Cauliflower & Bacon Fritters

Tweet

Easy Weekday dinner

Ingredients

Makes lots for 2 - enough as side for 4

1/2 head of cauliflower steamed or boiled

1 large free range egg

3 rashers of bacon grilled until crispy

2 tablespoons of plain yogurt (cause I didn't have enough milk)

a dash of milk

1 teaspoon of cumin seeds

1 clove of garlic crushed

1 heaped table spoon of gram flour / or regular flour

mustard seeds

salt and pepper

Method

1. Once your cauliflower is cool mash it with a fork or masher
2. Cut your bacon into small pieces
3. Mix all the ingredients together in a big bowl
4. Heat a frying pan with some oil over medium to high heat
5. When it's nice and hot spoon in one tablespoon of mixture per patty
6. Cook one one side for 2-3 mins or until nicely golden
7. Flip carefully over
8. Press down with the spatula to firm up the fritter
9. Remove from pan and place on kitchen towel
10. Repeat with rest of mixture

I served these along side some salad and homemade baked beans

Lamb Madras

Tweet

No speel just one hugely yummy recipe. I learnt this recipe on the Cooks Academy Certificate course - it's really good, especially the next day. Worth considering if you're cooking for a dinner party reduce the stress on the day in question.

 Serves 6

Ingredients

Sunflower Oil for frying

1kg of diced lamb - trim off excess fat

2 big onions 0 diced

4 large cloves of garlic crushed

1-2 tablespoons of fresh root ginger grated

1 handful of coriander roots - chopped

400g / 1 tin of tomatoes

1 pint good chicken stock

3 tablespoons ground cumin

1 tablespoon of curry powder (depending on strength and taste)

1/2 tablespoon of ground coriander

2 tsp of cardamon pods - seeds removed and ground in a pestle and mortar (or a spice grinder if you have one - please santa - hint hint!)

a big bunch of fresh coriander roughly chopped

Method

1) Brown of the lamb in the sunflower oil. Do in batches and set aside.

2) Sweat the onion off for a few minutes after you have finished the lamb.

3) When the onion has gone clear, add in the garlic, ginger, spices and coriander stalks. Cook out the ground spices for a few minutes stirring constantly.

4) Then add in the tomatoes and chicken stock. Cook for 10 minutes.

5) Liquidise the mixture with a stick blender.

6) Return the lamb to the pan and bring to a gently simmer. Cover and cook for 1.5 hours - 2 hours depending on the size and quality of your lamb.

7) Serve with rice or naan and some nice homemade chutney - or Sharwoods mango chutney. That stuff is like crack cocaine for me honestly can't get enough of the stuff.

I made my own naans for this recipe - but the recipe is not quite perfect so I'll wait till it is before I post one. If anyone has any good naan recipes they'd like to share that would be great. I also served it with a spiced vegetable and lentil dish and rice.

Black Bean & Barley Chili

Tweet

Veggie Treat

I love a nice big bowl of vegetarian chili, it picks me up and comforts me. Winter is most definitely on the way out - so I may have to forget about dishes like these until Autumn - hurray! 
Black beans are great for you too, packed full of fiber and are also good at lowering cholesterol. I've been trying to cook with them for the last while, but haven't come up with anything with sharing until now. The colour that comes form the beans lends a really dark and 'meaty' tone to the dish.


