French Onion Soup

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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.

Thick Minestrone Soup

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Mammy Minestrone

Yup so this is a minestrone I made with my mum while home over the bank holiday. I decided to make it when I saw how much lovely homegrown spinach that they had in their cupboard. Then I forgot to add it in - whoops- well it was still a great soup and a nice filling lunch that got me the whole way back to Dublin in the car without any belly rumbles.

Ingredients

 1 white onion finely diced
2 cloves of garlic finely sliced
6 fresh tomatoes (chopped, skinned if you like)
3 carrots diced
3 sticks of celery finely sliced
big bunch of green beans cut into whatever size pieces you like
1 tin of mixed beans
1 tablespoon of tomato puree
3 handfuls of dry pasta (whatever shapes you like)
1 sprig of thyme
1 bunch of parsley
1 pint of vegetable stock
A couple of handfuls of basil leaves

To Garnish 

freshly grated Parmesan
basil leaves
 
Fry your onion over a medium heat for two minutes before adding in the garlic. Cook until the onion begins to soften, then add in the diced carrots and celery. Cook for a further 5 minutes. Then add in the sprig of thyme, the bay leaf, tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes begin to soften. Then stir in all the other ingredients, except the basil, mix well and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for about 12-14 minutes until the pasta shapes are cooked. Stir in the fresh basil just before serving and garnish with a few leaves and a generous grating of Parmesan. Enjoy with some nice brie and a glass of good red wine.

I only used about 1/2 litre of stock in this and it turned out very thick, so I recommended more stock in the recipe to make for a more liquid soup. I love cooking with my mum, she ways things like 'what'll I chop next?' and 'I'll get that from the garden' the perfect cooking partner

Thanks Mum!

Oven Baked Lamb Burgers in Mediterranean Sauce

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Maybe more of stew than a sauce

This recipe was started off by catching a wiff of barbecued burgers in town whilst having a drink. So it was decided - some juicy tasty burgers for dinner - oh yes! We picked up all we needed on Mary Street, from the Asian food company - one of my favourite shops in town.

IngredientsFor the burgers
3/4 pound of minced lamb
1 white onion - finely diced
1 tablespoon ground cumin
 a good grate of fresh nutmeg
2 tablespoons of ketchup
1 slice of bread - crumbed

For the sauce
3 mini aubergines (cause they're cute) finely sliced
1 white onion diced
3 cloves of garlic sliced finely
1 large green chili - seeds removed
1/2 red pepper - diced
1/2 yellow pepper - diced
1/2 courgette - diced
8 large tomatoes roughly chopped
1/2 litre vegetable stock
2 tablespoons fresh parsley

Start by making the burgers. Basically mix all the ingredients together in a big bowl - you’ll have to use your hands for sure. Then form into 6 burger shapes, and place in an oven proof dish and refrigerate while you make the sauce.

For the sauce fry the aubergine in a  little olive oil until it starts to colour a little - add in the onion and some more oil if needed and cook for another few minutes before adding the garlic and chilli. After another few minutes add in the peppers and courgette. Cook these until the soften ever so slightly - then add in all your chopped tomatoes. Bring to a gentle simmer and cover until the tomatoes begin to beak apart. Then add in about 1/2 little of vegetable stock. Allow to simmer for a few minutes, then remove from the heat and pour over your burgers in an oven proof dish - the sauce should cover the burgers - remember it will cook down in the oven.

Bake at gas mark 6 for about an hour. Serve with a sprinkle of parsley and some oven baked chips (ours turned out tasting of lemons, so Delo ran to the chipper - weekend boldness!) 

The burgers came out wonderfully moist and the vegetable mixture cooked down to produce a rich, sweet and dense sauce. I don’t want my burgers any other way! They would be equally as tasty with beef mince, I’d have added some harissa to the mixture if I’d had some to hand for sure. Endless variations possible here - with different vegetables and meats.  Tonight I’ll eat the leftovers in a fresh floury bap - looking forward to it already.

Pea and mint soup

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Absolutely minted.

I have blogged before about my early childhood experience of brightly coloured soups before. So suffice to say that this version of pea soup is so quick its almost instant. Fresh, bright green and delicious. I served it with the aforementioned homemade sourdough bread on a gorgeous spring afternoon. Its a winner all round.

