Soup season is here! One thing I love about making soup is that you can experiment all you want, you have very few chances to come out with something really bad . Well, my last experiment was this leek and potato soup flavored with blue cheese and I must say it did taste good! It’s a very easy to make recipe that doesn’t need much work on your part. You just heat the leek and potatoes with water and mix everything together… How simple is that?! If  blue cheese’s taste is too strong for you, replace it with cream cheese.

Preparation time: 10 mn – Cooking time: 40 mn

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

1 leek
2 large potatoes
1 onion
5 cups (120 cl) of water
0.7 oz (20g) of blue cheese (a little more if you want some left for decoration)
3 tablespoons of whipping cream
Salt

Instructions

1/ Peel and wash potatoes.

2/ Peel leek by taking off the outside leaves and cutting off both the spoiled end on the green side and the roots on the white side. Wash thoroughly to take off soil that can be left inside.

3/ Peel onion and take off roots on the bottom end.

4/ Heat water in a casserole over medium heat.

5/ Slice leek, cut potatoes into 4 pieces and pour into the water along with the entire onion. Add salt and leave covered for 40 minutes.

6/ Mix together whipping cream and blue cheese.

7/ Liquidize soup and combine it with blue cheese cream. You can add half first, try it and decide how much more blue cheese flavor you wish to add. Season with salt if needed.

I’m sure you all know Gazpacho, but have you ever tried Salmorejo? It’s from Spanish Andalusia as well, you eat it cold too but it has a thicker texture which makes it a cream rather than a liquid soup. You can eat it as a starter or as an appetizer. In Spain, people usually dip it with bread but it’s also pretty good with crude veggies (pepper, cucumber, Portobello mushrooms, zucchini etc.). Vegetarians can skip this part, the others will top it with a hard boiled egg and some cured ham.

Preparation time: 10 mn

Ingredients (for 6 servings)

Salmorejo

2.2 lbs (1 kg) ripe tomatoes
7 oz (200 g) of bread from the previous day
1 cup (250 ml) of olive oil (click here to buy online)
1 garlic clove
2 tablespoons of vinegar
Salt

Topping

1 egg
3 slices of cured ham

Instructions

1/ Heat tomatoes in a pan filled with water until their skin gets easy to take away. Let them cool down a little off the water.

2/ Cut bread into pieces.

3/ Peel tomatoes and garlic clove.

4/ Mix bread, tomatoes, garlic, vinegar and olive oil in a blender.

5/ Season with salt and keep in the fridge.

6/ Before serving, get water to a boil in a small pan. Add egg thoroughly with a tablespoon and leave in boiling water for 9 minutes.

7/ Rinse egg with cold water, let it cool a little and shell.

8/ Dice cured ham and egg.

9/ Serve salmorejo in individual dishes or in a salad bowl for dipping and sharing. Top with egg, ham and a dash of olive oil.

Enjoy

Whether it’s rum or wine, a sweet alcohol always enhances good fruits flavors… Here is a strawberry and peach salad recipe made with dessert wine. You can use any white wine as long as it’s sweet. You can recognize them easily thanks to their stronger yellow color. Some of the most famous French dessert wines are Montbazillac and Sauterne but, of course you can use a cheaper wine… I used a 3 euros one Just add more sugar if it doesn’t taste good enough. Good wine makes great dishes so don’t hesitate to use it if you have one at hand!

The salad on the picture is topped with pine kernels but I also love making this same recipe replacing them with mashed almonds. Use whichever sounds better to you…

Preparation time: 15 mn

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

3 peaches
3 nectarines
1.1 lbs (500 g) of strawberries
1 glass of white wine (sweet)
1/4 cup (50 g) of sugar
1 tablespoon of vanilla sugar
4 mint leaves
A handful of pine kernels or almonds
1 3/4 cup (450 ml) of water

Instructions

1/ Get wine, sugar, vanilla sugar and water to a boil. Let it boil smoothly until the strong alcohol smell is gone. Set aside.

2/ Clean nectarines and peaches, cut them in half, take bone off and slice them.

3/ Clean strawberries, slice their top off and cut them in half (cut pieces in half again if your strawberries are big).

4/ Pour fruits into the syrup so they marinate.

5/ When marinade has chilled, serve fruits in individual cups topped with sliced mint and pine kernels or mashed almonds.

Forget your instant mashed potatoes mix… Making authentic mashed potatoes is fast, easy AND tasty! Some like their mashed potatoes with a more liquid texture, don’t hesitate to add milk if they don’t look smooth enough for you.

Preparation time: 10 mn  Cooking time: 30 mn

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

2.2 lbs (1kg) of potatoes
1/2 cup (120ml) of milk
3 tablespoons of creme fraiche
2 tablespoons of butter
1 pinch of  nutmeg
Salt & pepper

Instructions

1/ Cut potatoes into 2 or 4 pieces depending on their size (bigger pieces will need more time to be done).

2/ Boil potatoes into salted water for 30 minutes (they’ll be easier to mash if overcooked). Let them chill.

3/ Peel and mash potatoes (you can use a a food mill or potato ricer, if you don’t have any use a potato masher or heavy fork.)

4/ Pour mashed potatoes into a pan heated over low heat. Add milk, butter, cream, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Stir well.

5/ That’s it, ready to serve! Easy, right?

We’re in the middle of fruit season; it’s a perfect time for experimenting with crumble. I had different kinds of fruit left and tried different combinations. Some of them didn’t come out so great, but apricot and mango made it unforgettable This is  a basic crumble recipe: apricot and mango can be easily replaced by any fruit. Crumble is really, really easy to make. You should try!

Preparation time: 10 mn  Cooking time: 30 mn

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

6 apricots
1 mango
1 tablespoon of vanilla sugar
2/3 cup of flour
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of butter

Instructions

1/ Mix flour and sugar in a salad bowl. Cut butter into small pieces and incorporate them one small amount at a time. Rub into mixture until it looks like breadcrumbs.

2/ Preheat oven to 410° F (210° C / Th 7)

3/ Peel and slice mango.

4/ Clean and slice apricots.

5/ Butter an ovenproof dish and add fruits sprinkling with vanilla sugar between layers. Scatter with crumble mixture.

6/ Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.