Ingredients - Serves 4
1 tin of black beans
I large onion - finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic crushed
1 teaspoon of fresh rosemary - finely chopped
1 teaspoon of fresh thyme - finely chopped
2 carrots - finely cubed
1 cup of pearl barley
1 tin of tomatoes
1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon of paprika
Dried or fresh chili to taste
2 tablespoons of olive oil


To serve
Fresh lime juice to taste
Cream Cheese - I used Yeats County Cream Cheese 
Freshly chopped parsley


Method

1. Put the peel form the onion, outer layer and the gratings from the carrots in a pot - cover with a small amount of water and bring to a boil, simmer while you make the rest of the dish.
2. In a large high sided frying pan, gently sweat your onion in the olive oil. After a few minutes add the garlic. Once the onion is translucent, add in the fresh herbs (if you have fresh oregano all the better!) Cook for a further 2 minutes.
3. Then add in the paprika and chili and stir briefly. Next stir in the tomatoes, beans, vinegar, carrot and pearl barley. Add in the stock you made with the onion and carrot. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently for about 30 minutes until the barley is cooked. You might need to add a little more water so check on it every so often.
4. To serve top with a good dollop of yummy cream cheese, add a good squeeze of lime and a healthy sprinkle of parsley. I'm sure that cream cheese and barley aren't traditional ingredients in a chili - but I don't care this was so satisfying.

You can serve with some rice, in Quesadilla, with corn chips - or anything else that is vaguely Mexican. 

Cumberland Casserole

Tweet

From the Snowy Peak District

 I was lucky enough to be taken away with my parents this Christmas. We spent a week in the snowy and icy Peak District in Derbyshire in England. My mother was born in the area and we still have some relations. It was wonderful to catch up with my aunt, uncle and cousin. I was filled in on some fascinating family history which has been lovingly traced by my uncle, right back to the mid 1700's! Amazing. We enjoyed many slow leisurely meals and long walks in the beautiful snow covered moors. All very idyllic and relaxing.

I made dinner for the family one evening. It being a holiday house I stuck to a simple supper. The inspiration came from a recipe by Tamasin Day-Lewis. I bought some Cumberland sausages from the local butcher. This butchers shop contained a staggering amount of pork pies. The back wall was lined 4 deep and 15 high. When we returned on Stephen's Day (Boxing Day in the UK) they were gone, all of them! I was amazed by the Christmas Pork Pie consumption of these Derbyshire Folk. I guess it must be a Christmas tradition. I was lucky enough to snap one up before they were all gone - and it must have been the best pork pie I've ever had. Perfect pastry, a little jelly on the meat and moist filling - perfect with some English mustard.

Ingredients

Serves 3

5 Cumberland Sausages - skins removed

3 rashers

1/4 of a head of green cabbage - finely sliced

4 potatoes - peeled and finely sliced

1/2 large onion (or 1 small) finely sliced

1 heaped tablespoon of grainy mustard

1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme

1/2 pint of stock

A few small knobs of butter (it's Christmas)
Seasoning

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees. Grill the rashers and cut into small pieces. In an oven proof dish make a layer of half of the cabbage, half the rashers and half the onion. Then top with the sausage meat - go on squish it out of the casing, it feels lovely! Make it into a rough layer. Top this with the grainy mustard and thyme. Then add the remaining cabbage, rashers and onion. Pour over your stock and a good grind of black pepper. Then top with the potato layer. Cover your dish with it's lid (or tin foil if you don't have a lid. The stock should be coming up past the first layer of cabbage and the sausage. As longs as the potatoes aren't covered it should be fine. Bake in the over for 1 hour and fifteen minutes. Top with freshly chopped parsley before serving with some steamed veg.

This is a lovely non-nonsense supper, that is really delicious despite it's modest ingredients. Greater than the sum of it's elements let's say. Quick and simple to put together and forget about while it bubbles away - yumbo!

Tweet

Chicken Rice

Tweet

Inspired by a meal I never ate in Singapore

On my travels in Thailand there were some anti government demonstrations that closed down all the airports. I had to travel overland through Thailand and Malaysia to get to Singapore to make a flight. The trip down was great fun and met some great people along the way, who were all in a similar position to me. So really felt like a bonus as I got to visit Kuala Lumpur and see parts of Malaysia. Also I got to visit my friend Alan who was living in Singapore at the time. This is the most incredible city for food - every corner is overflowing with amazing places to eat, every kind of food imaginable - super extra bonus food!

