Cassell's Vegetarian Cookery. A. G. Payne
with pepper and salt, add a little milk boiled separately, and serve grated Parmesan cheese with the soup.
Rice Soup à la Royale.—Take half a pound of rice and wash it thoroughly in several waters till the water ceases to be discoloured. Boil this rice in some stock that has been strongly flavoured with onion, carrot and celery, and strained off. When the rice is tender rub it through a wire sieve, then add some boiling milk, in which two or three bay-leaves have been boiled, and half a pint of cream, till the soup is a proper consistency. Serve some egg forcemeat balls with the soup.
Sorrel Soup.—Take some sorrel and wash it very thoroughly. Like spinach, it requires a great deal of cleansing. Drain it off and place the sorrel in a stew-pan, and keep stirring it with a wooden spoon. When it has dissolved and boiled for two or three minutes, let it drain on a sieve till the water has run off. Next cut up a large onion and fry it in a little butter, but do not brown the onion. Add a tablespoonful of flour to every two ounces of butter used, also a teaspoonful of sugar, a little grated nutmeg, also a little pepper and salt; add the sorrel to this, with a small quantity of stock or water, then rub the whole through a wire sieve, and serve. In some parts of the Continent vinegar is added, but it is not adapted to English taste.
Sago Soup.—Take two ounces of sage, and having washed it very thoroughly, put it on to boil in a quart of stock strongly flavoured with onion, celery, and carrot, but which has been strained off. The sage must boil until it becomes quite transparent and tender. Flavour the soup with a little pepper and salt, a quarter of a nutmeg, grated, about half a teaspoonful of powdered sugar, and a teaspoonful of lemon juice from a hard lemon.
Sea-kale Soup.—This makes a very delicious soup, but it is somewhat rare. Take a bundle of sea-kale, the whiter the better. Threw it into boiling water, and let it boil for a few minutes, then take it out and drain it; cut it up into small pieces and place it in a stew-pan with about two ounces of butter, add a little pepper and salt and grated nutmeg; stir it up until the butter is thoroughly melted, but do not let it turn colour in the slightest degree. Add some milk, and let it simmer very gently for about half an hour. Rub the whole through a wire sieve, and add a small quantity of cream. Serve with toasted or fried bread.
Scotch Broth.—Take two or three ounces of pearl barley, wash it, and threw it into boiling water, and let it boil for five or ten minutes. Then drain it off and threw away the water. This is the only way to get pearl barley perfectly clean. Then put on the barley in some stock or water, and let it boil for four hours, till it is tender. Then add to it every kind of vegetable that is in season, such as onion, celery, carrot, turnip, peas, French beans, cut up into small pieces, hearts of lettuces cut up. Flavour with pepper and salt and serve altogether. If possible add leeks to this soup instead of onion, and just before serving the soup throw in a brimming dessertspoonful of chopped blanched parsley to every quart of soup. A pinch of thyme can also be added.
Spinach Soup.—Wash some young, freshly gathered spinach, cut it up with a lettuce, and, if possible, a few leaves of sorrel, and throw them into boiling water. Let them boil for five minutes, drain them off, and throw them into cold water in order to keep their colour. Next take them out of the water and squeeze all the moisture from them; then melt two ounces of butter in a stew-pan, and add two tablespoonfuls of flour. When this is thoroughly mixed together, and begins to frizzle, add the spinach, lettuce, &c., and stir them round and round in the stew-pan till all is well mixed together. Then add sufficient water or vegetable stock to moisten the vegetables (add also a pinch of thyme), and let it boil. When it has boiled for about twenty minutes add a quart of milk that has been boiled separately, flavour with pepper and salt, and serve.
Tapioca Soup.—Clear tapioca soup is made by thickening some ordinary clear soup (see CLEAR SOUP) with tapioca, allowing about two ounces of tapioca to every quart. The tapioca should be put into the soup when it is cold, and it is then far less likely to get lumpy. Tapioca can also be boiled in a little strongly flavoured stock that has not been coloured, and then add some boiling milk. Tapioca should be allowed to simmer for an hour and a half. Of course, a little cream is a great improvement when the soup is made with milk.
Tomato Soup.—This is a very delicate soup, and the endeavour should be to try and retain the flavour of the tomato. Slice up an onion, or better still two shallots, and fry them in a little butter, to which can be added a broken-up, dried bay-leaf, a saltspoonful of thyme, and a very small quantity of grated nutmeg, Fry these in a little batter till the onion begins to turn colour, and then add a dozen ripe tomatoes from which the pips have been squeezed. Moisten with a very little stock or water, and let them stew till they are tender, then rub the whole through a wire sieve. The consistency should be that of pea soup. Add a little butter to soften the soup), and flavour with pepper and salt.
Turnip Soup.—Cut up some young turnips into small pieces, throw them into boiling water, let them boil for a few minutes, take them out and strain them, and put them into a stew-pan with about two ounces of fresh butter; add a little salt and sugar. Let them stew in the butter (taking great care that they don’t turn colour) till they become soft, then add sufficient boiling milk to moisten them, so that when rubbed through a wire sieve the soup will be of the consistency of pea soup. Serve fried or toasted bread with the soup.
Vegetable Marrow Soup.—Take a large vegetable marrow, peel it, cut it open, remove all the pips, and place it in a stew-pan with about two ounces of fresh butter. Add a brimming teaspoonful of powdered sugar, a little grated nutmeg, and pepper and salt. Keep turning the pieces of vegetable marrow over in the butter, taking care that they do not at all turn colour. After frying these pieces gently for five or ten minutes, add some boiling milk, and let the whole simmer gently till it can be rubbed through a wire sieve. Care must be taken not to get this soup too thin, as the vegetable marrow itself contains a large quantity of water. Season with pepper and salt, and serve fried or toasted bread with the soup.
Vegetable Soup.—(See JARDINIÈRE SOUP.)
Vermicelli Soup.—Take a quarter of a pound of vermicelli and break it up into small pieces, throw it into boiling water, and let it boil for five minutes to get rid of the dirt and floury taste, then throw it immediately into about a quart of clear soup. The vermicelli must be taken from the boiling water and thrown into the boiling soup at once. If you were to boil the vermicelli, strain it off, and put it by to add to the soup, you would find it would stick together in one lump and be spoilt.
Vermicelli Soup, White.—The vermicelli must be thrown into white soup instead of clear soup. (See WHITE SOUP.)
White Soup.—Just as in ordinary white soup the secret of success is to have some strongly reduced stock, so in vegetarian white soup it is essential that we should have a small quantity of liquid strongly impregnated with the flavour of vegetables. For this purpose, place an onion, the white part of a head of celery, and a slice of turnip in a stew-pan with a little butter, and fry them till they are tender without becoming brown. Now add sufficient water to enable you to boil them, and let the water boil away till very little is left. Now