Rachel Allen’s Broccoli Soup with Dubliner Cheese Toasts @KerrygoldUSA #ballymaloe

video-broccoli

I adore this delicious and nutritious soup. It’s great either for family suppers or for a dinner party. The soup can be frozen and the Dubliner toasts prepared in advance, then grilled at the last moment. Ideal if you need a meal in an instant. Rachel Allen

Ingredients:
  • THE SOUP:
  • 2 tbsp Kerrygold Salted Butter
  • 2 potatoes, peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 head of broccoli, with stalk
  • 3 1/2–4 1/4 cup hot vegetable (or chicken) stock
  • 3/4 cup heavy cream
  • THE DUBLINER TOASTS:
  • 8 slices good-quality white bread
  • 3 oz Dubliner Cheese, finely grated
Directions:

 

Melt the butter in a medium to large saucepan, and add the potatoes and onion, salt and pepper. Cover with a piece of wax paper and sweat over a gentle heat for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cut the broccoli florets from the stalk. Using a small knife, remove the outer layer of skin from the stalk and discard, then chop the stalk into 1/2-inch pieces. Add to the onion and potato, cover and sweat for a further 5 minutes.  Add the hot stock to the potatoes, onion and broccoli stalk, bring up to a boil, then add the chopped broccoli florets. Boil without the lid over a high heat for 4–5 minutes until soft, then add the cream. Remove from the heat, puree in a blender and season to taste.To make the Dubliner toasts, toast the bread on both sides, sprinkle with grated Dubliner Cheese and pop under a hot grill or into a hot oven for 2 minutes or until the cheese melts. Cut the toast into fingers and serve on the side with the soup.

 

Rachel Allen’s Broccoli Soup with Dubliner Cheese Toasts @KerrygoldUSA #ballymaloe

video-broccoli

I adore this delicious and nutritious soup. It’s great either for family suppers or for a dinner party. The soup can be frozen and the Dubliner toasts prepared in advance, then grilled at the last moment. Ideal if you need a meal in an instant. Rachel Allen

Ingredients:
  • THE SOUP:
  • 2 tbsp Kerrygold Salted Butter
  • 2 potatoes, peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 head of broccoli, with stalk
  • 3 1/2–4 1/4 cup hot vegetable (or chicken) stock
  • 3/4 cup heavy cream
  • THE DUBLINER TOASTS:
  • 8 slices good-quality white bread
  • 3 oz Dubliner Cheese, finely grated
Directions:

 

Melt the butter in a medium to large saucepan, and add the potatoes and onion, salt and pepper. Cover with a piece of wax paper and sweat over a gentle heat for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cut the broccoli florets from the stalk. Using a small knife, remove the outer layer of skin from the stalk and discard, then chop the stalk into 1/2-inch pieces. Add to the onion and potato, cover and sweat for a further 5 minutes.  Add the hot stock to the potatoes, onion and broccoli stalk, bring up to a boil, then add the chopped broccoli florets. Boil without the lid over a high heat for 4–5 minutes until soft, then add the cream. Remove from the heat, puree in a blender and season to taste.To make the Dubliner toasts, toast the bread on both sides, sprinkle with grated Dubliner Cheese and pop under a hot grill or into a hot oven for 2 minutes or until the cheese melts. Cut the toast into fingers and serve on the side with the soup.

 

Molly Malone’s cockle and mussel chowder @rachelallen1

molly malones chowder

Molly Malone was a beautiful girl who sold cockles and mussels and died tragically of a fever while still young, or so the song goes. Molly may not have been a real girl, but since at least the 17th century, there have been fishmongers on the streets of Dublin who sell ‘Cockles and Mussels, alive, alive, oh!’

Cockles, with their distinctive flavour and lovely curved shell, are traditionally eaten in Ireland with Oatcakes. If you can only find mussels, this chowder will be just as good.

Serve either as a substantial starter or with chunks of crusty bread as a meal in its own right.

Heat the sunflower oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and sauté for about 1 minute, until crisp and golden. Add the butter to the pan and melt. Then add the leek, carrot and potato. Reduce the heat to low and sauté gently for 4–5 minutes, until soft but not browned.

Meanwhile, prepare the cockles and mussels. Scrub the shells clean and discard any that remain open when you tap them against a hard surface. Remove the beard – the little fibrous tuft – from each mussel. Bring the wine to a boil in a large saucepan and add the cockles and mussels. Cover with a tight-fi tting lid and cook for 3–4 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally, until the shells have opened.

Remove from the heat, drain the shellfi sh in a colander, reserving the cooking juices, and discard any shells that remain closed. Return the shellfi sh to the empty pan to keep warm. Place a fine sieve over a measuring jug and strain the cooking liquid. You should have at least 600ml (1 pint); if not, add water to make up that quantity.

Add the pan juices and the milk to the bacon and vegetable mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 6–8 minutes, until the potato is tender. Add the cream and simmer for another 2–3 minutes, until the soup is reduced and thickened slightly. Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, remove half of the cockles and mussels from their shells and add them with the remaining cockles and mussels still in their shells to the chowder. Stir in the parsley and serve at once.

http://www.rachelallen.com/post/molly-malones-cockle-and-mussel-chowder

 

Apple Parsnip Soup @KerrygoldUSA

Ingredients:
  • 4 ounces Kerrygold Unsalted Butter
  • 1 large shallot, minced
  • 1 leek (white part only), halved lengthwise, washed and dried, cut into ¼ inch pieces
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 1 large (¾-pound) Yukon Gold potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 2 parsnips (about ½-pound), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped into 2-inch pieces
  • 5 cups vegetable broth
  • 2 cups apple juice
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • ½ cup flat leaf parsley
  • Kosher salt and freshly black pepper
Directions:

Place a large saucepan on the stove over a medium heat. Add the butter, and when melted, add shallots, leeks and garlic and using a wooden spoon to occasionally stir. Cook until leeks are tender, about 7 minutes.

Add the potato, parsnips and apples and cook until just potatoes are starting to soften, about 5 minutes.

Add the broth and apple juice; reduce stove temperature to a simmer. Cover the saucepan and cook until the vegetables are very soft, about 30 minutes.

Remove the saucepan from the heat, add the parsley and using a blender, or an immersion blender, thoroughly purée the mixture.

Return the saucepan to the stove over a medium-low heat and stir in the milk. Heat the soup, stirring occasionally, until the soup is heated through and boils. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Tasted and perfected in the Sur La Table kitchen.

APPLE PARSNIP SOUP