Alan's friends insisted on taking us to eat 'Chicken Rice' that she'd always had growing up. After some driving we arrived at the place only to discover it was closed, we found something else equally delicious to eat in an old golf club. The idea of the dish however never left me. This recipe is based on what I think chicken rice would have been like!

Ingredients

1 chicken

2 onions - peeled and halved

3 carrots - peeled and halved

2 sticks of celery - halved

1 thumbs length of ginger finely sliced

6 cloves of garlic gently crushed

1 red chili finely sliced
2 cups of rice (I used basmati) but any fragrant rice would be good

2 tablespoons of soy sauce

2 scallions finely sliced

1) Put the chicken, onions, carrots, celery, ginger, garlic and chili in a large saucepan. Cover with water and bring to the boil. Leave to simmer gently covered for about 2 hours.

2) Remove chicken and veg from the pot. Discard pieces of ginger, celery and most of the garlic.

3) Add the rice into the stock then bring to the boil. Simmer until the rice is cooked. 

4) Meanwhile shred the chicken, and chop up the carrots.

5) When the rice is nearly cooked add back in 4/5s chicken, carrots and add in the soy sauce. Serve scattered with some scallions and the remaining shredded chicken.

Perfect for a grey wintry day - oh yes! This dish is only a little Asian but very delicious

French Onion Soup

Tweet

Oniony Goodness

Onions and garlic both have great medicinal properties. What better way to enjoy them coming into colds and flu season, than in a rich and dark french onion soup and topped with melty guyere - in case you were feeling too virtuous!  

A big thanks again to Des Moriarty for the lovely photos

Serves 4

About 8 medium size onions

4 cloves garlic

1 tsp sugar

½ pint white wine

1 pint beef stock

1 tsp worcester sauce

1 small baguette 

Grated Guyere cheese or cheddar or conte

Peel the onions and chop them in half from root to stem. Then slice them thinly into semi-circles. Finely chop the garlic. Melt some butter and olive oil in a large pot and fry the onions and garlic with the sugar until everything has started to caramelise and turn a nice brown colour about 15 minutes.

Add the wine and stock and simmer for about 40 mins on a low heat. Add Worcester sauce, taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. When done, cut the baguette into slices, 2 or 3 per person and flash them quickly under the grill to toast on both sides. Grate the cheese. Ladle the hot soup into flameproof bowls and float the toast on top of the soup. Top the toast with the grated cheese and place under the hot grill until the cheese is melter and a bit bubbly. Serve with plenty of black pepper.

Chorizo and Waffle Hash

Tweet

Chorizo & Potato Waffle Hash

So the first post we ever made was the Waffle Omelette. At the time I wasn’t sure about having a blog, but decided to give it a try. I posted up the waffle omelette and then emailed the blog to Lola - and the rest is history, since then I’ve mostly posted my more serious recipes and pretended I never ate convenience foods. I do love potato waffles though - and have a box in the freezer for food emergencies- actually who am I lying to here - they’re there for hangover emergencies!

We made this the morning / afternoon after our dinner party and LOVED it, in the way you can only love food the morning after the night before.

Picture doesn't do this justice!

Serves 2
6 pieces of chorizo
1 onion
some garlic crushed
some red and yellow pepper - diced
Fresh thyme
fresh parsley
6 Birdseye potato waffles
2 eggs

Fry the  onion over a med/high heat along with the chorizo, after 2 mins throw in the garlic - cook for another two mins or so and then add in the thyme and peppers. While you’re doing this you can grill the waffles (it’s the only way for me!) Then in a separate pan- fry up two eggs as you like them (both our yokes cracked - but we weren’t prepared to start again.

When your waffles are crispy and golden brown - break them up - add to the chorizo and onion mixture - pile onto two plates top with a fried egg and a generous sprinkling of black pepper - and you‘re good to catch the re-run of x-factor.

Hash is an American invention - yes? Invented by cowboys I believe!

