Soup

[KeenCook]

I quite like the sound of pumpkin and horseradish!

Let me know if it inspires you to try it, EM, and report back

[Stokey Sue]

Re soup, at the gym this morning in the changing room after our aquarobics session, a couple of people were talking about what they did with pumpkin.
One said she made pumpkin and horseradish soup, the other said she makes stew with it and a load of other ingredients including sweet potatoes, and green bananas, which she chops up, not bothering to peel them, and then eats the cooked skin too. I've never eaten green bananas in a stew, and can't quite get my head around pumpkin and horseradish ...

Really green bananas 9from a specialist supplier, not supermarket ripen at home) are used cooked in stews in Caribbean cooking, think I last had one in Cuba, not something I eat often! Sweet potato, pumpkin and green banana stew sounds pretty West Indian or West African to me
The only recipe I've ever made with them (in the 20th century) was a Rundown a Caribbean stew, mine was ho-hum but good ones are possible but I peeled the bananas (which is difficult)
Felicity's version uses both green bananas and pumpkin with smoked mackerel, but other proteins are possible - I wish I'd known how she prepares the banans 30 years ago
https://www.theguardian.com/food/articl ... ity-cloake

[KeenCook]

Made a pot of leek and carrot soup today

[Suffs]

I made leek and potato this week ….it’s that time of year

[miss mouse]

The split peas are yet again (despite having been soaked) proving resistant. Waitrose split peas, in date.

[Suffs]

Have you tried a teaspoon of bicarbonate in the soaking water?

[Amber]

I use Batchelors Quick Soak (Asda), with a tablet, it’s only a two hour soak. Then rinsed, and forty minutes simmer with two stock cubes, then a gentle simmer till needed (20-45mins?) with a packet of shredded ham. Not posh, but very easy, low effort, tasty, and filling. And we won’t mention the (packetted) fried onions on top .

[Stokey Sue]

I haven’t tried it, but I read somewhere that you can make a good soup using canned mushy peas as a base, I’m holding it in reserve as I have a can of mushy peas, might be an alarming colour.

A couple of weeks ago Nadiya Hussein made a spiced, puréed, carrot and potato soup, so hybridised it with one of my regular recipes and made a lightly spiced carrot and lentil soup with some potato in it - doesn’t usually have the spud, but definitely improved the texture so it’s a keeper. The only thing that puzzled me was that Nadiya grated her carrot and potato, which seems to me pointless if you are going to purée; I roughly diced the veg and cooked the soup under pressure in the IP.

[miss mouse]

I didn't use bicarb in the soak. These are yellow split peas which previously haven't taken so long, it's a puzzle.

[Suffs]

Did you use cold or hot water for the soak … I often use water from the kettle for split peas and that speeds things up …

[mistakened]

French Onion Soup for lunch today, I cheat with the croutes, use Lidl's Garlic bread topped with Gruyere then toasted in AF

Moira

[WWordsworth]

Nadiya Hussein made a spiced, puréed, carrot and potato soup

J made this yesterday, really enjoyed it.

[miss mouse]

Cold water, an overnight soak, drained, rinsed then ham stock and into the SC.

Where do they grow? Are we getting sub-standard products? I could try the Indian shop and see if theirs are better. Or the Turkish shop, the butter beans from there are good.

[Suffs]

Split peas are a variety of field pea, with the skins removed and split. They’re grown all over the world in Russia, Ukraine, China, India, Canada and the United States as well as some in the UK and many other places.
Of course the longer they’ve been in store the more soaking they’ll need … and some usual sources may have been cut rut to ipoor weather … or war … or if the shop doesn’t sell a lot they could’ve been on the shelves a while …
Have a look on the pack … does it say where yours are from … or even when they were packed (although of course that doesn’t say when they were harvested, they could have been stored a good while before being packed).

[Lusciouslush]

That is odd - I've used ancient split peas many times & with a good soak & a long simmer they've been fine & tender - obviously poor quality peas or neolithic - annoying tho'!

While we're on the subject, does anyone use whole yellow peas? I tried them in a Swedish version of split pea soup last winter.....gorgeous!

The start of minestrone for weekday lunches being made here right now.

[miss mouse]

They came from Waitrose and were well in date, I have used pre-historic ones in the past and no problem, this is the point of dried pulses isn't it, to get us through the famine? My suspicions of 'poorer quality' are being reinforced. I do believe they are/might be beginning to get to the cooked stage. :shock:

I've never seen whole ones.

[Suffs]

I’m not clear what ‘poorer quality’ might mean … fresh peas are peas harvested when the pods and the peas inside are still fresh and soft … dried peas and split peas are harvested when they’re dry and ‘rattle’ in the pod and they’re then dried a bit more so that they’ll keep in storage … the drier they are the better they’ll keep in storage and the longer they’ll take to become soft when soaked and cooked.

What particular aspect of the peas do you think might be ‘poorer’?

[Stokey Sue]

Any veg can surely vary in quality - variety for a start, and the relative drying in and out of pod will make a difference?

I find the answer to pulses is a pressure cooker, think I'm getting slightly evangelical.

[Sloe-Gin]

That is odd - I've used ancient split peas many times & with a good soak & a long simmer they've been fine & tender - obviously poor quality peas or neolithic - annoying tho'!

While we're on the subject, does anyone use whole yellow peas? I tried them in a Swedish version of split pea soup last winter.....gorgeous!

That sounds interesting. Have you got the recipe please?

[Smitch]

I’ve just put a spiced squash and red lentil soup in the IP. I used a Bart’s Berbere spice blend this time as it was the first tin I found in the cupboard