Red Lentil and Cauliflower Soup

I get the Washington Post's "Eat Voraciously" newsletter every day and I'd say at least once every couple of weeks, I see a recipe that I want to try. This one is a really excellent mix of things I typically keep around the house - the cupboard and fridge/freezer contain almost everything on a regular basis, so it's great in a pinch and makes for a delicious and healthy lunch. I swapped a few things (frozen cauliflower instead of fresh, curry powder instead of turmeric) and made an accidental omission, and it was still great - even A was keen to have soup. So posting this now for my future reference when I make it again this weekend (and will add a picture if I can manage a decent picture of soup.

Red Lentil and Cauliflower Soup

Adapted from the Washington Post

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion (12 ounces), chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced or finely grated
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon curry powder (originally turmeric but I ran out)
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 1/2 cups dried red lentils, rinsed and picked through to remove any stones
• 7 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth, plus more if needed
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt, plus more to taste
• 16 oz frozen cauliflower florets
• 1 cup light coconut milk, plus more for optional garnish (I totally forgot to add this and the soup was still great - obviously I will try again and see what difference this makes)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus more to taste

Method

1. In a 4-quart soup pot over medium heat, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender but not brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring, until aromatic, 30 seconds more. Stir in the cumin, curry powder and cayenne pepper until aromatic, about 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato paste to incorporate, followed by the lentils. Add the broth and salt, and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. If the lentils have absorbed most of the broth, add more as needed — start with 1 cup — for a thick but soupy consistency. Add the cauliflower and return the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat so the soup is at a simmer and cook until the cauliflower is soft, 20 to 25 minutes more. Remove from the heat and, using an immersion blender, puree until smooth. (Or, you can puree the soup in batches in a blender: To prevent spatters, be careful to not fill it more than halfway, remove the center ring from the lid, and hold a kitchen towel over the lid as you blend.) Stir in the coconut milk and lemon juice, then taste, and season with additional salt, if desired.
3. Ladle the soup into individual bowls, garnish with a drizzle of coconut milk, if desired, and serve hot.

Pressure Cooker Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup

If only the weather would get a bit cooler, this would be the perfect cozy soup. Made it anyway, and now I'm uncomfortably warm, but this recipe is delicious so I'm posting it to remember for an actual cold day.

Pressure Cooker Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup

Adapted from the New York Times

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter 

1 yellow onion, minced

2 pounds mixed mushrooms (I just buy sliced white and baby bella mushrooms)

Kosher salt and black pepper

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 large carrot, peeled and chopped

6 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped (or use the pre-minced stuff like me)

1 teaspoon dried thyme

¼ cup all-purpose flour

5 cups chicken stock (I cheat and just add 5 teaspoons of Knorr's chicken bouillon to 5 cups water) OR vegetarian stock if you'd like to keep this soup vegetarian friendly

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 cup wild rice

1 cup sour cream

Chopped scallions or chives and fresh dill, for topping (optional)

Method

1. Turn on the sauté setting on a 6- to 8-quart electric pressure cooker. Melt the butter, then add the onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes. 
2. Add the mushrooms and 1 teaspoon salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms have released their liquid and shrunk a bit, about 8 minutes. Add the celery, carrot, chopped garlic, thyme, garlic powder and several generous grinds of black pepper. Stir to combine. Add the flour and stir until the vegetables are evenly coated and no white spots remain.
3. Pour in the stock and lemon juice, and turn off the heat. Scrape the bottom of the pot very well to incorporate flour and any browned bits that are stuck to the bottom. (This will add flavor and also prevent a burn warning later.) Stir in the wild rice.
4. Cook on high pressure for 12 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the pressure reduce naturally for 10 minutes, then release the remaining pressure manually.
5. Put the sour cream in a small bowl and slowly whisk in a few spoonfuls of warm soup until smooth, then stir the mixture into the soup. (This prevents the sour cream from separating.) Taste the soup and add salt and pepper to taste. I did not need to add more salt.
6. Serve the soup in bowls topped with chopped scallions or chives and dill. Reheat any leftovers on low until warm. (Boiling can cause the sour cream to break.)