Porridge Chicken

Tweet

A step back in time Happy New Year - here's the first post of 2010 - and our 99th!

A while back somebody asked me what my favorite child hood food was. So up there with gammon steaks with pineapple, with mash and peas, was porridge chicken - maybe not the most attractive of names - but that is my mothers sense of humor.

I cooked a nice batch of this up and made it with bake potatoes and peas. Baked potatoes are good as they can cook along in the oven with the chicken. Also this was one of the recipes I took in my old Home Economics copy when I left home to go to college. The list makes for some interesting reading including great classics - like Sheppard’s pie, spaghetti bolognaise, macaroni cheese, barbecue sauce, chicken and mushroom pie (mash topping of course) and Chocolate biscuit cake.

Ingredients
1oz of plain flour
6 tablespoons of grated cheese – cheddar or similar
4oz of porridge oats
4oz butter or margarine melted
6 Chicken joints – like legs and thighs are perfect
Salt and Pepper

Melt your butter your butter in a large ovenproof dish or tin. Pat your chicken pieces dry on paper towels and then toss in the melted butter to coat. In a separate bowl combine all the other ingredients and season. Toss each piece of chicken in the mixture before returning to the ovenproof dish. Cook for 30 mins before turning and bake for a further 30 mins – till golden and crispy. Serve with baked potato and green salad or peas. I like to coat my baked potatoes in olive oil and some rock salt before baking to ensure a nice crispy skin – also don’t forget to prick your potatoes well before baking as they will explode – I can vouch for that!

Sausage and Lentil Supper

Tweet

Oh, Nigel!

Nigel Slater, I think I love you. Seriously, I love Nigel. Hes better than all of them, Jamie, Anthony, obviously, Hugh Fernley Whathisface, and even though it pains me to say it, he is better than Delia and even my idol Nigella. Everything he does is so amazingly simple and delicious, and he has an uncanny way of matching flavours and textures in the most basic ingredients so that his recipes sometimes look boring on paper but always work out spectacularly. His food is clean and frugal, but somehow at the same time luxurious and he uses way less fat and cream than Nigella, who, as fabulous as she is can go a bit over the top sometimes.

So I try and cook something from Nigel's Observer food column as often as possible, we've done his super delicious Lemon Posset before. A few weeks ago, Lu and I made this. True to form, it was amazing. AMAZING. You have to cook it. We stuck religiously to the recipe so I have just copied and pasted it from the observer website below. The pic is ours though.

Sausage and Lentil Supper

I make bean and sausage hotpots for winter weekends, leaving them to putter away in a slow oven until everyone comes in, freezing and begging to be fed. During the week I'd like to come back to that sort of thing, too, so I use this quick version. The parsley is crucial, as is a good meaty sausage. Serves 4.

2 tbsp olive oil

120g streaky bacon, diced

1 onion

1 large carrot

a rib of celery

300g green lentils

1 litre chicken stock

2 bay leaves

8 plump pork sausages

chopped parsley

Warm the oil in a deep, heavy casserole. Put the bacon in and let it cook over a medium heat so it colours lightly. Meanwhile, peel the onion, chop it finely and add to the bacon. Cut the carrot and celery into rough dice, and stir them in, letting them soften a little. Don't let them colour. Tip in the lentils, pour in the chicken stock, then tuck in the bay leaves and sausages, cut into short lengths if you prefer, and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat so the liquid simmers gently, season, then leave it for 30 minutes, stirring from time to time. Check the seasoning (I like it peppery), and stir in a handful of chopped parsley.

Isn't he lovely?

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Tweet

After the Party....

so it was Sarah's birthday and we had a party, there's was enough mess and chaos to lead me to believe we were all 16 again, raiding your parents drinks cabinet, and drinking the concoction of 6 different spirits mixed into a coke bottle.

