Kitchenella: The secrets of women: heroic, simple, nurturing cookery - for everyone. Rose Prince
note
To use dried beans instead of canned, take half the quantity (200g/7oz), soak in cold water overnight then boil in fresh water for about 1–1½ hours until tender.
THREE SEASONAL SOUPS
A lesson in being instinctive, choosing ingredients yourself from what is in season and making a simple soup thickened with either potatoes, grains or beans. Remember, buying seasonal vegetables when they are in their glut and abundant is always cheaper. An understanding of the seasons is a valuable secret weapon for a cook. Each of these recipes serves 4.
see PLATE 2
I sometimes add ready-made fresh potato gnocchi (easy to buy in the fresh pasta section of supermarkets or in Italian delis) to this soup, having cooked them first for a few minutes in boiling salted water until they float.
BASE SOUP:
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 rashers smoked streaky bacon, cut into small pieces
2 spring onions, chopped
2 waxy potatoes, washed and cut into small dice
2 large ripe tomatoes, nicked with a knife, put in boiling water for 1 minute then peeled, deseeded and chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
leaves from 2 sprigs basil or marjoram, torn or chopped
1.2 litres/2 pints chicken or other meat stock
salt and black pepper
fresh pesto sauce, to serve
Plus any 3 or more of the following vegetables: 2 medium courgettes, chopped; handful of French beans, chopped; handful of podded garden peas; handful of mange tout, chopped; small fennel bulb, chopped; 1 kohlrabi, chopped; a few asparagus spears, chopped; butterhead (soft English) lettuce, shredded; 2 kale leaves, shredded
Heat the oil in a large pan over a low heat, then cook the bacon for 2 minutes. Add the onions and potatoes and cook for another 5 minutes. If the potatoes stick to the pan, add half a mug of water. Stir from time to time. Add the tomatoes with the garlic and herbs. Cook for a further 2 minutes; pour in the stock and bring to the boil. When the potatoes are just tender, add the green vegetables. Cook for 3–4 minutes, then taste and add salt if necessary, then add pepper. Serve with fresh pesto sauce.
Kitchen note
You can buy pesto ready made, or simply blend together ground pine nuts, basil leaves, olive oil and grated Parmesan to make your own.
Autumn vegetable ‘harvest’ soup with grains
BASE SOUP:
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 rashers smoked streaky bacon, cut into small pieces
1 onion, chopped
3 tablespoons whole rye, wheat or spelt groats
2 large ripe tomatoes, nicked with a knife, put in boiling water for 1 minute then peeled, deseeded and chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
2 sprigs thyme
1 teaspoon ground coriander seed
1.2 litres/2 pints chicken or other meat stock
salt and black pepper
To serve: olive oil, Greek-style yoghurt, paprika, black onion seed
Plus any 3 or more of the following vegetables, cut into small pieces: butternut or other squash, marrow, courgette, eating apple, turnip, carrot, kohlrabi, sweet potato, pumpkin, runner beans or green cabbage
Heat the oil in a large pan over a low heat, then cook the bacon for 2 minutes. Add the onion and grains and cook for another 5 minutes. Stir from time to time then add half a mug of water. Add the tomatoes with the garlic, thyme and coriander, followed by any of the other vegetables. Cook for a further 2 minutes; pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 10–15 minutes until the grains and vegetables are tender. Taste and add salt if necessary, then add pepper. Pour over a little olive oil to serve. This soup is also good with the addition of a little Greek yoghurt and a pinch of paprika or black onion seed.
BASE SOUP:
4 walnut-sized lumps of butter or 4 heaped teaspoons dripping
1 gammon steak or thick piece of cooked ham, cut into large dice
2 onions, chopped
2 large ripe tomatoes, nicked with a knife, put in boiling water for 1 minute then peeled, deseeded and chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed with the back of a knife and peeled leaves from 2 sprigs rosemary and thyme
1 teaspoon ground coriander seed
1.2 litres/2 pints chicken or other meat stock
salt and black pepper
To serve: dry toasted ciabatta or sourdough bread, chilli oil, chopped parsley
Plus about 2 handfuls of any 3 or more of the following vegetables, cut into pieces: potatoes, carrots, swede, parsnips, celeriac, marrow, squash, fennel, endives, chicory, radicchio, Savoy cabbage, Brussels sprouts, black cabbage (cavalo nero)
Heat the butter or dripping in a large pan over a low heat and cook the gammon for 2 minutes. Add the onions and cook for another 5 minutes. Stir from time to time. Add the tomatoes with the garlic, herbs and spice. Cook for a further 2 minutes; add the other chosen vegetables, pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for 20 minutes until everything is tender. Taste and add salt if necessary, then add pepper. Serve over toasted bread, with chilli oil and parsley, if you like.
Add these rich, peppery dumplings to any of the seasonal broths above. Make sure not to make them too large.
MAKES 10 – ENOUGH FOR 4 HELPINGS
125g/4½oz plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
70g/2½oz salted butter, very cold, straight from the fridge leaves from 1 bunch of watercress, chopped (see Kitchen note, below) ice-cold water
Sieve the flour into a bowl with the baking powder and add the salt. Grate the butter (on the coarse section of the grater) and lightly but thoroughly stir into the flour with the watercress. Add just enough water – about 3 tablespoons – to form the mixture into a loose-textured, slightly sticky dough. With floured hands, make 10 small balls. To cook the dumplings, drop them in the simmering broth about 5 minutes before the end of cooking. They will swell and become firm.
Kitchen note
You can leave out the watercress to make plain dumplings. Or add grated horseradish to plain or watercress dumplings and drop them into a wintry broth.
Remedies
Nourishment has become a somewhat wacky science. Fed a constant diet of either shock headlines or news about the latest superfoods, confusion reigns. All fresh foods are essentially super, but eat too much of any and there is bound to be an unpleasant side effect. Lettuce, for example, is from the same family as valerian. Eaten in vast quantities it could potentially send you to sleep. Some foods, however, we really should eat more of. Our mothers always said eat your greens, but did they ever say eat up your mushrooms? Perhaps they would have, had our parents known how highly valued fungi are in