Pozole Rojo

A and I visited Lazarus 2 and tried their pozole one evening, and loved it so much that I immediately started Googling for recipes so I could make it myself. Simply Recipes had a recipe that formed the basis for what I wanted to make, so credit goes to them for providing me with the bones of a recipe that I then tweaked to make it even simpler and to fit the ingredients that were on hand.

Pozole Rojo

Adapted from Simply Recipes

Ingredients

• 2 ounces dried guajillo chiles
• 2 ounces dried ancho chiles
• Salt
• 2 yellow onions, chopped
• 1 large (108 ounce, 6 lb 12 oz, 3 kg) can white hominy, drained and rinsed
• 3 pounds pork steaks (preferably with bone), cut into 1 to 1 1/2 inch cubes (keep all the fat!)
• 8 cloves garlic
• 1/2 small cabbage, thinly sliced
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons dry oregano (Mexican oregano if available)

Optional garnishes (can prep while pozole is cooking):

• 2 avocados, chopped
• 4 limes, quartered
• 1 bunch red radishes, sliced thin
• 1 cup cilantro, chopped

Method

1. Remove and discard the stems, seeds, and large veins from the chili pods. Heat a cast iron pan on medium high and heat the chili pods for a couple minutes, until they begin to soften. Do not let them burn. While the chilies are heating, bring a medium pot with 3 cups of water to a simmer and remove from heat. Once the chiles have softened, add the chiles to the pot hot water and cover. Let the chiles soak in the hot water for 15 to 20 minutes.
2. Heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil (enough to coat the bottom of a large 10-12 quart stockpot) on medium high heat. Pat the pork pieces dry with paper towels. Sprinkle them generously with salt. Working in batches, taking care not to crowd the pan or stir the meat much, brown the meat on all sides. 
3. Once the meat has browned, return all of it to the stockpot and add 5 quarts of water. Scrape up any browned bits at the bottom of the pan. Add the rinsed hominy. Add bay leaves, cumin, and oregano. When you put the oregano in, smoosh together with your hands so that the oregano breaks up more as it goes in. Add a tablespoons of salt. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat and cook for 15 minutes.
4. Prepare the red sauce by puréeing in a blender the chilies, 2 1/2 cups or so of their soaking liquid, a teaspoon of salt, and the garlic. (To prevent the blender from creating too much pressure, it's probably best to start with the chiles and garlic and only a cup of the liquid in the blender, and then adding the rest of the liquid.) Strain the red sauce through a sieve, discarding the tough bits of the sauce. [Note: I did not do this as I am lazy and do not own a sieve. It was fine.]
5. Add red chili sauce to the pot with the pork and hominy. Add another couple teaspoons of salt. Add the shredded cabbage (this is something I did because I love cooked cabbage and I think it makes sure that we eat enough veg as part of this soup - some people would prefer the cabbage to be raw and added to the hot soup as a garnish - you can do it either way). Return to a simmer, lower the heat to just high enough to maintain a simmer, partially covered.
6. Cook for 2 to 3 hours until the pork is completely tender. Skim away excess fat. Taste for seasoning and add more salt to taste (you will likely need more than you expect, perhaps a tablespoon or more.) The resulting soup should be rather brothy, as you will be adding a lot garnishes. Add more water if necessary.
7. When getting ready to serve the pozole, you can prep the garnishes (slice the radishes, chop the cilantro, etc.) To serve, arrange the garnishes in bowls on the table and serve the pozole soup into bowls. Let your guests pick and choose which garnishes they would like on their pozole. HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE RADISHES. They really transform the dish.

Chicken Ginger Rice Soup

This is a cobbled together recipe using plenty of influences, including dak gomtang (Korean chicken soup) and also growing up watching my mom cook lots of delicious soups. Everything is to taste, so here's my version. This makes a huge amount of soup - I usually spoon it into jars for our lunches and it'll make 10-12 jars, easily, which is 5 or 6 meals for me and A.

