Soups From Stancombe Research & Planning

Here are some of the recipes that we enjoyed at the Stancombe Research & Planning soup kitchen last year. It's just a short sample but they are all tried and tested at 18 Glenmore Road!

Pea, Pancetta & Mascarpone

Ingredients

Two large brown onions, diced

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 pkt of pancetta, diced

4 litres of chicken stock

1 kilo bag of frozen peas, thawed

1 tub of mascarpone

Method

Fry onions, and pancetta in a little olive oil till onion is soft and pancetta is a little browned, add garlic for a couple of minutes (don’t burn). Add stock and peas and simmer for 20 mins. Blend in batches. Return to pan and stir through mascarpone and season well with salt and pepper.

Serve with crusty bread.

Italian Sausage & Chickpea Soup

Ingredients for 4 people

Chickpeas, 1 can

Italian Sausage, 200g

Celery, 2 sticks

Carrot, 1

Onion, 1

Rosemary, 1

Sage, 1 leaf

Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 5 spoons

Peeled tomatoes, 4 (or a can)

Potatoes, 1

Bay, 1 leaf

White Wine, 2 spoons

Pecorino Cheese, 2 spoons

Salt & Pepper

Preparation

Finely chop together the celery, carrot, onion, rosemary and sage. Pan-fry the above with 4 spoons of extra virgin oil. Add the tomatoes and the diced tomato.

Drain the chickpeas and add them to the soup. Add salt, pepper and cover the vegetables with hot water. Cook for 30 minutes.

Cut the sausage into small pieces and pan fry it with a spoon of extra virgin oil with the remaining rosemary and the bay leaf. Add the wine and let it evaporate in a strong flame. Add the sausage to the soup and let it cook for 5 minutes.

Cover the top with the cheese and a handful of pepper.

 

Mushroom Soup

Ingredients to serve about 10

One brown onion

About four large shallots

Four cloves of garlic

A fair chunk of unsalted butter

A punnet of shitake mushrooms

About six large Swiss brown mushrooms

A punnet of white mushrooms

A litre and a half of chicken broth or stock

Salt

A few sprigs of thyme

A dollop of sour cream

A good drizzle of white truffle oil

Method

Slice onions, shallots and garlic finely

Fry them in the butter (in the pot you intend to use) until soft

Roughly slice all the mushrooms

Add them to the pot to fry on quite a high heat so they sweat

Turn the temp down and add the chicken stock

Add a couple of teaspoons of salt (to taste)

Pull the leaves off the sprigs of thyme and throw them in

Let it all simmer for a bit (20 minutes should do) then leave it to cool

Call Bryant in a panic and get him to bring his food processor in

Blend the soup in batches until it's super smooth

Add the sour cream (you don't need much) and mix in (actually I think I watered it down with milk first in case it didn't mix well)

Reheat gently, don't let it boil

Add the truffle oil, mix well and serve