Soups

[Monel]

Soup

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Bell Pepper soup

serves 3 - 4

What you need:
Knife
Cutting board
Blender (or hand blender)
Soup pan (that of either 2 litre or 5 litre pot will do)

Ingredients:
4 Red Capsicums, removed of seeds, in chunks
3 garlic cloves, peeled and bruised
1 handful basil leaves, leave 4 leaves for garnish
1 ½ litre water
Beef cube (pending on product, 1 or 2 cubes for each litre)
1 small pot of cream
(for a vegetarian twist, use more basil and instead of beef cubes use vegetable cubes)

What to do:
1.) Stir-fry the capsicums, garlic and half of the handful of basil till capsicums start to blister.

2.) If using hand mixer, add half of the water so that it blends easier, then add the rest of the water and cubes. Blend till smooth velvet mixture.

If using a blender, add the fried veggies and ½ of water till it is smoothly blended. You may need to add more water so that it blends easier.

3.) Don’t let the soup boil, and add salt or pepper for flavour. By any chance you may have added to much water, you can always let it simmer on low heat to reduce. (I always recommend using the cubes for flavour)

4.) Serve into either small bowls and add a dollop of cream in the centre. Finish it off with a sprinkle of sliced basil and serve as appetizers or have it as a main coarse.

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Pumpkin soup with beef strips and French bread

serves 4

What you need:
A knife with a good handle (or a cheese saw/knife of 25cm, goes through cheese like butter)
Cutting board
A normal knife
Spoon
Hand blender / blender
Soup pan
Frying pan

Ingredients:
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 small (biologic) pumpkin (or 750g)
5 tablespoons of olive oil
2 large onions, peeled and roughly chopped
2 teaspoon Italian herbs (check your dried herbs in the supermarket)
380 ml Strong beef bouillon (replace the beef with a strong vegetable bouillon)
1 french bread
1 bush parsley
300 g beef, sliced in strips (exclude this for vegiterian version)

What to do:

1.) This is the tough part, cleaning the pumpkin! Cut it in half so that you have a better grip when you slice off the skin. Remove the seeds with a spoon then cut the flesh in bite-sized chunks

Tip: Use gloves, the pumpkins colour stains the hands which last for a few days.

2.) Heat up the oil and fry the onions, garlic an herbs till onions are somewhat golden. Add the pumpkin chunks and let it cook for about 2 minutes.

3.) Add the strong beef bouillon plus 4 cups of warm water and let it simmer on low – medium heat for 15 – 20 minutes.

4.) Meanwhile prepare the French bread if necessary and slice them diagonally in about 2 inches in thickness.

Cook the beef so that its cooked and set it aside.

Coarsely chop the parsley.

5.) Blitz the soup so it has that velvety texture and do not let it boil. (Add pepper for flavouring if needed)

6.) Divide the soup in 4 bowls and share the beef strips amongst the four right in the centre. Sprinkle parsley as decoration and serve with the French bread.

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[Monel]

Vegetarian Biological Pumpkin Soup

Why Biological? Because the pumpkin was biologically produced, you can use any kind of pumpkin that is made for eating. Not just any pumpkin is suitable for soups. I also did this entirely out of feeling and taste so I wouldn’t know what kind of proportions I used.

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I served about 12 – 13 people with it and they had seconds.. and thirds.. and fourths.

What you need:
Latex gloves or just gloves for the pumpkin
Spoon
Staff mixer
Chef knife
Cutting board
Soup pan

Ingredients:
I used about three or four small pumpkins that are bright orange.
4 - 5 garlic cloves
3 large onions
1 large carrot
Fresh Basil bush
1 or 2 vegetable stock per litre (I varied from this)

What to do before cooking:
1.) The first step is the hardest, cleaning the pumpkin is hard work and make sure you use the gloves because they stain like mad. You simply cut it in half, and using the spoon scoop out the filling till you scrape the flesh. Now carefully, using the chef knife, carve at the outlayer, taking the skin off like a peeler. Do this slowly and bit by bit.
2.) Once you have the pumpkin cleaned up you can cut it in small cubes. The smaller it is the faster it cooks.
3.) Peel the onions and roughly cut them.
4.) Clean the carrot and cut it up in cubes as well, remember the smaller the faster it will cook.
5.) Peal the garlic.

What to do while cooking:
1.) Heat up a little bit of oil in the soup pan.
2.) Throw in the pumpkins and let it cook for about 5-10 minutes. Then add the carrots, again 5-10 minutes then add the onions.
3.) Throw in about ¾ of the basil let it cook for about 2 minutes.
4.) This is the tricky bit, try to use it at your own feel but I added about a litre of water and about 2 – 3 vegetable stock cubes (whatever the instructions tell you, different products gives you different instructions)
5.) Blitz it with the staff mixer. If you don’t have this, use a blender. Works as well.
6.) If you hadn’t added enough water do so now, your goal is to get a thick consistency that looks like blended broccoli. Don’t ask =P
7.) Use the remaining leaves as decorations.  

[Monel]

Gazpacho

Serves 4

What you need:

Blender
Sieve
cutting board
Chef knife

Ingredients:

100 gr Tomaat
15 gr Onions
15 gr Red Paprika
100 gr Cucumber
1 dl hot water
1 tsp red wine vinegar
½ a clove of garlic
1 tsp olive oil
pepper and salt for seasoning

What to do:

1.) Roughly chop the tomatoes, onions, capsicums and cucumber.
2.) Blend these ingredients together with the hot water.
3.) Add the garlic, red wine vinegar and oil.
4.) let it continue to blend till the ‘soup’ has this velvet texture with very little ‘bumps’ on the surface.
5.) Sieve the soup to remove the excess pulp. You need not to worry if you can’t get them all.
6.) Season with salt and pepper (or herbs like parsley or basil)
7.) Serve ice, ice cold.  

[Monel]

Italian vegetable soup with roosted sausage.

Serves 4

Ingredients:
500 g Italian sausages (either pork or beef)
200 g smoked bacon
1 tsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 Celery stick, halved and diced
1 large carrot, 1 inch cubed
herbal bag (use a cheese cloth) with 1 twig of parsley, 1 twig oregano, 2 bay leaves.
1 small Spanish red chilli pepper, cut in half through the length
400 g canned diced tomatoes
1,75 litre chicken broth
300 g string beans, 3 in
300 g kidney beans
2 tsp finely chopped parsley.

What to do:
1.) Roost the sausages for about 8 – 10 minutes under a hot grill, turning them occasionally till they urn brown.
2.) Remove them from the grill and cut them in pieces about 3 inches. Cut the fat from the smoked bacon and set aside while dicing the meat of the bacon in cubes.
3.) Heat the oil on a low fire, add the cubed bacon and the fat and fry for about 2 – 3 minutes. Add the onions, garlic, celery and carrot. Let it simmer for 6 – 8 minutes. Pour out the excess fat that comes from it.
4.) Add the sausages, herbal bag, Spanish chilli pepper and diced tomatoes, let it simmer for 5 minutes.
5.) Pour in the chicken broth and bring it to a boil, ten let it simmer on a low heat for about an 1 hour.
6.) Add the string beans and kidney beans and too let it simmer for 30 minutes.
7.) Remove the herbal bag and stir in the parsley. Then season with salt and pepper.