Customer Reviews
I've recommended this to lots of people - By: Ms. RH Watson, 01 Nov 2008 
I love the varietyin this book, the simplicity of the recipes & the fact that I don't have to go out & buy ingredients that I wouldn't normally buy. It's also just an excellent idea to make a book that provides seasonal recipes, great for people who grow their own fruit & vegetables.
I'd recommend this to anyone, even if you think you can't cook!
The ultimate book on soup - By: Sabine Zimmermann, 16 Aug 2008 I always find it hard to say which one of the three books I like most. Perhaps it's this one, because it contains my absolute favourite: "Apple, Vine Tomato & Smoked Bacon". This soup is just too yummy to describe. It may sound a bit strange (when I tried it for the first time, people asked why there were applesin a tomato soup), but the result is completely stunning. It's also the perfect soup for late summer, because then you're often swampedin both, tomatoes & apples. In fact, I make this soup whenever I feel like it, because you can get the ingredients around the year. Of course, there are many more delicious recipesin this book. It is split up into four main chapters (the seasons), whichin turn are split up into the different months, making it easier for you to find something seasonal. Buy it - a great gift, too!
Good variety, not run of the mill - By: S. Shah, 18 Dec 2007 
Easy to follow recipe instructions, layout easy on the eyes when cookingin a hurry, most soups are a mealin themselves (best way really), no exotic ingredients, & always a yummy taste!! But as a vegetarian, I would have prefered fewer non-veggie ones.
Useful wire-bound format, so it lies flat on your work surface, is an added bonus to this superb book of seasonal recipes. - By: Amazon Reviewer, 13 Nov 2006 
From a passionate company, whose employees obviously take their job very seriously, a useful selection of recipes where the more well-known, such as a simple `Vegetable Stock', & `Bouillabaise' mingle with the more intriguing 'Christmas Dinner Soup' or `Love & Hearts'.
122 high quality pages, split over 8 chapters:-
Intro
Larder Ingredients
Simple Stocks
Our Philosophy
Autumn Recipes
Winter Recipes
Spring Recipes
Summer Recipes
completed with a concise index.
Opening with the comment:-
`To those who believe the world can be put to rights with a simple bowl of soup..........Soup is easy, down-to-earth, one-pot cooking. It's friendly, too. The aroma draws people into the kitchen as casually as it calls them to the table. They come because soup is different every time: bubbling with winter comfort, ripe with summer growth, mellow with autumnal plenty, bursting with the vibrancy of spring............'
Simply presented with a cheery bright cover, one is drawn to the charming black & white illustration on page 8, introducing each member of the `New Covent Garden Food Company', from the guy who `tends to the kitchens' big soup saucepans`, to the lady who `does a bit of everything & keeps us on our toes` .......to the chap who `does the figures', & gets the feeling that this is a `homely' book which stands out from the crowd, purely by taking the making of a largely misunderstood dish - SOUP - so seriously.
`Our year - the soup-maker's year - startsin Autumn. That's when friends & families retreat to the kitchen, & root vegetables - the soup-cook's most dependable ingredient - come into season.........Autumn also marks the start of our recipe-testing cycle. Some we invent, some arrive by post or email from friends & strangers; some we adapt from foods we've seen on our travels; & some are from the army of cooks who rise to the annual challenge of our Student Chef & Create a Soup competitions.
This book contains recipes from all those sources. It represents the collective soup-fuelled wisdom of the wider New Covent Garden Food Company community - our chefs, our friends, our relatives, our suppliers, our supporters & our fellow cooks.'
Imagination quickly forgives the fact that the subtle colour opening plate which heads each season, along with the odd black & white drawing is all the `illustration' that is really requiredin a book of this type.
Following on from `casual' text (usually dedicated to a member of the staff relevant to the recipe) at the start of each recipe, is a clear ingredients list, cooking time & method.
Tastes of the recipes within:-
Parsnip, Apple & Chestnut
Venison, Apple & Blackberry
Beef, Ale & Wild Mushroom
Leftover Soup
Cullen Skink
Duck & Pomegranate
Russian Beef Borsch
Wood Pigeon & Morel Mushroom
Crab & Artichoke
Haggis, Neeps & Tatties
Broad Bean & Smoked Chicken
Roasted Fennel & Somerset Cider
Runner Bean & Braise Ham Broth
Absolutely Souper - By: R. Swanton, 24 Oct 2006 Every kitchen should have a copy of this book. With a wide range of choice for every season it has something for everyone. The 'Beef & Ale Soup' is absolutely delicious as are the other winter warmers, & I look forward to trying some of the summer recipes. I will definately be buying the other Covent Garden recipe books.
