Soup

When we were away last week, I had a number of disappointments regarding soup. When on holiday, we eat our main meal at home in the evening, but we may have a snack when out during the day and I often choose the soup as something light for a change from sandwiches etc. All three soups I tried last week were too thick, too peppery and overwhelmed by one ingredient
The trouble is, I like my own cooking too much. It's a wonderful treat to go to a restaurant for a meal, don't misunderstand me, but I try to choose something from the menu that I don't cook myself so I have nothing to compare it with. I'm not a cordon bleu cook by any standard, just adequate, but wholesome, and nearly always cook 'from scratch' with real ingredients.

We often have soup for lunch - today I made broccoli and Stilton (well, Danish Blue, anyway!) with the calabrese from the Organic veg box that arrived yesterday (I have supposedly given up cheese for Lent - and my health - but I don't count that!). It's the first time I've tried it, and was relatively pleased:

soften one chopped onion in a little oil
add a shredded leek and a peeled, diced potato, cover and cook slowly to soften
add some stock and broccoli (don't use the stalks), bring to the boil and simmer for 15-20 mins
take off the heat and blend
stir in some crumbled Stilton and a little cream to taste

(if reheating, do not allow to boil)

We also have an excess of mushrooms (careless shopping, forgot what I already had) so I might make some cream of mushroom later in the week:

soften two or three finely chopped onions in some oil
add finely chopped mushrooms and stock
bring to the boil and simmer for 15 - 20 mins

in the meanwhile, make 1/2 pint white sauce (I cheat and use cornflour, but you could do it properly and make a roux with flour and butter), when the mushrooms etc are cooked, blend in the pan and add the white sauce. Season to taste.

Easy!

Herb Bread

I had some left over feta cheese in the fridge that needed using up, so ...

Sift together 6oz SR flour, a pinch of cayenne and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Stir in a peeled, grated potato, some cubed feta cheese, some chopped herbs and 3 or 4 chopped spring onions.

Beat together an egg and a teaspoon of whole grain mustard. Add to the mixture and mix to make a firm dough (you may well need to add one or two tablespoons of milk).

Shape with floured hands and place on a greased baking tray. Bake at gas 5 for 35-40 mins. Allow to cool for a short while before serving, delicious with butter and served with soup.

You can vary the recipe by using goats cheese and thyme, feta and rosemary ... any combination really

If you should have any left over (rarely, in this house!) it toasts well, too.

Brown Betty - tried and tested

I somewhat simplified things and layered bread crumbs with slices of apple, ground cloves and brown sugar, starting and finishing with a crumb layer, topped with knobs of butter and then poured over a cup of water ... and it was delicious (with oodles of double cream)! I was suprised just how successful it was ... I thought it might be rather stodgy but it was like a light apple crumble.

Baked Stuffed Pumpkin

Here's an idea from a column in today's Independent (by co-incidence called From Garden to Plate - should I sue, do you think?!) ...

Baked Stuffed Pumpkin

Cut off the lid of a small pumpkin, scoop out and discard the seeds. Cut out the flesh, dice and keep to one side. Chop three leeks and fry gently in some olive oil together with some garlic and tumeric for about 10 minutes. Add the pumkin flesh and continue to cook gently until soft. Cook some long grain rice and drain. Skin, seed and chop 3 tomatoes and toast some cashew nuts under the grill. Add the drained rice to the pumpkin mixture, and stir in the tomatoes and cashews and some grated cheese. Spoon the mixture back into the pumpkin shell, replace the lid and bake at 180 degrees C for 90 minutes, until the pumpkin is softened and the skin turning colour. Serve in wedges.

I'm not sure when to try it ...

Brown Betty

One of the consequences of using the breadmaker, is that I often have little bits of slightly stale bread left, so I crumb them in the food processor and freeze them ... I use them for bread pudding, home-made stuffing, treacle tart and to coat chicken nuggets ...

(There's little point putting them out for the birds ... the cats soon show up, and one of them eats the crumbs himself!)

I also came across this recipe recently:

BROWN BETTY

* 4 medium apples, sliced
* 1 cup bread crumbs
* 3 tablespoons butter (melted)
* 1 teaspoon grated lemon or orange peel
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 3 to 4 tablespoons fruit juice

PREPARATION:
Mix bread crumbs, butter, lemon or orange peel, sugar, and cinnamon. Place half of the sliced apples in a buttered baking dish. Cover with half of the bread crumb mixture. Add remaining apple slices and cover with remaining crumb mixture. Moisten with fruit juice. Bake at 375° for 45 minutes. Serve hot or cold with cream, whipped topping, or ice cream.

As it's the time of year for apples, it's quite a seasonal discovery.

Lentil 'burgers'

Bring 8oz green (continental) lentils to the boil in enough water to cover, with a stock cube if desired. Cook for 30mins.

Meanwhile, finely chop one onion, one carrot and a stick of celery (I use a food processor) and soften in 1 tablespoon oil. Add 1 teaspoon each of ground cumin and corainder, and a crushed garlic clove. Cook for a further minute. Turn off heat and allow to cool.

Crumb 3 slices of bread (wholemeal or white or both!).

Beat one egg.

Chop a large handful of fresh parsley.

