Category Archives: Soups

French Onion Soup

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FRENCH ONION SOUP

This is my version of a French onion soup. We’ve just harvested this year’s onions at the cortijo so I thought it would be a good idea to cook this to mark the harvest.

French Onion Soup

The secret is to cook the thinly sliced onions for a long time so that they caramelise thoroughly. You can start the pan on a fairly high heat at first as the onions will have a lot of water and then you can adjust the flame as the onions dry out.

INGREDIENTS

  • 6 large onions, cut into quarters and then thinly sliced in a food processor (the sliced onions weighed 1100g)
  • 2 vegetable stock cubes
  • a splash of balsamic vinegar
  • a splash of soy sauce
  • a splash of Worcestershire sauce
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • a teaspoon or so of salt
  • a large knob of butter

METHOD

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan.
  2. Add the sliced onions and fry.
  3. Cover with a lid and leave to fry, on quite a high flame at first before turning the heat down gradually, checking them every 5 minutes to see that they temperature is not too high.
  4. The important thing is for the onions to caramelise slowly so that they turn a dark brown.
  5. Add the stock cubes and the butter and continue to fry gently.
  6. After about 5 minutes, pour in the water and the other ingredients and bring to the boil.
  7. Serve with croutons and grated cheese.
  8. To make the croutons, cut some stale bread into cubes.
  9. Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle over some olive oil.
  10. Cook in an air fryer on 200ºC for 5 minutes or so, tossing in the bowl half-way through the cooking time.

Carrot Soup

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CARROT SOUP

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 large onion, roughly chopped
  • 4 large carrots, roughly chopped
  • Greek yoghurt
  • fresh coriander
  • vegetable stock
  • salt and pepper
  • olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons red pesto

METHOD

  1. Heat some olive oil in a pressure cooker.
  2. Gently fry the onion until soft.
  3. Add the carrot and season with salt.
  4. Add about 1.2 litres water and the vegetable stock.
  5. Cover the pressure cooker and bring to pressure.
  6. Turn down the heat and cook for 15 minutes.
  7. Blend the soup and then add some Greek yoghurt and the red pesto.
  8. Grind some black pepper over the surface of the soup.
  9. Serve with some chopped coriander.

Garlic Soup

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The traditional Spanish recipe for garlic soup soup contains ham and bread and this is a lighter version.

garlic soup

garlic soup

Garlic Soup

This recipe is easy to prepare and only requires turning after 20 minutes.

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 garlic cloves, halved then very thinly sliced
  • 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
  • ½ teaspoon spicy paprika
  • 1 vegetable stock cube
  • 1.2 litres of water
  • 1 pinch of salt

METHOD

  1. Heat a splash of olive oil in a sauté pan (with a lid).
  2. Add the garlic and sauté gently on a low heat with the lid on.
  3. After a few minutes, add the paprika and salt and stir well for a few seconds so that the paprika does not burn.
  4. Add the water and the stock cube.
  5. Turn up the heat and bring it to a boil.
  6. Turn the heat down and simmer for about 10 minutes.
  7. Break 4 eggs into the pan.
  8. Cover and cook for about 3 minutes until the whites are set.

Gazpacho

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gazpacho tomatoes

GAZPACHO

This is my second recipe for gazpacho. My first recipe (Andalusian gazpacho) is the more traditional recipe that uses onion, cucumber, garlic, green pepper and garlic, but today I wanted to make a more tomato-based, thinner version like the one they serve in glasses in bars in towns around Andalucía, and Sevilla where I have fond memories of it from.

You must use ripe tomatoes with plenty of flavour for this recipe. Our tomatoes are generally ready at the beginning of August, so if I fancy making this before then, I will use plum tomatoes which tend to have more flavour than other early varieties.

This recipes serves two but it can be easily adapted.

Gazpacho

It only takes a few minutes to prepare this refreshing, cold tomato soup which is perfect for hot, summer days.

 

INGREDIENTS

  • Tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • cider vinegar
  • 2 capfuls balsamic vinegar
  • cider vinegar
  • 50g stale bread
  • ½ cup water
  • salt

METHOD

  1. Core and roughly chop the tomatoes and add to a food blender with the garlic.
  2. Blend for a couple of minutes.
  3. Add the balsamic vinegar, a good glug of extra virgin olive oil, a splash of cider vinegar and a teaspoon of salt, and blend well.
  4. Roughly chop the stale bread and add to the blender with a teaspoon of home-made mayonnaise.
  5. Add the water and continue to blend.
  6. Chill thoroughly before serving.

Quick and Easy Pumpkin Soup

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cortijoblog butternut squash soup

QUICK AND EASY BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

We generally harvest our butternut squashes in September and then leave them out in the sun for several days to ripen. It is important to treat them with care so that they don’t bruise and leave about 10cm of stalk on each one so that they don’t go off. We then store them upright in crates with a single layer in each one. They will happily keep for 5 or 6 months like that but you shoUld check them every so often just to be on the safe side. If you find that any of the stalks have fallen off, it is a good idea to peel and process them. Bags of grated squash or pieces can be frozen and later used in soups, stews or for bhajis or fritters.

cortijoblog butternut squash soup

Quick and Easy Butternut Squash Soup

This is a really quick and easy soup to prepare in the pressure cooker and only takes 20 minutes to make.

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 butternut squash
  • 1 potato, roughly chopped
  • 1 litre vegetable stock
  • 2 spoons of Greek yoghurt
  • salt and pepper

METHOD

  1. Peel the butternut squash, remove the seeds and cut into chunks.
  2. Put all the ingredients in the pressure cooker and pour over the vegetable stock.
  3. Season with salt and pepper.
  4. Stir well.
  5. Cover the pressure cooker and bring to pressure.
  6. Turn down the heat and cook for 20 minutes.
  7. Turn off the heat and leave the pressure cooker for 5 minutes before releasing the pressure.
  8. Blend with a stick blender.
  9. Check for seasoning and then serve.