Soup, Glorious Soup
Mostly cheese soup - as it happens. I overdid the Christmas Cheeseboard as usual 🙄
I also had to think of something to do with a whole load of celery I'd acquired after using what I needed in making up my Christmas Gravy Stock. Which really wasn't as bad as you might expect.
The start of this year has seen a prolonged and painful bout of gout (so much for me thinking drinking lots of water had resolved my attacks), and the start of a new Cookery Course at Kirklees College.
Hey, it get's me out of the house!
Ironically the first class was all about cooking liver - famous for being stuffed with the purines that break down into uric acid, whose crystals form in the joints causing gout.
Does the universe hate me?
Cauliflower and Gorgonzola Soup
cheese soup
To be honest you probably don't much need the celery or even the potato, which is only there to enhance the smoothness of the blended soup.
You could use onion or shallots instead of the leeks (in fact I'm not sure I didn't include some onion).
You can add a splash of sherry vinegar to brighten the flavour, and you might consider browning a few reserved cauliflower florets in butter to use as a topping.
You can add a splash of sherry vinegar to brighten the flavour, and you might consider browning a few reserved cauliflower florets in butter to use as a topping.
Serves 6
Ingredients
- 1 large cauliflower
- couple of leeks
- few sticks celery
- butter
- 1 potato
- chicken stock
- milk
- 200g gorgonzola
- white peppercorns, ground
- nutmeg
- 2-3 bay leaves
- crème fraîche
To Serve:- drizzle of olive or truffle oil
- chives or spring onions, chopped
Clean the leeks and the celery and peel the potato. Roughly chop them all into a large pot. Remove the cauliflower florets, roughly chop the stalks and add to the pot.
Add a large chunk of butter and a generous grinding of white peppercorns to the pot and gently sweat everything until it all softens without browning.
Add enough stock to cover, roughly chop the florets and add them to the pot with a few bay leaves, cover and simmer gently until cooked.
Blend the soup with a few tablespoons of crème fraîche and enough milk to dilute it to the consistency you prefer. Reheat, but do not boil, and stir through the gorgonzola until it melts into the soup.
Add a large chunk of butter and a generous grinding of white peppercorns to the pot and gently sweat everything until it all softens without browning.
Add enough stock to cover, roughly chop the florets and add them to the pot with a few bay leaves, cover and simmer gently until cooked.
Blend the soup with a few tablespoons of crème fraîche and enough milk to dilute it to the consistency you prefer. Reheat, but do not boil, and stir through the gorgonzola until it melts into the soup.
If you prefer you can blend the soup after adding the cheese to get rid of any lumps from the rind and blue veins.
Adjust the seasoning, add a grind of nutmeg.
Serve hot, but not boiled, with a drizzle of olive or truffle oil and scattering of snipped chives or sliced spring onions.
On reflection, the truffle oil doesn't really work. But the soup is excellent. Not very white though 🤔 Probably the stock.
Broccoli and Cheese Soup
veg cheese soup
Stilton would be the classic cheese to have in broccoli soup. Or cheddar. Or all the bits of cheese you have leftover from Christmas. They're all good.
Just for the record, I had 400g of mixed gorgonzola, Keen's extra mature cheddar, oakwood smoked cheddar, Ossau Iraty, and most of a Blue Brain. But I think any combination of blue cheeses and hard cheeses would work.
Possibly not vacherin, mont d'or, brie or camembert though - use those in your tartiflette.
Shallots or onions would have been traditional, but I had leeks. So that's the allium I used.
Now How you might ask did you get so much cheese to dissolve into this gorgeous soup without separating or becoming grainy?
Well, I'm glad you asked - because the answer my friends is that indispensable kitchen ingredient tri-sodium citrate.
Sodium citrate is an emulsifying agent that binds to calcium ions and allows the cheesy proteins to disperse in water without clumping.
Add about 3% the weight of the cheese.
You probably only need to use this for the proportion of hard cheese you've used. Soft blue cheeses should happily dissolve on their own.
Thanks to Kenji López-Alt of Serious Eats for some of the ideas in developing this soup.
Just for the record, I had 400g of mixed gorgonzola, Keen's extra mature cheddar, oakwood smoked cheddar, Ossau Iraty, and most of a Blue Brain. But I think any combination of blue cheeses and hard cheeses would work.
Possibly not vacherin, mont d'or, brie or camembert though - use those in your tartiflette.
Shallots or onions would have been traditional, but I had leeks. So that's the allium I used.
Now How you might ask did you get so much cheese to dissolve into this gorgeous soup without separating or becoming grainy?
Well, I'm glad you asked - because the answer my friends is that indispensable kitchen ingredient tri-sodium citrate.
Sodium citrate is an emulsifying agent that binds to calcium ions and allows the cheesy proteins to disperse in water without clumping.
