For the Love of British Food

Soup is a wonderful food for cold weather. It is cheap, nourishing and warning. Virtually whatever you have lurking in your fridge or cupboard can be turned into a pot of wonderful food and it doesn’t necessarily take hours.

Here are some easy ones that will persuade you that making soup for your family is like giving them a hug from the inside!

The first is the soup I mentioned in the last post, from this month’s Waitrose Food Illustrated magazine. It originates from the Basque country which is geographically where France meets Spain, but has its own language and its people would like it to be a separate country. Whatever you think about that, it has a very distinct and delicious cuisine.

Purrusalda

This is supposed to serve 4, but that would be over half a litre of soup each and you will need very big pan. I reckon that 6 or even 8 would get a decent bowlful from these quantities.

Leeks. The recipe I have says TEN but it would have to be those little mean tiny overtrimmed ones in plastic packets. I used just ONE big healthy unpackaged one that probably weighed 250g or so and got enough soup for two servings. I would probably use 4 that size for this much soup, or proportionally more smaller ones.

2 large potatoes – jacket baking size, peeled and diced.
Bunch flat leaf parsley.
2 litres water
2 cloves garlic peeled and finely sliced
100ml virgin olive oil
Nutmeg for sprinkling

Trim and wash any grit out of the leeks. Don’t throw away the coarse green bits and the ends. Put them in the pan with the water and the parsley stalks, reserving the leaves for garnish. Bring to boil and simmer 10 mins.

Meanwhile finely slice the leeks into rounds or ribbons. Strain the broth into a clean pan or a bowl and return to the pan with the prepared leeks and potato. Add a pinch of salt, bring to boil and simmer till the potatoes are completely soft.

In a small pan, warm the garlic in the oil. Don’t fry or allow to brown. Mash the potatoes into the soup. Give it a short whiz with a stick blender if you like, but leave plenty of texture. The other thing that will work is using leftover mash to thicken rather than the raw potato.  Add it broken up into little bits, not as one lump.

Now, you can either add the oil and garlic to the soup or use it to swirl on top of each serving with a sprinkle or grind of fresh nutmeg, not the ready ground kind.  Finely chop and garnish with the parsley leaves.

A common variation I found uses salt cod for protein making it a more complete main meal.

Next comes a soup that I’ve been making for years, but can’t remember where I got the recipe. Continue Reading »