Let's just say some of my plants were quite the worse for wear afterwards, including the basil and chili plant, so based on this unplanned harvest I made this nice meal, and fed it to my brother who was visiting before returning to his home in the snowy French alps.

Ingredients -
sauce 1 white onion - finely diced
12 tomatoes - skinned if you prefer and then diced
nice bunch of home-grown basil
1 home grown chili
2 cloves of garlic crushed
1 pound of minced beef
1 large potato - mashed
1 egg
marjoram and thyme (fresh or dried)
Grated Parmesan - a grand old lump - grated
a cup of breadcrumbs
Spaghetti cooked to your liking - my secret confession is I like mini squishy - very non-foodie I know!

I made the sauce first and let that cook away while I made the meatballs and then spaghetti while I cooked the meatballs. Fry the onion up in some olive oil for a minute or two before adding the garlic and sliced chili - cook it all until, it's softened nicely - then add in your tomatoes. Season. Bring to a gentle simmer and cover.

Cook for about 30-40 mins until it's thickened up nicely, it's perfectly ok to use tinned tomatoes here, I just had lots of tomatoes that day. I always add in a small teaspoon of sugar to sauces made using tinned tomatoes.

In a clean bowl - mix together the meat, breadcrumbs, grated Parmesan, herbs and mashed potato. Season. Then bind it all together with the egg. This made about 16 meatballs, and three is a big serving, so have some for tomorrow - make your own Meatball subs if you fancy.

Roll each bit of mixture into golf ball sized balls, then coat them in the breadcrumbs. Heat some oil in a pan and cook your meatballs in batches of around 5 or so. Turn gently and brown evenly on as many sides as you can. Serve them on top of a bowl of spaghetti and topped with some of your tomato sauce. These were just super and perfect for a Sunday night in by the fire.

Cauliflower Cheese Soup

Tweet

The trilogy is complete!

So, on Monday there was still a load of chicken broth left that I had made the day before out of the left overs of Saturdays Roast Chicken, so I used it as stock to whip up his little number. Yes, that's right, I got THREE meals out of one! Don't you know there is a recession on? No throwing away useful stuff, though I do draw the line at saving potato peelings....

I know my recipes on the blog have been a bit soup heavy of late, but the truth is, I really love soup. And there's more to come so no complaining, Ok? Soup is delicious, quick to make, and really healthy. Granted, this one is bit naughty as soups go, as it has cheese and milk in it, but its really yummy s0 what harm once in a while?! At least its not a deep fried mars bar.

Ingredients:

1 white onion

3 cloves garlic

1 whole cauliflower

1 large potato, diced

1 Litre of chicken (or veg) stock

1/2 Litre Milk

about 100g grated white cheddar (more if y0u like!)

Chop the onion and garlic and saute them in a large pot in some olive oil. When they are soft add the cauliflower, cut up into small florets, and the diced potato. Pour in the stock and simmer until the veg is very soft (about 15-20 mins). Liquidise this until very smooth using a stick blender, and then and add the milk. Bring back up to simmering point, take off the heat and add the grated cheddar. Stir to melt it into the soup, taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. A teaspoon of mustard stirred in can be good too.

Tasty Filling Barley Stew

Tweet

Come share with me your pearls of wisdom, and give us some of your soup while your at it

I have loved pearl barley ever since I was a kid and my mum would put it into Irish stew. I wanted to make a nice barley filled chunky soup, this soup however got so thick it turned into a stew!

Ingredients
2 onions finely diced
2 cloves of garlic
3 carrots diced
3 sticks of celery finely sliced
3 small potatoes cubed
1 cup of pearl barley
1.5 pints of stock
6 leaves of sage shopped (can use dried if you like)
Sprig of rosemary - chopped
Salt and pepper
Oil of choice

Fry up your onion for 1 minute in your oil over a medium heat, then add in your garlic, rosemary and sage- cook until soft and translucent. Stir in your barley and fill up with stock, bring to a gentle boil. You can now use this time to prepare your vegetables. After about 20 mins of simmering pop in your veg and potatoes. Leave to simmer for another 20 mins until the barley is soft with a little bite and the potatoes are cooked. Serve!