Mash the lentils and combine all the ingredients. Shape into small balls , roll in seasoned flour and flatten slightly, then gently fry in oil until golden brown on the outside.

Serve with chips or jacket potato and salad. Makes 18-20 small burgers. You could, of course, make them sausage shaped!

Roast Chicken

Following last week's success, this Sunday I roasted the chicken in the microwave ... 10 mins on high, turn it over, 10 mins on high ... leave to stand for 20 minutes (well, it was closer to 40 by the time I was ready for it) ... and it was lovely, cooked through and still moist. The only thing lacking was a crispy, golden skin, but I suppose I could put it in the oven to finish?

Bread Machine

I don't bake bread in my machine, but use it to make the dough. Then I knock it back and shape it, and rise it again in flexible silicon bread tins or moulds before baking it in the oven. It's a little more work, but the bread is much lighter, and there are no holes where the paddles were!

I've experimented with various recipes, and have settled on a base recipe for both white and wholemeal bread. But this Easter I made hot cross buns for the first time, and we liked them so much I now make the dough regularly – sometimes shaping it into buns, but sometimes into a loaf.

All bread machines are different, but to your normal amounts of flour and water add (in whatever order is appropriate for your machine) ...

2oz melted butter
1 beaten egg
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons dried milk powder
2 teaspoons mixed spice
1 tablespoon castor sugar (optional)
½ teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
1¼ teaspoons quick yeast
4 oz sultanas

Shape, rise and bake at gas 5 for 15-20 minutes before turning over to finish for a further 5 minutes (because of the sugar it will burn easily, so take care).

Meanwhile, warm 1 tablespoon milk and 1 tablespoon sugar until melted. While the bread/buns are still hot, glaze with the milk.

(Don't glaze them if you intend to freeze them.)

Squash

It's the season for squash – and we especially love spaghetti squash – peeled and sliced into rings, cooked in the steamer, shredded and served with butter and pepper or with a cheese sauce.

Vegetable Curry

I had a number of veg around – both from the garden and the veg box scheme that we have once a fortnight, so I made a vegetable curry as an accompaniment to beef curry with all the trimmings.

Cut whatever vegetables you have – potato, celery, turnip, cauliflower, carrot, etc – into small cubes, bring to the boil and simmer gently until not quite cooked and strain.

Meanwhile, chop and fry an onion in oil until soft. Add a proprietary curry powder (not how I cook a meat curry, but it suits the veg mixture) of whatever strength (heat!) you enjoy, a teaspoon of ground coriander, chopped garlic and ginger and stir. Add a tablespoon of tomato puree, some dessicated coconut and enough stock/water to make a thick gravy. Cook gently for a minute or two, then add the par boiled vegetables, any softer vegetables – courgettes, pumpkin, tomatoes (diced as above) – and cook over a gentle heat for a further 10 minutes.

Serve as a main meal with rice etc, or as a side dish to accompany a meat curry.

Roast Beef

With few exceptions, I nearly always do a roast for Sunday lunch. Today was beef, a topside joint. My usual method for beef is to pot roast it in the slow cooker - brown it off in a frying pan, and put it in the slow cooker on a bed of sliced carrots and onions with about an inch of liquid (water, stock or wine), cook on high for 4-5 hours. The juices make a lovely gravy and the meat is moist and tender.

But today I got up too late to have it ready in time for lunch, so thought I would try it in the microwave. I've only done it once before, many years ago, and that was a disaster as it was overcooked and dry, but I decided to have another go. 20 mins on high (turning the joint every 5 minutes), and 20 minutes standing time, and it was perfect (sorry, no idea of the weight, but it was a good sized piece of meat for a family of four or five), so I prepared the whole lunch in an hour after church ... I could make that a habit!

Baked (Runner) Beans

I still have runner beans in the freezer from last year, and we have another good crop this summer. So we have something of a 'glut', but there are various ways of preparing them and they are one of my favourite vegetables.

We love this recipe, and it makes a good lunch/supper dish served with fresh wholemeal bread, or as a side dish with Cottage Pie or similar.

Top, tail and slice the runner beans. Layer the beans with sliced courgettes (optional) and sliced tomatoes. Top with grated cheddar cheese and seasoning and wrap in a foil parcel. Place parcel on a baking tray and bake at gas 6/7 for 30-40mins. Serve immediately. Do take care when opening the parcel as the escaping steam will scald.

Curried Pumpkin Soup

When we went on holiday 3 weeks ago, I left a courgette plant in flower ... when we came home at the weekend the courgette turned out to be a pumpkin, and it had romped away across the garden. There are 7 good sized fruits on it, so today for tea we're having Curried Pumpkin Soup:

To one onion, chopped and softened in oil, add 2 cloves of crushed garlic and cook gently for 1-2 mins. Stir in 1 teaspoon coriander powder and 1/2 teaspoon cumin and add the flesh of a small pumpkin (peeled, seeded and diced). Stir to coat the pumpkin in the spices, put a lid on the pan and leave on a low heat until the pumpkin is soft ... about 15 minutes. Then add 750ml stock (or water and a stock cube), simmer for a further 10 mins, remove from the heat, liquidise and stir in 150ml double cream. Top with chopped chives and serve with crusty wholemeal bread.