Spicy Pickle Soup

In these times of political turmoil, it's good to know that some things are constant.

45 minutes cook

Serves 2

Hugh Woodward

Ingredients

150gsmoked streaky bacon

1onion, diced

1carrot, peeled and diced

1 celery stick, diced on an angle

1 leek, sliced

2 tbspgochujang

300mlchicken stock

200mlpickle juice

300gpeeled new potatoes

1 jardill pickles

to tastesour cream

to tastedill

Constancy can come in the form of the comforting smell of your parents washing powder, a favourite pub, a wild walk along the coast. For us though, it comes in the form of pickles. We just love a pickle recipe at Twisted. This is ultimate comfort, this is pickle heaven.

Method

Slice the streaky bacon and add it all to a dry frying pan. Gently fry, stirring frequently, until the bacon has released its fat and has crisped up nicely. Remove it from the pan, leaving all the fat behind.

Add the diced and sliced veggies, stirring vigorously to coat everything in the fat. Cook until softened, roughy 10 minutes.

Add the gochujang and stir it through, then add the chicken stock. Bring to a simmer, then add the pickle juice.

Add the new potatoes and cook until just cooked through.

Add the chopped dill pickles. Take around a cup of the cooking liquid and veggies, add to a blender and blitz until smooth.

Stir it through the soup to thicken it.

Serve the soup with blobs of sour cream, the bacon, more pickles on top and shed loads of dill.

Serve with crusty bread.