Читать книгу Master it: How to cook today - Rory O'Connell - Страница 15
ОглавлениеChicken and other broths
Vegetable soups
Savoury tarts
Salads and dressings
Pan-grilling and pan-frying
Roasting
Casserole-roasting
Baked fish
Green vegetables
Roots and alliums
Potatoes
Rice
Pulses – beans, peas and lentils
Simple soda breads
Sweet essentials
Fruit fools, compotes and salads
Biscuits
Ice creams, sorbets and granitas
Meringues
Warm puddings
Cold puddings
A few cakes
‘The first stage of the cooking is the ‘sweating’ of the potato and onion base. This technique starts to soften the potato and removes the harshness from the onion, creating a base that will both flavour and thicken the soup, but still allow the primary ingredient to stand out.’
I love soups. There are so many options to choose from. You could eat a different soup every day of the year and still not come near exhausting the possible options. Soups can be an ambrosial smooth purée. They can be as thin as water and sparklingly clear, with just a few jewel-like ingredients, or so thick you can almost stand a spoon up in them. They can be a great collection of ingredients, with beans and pulses rubbing shoulders with vegetables which are all in a tangle of noodles or spaghetti, topped off with a blob of some oily, herby relish. The possibilities are endless and perhaps that is where some of the problems start. There is a notion that a soup can be made from the leftover and sometimes tired remains of the vegetable rack. Tired ingredients will yield an exhausted soup.
The most beautiful soups can be made from the minimum amount of ingredients. Potatoes and onions, with the addition of a good stock and some seasoning, can produce a finely flavoured, textured and coloured soup. The other side of the coin are the soups with a long list of ingredients, where layers of flavours and textures are skilfully worked together to give a complex and multi-dimensional result. All the different types of soup have their merits and can be, with care, placed in any balanced menu, or of course can just be eaten on their own with perhaps a little bread to accompany.
The onion and potato base should be tender, but still holding its shape
Keys to success
Prepare all the vegetables before you start cooking. Cut the onion and potatoes for the base of the soup into neat 1cm dice. A neat dice of vegetables will cook evenly and will be less likely to burn.
Prepare the green vegetable as appropriate. Leaf vegetables such as cabbage, spinach and chard should have the stalks removed, and in this case discarded (save them and cook them as a vegetable if the particular stalks are tender), and the leaves cut into neat 2cm dice. Radish or wild garlic leaves should be finely sliced across the grain and then cut into 2cm pieces. Leeks should be very finely sliced across the grain. The master recipe can also be made with cucumbers and courgettes as the green addition. They are left unpeeled and cut into 2cm dice. The carefully diced or sliced vegetables will cook quickly and evenly, yielding a fresher-tasting and greener soup.
The first stage of the cooking is the ‘sweating’ of the potato and onion base. This technique starts to soften the potato and removes the harshness from the onion, creating a base that will both flavour and thicken the soup, but still allow the primary ingredient, in this case a green vegetable, to stand out. Melt the butter in a heavy-based saucepan which is appropriate in size to the quantity of soup being made. The butter should gently foam, and then the potato and onion dice are added. A seasoning of salt and pepper is added and the vegetables are turned and coated in the butter with a wooden spoon.
Cover the vegetables with a disc of greaseproof paper and then the tight-fitting saucepan lid. The paper and saucepan lid are there to trap in any steam that is created as the saucepan heats up. This base is then cooked over a very low heat. Use a heat diffuser mat if necessary. Remember, there is no liquid so far, so you are relying on the steam to prevent the vegetables from sticking to the bottom of the saucepan. This steam should keep enough moisture in the saucepan to prevent the vegetables from burning.
The sweating of the onion and potato takes about 10 minutes. Lift the lid and have a look. If a large plume of steam comes out, you know you have successfully trapped in the steam. The potatoes will be just starting to soften at the edges but with no colour, and the onions will be softening, also without colour. If you are doubling the recipe and so on it will take longer.
Now add the stock, which if you are in a hurry to get the soup cooked could be already at simmering point. Stir the bottom of the saucepan to be certain that the potato and onion base has not stuck. Replace the saucepan lid and bring to a simmer for a further 10 minutes. By then the potatoes and onions should be tender.
This is the base for your soup. This can be made up early in the day, put to one side, and you can finish the soup closer to the time of serving. That way you are assured of a brilliant green colour when serving the soup. You can of course continue on and finish it immediately, to eat it there and then or to reheat later.
