I don’t think of myself as a fussy eater, but there are some things that I do not like. These include stilton cheese, liver, peas, grapefruit. Peas I will eat if they are the only green veg served with my meal in a restaurant, but I’d never cook them for myself. Stilton I tried not so long ago as I wasn’t sure if I really didn’t like it or just thought I didn’t. I don’t. This happened with egg sandwiches too, although it turns out they just don’t taste of anything. I try not to dismiss stuff just because it looks unappealing – I missed out on years of date eating because I was put off by the looks of them and they are wonderfully fudge-y, and my butternut squash and sweet potato curry was nice – but some things are definite no-noes... my sister has recently returned from France and was extolling the virtues of frog’s legs. I think not. I think squid is the closest I’ve come to this and never again. Butter beans, nope. Chestnuts, no. Beetroot, I am not fussed about. I don’t like it on salad, it is mushy pointless stuff. So when I got some in my veg box last week I mentally consigned it to the compost heap, but lazily left it in the box with the root veggies.
On Saturday morning we went into Manchester to do some shopping. The new end of the Arndale Centre and market hall is now open, and although not completely filled with new shops, there are plenty and it all looks new and shiny and impressive. Far better than the old dingy bus station and indoor market.
After a wander around the shops (and maybe a cup of coffee and a wodge of carrot cake) I came home with a new camouflage print t shirt and two books on making soup. One is from the New Covent Garden Soup Co, whose fresh soups are delish but expensive and the other is called Soup Kitchen and is a collection of soup recipes sold on behalf of charitieshelping the homeless such as Centrepoint and the Salvation Army. The look of the book is very similar to Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall’s River Cottage books (he also wrote the introduction, so this may not be entirely a coincidence) and it contains recipes from loads of well known chefs and cooking people. Some of the soups are perhaps a bit fancy for everyday, but it really is the sort of book that makes your tummy rumble while you flick though it. And…yes, this is going somewhere…and in the book there is a recipe for Borscht. I have beetroot and a sense of humour, how can all those Russians be wrong? Turns out they are not wrong at all! It is lovely stuff, yummy and such an amazing colour. You should try it…and think about buying the book while you’re at it ;)
5 comments:
If you say so. Vegetables are still scary and mysterious to me but I like the idea of the New Covent Garden book. Does it have their cheese and potato soup in it? That was the best limited edition they ever did. :-(
I generally love veggies, having been vegetarian for 10 years in a previous life. But have to say I'm with your first instincts on the beetroot. . . . not sure that a soup would change my mind, but may be willing to give it a go.!!
My mother tried to make me eat beetroot as a child which should go some way towards explaining why my cape is red. Even now I still wear my special food smuggling cape if she's going to be cooking dinner.
Can't go wrong with a book that has yummy stuff in it *and* supports a good cause!
I'm growing beetroot but they're all still about the size of a microbe, so not sure I'll be having homegrown Borscht for a while yet!
If you eat loads of beetroot it makes your poo go purple. A good reason to eat loads of the stuff, I feel :)
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