmber in my version that's replaced by onion and/or courgette. Like most of my own recipes this can change according to what I have available.

To make this soup you need: Tomatoes, lots of them; Peppers, I like to use mixed coloured ones, Onion, if you're making a lot of soup use more than one colour of onion too; Courgettes, if they're in season.

This is an easy soup to make but the preparation is fiddly. First chop the ingredients into small pieces then soften the onion in a little oil. Next add all the other ingredients and shake them down well to leave as little space between them as possible. Now add vegetable stock or water to just about the same level as the vegetables. Bring to the boil then turn the heat down to allow the pan to simmer, it's a good idea to cover it at this stage. How long you simmer for depends on how much crunch you want the finished soup to have. If you're going to blend it it probably doesn't matter too much if you over cook it but I prefer to keep the cooking time fairly short and serve this as a chunky soup.

You can serve this cold if you want. If you are going to do so put it in a serving bowl in the fridge and take it out just before you want to eat. It's also good hot in my opinion but then I live in a country that is often quite cold (but never really severely so).

Red Pepper and Roquefort Soup.

This is a soup which may have been thought of before I came up with it but I certainly hadn't heard of it. It's also one you might want to use for dinner parties (if you ever have such things). It's also fairly simple as are most of my creations.

To make this you need a lot of red peppers and a little Roquefort, about seven to ten times as much of the former as of the latter depending on your personal taste. You could even go a little stronger on the Roquefort if you like blue cheese a lot. The other ingredients I use are red lentils to thicken the soup and cherry or pomodorino tomatoes to make the soup a better colour. Sometimes I add a bit of red onion too. If you are using dried lentils it may be necessary to soak them over night, check this when you buy them.

To make the soup take the seeds out of the peppers and discard them (although I don't suppose any of you need me to tell you this). Chop them (and the onions if you add any) then soften them a little in some hot oil. Put the ingredients except the cheese in a soup pan and add sufficient water to cover them. Bring the pan to the boil before turning the heat down and covering it. Let the whole thing simmer for about half an hour then blend before crumbling in the Roquefort. Bring the soup back to the boil and you're almost ready to serve it. I'd recommend stirring the soup thoroughly before serving to ensure that the cheese is well spread through it. Enjoy.

Thick Vegetable Soup

Although this soup can be based on Chicken or Ham stock I normally use plain water or a vegetable stock. To make this a base of pulses or barley (or even both) is a good idea. Vegetable soup is another very variable one as what you put in it depends on what's available. but to make it is fairly simple. First put your base in a pan and about I think a cup of barley and a cup of red and or green lentils is a good base but you can use whatever you like. Add to this water/stock so that the level is twice what it was with just the base in the pan. If you've used a meat based stock put it in the fridge with a cloth over it. If you just used water or vegetable stock it's probably safe to leave it covered over on the cooker. You should leave this for several hours so do it the night or at least the morning before you get on with the rest of it. If you're in a hurry you can do it just before starting to prepare the vegetables but I prefer to leave the base soaking longer.

Root vegetables are always a good idea in this soup. So I try to get carrots, turnips and potatoes as a minimum. You may also choose to add peas, cauliflower and/or broccoli. Just go and see what you can get by way of fresh vegetables and throw them in. Root vegetables should be peeled and diced, about 1cm is probably the maximum size for them. Other vegetables should be prepared and washed as normal. When you have all your vegetables ready get the pan in which the base has been soaking and add root vegetables first. Put the pan on a moderate heat and add enough water/stock to slightly more than cover the mix (if you've taken my advice and soaked the base a good long time you will need to add more but don't take any away). Once the pan starts to boil add a bit of water and the rest of the vegetables. Bring the pan back to the boil then turn the heat down so that the whole thing is just simmering. Stir occasionally to stop the soup sticking while it cooks. You'll probably need to keep the pan on the heat for half an hour or so but this really depends on how well cooked you like the vegetables in your soup to be.

Chicken Soup

It's been a while since I made time to post here. Work and holidays seem to have been getting in the way a lot. Anyway, I'm here to do what I had intended to do about 4 months ago. The logical thing to follow my stock recipe is, of course, chicken soup. For those of you who can't guess this actually uses a chicken stock. It is also a soup on which you can play many variations. As I've not done one before, at least not here, the recipe I'm going offer is for a clear soup.

For this particular recipe first make your stock taking care to skim the fat off it as you go, strain the stock through a muslin bag or similar at the end and leave it to cool. Once you've made the stock strip all the meat left on the carcass and shred it finely. If you've ever had chicken soup at a chinese restaurant you'll know what I mean. Next take any remaining fat off the cooled stock. If you want to have a soup that's not to liquid use a thickener such as cornflour, as I may have some readers who are complete novices I'll tell you that to do this you put some cornflour into a cup or jug and add a small amount of stock to it, you then stir until you have a smooth paste and next add a bit more stock. Personally I don't use anything like that but any recipe is as much about what you want to do with it as it is about what you put into it. Back to the recipe. You put the stock (with thickener if that's what you want) and the shredded chicken in a pan, bring it to the boil and simmer gently (either until it's thickened up enough or for about 10 minutes).

