Darina Allen: Comforting soup recipes to chase away the January blues

You can almost feel every mouthful doing you a power of good

Who doesn’t love a big bowl of chunky soup with a few lardons of pancetta, chorizo, or sweet streaky bacon.

A welcome supper to chase away the January blues, a satisfying and comforting meal in a dish.

I love to add some beans and/or chickpeas for extra oomph, not to mention hearty richness. A little drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, some finely grated cheese and a sprinkling of freshly chopped parsley or coriander, and there’s a feast in a bowl.

I’m never without some frozen soup — a brilliant standby, frozen in 520ml tubs that take no more than 10 minutes to defrost and are ample for two people.

A few chunks of freshly baked bread or a cheddar cheese scone and you’re sorted.

Myrtle taught me this brilliant 1,1,3,5 formula that we use in Ballymaloe House and here at the school for many of our soups.

It results in a delicious soup in any season:

• 1 cup of chopped onion
• 1 cup of chopped potato
• 3 cups of any vegetable or a mixture of your choice
• 5 cups of chicken or vegetable stock or water if all else fails

I sometimes use four cups of stock and one cup of creamy milk, particularly for potato and fresh herb, or onion and thyme leaf soup.

These soups can be whizzed in a blender for a silky texture or left whole for aficionados of chunky textured soup.

I love my soups to reflect the season. You might wonder what vegetables are in season while we’re still in the depths of winter. Well, the answer is lots. Leeks are great just now, kale and broccoli of course, parsnips and my favourite winter perennials Jerusalem artichokes — the knobbly inulin rich rhizomes that keep on giving until the end of February, sometimes well into March. Look out for them in the shops and farmers’ market because I will devote my next column to Jerusalem artichokes with three tasty recipes next week. They also make a delicious soup using the 1,1,3,5 formula.

Kale is another of our brilliant winter vegetables. We plant it at the end of July and start to harvest it around the middle of September and then it will continue to crop until March.

We grow three varieties — green and red and Cavolo Nero also known as black cabbage or Tuscan kale. They are absolutely bursting with flavour and goodness and also make one of my various winter soups, kale and lentil. I got this recipe from Rory a few years ago. Rory likes to keep the texture very thick, but I’ve added more stock for a less robust soup — I’ve given you both options, each is delicious, just a different texture.

You can almost feel every mouthful doing you a power of good.

Ballymaloe Basic Soup Technique

recipe by:Darina Allen

Well over half the soups we make at Ballymaloe are made on this simple formula: One, one, three, five. Use the same receptacle to measure each ingredient and liquid — a cup, mug, measure, bowl…

Servings

6

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 10 mins

Total Time

 20 mins

Course

 Starter

Ingredients

• 50g butter

• 150g chopped potatoes, one-third inch dice

• 110g peeled diced onions, one-third inch dice

• 340g chopped vegetables of your choice, one-third inch dice

• 1.2 litres homemade chicken stock, or 1 litre stock and 150ml creamy milk

Method

1. Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan. When it foams, add potatoes and onions and turn them until well coated. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. Cover and sweat on a gentle heat for 10 minutes.

2. Add the vegetables and stock. Boil until soft. Taste and serve or liquidise, sieve or put through a mouli. Do not overcook or the vegetables will lose their fresh flavour. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

3. A Green Vegetable Soup: Ingredients as above… but with green vegetables eg spinach, watercress, wild garlic, nettles, chard greens, radish leaves, broad bean shoots, kale, mustard greens, leek greens, foraged greens, or a mixture

4. Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan. When it foams, add potatoes and onions and turn them until well coated. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper.

5. Cover and sweat on a gentle heat for 10 minutes. Add the stock and continue to cook until the onion and potato dice is tender.

6. Add the freshly chopped greens, return to the boil, uncovered for three or four minutes or until just cooked. Taste and serve or liquidise for a thick soup. Taste again and correct the seasoning.

7. Note: If the green vegetables are added at the beginning, they will most likely be over cooked and the soup will lose its fresh taste and bright green colour.

8. Vegan option: For a vegan option, use vegetable stock or water and substitute soya, almond or cashew milk for creamy milk and proceed as in master recipe

Rory’s Lentil & Kale Soup

recipe by:Darina Allen

This is a nourishing combination of ingredients that makes a soup that is deeply satisfying to eat. I serve this soup with a very thick consistency in the Italian style. If you prefer the soup thinner, just add more stock to the lentils when cooking.

