Back on Track

It's been a while since my last post due to a couple of life changing decisions including one to change my career direction.  You may think this has kept me out of the kitchen but on the contrary that's where I've been spending most of my time over the past weeks, I just haven't been inspired to blog about my efforts; my thoughts have been elsewhere...so decisions made I'm back on track and feeling very relaxed and positive as I launch into 2012.

During the Christmas period I tried out a new (to me) soup on family and friends and it met with resounding success, so that, combined with the fact they all requested the recipe, has led me back to Holly Grove Kitchen, and it's good to be back.

The soup in question is a spicy parsnip soup, if you're quick you'll catch the end of the parsnip season and with the weather turning a mite chilly it's just what the doctor ordered.

parsnip and carrot version

Spicy Parsnip Soup
Ingredients
1 large onion, peeled and diced
1 tbsp sunflower oil
675g parsnips, peeled and diced
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp chilli powder
1.2 litres vegetable stock
150ml creme fraiche

Method
Gently cook the onion in the oil for a few minutes until softened.  Add the parsnips and cook for a futher 3 minutes.  Add the spices, stir well and cook for 1 minute.  Add the stock, bring to the boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes until parsnips are soft.

Remove from heat and liquidise the soup until smooth.  Add the creme fraiche and stir well to combine with the soup. Heat through and then serve with good crusty bread.

Note: I've also tried this recipe with a half and half mix of carrots and parsnips - equally yummy!  You could replace the creme fraiche with either cream or yoghurt or a combination of these dairy ingredients.

Something from the Garden

I haven't been posting much on my kitchen blog recently spending most of my free time in Holly Grove's garden; then I saw that the No Croutons Required challenge for September hosted by Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen would allow me to combine both garden and kitchen.

Like most people who have the luxury of a kitchen garden or vegetable plot I've been growing a couple of courgette (zucchini) plants and have had the usual mammoth crop.  I've used much of the crop in ratatouille, vegetable curries, homemade preserved vegetable stock, and even muffins and chocolate cake.  I've also given some away to friends who don't grow their own veg and I've still got some left over!

So with the weather turning autumnal and the french and runner beans in full production too my thoughts turned to creating a soup with courgette as the main component.

runner beans and Purple Queen french beans

The result has been interesting and tasty, though not a very attractive colour I'll admit.  However it has used up more courgettes, giving us a few healthy lunches with some for the freezer for those evenings when I'm back at work and don't have the energy or enthusiasm to cook much and best of all, all of the ingredients (with the exception of the dried pulses) came from our garden.  It's been difficult to give absolute quantities of ingredients as it was more of a try it and see recipe, but here goes...

Courgette and Runner Bean Soup
Ingredients
1 large onion (peeled and diced)
2 garlic cloves (peeled and crushed)
4 large courgettes (washed and cut into chunks)
a good handful of french and runner beans (topped and tailed and cut into short lengths)
1 tsp ground cumin
75g broth mix (dried pulses including peas, pearl barley, lentils)
1.5 litres vegetable stock (made with either good quality stock cubes or 2 tsp homemade preserved stock)
2 or 3 tsp curry paste (I used Goan paste; similar to a Thai green curry paste but a little less spicy)

Method
Add about 1 tablespoon of oil to a large stock pot then add the onion and garlic and cook gently until softened but not browned.  Now add the courgette, beans and cumin and mix thoroughly with the onion and garlic.  Cook gently for a couple of minutes.

Add the broth mix and the vegetable stock and curry paste.  Stir well and bring the soup to a gentle simmer.  Cook for between 1 and 2 hours to allow the dried pulses to cook through.

Remove from heat and blend with a stick blender. 
Serve the soup in bowls or large cups with some garlic ciabatta.

Note: If your runner beans are a it stringy I'd suggest passing the blended soup through a sieve to remove the stringy bit of the beans. Our beans were lovely and young so no need to sieve.

