Simple Supper - Ham and Potato Soup

I thought that I would start a series of simple suppers for those days when you really don't know what to cooka nd it's a question of looking in the fridge and making quick decisions. However, like all quick decisions, there has to be some sort of planning beforehand. To this end, when you boil a piece of ham, keep the stock. It will keep for a few days in  the fridge or ages in the freezer.

This recipe is not precise, a bit like Nigel Slater's recipes at the moment, so make more or less according to how many people you are feeding and how much stock you have. I had about a pint of stock left in the fridge. So this made enough for 2.

Simply take

ham stock (there was onion and celery in the stock already)

1 carrot, chopped

about 8 small new potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite size pieces.

a fistful of ham chopped into bite size cubes

about 50g of frozen peas

Add the carrots to the stock and bring it to the boil. When the carrots and potatoes are cooked throw in the chopped ham and the peas. Simmer until the peas are cooked. Add about a teacup of milk and adjust seasoning. Enjoy.

Not only did i enjoy this soup, but it also gave me the opportunity to play around with photoshop too. The lighter edges are the result of this rather than light leekage in the camera.

Annolini in Brodo

In our house, as in many Italian houses we will be having a pasta course of annolini in brodo. They are small pasta parcels that are filled with a fantastic mixture of stracotto and cheese which is an intense and wonderful flavour.

These have been a tradition for as long as I can remember. As a matter of fact a Christmas meal would not be the same without them.
I am not going to pretend that they are not labour intensive as they are, but like the tortelli they can be made in advance and stored in the freezer until needed.


First of all you will need to make the stracotto which translates as over cooked or extra cooked.
Start off with a good size piece of brisket. No need to worry if you have too much as you can eat the extras and enjoy every mouthful. You will need at least 1 kilogramme.

1 large onion.
2 or 3 cloves of garlic. It all depends on how big they are. they will cook for ages and the taste will mellow while they cook so don't skimp.
1 carrot.
1 stalk of celery.
1 Knorr stock cube. I bring mine back from Italy and I use gusto classico. It has a good flavour and does not fight with the flavour of the meat.
250g butter. Yes, that much.
A couple of glasses of white wine.


What you will need to do:
Fry the meat in a little butter, add the onions and continue to fry gently until the mixture is brown.

Add the carrot which you have peeled and cut in half along with the the halved celery.

Pour over the wine and add the garlic and stock cube.

Simmer gently and I do mean gently for about 5 hours. If you have the oven on low then it will sit quite happily in a very low onen for the same time.
It will be ready when it falls apart.


To make the filling you will need these extra ingredients.
Parmesan cheese Use as much as you think that you need. I generally tase mine and see. the cheese also tends to dry the filling so if you think that your filling is too wet add more cheese.
2 to 3 eggs
Fresh breadcrumbs

Make the pasta in the same way that I described in the Tortelli section and
These will fill us so much that the turkey course that follows will be picked at rather than devoured.

Minestrone

Once the colder weather starts the first thing that I want to appear on my plate is a dish of warm minestrone. If I am really truthful I don't even have to wait for the cold weather as this is one of my favourite soups, ney foods. It's the perfect comfort food and has the benefit of several things: it's healthy, filling and it's easy to make. What more can you ask for.

Once you have the basic ingredients it will also let you throw in a few random vegetables without having a major strop. So for the basics. There is no need to sweat the vegetables as you will be cooking this soup slowly and the flavours will have time to develop. Simply put a pan of cold water on the hob and add to it as you go along. The amount of water varies according to the number of people that you cook for. Let's say about 2pts for 4 people. 

To this add 1 medium onion, 

2 sticks of celery 

1 bay leaf 

1 carrot 

1 small potato approx 120g. 

Don't get too precious as it can be slightly bigger or smaller. 

1 large vine ripened tomato or failing this about 1/3rd of a tin of tomatoes. 

A few stalks of flat leaf parsley I don't even bother to chop the veg up finely. 

You will soon see why. 

 Bring slowly to the boil and allow to simmer gently for about 1 hour. This is no hardship as there will be a lovely smell in the kitchen. Now use a potato masher and give the veg in the pan a bit of a bash. Don't make them too fine as you still want to identify them. They should just be broken up. 

You can now add any variations that you have. I like to add a handful each of: cauliflower florets which have been cut small peas, frozen are fine but fresh are better finely chopped dark cabbage precooked borlotti beans. 

Do not add swede, parsnips or turnips as they will not make a good soup. 

 Allow the soup to simmer until these vegetables are cooked and then season to taste with salt and pepper and a stock cube if you have one. Add a small handful of small pasta per person and cook until soft. Serve with a drizzling of extra virgin olive oil and lots of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!