Baby it's cold outside... from the archives: peasoup

You'll need:
500 grams split peas
ca. 500 gr. pork: ribs, chops, pigs feet (Not me I don’t!)
2-3 large potatoes
3 leeks
parsley and celery each a handfull
2 onions
2-3 large carrots
better half of a medium celeriac
2 bay leaves
3 liters of water
P&S (a lot!)
Rookworst (smoked pork sausage), perhaps some salted pork...
Chop up most of the vegetables fairly small but keep a bit of every vegetable in larger cubes for adding the last 15-20 minutes. The vegetables dissolve and thus add flavour to the soup, but I like to have some recognizable bits of colour andbite in the endproduct. I’m a bit apprehensive about smoked meat, the flavour can be very prominent and I like it to be lingering in the background, so I add the smoked pork sausage at the very end. I know a lot of people add salt pork too, my mom does but I have some issues with smoked and/or salted pork. (Pregnant with twins, making this soup, the pork…trust me you don’t want to know).
Anyway, Peas and meat (except the sausage) in the largest souppot you have (thick bottom), with 3 litres of cold water and the bayleaves. Bring to a boil, use a slotted spoon to clear the surface of any foam. Cover and lower the heat, cook for an hour, stir every once in a while. Add the vegetables, simmer for another hour, stirring every so often. Uncover the pan and simmer for another hour, keep stirring and scrape that bottom!.

By now the meat can be taken out so you can clean the bones and cut up the meat, icky bits out of the way, (brrr childhood memories of a spoonful of soup and biting into something that goes boiing between your teeth, or worse: tries to escape your teeth……my mom is all about not wasting any “good” bits of meat..woohaa) and put the meat back in the pot. Slice the sausage and add the rest of the vegetables. Simmer for about 30 minutes more. Add salt and pepper and parsley to taste. This velvety soup needs quite a bit of salt and pepper, unless you used a slice of salted pork.

Let cool. As it cools, it firms up so that a spoon will stand up straight.. This is the part where my kids like to join in.”Can I test it now? No let me.." squabble, argument, bicker and within minutes there are… three spoons standing….
Best eaten the next day! For reheating I recommend using the microwave so you won't risk a burnt taste and please refrigerate or freeze! (this soup is know to "turn around" ie get sour in an instant).

 
















"Snert" with "katenspek" on pumpernickel.

Bliss Wonton Soup / Gezond wonton soepje!

Super healthy, comforting bowls of soup. Family loved loved loved it. So did I. Wouldn't it be nice if I could remember what I did? (And had non-blurry pics instead of those? Serves me right for focusing on capturing the crazy clothespin chopsticks. Pah.)

So, when I throw the ingredients I remember in the air, would you make me some soup?

Ingredients:

- clear home made chicken broth

- very finely sliced leek (only the white), simmered in the soup

- a dash of light soy sauce and rice wine

- wonton wrappers

Wonton filling consisting of ideally: shrimps or ground chicken. I know I used ground pork and flavoured with tiny amounts of lemongrass, fresh ginger, salt and pepper

- crunchy (mung) bean sprouts

Chicken broth, large pan, cook leek in broth, add a tbs of soy sauce.

Make wonton filling by kneading flavourings into ground pork and use a teaspoon of filling in each wonton wrapper, (I made small envelopes) and cook them for 3-5 minutes in the hot broth.

I had far more filling than I had wonton wrappers so I pleased my kids and rolled the rest of the filling into tiny meatballs and simmered them with the soup.

How to serve: place a small handful of raw bean sprouts in each bowl and ladle in the soup, add the wontons and enjoy!!

Klein senior momentje: heerlijk soepje, iedereen was helemaal tevreden, ik ook. Maar werkelijk geen idee wat ik nou precies bij elkaar gemikt heb. Het begon waarschijnlijk met 1, 2 of 3 recepten en kwam ik er halverwege achter dat ik de helft van de ingredienten niet bij de hand had of tóch een andere combinatie leuker vond. Ofzo. Gebeurt wel vaker.

