As Strong As Soup

I've been posting recipes on this blog for more than 15 years now and I've included most of the recipes that I wanted to record in that time. Lately I've found it very hard to find time to post any more. So, unless something very strange happens, this will be the last post on the blog. For this final recipe I'm going back to one of my recurring themes - French and, in particular, Normandy food. I first came across the beurré in an old, very traditional Normandy restaurant where I'd already eaten four massive courses punctuated by the customary trou normand. The beurré was served at the end of the meal just in case, by some miracle, the diner was still hungry. Apparently Oscar Wilde would often cycle to this restaurant while he was in exile at Berneval-le-Grand and, apart from the tablecloths, I don't think that much had changed in the place since then. I could barely lift myself out of my chair after that meal so I've no idea how Mr Wilde got back on his bik...

I can't claim that these little aperitif biscuits are in any way original. They're based on a simple, historic recipe for Le Pébradou (or Gâteaux au Poivre) from Limoux. These are certainly not British style biscuits to have with tea. They're actually considered a fine accompaniment to a glass of Blanquette de Limoux, which is possibly the oldest sparkling wine in France and maybe anywhere else on the planet. The biscuits are very pleasing with many other drinks too (alcoholic or not) and they're not too shabby alongside dips of various kinds. Many aperitif nibbles are designed to tempt you to drink by having a lot of salt and these do something similar but with a little hum of pepper heat rather than salt. Although they're good at any time of the year, they're often associated with Christmas and so, for once in my life, I'm almost in sync with the festive season. You can use whatever olive oil you'd like but personally I prefer a lighter style. If the o...

It's time for a warming autumn soup. The first recipe for chestnut soup that I can remember reading was by the always reliable Alastair Little around 30 years ago. This simple recipe owes a lot to that original. Mr Little was a significant influence on many professional and amateur cooks in this country with his dedication to purist Italian food. I always thought of him as unapologetically old school and some of the dogmatic things that he wrote, I have to admit, I found more amusing than useful. For instance, he wrote that pasta “should always be eaten as a first course. If you have pasta as a main course you will be hungry again within 2 hours." But, if I want a dependable, classic Italian recipe, then his books are one of the first places I look. Sadly, he passed away in 2022. I'm definitely not a purist and this recipe has certainly departed from the original, but, in my defence, it's really quick and easy and remains suitably tasty. You can, of course, gather your...

As time's gone by I've become a lot less formal about the way I serve meals and I use more and more little savoury spreads, dips and sauces. They can be prepared in advance and put on the table in various combinations for people to share. There are plenty of recipes of that kind around, but these two Provençal classics don't seem to turn up very often these days. So here are my versions. They're really easy to make, there's no cooking involved and all you need is a blender. Admittedly, like so many of my recipes, they aren't quite authentic. (See if I care).  I first came across these two tasty treats as dips for crudités (essentially, strips of raw veg) but I think they're even nicer spread on toast (or savoury biscuits or crackers, if you prefer). In fact, they're even more versatile: for instance, try using saussoun as a sauce for pasta or roasted veg or serve it alongside lamb or simply cooked fish. At the risk of sounding excessively elegiac, I feel...

I can't really describe this classic recipe as forgotten, but it seems to be overlooked and unfashionable these days. It fits perfectly with my plan to gather some of the recipes that I've been meaning to get around to for years. The first version of this recipe (at least, in English) seems to have surfaced in Elizabeth David’s ‘A Book Of Mediterranean Food’ in 1950 (interestingly, she suggests using red or white wine). It became a staple of the celebrated restaurant ‘The Hole in the Wall’ in Bath and its chef George Perry-Smith through the 1950s and 60s. In the following two or three decades, versions of the recipe surfaced now and then, but I've not seen it mentioned much in the new century. It's a simple recipe that's too tasty to fade away, so here's my version, for what it's worth. The definition of “button” mushrooms is a bit loose and if yours are not quite as small as you might expect, then extend the cooking times a bit. I've used unsmoked pance...

