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

Tonight's Dinner : An oldie - Slow Cooker Split Pea & Ham Soup

Well.  I don't think that was half bad.  We bought the gammon join for Sunday's dinner (remember?  Gammon with Piedmontese Peppers?) then we had Ham Egg & Chips last night and this evening, we finished off the £7.50 piece of gammon with a home made Split Pea and Ham Soup.  Roughly £2.50 per meal over the three days for the meat content.  Very nice too.

 

The soup was an absolute dream to make, it was so easy.  I didn't follow anyone's recipe in particular, but read several different recipes (not all of which were for Pea and Ham soup!) for inspiration and just winged it after that.  What made it so easy was the use of my slow cooker (or crockpot) - although if you don't have one of these paragons, you can easily make the same soup on the cooker top in less time with a little more stirring and watching of liquid levels.

I used my favourite Essential Cuisine stock - 1 tsp vegetable stock powder and 1.5 tsp veal stock powder in 1 litre of water.  Now Essential Cuisine stock is naturally low in salt, but if you decide to use stock cubes - do beware of the salt content and definitely use a low salt version.

Hubby declared it to be "proper gorgeous, proper delicious", which I take to be high praise.  Son and heir decided it was a little too salty for his taste (which was odd, as I hadn't used any salt at all!).  I thought it was quite the nicest pea and ham soup I'd had in a very long while.  We ate it with some nice Cheese & Pickle crusty bread from Asda.

SLOW COOKER SPLIT PEA & HAM SOUP  (serves 3)

Ingredients :

1 onion, chopped finely
2 sticks of celery and a few celery leaves, chopped finely
2 medium carrots, peeled, halved lengthways and sliced thinly
1 medium potato, diced finely
2 rashers of back bacon, diced finely
1 tbsp of finely chopped fresh parsley
2-3 bay leaves
1 litre very hot stock of your choice (see note above)
250g dried, unsoaked, yellow split peas
freshly ground black pepper
a large knob of butter
6 slices of ham leftover from a gammon joint, cut into fine shreds.

Method : 

1.  Place all the ingredients except the pepper and the butter into the slow cooker and stir to combine.

2.  Turn the slow cooker to High and cook for 5 hours, or Medium and cook for 6-7 hours.

3.  Half way through the cooking time, remove the lid and give the contents a stir.

4.  Add a good pinch of black pepper and stir through, then replace the lid.

5.  At the end of the cooking time, mash the contents roughly with a potato masher.  Do not use a blender, as it will turn your soup into a puree.

6.  Add the shredded ham and stir through.

7.  Remove any bay leaves you can find and add the butter.  Allow it to melt and stir it through, then taste for seasoning and add more freshly ground black pepper if necessary.

Serve, with a little of the shredded ham and some freshly ground black pepper on top for garnish and crusty bread for dipping.

Printable version 

Pea & Bacon Risotto, using gorgeous home grown peas

Aren't they lovely?

Needless to say, you don't HAVE to use home-grown peas!  Ours were ready to pick and a risotto was the first thing that came to mind when I was considering what to use them with.  Got to say, it was one of my better ideas.  :)

There really is little nicer in the vegetable line, than a fresh pea taken straight from the pod.

I can remember, as a child, my Nanna buying fresh peas from the greengrocer and giving them to me to "shuck".  I'm sure she must have bought more than we needed, as I worked on the premis of one (at least) from each pod going down my gullet.  They really are one of nature's little treasures.

Now, before I go any further, let me introduce you to Chillibob (on the right there - don't worry, he's fairly harmless) - who you know as "Hubby" - who will take you through this recipe : 

This is a very simple risotto, the keys to how good it can be are the quality of the ingredients and the attention given to the cooking.  The peas for this dish came from our garden and the bacon is from our local butchers and is consistently fantastic quality (and cheaper than from the supermarket).

Of course, the central plank of any risotto is the stock.  I use Marigold swiss bouillion powder for its clarity and complexity of flavours but, as a rule, the better the stock the better the risotto.  As a final note, many risotto recipes have a splash of vermouth or white wine included.  I have deliberately omitted the wine from this recipe as I had a feeling it would just be one flavour too many.

Aaah, happy memories!

Bacon and Pea Risotto

Ingredients (serves 4)

2 large banana shallots (or 4 small ones)
50g butter
300g Arborio rice
1.7 litres of good hot vegetable stock
400g smoked back bacon
200g freshly shucked peas (thats 200g after being de-podded)
50g grated parmesan cheese plus a few shavings for garnish.

Preparation:

1.  Blanch the peas in rapidly boiling water for two minutes and then refresh in a bowl of iced water.

2.  Grill the bacon until crisp, reserving a small amount of the resulting fat.  Once cool, cut four long slivers of the cooked bacon for garnish and then chop the remainder into smallish bits (or largish, depending on your preference).

3.  Very finely chop the shallots.

4.  Prepare the stock so that it is hot when added to the rice.  Never add cold stock to a risotto as it will stop the rice from releasing its starch.

5.  Melt the butter and the bacon fat together in a deep saucepan before adding the finely chopped shallots.  Cook gently until the shallots are soft and then turn the heat up before adding the rice.

6. Swoosh the rice around the pan, making sure that each grain is coated and hot.  Keep the rice moving to prevent it from sticking to the pan.  Once the rice is coated, sizzling hot and begging for mercy, add a ladleful of the stock and stir rapidly.  This first ladle of stock will be absorbed very quickly, so be ready with a second ladleful.  Add the chopped bacon and then reduce the heat to a highish simmer (not a boil).  As each ladle of stock is absorbed by the rice, add another, stirring gently but continuously.

7.  Continue this process until the rice is almost cooked, at which point the peas can be added.  Once the peas have warmed through, the rice is fully cooked and the risotto is nicely oozy, place a lid (or a plate) onto the pan and take it off the heat to rest for a minute or so.  It is important that the peas are added as late as you dare to in order that they retain their freshness and colour.

8.  Finally, stir the grated parmesan through the risotto, season with freshly ground black pepper only (there's enough salt in the bacon already) and then serve onto hot plates, garnished with a bacon sliver and the shaved parmesan.

Serve with the man/woman of your dreams and a nice glass of chilled white and a side salad (in exactly that order of preference).

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