In ieder geval weet ik nog dat ik kippenbouillon had. En half om half gehakt.

De kippenbouillon op smaak gemaakt met:

- heel fijngesneden prei

- scheutje japanse soja saus (1 el)

- scheutje rijstwijn (of sherry)

Het gehakt aangemaakt met verse gemberpuree, citroengras en peper en zout. Daarmee wonton velletjes gevouwen en die weer gekookt in de bouillon. Ik heb de rest van het gehakt in piepkleine balletjes meegekookt met de bouillon.

Kraakverse taugé in de soepkommetjes en daar de hete bouillon op gegoten, in ieder kommetje één of twee wontons. Heel erg lekker!

Peeling

pumpkin peel, originally uploaded by BakingSoda.

For the color, the lines and note to self: remember the recipe that convinced the family to eat pumpkin soup and finish the post!

Nice pumpkin soup

Is there a need for nailing a pumpkin soup that gets the family thumbs-up when you live in Holland? Where pumpkins are on loan from the United States and only seen as decoration? Not the carved kind, not yet, we haven't fully embraced Halloween here but pumpkins are inching their way into windowsills, out at the front door or amiably dressing the deserted garden furniture.

Once or twice a season I buy pumpkin just to try. I made pumpkin pie (family: meh why bother?) soup (equally dismissed as too earthy, could be nice but it's just bland). Stubbornly I tried again, bought another one. Not sure if it was the variety, the fact that it was organic or the recipe but this pot of soup was emptied in no time. Everyone liked it! I was as surprised as you are. Now to remember what I did....

First of all the variety; a deep orange, smallish, organic one, found at Lidl €1,99. I saw it advertised as a Japanese kind a hokkaido?

Second: I peeled -using a vegetable peeler-, cubed, sprinkled with olive oil, cumin, flecks of dried ancho chillies, roasted in the oven. Lovely fragrant smells emanating from the oven! (Note to self:...use it as side dish?)

potatoes

lime juice!!

salt and pepper

1 hokkaido pumpkin, peeled, cubed

1 tbs cumin (less of the ground variety, 1 tbs of whole cumin seeds)

sprinkle of dried ancho chili flakes

Preheat oven to 400F/200C. Toss pumpkin cubes with olive oil, cumin and chili flakes in a roasting pan and roast for about 45 minutes or until nice and tender.

1 tbs olive oil

2 onions, chopped

1 large carrot, peeled, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1.1/2 - 2 liter vegetable broth

2 large potatoes, peeled, cubed

finish:

squeeze of lime juice

1 tbs toasted sesame seeds

pepper/salt

Heat olive oil in a large pot and softly saute/sweat garlic, onion and carrot, covered until soft and fragrant. Add the roasted pumpkin and the potatoes, toss and saute for a couple of minutes more. Add broth and bring to a soft boil to get the vegetables soft and tender approx. 15 minutes. Puree using a vegetable mill or a hand held blender and taste to add pepper and salt if needed, squeeze in some lime juice.

To serve with a sprinkling of sesame seeds and some nice artisan bread.

Happy Halloween!

Another pumpkin soup using mustard, cinnamon and creme fraiche

Can't wait longer, it's fish soup

It has been around for a while though, not in "person" but as a post that still had to be done. I would have liked to do this sooner but I was waiting for the grades my soup his presentation got, alas, we don't know yet. The story begins here; I suggested to serve Greek Fish soup for a group during a presentation. As my son adopted the idea, I had to find a source for the recipe.

Who could I better turn to than Laurie Constantino over at Mediterreanean Cooking in Alaska who graciously answered with a great authentic recipe for Kakavia! This paired beautifully to the recipe Aranka sent me (which can be found in the comment section from this post). Bloggers are just a great bunch of people! Thank you! Following is Laurie's recipe:

Kakavia (Greek Fish Soup)

Greeks would tell you that Kakavia was the foundation on which Bouillabaise was built. Like bouillabaisse, Kakavia is better when a mix of fish and shellfish are used. You can also make it just with fish and leave out the shellfish.