Around 45 years ago, I was best of chums with a woman who loved good food and was a fine cook. But, in her view, all that cooking palaver was wasting good partying time. Now and then, she did prepare some food for one of her own parties and that usually meant large pots of decidedly tasty chilli or a strange, vaguely oriental stew of chicken or pork cooked in prodigious amounts of soy sauce. The latter was stuffed into pitta bread before being served to bemused but captive partygoers. It was a very long way from being an authentic dish but, personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. To this day, though, I think it just might be the saltiest and, in some ways, the oddest thing I've ever attempted to eat. Recently, I saw some pork shoulder steaks on offer in the supermarket and, for some reason, I remembered that curious, party dish. This definitely isn't  an attempt to recreate it, but I think this modern version sort of captures the spirit of the origin...

Continuing my personal plan for 2024, here's another recipe that I've been meaning to get round to for many years. Using new potatoes in a soup may seem a bit odd, but I remember Franco Taruschio used to make a new potato soup back in the hallowed Walnut Tree days and the estimable Simon Hopkinson has made several versions over the years. So, if two of my food heroes make it, then I have to produce my own, prosaic version. It's a different way of celebrating spring or early summer produce and you can even use the bits of asparagus that taste good but may be cheaper because they don't look their best. As I've discovered to my cost, there are two aspects to this soup that are really important. First, don't try to ramp up the flavours by adding too many ingredients, powerful stock or spices because you'll lose the subtle flavour of the potatoes. Second, the purée stage of the soup is absolutely crucial. If you liquidise the potato mix, then the soup is likely ...

This simple, versatile recipe is another one that I've been meaning to post for quite a while. It's a sweet and spicy sauce that gives you both colour and powerful flavour. It's based, pretty loosely, on a barbecue sauce that Peter Gordon made back in the London Sugar Club days. The sauce will work well with fresh, frozen or even canned mango but there's likely to be a big difference in the sweetness that each type of mango brings to the sauce, so taste and adjust the acidity as you see fit. It's a very forgiving concoction, so vary the spices and the amount of chilli as you fancy. The sauce is good with most simple meat suppers, like burgers, sausages, pork and venison. But it will also liven up leftovers and veg, including winter root veg. Use the sauce to baste during cooking and serve the warmed sauce over or alongside your chosen main ingredient. You could also try it cold as an alternative to the usual ketchup or chilli sauce. In theory, this makes enough for ...

Last Christmas I was saddened to hear the news that Bill Granger had gone. When I first came across the book "Sydney Food" at the start of the new century, it felt refreshing and joyful. There were many high-profile books published at the time that I found repetitious and dull, but Bill's sunny, carefree food was never forbidding and always relaxed and interesting. Reading his recipes made me want to make them or, at least, something inspired by them. If I strayed away from the details of his recipes here and there, it didn't seem to matter. For me, cooks that inspire in that way are rare and always uplifting.   Since then, I've collected a modest pile of his books and made many meals over the years using his recipes, even if I've altered them a bit along the way. Incidentally, BG was called the "egg king" because of his famous, Australian-style scrambled eggs made with a serious amount of cream, but, I suppose because of my European background, that...

In the area around Amiens in the Somme they take rhubarb very seriously and this recipe is based (pretty loosely) on a dish from there. The sauce has a sweet and sour quality that's sharp enough to cut through the rich flavour of duck but it will also work very well with pork, goose or guinea fowl.   If you're using sweet, forced rhubarb such as the superb product from the Rhubarb Triangle in Yorkshire, then it won't need much (if any) sweetening. If in doubt, use the minimum amount of grenadine and add any necessary sweetening at the end.  Despite my sincere attempts to be lazy, I'm now reluctantly forced to admit that the very best grenadine is homemade. Unless you're obsessed with cocktails, though, you probably don't have any, so use whatever commercial brand you fancy. If you don't have any grenadine at all, then just sweeten with honey, agave nectar or even plain sugar, but combine them with a little pomegranate molasses, if possible. The sauce can be ...

