Bye bye Dingle Food Festival and the last days of summer. Hello winter and French onion soup.

Phew! The whirlwind that was the Dingle Food Festival is finally over and having baked hundreds (upon hundreds) of cupcakes, brownies and sweet treats and then manned my stall selling them over the course of three days, my tired body and frazzled mind have eventually recovered.

This year's food festival coincided with a definite change in the seasons. Before the festival, we were still wearing summer clothes and sandals but a storm hit on Sunday afternoon. The wind rose. The canopies covering our market stalls threatened to take off and had to be weighed down. Rain poured out of the skies. Thunder and lightening joined the fray. And since then, everyone has wrapped up in their winter woollies.

As the seasons change, so do our appetites. We yearn for foods that comfort, warm and nourish us through the cold days of winter. French onion soup is just such a food. I know there are lots of recipes for this soup out there but this one is suitable for my diet (and therefore for vegetarians and vegans too). It's not quite the same as the classic version that uses beef stock but rest assured that it's just as delicious!

This soup is traditionally served with melted cheese toasts but because I can no longer eat dairy, I find that anchovy toasts made an equally savoury accompaniment. The deep saltiness of the anchovy works really well against the sweetness of the onions.

French onion soup

6 large yellow onions, thinly sliced

3 tablespoons olive oil

¼ teaspoon of sugar

2 cloves garlic, minced

8 cups/2 litres of vegetable stock

½ cup/125ml of dry vermouth or dry white wine

1 bay leaf

¼ teaspoon of thyme

At least one teaspoon of salt and lashings of freshly-ground pepper

At least one slice of good bread and two anchovies per person

• Place a heavy bottomed saucepan over a medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the olive oil and then the onions.
• Sauté the onions for ten minutes.
• Add the sugar to help with the caramelisation process.
• Sauté for a further 30 to 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Essentially, what you want is for your onions to be browned, but not burned.
• Add the minced garlic and sauté for one minute.
• Add the stock, vermouth, bay leaf and thyme. Partially cover the saucepan and stir until the flavours are well developed, about 30 minutes.
• Season with salt and pepper. You'll have to trust your judgment on this. Add the teaspoon of salt and several grindings of pepper; mix; then taste. Add more if you think it will benefit the soup. Remember that salt works by bringing out flavour so a little extra might be just the thing.
• To make the toast, brush the slices of bread with a little olive oil and toast both sides under a hot grill. Lay the anchovies on top and cut into soldiers.
• Enjoy

This makes more than two litres of soup but I've found that you can almost never make enough soup. Having a pot on the go means that you're sorted when it comes to quick weekday lunches and snacks and most soups - especially this one - benefit from sitting around for a day or two. The flavours get deeper and richer and better and better.

A recipe for a super summery soup

The first time I made soup at home after closing the café, I made enough to feed 20 people. It wasn't until I was halfway through chopping the vegetables that I realised I was still in mass catering mode and had made far too much for my two-person household.

But what first appeared to be a mistake turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I froze the leftover soup in two-serving batches and for the next few weeks, I always had a ready answer to sudden pangs of hunger.

Now I always over cater when it comes to soup.  I may not make enough for 20 people but I always make enough for at least ten. It doesn't really involve that much more effort and knowing that you've got something delicious, homemade and easy in the freezer more than makes up for any extra chopping involved in the preparation process.

Here's what you'll need to make ten servings of a tomato-based minestrone soup 

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 onions, chopped

8 cloves of garlic, chopped

4 large carrots, diced

6 celery stalks, diced

2 tins of chopped tomatoes

2 litres vegetable stock

2 courgettes, chopped

200g frozen peas

1 tin (400g) cooked cannellini beans 

50g dried macaroni or other smaller-shaped pasta

Salt and pepper (how much you will need depends on the seasoning of your stock but provided the stock is not too salty, you'll need at least one teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper)

• Heat the oil over a low heat and add the garlic, onions, carrots and celery.
• Cook gently for ten minutes.
• Add the tomatoes and stock and bring to the boil.
• Simmer for an hour.
• Add the chopped courgettes, peas, beans and pasta and cook for another ten minutes or until the pasta is cooked through.
• Season with the salt and pepper.

This soup makes a warm, filling and yet not too heavy way to end a sunny summer's day - which is exactly what we've got in Dingle today (and we're all crossing our fingers that the good weather is here to stay).

I hope the sun is shining wherever you are and that you are eating the most delicious of summery food.

 


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Cauliflower soup with cheese balls: could there be a better food for winter?

I've been finding this winter difficult so far. It is hard to believe that it's been little over a month since my boyfriend and I got back from our trip to the UK in mid October feeling full of optimistic energy and plans for the future. Since then, we've had the October bank holiday, the turning back of the clocks and the real onset of winter. This has meant a lot of dark evenings and Atlantic storms here in Dingle and it's been a struggle to stay energetic and resist the urge to hibernate.

On top of all that, any attempts I have made to put the plans we hatched on holiday into motion have met with obstacles. So far this winter, it has been quite the challenge to keep a smile on my face and stay optimistic.

This is where comfort food comes in and the dish I have to share with you today is my idea of a hug in a mug. It combines the flavours of cauliflower cheese with the wholesomeness and warmth of soup - it's just what I needed to cheer me up this afternoon.

If you too need some comfort food to cheer you on this winter's day, here's what you need to do.

Cauliflower soup with cheese balls
This serves four. It's incredibly easy to make and takes all of twenty minutes.

Ingredients for the soup:
50g butter
1 large potato, peeled and cubed
1 onion, finely chopped
1 litre/2 pints vegetable stock
500g/1lb cauliflower florets 
Nutmeg
Salt and pepper

Ingredients for the cheese balls:
50ml/2 fl.oz. milk
30g flour
1 egg beaten
20g grated cheddar cheese 

• 
  
  Melt half of the butter in a large pain and fry the onion and the potato for 3 minutes.

• Add the stock and the cauliflower florets and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until the cauliflower is tender.
• While the soup is simmering, make the puffs. Preheat your oven to 220 C/430 F. Melt the milk and the remaining butter in a saucepan.
• When it has melted,add the flour all at once.  Stir the mixture until it forms into a ball that comes away from the sides of the pan. 

• Take it off the heat. Allow to cool. Then stir in the egg and cheese.
• Transfer the mixture to a piping bag with a small nozzle. Squeeze onto a baking sheet, making small mounds that are at least one inch apart. Sprinkle with some sea salt and extra grated cheese for even more yuminess.

• Bake in the oven for five to six minutes until they have risen and turned a golden colour.
• Finish the soup while they are cooking. Puree your mixture, saving a few florets to use as a garnish. Season with salt, pepper and some freshly grated nutmeg (ground is fine too) according to your own taste.  
• Ladle the soup into your soup bowls and garnish with your cheese balls, cauliflower florets and even more grated cheese.

Sit back and savour your hug in a mug.

Competing with caterpillars: my first time making nettle soup

You know that feeling you get when you put your hands in the pockets of a coat you haven't worn in ages and discover money - preferably of the larger denomination variety? Well, that's the feeling I get when I succeed in foraging for food. A feeling that I'm one up on the world and have somehow managed to get something for nothing.

I'm far from being an expert forager. To date, I've only picked wild garlic to make butters and pestos (see here for more). That's why I decided to expand my range further today by foraging for nettles.

There are many things I didn't know about nettles. I didn't know how nutritious they are. They contain vitamins A and C as well as iron, calcium and magnesium. There are people who swear by their medicinal benefits, including a friend of my mother's who used to have recurring kidney problems until she started to drink nettle tea every morning.

Nor did I realise that nettles would bring me into direct competition with my boyfriend's latest hobby - caterpillars.

