As Strong As Soup

I stopped making vegetable purées for many years because back in the 1980s it was common practice to purée anything you could lay your hands on, especially if it was brightly coloured. It just got a bit too much like baby food. But I shouldn't have been so hasty. Vegetable purées are easy to make, they can be prepared in advance and reheated when required and, if you choose the right type of vegetable, the colour definitely can't be ignored on the plate. That's probably why purées not unlike these two seem to turn up quite regularly in slightly too expensive restaurants. You could rub these purées through a fine sieve if you want a guaranteed smooth result, although I usually prefer a little texture. Both of these purées will serve 2 or 4 people - 2 if it's for a midweek meal and you're hungry or 4 if you're planning delicate dollops arranged artistically on plates at a dinner party. (Do people still have dinner parties? I'm not entirely sure.) Red Cabb...

By the end of winter I feel as if I’ve eaten several lorry-loads of parsnips since Christmas and I’m looking around for something different to do with them. This recipe is based on one way I saw them being cooked in France, although I've complicated the dish quite a bit. I've often heard British people say that the French don't use or even know about parsnips – in fact I heard Mr H Fearnley-Whittingstall say something to that effect on the telly not so long ago. That might have been true once upon a time but parsnips turn up in a large number of French recipes and restaurants these days. This dish is very straightforward, but you have to start a few hours before you want to eat in order to allow time for the socca batter to rest. Of course, if you happen to have a wood-fired oven sitting around doing nothing, then feel free to cook the socca in that. I used slices of excellent Bury black pudding, but, if you can find it, Stornoway black pudding is also excellent and mig...

Happy New Year and let's hope 2011 is a good one. I have a feeling that I might have some trouble finding enough time to keep this blog updated in 2011, but I promise to try. Anyway, enough of this self-regarding nonsense and back to the recipes.  Here's a fragrant little soup to start the new year that's good for using up the veg left over from the festive season. This will make 4 – 5 portions. 1 onion, finely chopped 400 g carrots, peeled and chopped 200 g parsnips, peeled and chopped 2 cm fresh ginger, grated 2 tsp ground cumin ½ tsp ground coriander 2 tsp sumac 1.25 litres vegetable stock 1 cooking apple, peeled, cored and chopped small handful of basmati rice 2 tbsp maple syrup 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses a little lemon juice, but only if needed Soften the onion in a little oil – cold pressed rapeseed oil works really well if you have some. Stir in the carrots and parsnips followed by the ginger, cumin, coriander and sumac. Pour over 1 litre of the s...

I seem to use parsnips a lot for soups during the winter – their sweetness seems very comforting. This is a really easy soup, the only trick is to use the right amount of lime to get the balance of sweet and sour just the way you like it. Makes around 3 portions 2 rashers bacon, chopped 1 small onion, very finely chopped 1 tsp fresh ginger, very finely chopped or grated 2 cloves garlic, crushed 1 tbsp dark brown soft sugar Generous pinch of dried chilli flakes ½ glass marsala 200 g parsnips, prepared weight, i.e. peeled, any woody bits from the core removed and cut into chunks 1 medium potato, peeled and chopped into small chunks 900 ml chicken or vegetable stock 2 tsp maple syrup 3 or 4 tsp lime juice Fry the bacon briefly with a splash of olive oil in a large frying pan until some of the bacon fat is released and it starts to take on a little colour. Remove the bacon and set aside but leave the fat in the pan. Add the onion to the pan, with an extra splash of oil if necessar...

The supermarket had cheap parsnips yesterday, which seemed like a good opportunity for more soup making. More often than not I’ll make the old standby of a curried or spicy parsnip soup, but today I thought I’d make use of the sweet potatoes I had lying around and the stray Bramley apple in the fruit bowl. I use marsala in this recipe because I think it complements the taste of root veg and squashes really well – I use it quite a lot during the winter, but you could use sherry or leave it out altogether, though that would be a shame, I think. The recipe will make around 5 portions of reasonably thick soup that will be just right on cold and dreary day – like today, funnily enough. Like a lot of the soups I make this is virtuously low in fat. Parsnip Sweet Potato & Apple Soup 1 onion, finely chopped 1 teaspoon fresh ginger 3 cloves garlic, crushed Small glass of marsala A generous pinch of crushed, dried chilli 2 teaspoons dark brown sugar 375 g parsnips (prepared weight...