1/4 cup olive oil

1 1/2 cups diced leeks, 1/2” dice

1 1/2 cups diced onions, 1/2” dice

1 cup diced celery, 1/2” dice

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 Tbsp. minced garlic

1 15-ounce can diced or crushed tomatoes

1/4 cup minced fresh fennel leaves or 2 tsp. crushed fennel seeds

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

1 Tbsp. minced fresh thyme

10 cups water

4 pounds mixed white-fleshed fish fillets (cod, halibut, rockfish, snapper, etc.)

2 pounds mixed shellfish (shrimps, scallops, clams, mussels)

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Minced parsley for garnish

Sauté the leeks, onions, and celery in olive oil, lightly seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper, until the onions soften. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes, fennel, parsley, thyme, and water. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat, and simmer until the vegetables are tender and the flavors have blended. Taste and add salt, freshly ground black pepper, or fennel, as needed.

Cut the fish into large chunks, and clean the shellfish. When the broth is done, add the fish and simmer for 10 – 15 minutes or until the fish is almost, but not quite, cooked through. Add the shellfish and simmer for 3 - 5 minutes, or until the shellfish are done. Stir in the lemon juice and serve immediately with minced parsley sprinkled over thesoup.

I basically followed the recipe (used half home made fish stock, half water) but allowed some freedom with regard to the filling. I wasn't too sure if a bunch of 16 yr olds would really appreciate all that delicious shellfish so I left it at safe white fish. Laurie would look at the pics and think: what did she do to the color of that soup? Well, again, trying to please the class by adding some tomate puree and cream at the last moment. My son left with a bucket (!) full of soup and returned with it almost empty. Good sign!

Oh.. those guys made me laugh: when told the recipe for this soup came all the way from Alaska there were at least three of them that blurted out: oh great, and eh can she see Russia from her house? Well guys, I don't know that but she makes a darn good soup!

Need you!! Fill these with Greek Fish Soup?

Next time I talk before I think please remind me to do some research first!
Short story: I need a recipe for authentic Greek fish soup (Psarosoupa?) preferrably rather uncomplicated to make and palatable for 25-odd teenagers and a teacher. Soup's up for a grade.

Situation is this:
My handsome, very friendly, easy going, 15yr old firstborn also known as Son nr. 1 is currently in his 5th year of our Dutch highschool. One year to go before embarking to University... (yikes, but that's a whole other chapter). Anyway, he is taking Greek and one of the highlights of this 5th year in school is the trip to Greece, to see for themselves what they've been studying. He had a great time, but it wasn't only fun and freedom; they are required to do a project which besides translating enormous bodies of Greek texts also has to include a paper about one of the sites they visited, eventually leading to a presentation for class and teacher. Grade will count with his final exams.

He and a friend chose to highlight the Greek god of the sea and oceans; the sanctuary of Poseidon at Cape Sounion; narrowing it down to his wifes, mistresses and his children. Hmm, boys will be boys.

Dining table discussion of said project presentation:
Son: Mam, we need something to stand out, something that will add a touch of uniqueness.
Silly me: well, dress in toga and trident, do your talk while offering samples of Greek fish soup... Poseidon = water + fish = soup?

They ditched the toga and trident (why? I wonder) but kept the fish soup idea, even mentioning it in their paper.... which got a rave review from their teacher. Teacher even highlighted the recipe and doodled a charicature of himself drooling over fish soup...

Handsome, Friendly, Easygoing Son nr. 1: Mam, you'll make the soup?

SIGH!

I happen to have an assortment of white fish in the freezer, found recipes on the internet using more or less similar ingredients. One serves the soup pureed and uses half of the fish/vegetables as an aside dressed with lemon/olive oil. The other is a clear soup with vegetables and fish, using lemon juice in the stock.

