Thick, chunky creamed vegetable soup (with a little bacon)

It's the 29th December, 2017.  We have eaten our own body weight in turkey over Christmas.  It is time to give our digestions a bit of consideration, hence, a vegetable soup.  However, because we're not vegetarians, it's got a wee bit of bacon in it too - just for the flavour input, don'tcha know.

Now for all that I like the brothy kind of soups, I wanted this one to be hearty, thick and worthy of being served as a dinner soup.  Perhaps with some crusty bread, or as it turned out, a gorgeous thin flatbread with mozzarella, basil and olive oil.  Mmmnn, delicious.

Truth be told, you could use just about any vegetables you wanted for this soup.  I will give you the full rundown of vegetable input in the recipe, but you need to follow a few rules, no matter what veggies you use.  Said rules go like this :

a)  chop some veggies very small, so that they cook down and disappear into the vegetable stock.

b)  chop some veggies into bite sized pieces, so that they will be retained and create lovely texture.

c)  start with a tasty oil - coconut, or butter, or rapeseed - and a finely chopped onion.  Do not be tempted to use a bland vegetable oil, or a slightly bitter olive oil.  If you start wrong, you won't ever be able to come back from it.

d)  use the best vegetable stock you can source.  It is the base of your soup and deserves to be delicious.

So there you are.  Not difficult at all, but make sure to set aside a good time to be spent  choppin', cuttin' and a-peelin'.  Not to mention a good hour or so in the preliminary cooking stage and a pause in the middle of however long you've got.  Good soup does not come about in a half an hour.  Well actually it can, but not with this one.

Here comes the recipe!

THICK, CHUNKY CREAMED VEGETABLE SOUP    (Serves 4)

Ingredients :

1 tbsp coconut oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
4 rashers of streaky bacon, finely chopped (optional)
2 tsp ground coriander
a large pinch of sea salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
half a tsp dried thyme
half a tsp dried parsley

Peeled and chopped small :

1 medium carrot
1 large stick of celery, with fluffy green bits if possible
1 large leek
2 chestnut mushrooms
6 sweet cherry tomatoes (halved works for these)
half a medium potato

Peeled and chopped into bite sized chunks :

2 medium carrots
2 large sticks of celery
5 chestnut mushrooms (quartered)
1 and a half medium potatoes
2 small parsnips
a decent sized chunk of swede or turnip

plus :

750ml of strong vegetable stock (I used 1.5 tsp Marigold vegetable bouillon and 1 tsp Essential Cuisine vegetable stock powder)
4-5 tbsp dry split red lentils
3-4 large leaves of Savoy cabbage, ribs removed and leaves sliced
2-3 tbsp double (or heavy) cream
2 tsp cornflour mixed with a drop of water to thick pouring consistency
sea salt & ground black pepper to taste.

Method :

To begin, make sure you are using a pan which can contain the entire contents.  It needs to be BIG and have a lid which fits.  I used my steep sided wok, which worked perfectly.

Heat the oil and add the onion & bacon (if using).  Cook, stirring often, until the onion is transparent and the bacon is beginning to render its oil.  Add the coriander, sea salt, black pepper and herbs and stir through.

Add all the chopped small ingredients and cook on, stirring regularly to turn the pan contents.  Once the leek and mushroom pieces are softened and the whole is beginning to look cooked, add the vegetable stock.

Increase the temperature under the pan and bring the contents to a gentle boil.  Add the bite sized chunks of veggies, the red lentils and the cabbage.  Gently stir through, cover the pan and bring back to a gentle boil.  Cook on for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Taste to check the seasoning levels - which should be fairly high as when you add it later, the cream will obliterate a certain level of seasoning.

Remove from the heat, leave covered and go and have a sit down for a couple of hours.

When you return, using a hand blender, blitz a certain amount of the soup to your preference.  I probably made it 50:50 blitzed to chunks which seemed to go down well.

Turn the heat on under the pan and add the cream and cornflour slurry and stir through.  As the soup heats up to a lively simmer, the cornflour will thicken the soup to a consistency where it will coat the back of a spoon - which is what you are aiming for.  If it becomes too thick, add a little water.

Finally, check the seasoning and adjust to your taste.  Serve into warm bowls with crusty bread for dipping.

Printable version

Velvety Marsala Chicken & Mushrooms

I haven't posted a meal plan for this week because hubby's sore throat has meant that our plans have changed from day to day, depending on how he is.  After all, it's no good my spending time in the kitchen making a tomato based meal containing chilli if that would be inedible for him!

