Mushroom and cauliflower soup

 

I created this soup one winters’ night, when I had a few mushrooms left in the locker, and was growing tired of an everlasting cauliflower that I'd bought. It was, I admit, a huge one, but as it was the same price as the other ones, which were two-thirds the size, and super-expensive to boot, I went for the best value for money. I love cauliflower, but after 6 consecutive nights of eating it, I was ready for a change.

When I'm looking at recipes on line, I often see people suggesting puréeing cauliflower to make a thick and creamy sauce. I thought I’d try this idea, to save mixing up a nut cream – and also out of curiosity. The resulting soup was delicious – better than I’d hoped for – and I had the added satisfaction of cooking it on my little fire. It is therefore very much a cream of mushroom soup. With a slice or two of home-made longevity bread, it made a filling and warming meal.

 

Serves 4 as a starter, 2 as a main course

Ingredients

 

4 or 5 large mushrooms or the equivalent if smaller

1 bay leaf

4 cups water

1 onion, chopped

1 large clove garlic

olive oil

approx 2 cups cauliflower florets

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp za’atar or dried thyme

1/2 tsp mushroom stock powder

grated nutmeg

salt and pepper

Method:

• Cut the mushrooms into chunks – about the size of a small, button mushroom.
• Put a cup of water into a large saucepan, together with a bay leaf and the mushrooms and bring to the boil.
• Simmer gently for a few minutes while you chop the onion and garlic.
• Pour the mushrooms and water into a bowl and set aside.
• Using the same pan, heat the olive oil and then add the onion and garlic. Fry gently for about 5 minutes until translucent. Turn down the flame if they’re starting to colour.
• In the meantime, divide the cauliflower into florets and dice any stem that you’ve cut off in the process. Add to the pan when the onions are softened.
  Add in the ground coriander and stir everything around until the cauliflower is evenly coated.
  
• Pour in the remaining three cups of water together with the water that the mushrooms have been sitting in. Leave the mushrooms to one side.
• Now add the za’atar or thyme and mushroom stock powder, if you have any. Bring to the boil and then simmer over a moderate heat until the cauliflower is completely softened.
• When it's cooked, mash the soup into a thick purée, or use a stick blender.
• Return to the heat and add the mushrooms. Grate over nutmeg and add salt and pepper to taste. Be generous with the black pepper – the soup can take it.

Note:

• Add some dried mushrooms to the water, with the fresh mushrooms for increased depth of flavour.
   
  
  
  

Cream of asparagus soup

This luxurious soup can be made from whole asparagus. However, the following recipe allows you to have your asparagus and eat it, so to speak, because it’s made from the trimmings.

The best way to trim asparagus is to bend each stalk as close to its base as you can. It will snap off just above the tough section.

Use 1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the salt.

Serves 4 as a first course

Ingredients

 

The trimmings from a bundle of asparagus

2 cups water

1 onion

1 garlic clove

1/4 cup tbsp butter/olive oil

1 tbsp flour*

salt and pepper

1 tbsp lemon juice

 fresh parsley, if available

6 tbsp thick (vegan) cream

Method:

• Cook the trimmed asparagus: put it on a raised trivet in your pressure cooker, so that it isn’t immersed, and pour in 2 cups water. (You could stand it on end to do this, but might need to cut it to size.) Bring to pressure and cook for 1 minute. Reduce pressure rapidly if you like crisp asparagus, naturally if you like it soft. Put the asparagus to one side for another dish. Pour the water into a jug or bowl and set aside.
• Cut the trimmings into 2 cm/1 in lengths.
• Finely dice the onion and garlic. Melt the butter/oil in the pressure cooker, add the onion and garlic and stir it until it’s all covered in melted butter. Lower the heat, cover the pan and cook gently for about 5 minutes until the vegetables are softened.
• Stir in the flour and mix.
• Add the reserved water that you used to cook the asparagus, together with the trimmings. Bring to pressure and cook for 10 minutes.
• Reduce pressure naturally and then mash with a potato masher. Then pass the resulting purée through a sieve to remove any stringy bits. Alternatively blend with a stick blender or food processor
• Return to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Taste and add the lemon juice and more water if you think it can take it.
• Add the parsley and bring back to the boil.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the cream.

Serve with croutons

 

Note:

*Use 1 tbsp gram flour for gluten free.

 

Variations:

• If you like to have bits of asparagus floating around in your soup, trim pieces from the ends of the cooked stalks and add these with the lemon juice.
• For a really thick and luxurious version, use all the asparagus.
  
• This soup can also be made successfully with canned asparagus. Purée the bottom ends of the stalks and keep the tips to chop up and add to the soup with the lemon juice.
  

Croutons

Home-made croutons are about as different from the packaged version sold to decorate your Cæsar Salad, as home-made bread is from white sliced. They only take a few minutes to make and their crunchy texture ideally complements creamy soups. If you are having soup for lunch or as a substantial starter, they add bulk without being overly filling and make a pleasant change from bread and crackers. They're also an excellent way to use up stale bread.