1 small onion chopped

1 clove garlic chopped

1 500g pack frozen peas

500ml good vegetable stock

a handful fresh mint leaves, chopped

Saute the onion and garlic in a small glug of olive oil in a roomy pot until they are soft and transluscent. Add the peas to the pot and the hot stock. Bring back up to the boil. At this point the peas will be cooked. Add half the mint and blitz the whole lot in a blender or with a stick blender. Season to taste. To serve add the rest of the mint. Thats it!

Some chopped grilled bacon added in to this would be really good too.

Mexican Chilli Soup with Black Beans & Corn

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Blacker than the Fires of Hell

Look at these - they're pasilla chillies, yes they're black, they're the size of your head, and they're the main ingredient of this soup. I did take the seeds out. As me and Lola learned at the Mexican Embassy in August of last year, in real Mexican cooking they use chillies, like we use tea - everywhere and all the time - oh yes! I found these chillies in Fallon & Byrne, and snapped them up as I've no idea where else to get the in Dublin.

This is a genuine Mexican meal, unlike my interpretations of other Mexican dishes. This soup is amazing, not as hot as you'd think, though it does pack a punch. It's a whole range of taste that is new to me, which is very exciting

Ingredients

4 large pasilla chillies

4 large tomato - quartered

1 large red onion

1 teaspoon of dried garlic (there was no fresh - the shame!)

1 pint of chicken stock

1 can of corn

1 tin of black beans

1 red onion

1/2 teaspoon of paprika

2 flour tortillas - cut into strips

Some vegetable oil

Grated cheddar

Over a flame - hold your chilies, until they become a little bit more pliable, like leather. Break them apart and remove the seeds and stem. Cover them in a bowl with a little boiling water. allow to steep for 10 minutes or so. 

Cook your onion over a medium heat until translucent. Add in the garlic and paprika, cook for another minute or two. Then stir in the stock, tomatoes, chillies and soaking water along with the black beans, retaining a few of these for garnish. Cook for 35-40 minutes at a very gentle simmer.

Remove from the heat and liquidise. Then stir in the corn.

In a frying pan - heat up 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil and when hot, fry the tortilla strips until golden brown. Garnish the bowls of soup with a few of these strips and a little grated cheese (none for you vegans). Divine, I do highly recommend trying this soup, also good served with some chopped avocado or fresh coriander. Or spring onions, feic I had them in the fridge and all - oh well, cooks regret ...

Beetroot & Celeriac Gratin

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This is a very simple recipe that I got from the Irish Times this weekend - by Domini Kemp. it sounded tasty and involved a turnip that had been hiding in my veg drawer for some time, so that was enough to convince me!

It's a nice simple dish that would be great served along side some roast beef and horseradish.

Ingredients

1 head of celeriac - finely sliced

2 small beetroot finely sliced

1/2 turnip - finely sliced

3 cloves of garlic crushed

300 mls of cream 

Some fresh nutmeg

Seasoning - quite a bit is neede

Layer all of your veg up in an oven proof dish. Mix together the cream, seasoning and the nutmeg. Pour this over the veg and bake at 150 or gas mark four for an hour and a half. Check that it's not drying out after about an hour - if it's getting too crispy - just pop the lid on.

The beetroot gives this dish a nice pink hue and celeriac a nice texture. It's covered in a thin crispy top which gives way to layers and layers of delicious creamy sauce and bright dashes of colour.

Roast Pear & Parsnip Soup

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The Bare Necessities

My sister in law Jessica is the healthiest person I know. She's a veggie who rarely indulges in sugar, wheat or dairy and as a result she is never sick, has a figure that I would kill for and perfect, skin, hair, teeth etc etc. Her two year old has never had a cold or any other ailment in her life. Go figure...
 

Anyway, Jessica is also a great cook and over the years has become adept at making delicious recipes with none of the naughty stuff included, but you would hardly know. I'm talking baked goods here, chocolate brownies, muffins and the like with no sugar wheat or dairy but still amazingly light and delish. (I'm angling for a guest blog from her some time soon!). I was telling her about our vegetable box and the fact that we had a surplus of parsnips, and she suggested I try making pear and parsnip soup. So I did, and here is my version of what sounds like a strange combination... its pretty sweet but if you don't eat any refined sugar I guess it could be a nice treat if you have a sweet craving. In typical me - style, I ate it with toast slathered in butter and melted cheese, which kind of defeats the purpose of such a healthy, satisfying and filling soup.
 

