Autumn Apple Soup
A sudden fancy for soup today had me rummaging about in the kitchen to see what I could find. The answer was: some veg, apples and sage. Hmmm…
So Autumn Apple Soup was born.
- Half a large swede
- Couple of medium white spuds
- Two eating apples gone a bit woolly
- Small bunch of fresh sage
- White wine vinegar
Sauté the lot in a large cast iron pan in olive oil.
Meanwhile make a good veg stock out of all the trimmings and a panful of water, a bay leaf or two, with salt and pepper. Leave simmering gently.
Add a generous glug-glug of white vinegar (wine as that’s all I had, would have used cider vinegar if I’d got any!)
Simmer.
Pour over as much stock as will fit in the pan, and simmer for as many hours as you can spare - or until everything’s tender if you prefer, but it wants a fair while because of the vinegar content; you need to get rid of any raw edge. :o)
Blend with a hand blender, and season if necessary (but with luck you got the stock right!)
Meanwhile crisp fry some sage leaves in vegetable oil and butter.
Add a knob of butter to the soup and stir in.
Serve bowl of soup with a few crispy sage leaves on top.
What I was aiming for, and achieved for my taste, was that crisp Autumnal taste with the earthy root veg as the backdrop and a zingy sharp top note - think brisk walk on a crisp Autumn morning.
If you try it, let me know how you get on!
