You think you know about soup until you read Magic Soup – a collection of soup based recipes by Nicole Pisani and Kate Adams that was originally devised as an ebook by Adams as part of her blog The Flat Tummy Club. Pisani is a chef who has worked at Nopi and The Modern Pantry and so knows more than a thing or too about deeply aromatic and soulful flavours, and that’s more than evident in this gorgeously illustrated new book. There are stacks of very healthy soups here – virtuous restorative broths; clean, cleansing recipes such as the beautiful looking Celery Soup with Beetroot Cured Salmon and light vegetable based soups that are perfect for a GOOP-style cleanse. But the revelation in this book is how you can make soup really transporting – and a meal in itself. A tart Beetroot and Burrata soup or a rich Sumac Roasted Sweet Potato are so simple to make – but totally moreish. There are ‘feast’ soups too such as a Bay Leaf Broth with Venison Meatballs or a fab-sounding Clam & Ravioli soup that we will definitely be trying once the weather warms up. This is the kind of book you could eat from for weeks at a stretch – especially at this time of year when there is nothing quite as comforting as a bowl of steaming soup and a hunk of the most delicious bread.
Below is one recipe from the book – a delicious, deconstructed French Onion soup.
FRENCH ONION SOUP
SERVES 4
80g unsalted butter
800g small white onions, thinly sliced
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tbsp spelt or plain flour
100ml sake
1 litre beef stock
3 large sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
wedges of sourdough bread, to serve
Traditionally, French onion soup is served with melted Gruyère croutons. For a change, we sieve the soup and serve it as a broth with a wedge of fresh sourdough bread and butter. We’ve also gone for a little sake to cut through the sweet onions.
Melt the butter in a large, heavy-based saucepan over a low heat and add the onions. Soften very slowly for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally, until golden in colour and beginning to caramelise.
Add half the sugar to help the onions caramelise further for another 10 minutes or so. You can increase the heat a little at this stage.
Stir in the flour and half the sake, scraping any bits off the bottom of the pan. Stir in the rest of the sake and the beef stock. Tie the thyme and bay leaves together with string and add them to the pan. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 1 hour. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
Strain the onion broth and set aside the onions. Heat a small frying pan, add the onions and the remaining sugar and cook for 10–15 minutes until they form a chutney-like consistency. Warm the onion broth and serve with sourdough bread and the onions on the side.
