Two Soups

Waitress is still one of my most favourite sketches written by the wonderfully talented Victoria Wood. For most of us this sketch will always be known as Two Soups, who can forget the fabulous Julie Walters who in her own inimitable style played the part of the elderly waitress serving Celia Imrie and Duncan Edwards how they managed to to hold it together long enough to get through that sketch without laughing I will never know.   

Definitely on my list of winter warmers is home made soup. When my children were younger if they were poorly the one thing they would want was mum's home made soup.  Didn't matter what type as long as it was home made. Even after they have all but left home the one staple of go to food we all lean towards when we are feeling under the weather or if the weather outside is cold and wet is soup and its nice to know they are all continuing the tradition in making their own, although these days they have soup makers something I don't have. My son and his partner have soup nights once a week during the colder weather and are busy working their way through recipes from both sides of the family.

Roasted Butternut Squash was always a firm favourite  and all that is needed apart from a butternut squash is:  

2 carrots sliced with their skins on 

2 large sweet potato peeled and cut into pieces  

2 onions peeled and cut into chunks  

2-3 cloves of garlic unpeeled     

2-3 tomatoes halved  

Olive oil

1 tsp of dried mixed herb                   

2 litres of vegetable stock
and 1 butternut squash cut in half and seeds removed but no need for peeling       

                                                                                                                 

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4. Put the vegetables in a large greased baking tin and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle over with dried mixed herbs. Bake for approximately 45 minutes to an hour until the vegetables are tender. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.  

Meanwhile add the stock to a large saucepan and heat through. At this point you will need to scoop out the butternut squash then add it and the rest of the cooled vegetables to the stock and bring back to a rolling boil then reduce the heat and let simmer for 15 minutes. Using a blender or hand blender, blend the soup.

If it becomes too thick you can slacken it off by adding a little warm water to achieve the consistency you prefer. 

The title of this post is 'Two Soups' and therefore I better tell you about another firm favourite.

Mushroom Soup

200g Button or chestnut mushrooms
1 medium onion
55g/20z butter or non dairy alternative
1 tbsp of plain flour (gluten free if required)
2 litres of mushroom stock
1/4 pint/125ml milk

You can buy mushroom stock cubes but if you don't regularly have these as a store cupboard item as an alternative you can use vegetable stock.  I like to make my own mushroom stock by peeling the skins from the button or chestnut mushrooms adding them to 2 litres of boiling water and then simmer for 20 minutes then remove the skins and you have your stock. Pour your stock into a large jug ready to use later.




From here on in making the soup is easy.

1. You have already taken the skins off the mushrooms so all that's left to do is slice the mushrooms and leave to one side. 
2. Dice your onion and keep to one side. 
3. Using the pan you made your stock in add the butter to your saucepan. Once melted add the diced onion and allow to sweat off until the onions start to go translucent.  
4. Add the mushrooms and cook for 1-2 minutes 
5. Sprinkle over the flour and allow to cook out for 1-2 minutes but stir to make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the saucepan. 
6. Add your stock and milk
7. Allow to come back up to a rolling boil 
8. Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 5 minutes 
9. At this stage your soup should have started to thicken
10. Remove from the heat and using a blender or hand blender blend your soup to a smooth and creamy soup.

On a more serious note, over the past two weeks we have had to contend with two rather big storms. Firstly Ciara who stole two roof tiles and brought with it wind, rain and even snow, followed closely by Dennis who also stole two roof tiles and threw anything that couldn't be put out of harms way around the garden.  We came off lightly in comparison to others, both these storms left areas of the UK in devastation with severe damage and flooding. If you have been affected stay safe and I hope you get sorted out soon.

Mx