Vegetarian Scotch Broth

From Gourmet Cooking without Meat, Paul Southey, Marshall Cavendish, 1980.

This book used to be a constant for me but has gradually dropped out of my cooking repertoire. I thought I might like to revisit it. In its time it was a very useful book because there were not a many vegetarian cookery books available. It is quite different now and cooking styles and cuisines have changed remarkably. However, the old recipes are still valid and it’s possible to vary them with some of the more recent variations.

I’ll always go for a soup when I’m flipping through pages so thought I’d have a look again at Scotch broth.

One of the most noticeable differences in this older recipe from more recent ones is the amount of time given to cooking the soup. It was actually cooked for 1½ hours, a time which I cut back considerably.

It was an easy cook. Onions and carrots were fried for a little while. Then all the remaining ingredients (turnips, parsnips, barley, water, thyme, bay leaves and seasonings) were added except for the leek. These were supposed to cook for an hour. I only gave it about 20 minutes, sufficient for the barley to be almost done.  The sliced leek was then added and cooked for another 30 minutes; 20 for me.

The result was a thick rather heavy soup. With ‘broth’ in its name I expected a lighter more watery dish. It was, however, a pleasant enough soup, and substantial enough to be satisfying.

 Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