Chicken Ginger Rice Soup

Serves 10-12

Ingredients

• Whole 5-lb chicken (the best one you can afford)
• A 6 inch piece of ginger root (or even more if you really like ginger)
• 1 large yellow or white onion
• 1 tbsp chicken Better than Bouillon (if using water to fill pot) or 1 carton chicken broth
• 1 bundle of green onions (usually 6-8 in a bundle, depending on the size of each green onion)
• 1 lb spinach or kale greens (or any other leafy dark green that you enjoy)
• 2 cups jasmine rice
• Fresh ground pepper to taste
• Salt to taste
• Chopped cilantro, to garnish

Method

1. Get a large soup pot that can comfortably hold your whole chicken and then some. Slice your onion into half-moons, and put in the pot. Cut off 2 inches of ginger root and bruise it with the flat edge of your knife and drop into the pot. 
2. Rinse the chicken and remove any giblets. If you like nibbling on the giblets, put them in the pot (I always do). If they make you squeamish, I guess you can discard them (sad!) Put whole chicken in the pot, breast side up. Add chicken broth if using, and then top off with enough water to cover chicken. If you're using water, fill pot to cover chicken, then add the chicken Better than Bouillon. Grind lots of fresh pepper into the pot too - whatever you think you'll enjoy.
3. Bring pot to a boil. Once it's boiling, turn down heat to a simmer and let it cook for 25 minutes. Then turn off the heat and flip the chicken so it is breast side down. Cover with lid and let it sit for 30 minutes.
4. Remove chicken from pot and put it on a plate to rest for 15 minutes. Remove the bruised chunks of ginger and discard. Once cool enough to handle, remove all of the meat from the chicken and chop into bite size pieces. If you don't like chicken skin in your soup, you can discard, but I tend to include some pieces in the soup for that lovely chicken fat richness.
5. Peel the remaining ginger and slice thinly (cross wise first, then into matchsticks). 
6. Chop green onion into small rings (I use both the white and green parts).
7. Add rice, ginger, green onion, and all of the spinach or kale greens to the chicken broth and simmer for 20-30 min. Rice should be fully cooked by the end of this time, and greens should be completely wilted. Take off heat when done.
8. Add chicken meat back into the pot and stir to fully combine. Taste and check if soup needs additional salt or pepper.
9. Serve in bowls with cilantro on top, if desired.

Quick chicken noodle soup

I like to make chicken stock after roasting chickens (thrifty and tasty!) but then end up with loads in the freezer that needs to be used. On one of my weekend cooking sprees, I decided to make a chicken noodle soup for the colder days, and to stave off the beginnings of any colds.

Quick Chicken Noodle Soup
Adapted from AllRecipes

Ingredients

15g butter
1 small onion, chopped
3 sticks celery, chopped
2L chicken stock
400g boneless skinless chicken thigh, chopped
125g noodles
3 medium carrots, sliced
salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter.

2. Cook onion and celery in butter until just tender, 5 minutes.

3. Pour in chicken and vegetable stocks and stir in chicken, noodles, carrots, salt and pepper.

4. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes before serving.

Colcannon Soup

I've probably already made this soup three or four times since discovering it. It's full of flavor from all the leeks and chicken broth, and feels healthy because of the kale and the cabbage, but not too healthy - the richness of potatoes and cream and butter still make it a really enjoyable soup. Proportions are a bit different from the original since I tend to use entire packages of things and this is based on the usual sizes I can get from my grocery shops.