Festive Frost

At first I wasn't sure that this month's NCR challenge from Jacqueline at Tinned Tomatoes belonged on my kitchen blog - a festive photo challenge - it seemed more suitable for Holly Grove Garden.  Anyway after wrapping up like an eskimo and venturing out into the garden to take some winter wonderland photos I came back to a white onion soup and suddenly the challenge seemed most appropriate. There's nothing like an onion soup to warm the cockles of your heart and beat a nasty cold...except perhaps a delicious mug of hot chocolate!

Anyway the temperature here in the Shropshire countryside remains around minus 7 degrees and the hoar frost on the shrubs and trees makes a lovely picture...I hope you'll agree?

Winter Blue

And now here's the recipe for the white onion soup to warm us up after venturing out with the camera, yum!

Winter White

White Onion Soup
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 oz butter
4 large onions, thinly sliced
1 small leek, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
250ml white wine
500ml vegetable stock
2 bay leaves
small bunch parsley, chopped 

Method
Melt the butter in a large saucepan.  Add the leek, onion and garlic and cook slowly with the lid on for about 10 minutes until softened but not browned.

Add the wine and bring to a fast boil.  Boil until the wine has reduced by about a third.  Add the stock, bay leaves and parsley and bring back to the boil, then turn the heat down.  Simmer for about 2 hours and then blend using a hand blender.  Seve with good brown bread.

Two for One

Last week we had some rosemary and walnut bread from the market and it was delicious, I wasn't able to get there this week but we craved the delicious sweet nuttiness, so I thought I'd try to make some.  Bread making takes rather a long time and with the kitchen in some disarray I needed a quicker solution.  Soda bread is at the forefront of my mind as there seem to have been a number of TV cooks making it recently: Hugh FW and Nigella to name a couple.

I thought I'd try a rosemary and walnut version.  I was so pleased with the result, the walnut pieces were nicely distributed through the bread and the rosemary flavour was strong enough without being overpowering.

A good bread needs a good soup so two recipes for the price of one today!

Rosemary and Walnut Soda Bread
Makes 1 loaf
Ingredients
450g plain white flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp salt
1 oz finely chopped walnuts
1 oz coarsely chopped walnuts
2 good sprigs rosemary, finely chopped plus a few rosemary needles for decoration
350ml plain yoghurt

Method
Heat the oven to 220C and lightly flour a large baking tray.

Sieve the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl.  Add the salt and the finely chopped walnuts and rosemary, mix together well.  Now add the coarsely chopped walnuts and mix again. Finally add the yoghurt and mix together to form a sticky dough.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and bring together into a ball.  Flatten the ball to about 4cm deep then place on the floured baking tray.  Cut a cross into the top of the loaf, use a floured knife to do this to stop it sticking in the dough, then sprinkle a few rosemary needles over the top.

Place in the preheated oven for about 35 minutes.  The bread is ready when you tap it on the bottom and it sounds hollow. Place on a wire rack to cool slightly, then serve warm with the soup. 

With the current range and availability of mushrooms in the greengrocers and the supermarket I had to make a creamy mushroom soup. Mushroom soup doesn't end up a very pretty colour but the flavour is immense, if you don't believe me give it a try and I'm sure you'll be addicted.

Creamy Mushrooms Soup
Serves 6
Ingredients
1kg mushrooms, any mix you like, I used chestnut and portobellini
2tsps butter
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
small bunch of thyme
1ltr vegetable or chicken stock
500ml milk
100ml double cream 

Method
Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the onion and garlic and sweat until the onion is soft but not coloured.  Add the sliced mushrooms and the thyme and cook for a couple of minutes then add the stock and milk and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Remove the bunch of thyme and blend the soup.  Pour the blended soup through a sieve and return to a clean saucepan. Add the cream, season with salt and pepper and stir well, gently reheat the soup, but do not allow it to boil.

Serve in warmed bowls with the rosemary and walnut soda bread.  Bread and soup heaven!

Chicken(less) Noodle Soup

First Time Lucky!

