Broad Bean And Bacon Soup

I ate this in a Spanish restaurant recently and it was fab. My own version was not quite so spectacular but it's still well worth a go and bean and artichokes are everywhere you look this week.
Serves 6
Knob of butter
1 onion, diced
1 lemon thyme sprig
2 garlic cloves, roughly sliced
1 bay leaf
small bacon joint, abut 600g
2 white potatoes, peeled and cubed
11⁄2 litres hot chicken stock
800g small broad beans, shell as many as you can be bothered to
2 fresh artichoke hearts, cut into chunks
lemon juice and olive oil, to serve

Melt the butter in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the onion, thyme, garlic and bay leaf. Cook for 5 minutes util softened.

Cut a couple off thin slices off the bacon and set aside. Roughly cube the rest and add to the pan with the potatoes and stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes.

Add the beans and artichokes to the pan and simmer for a further 20 minutes. Take out a good few spoon of the beans and a few artichoke chunks out of the pan and set aside. Whiz the rest until very smooth then return the vegetables.

Grill the reserved bacon until crispy. Season the soup, adding lemon juice, to taste. Ladle into bowls and scatter with bacon and olive oil.

I Literally Love The Quality Chop House

I went to The Quality Chop House for my lunch and it was, quite probably, the best lunch I have ever eaten (that wasn't cooked by The Wife). Excellent bread and olive oil, pea and mint soup to start and an incredible chicken, ham and mushroom pie with a a great hay-cock sized bowl of double-crunchy chips. Amazing.

THAT LUNCH IN FULL

SOUP!


A WHOLE PIE!


2/3s OF A PIE!


NO PIE WHATSOEVER :(

Italian Chicken and Vegetable Soup

Chicken balls do sound a bit horrible but these lovely little Parmesan and garlic dumplings are slowly simmered in a flavoursome broth and taste delicious. Packed with vitamins and fibre, this dinner also rates well on the GL index (got to get into that holiday swim suit next week!).

Serves 4
1 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 large tomato, finely chopped
1 litre water
1 Kallo organic chicken stock cube
1 celery stalk finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
handful of runner beans, thinly sliced
200g bag young spinach leaves
for the balls
1 garlic clove, quartered
few sprigs parsely
2 tbsp grated Parmesan
250g cubed chicken

1 Heat the oil in a large pan and cook the onion for 5 minutes. Add the tomato and cook for a couple of minutes until softened. Add the water, stock cube, celery and carrot and bring to the boil. Simmer for 15 minutes.

2 Place the garlic parsley and Parmesan in a small food processor and whizz until finely chopped. Tip into a bowl. Add the chicken to the food processor and whizz until finely minced. Add to the bowl along with a little salt and plenty of black pepper.

3 Shape the chicken into cherry-sized balls dropping each one into the pan as they’re made. Add theb sliced beans to the pan. Cover and cook gently for 20 minutes.

4 Stir in the spinach and cook for a few moments until wilted. Ladle into bowls and serve without any crusty, buttered bread.

Greek Lemon & Egg Soup

I love that Greek shop on Lordship Lane. Whether it’s after 6 on a Sunday or early on a bank holiday when everyone’s hungry, everywhere’s closed and all you have is a block of chicken stock in the freezer, you can rely on Andreas Delicatessen for giant bunches of fresh herbs, plump lemons and a pack of pasta (and flat bread and great feta and good olives and samosas). All you need for a quick lunch.

This easy soup is based on the Greek classic Avgolemono.

Serves 2 - 4
1.2 litres chicken stock with shreds of chicken
100g orzo or long grain rice
2 large eggs, at room temperature
juice of 1- 2 lemons, depending on how sharp you like it
4 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley

Heat the stock and once boiling cook the orzo or rice until tender. Remove from the heat and cover with a lid.

Whisk the eggs and lemon juice in a bowl until frothy. Remove a big ladleful of hot broth from the soup and slowly add it to the eggs, whisking continually.

Whisk the warmed eggs into the soup - the broth should be hot enough to cook the eggs so they thicken the soup a little. If it does taste raw, put the heat back on very gently just for a minute or two but don't let it get so hot as to set the eggs in clumps.

Stir in the parsley, check the seasoning (it needs quite a bit of salt to balance the lemon). Ladle into bowls and serve swiftly.

