The First-Time Cook

30g (1oz) butter

AROMATICS

1 bouquet garni (2 strips lemon zest, 1 bay leaf, 1 sprig thyme)

MAIN INGREDIENTS

leaves of 1 bunch parsley, roughly chopped

1kg (21/4lb) potatoes, peeled and thickly sliced

1 whole garlic bulb, separated into cloves, peeled

LIQUID

1.2 litres (2 pints) Vegetable or Chicken Stock (see pages 15–17)

300ml (10fl oz) milk

SEASONINGS

salt and pepper

freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 lemon

DRESSING UP (OPTIONAL)

a handful of grated Gruyère cheese

4–6 rashers streaky bacon, cooked until crisp (see right), and crumbled

1 Follow the basic method opposite, adding the stock only, plus salt, pepper and nutmeg at stage 2. When liquidised, stir in the milk, and add a squeeze or two of lemon juice (this highlights flavours, but shouldn’t be so much that the soup tastes lemony).

2 Reheat, and serve with the cheese and bacon if you wish.

need to know

CRISPY BACON To get bacon appetisingly crisp you will need to start off with a pack of streaky bacon. The higher fat content is what makes it go so irresistibly crunchy and golden. A dry-cure bacon is a better option than cheaper bacon which will probably have been pumped up with water and other additives. The best cooking method, I find, is to lay the bacon on a rack over a roasting tin and cook it in a hot oven, around 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6, for about 20 minutes until it is golden brown. Grilling is the second best option and not so dissimilar – keep the bacon about 10cm (4in) away from the grill and move it around the grill rack every few minutes so that it grills evenly. Either way, let it cool a little before attempting to crumble it.

need to know

HOW BIG IS A BUNCH? ‘A bunch of parsley’ is, I admit, infuriatingly vague. Actually, it’s deliberately vague, and I hope you will consider it empowering in a very small, kitcheny sort of a way. It’s a permission-giver of a term. So, if you quite fancy the idea of loads of parsley giving the soup a definite green tint, then you use a big bunch. For an altogether tamer affair, take it down to posy-ish size. The point, really, is that the exact size is not critical to the success of the soup; it just changes the taste a little…or a lot. Hey – you’re the cook here. It’s up to you how the food turns out. Embrace the responsibility!

Curried Parsnip Soup

When my Mum, the food writer Jane Grigson, came up with this wonderful soup way back in the 1970s, it seemed quite radical. Now, almost everyone has caught up with it, and variations on the theme abound. The original combination of humble parsnips and curry remains one of the best.

Follow the Good Vegetable Soup recipe on page 20, using a

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tablespoon curry paste (or a little more if you like things extra spicy) as the aromatic element, and replacing potato and vegetables with 500g (18oz) parsnips, which are starchy enough to thicken the soup without aid. Smaller parsnips should be peeled, then sliced, discarding the top. After peeling, larger parsnips will need to be cut into chunks, then quartered lengthways to reveal the tougher inner core. Cut this bit out and chuck it in the bin. Use what is left for the soup.

This is a soup that takes particularly well to being finished with a little cream swirled into each bowl and a scattering of croûtons.

Carrot and Coriander Soup

This is another modern classic, but one that is often misinterpreted. It is coriander seed that works so magically with carrots, rather than coriander leaf (although this is welcome as a finishing touch).

Follow the recipe for Good Vegetable Soup on page 20, using a tablespoon of whole coriander seeds as the aromatic element, replacing the potato with 1 tablespoon of rice (any white rice: long-grain, pudding or risotto), and using carrots alone, with no other vegetables. Serve the soup with a scattering of fresh coriander leaves on top.

Roast Tomato and Onion Soup

Roasting the vegetables for a soup gives a great depth of flavour, and a hint of something darker and treaclier distilled from the heat-charred edges. It also happens to be a particularly simple way of setting about soup-making. Everything bar the stock is piled into a roasting tin and slid into the oven. You go away for 45 minutes or so, and then all you need do is liquidise the whole lot. And sieve it. Finito.

Serves 4–6

BASE AND MAIN INGREDIENTS

1.5kg (3lb 5oz) reddest tomatoes you can find, cut in half

1kg (21/4 lb) onions, peeled and cut into eighths

6 garlic cloves, unpeeled

3 big thyme sprigs

4 tablespoons olive oil

SEASONINGS

2 teaspoons caster sugar

salt and pepper

LIQUID

900ml (11/2 pints) Vegetable or Chicken Stock (see pages 15–17)

DRESSING UP (optional, but really good)

50ml (2fl oz) whipping cream

a small handful of basil leaves, chopped

1 Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas Mark 7.