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(Units: 100 g = 3 1/2 oz; 1 dl = 3 1/2 fl oz = 2/5 cup; 180 oC = 350
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oF; 200 oC = 400 oF; 230 oC = 450 oF; 250 oC = 475 oF; 2.5 cm = 1
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inch)
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The Story, Birgid Allen:
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|
"(...) This is really a late spring soup, for that time when nothing
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yet seems to be properly in season and when cold winds blight the
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beginning of summer and give one unseasonable longings for warm,
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comforting soups.
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This is the time to forget asparagus and turn back to root
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vegetables, such as the new, sharp-tasting young turnips in their
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delicately purple-flushed white skins. These go well with the winter
|
and spring perennial, the bulbous Florentine fennel with its faintly
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aniseed-like taste.
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The rich, lemony stock, the sharp sorrel and garlicky tomato provide
|
a good background for the pungency of the young turnips and fennel.
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It is worth boiling a chicken with a cut lemon inside it to produce
|
the right rich, strong broth to pull this soup together, remembering
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that it is easily a meal in itself. (...)"
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The Recipe
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The day before making this soup, place a cut-up lemon inside your
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chicken and boil for just over 1 hour (for a 1.35 kg/3 pounder),
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adding a peeled onion and carrot, black peppercorns and sea salt to
|
the water. Strain off the broth and refrigerate it overnight.
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Soak the split peas either overnight or for several hours, then boil
|
them in plenty of unsalted water for 30 minutes to 1 hour until they
|
are soft. The first 10 minutes of boiling should always be fast and
|
uncovered; the rest may be a steady simmer with the lid on.
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Meanwhile, peel the onions and turnips, and scrape the carrots and
|
fennel; chop them all into small dice and soften them for 15 minutes
|
in olive oil in a heavy, covered pan.
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|
Crush the garlic in a mortar with a little sea salt and add it to the
|
vegetables with the tomatoes and the thyme or marjoram, raising the
|
heat a little and cooking uncovered for 5-20 minutes while breaking
|
up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon.
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Then add the drained split peas, the skimmed stock and the washed and
|
torn-up sorrel leaves. (Spinach will do, but it will not contribute
|
such an interestingly acidic flavour.)
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Bring to the boil, simmer for 30 minutes, cool and serve. Add more
|
salt ift he split peas seem to demand it, but do not liquidize the
|
soup unless you want their taste to be dominant.
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From: Birgid Allen, The Soup Book, M Papermac, 1993, ISBN
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0-333-58224-1, p.133
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Typed for you by Rene Gagnaux @ 2:301/212.19
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