What to do? Anyone a great authentic recipe to be served in paper cups? Help?!

Geroosterde paprika soep / Cream of bell pepper soup

(Scroll down please for English!)
Een heel elegant soepje met karakter. Een uitstekende gast aan het diner, maar ook hartverwarmend gezelschap na een boswandeling. Hij vindt het niet erg om versierd te worden, met gepofte mosterdzaadjes misschien, een gesneden bosuitje, wat koriander. Helemaal alleen voelt hij zich ook prima op zijn gemak met een drupje creme fraiche bestrooid met paprikapoeder.

Erg makkelijk in de omgang, geschikt voor 4 personen:

2 gele paprika's (geroosterd, gepeld in blokjes, evt. rauw in blokjes*)
2 el boter
1 gesnipperd sjalotje
1 el bloem
1/2 dl droge vermouth / Noilly Prat
1 ltr kippenbouillon
1 dl creme fraiche
Garnering: bosuitje / koriander / peterselie / lepeltje mosterd of zaadjes gepoft in een droge koekenpan.

In een pan of middelhoog vuur de boter verhitten en hierin de ui en paprika zachtjes smoren, ong. 3-5 minuten. Laat niet bruin worden. Dan al roerend de bloem toevoegen en even laten garen. Al roerend nu een gladde roux maken door de vermouth en 2 dl van de bouillon al roerend toe te voegen. Laat dit geheel nu zo'n 5 minuten stoven.

Pureren in een keukenmachine (blender, staafmixer, roerzeef*) en terug in de pan, nu de rest van de bouillon en de crème fraiche toevoegen, even goed doorroeren en het geheel nog zo'n minuut of 10 goed doorwarmen. Denk erom, niet laten koken.
Op smaak brengen met peper en zout, evt. naar smaak garneren.

* Indien je een roerzeef -passe vite- gebruikt kun je overwegen de paprika niet te schillen. De evt. velletjes zullen in de roerzeef achterblijven. In alle andere gevallen: schillen of pellen want hoe klein ze ook zijn die schilletjes blijf je voelen!

Roasted Bell Pepper soup

A real crowd pleaser, easy on the palate, equally liked by old and young. A dandy guest at your dinnertable as well as a warming companion after a walk on the beach. Likes to be dressed up with frillies such as roasted mustard seeds, cilantro, spring onion. Mind; will behave when left undressed.

Handle with care for a company of 4:

2 yellow bell peppers (roasted, skinned and cubed, or raw and cubed*)
2 tbs butter
1 shallot, diced
1 tbs flour
1/2 dl vermouth / Noilly Prat
1 ltr chicken broth
100 ml creme fraiche

In a medium size heavy-bottomed pan, melt the butter at medium high heat, add onion and bell peppers and saute. Once vegetables have slightly softened, set heat to medium and sweat until vegetables have completely softened - approximately 5 minutes. Don't brown, and stir every once in a while!

Add the flour and let this swell for a moment while you keep stirring. Use vermouth (Noilly Prat) and 200 ml of the stock to make a smooth white sauce (roux) while you keep stirring. Keep on low heat for another 5 minutes and puree; either with a handheld blender or food processor or maybe your food mill*. Once pureed, return to the pot and add remainder of the stock with the créme fraiche, stir to combine and let simmer for 10 minutes. Be careful to not let it boil again.

Salt and pepper to taste and add garnish of your choice, (some croutons might be a good idea) or leave as it is and just serve with a dollop of creme fraiche sprinkled with paprika powder in the bowl.

A good piece of rustic bread is a welcome addition!

* When you know you are going to use your food mill you might leave the skin on the bell peppers. If you are using any other device, please remove the skins!

Cream of tomato soup

Subtitle: "A chemical experience"

A well hidden secret here is that I never make tomato soup with fresh tomatoes. Gasp! Really? Yes, really! I add fresh tomatoes to my soup, that much is true but generally it's made from good canned tomatoes in this house. Overall I don't like the flavour from my soup uniquely made with fresh tomatoes. (Remind me I should ask my mom how she goes about).