Ingredients

1 onion
6-8 parsnips
1 pear
1 ltr veg stock 

salt & pepper

Cut up the onion into 8ths, peel the parsnips and cut them lengthwise into quarters and then cut these quarters in half. Cut the pear in half and remove the core. Place everything on a roasting tray and drizzle with olive oil. Roast in a hot oven for about 3/4 of an hour until the parsnips are soft all the way through.

Transfer to a large saucepan and add the hot stock. Using a stick blender, whizz everything together until smooth. If you think it's too thick, add more stock. Season to taste.

Reheat and serve!

Paneer Tomato & Green Bean Masala

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So it's been a while since we went to the land of curry. I'm on a bit of an 'eat less meat buzz' right now, and I had some paneer lurking in my fridge for a week or two now. I think I should prob brush up on new Indian recipes, I've fallen into a rut with the spices and herbs I use - but hey they work - so why change!

Paneer is a lovely dense cheese, used in Indian cooking, like tofu, but much nicer. It comes in a block, and can be added to curries and cooked in the mixture, or I prefer to fry it a little to give it a nice golden brown colour and then allowing it to bubble away in the mixture to absorb all the depth and spice of your chosen curry. I made a Panner Butter Masala which is delicious, creamy and rich, make this if you feel like a treat, this however is a more healthy way of using this great cheese - inspired by the delicious food served at Govindas if you've never been it's well worth trying one of their three restaurants in Dublin City for a HUGE portion of healthy delicious food.

Ingredients

I block of paneer - cut into small cubes 2cm squares

2 small red onions - finely diced

4 large tomatoes - chopped (skins removed if you prefer)

3 cloves garlic crushed

1 inch of ginger root grated

a handful of green beans cut in half

1 red chilli (seeds optional - I optioned them in!)

1 teaspoon of mustard seeds

1 teaspoon of cumin seeds

1 teaspoon of turmeric

1 teaspoon masala curry powder

1 pinch of asa foetida (optional)

3 curry leaves (bay leaves will do)

3 cardamon pods

1/2 teaspoon of funugreek (ground)

1/4 stock cube

First dry roast the whole spices (mustard seeds, cumin and cardamon seeds) in a dry frying pan for a few minutes until fragrant. Remove to pestle and mortar and crush to release the flavors. The heat some oil in your frying pan and fry the cubes of paneer 10 or so at a time - till a nice golden colour on a few sides. Then remove to a plate and continue till they're all done.

Alternatively - use a pre-mixed spice - like garam-masala - or any type of curry powder/paste that you  have, don't let my extensive list of spices put you off!  

Add in the onion, cook for one minute before adding in the garlic and ginger. Cook these for several minutes until the onion is translucent. Then stir in your crushed spices and cook for a further minute or two, then add in the dried spices and stir. After this tip in the chopped tomatoes and stock cube add a little water and bring up to simmer, cover and leave o cook for about 20-25 minutes. Before you're ready to serve put the green beans on top of the curry - cover for two minutes, and then shy should be cooked but not mushy, stir well and serve.

I serve this with some jasmine rice and a side of aloo-gobi.

All veggies came from our box from Fruitfellas - I feel healthier just looking at this!

Roasted pepper and butternut squash soup

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All the Kings Veg

The aforementioned Fruitfellas box of goodies arrived and we found we suddenly had what seemed like several hundred red and yellow peppers in the fridge and in the box, and we needed to do something with them. The communal fruit/veg bowl also harboured half a butternut squash that was approaching the end of its time on earth. Something needed to be done. Fast.

So of course, we made soup, and very delicious it was too.

Roasted pepper and butternut squash soup

1/2 a large butternut squash

6 red and yellow peppers

handful cherry tomatoes or 2 normal tomatoes, quartered

1 head garlic

about 1 pint light stock (chicken or veg)

Olive oil

salt and pepper

Peel and slice the squash and place in your largest roasting tin along with the tomatoes and the deseeded peppers which have been cut into quarters. Bash the head of garlic so that it comes apart but don't peel the cloves. Add them to the tin and drizzle everything with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Roast in the oven at 200c or about 40 mins or until the squash is totally soft and the peppers are browned.

Transfer the vegetables to a saucepan. Peel the roasted garlic cloves and add these in too. add in the stock until it just covers the vegetables in the saucepan. Using a stick blender, whizz everything together until smooth. If its too thick, add a bit more stock until you get to the consistency you like.