Colcannon Soup

Based on this recipe from Simply Recipes
Serves 8

Ingredients

75g butter
600g sliced leeks
1/2 head sliced and chopped white cabbage (approx 500g)
200g sliced and chopped kale or cavolo nero
6 medium peeled and diced white potatoes
6 cups chicken stock
2 bay leaves
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
170ml double cream
4 green onions, thinly sliced

Method

1. Melt butter in a large, heavy bottomed soup pot on medium heat. Add the sliced leeks, cabbage, and kale, toss to coat with the butter. Lower the heat to low, cover and gently cook until the greens are wilted, about 12 to 15 minutes.
2. Add the diced potatoes to the pot, along with the chicken stock, bay leaves, and salt. Increase heat to bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer, and cook until the potatoes are softened and falling apart, about 15 to 20 minutes.
3. Remove from heat. Swirl in the white pepper, double cream, and sliced green onions. Taste and add more salt and pepper to taste.

Soup of Cannellini Beans with Pasta and Rosemary

 
It's time for a hearty, filling soup recipe. Gray skies and dreary drizzle make me want to grab a warm bowl of soup with plenty of textures and a homey, comforting taste - and this one is just the recipe for it. You get the soft slippery texture of the pasta, and the creamy bite of the cannelini beans, and you feel virtuous as you slurp down spoonfuls of veg in the form of tomatoes, cabbage, carrots and celery and onion. The rosemary makes this an autumnal winner of a soup, and the pancetta is just that bit of meaty luxury that you keep dipping your spoon in for.

Soup of Cannellini Beans with Pasta and Rosemary
Adapted from The Amateur Gourmet, who adapted it from Chez Panisse Cooking
 
Ingredients
 
140g pancetta, diced
2 medium yellow onion, finely diced
4 medium carrots, finely diced
3 stalks celery, finely diced
5 cloves garlic, sliced
3 3-inch sprigs rosemary
500g dried cannellini beans, covered with cold water and soaked for 8 to 12 hours
3 cups Savoy cabbage, sliced into thin ribbons
8 cups water
1 can diced tomatoes
250g macaroni elbows
Salt and pepper
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
More olive oil for drizzling (optional)
 
Method

Add the pancetta to a large saucepot over low-medium heat to let some of the fat render out. Then add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, and rosemary and soften over low heat, without browning, for 8 to 10 minutes. 

Drain the beans, add them and the cabbage, pour in the water and tomatoes, bring to a simmer, and cover the pot. Taste the liquid after 30 minutes. It should be slightly salty from the pancetta, but add additional salt to taste. 

Cook slowly for about 1 hour and 10 minutes more or until the beans have softened throughout.

When the beans are cooked (and you can only know by tasting: they should taste creamy), transfer 2 cups of the broth and beans to a blender and puree them thoroughly. Return the puree to the pot. 

Check to see if you think the soup is too thick for adding pasta - I added another 2 cups of water. Stir in the pasta; correct the soup to your taste with salt and pepper, and cook until pasta is al dente. 

Remove the rosemary sprigs and dish it up into warm bowls. Sprinkle the Parmesan and about a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil over each portion at the table if you'd like.

Salt Cod Stew

I impulsively bought some saltfish from the fruit and veg store at the end of my road - it was sitting on the counter and I'd always been curious about using it in cooking. After looking up several recipes for salt cod stews and soups, I gathered up a few ingredients that I had in the house and went to work. The result was a hearty yet fresh tasting soup that was permeated with a rich seafood flavor - one definitely worth making again if I spot saltfish on my grocer's shelves.

Ingredients

300g salt fish
200g mussels (I had the precooked, shelled version in my freezer)
1 white onion, peeled and diced
2 small carrots, peeled and diced
3 sticks of celery, trimmed and diced
55g new potatoes, diced (I left peels on)
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
a small bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley
extra virgin olive oil
1tsp dried chilli flakes
2 x 400g tins of good-quality plum tomatoes
425ml chicken stock (I used a stock cube)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
juice of 1 lemon
chunky white bread, to serve

Method

1. If using proper saltfish, soak the filets in cold water for 24 hours, changing the water a few times during this period. This way, the fish will rehydrate and the saltiness will be removed before cooking.

