The French restaurateur Raymond Blanc might be an unlikely subject for a crush, but a hint of his attractiveness might just be found in his deceptively simple summer soup, writes DOMINI KEMP

I’VE RECENTLY COME clean about my food crush on the very twinkly-eyed Gallic chef Raymond Blanc. Considering Monsieur Blanc is in his 60s, my husband doesn’t feel too threatened by all of the blushing and gushing that ensues whenever I see Raymond on the telly. I’ve always enjoyed his books and over the years there have been several declarations that if I ever won an Oscar, or have a number-one single (simultaneously in the Irish, US and UK charts), I would bring all my friends and family over for lunch in Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, his two-star Michelin wonderland of a restaurant in Oxfordshire. Needless to say, my friends may be waiting a while for that particular ship to come in.

So until the singing and acting career takes off, I’ll continue to comfort myself with his books and TV programmes. In one of his older books, this summer soup recipe caught my eye, but after a quick read through, I thought it was such an incredibly simple recipe that it bordered on dull. How wrong I was: it was a gorgeous summer soup, perfectly light enough for warm weather or for when a chilled soup just doesn’t appeal. I think the key to it is the big knob of butter that enriches what is essentially a light broth and therefore gives it some body. The other interesting thing about it is the cooking method: you add boiling water to your barely sweating vegetables, which means they are not simmering around for too long and therefore retain their bite, colour and full flavour. Plus, the recipe doesn’t even call for stock. Could not be simpler, are the words I’m after.

The other recipe is for some falafel, which I’ve never bothered to make at home before. Well that is all going to change from here on in. They were delicious and perfect with tzatziki or stuffed into some pitta bread with some hummus, lots of salad leaves, chopped tomatoes, a little sliced raw red onion and a good slosh of olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Now you do need dried chickpeas for this because the tinned ones are just too wet. But the dried ones only need a soak overnight and then they get ground up into falafel with no pre-cooking. The recipe made about 35 small balls, which meant we had falafel for dinner for four consecutive nights, so I finally gave in on night four and let the child eat some of hers with ketchup. This has to be the modern definition of compromise.

Summer soup

Serves 4-6

1 onion, peeled and diced

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

3 celery sticks, sliced

3 carrots, peeled and sliced

2 leeks, thinly sliced

Big knob of butter

Salt and pepper

1 courgette, finely diced

4 tomatoes, roughly chopped

1 litre boiling water

Chopped flat leaf parsley

Sweat the onion, garlic, celery, carrots and leeks in the butter. Do this very slowly, preferably with a lid on and season well. Sweat for at least five minutes until the vegetables are soft and are not coloured. You’re looking for bright colours and sweetness rather than rich, brown caramelisation. Add the courgette, tomatoes and boiling water. Simmer for another five minutes, check the seasoning and serve with bread and lots of cheese for a perfect summer supper.

Falafel

500g dried chickpeas

100g flat leaf parsley

100g coriander

6 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

Few glugs of olive oil

Salt and pepper

Few tablespoons plain flour

Sunflower oil

Soak the chickpeas overnight in salted water. Drain, rinse and then blend in a food processor until they resemble fine-ground saw-dust. Put the chickpeas in a bowl and then process the herbs with the olive oil and garlic (which you need to crush first). Feel free to add in some spices, such as cumin or ground coriander or even some chilli flakes.

When it resembles green sludge, mix with the chickpeas. The chickpeas should take on a nice green colour. Season well and add enough flour so that when you make a ball between your fingers, it will stay together. They won’t stay together as well as small meatballs will, but they should be strong enough to be shaped and then put on a plate, albeit carefully.

Heat up the sunflower oil and cook off a batch of balls at a time, carefully turning them over when they are crisp and turning golden brown on one side. They don’t need too long to cook. Basically, once they are golden brown on both sides, they are done.

Drain on kitchen paper, season with more salt and you can keep them warm in a low oven while you finish the others off. They are lovely cold, and can be reheated the next day, but they do taste best when they are fried and eaten soon after.

dkemp@irishtimes.comSee also itsa.ie

DOMINI RECOMMENDS The Burren smokehouse has won plenty of awards for its great smoked fish. Its cold smoked organic salmon with whiskey, honey and fennel is to die for