Portuguese Tomato and Onion Soup with Poached Egg

I had this surprisingly good tomato soup when we visited the rugged and fertile island of Madeira. It was about the only vegetarian option on the menu of most places but was well worth its place, and more than worth its cheap price. Not just any old bowl of soup but a rich homemade style tomato and onion soup bursting with summer flavours in which an egg is poached, and is decked with rustic slices of bread. 

 Now that tomatoes are in season here in France, I decided to have a go making this soup at home. I searched online for recipes and, strangely, the one that seemed most like what I'd eaten in Madeira came from a Canadian blog of mainly Ukranian recipes! I rang my friend in Portugal who, as well as being Portuguese is an excellent chef, so just the person to consult with! She confirmed that the ingredients and method were fairly simple but it takes good ingredients. This recipe really did make good use of the vine-ripened tomatoes I had bought and, had I tried using bland supermarket ones, I would have had to add more ingredients, including tomato passata, to enrich it. The blog whose recipe this one is adapted from recommends using tinned tomatoes rather than hydroponic ones if you can't get tasty fresh tomatoes - after all, tinned tomatoes preserve the tomatoes (grown in suitable climates) soon after they are picked whereas supermarket ones are usually watery hydroponic red balls of nothingness which may have travelled far, been refrigerated and then sat on the supermarket shelves for some time before you buy them. So if at all possible, use local organic tomatoes and onions for freshness and the best flavour.

Portuguese Tomato and Onion Soup with Poached Egg

Serves 6.

4 large yellow onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
1/3 cup olive oil
8 large juicily ripe tomatoes, chopped OR 2 cans whole tomatoes (1lb. or 454 g each)
4 large garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
5 cups water (OR, if using canned tomatoes, 5 cups rich vegetable stock)
6* eggs (*or 1 per person)
12 thick slices stale / day-old French or Italian bread (use slim baguettes)
¼ cup minced parsley / coriander / fresh thyme / basil / savory



Sauté onions slowly - about 15 minutes - until soft and golden.  Add garlic and tomatoes (you can first peel and de-seed tomatoes if you care for such things - I never mind using the whole thing), cover and simmer 1 hour; uncover, and simmer to reduce liquid for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened.

Add water or stock, salt and pepper to taste and, if needed, a little sugar (add a pinch at a time, tasting till you get the edge off any bitterness. The soup I made was not at all bitter - it depends on the tomatoes and how well the flavours have cooked together. The other recipe recommended 3T butter as well but I didn't feel it was necessary - it's up to you.

Simmer, uncovered, 1 ½ to 2 hours or until flavours are richly blended.  Cool to room temperature, cover and refrigerate until about 1 hour before serving.  (I reheated just enough for tonight's dinner and put the rest in containers to go in the freezer or you could save leftovers in fridge to eat the next day when the flavours will be even more nicely developed!- soups are great like that!)

Bring soup slowly to serving temperature. Carefully break eggs into soup, spacing them evenly, cover and simmer slowly 5-15 minutes or until eggs are poached to your liking.

Ladle soup into large shallow soup bowls, including an egg with each portion.  Garnish each bowl with bread slices and a sprinkling of herbs.

NB. This is a filling and delicious vegetarian and dairy-free recipe but Luc reckons it would be even better with cheese and chorizo - he would!

Mushroom and Chestnut Ragoût with Potato and Celeriac Mash

Mushrooms are big around here. Well, actually, they're fairly small, the main type grown is the Paris white, known in NZ as the button mushroom. This isn't Paris so I don't know how they got that name (though I'm sure I will once I finally visit the mushroom museum) but I do know that this town /area produces 90% of France's button mushrooms.  

And are there button mushrooms in this recipe? Only if you want there to be. The recipe calls for portobello and dried porcini mushrooms but I used a mix of varieties I don't even know the names of. I just buy them at the market from the mushroom lady. So feel free, as ever, to adapt this recipe to your tastes. I reduced the cream (it called for 5 T, I felt that was too much and I think it could be lovely without any, too). Also, I had no sherry so used balsamic vinegar which I added a tiny bit at a time, tasting until I got it right. The other thing I didn't have was sweet potatoes / kumara so I made a mash using potatoes and celeriac, an idea I'd got from my husband's guy friends who cooked delicious dishes for their New Year's Party - to my surprise as I think a bunch of mates from an agricultural college in NZ probably wouldn't be so gourmet - at least not cooking for each other at a party. But that's the French for you. And of course their mash had heaps of butter. So you could follow suit and go crazy with the butter if you hold back on the cream in the ragout. But the ragout is very rich so don't over-do both!

I'm not sure what you could replace chestnuts with if you can't find any. In Australia I found them for sale in cans. Chestnuts are lovely with their distinct sweet and savoury taste and firm and sort of buttery texture. Perhaps soaked cashews could work? Other ideas?

Mushroom and Chestnut Ragoût Potato and Celeriac Mash

Recipe comes from the 'Simmer' section (so DO, don't rush it!) of the cookbook 'New Vegetarian Kitchen' by Nicola Graimes (UK book).

Serves 4

40g / 1¼ oz dried porcini mushrooms

3 T olive oil

40g / 1½ oz butter

350g / 12 oz shallots, peeled and halved with the base intact, or quartered if large

500g / 1 lb 2 oz portobello mushrooms, thickly sliced

2 tsp dried thyme

125ml / 4fl oz / ½ cup dry sherry (or an alternative. I used 2+ T balsamic vinegar)

250g / 9 oz cooked chestnuts, thickly sliced

2 Tbsp light soy sauce

a few splashes of hot pepper sauce

2-5 Tbsp double cream

leaves from a few parsley sprigs, chopped

salt and freshly ground black pepper

500 g potatoes, peeled and chopped into chunks

400 g celeriac, peeled and chopped into large chunks

(or replace potatoes and celeriac with 900g of kumara / sweet potato)

2 large garlic cloves

150 ml / 5 fl oz / scant ⅔ c milk

30 g / 1 oz butter

1 Soak the porcini mushrooms in 150 ml / 5 fl oz / scant ⅔ c boiled water for 20 mins until softened.

2 Heat the olive oil and butter in a large, heavy-based saucepan over a medium-low heat and cook the shallots for 12 minutes, stirring regularly, until softened and golden in places. Add the portobello mushrooms and cook for another 4-5 minutes until tender.

3 Strain the porcini mushrooms, reserving the soaking liquid, and add them to the pan, along with the thyme and sherry. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to low and simmer until the liquid has reduced by half and there is no aroma of alcohol.

4 Add the prcini soaking liquid, chestnuts, soy sauce and hot pepper sauce and simmer for 10-15 minutes until reduced by half. Stir in the cream and heat through gently, then season with salt and pepper.

5 Meanwhile, make the mash. Cook the vegetables (potato and celeriac, or sweet potato) and garlic in boiling salted water for 10 minutes or until tender, then drain and return to the pan. Add the milk and butter, season well with salt and pepper and warm through (or better yet, warm milk and butter before adding - but this makes more dishes). Mash until smooth, then cover with a lid to keep warm.

6 Sprinkle the ragout with parsley and serve with the mash/puree