Basic Chicken Stock

Home-made chicken stock is the basis for many a good meal. Here’s a basic recipe:



½ chicken or 2 whole legs, skinned
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 celery stalk, roughly chopped
1 carrot, sliced
1 ripe tomato, roughly chopped by a Scrap
1 garlic clove, halved
1 rosemary stalk
pinch of salt and few peppercorns

Place all the ingredients in a large pan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 40 – 60 minutes.

Strain the stock. Lift out the chicken and shred the meat off the bone then add back to the stock. Use straight away or cool and chill or freeze.

Hot & Sour Chicken Vermicelli Broth

The only draw back with Oriental grocers is that everything comes in such large bags that you end up with loads of leftover greens and beansprouts and have to eat the same style of food three days in a row. Oh, well.

You should try this broth, it makes you feel good.

Serves 4
1/2 small chicken or 2 whole legs, skinned
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, quartered
piece root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
4 kaffir lime leaves, crumpled and/or a lemongrass stalk, flattened
100g vermicelli rice or egg noodles
1 tbsp good Thai red curry paste (please don’t use Barts)
bundle of choi sum or a few heads of bok choi
200g beansprouts
75g sliced bamboo shoots, rinsed, soaked and drained
2 tsp light muscovado sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 - 2 lemons
2 spring onion, thinly sliced
2 red chillies, thinly sliced
handful fresh coriander leaves

Place the chicken, 1.5 – 2 litres of water, the onion, garlic, ginger, lime leaves or lemongrass in a large pan and add a little salt. Bring to the boil then simmer very gently for 30 minutes until the chicken is cooked through
Strain the stock into a clean pan. Place the chicken on a board until cool enough to handle then shred the meat off the bones.

Cook the noodles according to packet instructions then drain and divide between bowls – don’t worry about them going cold as the hot broth will soon warm them back up.

Stir the curry paste into the stock and bring back to the boil. Add the greens and cook for a moment then stir in the shredded chicken, beansprouts, bamboo shoots, sugar and fish sauce and simmer for 1 minute.

Squeeze in the lemon juice to taste. Ladle the hot broth over the noodles then scatter over the spring onion, chillies and coriander leaves. Eat.

Simple Roasted Tomato Soup

I'm happy today. It was my lovely Scrappy's 3rd birthday and what a sunny day it has been. The days are warmer and longer and the summer's fruit and veg are well on their way. Even English tomatoes are starting to taste good.
Serves 4
1 kg ripe tomatoes, halved
1 red onion, sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
1.5 litre chicken or vegetable stock
1 large white potato, peeled and diced
4 garlic cloves, chopped
balsamic vinegar OR freshly grated Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Place the tomatoes and red onion in a roasting tin and drizzle over the olive oil. Season and roast for 45 minutes until the tomatoes are softened and a little charred.

Meanwhile, place the stock, potatoes and garlic in a pan. Bring to the boil then cover and simmer for 20 minutes until tender. Add the tomato mixture then using a hand-held blender, whizz until thick and fairly smooth.

Check for seasoning and finish with either a dash of vinegar or a handful of cheese.

Butternut soup

I know it’s been raining a lot but it’s quite mild out. Which means summer is coming which means bare legs and vest tops. We need to get our act together at Landcroft House. We have a family membership at Jags sports club, costs £65ish a month, gets used once a month. From now on we are going to exercise, watch our calorie and booze intake (although we’re going to the East Dulwich Forum wine tasting at Green & Blue tonight which is not a good start). I am going to walk everywhere. I am going use that giant butternut squash to make a very healthy soup for tonight’s tea.

Everyday butternut soup
Serves 2
Just 248 kcal per large serving!
Butternut squash is very high in Vitamin A (nice hair and skin) and C and is also a good source of fibre, Vitamin E and calcium.
800g butternut squash or small pumpkin, peeled, seeded and cubed
500g ripe tomatoes, quartered
2 garlic cloves, quartered
1 tsp olive oil
2 chillies, halved, seeded and roughly chopped
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp dark muscovado
1.2 litres hot chicken or vegetable stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6. Place the pumpkin, tomatoes and garlic in a large, deep roasting tin. Season well with salt and pepper, drizzle over the oil and roast for 30 minutes until the pumpkin feels tender when pierced with a knife.

Sprinkle over the chillies, ginger and sugar then pour over the hot stock. Return to the oven for 20 minutes. Puree roughly with a potato masher or blitz with a hand blender depending on how smooth you like your soup.

Chinese steeped chicken

My cold is getting the better of me so I’ve bunked off work a bit early to come home and boil that chicken. I’ve decided that what I need are some good aromatics such as ginger, lemon grass and chilli to clear my sinuses.