This being said I admit I made fresh cream of tomato soup a couple of days ago. I figured it would be an instant hit with the kids, not a vegetable in sight, soothing sip-and-swallow soup. Well it was! Sad thing is: kids loved it, I didn't like it at all. It reminded me of a can of Campbells, and, if it tastes like that anyway, why bother and make your own?

So, why blog? Because the recipe mentioned to use 1/2 ts baking soda...... which reminded me of the following:

Friend -Hi Nic!- married to a chemist (no apothecary, the real Dow Chemical chemist type) making tomato soup with fresh tomatoes, complaining while stirring a huge pan, couldn't get rid of the sour flavour real tomatoes have in soup. Husband walks by, is invited to sample and says dead pan: well, if it's acidic add soda and goes on explaining about basic and non-basic fluids...

She adds soda (um.. the real thing not baking soda) indeed got rid of the sour and refuses to eat it. I think he did....

The story always stuck in my mind and we make fun of it every now and then (sorry Michiel!). Reading this recipes using baking soda it all came back and since I had some ripe tomatoes I decided to give it a go with above mentioned results. Won't give you a recipe here, plenty to find on the Net using fresh tomatoes, milk, baking soda, the occasional drop of sherry (in the soup, not for the cook).

But why? What does this baking soda do? Does it keep the tomatoes and milk from curdling? Neutralize the acidic in the tomato? Do you use baking soda, or add sugar or both? Do you make fresh tomato soup at all?

Climb ev'ry mountain! aka Onion Soup

Well that’s the sound of music I imagined picturing Tanna as Mother Abbess. I could virtually hear her saying: Climb that mount’n girl! Especially when it’s made out of onions. Sigh. The things you do for blogging. How should I have known that when the one and only mr. Keller seduces you to peel: “8 pounds (about 8 large) yellow onions”

right way to cut-----only 1 quart, we'll need 7!-----and that is a lot!

he obviously refers to 8 giant sized onions. What I was thinking was something along the lines of: ok, peel 8 onions, let it be 10 or 12, I can do that. Easily. Sure enough, 8 American pounds translates as approx. 3.5 kgs. I can assure you, that is a lot of onions. Go figure, a medium Dutch onion weighs a hefty 3.5 oz whereas Tanna had some 16 oz colossus. Life isn’t fair!

And then this massive pot went on the lowest possible flame and I was supposed to set a timer for 15 minutes and stir. Every. Fifteen. Minutes. For. Five. Hours. (I love Mr Keller). I stirred and stirred and saw the level of onions go down and down and they didn’t color at all. (Another ten mails/pictures: how is yr color? Mine look like this. Like two girls on the beach checking the color of their skins by lifting a bikini strap ) and yes, ofcourse at some time I gave up, went upstairs to do something innocent and on my way back down the stairs I smelled the smell… Yikes. Skipped the last four steps, jumped down, skirted the corner and shoved the pot from the burner. In the same move I slid another pot from the shelve, dumped the lot from the burned pot in the clean one, set the timer and s t i r r e d. Smooth moves!

This is after 4 hours of stirring. I refer you to Tanna’s for the detailed recipe. She did a beautiful write-up. So... after 5 hours I was left with a golden brown mass of very soft onions. I’ve seen onions more caramelized than this. Maybe I was being too careful and left too much liquid in? Against my habit I decided to add the advised 1.5 tbs flour. Transformation took place when the stock was added! (the finished stock was far more dark chestnut coloured and more jelly-like than thesethese pictures show).
Wow! Almost instantly this concoction of still warm onions and prepared stock transferred into “soupe à l’oignon”. The colour, the smell! And all this prior to reducing the soup and adding herbs. I did add a few drops of very good quality almost sirupy balsamic vinegar.