Amongst the blogs I follow is Tinned Tomatoes where Jacqueline co-hosts a monthly challenge, No Croutons Required, so this month I decided to try my luck.  The ingredient selected for the October challenge is noodles.

I have a great recipe from my Dad for chicken noodle soup, but then I noticed that the challenge is to create a vegetarian soup or salad; so what about chicken noodle soup without the chicken?  Worth a try?  And how to make it as tasty as the original?  And what seasonal produce can I incorporate?  Well, let's see what transpired...

 

Mushroom and Noodle Soup

Ingredients

1tbsp rapeseed oil or vegetable oil

1 onion, peeled and diced
1 leek, cleaned and sliced

2 carrots, peeled and diced

1 small swede, peeled and diced
250g mixed portabellini and chestnut mushrooms, thickly sliced

half tsp chilli flakes
2.5 pts vegetable stock
2 tbsp mushroom ketchup

1 portion fine egg noodles

salt and pepper
fresh parsley, chopped

Method

Heat the oil in a large saucepan.  Add the onion and leek and cook gently until transluscent.  Add the carrot and swede and continue to sweat gently with the lid on for about 5 minutes.  Now add the mushrooms, put the lid back on and cook until the mushrooms have reduced in volume.  Add the chilli flakes and stir well.

Pour the vegetable stock and mushroom ketchup into the vegetables and bring to a simmer.  Simmer for about 30 minutes until the vegetables are tender.  Break up and add the egg noodles and simmer for a further 5-10 minutes until the noodles are soft.  Add the parsley and stir.  Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper and serve with vegetable spring rolls.

Note: I made my own vegetable stock, though you can use vegetable stock cubes, just be careful when
seasoning the soup as the stock cubes can be salty.

Tomato Fest Soup

The tomato harvest is coming in thick and fast now, even with the lack of sunshine they seem to be ripening well. This year I've grown several varieties; some old, reliable friends and others new and untried, by me anyway. The range of colours, sizes and shapes has provided a very interesting harvest.

This season I've grown cherry tomatoes in the following varieties: Tumbler, Yellow Tumbling Tom and Sun Belle - supposedly a yellow plum tomato but looking far more like an orange cherry variety. I've also grown the ever reliable Shirley and Money Maker varieties of 'standard' tomatoes and Totem, a bush variety. All of these have cropped and ripened well despite the cool, cloudy days of July and August.

The final variety in the greenhouse is Principe Borghese, a plum tomato, grown from seed. This is also cropping well but is slower to ripen, the first fruits are only just beginning to redden whilst the other varieties have been producing fruits for the table and pot for about 3 weeks.

All in all a pretty good year for tomatoes. So having made batches of tomato sauce and passata for the freezer, what to do with this latest colourful bowl? With the weather turning a little chilly how about a creamy tomato soup? Light and fresh in flavour but warm and comforting too...and so pretty to look at...

Dreamy, Creamy Tomato Soup
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
3 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 celery stick, chopped
7 ozs carrots, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 large sprig fresh thyme, tied in a bundle
1.5 lbs mixed tomatoes, roughly chopped
0.5 tsp sugar
salt and black pepper
7 fl ozs passata
17 fl ozs vegetable stock
3 fl ozs Greek yoghurt mixed with 2 tbsp milk
splash of dry sherry, optional

Method
Heat the oil in a large pan and gently cook the onion until soft but not brown.

Add the garlic, carrots, celery, bay leaf and thyme and continue to cook gently for 6-7 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the chopped tomatoes and sugar and season with salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes and then add the passata and vegetable stock. Bring to a simmer then cover and cook for 35-40 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

Remove the bay leaf and thyme and blend the soup. Pour the blended soup through a sieve into a clean saucepan then stir in the yoghurt/milk mix and sherry, if using. Taste and adjust seasoning as required.

Pour into bowls and, if desired, top with a teaspoon of tomato salsa and serve with bread rolls.

