More Squashed Pepper

I made a new batch today, but instead of one yellow and one green pepper, i used one yellow and one red pepper.

 

I also added some salt.

 

The salt has brought the flavours out nicely, and the red pepper gives it a nice rounded flavour. For a lovely mediteranean soup, i'd also recommend some nice italian herbs - some basil and oregano, and either some tomato paste, or some fresh tomatoes (maybe 2 medium sized ones).

 

Yum!

Additions

After eating most of the squashed sweet pepper soup,  have come to the conclusion that yes, it does need a little salt, and a little butter (the real stuff!!).

 

That would make a fab soup even better!

Squashed Sweet Pepper

Todays recipe is for Squashed Sweet Pepper Soup

 

1/2 green squash (i'm not sure what the variety is - its a grass green colour medium sized pumpkin shaped squash. It has bright orange insides)

1 yellow pepper

1 green pepper

1pt veg stock

good gind black pepper.

 

Skin and dice the squash and cook until soft.

Slice peppers and add to the squash after its soft until the peppers are softened.

Strain out squash and peppers into a blender.

Slowly add the stock to blend until it is a thickish liquid consistency.

Grind black pepper in and blend a bit more to disperse it.

 

Simple and easy...and very very tasty!! Some people might wish to add a little salt, but not a lot!

 

Let me know if you try it and enjoy it (or not).

Tasty Fungi

Today's soup is Tasty Fungi

 

Half a box of mushrooms (don't know how many...four good handfuls?)

1 veg oxo cube/1pt veg stock

small amount of butter

1clove garlic

handful of parsley

1pt water

2 medium onions

 

Cut the onions up, and quarter the mushrooms.

Boil them in the pt of water and leave to reduce to half.

 

Make up the veg stock, and add the garlic (chopped) and the parsley (chopped). Leave the garlic and the parsley in the stock to cook.

 

Put everything into a blender - start with all the onion/mushroom mixture and half the stock mixture. When they've blended, slowly add the rest of the stock mixture and keep blending til its all smooth.

 

It comes out as a thick, dark grey soup. its filling and tasty - it has a good mushroom taste with a hint of garlic..

 

Apologies for The Daily Soup not being update for the past few weeks, work have stopped all on-work internet usage (good thing that doesn't apply to email!), so i've not had the chance to update recently!

Day 9

I think i've managed to turn round the disastrous soup.
I added:

1pt Veg stock
a piece of fresh ginger about the size of my thumb
a potato (not baking size, large normal potato size), cut into chunks and then boiled until it was really soft
some salt
some black pepper
and about a teaspoon of chilli powder.
1large, or 2 small garlic cloves, cut into small pieces

I think i might have overdone the spicing with chilli and ginger though... It is now a very warming winter soup. Much better than yesterday's tasteless offerings!

Day 8

Disappointment!
I don't like today's soup. There's nothing to it, its pretty flavourless.

Here's the recipe:

Healthy Eyes, Healthy Body

6 large carrots
1 medium onion
1pt veg stock
Good handful of fresh basil.
1 large orange

Chop up carrots into chunks
Boil until soft enough to mash.
Chop onion into small pieces (i should have said dice...).
Turn off the heat under the carrots and put in onion. you want to soften it and avoid overcooking it.
Add roughly chopped herbs (remember: basil should always be torn!). and leave to wilt with carrots and onions.

Put carrots, onion and basil into blender and blend away til you get a thick, smooth puree. Then add veg stock and blend again to mix.
Add orange (peeled) and blend again.


I don't like this one. it hasn't come out at all good. I think i wanted it more carroty and more orangey, but its a bit watery and not very flavourful. Its also really sweet.
I think tomorrow i might try adding a few more vegetables, and a good amount of seasoning. I need something to take down the sweetness.
Any suggestions welcome!!

Day 7

Today i'm finishing up Spuds leeked News.
For a milk-based soup, its lasted really well. I've been keeping it in the fridge in an ice cream tub.

We had roast chicken for dinner last night, so this morning, wheile i was warming the soup up, i chopped up one of the chicken breasts left, and added it to the soup. I then set the soup onto a rolling boil for a good five minutes to make sure that the chicken was well warmed through.

It should be delicious! I also added a bit of black pepper. I love freshly ground black pepper, and it complements the creaminess of the soup perfectly. yum Yum!

Should be new soup tomorrow! I bought a 5k bag of carrots yesterday, so i have a feeling that the soup may be heavily carrot based...

Day 6

Spuds leeked News is still going.

Because its white sauce based, it sets in the fridge, so i just added a pint of hot veg stock to get it all moving, and then warmed it up. I love this soup, it is my favourite to make, and to eat. Its filling because it has bits in it - lumps of potato and mushroom, and its tasty. It also gets better if you leave it - the flavours really infuse together.

Delicious!

Day 5

I forgot to update you all on the progress of The Exorcism of Smoky B!!

It was lovely, it did do as i suspected and mellowed nicely. It wasn't quite so good the second day after it was made - the meat had completely lost its smokiness, but it was very very tender.

So...New recipe today:

Spud's Leeked News

A medium saucepan of potato bits (i chopped up a load of tiny potatoes that i found at the bottom of the bin - leave the skins on!!)
1 Large Leek
6 Medium Mushrooms

Good dollop of butter
good sprinkle of plain flour
1pt milk
1pt veg stock

Cook the potatoes. Drain.
Chop the leek up, and the mushrooms. Add potatoes and leek to saucepan with a little olive oil in the bottom. Add mushrooms when the leek is soft.

