Guest Post: Curried Apple Soup

Today’s guest post is from Nick, who is one of my fabulous Foodie Penpals (yes, I think of you all as ‘my’ penpals… I hope that’s OK, now that I’ve said it…). Nick’s blog, BakingBeardy, is full of gorgeous looking cakes with the occasional film or cookbook review thrown in for literary texture. I was really touched when she offered to write a post for me, and when she said she had a recipe for curried apple soup that sounded far too interesting to pass up on. I’ll leave you in her safe hands for today – be sure to get over there afterwards and read as many of her blog posts as you have time for, you will not regret it.

PS – she says she’s a fan of mine. I have fans! <eep>

Hi, I’m Nick from BakingBeardy.  I’m a fan of Rock Salt’s, a participant in her amazing Foodie Penpal exchange and am incredibly excited for her, participating in NaNoWriMo.  It’s amazing that she’s willing to take that time and make the commitment and I’m really excited to be able to help her out by guest blogging for her.

The London autumn has pretty much disappeared at this point – we’ve moved into full-flown winter weather – blustery wind is blowing and winter coats have come out.  I’m relying heavily on my slow cooker at the minute – when I get home, it tends to be dark and cold already and all I want to do is tuck into a comforting soup or stew.

As a result, this curried apple soup has had a bit more of a kick than other soups.  I like the combination of the tang of the apple and the spice of the curry.  This is a great one to put in your slow cooker that morning, otherwise, it’s fairly easy to make the night before and place on your stove to simmer when you get home from work.

Curried Apple Soup (adapted from Martha Stewart Living)

Ingredients:

• 2-3 Granny Smith apples (depending both on size of the apple as well as how much apple you’d like.)
• 2 minced shallots (can substitute 1/2 of a large onion)
• 1 medium potato
• 3 3/4 cups of chicken stock (or really, chicken stock cubes and hot water can work just as well)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 1/2 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter

Mince the shallots as well as peeling and cutting up the apples and potatoes.  Brown the shallots in the unsalted butter, then add the ginger and curry powder, as well as the apple and potatoes.  Cook for about 5 minutes until the ginger and curry are well mixed onto the vegetables.  Add the chicken stock (make sure there is enough to over the vegetables).  Simmer on a medium heat for about 40 minutes, until the vegetables are soft and easily cut apart.

Depending on whether or not you prefer a chunky soup, you may want to pop this into the blender to combine the soup and get rid of the chunks (as I do); otherwise, you can eat it chunky.  And enjoy it!  I really hope this warms up a cold autumn night for you.  And best of luck to Rock Salt, future bestselling author.

 

 

 

 

Thank you again Nick, it was so kind of you to help me out like this, and I can’t wait to try the soup!