I had already baked some french bread (Ortiz’ recipe) to accompany the meal and used toasted slices of this as croutons to float on top of the soup. Mr. Keller advises to use Comte or Emmentaler, grated as well as slices. I used a Dutch farmer’s cheese, very much like Emmentaler with just a hint of creaminess to it.

We also had our bit of fun discussing soup bowls/tureens and this time I felt lucky to be in Europe. As far as we Dutch bakers have been gawking at the availability of lots of goodies in the US, at least we can buy our tureens at a fraction of the cost in the States (Xenos; 1,-- €) but then again….she has got those cute lids to cover the tureens!!

There were 7 of us that night to enjoy the soup and unanimously this one got great points. You wouldn’t have guessed from appearance but this is truly a meal in itself. (Apologies for the lighting in the pictures). Would I do this again? Yes, I will continue to use this recipe for the stock, but I like to do something different with the onions and see where that will lead me. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of cooking together and yes I will do that again anytime!

Connecting bones...the heart of the matter

Whenever someone asks me why I blog, I can hear myself explain the fun of comments, the interaction, inspiration, making new friends, the inside look in other cultures and kitchens, sometimes literally. Food connects people whether it is cooking with your mom, stirring the spoon with a friend, hauling half a cow and knitting sausages while the four of you buckle over with laughter, or sharing a bite of fresh cake at the kitchen table…. I guess you know what I mean and this here is a very very good example.

This story begins with accidentally starting the NYT no-knead bread together with Tanna at My Kitchen in half Cups and resulted in a –for me -midnight baking session and e-mails flying. So much fun! We decided to do it again and do something we never tried before, something scary maybe and do it together (minus or plus 7 hours time difference). Planned this time!

Kitchens divided by the ocean, connected by Internet, creating an atmosphere as if we were standing next to each other, taking turns to stir in the pot, and ask: do you think my bones are sufficiently browned? Which in fact, created big grins on either side of the ocean...I never imagined sending someone an e-mail and say: Wow, you got nice bones!
(oh and we had some discussion, in one of the 100 something emails, where to get the meat…no problem here in the Netherlands but I understand it’s slightly more difficult over in the US?)

Beef stock á la Mr Thomas Keller himself; all the way! I do make beef stock like my grandmother and mom do, I put the meat in with the cold water and let it come to a simmer add vegetables and herbs, simmer for hours and tadaa bouillon! Not this time, this time I eeh.. missed the sent recipe somewhere and did it my way (beetje van mezelf beetje van Thomas zullen we maar zeggen):

3 schenkels (ca. 800 gr) (aka shank bones)
2 mergpijpjes (ca. 300 gr) (bone marrow)
1 small can of tomato puree

Baste the schenkels with the tomato puree and put the schenkel in an oven dish. Set in a hot oven (220C), let roast for 45 minutes. The lovely smell will attract all man folk in your house. What’s for dinner mom? In another 5 hours or so honey…. The hot oven and the puree will make your schenkels quite dark, but that is adding to the color of your stock, so don't worry.

I didn’t get a lot of fat out of this so there was no need to drain and/or pour the fat off, in the stockpot it went. Deglazed the oven dish with some boiling water and added some more water to cover (approx. 2 to 3 litres).
Simmer on low, low heat. Simmer some more. And don’t forget to skim. Again, and again…. Tanna had a fancy device, I used grandma’s trusted enamelled skimmer.
Sim sim simmertime…for 5 long hours.
Well into simmer time (after two hours) I added

1 large carrot (big chunks)
1 fat leek in (big chunks)
half an onion (skin on for extra color in the broth),
10 pepper kernels,
bay leaf, some parsley stalks

and left the house…..

Stockpot in charge of the husband…who went to bed some hours later and saw some glimmering under the stockpot and turned the heat off. Good boy! Stock had been simmering for about 6/7 hours.