Melt butter in another saucepan, and add flour to make a bread crumb consistency. Then add milk and whisk like made until its all smooth. Add veg stock to vegetables in saucepan and cook for 5 minutes. Add veg saucepan to sauce saucepan and mix well. it will look like its curding at first, but keep it on a low heat and mix well and it'll be good.

Season if preferred. i like a good grind of black pepper in it - but i do like black pepper!!

It hould come out as a smooth creamy soup with potato, leek and mushroom pieces. you can blend it all to make a really smooth soup with flavour, but personally, i prefer having the bits. It will be tasty!!

If there's anyone having a go at these recipes, please let me know how you get on too!!

Day 4

Today i have a new soup recipe!

The Exorcism of Smoky B

3 Medium/Large carrots
2 medium parsnips
4 large spinach leaves
A good amount of Swede (i'm guessing about a small swede - i was cutting it off of a gigantic swede!!)
1pt Veg stock
1/2 pt full cream milk
Couple of good handfuls frozen peas
1/2 lb Smoked ham/bacon joint

Cut carrots, parsnips and swede into small chunks and boil for about half an hour, or until they're all soft.
Add spinach and peas
Leave to cook for another 10 mins

Drain veg and add to blender with stock and 1/2 milk. Blend like a maniac! It takes a bit of blending because of the root vegetables.

Cut ham/bacon into small cubes. I have a happy eater 1pt thermos flask that takes my soup every day, so i guaged the cube size on the opening for it.

Add ham/bacon to blended soup, swish out blender with remaining milk.


This soup is not overly thick, which is nice. usually, when i make soup, it ends up really thick, but i wanted something more runny, and i think the addition of the extra milk has really helped. The veg have gone nice and sweet with a definite overtone of swede. The bacon adds a nice salty edge to it and the smoked flavour comes through nicely. I'm going to update again tomorrow to add what it tastes like after the bacon has been in it for a night. I'm hoping that the sweetness of the veg has taken the edge off of the bacon, and the saltiness of the bacon has taken the edge off the sweetness of the veg.

I decided to give it that name because it is green...pea green! So, pea soup for the exorcism and smoky b for the bacon. Yummy!

Day Three

I only had half a pint of Hey Fungi! left today, so i mixed it with half a pint of Covent Garden Wild Mushroom...I think this created the perfect soup. Its thick enough to be filling, and smooth, and runny enough to cme out of the cup properly. Absolutely wonderful! I have the Covent Garden Soup Company recipe book somewhere. I might have to work on a hybrid - Hey Wild Fungi!

Instead of a recipe tday, here's a link to The Covent Garden Soup Company:

www.newcoventgardenfood.com

Have a look, enjoy, salivate and cook!

Day Two

Still on the Hey Fungi! Go Back To your Roots soup

The flavours have merged more today, there's more herb coming through. Still very nice...still very thick.

Today i have a recipe for the perfect bread to go with the Hey Fungi! soup:

Crusty White Bread

800g (1¾lb) Strong White Flour
450ml (¾ pint) Lukewarm Water
25g (1oz) Fresh Yeast
15g (½ oz) Lard
2 tsp Salt

Mix the flour and salt together, rub in the lard.
Dissolve the sugar in a little of the water and use to mix the yeast into a smooth thin paste, then add to the remaining water.
Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the liquid. Mix together well and then knead for at least 5 minutes, until it becomes a smooth, elastic dough.
Shape into a ball and place in a warmed lightly greased bowl, cover and leave in a warm place for two hours to allow it to rise.
Turn out on to a floured surface and knock out all of the air.
Knead again until springy and smooth.
Reshape into a ball and place in a warmed lightly greased bowl, cover and leave in a warm place for an hour to allow it to rise again.
Divide the dough in half and place into two well-greased 2lb (900g) loaf tins.
Cover the tins and place in a warm place for 40 - 45 minutes to allow the dough to rise.
Preheat oven to 230°C: 450°F: Gas 8 and bake for 40-45 minutes.

From www.Foody.com

This thick, hearty soup really needs a good farmhouse crusty loaf to go with it.

Enjoy!

Day One

Day One's a bit odd really, because its actually day two of my working week.
Ho Hum..

Today's soup is Hey! Fungi - Go Back To Your Roots!


Recipe:

6 small potatoes (not tiny new potato size, a bit bigger than that)
1 large carrot
1 medium parsip
1 medium leek (only up to the green bit - not using the tough upper leaves)
1 medium onion (white)
3 portobello mushroom (about 3" across)
1pt Veg Stock

Small handful fresh parsely
Small handful fresh sage
Small handful fresh basil
A good grind of black pepper
Tsp sea salt
Knob of butter


Cut the potatoes into small pieces, leaving the skins on and boil for about half an hour.
Cut the carrot and parsnip into equally small pieces and boil for 15 minutes
Shallow fry together the onion, mushrooms and leek, also cut into small pieces.

Turn off the heat to the frying pan and add the herbs, lightly chopped. We want to wilt them rather than cook them.

Add potatoes, carrot, parsnip and stock to a blender and whizz for a couple of minutes. At this point it should look and smell something like baby food! Add the mushroom mixture and whizz again so that its all incorporated. Then add the pepper, butter and salt. Mix thoroughly.

Drink and enjoy!

I found this soup to be easy to make, and really tasty. Its really thick, so some might want to add more veg stock to water it down. I like a good thick soup that can be eaten without bread and still provide a filling meal.