Spanish minestrone

I am DYING..... with a cold. Its very unpleasant, not to mention unattractive, sniffling into nasty tissues and wheezing like an old man. The weather in Ireland today was rainy but even for rainy weather it was particularly horrible. I had to turn the light on in the kitchen because it was so dark and coupled with my cold, the low grey skies made me gloomy. I needed something comforting, something to chilli-away my bad mood. There wasn't much chance I was going outside and chancing the rain so I made this soup from what was in the house. It is like a minestrone, in fact you could just take out the chorizo, add bacon and pasta instead and you would have a lovely minestrone.

700g chorizo very thinly sliced
1/2 tsp chilli powder (optional)
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 red onions peeled and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
2 sticks of celery
450g tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 bay leaf
few sprigs of thyme
550ml veg/chicken stock
450 tin cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

Fry the chorizo in a tsp of oil. The chorizo will create its own oil so there is no need to add much.  Add the onions, carrots and celery and fry for about 4 minutes until soft but not browned.

Add the garlic and chilli powder if using. I used extra spicy chorizo so I didn't add chilli powder but if you are using ordinary chorizo and you like a kick add the chilli powder. Even ordinary chorizo will infuse the soup with it's spicy flavours anyway so if you want to play it safe, leave out the chilli powder.

Add the tin of tomatoes, stock, bay leaf, thyme and tomato puree and simmer for about 15 or until the carrots are soft. Add the cannellini beans for the last five minutes of cooking, you don't want them mushy.

Serve with crusty bread.

Sweet Potato, Apple and Ginger Soup

You could probably live solely on soup (not that I'm recommending it as a diet!) and it really is so simple. Soup= what veg you have in the cupboard plus stock. I've heard people say that when they make soup it either ends up the consistency of baby-food or a watery mess and unfortunately there is no exact science. After the first 500ml or so I usually add the stock slowly, letting the veg cook until I get that nice consistency that slowly runs off the spoon.

This soup was a bit of an experiment and I think it worked nicely. Sweet potatoes are quite widely available now and recent bouts of roasting them a la Donal Skehan in his new book 'Kitchen Hero' inspired me to try them in soup. I used a cooking apple, rather than an eating apple as I thought the soup could end up overly sweet. The ginger adds a nice kick.

1 onion
3 medium sized sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 cooking apple, peeled and diced
2 tbsp of chopped raw ginger
approx 700ml veg stock
ground black pepper
2 sprigs of thyme, leaves stripped

Fry the onion over a low heat until soft but not coloured. Add the apple and sweet potato and fry for about 5-6 minutes until soft on the outside but still hard on the inside. Finally add the ginger and thyme and fry for 3 minutes.

Add the stock, 500ml first and let the veg simmer until soft through and the apple has disintegrated slightly. I think its a good idea to let the soup cool now, then blend until smooth. The soup will be quite thick now so add the remaining water gradually until you are happy with the consistency.

Season with freshly ground black pepper and serve with crusty bread.