Autumn Soup

We visited Strawberry Fields Farm Shop at Lifton on the way back from the Mevagissey Shanty Festival last weekend. It’s a wonderful place with a lovely café and restaurant  where we had a cup of coffee before continuing our journey. I couldn’t resist buying a selection of their freshly pulled/cut/gathered vegetables, and came home with beautiful purple curly kale, crisp fresh carrots, and thumping great leeks. We had kale with dinner last night, I had the carrots raw with salad, and I made soup from the leeks. I made up my own recipe and it was nice, but this evening I looked through my little wartime recipe book to see what suggestions Nell Heaton had.

I found a recipe for autumn soup which started off by directing me to another recipe, recipe no. 16:

(16) Macaroni Soup

Cook ¼ lb of macaroni in 1qt of vegetable stock with 2 bayleaves, a pinch of salt and pepper and a grated onion or good chopping of chives. When the macaroni is cooked add 2oz of grated cheese and stir well. Then add ½ pint of milk blended with 1 tablespoonful of cornflour. Re-heat the mixture and boil for five minutes. Serve with a bowl of grated cheese and crutons.

This recipe sounds more like what my kids called pasta and cheese sauce! By the way, Nell spells croutons as crutons! I don’t know why I was referred to recipe no. 16 – the recipe for autumn soup is somewhat different: 

(2) Autumn Soup

Boil ¼ lb macaroni (see recipe No. 16) for 5 minutes, drain and return it to the pan. Add 2 oz. of margarine, a bayleaf and a grated onion. Brown these together for 5 minutes and then add 1 pint of water, a grated carrot and turnip and a diced stick of celery. Cook all together for 15 minutes, add a dessertspoonful of flour blended in a cupful of milk, reboil and serve, garnished with chopped parsley.

I’m not sure I will try making this, macaroni, carrot, turnip, onion and celery, boiled in milk and water and flavoured with a single bayleaf… no, I’m pretty sure I won’t!