Yup, you read that correctly. His latest hobby is caterpillars.
He spent his childhood chasing butterflies and moths and has retained a passion for them to this day. A few weeks ago, he decided to cultivate this passion by trying to reintroduce native species to our corner of southwest Ireland. He orders baby caterpillars online. They arrive in boxes and he feeds and looks after them until they emerge into the butterflies and moths they are destined to become. This requires feeding them the foods they would naturally eat in the wild and, in most cases, this means nettles. When he saw me heading for the nettle patch at the bottom of our garden, I was warned not to take too much. "Those nettles belong to the caterpillars," I was told.

Luckily, there were lots of nettles and I didn't need that many to make my very first nutritious, and surprisingly delicious, nettle soup.

Here's what you need to know about picking nettles:
You don't want to get stung so wear gloves and use scissors to protect yourself.
You should only pick the tops of young, small nettle plants as the older ones become bitter with age.
Be sure to wash them thoroughly before cooking to remove all dirt and insects. Otherwise, you may find yourself eating some of my boyfriend's beloved caterpillars! (Be careful while washing them too as the sting isn't entirely removed from the leaves until they are cooked.)

Here's how I made my soup:
Ingredients: 150g young nettles
50g butter
1 medium sized onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1 celery stick, chopped
1 large clove of garlic, crushed
2 medium potatoes, chopped
1 litre vegetable stock (I used Marigold vegetable bouillon in boiling water)
Salt and pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg

Go through the nettles, discarding any really tough stalks.

Melt the butter in a large pan over a medium heat and sweat the onion, carrot and celery until soft but not coloured.

Add the crushed garlic and potatoes and cook for another minute or so.

Add the stock and simmer for ten minutes to cook the potatoes.

Add the nettles, pushing them down into the liquid.

Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes until the nettles are really tender.

Season with salt and pepper.

Allow to cool and then pureé in a blender.

Pour back into the saucepan and add some freshly grated nutmeg. It's hard to say how much of this you will need as it really is a question of taste but I used slightly less than half a teaspoon.

You could serve this with a swirl of cream and some chopped chives. But I wanted my first experience of nettle soup to be simple and unadulterated.



It tasted just as I hoped it would: fresh, healthy and wholesome. I'm definitely going to make it again and I'm also planning to try nettle risotto. If I get to our nettle patch before my boyfriend and his caterpillars do, that is!

My attempt to cure the common cold: hot and sour soup

Cough. Sniff. Splutter.
It's that time of year, isn't it? When everyone you know seems to be falling victim to the dreaded lurgy: the common cold.
It happened to me on Monday. I went to bed feeling fine and woke up to a runny nose, streaming eyes, a sore throat and a headache.

There are many foods I turn to at times of illness but when a cold strikes, I want something spicy and strong. Something that clears my congested head and restores my energy levels. And most importantly, something that doesn't require too much preparation or too much time to cook. In fact, what I want is something exactly like this:

Nigella's Hot and Sour Soup


Ingredients:
1 and a half litres of chicken or vegetable stock
1 heaped tbsp tom yam paste (optional)
4 kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped (optional)
1 stick lemongrass, tender inner part only, roughly chopped
Juice of 1 lime
4 tbsp fish sauce
3 small fresh green or red chillies, finely chopped
1 tsp sugar
150g straw or button mushrooms, quartered
500g peeled raw prawns
5 small spring onions, cut into strips
Small bunch coriander, chopped

Preparation:

• Heat the stock and tom yam paste in a saucepan with the lime leaves, lemongrass, lime juice, fish sauce, chillies and sugar. Bring to the boil.
• Add mushrooms and simmer for a couple of mins.
• Add the prawns and spring onions and add for a further 2 to 3 minutes or until the prawns are cooked but still tender.
• Sprinkle with coriander and serve.

This takes less than 15 mins to make, start to finish, and it's my go-to recipe when I'm feeling congested. (In fact, I probably should pass it on to Brian Cowen. I hear he's got a "congestion problem". Ahem.)
By the way, if you want to turn this into a more substantial supper, all you have to do is add some noodles. Slurp your way back to health!