Regardless of when the green vegetable is added, the base must be simmering and, very importantly, the lid of the saucepan must be removed. If you replace the lid when the green vegetable is in the saucepan, it will spoil the colour of the soup.
The type of green vegetable you are using will determine the cooking time. Radish, lettuce or wild garlic leaves will cook in a matter of 3–5 minutes. Spinach or chard leaves will take longer, 6–7 minutes for the summer varieties and 10–12 minutes for the winter ones. Leek greens can take 20 minutes to soften. Peas and courgettes will take around 10 minutes, and courgettes around 15 minutes.
When the green vegetable appears cooked, taste a little to be certain that it is indeed tender.
Purée the soup immediately with a hand-held blender or in a liquidizer. This prompt blending sets the colour and gives the soup a silky consistency. When you think it is suitably smooth, keep going for another 30 seconds to ensure an even smoother result.
Taste the soup and correct the seasoning.
The consistency should be like pouring cream, so if it is too thick, add a little more hot chicken stock or a splash of creamy milk (half cream and half milk, mixed). If it is too thin, you are having thin soup.
If I am not serving the soup until later, I like to decant it into a large wide bowl to speed up the cooling time. Do not cover the soup until it is completely cold again, to retain the lovely colour. The cold soup can then be covered and refrigerated.
Serve the soup in hot bowls, with an appropriate garnish.
Year-round green vegetable soup
In this master recipe we are aiming to achieve a smooth and silky soup, packed full of flavour and nourishment and bright green in colour. This recipe can be seen as a year-round formula for the various vegetables that come and go as the seasons change. By varying the green ingredient, you need never tire of this recipe. The green vegetables that can be used here are many, but we have to choose one to get us going, so my choice is spinach.
Choose strong, handsome and really fresh-looking leaves and the results will be dazzlingly green.
If the spinach leaves are big, the central rib will need to be removed before measuring the spinach leaves. If you are using baby spinach, the tender stalks can remain.
Nutmeg is one of the traditional flavourings for spinach and a small grating would be good here, but always be cautious with the addition of nutmeg, as you know that too much can spoil the pudding, or the soup in this case.
The ingredients
Potatoes and onions are used in the soup base. The onion adds lots of flavour and the potato thickens the soup.
The green vegetable you use will be the determining flavour of the finished soup. Spinach is my choice here, but any of the following vegetables produce an excellent result. Green cabbage at any time of the year with tough ribs removed from the leaves and finely chopped is excellent. Also nettles, watercress, wild garlic leaves, diced courgettes or cucumbers, Swiss chard leaves, pea and bean leaves, dark green lettuce leaves and so on.
Chicken stock produces the most flavoursome result here.
Serves 6 50g butter
110g onions, peeled and diced
140g potatoes, peeled and diced
Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1.2 litres chicken or vegetable stock
350g spinach leaves or your green vegetable of choice, weighed after removing stalks
Freshly grated nutmeg
Creamy milk, i.e. milk and cream mixed in equal proportion
Melt the butter in a heavy-based saucepan and allow to foam. Add the onions and potatoes, season with salt and pepper, and toss with a wooden spoon to coat the vegetables in the butter. Cover with a greaseproof paper lid and the lid of the saucepan and cook on a very low heat for 10 minutes or so. This is called ‘sweating’ the vegetables. The object of the exercise is to soften them slightly, with no colour at all.
Add the stock, bring to a simmer and cover again with the saucepan lid. Simmer until the onion and potato is completely tender and starting to collapse. This will take about 15 minutes. Remove the lid of the saucepan and add the spinach and nutmeg. Do not replace the saucepan lid. Bring to a simmer and cook until the spinach is tender. This can take from 1–2 minutes for baby spinach to 5 minutes for large leaves. If you cannot tell by looking at the vegetable if it is cooked, taste a little – it should be tender and slippery.
Purée immediately with a hand-held blender or in a liquidiser. Add a little more stock or creamy milk if the soup is too thick. Taste and correct the seasoning. If not serving immediately, do not cover, as this will spoil the green colour. Serve in hot soup bowls, garnished with a little blob of cream or a few drops of olive oil.
The soup can be prepared ahead and reheated later, though the green colour will not be as strident as when it was first made.
Potato soup with parsley pesto and black pudding
A single slice of black pudding, sizzling from the pan, is great in each bowl of this comforting and nourishing soup. The parsley pesto, a great and versatile sauce, combines brilliantly with the potato and the pudding. Failing black pudding, a few slices of chorizo warmed in olive oil or a sprinkle of crispy lardons of bacon are excellent.