Of you want a more soupy consistency - just add more stock

Potato and Lovage soup

Tweet

All my Lovage....

I have been pretty remiss with the posting lately... Lu has been doing most of the blog work. I've been on a diet ever since the total blow out of New York so have not been cooking or baking to my usual standard. Anyway I'm kinda getting back into it now, and since the weather is getting colder, I'm going to share the recipe for a lovely and quite unusual soup, along the lines of leek and potato but including the lovely, peppery taste of Lovage.

I think Lovage is a herb, My mum grew a load of it this summer in her garden and didn't quite know what to do with it at first. Actually, wikipedia tells me its not a herb but is related to the celery family. I used it like this:

Potato and Lovage Soup.

Ingredients

1 large bunch lovage

4 large spuds

4 sticks celery

2 white onions

4 cloves garlic

1L good veg or chicken stock.

salt & pepper

Chop up the potatoes into inch sized cubes, finely chop the lovage leaves (not the stalks), onions, celery and garlic. Chop everything, actually.

Sweat the onions and garlic in a large saucepan until they are well softened. Add the celery and cook another 4 mins. Add the potatoes and cover them with the stock (you might not need to use all the stock, it should cover the potatoes by about an inch).

Simmer the mixture for about 15 mins, until the potatoes are soft all the way through. Then add half of the lovage and simmer another 3 or 4 mins. Using a stick blender (my favorite kitchen tool!) whizz everything up until its smooth. Then add the remaining lovage and season with the salt and pepper to taste.

Serve. Delicious & healthy and filling enough for my dinner. No more massive New York dinners for me, oh no!

Spicy Bean Quesadilla

Tweet

The Happy Mexican

There’s no accounting for cravings now is there? Mushed up kidneys beans, yeah that’s pretty much what I want right now, oh yes. So I decided upon a Mexican quesadilla with a nice spicy bean mixture in. It satisfied my craving nicely - even if it refused to photograph well - so I went photoshop crazy on it - sorry the photos are a state - but I didn't want to do them twice.

Recently I have been using fresh tomatoes in sauces when I can, instead of tinned, which really gives the flavour a nice edge. They cook down faster than you think. Cooking tomatoes actually increases their anti-oxidant levels unlike most veg, which is great news. Lycopene the anti-oxidant found in tomatoes, is specifically known for decreasing the risk of heart-disease, happy Mexicans.

Ingredients
5 fresh tomatoes
4 spring onions
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
Fresh thyme
1 tin of kidney beans drained
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 peppers roasted/grilled and skinned see here for instructions
Grated Cheese
Flour tortillas

Fry up your onion and garlic in a little oil until translucent. Add in your thyme and cayenne pepper, stir for about 1 min before adding in the chopped tomatoes and beans, stir until the tomatoes begin to cook down a little. Season. Turn down, cover and leave to cook for a 10 minutes or so. It’s done when the tomatoes are cooked down nice - it’ll be pretty thick, because you want a nice paste texture. Squish down the beans with the back of the spoon.

In a clean frying pan place one tortilla, add on top a layer of beany mush, a few roasted peppers, spring onions and some grated cheese. Top with another tortilla and give it a bit of a squash down. Place over a medium head - cook for 2/3 minutes, turn over (carefully) and give the next side 2/3 mins. Keep your eye on it or it’ll burn (not looking at anyone in particular here!) Serve with sour cream with chives or guacamole (neither of which I had sadly) but it was still really good.

This would be great to use up some leftover chicken, or chili. Throw in whatever beans you like or have to hand, some courgette and corn would also work well. Fresh chilli's would also be great in the sauce or de-seeded as a topping

Linguine with Chorizo and Shallots

Tweet

Chef's secret

Lola had recently been reading 'Kitchen confidential' by Anthony Bourdain. In it he reveals the secret of delicious restaurant food, so wait for it - drumroll please........

