Caravan Cook: Soups

This month, I am coming out the other end of a good dose of the summer 'flu - yuck! I decided that I would power up my immune system for winter, using foods that my mum told me would keep colds and influenza at bay: citrus fruit, onions, garlic, and ginger to settle the stomach.

If all else fails, there's good old chicken soup - with the weather starting to turn colder, it's time to make soup the lead player in the meal.

Citrus and Carrot Soup
If you have a hand-held food processor, blending this soup is a breeze. However, I experimented with a few different methods of blending the ingredients using a mouli and a sieve.

They are both effective, but will result in a slightly chunkier texture to the soup. This dish is quick and easy to make, with few ingredients. The onion, carrot and ginger are finely sliced or chopped to reduce cooking time.

1 onion, finely chopped
4 carrots, peeled and finely sliced
1 clove garlic, left whole
2 cups vegetable stock
¼ teaspoon finely grated ginger
2 oranges, juiced
zest from one orange
chives/shallots, chopped/shredded to garnish

Place onion, carrots, garlic and stock into a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and continue to cook for about 15 minutes.

Add the ginger, orange juice and zest to saucepan and continue to cook for a further
15 minutes. Remove pan from the heat and allow to cool slightly before pureeing.

Serve topped with chopped chives or shredded shallots.

Italian Sausage Soup
The effectiveness of garlic as a cold preventative has been understood over the years.

The garlic in this soup contributes greatly to its overall flavour and the result is so deliciously hearty that everyone will be asking for more. Tins of Campbell's Chicken Consommé can be substituted for the chicken stock. 

1-2 Italian sausages (ordinary pork will do)
1 onion, chopped
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
1 red capsicum, seeded and cut into strips
6 cloves garlic, sliced
1 pkt baby spinach (optional)
250g mushrooms, sliced (or 1 tin mushrooms)
1 cup beer
freshly ground salt and pepper

Remove the meat from sausage casings. Heat some oil in a large pot and add sausage meat and onion. Cook, stirring meat to break up the lumps until the sausage is browned.

Add remaining ingredients to the pot, stir and bring contents to the boil.

Reduce heat to a simmer and continue to cook, with pot covered, until potatoes are tender, for about 15-20 minutes.

Serve Italian Sausage Soup piping hot with a loaf of fresh, crusty bread.

Real Chicken Soup
This old-fashioned cold remedy warms you up and you can actually feel it doing you good.

If you have access to a boiling hen complete with giblets, you are in chicken soup heaven - if not, make do with an equal amount of chicken pieces. This soup doesn't require a whole lot of chopping ingredients, but you will need to remove any 'scum' from the top to ensure a beautiful, clear soup.

This recipe does involve a lot of cooking, but the end result is worth it in 'flu-fighting flavour.

2kg boiling hen (or chicken pieces)
1 large onion, halved
2 large carrots, halved lengthways
4 sticks celery, roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons risoni or similar small pasta
4 tablespoons chopped
fresh parsley
freshly ground salt and pepper

Put boiling hen or chicken pieces into large pot with all vegetables and the bay leaf. Cover with 10 cups cold water and bring slowly to the boil. When soup is boiling, add some salt and pepper.

Reduce the heat until soup is barely simmering and continue to cook slowly for about two hours or until hen is tender. The surface of the liquid in the pot should be barely trembling when you are simmering.

When hen is tender, remove from broth and strip the meat from the carcass. You can use the leftover chicken in sandwiches.

Return hen bones to the broth and simmer gently for about another hour. Strain soup into a container, cool and allow to chill overnight. The next day the soup will have set into a solid jelly with a layer of fat on the top. Carefully remove and dispose of the fat.

To serve, reheat in a large pan with pasta and chopped parsley. Simmer for a few minutes until pasta is tender. Serve hot and I guarantee your 'flu will be on the road to recovery in no time!

Frank Bradwell of Koonawarra, NSW, won our competition with his mouth-watering 'Spaghetti with Prawn and Coriander Sauce' the recipe for which we published in CW March 2005.

This month, Lynn Bain has re-created Frank's winning entry for CW readers (see picture), many of whom may be tempted to try it while on the road...

Spaghetti with Prawn and Coriander Sauce
(serves 4 to 6)

500g fresh or frozen tiger prawns
2 tablespoons olive oil
375g spaghetti (or other pasta)
1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
pinch of salt
freshly ground pepper

Coriander Sauce
juice of half a lemon
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon pine nuts
1 cup fresh coriander leaves
1/3 cup light olive oil

Combine lemon juice, garlic, nuts and coriander in a food processor to blend, or mortar
and pestle to crush ingredients into a paste.

Add oil and blend in the mixture, which should have the consistency of a smooth paste, like mayonnaise.

Peel and de-vein prawns (if fresh). Heat oil in a frying pan and add the prawns, cook until they turn pink, tossing them for 3-4 minutes, then set aside.

In a large saucepan of boiling salted water, cook pasta for 8-10 minutes until al dente. Drain pasta and then toss with prawns and tomatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Spoon 3-4 tablespoons of coriander sauce through pasta and toss to coat.

Serve with a sprig of fresh coriander or parsley.