Soup for the Soul

The first of the Dahl dishes that I created from the cookbook Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights was the appetizing Peasant Soup. Dahl introduces the recipe with the remark: "Something I make on a long dark afternoon to chase autumnal blues away". And as predictable as the English weather is, the afternoon I decided to make the soup was wet, rainy and utterly miserable; what better way to warm up then cooking! 

I was at my home in Buckinghamshire, thus I had access to my Mum's great kitchen with all the luxurious amenities to hand that just don't exist in my student kitchen in London. The recipe contained a great deal of vegetables, and one of the positives of living in the countryside is that down the bottom of my road is a local farm that sells nearly all that was listed in the ingredients for the recipe.

On the way back from the farm I had to take a short pit stop at my local co-operative (not so rurally idyllic ) to purchase the remaining ingredients;  parmesan, cannellini beans and white wine (definitely my favourite ingredient!). 

I was very surprised at how easy the soup was to make, and the smell whilst cooking was amazing. The methodology in Dahl's book was simple to follow, as each step took me smoothly to the next. I quickly made the soup, it didn't even take me one album of songs to get through! 

I left the soup to simmer on a very low heat, until my mum arrived home from work. Then the kettle was on, the crusty bread buttered, and the steaming soup poured into bowls. 

Even though she is my mother and probably slightly biased, my mum said that the soup was delicious and a real success. Each ingredient was decipherable, especially the garlic, which I could of settled with adding a few less cloves of! But altogether, my parents were very happy with their dinner, now this maybe because they didn't have to cook or it could be my amazing cooking skills; I think I'll go with the latter.  

My mum enjoying her soup. 

The finished article before being devoured.

The Marvellous Mrs Beeton

Back in the year of 2011 Sophie Dahl presented a BBC programme called The Marvellous Mrs Beeton, what a coincidence that I have recently studied Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management in my Literature of Food module at university. The programme is no longer available on the BBC website, but can be found on YouTube, I have provided the links below if you interested in watching, which I highly recommend that you do.

As you may or may not know, Mrs Beeton created the original domestic bible; a hefty whopper of a book which accounts for any possible question raised in the aspect of Victorian household management. Beeton explains how to not only cook and clean your home, but also how to manage your staff (if you are so fortunate as to have such a luxury), how to entertain guests and of course how to prepare and cook the obscurest of dishes, such as the horrifically named Mock Turtle Soup. 

Dahl attempts to recreate Beeton's most famous dishes, including Pigeon Pie. The pie has a fairly unobtrusive name and relatively attractive ingredients of steak, pigeon, pastry, butter, ham and egg, yet it is the finishing touch to the pie which as Dahl kindly comments gives the dish a "gothic" feel. The feet of the poor pigeons are kept and removed from the body to thus be displayed emerging from the centre of the pie. Before this final touch was added, I had found my mouth water and  my tummy rumble, but as soon as the feet were popped into the pastry my appetite quickly vanished. 

It made me think about our modern day eating habits. I am not a massive meat eater, and the only meat I do buy is purchased from the shelves of Sainsburys, wrapped in cellophane and in no way resembling the animal it has originated from. Mrs Beeton's book of Household Management is full of diagrams and illustrations of the livestock from which her ingredients have come from. If our modern day society was better educated on the origins of our food we may have better respect for what we are eating, and consequently we may not waste so much produce. Well enough of my pondering, and lets continue with Dahl. 

Dahl goes behind the writing on the page, and explores Beeton's life. The aspect I found most interesting and shocking is the tragic account of Beeton's children. Her first child died not long after his birth and her second child fell ill with scarlet fever and also died. Luckily she had another two children who survived and grew to have successful lives like their mother and father. From the pages of her book, Beeton appears to be a very mature and together lady, yet behind the writing she was dealing with personal grief and woe. Mrs Beeton died at the age of twenty-eight. In her short life she achieved a great deal and her name is still widely known. There is a reason why Mrs Beeton's book of Household Management has never been out of print, and I believe that it is because her book is strong and dictatorial. It answers any possible question a Victorian woman could desire to ask about their home, and even though much of her book is now dated, there are aspects of her advice and her character that can be followed in our modern world. As I mentioned previously, the programme is well worth a watch if only to listen to the delightful commentary from Sophie Dahl. 

Welcome to the wonderful world of Dahl...

Sophie Dahl; grand-daughter to the literary genius Roald Dahl, journalist, author, model and chef. Is there anything this woman can't do. Her fantastic recipe book, Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights is a firm favourite in my book collection. Unlike other recipe collections, Dahl's book reads like a memoir of her life. Each recipe is complimented by quirky, interesting and funny anecdotes. A fantastic read even if you are more of an eating out/ cooking slob kinda gal (like me!).

For the next couple of months I am going to become even more dizzier for Dahl, as I attempt to recreate her luscious recipes from her two books and popular television programme, The Delicious Miss Dahl. If I can adopt even a little of Dahl's glamour, talent and beauty I will be a very happy girl. So grab your Cath Kidston polka dot apron, slip on your satin slippers and follow me as I bid to improve my limited cooking skills and thus become a delectable goddess of the kitchen.