Servings

8

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 45 mins

Course

 Starter

Ingredients

• 250g green lentils

• 1 red chilli

• 1 bay leaf

• 3 cloves unpeeled garlic

• branch thyme

• 1 onion halved

• 1.2 litres chicken stock

• 500g curly kale, weighed after the tough stalks have been removed

• 150ml cream

• salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

1. Place the lentils, chilli, bay leaf, garlic, thyme, onion, and one litre of chicken stock in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook very gently until the lentils are tender. Do not allow the lentils to become overcooked and mushy, but at the same time they do need to be completely cooked all the way through. I add a good pinch of salt to the cooking lentils 5 minutes before they are cooked.

2. Remove the bay leaf, thyme, and onion and discard. Peel the skin off the chilli and discard the skin. Split it in half lengthways and remove and discard the seeds. Chop the chilli flesh finely and add back into the lentils. Press the flesh out of the cooked garlic and discard the skins. Stir the soft garlic into the lentils. Taste and correct seasoning.

3. Bring 3 litres of water to a boil in a large saucepan and season well with salt. Add the kale leaves and cook uncovered until completely tender. Strain off all of the water and place the leaves in a food processor. Purée briefly, add the cream and continue to puree to a smooth consistency. Taste and correct seasoning making sure to add some freshly ground black pepper. Both elements of the soup can be put aside now for reheating later.

4. When ready to serve the soup, Heat the lentils and kale in separate saucepans. When both mixtures are simmering, add the kale to the lentil saucepan and gently fold through. The soup can look streaky at this stage and that is the way Rory prefers to serve it. Add more boiling stock to thin to your preferred consistency. Ladle into hot soup bowls and drizzle each serving with new season extra virgin olive oil. Serve immediately.

Chunky Winter Vegetable Soup with Spicy Sausage

recipe by:Darina Allen

We make huge pots of this in the Winter, I usually keep some in the freezer. Gubbeen chorizo would be a good substitute for the kabanossi sausage.

Servings

8

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 60 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 15 mins

Course

 Starter

Ingredients

• 225g rindless streaky bacon, cut into 5mm lardons

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 225g onions, chopped

• 300g carrot, cut into 5mm dice

• 215g celery, chopped into 5mm dice

• 125g parsnips, chopped into 5mm dice

• 200g white part of 1 leek, 5mm  slices thick approx.

• 1 Kabanossi sausage, cut into 3mm thin slices

• 400g tin of tomatoes

• salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar

• 1.7 litres good homemade chicken  stock

• 225g haricot beans, cooked*

• To garnish

• 2 tbsp parsley, freshly chopped

• extra virgin olive oil (optional)

•  

Method

1. Prepare the vegetables. Put the olive oil in a saucepan, add the bacon* (see note at bottom of recipe) and sauté over a medium heat until it becomes crisp and golden, add the chopped onion, carrots and celery.

2. Cover and sweat for five minutes, next add the parsnip and finely sliced leeks. Cover and sweat for a further 5 minutes. Slice the Kabanossi sausage thinly and add.

3. Chop the tomatoes and add to the rest of the vegetables and the beans. Season with salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar, add the chicken stock.

4. Allow to cook until all the vegetables are tender, 20 minutes approx.

5. Taste and correct the seasoning. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, serve with lots of crusty bread.

6. *Soak the beans overnight in plenty of cold water.

7. Next day, strain the beans and cover with fresh cold water, add a bouquet garni, carrot and onion, cover and simmer until the beans are soft but not mushy – anything from 30-60 minutes. Just before the end of cooking, add salt. Remove the bouquet garni and vegetables and discard.

8. Note: If the bacon is very salty, put into a small saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Strain and dry on kitchen paper.

Hot tips

Where do I find Jerusalem artichokes?

Many supermarkets are selling Jerusalem artichokes, also at Midleton and Mahon Point farmers’ market and the English Market in Cork City. The Ballymaloe Cookery School Farm Shop sells fresh, organic Jerusalem artichokes with a free recipe sheet. You can also stock up with organic eggs, raw milk from our small herd of Jersey cows, ferments, and much more.

Marmalade oranges

Marmalade oranges from Seville and Malaga are only in season from the end of December through to mid-February but panic not, they freeze brilliantly. Stockpile some in your freezer and maybe blood oranges too so when the fresh fruit begins to run out, you can make another batch of marmalade. Contact Catriona at Organic Republic, who deliver boxes of fresh fruit and vegetable all around Cork — www.organicrepublic.ie