Winter is here! And when it starts to get cold, you want comfort food… something tasty, wholesome and easy to prepare. LIANA REINERS believes soup is just the thing.
I probably shouldn’t say it out loud, but I kind of enjoyed the initial hard lockdown period. All three the men in my life were at home, I could walk around in my pajamas all day and I didn’t need to leave the house. Yes, I realise it was a traumatic and uncertain time and I myself did not have an income for a few months. But allow me to explain: I don’t like winter. When the temperature starts to drop, I get cranky. I want to wrap myself in warm clothes, put on my slippers and hide from the world. The problem is that I tend to want to eat more than usual too. Comfort food. I’m like a Farmer Brown chicken… I look so good because I eat so good! And what could be better than a hot bowl of soup on a cold winter’s evening?
Old-fashioned bean soup
Ingredients
500ml dry beans (soak overnight in water)
1 chopped onion
10ml oil
125g diced bacon
3 potatoes cut into eighths
5ml pepper
1 block beef stock dissolved in a litre of boiling water
2ml turmeric
250ml cream or milk
10ml vinegar or lemon juice
Method
Place the beans in a suitable pot and cover with water. Boil until soft. Fry the onions in butter until translucent. Add the bacon and fry until crispy. Mix the onions and bacon with the beans. Add all the ingredients except for the cream/milk. Boil until the potatoes are soft. Mash the beans and potatoes or puree in a food processor. Stir in the cream/milk. Add the vinegar/lemon juice and mix well.
Butternut soup
Ingredients
1.5kg diced butternut
2 cubes of chicken or vegetable stock
500ml cream
1 potato, thinly sliced
1 chopped onion
5ml nutmeg
7.5ml curry powder
60ml sugar
500ml water
60g butter
80ml cake flour
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Place the stock cubes, water, butternut, potato, onion, curry powder, nutmeg and sugar in a large pot and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let simmer until the vegetables are soft. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Sprinkle in the cake flour and stir until completely absorbed. Add the cream and stir until thick and smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Puree the butternut, potato and onion mixture in a food processor. Place back in the pot and add the cream sauce. Mix well.
Biltong soup
Ingredients
250g finely carved biltong
60g biltong powder
1 punnet chopped mushrooms
125g butter
250ml cake flour
1 cube beef stock dissolved in 1.5 litres of boiling water
10ml black pepper
250ml grated cheddar cheese
500ml milk
125ml cream
Salt to taste
Method
Fry the mushrooms in the butter for seven minutes. Add the stock. Mix the cake flour, milk and cream in a separate bowl. Add to the mushrooms and stir over medium heat until the mixture is cooked through. Add the cheese, biltong, pepper and salt. Mix through and serve. Garnish with a few pieces of biltong and chopped parsley.