In his last column before he died, Richard Hughes wrote that nothing could be more comforting as the nights draw in than a steaming bowl of homemade soup...
Good food nourishes your soul. When there is bad weather outside, or in your head, and no food cares for you more than a warming, cosy bowl of soup.
The mere act of cooking soup, whether for yourself or a crowd, is a ritual that you can lose yourself in; the repetition of chopping and stirring, the transformation of the kitchen from cold and uninviting to warm and nurturing.
One of the ways I wooed my wife was when she watched me chop an onion: a woman who does not cry when she cuts onions, she was nevertheless impressed when I showed her my lightning skills. You’ve got to have a party trick.
The reason I mention my chopping prowess is that if you dice your onions really small, you can save yourself a little bit of washing up by serving one of the recipes here in a glass and inviting your guest to drink rather than spoon their soup.
October is the perfect month to lean into soup-making, lazy afternoons creating hearty and warming bowls of comfort food.
Buildings are only as good as their foundations, so make sure that your stock is the best quality possible, whether it’s homemade or bought, to almost quote Meghan Trainor, it’s all about the base.
Vegetables need to be slowly sweated in your pot to become as sweet as possible or browned gently for a richer flavour – and the same can be said for any meat you use: always sear before you simmer, either in the oven or pan.
While anyone who whistles as they work in my kitchen is told to stop, seasoning as you work is imperative because every time you add unseasoned ingredients to your soup, you need to taste and adjust. It’s just one of the many bonuses of being the one doing the cooking.
What else can I tell you about soup?
My tin of choice is always Heinz Vegetable, I always warm the bowls, I like to tear shop-bought white bread into chunks and use it like naked croutons. We serve a little cup of soup before wedding breakfast afternoon teas. My favourite soup to eat at home is my wife’s French onion soup because she always asks me to chop the onions for her and the best food is made with love.
Here, I’ve given you a few recipes to choose from; a showstopping Guinness soup served in a pint glass complete with a creamy cheese topping, a roasted garlic soup to repel vampires on October 31 and a pumpkin soup served in a baby squash if you’re quite fond of vampires and don’t mind inviting them in!
Richard Hughes is chef director of The Assembly House Norwich. assemblyhousenorwich.co.uk
GUINNESS SOUP, CHEESE TOP
I first saw this soup being served over in Dublin…where else? I love this presentation, it never fails to bring a smile to the recipient. You can drink it or use a spoon, it all depends how fine you cut your onions. Ensure you warm the glass slightly beforehand and make sure that the soup is not boiling, then the tankard will be a perfectly safe vessel for this beautiful soup. Cheers!
Ingredients:
Makes two portions
1 large onion
10g butter
375ml beef/chicken stock
135ml Guinness
Pinch of sugar
Salt and black pepper
Cheese Top
150ml whipping cream
100g strong mature Cheddar cheese, grated
Method:
· Soften the onions in the butter, adding a good pinch of sugar.
· Cook slowly, stirring frequently until they begin to caramelise.
· Add the Guinness and slowly bring to the boil.
· Add the stock, simmer gently for 10 minutes.
· Taste and adjust seasoning.
· Allow to stand for five minutes before pouring into pre-warmed pint pots.
Cheese top:
· Warm two dessertspoons of the cream with the grated Cheddar, until melted.
· Whip the remaining cream. Pour the warm cream into the whipped cream and then pour on the soup to create a ‘head’.
ROASTED GARLIC SOUP
Four entire bulbs of garlic, roasted to make them deliciously sweet, then blended with leeks in a creamy soup. You can stop at the purée stage, and refrigerate for up to one day before adding the cream and lemon juice.
Ingredients:
Serves 4
4 bulbs garlic
3 tbsp olive oil
50g unsalted butter
2 leeks, washed and chopped
1 onion, chopped
6 tbsp plain flour
1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
5 tbsp sherry
225ml single cream
1 tbsp lemon juice, or to taste
salt to taste
Freshly ground pepper
2 tbsp chopped fresh chives
2 tbsp toasted flaked almonds
2 slices of bread, made into croutons
Method:
• Cut off the very top of each garlic head. Place in a small, shallow baking dish. Drizzle olive oil over. Bake at 170°C (Gas mark 3) until golden for about 45 minutes. Cool slightly. Press individual garlic cloves between thumb and finger to release. Mash garlic.
• Melt the butter in a heavy large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the garlic, leeks and onion; cook gently until the onion is soft, cooked, but with no colour.
• Add the flour and cook for five minutes, stirring frequently.
• Stir in the hot stock and sherry. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool slightly.
• Purée the soup in batches in a blender or food processor.
• Return the soup to the saucepan and add the cream. Simmer until thickened.
• Add lemon juice to taste. Season with salt and white pepper. Ladle into bowls.
• Garnish with croutons, chopped chives and toasted flaked almonds.
ROASTED PUMPKIN SOUP
For the pumpkin purée:
The flesh from one large pumpkin (around 900g) cut into cubes
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 head of garlic, cut in half horizontally
Three rosemary sprigs
Olive oil, to drizzle
For the soup:
1½ tablespoons of olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
A pinch of nutmeg
30g Parmesan, grated
800ml chicken stock or good quality vegetable stock
100ml double cream
15g butter
Roasted pumpkin seeds
Extra cream to serve
Method
· For the pumpkin purée, preheat the oven to 170°C/Gas Mark 3. Season the pumpkin flesh with salt and pepper.
· Oil a deep-sided baking tray with a drizzle of olive oil and rub the cut half of the garlic all over the base. Tumble the pumpkin in the tray so it is covered with the garlicky oil.
· Place the two halves of the head of garlic with the pumpkin in the tray and lay the rosemary sprigs on top. Drizzle with a little more oil and roast for about an hour – check several times, it may be soft enough (so that a sharp knife slides easily through the thickest chunks) earlier.
· Take out the rosemary and garlic, reserving the garlic. Put the pumpkin flesh in to a blender or food processor and purée until smooth.
· Make the soup by heating the oil in a large saucepan and then adding the onion and cooking until soft and translucent.
· Pop out a few softened garlic cloves from the roasted garlic and add to the pan with the pinch of nutmeg, salt and pepper. Gently sauté for another minute.
· Stir in the pumpkin purée and Parmesan, add the stock before bringing to the boil and then lowering the heat and simmering for 10 minutes. Stir in the cream and heat for a minute.
· Ladle the soup into a blender in batches and then blend until smooth. Add the butter and blend again before pouring into a new pan to reheat.
· Garnish with a little extra cream and roasted pumpkin seeds to serve.
To make your own squash soup bowls, take as many acorn squashes as you need bowls (maybe more, to factor in room for error!) and preheat your oven to 190C. Lightly oil the bottom of a baking dish, wash the squash and level the bottom by cutting off as little as possible to make it stable.
Cut the top of the squash off and scrape out the seeds and strings from inside (reserve the seeds for baking) and brush olive on to the outside of the squash. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes depending on the thickness of the squash: the inside should be tender, but be careful that you don’t make a leak in your ‘bowl’ as you test! Remove and fill with your favourite soup.