The ingredients
Black pudding varies in quality, and on the whole puddings made by artisan producers tend to be considerably better than the factory-produced equivalent.
Serves 4–6 50g butter
425g potatoes, peeled and cut into 1cm dice
175g onions, peeled and cut into 1cm dice
Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
900ml chicken stock
120ml creamy milk
4–6 slices of black pudding
4–6 teaspoons Parsley Pesto
Melt the butter in a saucepan and allow to foam. Add the diced vegetables and stir to coat in the butter. Season with salt and pepper. Cover with a greaseproof paper lid and the saucepan lid and cook on a very low heat for about 10 minutes. The potatoes should be just beginning to break down at this point.
Now add the stock and bring to the boil. Replace the saucepan lid and simmer gently until the vegetables are soft and cooked. This takes about 15 minutes. Purée the soup in a liquidiser or with a hand-held blender until a smooth and silky consistency is achieved. Add creamy milk as necessary if the soup needs thinning out. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Fry the black pudding gently in butter or olive oil on both sides to heat through. Serve the soup in hot bowls, with a teaspoon of parsley pesto and a slice of sizzling black pudding per person.
Carrot, coconut and lemongrass soup
I tasted a soup with these ingredients in Laos a few years ago, and when I came home I set about recreating that delicious flavour. Carrot soup is a funny thing – you imagine it would be easy, but in fact it can be difficult to achieve a really flavoursome result. However, with this lovely combination of flavours I think it works really well.
It is worth noting that lemongrass grows successfully in this country in a glasshouse or conservatory, or even just on a south-facing windowsill. If possible buy carrots with the earth still on them, as generally they have much more flavour than pre-washed ones.
The ingredients
I like to make this soup with big carrots that have been sold with some earth still on them, and preferably after the first frosts, when they seem to become deeper in flavour, so this becomes a late autumn and winter soup.
Lemongrass is easy to source now and is a lovely ingredient with its sweet, scented and astringent flavour. Bright green when fresh, it dulls to a pale straw colour when dried, which is the way it is sold generally in the West. Here it needs to be sliced as finely as you can, so that it will cook down and disappear into the puréed soup. Be careful when running your hands over the grass, as its leaves can be razor sharp. If you have not cooked with it before, give it a go, as it will open up a world of different recipes to you.
Coconut milk, like lemongrass, is an essential ingredient in the cooking of south-east Asia and indeed all of southern India. Like lemongrass, using it is an entry ticket to a repertoire of dishes bigger than you can imagine. The first time you open a can, you may be surprised by the rather grey-white colour of the contents. That’s fine, that’s the way it looks. Apart from the colour, the general appearance can also vary. Sometimes there will be a thick and solid layer on top, which is the richer cream, with a thinner, watery milk-like liquid underneath. If the can has been shaken, the two different consistencies can appear rather curdled, and again that’s all quite all right. Just stir the two liquids together to mix. Some brands of coconut milk have been emulsified to prevent the two liquids from separating and to give the coconut a creamy appearance. I avoid these brands, because apart from the fact that in some recipes the thick and the thin are added separately, I really just want the coconut and water that is used as part of the process and don’t want the stabilizers and emulsifiers. The quality of tinned coconut milk varies quite a bit, so search out a good brand such as Chaokoh.
Serves 6–8 40g butter
700g carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
225g onions, peeled and thinly sliced
1 clove of garlic, peeled and chopped
2 stalks of lemongrass
Maldon sea salt, freshly ground black pepper
and sugar, to taste
850ml chicken stock
500ml coconut milk
Fresh coriander leaves, to garnish
Melt the butter in a heavy-based saucepan and allow it to foam. Add the carrots, onions and garlic and stir to coat in the butter. Remove the coarse outer leaves and the tough ends from the lemongrass. Slice the trimmed stalk finely against the grain and add to the vegetables. Tie the tough outer leaves together with string and add to the pan. Season with salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar. Cover with a greaseproof paper lid and the saucepan lid and cook on a low heat for about 20 minutes, or until the carrots are beginning to soften.