2. Chop the onion, carrots, bell peppers, celery, garlic and parsley stalks. Heat a splash of olive oil in a saucepan, and add the chopped vegetables, parsley stalks and dried chilli. Sweat very slowly with the lid ajar for 15 to 20 minutes until soft, but not brown. 

3. Add the tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes, then add the stock and bring back to the boil.

4. Break up any larger pieces of tomato with a wooden spoon and drop the salt cod filets into the hot soup. Simmer gently for 15 minutes, just until the fish has poached and flakes apart when prodded with a fork. Pick out any bits of skin. 

5. Add the mussels and then gently fold the flakes of fish and mussels through the soup, taste and season with pepper, salt (if needed) and a little lemon juice. 

6. Chop the parsley leaves and scatter over the soup. Drizzle with plenty of extra virgin olive oil. Serve with good bread to soak up the stew.

Black Bean Soup

During our kitchen clear out, I found some extra packages of dried beans, including some black beans. A coworker had been reminiscing recently about the black bean soup she had in Cuba, and that reminded me of the black bean soup I used to have at Tex-Mex restaurants back home. I cobbled together a few recipes to come up with the below - the bacon is an addition due to my belief that very little makes beans taste as good as a bit of smoked pork. Cumin gives it some warmth, oregano is thrown in because it was in one recipe and I am trying to use up some dried herbs, and I added a few drops of Tabasco to give it a little kick. The picture is quite drab looking, but the flavors are anything but. I topped servings with a little grated cheddar and cilantro/coriander - sour cream would also work for those of you who like that kind of thing.

Black Bean Soup 
Serves 8 generously

Ingredients

500g black beans, soaked
8 cups water
1 tablespoon kosher salt
8 rashers smoked streaky bacon
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup green pepper, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
6 garlic cloves, peeled
2 teaspoons cumin (or to taste)
4 teaspoons white vinegar (I used rice vinegar as it was all I had on hand)
1 tsp dried oregano
8 dashes of Tabasco (optional)
grated Cheddar cheese (optional)
chopped cilantro/corinder (optional)

Method

In a large pot, add the water and salt. Add beans and simmer until soft (approximately 90 minutes). Cut bacon strips into lardons and fry until crispy. Remove bacon with slotted spoon and place into pot of beans. Sauté onion, pepper, celery and carrots in remaining bacon fat until the onions turn golden brown. Add garlic, cumin, oregano and vinegar. Cook, stirring for 3 minutes. Drain about 1/2 cup water from beans and add it to the sauté.

Cook over low heat for 30 minutes.

Combine vegetables with beans.

Cook for another 30 minutes, adding more water if necessary. Add Tabasco if using. If you like a smoother soup, you can use a stick blender to blend some of the soup - I did this for a few pulses so that it remained quite chunky but thickened a bit. Also, if you want it to be vegetarian, just omit the bacon and saute the vegetables in olive oil instead.

Curried Lentil Soup

When it's March and still cold outside (I'm so jealous when my parents tell me about the balmy weather in Texas!) I comfort myself with soup. This one was particularly attractive since I received some lovely curry powders for Christmas - the curry adds a warm depth to the soup which pairs nicely with the thick and slightly creamy texture of the soup. Who knew pureed chickpeas would be such a spectacular secret ingredient?

Curried Lentil Soup

Slightly adapted from Feast with Bron

Ingredients

4 tablespoons olive oil,

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium carrot, finely chopped

1 stalk celery, finely chopped

2 large garlic cloves, chopped, divided

2 tablespoons curry powder, or more to taste

1 cup French green lentils

4 cups water

400g can chickpeas, drained, rinsed or a large handful of dried ones, soaked and cooked

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 green onions, thinly sliced

1 lemon, cut into wedges

Method

 

In a large heavy pot, heat half the olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion, celery and carrot, season with a pinch of salt and pepper, and cook until onion is translucent, 5-7 minutes. Add garlic and cook for an additional 2 minutes, then stir in curry powder. Cook, stirring constantly to prevent spices from burning, until spices are fragrant.