Note: I'm pleased to say that the onion, garlic, celery, carrots, tomatoes and thyme used in this recipe were grown at Holly Grove and the passata was homemade from Holly Grove produce.

Another Cold and More Soup

My second cold of this winter and I'm feeling bleary eyed and in need of comforting. In the vegetable rack is a small cauliflower and some broccoli, the ubiquitous onion and potatoes - thinking of a cauliflower soup...


Cauliflower (and Broccoli) Soup
Serves 6
Ingredients
1 tbsp oil
I medium onion, peeled and chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
! medium potato, peeled and diced
450g cauliflower and broccoli florets
900 ml vegetable stock
3 tbsp double cream (or yoghurt)

Method
Heat the oil in a soup pot and add the onion, gently cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the potato and cumin seeds and cook gently for a further 6-8 minutes. Add the cauliflower and broccoli and vegetable stock. Simmer until cauliflower is softened. Remove from heat and blend using a hand-blender. Stir in the cream and serve in warmed bowls.

Delicious!

The Humble Carrot

Lots of lovely crisp carrots on offer at the local market, irresistible! The humble carrot sits alongside the onion as one of the vegetables I most often use. I love the bright orange colour that they add to any dish but I especially like them in soups.

I've added the contents of this bag to butternut squash soup, a couple of casseroles, basic tomato sauce and as the main part of the recipe below: a variation on carrot and coriander soup.

















Carrot Soup with Coriander
Serves 6
Ingredients
1 large onion, diced
6 large carrots, 4 peeled and diced and 2 peeled and coarsely grated
2 sticks of celery, chopped
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tbsp dried coriander (the green herb)
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tin chopped tomatoes or 4 large fresh tomatoes, skinned and chopped
3 ozs orange lentils
2 pts vegetable or chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste

Method
Heat the oil in a large soup pot. Add the onion and celery and cook gently for 5-10 mins until the onions are soft but not coloured.

Add the coriander powder and cook for a further 2 mins. Then add all of the carrots, the chopped tomatoes and the dried coriander. Stir well and add the lentils and the stock.

Bring to a gentle boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 30-40 mins, stirring ocassionally. Serve in bowls with warmed ciabatta.

You can liquidise this soup if you prefer a smooth version. On this ocassion I enjoyed the tender bite of the carrot and celery.

Bonfire Night Rehearsal

We've invited a few friends around for a Bonfire and Fireworks evening in 2 weeks time. We held a party like this a couple of years ago and had a lovely evening with a roaring bonfire, extravagant fireworks (provided by our good friends S and M) and warming food. This year's plans are to have the bonfire and fireworks as before supplimented by the christening of our newly constructed outside fireplace and a log fire.

Foodwise I'm going to provide a warming soup with crusty bread, homemade vegetarian and sausage rolls with assorted chutneys and pickles (see previous posts) and a pudding, yet to be decided on. I tried out the soup recipe last week and took samples to my son M's family - they loved it and A requested the recipe...so here you have it...

Butternut and Carrot Soup
Ingredients
1 small-medium HG butternut squash, peeled and chopped into chunks
4 large carrots - 2 peeled and diced and 2 peeled and grated
1 large onion, peeled and diced
1 tbsp vegetable or sunflower oil
1 tsp ground cumin
half a nutmeg, grated
1 tin chopped tomatoes or 4 fresh tomatoes peeled and chopped
2 pts vegetable or chicken stock
2 ozs lentils
salt and pepper to taste

Method
Put the onion and oil into a large pan and cook gently until the onion has softened. Add the diced carrots and the squash and cook gently for 5 mins with the lid on, stirring occasionally. Add the grated carrot and the cumin and nutmeg and stir to combine all ingredients. Then add the chopped tomatoes and stock. Bring to a gentle boil and then simmer for 1 hour.