So following on from the Slow Cooked Chicken Stew with Dumplings that did him so much good, we had a bit of a diversion in the form of a Chinese takeaway.  The chicken curry contained therein was a bit frisky, but didn't affect him adversely, so I knew I could stretch the ingredients list for the next dish.

I'd had it in mind to cook a chicken dish in a mild creamy sauce, to be served with rice.  The finer details hadn't really gelled at that stage, so I began to consider the flavours I wanted to go with it.  Mushrooms were a given, as I had a bit of a glut of mushrooms in the fridge at the time.  However, should I go down the tarragon, Marsala or mushroom ketchup route?

Tarragon goes very well with mushrooms - and with Marsala wine.  So I decided to go with tarragon, whatever happened.  It would add another dimension to the dish and I could save a little tarragon to add a fresh green note and a tiny crunch, at the end.

So - Marsala -v- mushroom ketchup.   They both had promise and would be fine bedfellows with the cream in the sauce.  The mushroom ketchup would accentuate the flavour of the chestnut mushrooms and send the dish down a more savoury route.  However, the Marsala wine would be a different flavour altogether, adding to the layers of flavour that were planned already.  Plus, it was sweet - and with the Savoy cabbage and plain rice I was planning on serving it with, would provide a lovely contrast to their flavours.

It was the added dimension that the Marsala would bring, that swung it for me.  Now, if you don't have any Marsala wine and want to have a crack at this dish (it was simplicity itself to make), a medium Sherry would be just perfect as an alternative.

I just knew that the velvety creaminess of the savoury/sweet sauce would go so, so well with the Savoy cabbage.  However, I opted not to tell the chaps about the cabbage aspect of the dish.  *wink*  I knew there'd be objections, if I did - but I also knew that if they just gave it a go, there was every possibility that they'd like it a lot.  Which they did!

In the event, I did have a bit of a waver when preparing the cabbage and decided to include a few peas, just in case one or both of them really didn't like the cabbage.  I felt the presence of a pea or two might have just meant the difference between rejection or acceptance.  I know.  It's unlikely - but there you are, that was the way I was thinking at the time.  Well, it made me feel better!

As it was, this dish was an absolutely corker.  (For those of you who might not know what "a corker" is - it's "something above average".  So in other words, it was flipping lovely!).  The chicken was cooked perfectly and still moist and juicy.  The celery and onion had disappeared into the sauce - just as I had planned it - leaving their flavour behind.  The garlic wasn't in evidence beyond adding to the savoury nature of the sauce and the Marsala/chicken stock/cream combination was just divine.


One of the best parts of the dish was the combination of the velvety sauce with the Savoy cabbage, hence I thoroughly recommend you include some Savoy when you make it.  The rice was very welcome as a plain counterpoint to the richness of the sauce.   Mashed potato would have been too buttery and just tipped the flavours too much into the rich & fatty.  As it was, with its accompaniments, it was perfect.

Everything prepared and ready to go - so that you can see how small to chop!

Now, a couple of notes for when you cook the dish.  The combination of butter and oil to fry the chicken, is very necessary for the flavour, so don't be tempted to drop the butter part.  The butter is the starting point for the development of the flavour in the sauce.  The oil is there simply to stop the butter from burning at a high temperature - so don't be tempted to drop the oil either, or you'll have horrid black specks in your sauce!


Where the chicken stock is concerned, you will see I use an entire Knorr stock pot (usually dissolved in 400ml of water) for 150ml of stock.   This is entirely intentional, as you need the intense chicken flavour for the sauce.  Only using half a stock pot (or cube - your choice) will result in a lacklustre sauce.

Lastly, for all that I have said to use 150ml of double cream, be ready to have some left over.  It is good to have that little bit of cream there, just in case you are delayed in dishing up and your sauce becomes too reduced.  Just add a fraction of water and a drop more cream, stir well and your sauce will be restored.

The sauce - it is there, honest! - is hiding beneath the cabbage.

It would be possible to use a low fat creme fraiche and gain similar results, while reducing the fat content of the dish.  However - do not allow the sauce to boil (or even simmer rapidly) once you have added the low fat creme fraiche.  This is most important - or you will split the sauce and wind up with horrid flabby lumps floating around!  Cream, because of its high fat content, will emulsify with the liquid of the sauce and be fairly stable.  Low fat creme fraiche, only emulsifies at a lower temperature.  So you have been warned!

So there you have it!  I thoroughly enjoyed this dish - and my menfolk did too.  You can't get better recommendation than that.


VELVETY MARSALA CHICKEN & MUSHROOMS   (serves 3)

Ingredients :

2 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
a large knob of butter
3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1" chunks
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped or grated
1 stick of celery, finely chopped
6-7 large chestnut mushrooms, thickly sliced
150ml sweet Marsala wine
150ml chicken stock (using an entire Knorr stock pot or stock cube)
fresh tarragon , to make 2 tbsp when finely chopped
150ml double cream.

