A soup that whips and kisses

I am aware that sounds, shall we say, suggestive but look: I'll take it where I can find it! Today, the temperature has indeed dropped. I'm pretty much shirt sleeves all year, but I noticed others in gloves, so try this for supper tonight. It's what I had for lunch.

Rinse 250g of red lentils under cold running  water and put these to one side. Now, in a large saucepan, sweat one finely chopped onion, two finely chopped garlic cloves and half a fresh red chilli, finely chopped. in some sunflower oil. When they have softened and the onion and garlic browned, add the lentils and stir them around and then add a dessertspoon of Marigold brand vegetable stock powder. You could use any brand really, but this is what I prefer and it's unadulterated stuff. You could just use plain water. Stir well and then add water to cover and half as much again plus a good handful of greens. I used frozen leaf spinach, which is a store cupboard staple for me. You could use fresh dark green cabbage, shredded into long strips. Right: bring this lot to the boil, at which point you need to skim the froth made by the lentils, then turn it down to a gentle simmer and cook for around thirty minutes, stirring occasionally and adding more water if need be.

Now, when it's done, salt to taste and that's it OR make an Indian tarka mix by heating some oil in a pan, adding about a half teaspoon each of cumin and coriander seeds and maybe some brown  seeds too  and warming them through in the oil until they splutter and pop but not burn! For burned spices do a bitter mixture make. Then pour the lot, oil and all, into the soup and serve. Nods to dhal, obviously - but I'm not thinking of it as that.

Kisses because it's velvety and comforting. But the chilli and, if you've used it, the mustard seeds, will whip your arse. 

Chicken soup for the soul. For Susan.

Yes, yes: we've all heard this one But chicken soup really does seem to work if you have a cold or flu and, reader, I am feeling dreadful. However, someone came to my door late this afternoon, having removed the children from my care, swung them around the house so as to wear them out for me and then prepared some soup. I will ask her what she put in it at some point, but let me just say that the right food offered by the kind (a good splash of Southern may I say?) soul made me feel very happy. 

And man: that soup was better than mine. It contained good rich chicken stock, chopped chicken --both the brown and white-- and, I noticed, it was cut into neat pieces (unlike mine) which was particularly soothing in the circumstances. Just a nod to what I'll call nursery food. There were peas, neatly cut carrots, just a little celery and linguine which had been snapped into pieces. Well seasoned. Just right. More to the point, she had made enough for two good helpings with seconds so that Nedved (that'll be the husband, if you're not a regular reader) could share it.

As My auntie Bettie in Pembrokeshire says: "I notices things."

Feet up by the fire, dear.

A red hot chicken and tomato soup

I do love chillies...

इ दो लव चिल्लिएस: थिस इस फॉर यू अंकल xxxx
And while we're on the subject of chillies, here's a reminder that an excellent supplier can provide you with all the dried spices and herbs you could want for food with a kick. Check out Spices of India: I have used them many times.
http://www.spicesofindia.co.uk/

If you read yesterday's post, you would have seen yet another roast chicken being served up. That chicken went on to do tea for hungry under 8s and now a rather hot soup for tonight, for which proceed as follows. This serves two.  It makes me feel contented to have a pan of soup simmering away on the hob. The estimable and recently late Keith Floyd wrote in Floyd on France about how the soft scent of soup --with its aromas of lentils and ham bones-- filled your heart and later your tummy with joy. That the smell of soup meant home. How right he was. That'll be my hob above, by the way. Ignition on!

Take up your chicken carcass, which may have a lot of meat on it or, in our case, just (apparently) a few scraps. Put it in a big deep pan and cover it with water. Add four cloves of garlic, finely chopped, a dessertspoon of red chilli flakes (or a whole fresh chilli, finely chopped), a small handful of salt (well, say, two teaspoons, but I just put my hand in the big sea salt jar and chuck it in the pan), four medium potatoes cut into small chunks, peeled or not, a good handful of fresh or frozen spinach, chopped,and one can of peeled plum tomatoes which you have roughly chopped in the can. Then add about six tablespoons of red lentils, which have been picked over and rinsed...and bring the lot to the boil.

Yes, I know what you're thinking: why didn't she make chicken stock first and then peel away any meat? Well, this is just the lazy way for Sunday night and it works, all in. So, bring the soup to the boil and then simmer gently for half an hour, after which time, extract the chicken carefully and make sure you remove all bones from the soup. Take off any meat remaining on the carcass and put the meat into the soup. I also had a little rice, left over from lunch, so I added that.

Check for seasoning and serve piping hot with bread. A little feta cheese is a nice addition, too. As is a big swirl of some really good olive oil.