Soup ‘n’ Groux

Bleedin’ wet and windy here today in Co. Meath, it hasn’t stopped for the last five days really! Even if Monday was erringly warm as I drove back from Dublin at 10:30 pm with 16c showing on the dashboard, temperatures are sliding back down to its seasonnal self. Time for a nice warming soup and a little something very few of you might know, “The Groux” ( to be pronounced like the loveable-despicable character “Gru”), a traditionnal buckwheat-like bread from north Brittany, oven cooked like polenta and then fried in butter, this time, I decided to bake them mixed with Gruyere cheese, looking like soft savoury biscotti … “Simples”!…Anyhoo, here it goes…

I had a small pumpkin I needed to use as well as a small celeriac from the “Honest Farm” down the road. Simply peel them, remove the seeds of the pumpkin and chopp them into 1 inch cubes…

In a hot olive oiled pan, fry with Guérande Sea salt ( or any good sea salt), a chopped onion and a clove of garlic. Once the lot has sweated nicely, cover with water and let it simmer for an hour with a sprig of rosemary… Once cooked and reduce, blend it with the hand blender and set aside…

“Groux Recipe”

You’ll need:

• 200g of buckwheat flour
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 20cl of milk
• 150 g of Gruyere or Comté ( or a nice farmhouse cheddar)

How to:

Mix the flour and the egg together with the baking powder; stir well while adding the milk. It shouldn’t be too thick like a bread dough or too thin like a batter. Rest the dough in the fridge for an hour if you can…

I selected Gruyere for this recipe, as it reacts very well to baking and has the right amount of balance to detach itself from the earthy flavours of buckwheat without over powering it either…

Grate 150g into the mix, and pour in a square buttered and floured dish. Bake at 200c for at least 30 minutes, probably 40. Check with a skewer or a small knife as it should come out clean.

It should come out slightly risen, eventhough it doesn’t really matter. You can add a bit more baking powder if you wish, or even let the dough rest all night, the bread will only taste nicer…

To add a little zing to the whole thing, I finely chopped a small red cabbage and mixed it with 3tbsp of olive oil, a squeezed lime, 1 tsp of honey and a large tbsp of natural youghurt. I had a bit of rocket remaining would you believe, so it did great for contrast.

Et voilá, Pumkin and Celeriac soup with cheesy Groux and a red cabbage salad…