Add lentils and water and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until lentils are tender, about 30 minutes.

In the meantime, puree chickpeas, lemon juice, remaining olive oil, and 1/4 cup of water. Stir puree into lentils. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and/or additional curry powder, then thin soup with water until desired consistency. I didn't end up thinning the soup at all.

Divide amongst soup bowls and serve garnished with green onion and with lemons on the side.

Turkey Noodle Soup

Poor A was feeling under the weather after Thanksgiving. Luckily, I had rescued the carcass of the turkey from J & D's house and I put it to use, making a soup that had A back on his feet in no time at all!

Turkey Noodle Soup

Ingredients

1 turkey carcass
4 star anise
1/4 Sichuan peppercorns
1 onion, diced
3 carrots, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
200g dried pasta (I used farfalle)

Method

Pick all the turkey meat off the carcass (I ended up with about 2 cups of meat). Break the carcass into pieces small enough to put it in a large pot and cover with water. Add star anise and Sichuan peppercorns to the pot, and bring it to the boil. Lower heat to a simmer and cook for 2 hours. Strain out all the solids and discard, and put the broth back into the pot. Add salt and pepper to taste (be quite generous with the salt, as you're adding vegetables and pasta to this).

Add all of the vegetables to the pot and simmer for 15 minutes. In the meantime, dice all the turkey meat. Add pasta and turkey meat to the pot and cook for another 10 minutes. Taste the pasta for doneness and adjust any seasonings. Serve.

Yuforia Soup Kitchen

Covent Garden Piazza
Southeast corner

Living Social was doing a deal on Yuforia Soup Kitchen's soups - you could get 5 meals for £12, which works out to a very reasonable £2.40 for soup and bread. With the wintry weather we've been enduring in London, soup is often exactly what I'm looking for at lunch time, so I bought a voucher to give Yuforia Soup Kitchen a try. The soup is actually made by a company called GLORIOUS! (which makes me want to snark on them a little, because I detest names for companies that are such ridiculous overstatements), but thankfully their soups are actually quite good. So far I've had the tomato & chorizo (which also had thickening lentils in it, perfect for keeping you full through the afternoon) and the Malaysian chicken pictured above in a bread bowl. I adore bread bowls for soup - you get something to dip in the soup, and then you get to eat the soup, and then you get to eat more soup-soaked bread - it's like the dish that keeps on giving. The only thing that could make this perfect is if they had some clam chowder on the menu, so I could transport myself back to San Francisco in my tummy.

Barley Soup al Verde with Mushrooms

Call me weird, but I love pearl barley. I had a bag of it from when I used to throw it into every vegetable soup I made. Every veggie in the fridge that seemed appropriate for soup would go into a pot with a big handful of pearl barley. Then I forgot about it for a while, until I saw this recipe, and then I realized I had an onion, mushrooms and a small head of cabbage in the fridge. I picked up a bag of spinach and was ready to go. I love mushrooms and I thought they really helped the soup and gave it a meaty umami flavor. Next time I would probably add the spinach closer to the end of the cooking time - if you put it in near the beginning of the cooking time, like in the recipe, it disintegrates a bit and loses most of its spinachy character. This is not the prettiest of soups, but it makes up for it by tasting good.

Barley Soup al Verde with Mushrooms
Adapted from the Silver Spoon via Dinner Tonight

Ingredients

8 cups stock, boiling (I used some homemade chicken stock and topped it off with some OXO cubes)
1 onion, diced
800g mixed mushrooms (I had 500g chestnut and 300g baby button), quartered
1 small head cabbage (about 1 1/2 cups, sliced)
100g baby leaf spinach
3 dried bay leaves
1 cup pearl barley
grated parmesan (optional)
olive oil

Method

1. Put a large glug of olive oil into a large pot and add onions. Cook over medium heat until onions are translucent. Add mushrooms to the pot and stir, cook for 5 minutes. Add cabbage and spinach and bay leaves to the pot, and then pour stock into pot. Cook for 15 minutes over medium heat.