Season to taste and serve with !

Vegan Veggie Burritos

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Yup you heard that right - veganNow that's true until you top it with cheddar - but burritos are a handy option if you ever have to feed a mixture of Vegan/Veggies and Carnivores all at once. Throw lots of stuff into little bowls - give people tortillas and let them build their own.

Lola braved the outside world to get the ingredients for our dinner tonight - so I had these ready when she got back (by ready I mean shouting down the stairs at her to check the rice when she came in wet and cold!) Sorry honey I love you really.

Now I bought some black turtle beans which are super good for you, they were on my list of superfoods back in May. Unfortunately they require soaking for 24 hours and then boiling for 45mins - so I put them on to soak yesterday - super organised me, so super organised I mis-read a 24 hour clock and was an hour early meeting my friends for a gig - how the bouncers laughed. The place wasn't even open!

Ingredients
Tortilla wraps
For the re fried beans
I cup of black turtle beans
I onion
2 cloves of garlic
Big slurp of olive oil
sprig of rosemary
Salt
1 teaspoon ground coriander
big pink of chili flakes
1 teaspoon paprika

For the 'slaw
1 big leaf of cabbage finely sliced
1 large carrot grated
2 teaspoons of sesame seeds
1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon olive oil

Other toppings
beetroot
pickled chillies
Tomatoes with coriander
Grated cheddar (not for the vegans)
Brown rice
Avocado or guacamole
sour cream
Cucumber
anything that tickles you fancy

Soak your beans overnight, then cover with water and bring to the boil with the sprig of rosemary. Simmer for 40 mins. Drain and then add salt after cooking, this helps reduce the unwanted side effects of eating beans, and stops the skin on the beans from hardening - you want to be able to mush your beans up.

In a frying pan - fry the onion and garlic in a little olive oil till translucent and fragrant. then add in your three spices (add some ground cumin to if you have it -but I'd run out - damn) Cook for a minute before adding in your beans. Stir it all up and then give the beans a mush with the back of your spoon - break them up as much as you like - you can even use your potato masher.

For the healthy coleslaw - combine all the ingredients in a bowl - and leave to stand for a while if you have the time - it's nice sometimes to toast the sesame seeds under the grill until they're golden and crispy.Serve all your sides in little bowls and get building your burrito

Guest Chef no.2

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Lu's Mum - Braised Red Cabbage

I was about to write this recipe like I'd cooked it - but I didn't. When I arrived home to Limerick on the train this Friday night - it was waiting for me - along some bangers and mash. It's one of my favourite ways to prepare a vegetable - a could eat an entire bowl - piping hot! The only other place I've seen red cabbage recently is inside a kebab.

The recipe is edited by my mum - but originates from the Paupers Cookbook by Jocasta Innes - first published in 1971. Having a quick flick through it mentions unpasteurised milk and tongue, which have slipped off my everyday radar. Though it gives some shopping lists and then provides recipes for the whole week - using up leftovers from previous days etc which is pretty interesting. I did spot a nice recipe for homemade yogurt - which I wouldn't mind trying

Back to the point -

Ingredients

1 small head of red cabbage - finely sliced

1 large onion - diced

1 large cooking apple - cored and chopped

2 oz butter

2 tablespoons of brown sugar

2 tablespoons of vinegar

6 cloves

Salt

Pepper

In a pan - melt the butter, then add in your vegetables and apple until they are evenly coated. Then stir in the sugar, cloves and vinegar. Cover with a well fitting lid, turn down the heat and leave to cook for 1.5 hours.

When cooked it's sweet and spicy and the most beautiful deep purple. I can't think of any dish right now that has such strong colour, well apart from beetroot. Great with bangers and mash. This vegetable dish improves with time - giving the flavours time to deepen - so cook loads and eat it today and tomorrow - you'll want to!

Guest Chef no.1

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The fabulous Mr James Earley

Our good friend from college has just moved into the city centre, so on Sat afternoon me and Lola arrived at his door (along with the NTL man) to inspect the new gaff. Well what a view - he also was so good as to provide us with some delicious dinner - which he has kindly agreed to share with us all.