It's Butter and shallots, so to put this to the test we devised this simple pasta dish - and by all accounts it was very, very tasty indeed. Maybe not the healthiest advice to follow everyday, but every once in a while, sure what's the harm. 4 shalots, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

about 10 slices of chorizo, chopped into squares

Butter
olive oil

2 tbsps creme fraiche

lots of grated Parmesan

S & P

Cook the linguine the way you like it. Meanwhile, saute the chopped shallot and garlic in a frying pan with a big dollop of butter until soft & translucent. Add the chorizo and cook until it has released some of its red oils into the pan. Add the cooked linguine to the pan with the shallot/chorizo. Stir in the creme fraiche, and another glug of olive oil and half the Parmesan. With a spoon and a fork, toss everything about until evenly coated. Season, and serve topped with the extra Parmesan.We're off to the Electric Picnic tomorrow morning, we may well be heading here for a few snacks during the weekend - looks great. If we're together enough we may even try to review some of the food.....we'll see

Homefries

Tweet

Like they do in NY diners
Well truth be told - they probably only have potatoes and onions in common, but that's what sprang to mind when I was making them so that's what they're called. This is just another way to enjoy a big bowl of potatoes - and sure lash in whatever you fancy - meat, herbs, spices, cheese...

6/8 boiled new potatoes cubed
1 onion chopped in large chunks
3 cloves of galic sliced thinly
1/2 teaspoon of Cumin Seeds
1 teaspoon Poppy seeds
1 teaspoon of grainy mustard
1 teaspoon of honey
salt and pepper
grated cheese - optional
A few sprigs of fresh Rosemary
Olive Oil

Heat up you oil in a frying pan, then fry your cumin seeds and rosemary for 30 seconds before adding in the onion and garlic. Cook this until it starts to become translucent. Then add in the potatoes and poppy seeds. Cook for a few minutes to heat through the potatoes. Then stir in the mustard, honey and seasoning. Cook this until the edges of your potatoes and onion start to blacken slightly. Top with cheese to melt it just before serving. This would be great with some nice red peppers, cauliflower or some roasted squash. Also would be nice to fry some chorizo at the start so that the spicy red oil could get into it all. Great as a main, or a nice side.

Borscht

Tweet

You cant Beat that Root!

Soups I have loved....

I have quite a vivid memory of my maternal Grandmother making Borscht, which is odd because I was very young when she died. I think I must have remembered it so clearly because the soup was such an amazing colour... so bright pink it's like something you would get in a sweet shop! I have a similar memory of my mother's Italian friend Fiorella feeding me bright green pea soup and being a little distressed, so she told me to close my eyes and pretend it wasn't green. It was so delicious my little 5 year old self resolved to try every food from then on, even if it looked a bit scary. SO I guess technically I have Fio to thank for my culinary obsessions now...I really must ask her for that pea soup recipe!

Anyway, my grandmother Frankie was a second generation polish immigrant, so id like to think that her version of this soup was totally authentic. I know my Mum has it written down somewhere, but I've cobbled this version together through reading various recipes and adapting them. Real authentic borscht involves braising and finely chopping a knuckle of beef, and making your own stock. It takes a LONG time... longer than 20 mins, which is how long my version takes. Also, real borscht should involve chopped chunks, and not be liquidised, but I prefer it smooth. This version is super easy, but still has the amazing concentrated beef and beetroot flavours and that essential sourness that is provided by the vinegar. It is important to use a good beef stock, Knorr stock pots are the most useful invention since the bread knife!

Continuing on the soup theme, my mum also makes the best chicken soup (recipe courtesy of Nana Frankie) which I will blog as soon as the weather turns nasty. Its a fail safe if you are feeling cold-y, flu-ey, or just a bit of the winter blues. Actually , I'm kind of looking forward to winter now that I think if it!

