225 g sweet almonds, blanched - (8 oz)
3 hard-boiled egg yolks
1 liter chicken stock (2 pints)
50 g beurre manie, made with -25 g butte, r and 25 g flour -
1 1/2 deciliter cream (1/3 pint)
1 salt
1 white pepper
Directions
F.&R.Dahl: "This delicate soup, popular 100 years ago, is now
unusual. On no account should it be liquidized at any stage, as that
ruins the texture"
Mince the almonds and, using a pestle and mortar, reduce to a paste
with the egg yolks and a little stock, to stop them oiling.
Bring the stock up to simmering point in a saucepan and whisk in the
beurre manie. When that has dissolved, whisk in the almond paste.
Cook gently for 30 minutes.
Strain through a sieve, add the cream, season with salt and pepper,
heat gently and serve.
From: Felicity & Roald Dahl, Memories with food at Gipsy House,
Penguin, 1991, ISBN 0-670-83462-9
Servings: 4 servings
Almond Soup Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Nut; Soup
The History of Recipes
Food historians have tracked the existence of recipes far back into history, in fact as far back into recorded history as the early Egyptians, and potentially, even further back. Interesting though that is, these, ancient cookbooks were just primitive hieroglyphic or cunieform instructions for food preparation.
Fascinatingly, the most ancient recipe in existence, according to academics are some clay tablets in the Sumerian language describing the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making people feel `wonderful`. Progressing into The time of the roman empire around 25BC a man called Apicius compiled a collection of documents which described recipes enjoyed by his fellow Romans. In his works, he describes how the meals were separated into hors d`oeuvres, main meal and dessert, a style of dining still practiced today. Aspicius tells us how the early Romans made use of many different aromatic flavours, including a few that are still present in modern kitchens such as bay, rue and asafoetida. In the 15th century, the Crusaders brought back many new foods and herbs from Arab countries, including spices such as basil and rosemary. These new foods and tastes caused an eruption in manuscripts on food, many of which still exist in private collections. The arrival of TV brought us celebrity chefs and the demand for the accompanying recipe books. And that pretty much brings us to the present day and the invention of computers and the internet, permitting everybody to search through massive numbers of recipes like those on sites such as the one you are reading now. |
We hope you enjoy this Almond Soup recipe.