2. Add pearl barley and cook for an additional 30 minutes, or until barley is tender.

3. Serve with some grated parmesan on top (optional).

Smoked Haddock Chowder

I picked up some smoked haddock from the supermarket even though I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it. Then I had a craving for chowder and realized it would be perfect. I've taken quite a lot of liberties with the recipe from Serious Eats but it still turned out wonderfully. Next time I may try and mash a little of the potato into the chowder to thicken it, but I also quite liked this version where the broth was a little lighter than usual.

Smoked Haddock Chowder

Adapted from Serious Eats

Ingredients

4 cups whole milk
250g smoked haddock (fresh or frozen)
4 rashers unsmoked bacon (sliced and diced into 1/2 inch pieces)
1 cup onion (medium dice)
1/2 cup celery (medium dice)
1/2 cup carrot (fine dice)
1 large potatoes (very fine dice)
2 large potatoes (medium dice)
2 teaspoon salt
1 pinch of freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons flat leaf parsley (rough chop)
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Method

1. Put milk and haddock in a pan and bring to a gentle simmer. Take the pan off the heat and allow to infuse at room temperature until cool.

2. In another pan, cook bacon over low heat until the bacon has shrunken in size, given off a little of its fat, and turned a light brown. Add onions, celery, carrots, black pepper and 2 teaspoons of salt. Cook over low heat for about 35 to 40 minutes.

3. Add the potatoes to the bacon and vegetables. Strain the milk into the vegetables. Flake the haddock into large chunks. Discard all skin, bones, and any dry bits. Add haddock to chowder and give it a good stir. Cook until the potatoes are tender (approximately 45 minutes), checking and stirring intermittently so they do not burn. Just before serving, stir in chopped parsley and lemon juice.

Healthy Veggie Soup

I was feeling slightly vegetable-deprived lately and also needed to free up some space in the freezer, so I pulled out a couple of quarts of chicken/duck stock that I had made a few weeks ago. I was hoping to make something with a light broth, so I just started cutting up whatever vegetables I could find in the fridge. The end result was surprisingly enjoyable, which is why I'm putting up a post on something so simple - I'd actually like to remember how to recreate this!

Healthy Veggie Soup

Ingredients

1 medium onion
3 carrots
2 stalks of celery
4 courgettes
1 tin of borlotti beans
1 tin of canellini beans
2 quarts of chicken stock (I had 1 quart chicken, 1 quart duck)
1 tablespoon gently crushed peppercorns
olive oil

Method

Dice onion, carrots, celery and courgettes into bean-sized pieces. In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, gently cook the onions in some olive oil over low heat until they turn translucent. Add carrots, celery and courgettes and cook for a few minutes. Add chicken stock and both tins of beans, and bring to a simmer. Add salt to taste and the peppercorns and keep simmering soup until all vegetables are tender. Serve with crusty bread.

Convention Cafe

Convention Metro
Paris

I know, I know. Second place in a row where I don't have an address (or even a proper name). It's right next to Convention metro stop though - one of those corner cafes. Basically, we were starving after we finished at a photography exhibition and this place looked decent (and was still serving lunch). I went with one of the daily specials, a salad that was like no other salad I've ever seen. A giant plate came out, heaped with lettuce, then fried potatoes, cheese, ham, croutons and a poached egg. If all salads were like this salad, I'd be happy to eat salad daily! This was reasonable for 10 euros, but my friends felt a little more ripped off when their bowls of French onion soup rang in at 8.50 each, and a croque monsieur was 15 euros. Still, for a corner cafe, I suppose these prices aren't ridiculous, and I would recommend the salad, so I guess I'll give this one a pass.

French Onion Soup

French onion soup is one of A's favorites, so when I had a glut of onions in the house I decided to attempt making it. After looking at a few different recipes, I settled on this one since it looked simple and I liked the idea of "secret" ingredients. It turned out well, but was even more delicious the second day so I would suggest making this the day before you want to eat it. The resting time really gives all the ingredients time to meld into a sweet and savory whole.