Serves 2 for a meal, 4 for a starter

Ingredients

 

2 slices bread, about 1 cm (1/2 in) thick

2 tbsp olive oil OR 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp butter

Method:

• Cut the bread into cubes.
• Heat some oil in a frying pan over a high heat. Test by dropping in one of the croutons: it should sizzle straight away. Don’t be impatient. If the oil is too cool, you will end up with oily, soggy bread cubes. Put the bread cubes into the pan and spread them out in an even layer. Cook them in batches, if needs be – they want to be one layer thick to make it easy to move them around.
• Turn them regularly until they are golden on at least two sides: lower the heat if they are threatening to burn.
• Remove with a perforated spoon – they cook far too quickly to fool around with tongs – and place in a bowl, lined with a kitchen towel, if you wish.

Notes:

• Croutons are best cooked when the soup is ready to serve, so that they retain their crispness.
• If you are happy doing so, you can deep fry them.

Variations:

• Add 1 tsp curry paste or powder to the cooking oil.
• Fry a diced garlic clove with the bread.

Carrot and lemon soup

Not a main-course soup, but a very pleasant starter. Carrots and lemons combine together beautifully and the coriander complements both.

Use 1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the salt. 

Serves 4 as a starter

 

Ingredients

 

1 onion

6 carrot

2 tbsp butter OR 1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp gram flour

2 tsp ground coriander

3 cups water

1 tsp grated lemon rind

2 tbsp lemon juice

salt and pepper

chopped parsley

Method:

• Dice the onion and carrots. Fry gently in the butter for about 10 minutes in a covered pan. Stir every minute or so and don’t let them brown.
• When the vegetables are soft, add the coriander and stir it in. Mix the gram flour with 1/4 cup of water and add it to the pan, stirring it carefully so that everything is blended .
• Add 3/4 cup of water and mix again.
• Pour in the rest of the water and the lemon rind, if you have any. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently for 20 – 25 minutes until the vegetables are thoroughly softened.
• Mash to a purée with a potato masher, or use a stick blender, and season with salt and pepper.
• Add the lemon juice, reheat and serve sprinkled with chopped parsley, if you have any.

Cauliflower soup

I first came across this soup in Norway in 1985 and have loved it ever since. Although using a cauliflower for soup may seem rather extravagant, you can usually get two meals out of a very large one and make use of the stem, to boot. I love this soup; it has a delicate, creamy flavour, which is even more delicious if you can make it with butter rather than olive oil. I like to serve it with herb bread.

If you have any choice, try to use a floury potato for this soup; for once, it should be peeled because the soup should end up as a thick, greeny-white purée, which would be less attractive with bits of potato skin.

Use 1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the salt.

 

Serves 4 to 6 as a starter, 2 for a main course

 

Ingredients

 

2 tbsp butter OR olive oil/1 onion, diced

1 large potato, peeled and chopped

1 small or half a large cauliflower

2½ cups water

1 tsp salt

2½ cups (plant) milk/pepper

grated nutmeg

 

Method: 

• Melt the butter/oil in a large saucepan.
• Add the onion and potato and cook gently until they’re softened. Don’t let them brown because the soup is meant to end up white.
• When you can easily stick the point of a knife into the potatoes, break the cauliflower into the pan. Dice the stalk. Don’t use the leaves – they’re too dark. You can, however, use their white stems.
• Add the water and salt and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, by which time the cauliflower should be thoroughly cooked.
• Take a potato masher or stick blender and purée the soup.
• Pour in the milk and bring back to simmering point for a few more minutes, adding generous amounts of pepper.
• Pour into warmed bowls and grated nutmeg over before serving.

Variations: 

• Replace some of the milk with cream for an extra luxurious soup.
• Sprinkle the soup with toasted, flaked almonds.

Italian chickpea Soup

This is a substantial and well-flavoured soup, suitable for winter lunches or a main meal. It would go very well with sun-dried tomato bread. The ingredients are not really voyaging vegetables, but they keep reasonably well and you would still be able to make this soup a week into your passage.

 

Use 1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the salt.

Serves at least 8 as a starter, 2 or 3 for a main course

Ingredients

 

3 large sticks of celery

1 leek

1 cup chickpeas, soaked

5 cups boiling stock or water

2 bay leaves

1½ tsp oregano

3/4 tsp rosemary

1/4 tsp chilli

14 oz/400 g tin of diced tomatoes

 handful of finely chopped fresh basil or parsley, or 1 tsp dried basil

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

Method:

• Thinly slice the celery.
• Trim the leek, removing the root end and any discoloured outer leaves; trim the top. Slice thinly, washing any slices that have grit or soil lodged in them.
• Drain the chickpeas and put them in your pressure cooker, together with the water/stock, celery, leek, bay leaves, oregano, rosemary and chilli.
• Bring to pressure over a high heat and then cook at high pressure for 20 minutes. Reduce pressure naturally.
• Remove the bay leaves and discard. With a slotted spoon, take out 4 or 5 spoons of chickpeas and put them in a bowl together with half the tomatoes. Mash together to thicken the soup.
• Put the tomato/chickpea mix back in the pressure cooker together with the parsley or basil and the vinegar. Season with salt and pepper.
• Simmer for a further few minutes so that the tomato flavour permeates the whole and serve hot. 

Variations:

• Add (vegan) Parmesan cheese at the table.
• Try using butter beans instead of the chickpeas