Tag Archives: soup

Chilled Cucumber Soup

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CHILLED CUCUMBER SOUP

During the summer months at the cortijo, I love making chilled vegetable soups to eat in the evening, and my favourites are salmorejo and gazpacho. I’ve recently been experimenting with other types of soup. We’ve got loads of cucumbers at the moment, so this is one I tried today.  

Chilled Cucumber Soup

INGREDIENTS

  • 500g ready-prepared cucumbers, peeled and chopped
  • 1 large clove garlic, roughly chopped
  • 1 small pot of natural yoghurt
  • 60g extra virgin olive oil
  • 20g cider vinegar
  • 60ml water
  • a couple of sprigs of mint leaves, destemmed
  • a pinch of salt

METHOD

  1. Put all the ingredients into a liquidiser and blend for 7 minutes.
  2. Pour into a bowl and chill well before serving.

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.

Celery and Roquefort Soup

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Celery and Roquefort Soup

This soup is quick and easy to make.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 head of celery
  • 1.2 litres of vegetable stock
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • ground black pepper
  • 180g Roquefort or blue cheese
  • 1 jar chickpeas, drained (optional)

METHOD

  1. Wash the celery and cut in half.
  2. Put the celery into a pressure cooker.
  3. Add the vegetable stock and salt.
  4. Close the pressure cooker and bring up to pressure.
  5. Once it has reached pressure, turn down the heat and time 15 minutes.
  6. At the end of the cooking time, remove from the heat and leave to cool and release pressure.
  7. Add the blue cheese and blend with a stick blender.
  8. Serve.

NOTES

If you want a more substantial soup, add a jar of chickpeas and heat through. Otherwise it can be served with bread,.

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.