Remove the pot from the heat and, using a hand blender, blend the soup in the pot. Do this very carefully as the soup will be very hot. Add the lentils to the blended soup and stir well. return to the heat and simmer for another 30 mins to cook the lentils. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve with warm, crusty bread rolls.

Marrow Magic

What to do with a 9lbs 3ozs marrow? Two recipes come to mind: a lovely Warming Marrow soup that I first experimented with a few years ago when I went on holiday leaving a few courgettes and came home to a rather large couple of marrows - though nothing on the scale of this beauty.

And then, how about a Marrow and Apple chutney - using up some more HG apples and most of this large marrow. First thing to do with the marrow is peel, deseed and chop it into chunks - no mean feat, the skin was very thick and the flesh dense, so it took all of my muscle to cut through the marrow and then skin it. When I'd finally finished I had 5½lbs of marrow flesh - the skin was consigned to the compost heap and some of the seeds saved to be dried out for planting next Spring.

I put 4lbs of the marrow into large bowl layered with 3ozs rock salt, covered with clingfilm and left overnight to remove excess water - this marrow will be used in a Marrow and Apple chutney recipe - look out for a future post.

The remainder of the marrow - 1½lbs - was used for the Warming Marrow soup. A delicious soup that freezes well, so make more than you need and you'll have a taste of late Summer well into the Autumn - here's the recipe:

Warming Marrow Soup
Mkes 8-10 servings

Ingredients
1½lbs HG marrow, cut into chunks
1 large onion, chopped (or 2 small HG onions, chopped)
2 large HG carrots, diced
1 leek, sliced
a handful of HG runner beans, sliced
3 small HG garlic cloves, crushed
good glug of sunflower oil
1 tbsp cumin powder
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2½pts vegetable stock or water
hot chilli sauce, to taste

Method
Place marrow, onion, leek, carrots, runner beans and crushed garlic in a large soup pot. Add a goodglug of sunflower oil and stir. Place over a medium heat with the lid on the pan. Cook gently for about 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the cumin powder, salt and pepper and stir to mix through the vegetables. Add the vegetable stock or water and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down to achieve a slow simmer and let the soup cook for about 1 hour - a longer cooking time is better than a shorter time. When all the vegetables are soft blitz with a hand held blender - I prefer a little texture left in the soup, though it is equally nice if made very smooth - then add some hot chilli sauce, tasting as you go until it is hot enough for your palate. Serve with crusty bread.

I've just added some caulifower florets and a couple of HG potatoes cut into chunks to the soup to provide a more substantial supper for the Hndyman and me this evening. We'll be eating late - soup and pudding evening - Warming Marrow Soup followed by Apple and Blueberry Crumble with Custard - yummee!

Carrot and Coriander Soup

August and the weather is the same as most of July; wet and too cool for summer. So thoughts turn from gardening to cooking and what to do with the carrot crop.

My coriander didn't fair too well this year so I bought a bunch from our local market and with the Holly Grove carrots and tomatoes I thought a Carrot and Coriander soup would fit the bill.















Carrot and Coriander Soup
Ingredients
1 large onion, sliced
1 tablespoon vegetable or rapeseed oil
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1lb HG carrots, sliced
8ozs HG ripe tomatoes, peeled, deseeded and chopped (or a tin of chopped tomatoes)
2 pints vegetable stock
1 large bunch of fresh coriander, finely chopped (unfortunately not HG)
Several shakes of Tabasco sauce
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the onion and fry gently to soften, do not allow to brown. This will take about 5-10 minutes. Add the coriander powder to the onion and heat through. Transfer the onion mix to a soup pot and add the carrots, tomatoes and vegetable stock. Bring to a simmer and cook until the carrots are tender, about 30-40 minutes.

Remove the soup from the heat and liquidise. Return soup to pot and add Tabasco sauce, salt, pepper and the chopped coriander, reserving a little for a garnish. Heat through and then serve in bowls topped with a swirl of Greek yoghurt and a sprinkling of the reserved chopped coriander and good crusty brown bread. Enjoy!