I've been lobbing recipes into this blog for over 14 years now and, since I must be running out of things to say and original things to cook, I thought that 2024 should be the opportunity to gather up the few recipes that I've been meaning to get round to (or haven't got quite right yet) before I finally shut up once and for all. So, first off, here's a recipe that I've had hanging round for many years but never posted. That might be because it's a bit odd or it might be just because I've never managed to get a good photo of it. Oh well, here goes anyway.  The sauce was (indirectly) inspired by a dish from Les Rosiers restaurant in Biarritz, although their food is a lot more sophisticated than anything you'll find here. Sadly, I've never been near the place, but, many years ago, I saw it featured in an episode of the now defunct TV show 'Les Escapades de Petitrenaud'. Over the years since I first made this dish, I've come to the conclusi...

I've featured recipes from Normandy a number of times in this blog over the years, but I make no excuses for including another. Some of my previous recipes have probably been on the lighter side of Normandy cooking. This one isn't. This sauce doesn't use any stock or onions, it's just classic, Normandy ingredients, including rather a lot of crème fraîche.  It's really important to use a sweet or medium-sweet cider for this recipe. Dry ciders may be nice to drink but they're bit too austere and somehow less flavourful in this sauce. In the same way, choose an apple that has a good flavour but is sweet rather than sharp.   On this occasion, I've served this sauce with simply fried pork medallions, but it will also work with duck, guinea fowl or some well-flavoured chicken. If it suits what you're cooking, then you might fancy adding a little Dijon mustard before you liquidise the sauce.  This should be plenty for 2 people, even in Normandy.  500ml sweet or...

The recipe for this autumnal soup is based on something that I ate in a restaurant around 20 years ago, but it reminded me of a time long ago and of the music of Leonard Cohen. Early in the 1970s, there lived in South London a man who saw it as his mission in life to cook food for the waifs, strays, bad poets, questionable musicians and general hangers-on of the area. I'll call him Henry because, after all this time, I have to slightly misquote Dylan and admit that the only thing I can remember for sure about Henry is that his name wasn't Henry. The meals he made were often soups and always vegetarian. I'm fairly sure that they were made from the dodgy-looking veg they couldn't sell to normal people in Balham market. The meals were invariably accompanied by the sound of one of the first two Leonard Cohen albums. I assume he had some other records, but I don't remember him ever playing them. Although I've eaten a vast number of vegetarian dishes since then, inclu...

This recipe produces a rich sauce with some very tender, intensely-flavoured, shredded lamb. It takes a while to cook, but doesn't demand much effort.  The crucial aspect of the sauce is the sweet and sour balance that comes mostly from the combination of Marsala and vinegar. My ideal combination of vinegars in this dish is balsamic (unless you're rich, a cheap version will do in this case), sherry vinegar and a soft style of white wine vinegar, such as one made from Riesling wine. But I'm being annoyingly fussy, so just use what you have that's interesting but not excessively acidic. As for the Marsala, I use a dry style but they can vary quite a bit in just how dry they turn out to be. So, in short, be prepared to taste and adjust the flavours to your liking if they don't seem perfectly balanced. Although this doesn't produce a large amount of sauce, it's intense enough to serve 2 or even 3 people. Of course, you don't have to serve it with pasta, that...

I'm not usually a big fan of chilled soup but this is an intriguing little appetiser that's a little bit different. The inspiration for this soup came from an Indian restaurant back in the 1980s, but I've changed it a fair bit since the days when Frankie went to Hollywood with a Filofax under his arm. Since then we've had an ocean of smoothies coming and going in popularity, so you could think of this as a slightly odd, savoury smoothie served in a soup bowl, if you prefer. Mangoes can vary a lot in size and sweetness, so taste and adjust the flavour of the soup as you see fit. Although this is a very simple little recipe, it can be made even simpler if you replace the coconut milk and yoghurt with a supermarket coconut yoghurt and the fresh mango with a tin of mango pulp. I don't think this even simpler version tastes quite as good but, if you're pushed for time, it can still be pretty satisfying. You may well find that canned mango is a bit too sweet, so add a...

