Creamy vegetable soup

I have just gotten a gorgeous head of cauliflower from my mom which was hiding in the fridge and starring at me every time I opened the door. The garden is full of fresh, brightly colored and healthy carrots. I also found some peas home, so it was not too difficult to decide for making a soup. It's fall anyway, it feels so good to have some warm soup.

Ingredients:

• 1 smaller head of cauliflower
• 3 carrots
• 3 hands full of green peas
• 1 Tbsp. oil
• 1 litre vegetable stock (or water mixed with vegetable stock cube)
• 200ml (cooking) cream
• salt
• ground white pepper
• pinch of ground cumin
• pinch of ground nutmeg

Directions:

Cut and wash cauliflower. Preheat oil in a large sauce pan and sauté the cauliflower pieces on it. Add salt, pepper, cumin and nutmeg and pour vegetable stock over it. Let it cook for about 10 minutes. 

In the meanwhile: wash, peel and slice them in a roll cut. Add to the soup and cook until it's almost done/tender. Then add green peas (it gets cooked really quick so make sure the other vegetables are already almost completely tender, otherwise you overcook it!).  

Stir in cream and heat through. Serve hot. 

Authentic Hungarian chicken ragout soup

I felt a little sick so the last few days I spent in bed. This 'experience' motivated me to surprise myself with a soup that makes me stronger again.

Ingredients:

• carrot
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• green peas
• salt, pepper
• parsley
• chicken fillet
• chicken bouillon
• oil
• vermicelli

Directions:

Wash and cut the vegetables into pieces. Heat the oil in a large pot. Turn heat down to medium and add the chicken (chopped into cubes). Add salt and pepper. Keep stirring and sauté for a few minutes.
Add the chopped vegetables (except for peas otherwise it gets overcooked and falls apart!). Don't forget to lightly salt them as well.
Add the chicken bouillon (or water mixed with bouillon cube). Bring soup to a very slow simmer, but don't allow to come to rolling boil. Cook it this way for about 1,5-2 hours or until meat is soft. Don't cover your pot.
After about 1,5 hours add parsley and peas. In the last 5 minutes add vermicelli. If needed, adjust with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

Polish milk soup with home made noodles

The milk soup is originally a traditional Polish soup, which was - just like the spaghetti carbonara- food of poor people. My grandma used to make it for me, I loved it since I was small. There is also a sweet version of it, but the salty one rather fits my taste.

Ingredients:

• 1000 ml milk
• 200 ml water
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• salt to taste
• 1 egg
• flour

Directions:

Mix egg, salt and flour in a large bowl. The amount of flour: you must have a hard dough. Rasp the dough onto a board of salver. Strew with flour so that it doesn't stick and let it dry.

Boil water with milk, sugar and salt in a sauce pan. Add noodles and cook until it tastes cooked. Serve hot.

Cheese cream soup with garlic

If I have a late breakfast, I am never hungry with lunch. To make sure I can survive until dinner time I often cook a quick soup for myself. You can also serve it as a soup/main course with dinner of course.

Ingredients:

• 500 ml chicken bouillon
• 1 tbls. oil
• 4-5 cloves garlic
• 3 liquid cheese
• 150 ml thick cooking cream (can be omitted)

Directions:

Press the garlic with a garlic press. Heat oil in a large saucepan over low heat. Add the garlic paste and cook just until the paste begins to color, stirring constantly. Add about 100 ml chicken bouillon and when it starts boiling, add liquid cheese. Cook until it gets homogeneous and add the rest of the chicken bouillon. Boil it for another 10-15 minutes (stirring constantly). Serve hot with croûtons (=piece of sautéed or rebaked bread, often cubed and seasoned).

Authentic Hungarian sour cherry soup

Cold, spicy and a little bit sour… A real refreshing meal during the hot summer days... This is the Hungarian fruit soup, in this case with sour cherry. Sour cherry soup is enjoyed by Hungarian families as cherries come into season in late spring and early summer. Each family has its own favorite recipe.

Also known as “meggykeszőce”, which is/was a traditional country side dish served on busy summer harvest and hot summer days. 

Ingredients:

• 600 g pitted sour cherries (Do not use canned)
• 3-4 tsp. granulated sugar
• 1 package of vanilla sugar
• water (ca. 1 liter)
• 2 sticks of cinnamon
• 5-6 pcs. clove
• pinch nutmeg
• 1 package of cooking cream (ca. 200 ml)
• 1-2 tsp. food binder (eg. Knorr)

Directions:

Mix pitted sour cherries with granulated and vanilla sugar in a large sauce pan and bring it to heat. Boil it for about 5 minutes, and then add water, cinnamon sticks, cloves and nutmeg. Put cloves in a spice/herb ball so that it is easier to remove from the soup.

Cook the soup for 10-15 minutes, then taste. If it is spicy enough, remove cloves and cinnamon sticks (or remove spice/herb ball).

I don’t like using flour as thickening, so I just added cooking cream and some food binder.

After adding both, boil the soup for another 5-10 until it thickens.

Cover the soup and let cool. Keep cover on while it chills in refrigerator and it will not form a thick skin. Serve very cold.