He prepared it in no time - got the lamb from the Asia Market in town - it was sliced super fine. I thought it was parma ham when I first saw it raw. I was surprised by the simplicity of the recipe - so here it is in the words of the man himself

Soy Lamb stir fry

– 1/3 kg thin cut lamb (courtesy of the Asian Market)

– 1/2 a large bag of bean sprouts

– 1 tin of water chestnuts

– 1 bag of Pak Choi

– 1 pack of green beans

– Egg Noodles

– 200ml Soy Sauce
– and possibly a dash of chili oil too

– Cook the lamb in a wok/frying pan with a little sesame oil, on a high heat, keep stirring till nice and brown

– Throw in the veg when the lamb‘s cooked, toss for 2/3 mins till cooked but still crispy

– Pour soy sauce in when the veg is nearly done.

– Cook your noodles separately as the veg is cooking.

– Drain the noodles, mix in with the lamb and veg.

– Serve!

Spicy Bean Quesadilla

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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

Ratatouille

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Last of the holiday posts I've prob written enough about my holiday now, and lord knows I've been back a month now and only just catching up on the posts now..... Ratouille seems like a very simple thing to post, but this tasted so good and satisfying. It's the most wonderfully satisfying veg stew there is and topped with some grated emmental and drowned in red wine it's no wonder. Makes a perfect side dish - or can be served on pasta as a main meal in itself. 1 onion
1 red pepper
1 courgette
2 cups red wine
6 tomatoes - diced
Salt
Pepper
Fresh parsley
3cloves of garlic - sliced super thin
Olive Oil

Heat up your oil, fry your garlic for one minute before adding in the onion, Cook till translucent, then add in your peppers and courgette, fry these for about 3-4 mins, then tip in your tomatoes, and allow to cook for two mins before adding in the wine. Simmer for about 10-15 mins - it might seem like a while, but I find it takes that long to cook up together. Sprinkle with parsley before serving, oh yes and some cheese. Check out the action shot of the sausage cooking Delo got - very clever

Artichokes al Fresco

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We bought and artichoke and looked at it in confusion for several days, being in a field with no internet - how would we ever know what to do with it.

So I went for an easy option of wrapping it in tinfoil, throwing in some butter and garlic and throwing it on the barbeque. After cutting away the stalk and the tops of the leaves, we cooked it for about 15-20 minutes. Then peeled ff the outside leaves, and nibbled the ends covered in butter, then took away the flowery parts in the centre to reveal a nicely cooked heart

Good guess work, now to find out how you're really supposed to cook them....

Aloo Gobi

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This turned out very exotic - with left over cauliflower & garlic from France and potatoes from my Dads garden in Limerick. Well maybe exotic isn't quite the word for it...

Anyway - curry and potatoes are a match made in heaven and I was keen to use some of the fenugreek and asa foetida I had bought recently and not had a chance to experiment with yet.

Ingredients
1/2 head of cauliflower - cut into florets
4 potatoes medium cubed
4 cloves of garlic sliced thinly
Fresh chilli finely sliced to taste
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 table spoon of ghee (or use oil)
1 teaspoon of fenugreek
1/2 teaspoon of asa Foetida
1 teaspoon of medium masala curry powder
3 onions

Heat your ghee in a pan along with the mustard seeds when they start to pop add in your ground spices and stir for a minute, before adding in the onion and garlic and chilli. Cook until they are soft and translucent. Then add in your potato cubes and florets of cauliflower, add a dash of water to the pan, and then cover. Cook for 10-15 mins, stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn't stick, until the potatoes are cooked and the cauliflower is cooked with still some bite left.

Serve with your favourite naan, spiced rice or dahl. Like this yummy tomato dahl. Sprig of rosemary was for photo purposes only!

Tomato and Courgette Gratin

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Vegetable gratin: do you see a theme developing here?

I know, more French food! Actually I didn't realise until just now that most of what I have been cooking has had a distinctly Gallic theme, ever since Lucy went to France. I must be subconsciously living vicariously through her through the medium of cookery. We definitely have some kind of psychic thing going on... how strange...

anyway, I went through a phase of making this recipe loads, and had kind of forgotten about it. Why, I don't know as its amazing and very easy. This particular combination is inspired by one of Delia Smith's recipes, but modified somewhat by me. Vege

table gratins take much less time to cook than potato gratins, and you can leave out the cream if you want to be good and replace it with a little olive oil. You can also use any combinations of vegetables you have lying around, I have used mushrooms, parsnips, peppers, broccoli, carrots, all with great success. Courgette and aubergines only work if you fry them first, as I have done below. Otherwise they go a bit slimy.

