Saturday 1 January 2011

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Bouillabaisse Flavours and Accompaniments

Oh, how can I convey to you how marvellous this most unlikely-sounding soup is?  It came to me via my online friend Veronica's blog, La Recette du Jour, and she got it in turn from Nadine Abensur's book, Crank's Bible.  My husband found this fishless Bouillabaisse a most difficult concept to get his head around.  The conversation, repeated endlessly, went something like this:
Him: so, it is a bouillabaisse without fish?
Me: No it is a vegetable soup, made with the traditional flavours of bouillabaisse - fennel seeds, orange peel, saffron, vermouth, a little tomato, lots of garlic, and served with rouille, toast and Gruyere
Him: so, it is a bouillabaisse without fish?
Me: NO! Idiot!  It is a vegetable soup......and so on
Anyway, when he ate it he understood!  It does look and smell incredibly like that Provencal fish soup, with the lovely saffron colour and aromatic notes from the spices and orange.  It really was a most delicious thing to eat.  I adapted Veronica's recipe, and used equal quantities of Jerusalem artichokes and butternut squash (which helped the colour), instead of the celeriac she used.  We will most definitely make this again.  By the way, I know this isn't a Nigel recipe, but it is most definitely in his spirit, and all the veg was from Riverford.

3 comments:

  1. What a fascinating challenge for this year!

    J x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello Joy! Happy New Year, hope you are enjoying your break from school. I missed all things Nigel last year, and he is so brilliant with fruit and veg, it seemed right to return to him. He has a wealth of recipes so I hope you enjoy them on here.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Glad you enjoyed this soup, Maggie! I can imagine it working really well with the Jerusalem artichokes too.

    I'm still mulling over the "challenge" (if any!) for this year.

    ReplyDelete