From The Inspired
Vegetarian, Louise Pickford, Stewart Tabori and Chang, 1992.
This soup attracted me by the fact that it was made with
roasted red capsicums and it had cheesy floats to go in the soup. There was
strong appeal here for me.
Two capsicums (peppers) were placed under a grill and cooked
until the skins were blackened. They were then placed in a plastic bag and left
to steam.
Meanwhile a red onion and garlic were sautéed in a pan until
soft. A potato cut into pieces and some chopped parsley and sage were now added
and sautéed for a further few minutes. About a quart of water was now added
with a chopped tomato (the recipe called for tomato juice but I decided on just
using a tomato), a splash of balsamic vinegar and a pinch (large) of cayenne
pepper. They were brought to the boil and simmered for about half an hour.
By now the capsicums were cool enough to handle so they were
peeled and the seeds discarded, though as much of the juice as possible was
retained. The capsicums and juice went into the blender with the soup and it was
pureed. Before reheating to serve a little cream was added.
For the cheese floats a mixture of about 2 tablespoons of ricotta,
1 tablespoon of grated pecorino cheese, 2 tablespoons of semolina, 1 tablespoon
of mixed chopped herbs, a small pinch of nutmeg and a squeeze of lemon juice
were mixed together with half a beaten egg. This was seasoned to taste.
When it was serving time, a pot of salted water was brought
to the boil and the float mixture was dropped in a teaspoonful at a time. I
didn’t manage to make mine into oval shapes as they were not of a texture
conducive to this. But they cooked all right despite their shape. The soup was
served in bowls with some floats.
The soup had a wonderfully rich smoky flavour from the
roasted peppers. It was a smooth rather silky texture. The disappointment was
the floats. These were doughy and somehow had missed out on the flavours of both
the cheeses and the herbs.
Taste: ✔✔✔
Ease of
cooking: ✔✔✔
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