I came home to a house smelling of delicious beef stock! Wow! And satisfied the culinary newbie went to sleep. Peacefully.
To wake the next morning, coffeepot, coffee in hand to stockpot….Yikes!!! The smell!!
Start computer, send an SOS e-mail for help. Taaaannaaaaa, this &*$%# smells like I had three very dead deer hanging in my kitchen, should I start over again? What’s keeping the scratch and sniff Internet?
Still in pyjamas I ladled the fat off this stock, carefully strained (did not do the cheesecloth thing) and strained again through a finer mesh sieve.

Back to heat again, just to make sure it was alright or should I start over again.
Thankfully, the source of the smell seemed to be the accumulated fat on top. Once discarded, all was well again and smelled like roses stock well made. Phew! Now I have a beautiful stock, to be used in many dishes as "the heart", for me the heart of the matter was in the exchanging of laughs and e-mails all across the big pond as well as this gorgeous stock. Now, what to do with it?
Coming soon on a blog near you…

Split pea soup

This is a very traditional Dutch winter soup, "erwtensoep or snert". Pittsburgh based Lindy has made this soup -or one very similar- She pried the recipe for it out of a novel, and asked me to post my own to see if it differs much, turns out that it doesn't! Read her recipe here. I'd like to send this recipe on a virtual tour with The Savory Notebook: Virtual Recipe Club - A Weekly Event? who is hosting a weekly/monthly recipe club, this weeks theme: soup.
You'll need:
500 grams split peas
ca. 500 gr. pork: ribs, chops, pigs feet (Not me I don’t!)
2-3 large potatoes
3 leeks
parsley and celery each a handfull
2 onions
2-3 large carrots
better half of a medium celeriac
2 bay leaves
3 liters of water
P&S (a lot!)
Rookworst (smoked pork sausage), perhaps some salted pork...

Chop up most of the vegetables fairly small but keep a bit of every vegetable in larger cubes for adding the last 15-20 minutes. The vegetables dissolve and thus add flavour to the soup, but I like to have some recognizable bits of colour and bite in the endproduct. I’m a bit apprehensive about smoked meat, the flavour can be very prominent and I like it to be lingering in the background, so I add the smoked pork sausage at the very end. I know a lot of people add salt pork too, my mom does but I have some issues with smoked and/or salted pork. (Pregnant with twins, making this soup, the pork…trust me you don’t want to know).
Anyway, Peas and meat (except the sausage) in the largest souppot you have (thick bottom), with 3 litres of cold water and the bayleaves. Bring to a boil, use a slotted spoon to clear the surface of any foam. Cover and lower the heat, cook for an hour, stir every once in a while. Add the vegetables, simmer for another hour, stirring every so often. Uncover the pan and simmer for another hour, keep stirring and scrape that bottom!.

By now the meat can be taken out so you can clean the bones and cut up the meat, icky bits out of the way, (brrr childhood memories of a spoonful of soup and biting into something that goes boiing between your teeth, or worse: tries to escape your teeth……my mom is all about not wasting any “good” bits of meat..woohaa) and put the meat back in the pot. Slice the sausage and add the rest of the vegetables. Simmer for about 30 minutes more. Add salt and pepper and parsley to taste. This velvety soup needs quite a bit of salt and pepper, unless you used a slice of salted pork.

Let cool. As it cools, it firms up so that a spoon will stand up straight.. This is the part where my kids like to join in.”Can I test it now? No let me.." squabble, argument, bicker and within minutes there are… three spoons standing….
Best eaten the next day! For reheating I recommend using the microwave so you won't risk a burnt taste and please refrigerate or freeze!




"Snert" with "katenspek" on pumpernickel.

