My friend dreams to open a
soup kiosk. A trailer with big stainless pots and huge ladles hanging inside
and wide, long stand from the outside. The one you would be going to after a
rainy day to warm up, or to chill out after a busy week or a busy day at work,
or just to soak up a sorrow, or to indulge happiness in a bowl of pure liquid gold.
We would talk for hours about
what the menu would be, would it be divided by season, or by days, but definitely
by vegetables and fruits in season. What is so great, and what both of us love
about soup recipes is the thing that you don’t need a precise measurement of
ingredients to have it turn out to be fantastic. The other thing is that there are
so many varieties, you can literally experiment each day and it seems like
there is no end to it. And garnishes, ah that’s the other specter of varieties.
So, this trailer would be soup kiosk for soup lovers in a way like candy shop
works for candy lovers.
I eat soups in all seasons, well I also drink tea in all seasons too. I remember last year I was drinking
tea every morning while I was on my summer holiday and after few days waiter
asked me how you can drink this hot tea when it’s so hot outside. There is even
some scientific approach to all this, why one should drink warm drinks while it’s
warm outside and the opposite, why one should drink cold beverages when it’s
cold outside, but I am not going into that now, I just simply think that I
chronically miss ‘warmth’ and this is why I always, but always enjoy hot beverages
no matter what’s the weather like.
When the day is warm, and when
the Sun is giving us all that energy I feel like I am doubling it with all this
additional warmers. Also, this is probably a habit I developed over the past years,
and plus I am a soup and tea lover and when you love something you just don’t care
about anything else. But this is just me.
Soups are rather cheap and
easy to make, but so comforting and pleasant and joyful and sometimes so rich
in flavor. You don’t need some particular skills to make good soup.
Although it’s a blooming
season by calendar, but have to say I don’t feel so ‘blooming’ myself, therefore
it is the perfect time to make soup, eat it and hopefully get into the
‘blooming’ mood!
cauliflower and parsnip soup with a
blooming effect
cauliflower (medium),
cut into small florets
parsnip (big one), cut into
bigger cubes
leek (big one, only white part),
cut into large rings
spring garlic (3-4, only white
parts), cut into large rings
olive oil (2 tbsp)
milk (350ml)
vegetable stock (300ml)
salt
In a large pot heat the olive
oil and add the leeks, garlic, parsnip and cauliflower and cook for about 10 to
15 minutes, stirring frequently on a medium heat. Add the milk and stock, season
with salt and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover and continue to cook
until the vegetables are soft and easily pierced with a paring knife, about 15
minutes.
Let the soup cool a bit and
whiz in a blender until smooth (or purée using a hand mixer). Taste, and season
with additional salt if needed. If the soup is too thick, it can be thinned
with water or stock.
I garnished the soup with color
oils and fried parsley. I used carrot, tomato and beetroot oil.
Beetroot oil: Juice one red, cooked
beetroot and mix with olive oil (same goes for carrot and tomato,
except you don’t need to cook tomato before mixing it with oil).
But leaving it white as it is
and adding a bit of yogurt is good as well!
