Soups, hot and cold

(I know, again, but I was asked very nicely)

Classic British Summertime

Do we all still want soup? In the UK, when the weather turns hot, we don’t tend to want soup so much. This, I think, makes us an oddity. Every single year round hot climate cuisine I can think of has multiple soups, many cuisines have soup as part of a daily repertoire. The reason for this, is of course, that hot liquid - whether temperature hot or chilli hot - makes us sweat and therefore cools us down. That is the theory anyway.

There is also the fact that regardless of the temperature, if the skies are grey and the air is oppressive and you feel clammy/slightly chilled from the humidity even when it is hot (I have been there) - you still want comfort foods and soups always fit the bill.

The main reason to NOT make soup is that you need to have the hob on to do so and most of them simmer away for quite some time, especially things like split pea and ham soup. So your kitchen will get hotter. BUT yet again your pressure cooker is your friend. Hot, comforting yet refreshing soup but no over heated kitchen! Win and win some more.

I am giving you these two hot soup recipes because I mentioned them in my chicken stock post and one or two of you asked if I could write them up. And for anyone who wants a chilled soup, which can also use up some of your chicken stock, here is a suggestion based on one from years ago when I lived in Dominica.

Chilled Avocado Soup with Salsa

Very simple, practically instant. Take 2 small/1 large ripe avocado. Blitz with 600ml light chicken (or vegetable) stock, the juice of 1 lime, a few thyme and mint leaves, a spring onion and a pinch of curry powder. Taste, season, adjust. Stir in 50g sour cream or yogurt. And serve with a garnish of tomato and mango salsa - 2 medium tomatoes, half a mango, a wedge of cucumber, all diced finely. A sliver of scotch bonnet, very finely chopped or a few chilli flakes. A squeeze of lime juice, 2 tsp red wine or sherry vinegar. Finely chopped mint or parsley to finish.

Split Pea and Ham Soup

I’ve taken this from my new book, Everyday Pressure Cooking (as I have said and will no doubt keep mentioning, out in early November and available to pre-order in all the usual places if you have the urge).

I realised that I’ve been using this 2-in-1 method for ages but had never put it in a book before. You cook the ham with the split peas and the other ingredients for the soup - the ham seasons and flavours the soup perfectly. You are left with the ham, some of which you can shred into the soup if you like, and use the rest for another day. What often happens in my house is that we will probably have the soup with mustardy ham sandwiches. You can keep it quite plain - it will be savoury enough to cope with lack of additional aromatics - or you can do what I did this time round and add any spices/herbs you like - I’ve made some of them optional below.

When I make this Caribbean style, I might fry up some of the ham in a hot/sweet sauce. This might be as simple as adding hot sauce, pickapeppa and sugar to get a bit of caramelisation. But I do sometimes use one by The Fine Jamaican Sauce Co. A fruity, Caribbean style mango chutney works too.

Note - you need to check whether you need to soak your ham/gammon. Your butcher should be able to tell you, as should anyone on the meat counter of a supermarket.

Ingredients:

1 small smoked or unsmoked gammon joint – around 750g

300g split peas

1 carrot, trimmed and halved

1 onion, peeled and halved

1 small/1/2 large sweet potato

3 garlic cloves (optional, not everything has to have garlic)

3 bay leaves

1 Scotch bonnet, pierced with a knife tip (optional)

1/2 tsp ground allspice (optional)

Put everything in your pressure cooker with 1.5 litres water for a very liquidy soup, 1.2 for something slightly thicker. Don’t season with salt at this stage as you don’t know how salty your gammon is, but add plenty of pepper if you wish.

Close the lid and bring up to high pressure. Adjust the heat so it is just high enough to maintain the pressure, then cook for 10 minutes. Leave to reduce pressure naturally. Remove the ham, the bay leaves and optionally, if you have used it, the Scotch bonnet, from the cooker. Taste for seasoning and add salt if necessary. Blitz the remaining contents to a soup – or you could just simply mash the vegetables into the side, they will break up very easily.

Shred or dice some of the ham and add to the soup, and keep the rest for slicing or tearing into chunks to be added to other dishes.

A Red Chicken Soup

Leftovers galore. Chicken meat and fat from stock making, a few bits of vegetables left from a salad. To be honest, I can’t actually remember exactly what I did because it was just a case of throwing in what I had, but it will be pretty close - and anyway, you don’t have to follow it exactly - you can use it as a receptacle for any vegetables you need to use up.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil or chicken fat from the stock if you have it

1 red onion, cut into slim wedges

1 carrot, halved lengthways and sliced into crescents

2 sticks celery, sliced

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 tsp caraway seed

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp chilli powder/hot paprika

2 cooked medium beetroot, cut into small wedges or baton

1/4 red cabbage, shredded

200g ripe tomatoes, pureed (or use tinned at a pinch)

Any leftover chicken or other meat

800ml chicken stock

A small bunch parsley, finely chopped

2 tbsp capers, roughly chopped

Heat the olive oil or chicken fat in your pressure cooker. Add the onion, celery and carrot and fry on a high heat for a couple of minutes, then stir in the garlic, spices and remaining vegetables. Pour in the tomatoes and meat, followed by the stock. Season with salt and pepper.

Bring up to high pressure and adjust the heat so it is just high enough to maintain the pressure. Cook for 1 minute, then remove from the heat and leave to drop pressure naturally.

Stir in the parsley and capers. Garnish with sour cream or yogurt if you like.

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Coming up….

My next post will be another foray into cookery book reviewing/pressure cooker converting. I am currently cooking my way through the chosen book and can confidently state that there isn’t a single dish in it that I wouldn’t want to eat. Hitting your inbox later this week.

I am also experimenting again - in a non work way (as much as it is ever non work when you are cooking and a food writer, you never know what you are going to want to write up) and loved the squirrel fry bread tacos I made at the weekend. It got a polarised response on Instagram, so just to gratify my own curiosity….

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