Tom Kerridge's Proper Pub Food (4 page)

To serve, reheat the soup, if necessary. Ladle the soup into bowls and drizzle a little curry oil over the top of each portion. Spoon the diced apple from the pickle mix into the
bowls. Mix the yogurt and mint together and add a spoonful to each bowl, then sprinkle a few celery leaves over each bowl. Serve immediately.

Here is a play on cockles and vinegar, the English seaside classic. This is the sort of dish that I would love to be able to eat... sometimes having a shellfish allergy is
rubbish! This is packed full of flavour, with so many simple layers of taste – sweet, sour, salt, richness and a little spice. It’s an example of how I love using shellfish, be it
cockles, mussels or clams, and its cooking liquid to help bring an underlying saltly and savoury flavour to dishes. The chives are added at the end for freshness and colour.

Serves 3–4

For the sweet vinegar

To make the sweet vinegar, put the vinegar and sugar in a saucepan over a high heat and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove the pan from the heat and leave
on one side to cool.

Meanwhile, discard any cockles with broken shells or any open ones that don’t snap shut when tapped. Wash the cockles thoroughly under running cold water to remove any grit
or dirt.

Heat a large saucepan over a high heat and pour in the cockles. Add the water, cover and cook, shaking the pan occasionally, for 5–6 minutes until the shells have opened.
Discard any cockles that remain closed. Strain the cockles through a colander and keep the cooking liquid. When the cockles are cool enough to handle, remove them from the shells and keep to one
side. Strain the cooking liquid through a fine sieve lined with muslin.

Melt the butter in the washed pan over a medium heat. Add the celery, bay leaves, leeks and onions and fry, stirring occasionally, for at least 5 minutes until the vegetables
begin to soften but not colour. Throw in the potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, for a further 5 minutes. Pour in the cockle cooking liquid and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat to low
and simmer for 10–12 minutes until the potatoes are soft.

Using the back of a large spoon, break up the potatoes a little to thicken the chowder. Stir in the double cream and bring back to the boil. Turn the heat down and add the
sweetcorn kernels, chives and the cooked cockles, then simmer for 1 minute to warm though. Season with cayenne, salt and white pepper.

Ladle the soup into bowls, drizzle with the sweet vinegar and serve.

This very easy and quick recipe is for a super-tasty version of the classic Chinese soup. We get that little bit of extra flavour by roasting the sweetcorn and then caramelising
it with honey and soy sauce. You could make the soup more substantial by adding egg noodles to the broth.

Serves 4

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil over a high heat. Drop in the corn cobs and boil for 5–8 minutes until the kernels are tender. Remove the cobs from the
water and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.

Cut the corn kernels away from the cobs and set aside. Chop the cobs into small pieces, then put them into a roasting tray and roast for 10–15 minutes until they are
toasted and a little singed.

Place the maple syrup and the soy sauce in a pan over a high heat and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the maple syrup. Continue boiling until the mix begins to
caramelise, then pour in the chicken stock and return to the boil. Add the toasted corn cobs, reduce the heat and leave the stock to simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.

Heat the rapeseed oil in another pan over a low heat. Stir in the ginger and garlic, then add the chicken breast and continue stirring for a further 4–5 minutes until the
meat is cooked through and the juices run clear. Strain the infused chicken stock through a fine sieve into the pan and bring to the boil.

Stir the water into the cornflour to make a paste, then whisk this into the stock. Return to just below the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 2–3 minutes until the
soup thickens slightly. Add the sweetcorn kernels and the lime juice and season.

Whisk the egg, then pour it into the simmering soup, whisking all the time so they egg cooks into thin strands. Ladle the soup into bowls, sprinkle with spring onions to garnish
and serve immediately.

Chicken and sweetcorn soup

This is a nod to my understanding of French cooking. The guys over the Channel cook with such love of the earth and the flavours that you get from it. Puy lentils are so tasty and
take on the flavour of anything that you cook them with. This recipe is for a rustic farmhouse, Provençal-type soup that is both filling and delicious.

Serves 4

Heat a thin layer of rapeseed oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the sausages and fry, turning them occasionally, until they are cooked through and the skins are
browned. Remove the sausages from the pan and leave to one side. Tip out any fat in the pan, then wipe out the pan with kitchen paper.

Melt the butter in the same pan over a medium heat. Add the pancetta to the pan and fry, stirring, for 2–3 minutes, until browned and the bacon fat has been rendered out.
Add the celery, garlic, shallots and carrots and fry for a further 4–5 minutes so they take on the bacon flavour and start to soften. Add the anchovies and dried herbs and stir for a couple
of minutes until the anchovies almost dissolve. This gives an underlying savoury flavour to the whole soup.

Add the Puy lentils and stir them around in the pan, giving them a covering of the bacon fat and flavour, a little like cooking a risotto. Grate the nutmeg on to the lentils,
then pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down to low and leave the soup to simmer, uncovered, for 20–25 minutes until the lentils are tender.

Slice the Toulouse sausages, add to the lentil broth and leave for a few minutes to warm through. Stir in the parsley and season. Serve immediately.

This is a bowl of rustic, winter warming loveliness. It is my version of Scotch broth, and it’s lifted a little with the acidity that comes from the lemon zest, capers and
yogurt.

This will keep for three to four days in the fridge, and tastes all the better for being left to mature for at least a day before serving.

Serves 4–6

Heat the rapeseed oil in a large saucepan over a medium-high heat. Add the lamb and fry, stirring, for about 10 minutes until caramelised and browned. Remove the meat from the
pan but leave the fat.

Add the celery, garlic, carrots and onion and stir around to take on the flavour of the lamb. Add the anchovies and thyme to the pan, then return the lamb and stir everything
together. Pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low and leave the soup to simmer, uncovered, for about 1½ hours until the lamb is tender.

Stir in the pearl barley and continue simmering for a further 35–40 minutes until the barley is tender and the lamb is so tender it is starting to fall apart. You can carry
on with the final flavouring and serve the soup now, but it really is best if you leave it to cool and chill it until the following day.

Reheat the soup, if necessary. Finely grate the lemon zest into the broth and stir in the capers, mint and parsley. Ladle the soup into bowls and drop a dollop of yogurt on top
of each portion. Check for seasoning, but there are a lot of powerful flavours in here so you might not need any. Serve immediately.

I love this soup. It has those solid classic British flavours of turnip, horseradish and beef, but also a little sweet-and-sour hint from the vinegar. The beef is crispy, almost
Chinese in style, and this gives a great texture and crunch to an otherwise smooth soup.

Serves 4–6

Heat 3 tablespoons vegetable oil in a large saucepan over a low heat. Add the onion and a pinch of salt, cover the pan and leave the onion to sweat for 10–15 minutes until
it is softened but not coloured. Add the chicken stock and turnips and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low and leave the soup to simmer, uncovered, for 10–15 minutes until the turnips
are tender.

Stir in the double cream and return the soup to the boil, then stir in the horseradish. Transfer the soup to a blender and blend until smooth.

Put the white wine vinegar and caster sugar in another pan over a high heat and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Pour this mixture into the blended soup to give
a sweet acidity to the dish. Season and keep hot.

Dust the bavette steak strips with the cornflour, shaking off the excess. Heat 4–5 tablespoons vegetable oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the beef strips
and fry for 6–8 minutes until very crispy. Remove the beef strips from the pan and drain them on kitchen paper. Sprinkle the green chillies over the beef and season with salt and cayenne
pepper.

Ladle the soup into bowls and sprinkle the crispy beef and chilli mix over each portion. Serve immediately.

Turnip and horseradish soup with crispy beef