SPICY TOMATO AND RED PEPPER SOUP

I seem to be on a mission at the moment to find soup recipes with both 'bowl and taste appeal'. Lots of recipes disappoint me, and in the past I have had more than my fair share of failures. This winter has been unusually cold, and a bowl of homemade soup with freshly baked bread is the ultimate in mid-day comfort food.

Maybe, if you have thought about making soup, but the thoughts of buying fresh soup from the supermarket holds more attraction - I hope these following two soup recipes will help change your mind.

Lightly seeded bread straight from the bread machine was a perfect accompaniment.

Hot Food is a great cookery book and every recipe is accompanied with a photograph. It's always helpful and much more user friendly to look at a beautifully styled photograph.

There are recipes for most of us in this wonderful book. Chapters on soup, spicy, rice and noodles, hearty and pasta. Recipes such as asparagus soup with Parmesan crisps - lamb kofta curry - tamarind beef, bean and noodle stir-fry - Welsh lamb pie and for rainy day cooking - pasta with lamb shank, rosemary and red wine ragu.

HOT FOOD

ISBN 1740452259 - Page 65

Serves: 4-6 people

This is the slightly adapted recipe:

You will need: 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 finely chopped red onions, 2 crushed cloves of garlic, 1 tablespoon ground cumin, 2 teaspoons paprika, 2 diced red peppers, 90g tomato puree, 250ml dry white wine, 2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes, 500ml chicken or vegetable stock, 3 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley, 4 tablespoons chopped coriander.

1. Heat the oils in a large saucepan over a medium heat and cook for 1-2 minutes.
2. Add the red pepper and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and the wine, simmer for a couple of minutes, or until reduced slightly. Add the tomato, stock and 500ml water. Season and simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Puree most of the soup along with the herbs. Add the remainder of the soup mix to the puree. Enjoy!


My next success story is Tomato and Basil Soup taken from Olive Magazine, a link to this recipe can be found here on the BBCGoodFood website.

The recipe states that it cooks in 15 minutes, but I found it took a good 30 minutes to cook all of the vegetables. If the soup gets too thick, just thin it down a little.

Another soup to enjoy with some good crusty bread!

COQ AU VIN

This recipe is by the wonderful Anne Willan, who runs her own cookery school in France and is also a prolific cookery writer. Her recipes are fabulous, it is worth looking out for her books and trying out some of her recipes.
Obviously, there are a lot of Coq au Vin recipes around and so we are spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing which one to cook. The chicken is marinated from 1-3 days and this in its own right makes this recipe a winner.


COMFORT FOOD - BBC GOOD FOOD

ISBN 0563488492 - PAGE 85

Serves: 4-6 people (can easily be scaled down)

Skill Level: Moderate

Taste Test: The chicken was succulent and the sauce was quite rich in flavour.

A must for this recipe is to use a decent bottle of red wine otherwise all of your hard work will just go to waste because the end result will be very disappointing.
I wouldn't season this dish with salt because there is enough in the bacon, otherwise it will be unbearable to eat.
I only marinated the chicken for one day because I didn't think about making it very far in advance. Next time I will try to be more organized and go for the three days marinading.
I cooked Delia's Coq au Vin last time, with good results, but I think this particular recipe is my favourite so far.

1 roasting chicken, 2.25kg/5lb, cut into 8 pieces, 1 tbsp vegetable oil, 175g/6oz chopped rindless smoked bacon or lardons, 500ml/16fl oz chicken stock (plus more if needed), pepper, 2 shallots-chopped, 2 garlic cloves-chopped, bouquet garni (tied sprigs of bay leaves, thyme and parsley), 25g/1oz butter, 20 baby onions or small shallots-peeled, 250g/9oz button mushrooms-quartered, 1 tbsp chopped parsley.

Marinade: 1 onion-sliced, 1 carrot-sliced, 2 celery stalks-sliced, 1 garlic clove-peeled, 1 tsp black peppercorns, 75cl bottle of red wine, 2 tbsp olive oil.

Beurre Manie: 25g/1oz softened butter, 25g/1oz plain flour.

At least the day before make the marinade by combining all the ingredients, except for the olive oil, in a saucepan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Let it cool completely.
Put the chicken in a deep non-metallic bowl, add the marinade and spoon the olive oil on top to keep the chicken moist. Cover and chill for 1-3 days, turning the pieces from time to time.
Remove the chicken pieces from the marinade and pat dry with kitchen paper. Strain the marinade, reserving the vegetables separately.
Heat the vegetable oil in a flameproof casserole and fry the bacon until browned and the fat runs. Scoop out the bacon, leaving the fat. Add the chicken in batches, skin down. Brown well over a medium heat for at least 10 minutes. Turn, brown the other side and remove from the pan.
Add the reserved marinade vegetables to the casserole. Fry until starting to brown, 5-7 minutes. Pour in the marinade liquid, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the stock, season (no salt) and then add the chopped shallots, garlic and bouquet garni. Add the chicken, pushing it into the sauce. Cover and simmer until the pieces feel tender when pierced with a fork, 45-60 minutes.
While that cooks, melt the 25g/1oz butter in a pan and add the baby onions. Brown for 5-7 minutes, shaking every so often. Remove and set aside. Add the mushrooms and fry until tender, 3-5 minutes. Set aside with the bacon.
To make the beurre manie, mash together the butter and flour with a fork.
When the chicken is cooked, strain the sauce and discard the vegetables. Wipe out the casserole, add the sauce and bring to a simmer. Add the beurre manie a little at a time, whisking thoroughly between each addition to prevent lumps. Add the onions and simmer for 5-8 minutes, until almost tender. Add the bacon and mushrooms, and simmer for 3-5 minutes.
Replace the chicken and gently heat for 5 minutes. Adjust the seasoning. Transfer to a serving dish or serve in the casserole, sprinkled with parsley.
Serve with mashed potatoes or noodles and a green vegetable.

Because I want to serve two people, I make the recipe as above, halve it and put the rest in the freezer for a rainy day!!

This recipe is fabulous and would be great for a dinner party or Sunday Dinner, as a change from your usual roast. I have made this for friends, much to their delight and they said the same again please!!!

It does take a while to make but is worth every last minute.

Kitchen Equipment Used: Meyer stainless steel casserole dish.

PANETTONE PUDDING

Hidden inside beautiful boxes at Christmas time are panettone. These are Italian and are a cross between bread and cake. They come in all different flavours, chocolate, plain, mixed fruit etc. For this pudding you will need a fruit panettone. Also, if you do not use all of this bread, it freezes well.

COMFORT FOOD - BBC GOOD FOOD.

ISBN 0563488492 - Page 113

Go to www.bbcgoodfood.co.uk to view this recipe.

Serves: 4 people

Skill Level: Easy

Taste Test: A very creamy sauce with a good kick of vanilla, the bread is light and fluffy.

The recipe suggests buttering the panettone but I think it is rich enough and so I do not bother doing this. If I do not have any double cream then I have used light Elmlea double cream, the only difference this makes is that the sauce does not set but is the consistency of double cream. I always reduce the amount of sugar i.e. one tablespoon instead of the two tablespoons suggested. I find it too sweet otherwise. Cook this for 30 minutes and check to make sure the custard hasn't set too much, if it is still too runny give it another 5 minutes.

Kitchen Equipment Used: Balloon Whisk.