Tag Archives: Soup

Heston Blumenthal’s Pumpkin Soup


PUMPKIN SOUP

While I would like to say this is a perfect dish with winter approaching, Perth has actually just had a 30° day with more warm days to come over the Easter Long Weekend. But if you are a big lover of pumpkin soup like me then you can enjoy this dish at any time. There are two simple cooking techniques that are used which add so much flavour and to be honest there is only a handful of ingredients used so this dish is very easy to make.

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INGREDIENTS

– 850g Pumpkin Flesh

– Olive Oil

– 200g Unsalted Butter

– 3 Onions, peeled and finely sliced

– 400g Fresh Milk

– 4 Sprigs of Rosemary

– Pinch of Cayenne Pepper

– 40g Sesame Oil (or to taste)

– 40g Balsamic Vinegar (or to taste)

– Salt

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METHOD

Peel and de-seed the pumpkin (I used three different pumpkins in my recipe as it adds to the flavour). You want to cut half into cubes, drizzle with olive oil and place into an oven that has been pre-heated (180°) and cook for approximately 40 minutes or until soft and caramelised. The other half cut finely with a mandolin or with a sharp knife and set aside.

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Next you want to melt the butter in a large pot and sweat the onions with the pumpkin slices for ten minutes or until the onions go translucent.

 In the meantime, in a smaller pot heat the milk until it is almost simmering, turn off the heat, add the rosemary and allow to infuse for 20 minutes. Strain the liquid and discard the rosemary. Add the infused milk, cold tap water and the roasted pumpkin. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for ten minutes or until the pumpkin slices go soft.

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When the pumpkin goes soft, remove from the heat and liquidize with a hand blender. The recipe says pass through a fine sieve but I don’t bother as all it does is make the soup thinner.

 Season with cayenne, sesame oil, balsamic vinegar and salt.

 Serve with some crusty bread and enjoy!

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Full credit to Heston Blumenthal’s “Heston Blumenthal at Home”

Link below with the full recipe from BBC

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015yt3v/features/pumpkin-soup

Potage de Tomate Reconstruit


RECONSTRUCTED TOMATO SOUP

So, the next step in my molecular journey is reconstructed tomato soup, tomato spaghetti or gelification. If you explore their website (link below) it takes you to some pretty amazing and very easy and very difficult videos on how to make molecular food. I’m starting out easy and eventually when I have the equipment (which for me is only 3 items away) I will start to take on the more difficult and daring recipes, maybe EVEN some requests if people have any.

Tomato Soup 2

Tomato soup 1

INGREDIENTS

– 1 1/2 Cup of Water

– Half a Leek

– 1 Carrot

– 6 Cherry Tomatoes

– 1 Tbsp Each of Fresh Basil, Chives and Parsley

– 1 Clove of Garlic

– 1 Cube of Chicken Stock (Vegetable Stock is Fine)

– 2 Tbsp Tomato Paste

– Salt and Pepper to Taste

– 2g Agar-Agar (Specialty Ingredient)

– 1 Syringe and Clear Tube

METHOD

Combine the water, leek, carrot, tomatoes, herbs, garlic, stock, tomato paste, salt and pepper into a small saucepan, stir, bring to a boil and simmer on low heat for twenty minutes. Once complete, pour the contents into a blender and blitz until it resembles a soup like consistency.

Cover the saucepan with cheesecloth, pour the contents in from the blender and strain as much as liquid out as you can (This takes time!). Once you have the strained liquid, pour in the agar-agar and whilst stirring, bring back to the boil. Once Boiled, pour into a heat proof bowl and prepare an ice bath in another bowl.

Once you have the two ready, you will need to suck the soup into the syringe. Connect the clear tube (all shown in the video in the link below) and plunge, filling the tube full of soup. Once full, submerge into the ice bath for three minutes. place tube back onto syringe full of air and plunge the syringe pushing the now spaghetti like soup onto a clean plate. Arrange however you like and garnish with a cherry tomato, shaves of parmesan cheese and a few drops of quality olive oil.

Full credit to the guys at MOLECULE-R Flavors on the Web and Youtube.

Link to video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDSvaCkGivE

Specialty ingredient:

Agar-Agar can be obtained at most supermarkets in the Oriental section, at any Oriental Deli or the website below

http://www.redspooncompany.com/index.php/ingredients/modernist-cuisine.html