Method :

1.  Take a large deep frying pan and heat the oil together with the butter.  Once the butter is foaming, add the chicken and turn the heat to high.  Make sure the chicken doesn't crowd the pan, as you want it to fry and not poach.  Brown the chicken in batches, if necessary.  Season the chicken and leave it to gain a golden colour.  Just turn the chicken the once, as keeping on turning it doesn't let the colour develop and the chicken will overcook before you've gained the right golden brown colour on at least two sides.  Once browned, remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and reserve to keep warm.

2.  Add the onions to the pan and stir lightly to coat in the oils.  Allow the onions to fry, stirring occasionally, until transparent and just turning golden.  You don't want any brown or black onions for this dish.

3.  Add the garlic and stir to combine.  Fry for approximately a minute, then add the celery and continue to stir and cook for another 3-4 minutes.

4.  Add the sliced mushrooms - you may need to add a little more butter at this stage, as mushrooms will drink up the oil in the pan.  However, don't overdo the butter because as they cook, they will release a certain amount back into the pan again.  Cook the mushrooms until they are softened.

5.  Increase the heat under the pan and return the chicken to the pan.  Add the Marsala and allow to frizzle, which will help to burn off a percentage of the alcohol.  Reduce the temperature of the pan so that the wine returns to a simmer and cook for another few minutes, until reduced by a third.

6.  Add the chicken stock and two thirds of the tarragon and stir through.  Continue on a lively simmer until reduced by half.  Taste for seasoning and add more if necessary.

7.  Add two thirds of the cream and stir through.  Continue to simmer and reduce - without boiling - until the sauce has achieved your preferred consistency.  In this instance, I like the sauce to be at double cream consistency - sufficient to coat the back of a spoon.  Add the remaining tarragon and stir through.

Serve on a bed of Savoy cabbage and peas, with plain white rice.

Printable version

Bacon & Goat's Cheese Pasta

This is one of my favourite lighter pasta dishes, at the moment.

It has the benefit of the lovely gently flavoured mild goat's cheese (I use the £1.50 soft goat's cheese log from Asda, which I believe originates in France) which melts beautifully and doesn't soak into the pasta, resulting in a claggy, sticky mess as the pasta cools.  Because the goat's cheese has a sharpness, it doesn't cling to your palate and each mouthful goes down as well as the first one did.

I hate pasta in thick cream sauces (particularly cream cheese-based ones) which begin to set as the pasta cools on your plate, resulting in a clagged up lump of pasta pieces that need to be cut with your fork.  Bleaugh.

The recipe originally stated to use Kale, and although I love Kale, hubby has some issues with its leatheriness.  As such, I swapped onto Savoy cabbage - which if you make sure to give it just 3 minutes in the pasta water, is perfectly fine.

So, it's just a brief chopping job, then a two-pan cooking job - and onto your plate.

Couldn't be easier!  Which is why I booked it in for a Monday - after a day at work, I need a meal that's going to come together easily.

Don't be frightened of the goat's cheese - if you get a mild flavoured creamy one, you'll hardly notice the goatiness of it.  It really is streets ahead of plain ordinary cream cheese.

BACON & GOAT'S CHEESE PASTA (Serves 3-4)


Ingredients :


400g penne or fusilli pasta
200g shredded Savoy cabbage
150g streaky bacon, chopped
1 medium red onion, chopped
150g soft mild goat's cheese
grated parmesan to serve.


Method :


1.  Bring a large pan of lightly salted water to the boil.


2.  Cook the pasta according to the manufacturer's instructions, however, 3 minutes before the pasta is due to be cooked, add the cabbage to the pasta water.


3.  In the meantime, dry-fry the bacon pieces in a frying pan until starting to brown, then drain the fat off (into a cup for roast potatoes!).  Remove the bacon to keep warm.


4.  Put the onion into the frying pan with 2 tsp of the bacon fat and fry lightly until softened and transparent.  Return the bacon to the pan.


5.  Add the goat's cheese to the bacon/onion mixture and heat slowly, adding a little milk, to help break the cheese down and make it saucy.  Add seasoning (salt & black pepper) to taste.

6.  Once the pasta & cabbage are done, drain (retaining a little of the cooking water) and replace in the cooking pan.  Add the bacon mixture and lightly fold it through, adding a little of the cooking water if the sauce appears too thick.

Once you're happy with the consistency, serve with a bowl of grated parmesan for sprinkling over.


Yummy!