Serves 4

2 courgettes

6 tomatoes

1 clove garlic

dried basil or oregano

100 ml cream or 2 tbsps olive oil

Parmesan or white cheddar cheese to grate over

salt & pepper

Cut the garlic clove in half and rub all over the inside of a shallow oven proof dish. Grease the dish with olive oil. Slice the courgette and fry the slices in hot olive oil until browned both sides. Slice the tomatoes. Layer the cooked courgettes and raw tomatoes in overlapping rows, like roof tiles. You can also add some butter in amongst the veg slices for extra decadence but I try not to. Crush the garlic and flick it evenly over the vegetables. Pour the cream or olive oil over everything and top with a couple of hand fulls of grated cheese and salt and pepper. Bake in a medium over (about 250c) for half an hour or until golden brown and bubbly.

This is great served with a green salad and french bread, or as we did, as a side dish to a meat main course such as a casserole, stew, steak or chicken dish.

Potato Salad

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The Anti-Salad

Not sure whether it was worth blogging a simple potato salad – but you never know. Mostly I eat salads to get some low carb, low fat and high vegetable content into my life – this salad does not comply to the above standards – being actually the complete opposite. But it’s Sunday and I’m hungover and I miss my friend Kate so all bets are off ok.


Ingredients
5 small new potatoes
5 shards of chives
3 sprigs of parsley
4 little pink radishes
2 spoons of mayonnaise
Salt & Pepper
1 slice of ham
a small handful of cashew nuts
1 teaspoon grainy mustard

The lovely Sarah Lowry introduced me to radishes in potato salad and now I wouldn’t have it any other way. Cook potatoes, chop parsley and chives, slice the radishes finely, slice ham and crush nuts gently. Combine all ingredients in a bowl – mix and serve.

I like to pop the potatoes in still warm – but if you want to cool them down – just run them under the cold tap for 30 seconds or so.

It’s great as a side dish for barbecues and summer food, quiches, fish and chicken – eat outside if possible. To prepare as a side dish simply leave out the ham and nuts

Migrated Minestrone

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Butternut Squash & Bacon Soup

This is wonderfully filling soup packed with lots of delicious ingredients - it’s almost a veg stew, or a migrated minestrone (via US, Mexico and the Wales).

I served this up to the Lunch club in work, one of the architects form the office came up with the idea. So a group of 4 of us are cooking lunch for each other on alternate days – what a great idea. The soup went down a treat or so the guys say

Ingredients
1 butternut squash
2 leeks – sliced 1inch sections
2 carrots – small cubes
1 stick of celery
1 cup of corn
3 cups of shredded cabbage
1 cup of bacon/rashers/lardons
4/5 cups of chicken/veg stock
1 stick of celery
2 cloves of garlic halved
4 sprigs of sage (thyme would be better but I didn’t have any)

Chop and skin your butternut squash and remove seeds, pop into pot with the leeks, celery, stock, garlic and sage. Bring to boil and simmer for 40 mins. While this simmers – fry or grill your bacon till crispy and prepare your other veg. After 40 mins – liquidise the soup.

Then add in the rest of your ingredients, return to the boil and simmer till veg is cooked – test the carrots they’ll take longest – about 12-15 mins. If you have a red pepper pop that in too in small pieces. Serve with some fresh bread and butter - Yum

Wafer Thin Fennel Salad

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With the lovely fennel I bought at the market I found a great Nigel Slater recipe for a nice salad to go with the great sandwich we created. Like most of Nigel Slater's recipes it''s really simple and with good ingredients that's all you need.

1 bulb of fennel
Fresh Parsley coarsely chopped
Baby Sage leaves (the little ones) finely chopped
Good olive oil
Salt & Pepper
Juice of 1/2 lemon

Slice the fennel as thinly as you possibly can. My Dad bought me a great selection of knifes several Christmases ago - and they are possibly one of the most useful things I own (that includes everything I own - possibly second to my computer - but it's a close call)

You can't beat a good chopper - anyway I digress

Scatter onto a plate - scatter over this the sage, salt & pepper, parsley, lemon juice and give a generous drizzle of olive oil. Unlike leafy salad this can stand a little time sitting with the dressing on it without getting limp and inedible.

Yum