Norma Miller - Soups: Simple and Easy Recipes for Soup-making Machines

SOUPS

SIMPLE AND EASY RECIPES FOR SOUP-MAKING MACHINES

Other Cookery Titles in Right Way

The Halogen Oven Cookbook*

Waffles, Crpes and Pancakes*

The Food Mixer Cookbook*

Slow Cooking Properly Explained

Slow Cooking: Best New Recipes

Steaming

Fresh Bread in the Morning from Your Bread Machine

Ice Cream Made Easy

*Also by Norma Miller

Norma Miller

Constable & Robinson Ltd

5556 Russell Square

London WC1B 4HP

www.constablerobinson.com

First published by Right Way,
an imprint of Constable & Robinson, 2012

Copyright Norma Miller, 2012

The right of Norma Miller to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in
Publication Data is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-0-7160-2319-7
eISBN: 978-0-7160-2329-6

Typeset by TW Typesetting, Plymouth, Devon

Printed and bound in the EU

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CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to the following for loan of equipment:

Cuisinart

www.cuisinart.co.uk

Customer Care 0870 240 6902

Waring

www.waringproducts.co.uk

Customer Care 0870 060 4260

INTRODUCTION

Soups to savour, soups to stimulate, soups to satisfy, soups in endless variety. With your own soup maker the world of soup opens up like youve never known it before. All kinds of textures and flavours, lots of healthy and tasty ingredients, and always the possibility of something new, something different, something exciting.

There are two types of appliance, a blender-style soup maker and a jug-style soup maker. These are both described in the following pages, and the recipes are suitable and adapted for both types of machine. Whichever type of soup maker you use, all the recipes in this book should be easy and fun to make. Simplicity is the watchword, and cooking skills and experience can be at a minimum.

There are traditional favourites, such as mulligatawny soup, creamy tomato and basil soup, pea and ham soup and corn chowder; there are contemporary and innovative recipes, including prawn and saffron soup with noodles, Thai chicken and red chilli soup, and chilled cherry and almond soup; and then there are hints and tips for improvising on the recipes with your own favourite flavour combinations.

There is something immensely enjoyable about sitting down to a bowl of delicious, home-made soup, with its intense or subtle flavours perfectly matched to your mood and situation. To bring this pleasure about so much more easily, maintain a good stock of spices and store-cupboard essentials, be sure to have top-quality fresh ingredients to hand, and always keep your soup maker at the ready.

The whole process of cooking in a soup maker can be speedier than when making soup conventionally in a pan on the hob. Before you begin to cook, its a good idea to gather together and prepare all the ingredients you will need.

For best results cut ingredients into thin slices or 2.5 cm/1 inch dice.

Never overfill the soup maker; the maximum capacity for the total volume of ingredients is marked on the machine and is to be found in the instruction booklet which comes with the appliance.

The recipes are a guide; machines vary, and vegetables and fruits are never standard in shape and size.

Throughout the book Ive referred to the blender-style soup maker as having a glass jar in which the ingredients are put, and the jug-style soup maker as having a metal jug in which the ingredients are put.

When in use, the surfaces of the machine will become very hot.

To prevent damage to the motor it is important to use the blend function continuously only for the time mentioned in the handbook for your particular machine. It may be as little as one minute for one particular model or three minutes for another. Allow the machine to cool before using the blend function again.

The recipes take into account the two types of machines with the method instructions for the blender-style soup maker first and the method for the jug-style soup maker at the end of the recipe.

Soup is only as good as the quality of the ingredients, especially the stock. Use the best quality available that is full of flavour.

It is a portable, free-standing electric appliance which cooks and blends ingredients to make a soup the consistency of your choice, chunky or smooth. Conveniently, it just needs to be plugged into an earthed mains power socket.

There are two types of machines available on the market a blender-style soup maker and a jug-style soup maker. Each type of machine works slightly differently.

This type of soup maker looks rather like a conventional blender, but is heavier. These machines are more expensive, but they do have extra features and functions which give great flexibility. With no pre-programmed settings to cook and blend the raw ingredients you are in control of the whole process, whether browning onions, deciding how long you simmer the soup for, or adding extra ingredients part way through. Even noodles can be added later in the process to heat through because they wont be blended to a pulp.

Fig. 1. Blender-style soup maker

This soup maker consists of a glass jar section which is a complete unit: the glass jar; a handle, a non-stick cooking plate and a collar with blades. The assembly sits on the powerful motor base. The lid has a removable measuring cup which must be in place when the soup is cooking and blending. Simple to use controls are on the base motor unit. An on/off power button puts the machine in stand-by mode. The blending control dial lets you choose between four settings from low to high speed as well as a pulse setting, so there is plenty of control over how chunky or smooth the soup can be. For safety, the blending control only works when the cooking or heating process has completed. To prevent damage to the motor it is important to use the blend function continuously only for the time mentioned in the handbook for your particular machine. It may be as little as one minute for one particular model or three minutes for another. Allow the machine to cool before using the blend function again. The stir button is useful as it can be used at any time, whilst onions are frying or just to mix the ingredients together when they all go into the glass jar. The timer control can be adjusted from one to thirty minutes. Heat or temperature controls will start the cooking cycle. Select from either high, low or simmer. The temperature can be changed at any time during the heating or cooking cycle.

This machine can be used as a traditional blender to mix cold ingredients and to crush ice. A great function of this machine, especially for soup making, is that ingredients such as onions and garlic can be browned, fried or sauted in a little oil and butter (poured or dropped onto the cooking plate rather than the blades) in the base of the machine adding great flavour. The glass jar lets you see the food cooking, which is an advantage. It is normal for steam to escape around the measuring cup, so handle with care. Soups bubble up during cooking, so the maximum fill level for blending hot ingredients is less than for blending cold ingredients, and both are marked on the side of the glass jar.