Catherine Phipps - The Little Citrus Cookbook

Managing Director: Sarah Lavelle

Assistant Editor: Sofie Shearman

Designer: Emily Lapworth

Photographer: Mowie Kay

Food stylist: Marina Filippelli

Prop Stylist: Iris Bromet

Copy Editor: Sally Somers

Head of Production: Stephen Lang

Senior Production Controller: Sabeena Atchia

First published in 2023 by Quadrille, an imprint of Hardie Grant Publishing

Quadrille

5254 Southwark Street

London SE1 1UN

quadrille.com

Text Catherine Phipps 2023

Photography Mowie Kay 2017

Design and layout Quadrille 2023

Text is extracted and updated from Citrus by Catherine Phipps.

The rights of the author have been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of the book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

Cataloguing in Publication Data: a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

eISBN: 978 1 83783 086 2

This has quite a lot of elements to it and ends up being a bit of an assembly job towards the end. Its not a true tortilla soup (I dont like soggy tortillas, much better to have them as a crisp garnish), more of a cross between that and sopa de lima. You can play around with the garnishes as much as you want. Crumbled feta which is really a salty version of the Latin American queso fresco would work instead of a hard cheese, as would a traditional guacamole in place of the avocado.

Serves 4

For the chicken and marinade

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, butterflied

Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime

1 tsp each of chipotle chilli powder, garlic powder and dried oregano

tsp smoked salt

1 tbsp olive oil

For the soup

2 tbsp olive oil

1 red onion, finely diced

2 red (bell) peppers, finely diced

2 celery sticks, finely diced

500g/1lb 2oz very ripe tomatoes

1 head of garlic, broken into cloves

1 chipotle chilli, whole but deseeded

3 tbsp finely chopped coriander (cilantro) stems (save leaves for garnish)

A large sprig of thyme

1 litre/generous 4 cups chicken stock

200g/generous 1 cup cooked black beans (optional)

For the garnishes

1 avocado

Juice of 1 lime

23 tbsp olive oil

23 corn tortillas, cut into triangles

100ml/7 tbsp soured cream

A few coriander (cilantro) leaves

Grated hard cheese, such as Manchego, Gruyre or Cheddar (or see )

Put the chicken breasts in a bowl. Mix together the marinade ingredients and pour this over the chicken. Leave to marinate for 1 hour. Heat a griddle pan until it is too hot to hold your hand over. Griddle the chicken for 34 minutes on each side until just cooked through. Set aside.

Heat the oil for the soup in a large flameproof casserole or saucepan. Add the onion, red (bell) peppers and celery. Saut on a low heat until translucent and starting to caramelize lightly. This will take at least 1015 minutes. Meanwhile, put the tomatoes, unpeeled garlic cloves and chilli in a heavy-based frying pan and dry roast for a similar amount of time until the tomatoes are blackening. If the chilli and garlic look done before the tomatoes, fish them out and put to one side. Peel the garlic cloves and put in a food processor with the unpeeled tomatoes and chilli. Blitz until smooth.

Add the coriander (cilantro) stems and thyme sprig to the onion pan and cook for a couple of minutes. Pour in the tomato mixture and simmer for 5 minutes until starting to reduce. Add the chicken stock and continue to simmer for around 1520 minutes.

For the garnishes, dice the avocado and toss in the lime juice. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the tortilla triangles until crisp and golden brown. Shred the chicken and add it to the soup along with the black beans, if using. Remove the thyme sprig and serve the soup garnished with the tortillas, avocado, soured cream, coriander (cilantro) leaves and cheese.

This soup started out as a collection of leftovers in my refrigerator the first time I made it, the cooked chicken had a subtle aroma of bergamot. Citrus delicately pervades the soup, but the harissa-style dressing really adds another dimension to the flavour. Its a bit like adding pistou to minestrone.

Serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

2 leeks, cut into thin rounds

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon or lime

A bunch of chard, leaves only, shredded

50g/1oz yellow beans, halved

50g/1oz runner beans, halved

1 litre/generous 4 cups well-flavoured chicken stock

200g/7oz cooked giant couscous (about 60g/2oz uncooked weight)

200g/7oz cooked chicken, torn into chunks

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

A few shavings of Parmesan, to serve (optional)

For the harissa dressing

25g/1 cups fresh parsley leaves

10g/ cup fresh mint leaves

10g/ cup fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves

tsp ground cardamom

tsp ground fennel seed

tsp ground coriander

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 green chilli (optional)

1 tbsp

50ml/3 tbsp olive oil

Juice of lemon or 1 lime

A few fresh lemon verbena leaves (optional)

Heat the olive oil and butter in a large saucepan or flameproof casserole. When the butter has melted, add the leeks with a splash of water and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook very gently for 10 minutes, checking every so often, until tender and buttery. Add the garlic and cook for a further couple of minutes, trying not to stir too much.

Add the zest, chard leaves and beans, then pour over the stock. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for a few minutes until the beans are tender, then add the couscous and chicken. Continue to simmer just to warm through.

While the soup is simmering, make the harissa dressing. Simply put everything in a food processor and blitz until you have a fresh-looking green paste you may have to thin with a little water if you are finding it recalcitrant. Taste for seasoning and add salt if necessary.

Serve the soup with spoonfuls of the dressing stirred in at the last minute, with a few shavings of Parmesan, if you like.

The idea for these comes from one of my favourite cookbooks, The Zuni Caf Cookbook by the late Judy Rodgers. They are so unexpectedly moreish that there is a fine argument for eating them on their own, with just a sprinkle of salt do try them that way at least once. But there are other things that do enhance the flavour. Lemon is good with a fine sprinkling of sumac or fennel pollen, lime loves a dash of smoked chilli or cayenne, whilst orange I like with herbes de Provence or zaatar.

I dont always bother with an accompaniment for these, but when I do, I make this yogurt dip. You can replace the fennel with any of the flavour suggestions mentioned above, or indeed anything else you fancy.

Serves 4

23 citrus fruits (a variety is good)

100ml/7 tbsp buttermilk

75g/generous cup plain (all-purpose) flour