Add about 3% the weight of the cheese.
You probably only need to use this for the proportion of hard cheese you've used. Soft blue cheeses should happily dissolve on their own.
Thanks to Kenji López-Alt of Serious Eats for some of the ideas in developing this soup.
Ingredients
- 1 kg broccoli - about 4 heads
- 2 leeks, or a few shallots
- butter
- stock
- milk
- 400g cheese
- sodium citrate
To Serve:- nutmeg, grated
Separate the broccoli florets from the stalks. Peel the fatter, more fibrous, stalks, roughly chop them all and add the stalks to a pot.
Chop, and thoroughly clean the leeks and add them to the pot together with a hefty chunk of butter.
Sweat without browning over low heat until the vegetables are softened, then add enough stock to cover, throw in about half the reserved broccoli florets, cover and simmer gently until everything is cooked through.
Grate the cheeses. Blend about 3% of the weight of hard cheese of sodium citrate with cold milk, then mix that into the vegetables and blend everything together. Add enough extra milk to dilute to your preferred consistency.
Bring to a simmer, without boiling, and gradually blend in the grated cheeses, making sure each batch dissolves smoothly.
Meanwhile fry the remaining reserved broccoli floret in a little oil in a scorching hot frying pan over high heat until they are blistered and charred in places.
Add most of them to the soup and roughly blend them in, leaving plenty of chunks for texture.
Season and serve the soup topped with a few selected charred broccoli florets and a grating of nutmeg.
Chop, and thoroughly clean the leeks and add them to the pot together with a hefty chunk of butter.
Sweat without browning over low heat until the vegetables are softened, then add enough stock to cover, throw in about half the reserved broccoli florets, cover and simmer gently until everything is cooked through.
Grate the cheeses. Blend about 3% of the weight of hard cheese of sodium citrate with cold milk, then mix that into the vegetables and blend everything together. Add enough extra milk to dilute to your preferred consistency.
Bring to a simmer, without boiling, and gradually blend in the grated cheeses, making sure each batch dissolves smoothly.
Meanwhile fry the remaining reserved broccoli floret in a little oil in a scorching hot frying pan over high heat until they are blistered and charred in places.
Add most of them to the soup and roughly blend them in, leaving plenty of chunks for texture.
Season and serve the soup topped with a few selected charred broccoli florets and a grating of nutmeg.
You might consider adding some mustard or a squirt of hot sauce. Depending on your cheese selection.
Celery Gratin
veg side
It's good to find decent celery dishes to have in the arsenal.
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
- 1 head of celery, with its leaves
- About 1 litre vegetable stock or water
- 1 small onion, peeled and sliced
- 1 bouquet garni made with 1 bay leaf, 3-4 parsley stalks, 2 sprigs thyme
- 6 peppercorns
- Salt and ground black pepper
- 1 small knob butter, for greasing
- 100ml crème fraîche
- 3 tbsp finely chopped parsley
- 1 small handful fresh white breadcrumbs
- 30g grated parmesan or gruyère
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Cut the leafy ends off the celery and reserve. Remove any tough strings from the outer stalks, and cut the sticks into 10cm lengths.
Put the stock or water, onion, bouquet garni and peppercorns into a pan. Bring to a boil and add some salt and the celery. Lower to a simmer, partially cover and poach until the celery is just tender, about 15 minutes. Remove celery from the poaching liquid and arrange in a lightly buttered gratin dish.
Pour the strained poaching liquid into a clean pan and discard the onion, peppercorns and bouquet garni. Simmer until reduced to about 100ml, remove from the heat and whisk in the crème fraîche, about two tablespoons of chopped celery leaves, if you have them, and the parsley. Adjust the seasoning and pour over the celery.
In a small bowl, stir together the breadcrumbs and cheese, sprinkle over the gratin and bake until golden and bubbling, about 20 minutes.
Put the stock or water, onion, bouquet garni and peppercorns into a pan. Bring to a boil and add some salt and the celery. Lower to a simmer, partially cover and poach until the celery is just tender, about 15 minutes. Remove celery from the poaching liquid and arrange in a lightly buttered gratin dish.
Pour the strained poaching liquid into a clean pan and discard the onion, peppercorns and bouquet garni. Simmer until reduced to about 100ml, remove from the heat and whisk in the crème fraîche, about two tablespoons of chopped celery leaves, if you have them, and the parsley. Adjust the seasoning and pour over the celery.
In a small bowl, stir together the breadcrumbs and cheese, sprinkle over the gratin and bake until golden and bubbling, about 20 minutes.
Reasonable enough. I should probably have mixed the cheese with the breadcrumbs, instead of just scattering the cheese on top.
Where it puddled like a flumpy hat.