Making decent charcuterie is not straightforward and requires time and skill. It is not a job to be rushed and patience is needed. However, it is incredibly rewarding and I can think of few other tasks that produce as much excitement in the kitchen as unmoulding a terrine, or carving the first slice from a jelly-covered duck ballotine. If you take care with these recipes you will produce delicious results, but please bear in mind that your charcuterie skills will certainly improve with time. To make a really immaculate terrine takes a lot of practice.
Soups and salads need little introduction. Made well, they each constitute a perfect precursor to a good meal. In slightly bigger quantities they can, of course, feature as the main event of a light lunch or supper. There is also one rather special tart in this section, so special, in fact, that it almost deserves its very own chapter.
Parsley soup
My good friend Ian Bates, Chef/Owner of The Old Spot Restaurant in Wells, Somerset, makes just about the best parsley soup I have tasted. I think mine is pretty good too, but it has certainly benefited from a few enjoyable minutes spent with Ian on the phone discussing the subject.
To ensure both a bright green appearance and a glossy, smooth texture, the trick is to pick the leaves rigorously from the stalks and ensure that the stringier stalks are completely cooked before adding the leaves just before the blending process. If this is successfully achieved, the soup will not require passing through a sieve, a process that can render the finished article thin, pale and weedy. It also helps greatly to chill the soup quickly over an iced water bath so that the beautiful colour is retained.
Serve simply with croûtons, or gratinate under the grill with a baguette slice and some grated Gruyère, to form a crust as on a French onion soup. Parsley is also a great vehicle for meaty morsels such as duck confit, poached ham, chicken wings, oxtail, snails, and so on.
Serves about 8
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
150g unsalted butter
1 large floury potato, peeled and chopped into 1cm dice
6–8 bunches of flat-leaf parsley (you need at least this much!), leaves picked and stalks chopped
1.5 litres of light chicken stock (a stock cube is fine for this) salt and freshly ground black pepper
about 100ml double cream, to taste
Sweat the onion with the garlic in the butter in a pan large enough for all the ingredients. When this has softened, add the potato and all the chopped parsley stalks and continue cooking gently for a couple of minutes. Add the chicken stock – the consistency of the soup will depend on how much stock you add, you may not need it all, but this rather depends on how thick you like your soup. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Skim, then cook gently until the stalks and potato have completely collapsed – this takes about 30 minutes.
Now get organised, with your blender at the ready, together with a container for the liquidised soup, which should ideally be set in an iced water bath to speed up the cooling process. This is not necessary if you are less fussed about the finished colour.
Add all the parsley leaves to the pan and cook for about 30 seconds – no longer. Check the seasoning and chuck the whole lot into the blender, or in batches, depending on the size of your liquidiser. (A hand-held blender is not really acceptable here, as it may lack the necessary welly to blend the whole lot satisfactorily.) Take care when whizzing, as hot soup has a tendency to spit. On no account seal the beaker with the stopper or you may have a messy explosion on your hands. It is also important to thoroughly blend the soup – this can take several minutes per batch.
Reheat the soup in a clean pan – try to avoid boiling it – and add the cream to taste. I actually prefer the cream swirled on top, which reminds me pleasingly of my mum’s 1970s’ cookery books.
Roast chicken and onion soup, garlic and thyme croûtons
I never roast just one single chicken at home these days – always at least two, because I just love cold roast chicken so much. In fact, I have been known to eat almost half a cold chicken whilst standing at the open fridge door. The other advantage of this (having the bones for stock that is, not scoffing from the fridge) is that you have two carcasses to use, together with all their fabulous gelatinous juices. These form the basis for this excellent wintery soup.
If you find yourself only ever cooking one chicken at once, simply freeze the carcass each time and excavate a couple when you fancy making this soup.
Serves 6
a little oil or fat
6 fresh chicken wings, each wing chopped into 3–4 pieces
12 button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 bunch each of fresh thyme and tarragon, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
125ml dry white wine or cider
1 each of roughly chopped leek, celery and carrot
2 chopped roast chicken carcasses, ideally with wings attached, and any leftover gravy
150g unsalted butter, plus extra for the croûtons
4 large onions, peeled and sliced into rings (not chopped)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2–3 thick slices of good-quality fresh white bread – sourdough is ideal
First make the chicken stock. Heat the oil or fat in a large pan or stockpot and sauté the chicken wings until beautifully golden. Add the mushrooms, half the thyme (stalks and all) and half the garlic. Continue cooking for a few minutes until the aroma becomes too delicious to bear. Add the wine or cider and cook until all the liquid has cooked off. Add the chopped vegetables, the chicken carcasses, any leftover chicken juices and gravy and top up with water to cover. Bring to a gentle simmer, skim and cook very gently for about 1 hour. The stock should not boil.
Whilst this is cooking, heat the butter in a separate roomy pan and sweat the onion rings in the butter over a medium heat until they begin to caramelise. You will need to agitate them often and this will take in the region of 45 minutes. After a while, the butter will become clear and oily – turn the heat down and keep going. The onions will begin to catch on the bottom of the pan, so be careful to scrape up the residue and mix in with the rest. When the onions have reached a dark golden colour, season well with salt and pepper and drain off the butter by putting the whole lot into a roomy sieve or colander. Discard the butter. Return the drained onions to the pan and strain over enough chicken stock to generously cover the onions – you will not need all the stock and it can be kept for another purpose. Remember, the soup should be generous with the onions. Reheat the soup and adjust the seasoning. The soup is now finished and you can turn your attention to the croûtons.
At Chez Bruce we take the cooking of croûtons very seriously indeed and woe betide the junior cook who gives them insufficient attention. Cut the bread into 2cm thick slices (that is, considerably thicker than you would for a sandwich, say). Cut these slices into large cubes. In a large non-stick frying pan, fry and turn the croûtons gently in foaming butter until evenly golden on all sides – their size and freshness will mean that they will be