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When I think of the chefs on TV, there’s only one who’s image immediately conjures up a bubbling pot of stock, soon to be turned into a hearty, healthy, delicious soup.
And its Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. For me, he more than any other chef I know embodies a steamy bowl of soup. To me, Hugh is the king of soup!
Maybe it’s because, on his TV show River Cottage, he can often be seen slowly creating a beautiful stock from scratch in his kitchen.
Whatever the reason, it can’t be denied that Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall is a lover of a bowl of soup!
So raise a glass of organic scrumpy (well, its what he’d want), and let’s toast the man by looking at 5 of my favourite Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall soup recipes.
1 - Smoked Pollack and Sweetcorn Chowder
In this recipe, Hugh has smoked his own fish (but, of course)!
Don’t worry though, you don’t need to have an old oak smoking barrel hanging around your kitchen, because this one tastes just as good if you buy your smoked Pollack from Tesco!
As Hugh says, this one is so good that “at River Cottage, smoked pollack has become one of our fishy staples and one of my favourite recipes for it is this hearty chowder”!
2 - Bloody Beetroot Soup
You might not a big fan of the earthy taste of beetroot, but please don’t let that stop you giving it a try in this form.
Truth be told, I’m not a massive fan of beetroot myself, but I still love a beetroot soup. When you first taste it you’ll immediately realise; this is what the beetroot was made for! It slips into the role effortlessly. It’s robust, satisfying, and delicious.
Hugh’s beetroot soup has a bit of a twist. In his words, “It shares more than a passing resemblance to a Bloody Mary”.
Hugh loves it “when you put a bunch of things in a blender, and they end up tasting just that little bit more than the some of their parts, and this is a classic recipe of that kind”.
I say, bring it on:
3 - Cooled Lettuce and Radish Summer Soup
Even though I’ve got a serious soup addiction going on, even I’ll admit that there some summer days when it’s just too hot to contemplate a bowl a soup.
But, I can still satisfy my soup requirements, as some delicious soups are best served cold.
Now, a lot of people avoid cold soups, and I simply can’t relate to that. Give them a try, they can be absolutely delicious! As delicious as their hot counterpart, in fact!
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall agrees with me, and he’s looking to “scotch the myth that lettuces and radishes are really only good for eating raw”:
4 - Wild Garlic and Watercress Soup
Watercress isn’t something that I pay a lot of attention to. I mean, I like an egg and watercress sandwich, but I was never aware of much else you could do with the stuff.
That’s until I stumbled across Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s recipe for garlic and watercress soup.
If you’re looking for something different for a change, then this wouldn’t be a bad place to start. The “peppery tang of the cress, gets an extra kick from the sharp oniony bite of the wild garlic”.
As well as how to make a lovely creamy soup, Hugh is also going to give you a little tip for dealing with wild garlic in this video.
5 - Gazpacho Soup
We’re going to go all historical here, because Gazpacho has its roots in ancient times. Not a lot of people know that!
Some think that Gazpacho arrived in Spain, along with the Romans, way back in 219BC.
Whatever the case, the red soup that we know and love today emerged sometime around the 19th century, when tomatoes were added into the recipe.
You’d better believe that a soup recipe this enduring is pretty darn delicious, and indeed it is. Hugh’s take on Gazpacho is my personal favourite, and you can check it out below: