A soup to chase the cold away

It is cold and miserable outside: rain, rain, nothing but rain! And as if this wouldn't be misery enough I am trying hard to shake off the mother of all colds. So what better remedy is there than a nice hot  soup and better even, one that is fast and easy to prepare. Best: I had all ingredients in the pantry - and even fresh sage as that is the only plant surviving all year round in my kitchen garden. Plus sage is supposed to have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties - perfect!

You start by finely slicing 3 garlic cloves, and also very finely chopping a handful of sage leaves. Wash and quarter 400g/two cups of cherry tomatoes, weigh 200g/1 1/2 cups of red lentils, open a medium (400g/14 oz) can of chopped tomatoes and prepare 1.5 l/ 6 cups of vegetable broth.
Sautée the garlic and cherry tomatoes for a few minutes in a splash of olive oil, add the chopped tomatoes, chopped sage and let bubble away for a few minutes. Add the lentils, the vegetable broth and let cook for about 10 to 15 minutes until the lentils are tender. Taste and season with black pepper and salt if necessary and serve with a sprinkling of either leftover sage or flat leaf parsley.
I really, really liked the very clean taste of the soup but next time will cook it with tiny little bits of pasta (orzo) as I didn't care too much about the texture of the red lentils. But best of all - my cold is much, much better!

Cauliflower and Fennel Soup

I have to admit - I am partial to pretty soups. A bright red pepper soup or a pale orange carrot soup served on a white plate is as pleasing to the eye as it is delicious. Sadly with this soup you will have to work on the presentation, as pretty it is not. But its grey paleness hides masses of flavour and the Pastis gives it  a certain something très Provençal! Ladle the soup into a brightly coloured plate, sprinkle lots of parsley on top - et voilà - one more delicious soup to chase away the cold and winterblues.

 

Peel and chop 2 cloves of garlic and one half of a big white onion. Gently fry in a good slug of olive oil until soft.

 

Chop one fennel bulb (discard the hard core) and add to the pot. Sprinkle one tsp of tarragon leaves and keep on stirring until the vegetables are softening.

 

Add the florets of half a cauliflower, 1/2 liter (2 cups) of vegetable stock and let simmer until the cauliflower is soft. Season to taste with salt and pepper, a good slug of Pastis and some crème fraîche and mix until smooth. Serves 4

 

I'd like to give credit for the inspiration of this soup to Tim Vidra of E.A.T. whose Halloween post made me buy the cauliflower of which I only used half (and very good it was roasted according to Tim's recipe, too!) and to Claudia of A Seasonal Cook in Turkey whose delicious Cauliflower Soup recipe reminded me of this one that I had all but forgotten about. Thank you!

Soupe au Pistou

This heart and body warming soup is named after an ingredient that is added at the very last moment before you serve the soup: "Pistou" which is more or less the same thing as pesto, except that in pistou you leave out the pine nuts and the parmesan. So in summer, when I have an abundance of basil in my kitchen garden, I take a big bunch of basil, pick off the leaves, peel two or three cloves of garlic and, together with some salt mix it all up, adding a bit of olive oil. Purists would do this in a mortar of course, but I believe that life is too short and anyhow, what are modern kitchen gadgets for? You end up with a beautifully green and pungent paste that I fill into ice cube trays until frozen and then keep in plastic bags in the freezer for days like these when you are snowed in and need some sunshine in you soup bowl.
And although the season for Soupe au pistou really is early summer when all ingredients are availalble at our beautiful Provençal market, the cheat's version can easily be cooked in winter - just use frozen vegetables.
Boil green beans, cannelini beans, borlotti beans, some diced carrots, diced white leek, diced potatoes, a tomato or two until tender in a litre and a half of good beef or vegetable stock, add a handful of very small pasta and when tender, stir in a generous tablespoon of pistou and serve with crunchy baguette. Voilà: instant sunshine, even at minus 2°C!