Groentesoep met balletjes / Vegetable soup with meat balls

This is the soup I made on New Years Eve, and I think it is the heritage soup we all make, at least here in the Netherlands it's the soup that comes with the package of being Dutch. I think. The recipe will easily double, or triple and when unexpected company is showing up at your doorstep, there will always be plenty of soup from this pot. My great grandmother used to make her vegetable soup and is reputed to always have soup for everyone. She simply went back into the kitchen, filled the pot with more water and chucked in another beef broth cube. It is a story that comes with this soup in our family. "Do you have enough soup? Sure, you know I always have."
But now, the recipe.....that's a tough one. You see, I make this soup with whatever I have in the pantry, fresh vegetables or freezed. And I make it looking at the pan every once in a while, my mind wandering off, my ears with the children..well you know the drill, not a real recipe. But since Lindy in the USA posted about tomatensoep I figured I could at least try.

( print recipe)

Stock:
500 gr beef shank
200 gr marrow bone
1 onion, stick 2 cloves in the onion as to retrieve them easily afterwards
1 leek with green sliced in 5 cm pieces
10 parsley stems (save the leaf for use in final soup)
handfull of celery (not the stalk nor the root veg. but the green on top which is sold separately in Holland)
1-2 bay leaves
1 piece of mace (size of a dime)

In a large soup pot add the meats to 1-2 liters cold water. Add a little salt and bring slowly to a boil, don't cover the pot! Skim the surface with a skimmer to get rid of the foam. This helps to get a real clear broth.

Once the liguid has come to a boil, add the rest of the above mentioned ingredients. Now cover the pot and leave on the lowest heat your stove can manage. You will want to see a faint ripple of the liquid, no bubbles or rolling boil. Leave to simmer for at least 4 hours. Put through a mesh sieve and pick the meat from the bones (either add the bone marrow or throw out). Return the meat to the pot, bring to a soft boil and add the:

Filling:
50 gr carrot
50 gr courgette
1 celery stalk
50 gr red bell pepper
50 gr cauliflower
50 gr leek (only white and light green parts)
25 gr fennel
3 tbs parsley
50 gr green beans
3 tbs celery leafs
50 gr broccoli
50 gr vermicelli/angel hair pasta

100 gr ground beef, seasoned with 1 tbs very fine dry bread crumbs, 2 ts milk, pepper, salt and nutmeg to taste. Mix and knead, shape into hazelnut sized balls.

These quantities are just a guideline, you can add or leave out any one of these to taste, although in a real old-fashioned Dutch vegetable soup you'll find these components. Cut all veggies in equal sized pieces, add together with the meatballs to the broth in the pan and cook for another 20 minutes. Taste and season accordingly, adding salt and pepper and maybe some "maggi".

Enjoy!

Pumpkinsoup

The pumpkin I bought on the market eventually ended in a soup. Not very original but as pumpkin isn't an acquired taste in this country, soup is a fairly friendly way of starting. So this soup needed some warm spices, a nice soft touch...

I searched the net for recipes, browsed my cookbooks and -as always- ended by combining what I found.

Recipe:

approx.. 1500 gr pumpkin (weight incl. skin)
1 tbs butter
1 onion diced
1 liter vegetable broth
400 ml milk/cream
1/4 ts cinnamon
1/4 ts cumin
1/4 ts crushed ginger
1/4 ts freshly ground chili pepper
salt & pepper
3 tbs french mustard
3 tbs honey
sour cream/creme fraiche

Cut your pumpkin into thick slices and lightly oil them. Roast in the oven for approx. 30 minutes. (Oven 350F). Toward the end of cooking time test for doneness with a fork. Flesh will be soft and the skin of the pumpkin could be wrinkled. Remove from oven and carefully peel off the skin.

Sautée onion in the butter and add spices, cook on medium heat until fragrant. Add the cooked pumpkin and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Transfer to a large souppot and add the broth. (Rinse the onion pan with a little broth to use all flavours). Meanwhile mix milk and mustard and add to the pot. Bring to a boil, and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes. Stir frequently because the pumpkin tends to stick to the bottom of your pot.
Purée this in a blender or food processor adding the honey. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve with a dollop of creme fraiche (sour cream) and some fresh parsley.



We had this soup for dinner, and I made mini whole wheat loaves and a 3-cheeses bread.