It's that happy time of year again when courgettes are growing in the garden and appearing in the shops faster than a politician thinking up excuses. Here are two simple recipes to make use of the bounty that are just a little bit different. ( Slow-cooked courgettes are also well worth trying, if you haven't already). Courgette, Olive and Basil Sauce If you take a look at the ingredients, I'm sure it won't come as a surprise when I say that this is a Southern French sauce, or, at least, my interpretation of one. It's a way of producing a creamy sauce with no cream (or anything like it) and plenty of flavour. Admittedly, the colour of the sauce isn't quite as exciting as the taste, but it will seriously liven up simply-cooked chicken, roasted veg (squash, for instance) or, as I fancied eating this time, flash-fried prawns. If you want to vary the amount of basil or olives, or add a little chilli, then I'm confident that the sauce will still come up smiling. ...

Duck with orange sauce is a great classic and can be truly delicious. But it became a bit of a joke when less-than-great restaurants began to turn out overcooked, dry duck in something resembling marmalade with a dollop of Grand Marnier in it. I haven't come across many restaurants in recent years that still serve this dish. (Although I do know of one establishment that seems unchanged since the 1970s and not only serves the classic duck à l’orange but also has a sweet trolley). This recipe is not the classic sauce, but it's a relatively simple dish that doesn't need the whole duck or too much time to prepare and it shows why the duck and orange sauce was a really good idea in the first place.  This recipe has the great advantage that the sauce is largely made in advance, although it's best to add the finishing touches immediately before serving. Blood oranges aren't essential but, if they're in season, they do have a lovely flavour without being too sweet and ...

Zézettes are biscuits from Sète in the south of France that have a sweet, crisp exterior and a satisfying, softer interior. They work really well with coffee or tea and, I think, are also lovely alongside gooey desserts and ice creams. Even better, they're simple and quick to make. Although based on a much older, Algerian biscuit, zézettes were actually created and named by Gaston Bentata somewhere around the time it was impossible to avoid disco. Strictly speaking, you should use the excellent, sweet wine local to Sète, Muscat de Frontignan, in this recipe, but other sweet wines will work just fine too. In fact, you could use any white wine you happen to have and still get a decent result. Just don't tell anybody in Sète that I said that. I use a mixture of two sugars, but I'm probably being a bit fussy there, so use just one if it's easier. The combination of orange flower water and vanilla is crucial to the character of the biscuit (well, that's what I think), bu...

There are thousands of soda bread recipes on the net and this one isn't so very different, but I wanted to record my basic, perfect-for-soup (and other things) soda bread recipe. Forgive me if you've heard it all before.  Apart from the buttermilk, this recipe uses ingredients that I normally have to hand in my kitchen cupboards and fridge and so this is a bread that can be put together quickly with minimal effort. To that end, I use the packaged crispy onions that you can buy at pretty much any supermarket but don't let me stop you frying your own crispy onions, if you're so inclined.  Like other soda breads, this does not store well and should either be eaten quickly or frozen. Happily, it does freeze very well. The amount of buttermilk specified here might seem strange but buttermilk is most commonly sold in ½ pint measures in the UK. Let's just say that the reason for this is historic. 160g self-raising flour 160g wholegrain flour  1 tsp bicarbonate of soda  40g...

Venison shanks are a flavourful, reasonably-priced (usually) cut of meat. They need lengthy cooking and are ideal for letting a slow cooker do all the hard work. This looks like quite a long recipe but it's actually a pretty straightforward and relaxed way to get beautifully tender meat which tastes a little different to the usual ways of flavouring venison.  I've owned a number of slow cookers over the years and I wish I could say that they all behave in exactly the same way. But I can't. So the cooking time here should be treated as a reasonable, but in no way foolproof, recommendation. I've used a five spice paste to give extra depth and make things easy, but a little five spice powder could be added instead, if that's what you have. I think the gochujang works particularly well with the venison, but you could substitute a different chilli paste (maybe a smoky one) if you prefer. This should be enough for 4 people and, since it delivers some punchy flavour, is pr...