I popped into Tai Loc, the Vietnamese grocer a few doors down from our studio on Choumert Road and found an ingredient I’ve only ever seen pickled or in jars before – fresh lotus root. ‘Peel it, slice it and boil it with a chicken for a few hours to make good soup’, the woman said. I love an experiment!

This soup is based on a classic Chinese technique shown to me by my friend Ben and makes the chicken silky and tender. Of course it can be made without the lotus root - I don't think it's going to add much flavour. Serve with plain boiled rice or noodles.

Serves 4
1 chicken, cut into 8 pieces
1 lotus root (optional) about 150g, peeled and thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
5cm piece root ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
2 lemon grass stalks, flattened a little with a rolling pin
2 red chillies, thinly sliced if fresh, crumbled if dried
1 star anise
sea salt
bundle of choi sum or pak choi
300g can straw mushrooms, drained and halved or 250g sliced fresh shiitake
soy sauce and vinegar, to taste
4 spring onions, thinly sliced
handful of holy basil or coriander leaves

1 Skin the chicken and place the pieces in a large pan. Add the lotus root, garlic, ginger, lemon grass, chillies, star anise and a little salt. Just cover with cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Cover with a lid, turn off the heat and leave to cool completely – the chicken will finishing cooking as it gently cools down, not sure yet that the lotus root will be tender though. Skim the surface to make sure the broth stays clear.

2 To serve, bring back to a gentle simmer and add the greens and mushrooms and cook for 3 – 4 minutes. Divide the chicken pieces and greens between four bowls. Season the broth with soy sauce and vinegar then ladle, along with all the bits into the bowls. Scatter with spring onions and basil and serve.

10 minute pea soup with lemon and feta

Peas are a very good source of fibre and protein and are packed with vitamin C, iron and zinc.

Serves 4
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 red chilli, seeded and roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
800g frozen peas
1 small round lettuce, leaves separated and washed
1 litre hot vegetable or chicken stock
grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
150g feta, crumbled into small pieces

Heat the olive oil in a large pan and cook the onion, chilli and garlic for 5 minutes until softened.

Add the peas, lettuce leaves and hot stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes until the peas are tender.

Remove the soup from the heat then roughly blitz using a hand-held blender until coarsely pureed. Stir in the lemon rind and juice and season with salt and plenty of black pepper.

Ladle into bowls and scatter over the feta.

Ham and split pea soup

Now I have all this lovely stock from poaching the gammon yesterday and I can't throw it away. Predictably, I have decided on soup. Strain the stock into a pan, make it up to 2 litres with extra water then stir in 250g dried split yellow or green peas. Roughly chop the saved chunk of ham and a tomato and add to the pan. Bring to the boil, part-cover and simmer for 1 – 1 ½ hours until the peas have disintegrated. If you have any parsley left, add to the soup then whiz with a hand blender until fairly smooth. Very good for freezing.

Mum’s leek and potato soup

Peel and chop four potatoes, one onion, one garlic clove and two celery stalks and place in a pan. Cover with water, bring to the boil and simmer for 8 minutes. Add the white part, sliced, of three leeks and cook until tender. Whizz with a blender. Add a knob of butter, a small carton of single cream and some chopped parsley. Serve with crusty bread.

Salt Beef and Spinach

That butcher's on Nunhead Lane is the only place I've come across in London that makes and sells its own uncooked Salt Beef. I know it's a pretty unpleasant grey on the outside but once cooked, it's so wonderfully soft and pink within (as good as any gammon) I can't understand why it isn't more popular. If you don't live near Nunhead, you could salt your own but you'll need curing salt or saltpetre. These people do salt beef by mail order but you might have to order more than one joint.

Today, I nicked off work a bit early and at about 5pm, popped my pale little joint (just under 1kg, cost around £6.50) in a big pan with water, four halved shallots, a chopped carrot, a sliced red chilli and garlic clove, a few whole herb sprigs and a couple of star anise. I bought it to a simmer and kept it going very gently, skimming from time to time until 7.30pm (popping out to nursery to fetch The Scrap half way through).

Finally, I tipped in a big bag of young spinach leaves, just for a couple of minutes until wilted. I cut a few thick pink slices off the beef, into two bowls and ladled over the lovely, clear, fragrant broth and vegetables. It was fantastic. And along with some American mustard and dill pickles, the rest of the beef will keep Robert in packed lunches at least until Thursday!