Soupy soup

I made a soup last week that was mainly roast beetroot. It was unfortunately quite a violent shade of magenta and I hadn't processed it enough. This time I went for simplicity. Leek and potato. Nothing else.

Leek and Potato Soup

Finely slice 2 and a half leeks. Peel and chop 2 large potatoes into chunks of about 1 - 2cm. Fry them in a fairly large saucepan over a medium heat in some olive oil or butter for about 5 minutes. Chop a couple of sticks of celery in half and add to the saucepan. The celery is optional - I only used it as it is a good stock vegetable and I had some that needed using up. Pour in 1 pint of chicken or vegetable stock (for want of anything else I used a chicken stock cube), cover and bring to the boil. Cook for about half an hour, or until the potato is soft. Remove the celery. Either leave to cool a little and process in a food processor / liquidiser or you can get straight in there with a hand held blender. Process until smooth. If you want you could add some cream.

If I hadn't been making chutney as well I would have made some cheese scones to go with it. They only take 20 minutes from weighing the flour to taking them out of the oven.

As for the chutney, I used plums and a little onion and apricot. It needs to keep for at least a few weeks before tasting so I have no idea if it's any good. I didn't weigh anything out and I checked a couple of other recipes to make sure the proportions were about right.

Spicy Plum Chutney

8 quite large dark purple plums.
Handful of dried apricots (left over from the cake - I would have used more if I had them)
2 medium onions
About 120g brown sugar
About 175ml cider vinegar
Ground ginger - about a teaspoon
1/2 teaspoon chilli - to taste really.
Black pepper


Chop the fruit and onion very finely and put in a large, heavy based saucepan along with all the other ingredients. Bring to the boil, uncovered, and simmer for 1 -2 hours till thick. Bottle in sterilized jars whilst still warm and store for a couple of months.

New favourite cake

8 0z mixture of dates, dried apricots, dried figs - chopped
1teaspoon bicarb of soda
pinch of salt
1/2 pint hot water
10 oz wholemeal self raising flour
4 oz softened butter
2 oz chopped walnuts
1 piece preserved stem ginger - chopped
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
4 oz demerara (or soft brown) sugar
1 egg beaten

• Put dried fruit into a large bowl with the hot water, bicarb of soda, and salt. Leave to cool whilst you get on with the rest.
• Tip flour into another bowl and rub in the butter.
• Stir in the ginger, sugar and walnuts.
• Add dry ingredients to the water and fruit.
• Beat in egg.
• Pour into a lined 1kg loaf tin and bake at gas mark 4 (180 deg C) for 1 - 1.25 hours.

As with all fruit cakes it will keep for ages and ages if you keep it wrapped up.