Herb Soups
Every soup will benefit from the addition of herbs,
either to enhance the flavour of the ingredients during cooking or to
provide contrast of colour and texture as a garnish. Some soups can be
made with herbs as a principal ingredient and they make an unusual and
fresh-tasting dish.
Sorrel Soup
Choose the younger leaves of sorrel before they become dark and tough
looking. For a constant supply of these, cut back all the growth once
the flowering stems appear and water with a weak liquid feed like
seaweed. Fresh leaves will quickly regrow.
a big handful of sorrel leaves, about 150g
outside leaves of a lettuce
1 tablespoon butter
1 small onion
1 litre light stock (eg chicken)
salt and pepper
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon cream
Chervil leaves for garnish
Wash the sorrel and lettuce leaves and remove any large stalks. Melt the
butter in a heavy bottomed pan, chop the onion and add to the pan, let
it soften. Then add the leaves, stir to coat with butter and cook
gently, stirring from time to time until they collapse. Pour in the
stock, season with salt and ground black pepper, bring to a gentle boil
and simmer for about 30 minutes until the leaves are tender. Then put
through a food mill or liquidise.
Return the soup to the pan and put over a low heat. Gently whisk the egg
yolk and cream and pour into the hot, but not boiling, soup stirring all
the time until the soup has thickened a little. do not let it boil or
you will end up with scrambled egg. If disaster does strike you can
liquidise it again.
Serve hot with a sprinkling of finely chopped chervil leaves on top.
Lovage and Potato Soup
Lovage leaves grow in short branches off the main stem. Each of these
branches has side shoots with one pair of further side shoots, ending in
3 leaves, and a terminal shoot of 3 leaves. Choose young, undamaged
leaves for cooking.
Make this with floury potatoes, waxy ones will give a gluey soup; for a
quick dish use left over boiled potatoes or even mash. When in season,
substitute a leek for the onion.
1 tablespoon butter
1 medium onion or leek
500g floury potatoes
1 litre mild flavoured stock
10 sets of the 3 leaf clusters
salt and black pepper
Chives to garnish
Melt the butter in a pan, finely chop the onion or leek ( you can
include some of the green part) and cook gently in the butter until
softened. Add the raw potatoes and cook gently until the edges begin to
go transparent. If using cooked potatoes add them with the stock. Pour
in the stock and roughly chop the lovage leaves before adding. Season
cautiously, especially if you are using left over potato.
Simmer for 30 minutes if using raw potato, 15-20 minutes if using
cooked. Liquidise or put through a food mill; taste and add more salt
and pepper if you wish. Serve hot with a scattering of finely chopped
chives.
Fennel and Tomato Soup
This is a cold, uncooked soup that is tangily refreshing on a hot day.
500g tomatoes
3 rounded teaspoons chopped fennel
1 level teaspoon chopped fresh ginger
3 tablespoons herb oil (thyme or basil)
100 ml light stock
1 tablespoon thick yoghurt
Put all the ingredients into a food processor or liquidiser and blend
until smooth. Taste and add salt. For a really smooth finish pour
through a sieve to get rid of the bits of tomato skin and seeds.