There you have it, a basic chicken soup.

Home made stock

It's about time I posted again and tonight I thought I'd go through the basics of making your own stock. Although I've used water for the two recipes posted so far many other kinds of soup are better when made using stock. Personally I prefer to make my own as cubes have far too much salt for my taste.

So how do you make your own stock? I hear you ask. Actually if you've come back after reading my earlier recipes you probably know anyway. The general method of making stock is much the same whatever type you may care to name, I'll illustrate it using chicken, this also happens to be a usefully way of making a chicken go even further.

The first thing to do is roast your chicken and eat most of the meat from it. This has nothing to do with making stock and everything to do with being thrifty. When you have a chicken skeleton with a bit of meat left on it make sure you have a reasonably big stock pot, one large enough to put the carcase in and still be able to cover with a lid should do. Next put the chicken in the pan add a whole peeled onion (and salt if you must, remember you can always add salt later but you can never take it out) and cover with water. All you need to do now is bring the pan to the boil and then turn the heat down so that the stock just simmers. Skim the excess fat and stuff of the top. Put the lid on the pan and let it simmer for 45 minutes to an hour skimming the top periodically to ensure the stock is reasonably clear. At the end of that time drain the stock off into a seperate pan, let it cool and freeze it (dividing it into smaller portions as required). You could also use some of it straight away to make chicken soup. You don't think I'll let any of that chicken go to waste, do you?

Tomato Soup

This is an old standard among soups. In it's tinned form it is probably the most popular soup in the UK. Needless to say my version is not like the tinned version, not least because it only uses fresh ingredients (no preservatives or colourings).

For this soup you need Tomatoes, Potatoes, Onions and water. I always use potato to thicken my soups when they are likely to need thickening and you'll probably notice that as time passes. Anyway let's start with making the soup. As usual you'll need to start by peeling and chopping the potato then putting it on to boil for a while. Next, peel and finely chop the onion then put it to one side while you get the tomatoes ready. I prefer to use cherry tomatoes and lot's of them. If you're using these all you need to do is cut them in half, if you use larger tomatoes you'll need to cut them into at least quarters and possibly eighths. Once you've chopped the tomatoes soften the onions by frying them in a little butter. After having done this you're ready to combine the ingredients. Put them all in the one pan, shake them down to minimise theempty space and add enough water to almost cover them, use a little less water if you're going to freeze the soup. Bring the water to the boil then turn the heat down, cover the pan and leave to simmer. When the soup has simmered long enough blend it thoroughly and you're ready to serve.

This soup is usually served with cream. Unlike some of my soups I wouldn't suggest trying to use this one as the main part of the meal.

Spinach and Mushroom Soup.

It was suggested to me some time ago that I start a blog. Now I don't exactly lead an interesting life so I don't have much to blog about. However I do like to cook, it really is great for relaxation once you get the hang of it, and it was as a result of a conversation about cooking that the suggestion was made. What I plan to do with my blog is post my latest creations for anybody who is interested to read about. To make it more useful I'll even let you, my readers, know if I think that what I've tried has worked out or not. When I let somebody other than me eat a new creation that is a little experimental I'll also report back on there reactions.

My first suggestion for a recipe is one that I quite like. Now I know that lots of you are going to look at this and go 'Spinach, Yuck!' and if you don't really can' cope with spinach don't even bother to try this. If you are still with me here is what you do for this recipe.

Take one large potato, peel it and cut it into small pieces. If you don't have a large baking potato use smaller potatoes to about the same amount. Put the potato in a pan with enough water to cover it and leave about an inch of water above it. Put this pan on to boil. While the pan is boiling get another pan and put into it enough finely chopped was spinach to fill it. Wash and chop some mushrooms. About this stage somebody is bound to be asking how much does the spinach weigh? or how many mushrooms do I use? Well frankly I don't know. Use what looks about right to you but remember it should all fit in a pan that takes about 4 pints of water when it's empty when all the ingredients go together. I usually make twice this amount and freeze most of it. You know how much you like mushrooms and how much you like spinach so I'll trust you to adjust the quantities the way you want. Anyway before the potatoes are fully cooked put the spinach on then get your 4 pint saucepan ready. Let the spinach come to the boil then turn it down slightly and give it five minutes. Once the five minutes are up drain the potatoes and put them into the 4 pint saucepan. then strain the spinach and add that. Next put your mushrooms in and finally put in some water, but not so much that the pan will boil over. Put a lid on the pan bring to the boil then allow to simmer for 10 minutes to half an hour depending on how you like it. Now blend the contents of your pan using what ever form of blender you have available. Bring the soup back to the boil, putting it back in the pan first if you had to take it out to blend it. You are now ready to serve the soup. If you want to freeze some let it cool first. It might be a good idea to have some cream available to serve with this soup.