Add the chicken stock, return to a simmer and cook, covered, until the vegetables are completely tender. Remove and discard the tied-up lemongrass stalks. Purée the ingredients to achieve a smooth and silky consistency. Heat the coconut milk to a simmer, add to the carrot purée and mix well. Return the soup to a simmer. The consistency will be slightly thick. Taste and correct the seasoning, bearing in mind that carrots sometimes benefit from a small pinch of sugar to really lift the flavour. Serve hot, garnished with coriander leaves.
Jerusalem artichoke soup with avocado and roast hazelnut salsa
This is a lovely combination of flavours and textures. The soup is smooth and silky, the avocado almost buttery, and the hazelnuts add a gentle crunch. An excellent alternative to this artichoke soup, which will only be in season during the winter months, is a potato soup – the avocado and hazelnuts are great with that also.
The ingredients
The fresher the artichokes are, the less likely it is that you will have to peel them, though if they look in any way discoloured, peeling is necessary because discoloured skins will yield a discoloured and less fresh-tasting soup. Jerusalem artichokes cook quite unevenly, so test a couple of pieces of the vegetable to ascertain that it is all properly cooked. If the vegetable is not properly cooked, the soup will be slightly grainy in consistency and not the smooth and silky result we are aiming for.
An avocado in perfect condition is a wonderful food, but an underripe one is not worth eating. You have to plan and shop ahead a little with avocados to be sure they will be in the correct condition when you want to serve them. Test them like you would a mango, that is, gently press the heel of your thumb into the flesh of an unblemished avocado and the vegetable should yield to that pressure – a subtle indent will be left by your thumb. Some people like to wrap underripe avocados in newspaper and put them in a warm place such as an airing cupboard to help them ripen, but I find it really only works with certainty for me if I have bought them in plenty of time and allowed them to ripen at room temperature in my kitchen.
Serves 6 60g butter
110g potatoes, peeled and diced
220g onions, peeled and diced
500g Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and diced
Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 litre chicken stock
300ml creamy milk, i.e. cream and milk in equal proportions
AVOCADO AND ROAST HAZELNUT SALSA
1 ripe avocado, halved, stone removed, peeled and cut into neat 1cm dice
3 tablespoons hazelnuts, roasted, skinned and coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons hazelnut or olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Melt the butter in a heavy-based saucepan and allow to foam. Add the potatoes, onions and artichokes and stir to coat in the butter. Season with salt and pepper, then cover with a butter wrapper or greaseproof paper lid and a tight-fitting lid. Sweat on a very gentle heat for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables are just beginning to soften. Add the chicken stock and simmer, covered, until the vegetables are soft and collapsing. Purée the soup to achieve a smooth consistency. Correct the thickness with the creamy milk. Sometimes it may not take all the milk. Taste and correct the seasoning.
Mix together all the ingredients for the avocado and hazelnut salsa. Taste and correct the seasoning. This mixture will sit quite happily in your fridge for an hour, as the oil coating the avocado will prevent it discolouring.
Serve in hot soup bowls, with each serving garnished with a dessertspoon of the avocado and hazelnut salsa and a drizzle of its oil.
Wild garlic soup
As you will have discovered in the introduction to Wild Garlic Leaf and Flower Broth, I love this wild and free food. Either of the two varieties is suitable here, and regardless of which one you choose it will be the perfect green for this recipe. It is flavoursome and full of goodness and cooks to a smooth and silky consistency. The pretty white flowers from either variety make a delicious and lovely garnish.
Serves 6 55g butter
110g onions, peeled and diced
140g potatoes, peeled and diced
Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1.2 litres chicken or vegetable stock
350g wild garlic leaves, finely chopped
Creamy milk, i.e. milk and cream mixed in equal proportion
Melt the butter in a heavy-based saucepan and allow to foam. Add the onions and potatoes, season with salt and pepper, and stir to coat in the butter. Cover with a butter wrapper or greaseproof paper and the lid of the saucepan and cook on a very low heat for 10 minutes or so. This is called ‘sweating’ the vegetables. The object of the exercise is to soften them slightly, with no colour at all.
Add the stock, bring to the boil and cover again with the saucepan lid. Simmer until the onion and potato are completely tender and starting to collapse. This will take about 15 minutes. Remove the lid of the saucepan and add the garlic leaves. Do not replace the saucepan lid. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 5 minutes, until the garlic leaves are tender. Purée immediately in a liquidiser or with a hand-held blender. Add a little more stock or creamy milk if the soup is too thick. Taste and correct the seasoning.
Serve in hot soup bowls, garnished with a little blob of cream or a few drops of olive oil and some of the pretty garlic flowers.