French Onion Soup

Makes four servings

6 medium onions, thinly sliced

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/8 cup port wine

1 quart chicken stock, boiling

4 pieces of toasted bread, preferably something crusty

1 cup of grated Gruyère cheese

salt

In a large, heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat and add the onions. Cook slowly over low-medium heat as the onions caramelize. This should take a while (20-30 minutes) as you don't want the onions to cook too quickly - you are aiming for a sweet, sticky golden mess of onions. Once the onions are caramelized, add the balsamic vinegar and port and cook for 2 minutes, stirring. Add the chicken stock at this point, salt to taste and then simmer for another 30 minutes. If you can, let this all cool down and refrigerate it for a day before serving. Heat up the soup again, and then get 4 oven-proof bowls and ladle soup into each bowl. Float a piece of toast on top of each bowl and then 1/4 cup of grated Gruyère on top of each piece of toast. Put the bowls on a baking tray and place them under a hot grill or broiler for a couple of minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly. 

Blossom

City Point, Unit 1b

1 Ropemaker Street

London 

EC2Y 9AW

I used to get takeout sushi from Blossom for dinner at least two or three times a week. Alas, the dinner expenses were eventually revoked and then with the discovery of Whitecross Street Market, even lunches were a rare occurrence. But on rainy, dismal, cold days, it's a good choice when meeting people who work in the offices above - no need to even carry an umbrella. Seafood bibimbap was chosen for its warming qualities - along with a bowl of miso soup that was included, it thawed out my icy fingers quickly. My favorite part is the screaming hot stone bowl that it comes in, frying bits of the rice that get stuck and quickly cooking all of the raw shrimp, salmon and mussels in the bowl once they're mixed in. I throw in the accompanying kimchi as well to make it a bit spicier and then remember to eat carefully so that I don't burn my tongue. Fantastic.

Sorry I have no picture - that is totally due to my own stupidity, I somehow deleted it. Oops.

Winter Bean Soup

I bought a piece of smoked gammon the other day, even though I've never cooked it before. So after reading about gammon on the internet, I decided to boil it with some carrots and onions before roasting it. While it was roasting, I was pondering what to do with the lovely broth in my pot, so I used an immersion blender and whizzed it all up into a pretty orange colored silky soup. Some cannelini beans and herbs were thrown in, and voila, a tasty soup was born!

Winter Bean Soup

500g smoked gammon
2 carrots
1 large onion
1 small potato
2 tins of cannelini beans
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tsp ground black pepper
salt

1. Boil gammon, carrots, onion and potato with enough water to cover for 30 minutes. Remove gammon and use it for a different dish. Blend liquid and vegetables until smooth.

2. Add beans, basil, black pepper and salt to taste (make sure you try it before you salt it since the gammon may have left quite a bit of salt behind).  Simmer for another 15-20 minutes and then serve.

The Northgate

113 Southgate Road
London, N1 3JS

Time for dinner and drinks with our neighbor so the neighborhood pub seemed appropriate. The Northgate came recommended by the previous occupiers of our flat, but we still hadn't visited it for food. I was pleasantly surprised that the chalkboard menu changes every day to reflect what the chef wants to make. To start, I had the mussels in a bacon and cream sauce, and A ordered the French onion soup. Both were delicious, though I preferred my giant pile of mussels which were full of flavor and very fresh. We both had a warm salad of grilled merguez sausage, new potatoes and green beans off the starter menu as our main instead - again, all of the ingredients seemed to be high quality and we polished off every bite. My one quibble is that it is just pricey enough that I wouldn't go regularly, unless I wasn't too hungry and could make do with one starter as my meal. Starters were 5 or 6 quid, which is reasonable, but mains were mostly 14 and up, except for the veggie options at 10 quid. Still, when we want a little treat, nice to know it is close by and serves good food.