Soups and Fall seem simultaneous. It is cold outside with a few snow flurries and I am looking out of the kitchen kneading bread and stirring soup. This just makes my heart sing. I some days wish I had a group of friends I could just call and say “Soup’s On”, please come on over.
I started making a lot of soup when I had a restaurant on Bainbridge Island in the 90’s. Every day I would make a new soup, so there was always something different to try. I honestly wish there was a local restaurant that would do the same. Most local restaurants have the same menu (and soup) day after day, month after month, and unfortunately year after year.
A little behind in my posting, but not in my cooking, so today I will add the recipes of the last week or so starting with yesterday. 
As a child on the weekends we often had Campbell’s tomato soup and a burnt grilled cheese sandwich (on Wonder bread). As an adult, the idea is appealing, but not the ingredients, so several years ago I started making my own tomato soup. I don’t always use the same recipe (and now really don’t use one at all), but the ingredients must be fresh and wonderful for it to be tasty. I love how it looks in the pot after it has been pureed. Doesn’t that just look inviting!
This is what I did yesterday and scroll down for the Paul Hollywood Savory Brioche Couronne (bread with ham & cheese)
Ingredients
10 Roma tomatoes
1 onion
A couple cups of home-made Chicken stock
1 tbsp of EVOO
3 – 5 garlic sliced thin ( I like garlic, so always throw in a little extra)
Hand-full of fresh oregano from my herb garden
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 cup or so of chopped basil
1 stick of butter ( oh yeah, that adds to the flavor)
1 cup or so of half & half or whipped cream
Fresh reggiano parmigiano for the top
Sour cream for the top and I added chives for color (but just a little)
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Combine quartered tomatoes, onions, whole garlic cloves, oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon sugar in large roasting pan. Roast, stirring once or twice, until tomatoes are brown in spots, about 11/2 hours. Let cool 5 minutes. Working in two batches, process roasted tomato mixture in food processor until smooth. (Pureed mixture can be refrigerated for up to 1 day.)
2. Put the mixture back in the pot, add the chicken stock, basil, oregano, butter and cream and simmer a few minutes. Taste it and add salt & pepper to your taste.
3. Put in a pretty bowl and top with sour cream and a little shredded parmesan.
Ingredients
- 500g/1lb 2oz strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
- 10g salt
- 10g instant yeast
- 170ml/6fl oz warm full-fat milk (I used half & half)
- 4 free-range eggs
- 250g/9oz unsalted butter, in small pieces, at room temperature
- 4 x 125g/4½oz balls buffalo mozzarella
- 8-10 slices prosciutto
- ½ handful fresh chopped basil
- 1 free-range egg, beaten
- pinch salt
- handful grated parmesan
Method
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If you have a food mixer with a paddle fitting, make the dough as follows: into the bowl put the flour, salt, yeast, milk and eggs and mix until the dough becomes smooth and shiny. Add the butter piece by piece as you mix well for a further five minutes, until all the butter has been incorporated into the dough. It’s important to add the butter very gradually.
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If you do not have a machine, make the base dough by bringing the flour, salt, yeast, milk and eggs together in a bowl. Tip the dough onto a floured surface and knead for about ten minutes, or until the dough becomes smooth and shiny. Gradually incorporate the butter piece by piece into the dough, kneading as you go.
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Tip the dough into an oiled 1 litre/1¾pint plastic container with a lid – it needs plenty of room to rise. Leave the dough to rise until at least doubled in (at least an hour, or overnight in the fridge).
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Line a baking tray with baking parchment. Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, without knocking the air out of it. Roll it out to a thickness of just under 1½cm/¾in, in a rectangle that’s about 40-50cm/16-20in long. Have the long side facing you.
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Cover the dough with a loose layer of ham. Break off large pieces of mozzarella and distribute them all over the ham. Scatter the basil over the top.
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Roll up the dough from the long side furthest from you, into a long sausage shape. Cut the roll of dough in half down the length to expose the filling, leaving you with two long strips side by side.
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Twist the two strips together, holding both ends of the dough and twisting your hands in opposite directions, to make a long rope that’s quite tightly twisted. Form the rope into a circle and join the ends together so that the dough becomes a ring – a ‘couronne’ or crown.
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Put the crown onto the lined baking tray, and put the tray in a large plastic bag, big enough so that the risen dough won’t touch the sides. Leave the crown to rise for 1-1½ hours, or until it has at least doubled in size.
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Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. For this recipe you ideally don’t want a fan oven.
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Whisk an egg with a pinch of salt and brush the egg over the crown. Finally top the couronne with grated parmesan.
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Bake the couronne in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until golden-brown. Leave to cool slightly. Serve warm or cold.
ENJOY!