Ok, enough rambling, now for the recipe!

1 red onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, sliced

5-6 beetroots (raw! Don't buy the vacuum packed cooked kind!)

1 Litre good beef stock

2 dessert spoons good red wine vinegar

dollop sour cream to serve

In a large saucepan, saute the onion and garlic in a little olive oil until they are soft and translucent. Peel and chop the beetroots into cubes that are about an inch in diameter (if you want you can use rubber gloves as they do satin your hands quite a bit). Add these to the pot and cover them with the stock. Simmer for about 20 mins or until the vegetables are tender.

Using a stick blender, whizz everything up until it is smooth. (Alternatively, if you don't have a blender, you could chop the beetroots into very small cubes, simmer until tender and serve that way. Or you could pass them through a sieve. All this is just hard work. Buy a stick blender. They cost less that €20 and you can use them for SO many things!)

Add the vinegar and stir. taste, and adjust the seasoning if you think it needs salt and pepper, or more vinegar. The vinegar is important as it totally changes the flavour. you could use lemon juice either, but vinegar is nicer, a bit more 'pickley' I think.

This soup is really really healthy by itself. If you want to make it less healthy, serve it with a big dollop of sour cream. I didn't have any so I just used normal cream for the photos.

Spicy Roast Butternut Squash and Lentil Soup/Dal

Tweet

Soup? Dal? whatever, its delicious

You know sometimes you just get it right? I wanted to make butternut squash soup and for some reason decided to use lentils to pad it out instead of potatoes or whatever. I go through phases of having cravings for rice and dal, and making industrial quantities of both, so it made sense to me to make this soup in the way that I would make dal: cooking the onions and spices separately and adding everything together at the end. I seriously hit on a winner. It looks beautiful as all the ingredients are yellow and the turmeric just increases the intense colour. Also, this was the tastiest soup ever (not counting my Nana's chicken soup, which I will blog come winter). Fenugreek and Asa foetida are new spices for me, I added them on Lu's recommendation, you could leave them out but I think they really gave it an extra kick and an authentically indian flavour. I don't think I will ever make butternut squash soup any other way again.

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash

200 grams red or yellow lentils (I used a mix of both)

1 onion

4 cloves garlic

3/4 pint vegetable stock

4 tablespoons Ghee (or 3 tblsp veg oil, 2 tbsps butter, but flavour will not be as good)

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

2 teaspoons coriander seeds

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 3cm thick slice of ginger

1/2 teaspoon cumin powder

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder

1/4 teaspoon fenugreek powder

1/4 teaspoon asa foetida powder

Begin by cutting the squash in half, removing the seeds, and placing an unpeeled clove of garlic into each of the cavities. Sprinkle with oil and season, and roast in a very hot oven for about 3/4 of an hour or until soft enough to scoop the flesh out with a spoon. Meanwhile,

wash the lentils well, place in a pot, cover and simmer them in about 3 times as much water along with the turmeric and ginger.

When the lentils are totally soft, discard the ginger. Remove the cooked squash from the oven, scoop out all the flesh and add it to the pot with the lentils and their remaining cooking water. Peel the roasted garlic cloves and add them in too. pour in the hot vegetable stock (you might not need the full amount of stock, depending on how much of the cooking water evaporated when you were cooking the lentils. It also depends on how thick you like your soup. I prefer mine a little on the thin side) Using a hand held stick blender, whizz up the lentil and squash mixture until it is smooth

Finely chop your onion and the two remaining garlic cloves. Heat the ghee in a small pan until really hot. Add the seeds first, and remove from the heat. They will darken and fill the kitchen with a wonderful aroma. Then add the rest of the spices, followed by the onion and garlic. Cover the pot and gently saute the mixture until the onions are totally soft.

Bring the soup mixture to simmering point, and add the hot onions and spices infused oil. Stir until everything is incorporated, and serve.