Chicken Noodle Soup
This soup has been calling to me since I saw the recipe in the Herald a few weeks ago (23/6/09). Last night it came into being in our house. Not a typical soup for me it must be said. Delicious in it's own right, but delicious as a change of pace too. Interesting technique. I'd never made microwave stock before, it was easy, quick and tasty. My paste didn't really turn out particularly pasty, and I didn't put a full tablespoon of pepper in, as that seemed a bit much. Otherwise I think I followed the recipe pretty faithfully (also unusual for me). It didn't really make a large amount, three ravenous adults and a picky child all but finished it off. So with no leftovers it gave me a perfect excuse to make a second soup....
Yesterday I made Spinach and Pea Soup, from my new Country Women's Association Soups and Stews book. A rather intriguing publication. This book was published as a fundraiser for a rural postgraduate nursing scholarship, and has a sister volume called Cakes that I haven't seen yet. This book is a comilation of recipes submitted by active CWA members. One is even a Nola Treloar from Tasmania! Soup genes must be genetic.
There are certainly plenty of novel soups here. Some I'm very keen to try, and others I know I'll never try such as Sheep's Head Broth and the Oxtail Soup made with Kangaroo tail instead. Others are definitely more appealing such as the Curried Cream of Carrot which uses indian spices and coconut milk, along with some parsnips, Hearty Pea Soup made with split yellow peas, and the intriguing sounding Velvet Soup, a combination of root vegetables and cream. One of the more unusual soups is a Cream of Cheese Soup, which includes two teaspoons of Vegemite! I'm sure it would be a hit with my vegemite and cheese loving 8 year old. I make far fewer stews than I do soups, but the Lamb Stew with Pumpkin Dumplings sounds good too. Lots of interesting recipes to ponder here.
I was attracted to the Spinach and Pea Soup because of the fantastic almost iridescent green in the photo. I usually find green soups disappointing in the way their colour turns out, I generally end up with some sort of murky, drab olive dish-water green, rather than the fabulous vibrant green depicted in the food stylists photo. But no so this time! It's a very simple recipe, literally no more than frying an onion and boiling some frozen vegies, but it does give a delicious result. I didn't notice that the spinach was supposed to be thawed until I was typing the recipe here, so it works with adding frozen spinach. I of course added hot stock as you always should, as Nick Nairn taught me in Wild Harvest all those years ago. I didn't use any curry powder, but would be interested to try that some time (I'd add it at the end of the onion frying, I hate adding aromatics and not releasing the flavour, seems such a waste).
I doubled the recipe, and now have litres of fabulous green soup that I'm giving away, freezing for later, and slurping up with gusto. The first night we had it, I just did a little entree serve, it is actually a bit thick for drinking directly out of a cup, and was better tonight, with a bigger serving in a bowl, and some chunky toast with Danish butter.
Spinach and Pea Soup
Carol Clay, Pakenham Branch, Vic
2 tblsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
500g frozen spinach, thawed
500g frozen peas
1 litre chicken stock
salt, pepper and curry powder to taste
Heat oil and saute onion until clear. Add remaining ingredients and simmer til soft (about 10 minutes)
Puree soup until smooth, season again if needed, and reheat to serve.
Serves 4-6
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