White Bean and Lemon Soup – has the X-Factor !

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Compare and contrast: your beloved feeding you oysters... or strawberries... and now, that same scene with soup... Eeek!!! Let’s face it, soup just isn’t sexy. Most of the time, it isn’t even good-looking.

I think the writer, Judith Martin, sums up the nature of soup beautifully in this quote:

"Do you have a kinder, more adaptable friend in the food world than soup? Who soothes you when you are ill? Who refuses to leave you when you are impoverished and stretches its resources to give a hearty sustenance and cheer? Who warms you in the winter and cools you in the summer? Yet who also is capable of doing honour to your richest table and impressing your most demanding guests? Soup does its loyal best, no matter what undignified conditions are imposed upon it. You don't catch steak hanging around when you're poor and sick, do you?"

I think she is right. Soup is a friend with an engaging personality, able to charm just about anyone, be they king or pauper.

One of the things I love about soup is its ability to surprise. It is capable of having that X-Factor, that Susan Boyle moment. Then, a seeming bland bowlful - made from a handful of simple ingredients - will sing out at the top of its voice, hitting all the right notes, and just blow you away.

For 4 servings you will need...

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 stick of celery, peeled and finely chopped

1 bay leaf

1 fat clove of garlic, crushed

400g tinned white beans such as Cannellini (rinsed and drained)

750mls good-quality chicken stock (use vegetable stock if you prefer)

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

2 tablespoons lemon juice 

A tablespoon of finely chopped fresh parsley (optional) 

Magic beans!

1                    Place the olive oil in a medium saucepan over a medium heat and add the onion, celery and bay leaf. Lower the heat and cook gently for about 5 minutes until onion is soft and translucent but has not taken on any colour. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute.

2                    Add the beans, stock, lemon zest and lemon juice to the saucepan. When it has come to the boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer gently for 15 minutes. Remove the bayleaf before blending the soup to a smooth liquid – a stick blender is the perfect tool for this.  Serve with a sprinkling of parsley and some good crusty bread.

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Saintly Cauliflower Soup – with Blue Cheese and Prosciutto Sinners

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Sometimes stuff doesn’t make sense to me, like the greengrocer explaining I could have two cauliflowers or none, when I wanted just one.  It was a ‘take it or leave it’ situation, but what’s a girl to do with two cauliflowers? Everyone to whom I offered the spare had already either been to the shop and either purchased two or temporarily sworn off cauliflower in protest at having a brace of anaemic brassicas foisted upon them.

Too much of a good thing?

One cauliflower was dispatched into a relatively saintly, healthy New Year’s resolution soup which I topped with sinful blue cheese and prosciutto croutons. One cauliflower down, one to go. Got any ideas?

For 6 - 8 servings you will need...

25g butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, roughly chopped

1 stick celery, peeled of stringy bits, roughly chopped

200mls dry white wine

600g cauliflower broken into florets

900mls good quality chicken stock (homemade if possible)

¼ teaspoon ground white pepper

1 clove garlic, peeled

Salt and ground white pepper to taste

1           Melt the butter and olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and add the onion and celery. Lower the heat and fry gently for about 5 minutes until onion is soft and translucent but has not taken on any colour. Add the wine and let simmer until the liquid has reduced by half.

2          Add cauliflower and chicken stock to the saucepan (you could use vegetarian stock if you prefer). When it has come to the boil, lower the heat, add the clove of garlic and ground white pepper, cover and simmer gently for 15 minutes. Blend to a smooth liquid – a stick blender is the perfect tool for this. Taste and add salt and more white pepper only if necessary. The soup is pretty saintly so far. Be a devil and add these sinful croutons.

Blue cheese and prosciutto sinners!

Croutons

4 slices French bread, each about 1cm thick, cut into cubes

2 tablespoons olive oil

20g blue cheese, crumbled

20g prosciutto, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 180°C  

(War on Waste note: I try to make these croutons when I have something else baking in the oven to avoid using a whole heap of energy for a few croutons)

3          Place the croutons in a bowl and drizzle with the olive oil. Sprinkle with the blue cheese and prosciutto pieces. Scatter on a shallow baking tray and bake for about 5 minutes or until golden and the cheese has melted. Set a timer and keep an eye on them because they go from golden to charcoal in a flash.

Instead of the croutons you could add a swirl of fresh cream, or sprinkle with a little crumbled blue cheese before serving.

p.s. If you enjoy reading Alchemy in the Kitchen please consider nominating it for the Bloggies!

Click the link before Monday 16th January - http://2012.bloggi.es/ - and scroll down to the Food or Writing sections - depending on which aspect you like best and nominate Alchemy as follows:

Nominee: Alchemy in the Kitchen     URL: www.alchemyinthekitchen.ie

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