Best everyday vegetable soup

I must make soup at least once a week and there are so many reasons for this.  Warming and nourishing, a great way to use up vegetables (particularly sad or slightly bendy ones), get your five a day in one go, disguise vegetables for those less keen, good for you, super cheap and of course absolutely delicious.  Whilst I make many variations on vegetable soup, what follows is my blueprint.

A couple of leeks and carrots is where it starts but you can add so many other things thereafter.  If I have some butternut hanging around then a few chunks of that, peeled, will go in.  A lonely courgette or a few florets of broccoli will also find a happy home.  I nearly always add some red lentils, a superb way to add to the already fibre rich soup and they yield such a velvety texture.  Half a bunch of parsley languishing in the fridge will go into the pot rather than the compost and a teaspoon of curry powder will certainly be added if there is a parsnip in the mix.

The resulting soup will go off in packed lunches and I will thoroughly look forward to my bowl when I stop for lunch.  Any extra (what?) can be frozen for another day.

If you are feeling flash add a swirl of cream or a handful of croutons when serving.  This is very simple and possibly rather old fashioned but it is an absolute winner too.

Everyday soup

Once blended taste for seasoning, depending on your stock you may need a touch of salt.  I sometimes add a splash of milk or indeed cream when whizzing to add a touch of richness, particularly if I have a scrap of cream (or creme fraîche) that needs using up. A splash of sherry just before adding the stock is only ever a good thing if you have a bottle to hand.

A tablespoon of oil

A small knob of butter

2 leeks, finely sliced

2 carrots, peeled and chopped fairly small

100g red lentils

1 litre vegetable stock (chicken stock is fine if that is all you have)

A few sprigs of parsley if you have them

Melt the butter with the oil in a medium size pan.  Add the leeks and soften for a few minutes before adding the carrots and the lentils.  Stir into the oil and then add the stock. Simmer for about 15 minutes until the carrots are soft and the lentils breaking down.  Add the parsley and whizz with a hand held blender then taste and season if necessary.  This is enough for 2 very hungry people or three on a normal day but is easily doubled or trebled.

The picture above is before blending, the picture below is after.

 

Cauliflower curry

Rarely have I taken a photograph that so inefficiently portrays the delight that this curry delivers.  The most arduous thing that is required here is to chop up a cauliflower and then let the magic happen in the pan.  Barely a recipe although one that a you can tinker with at will, adding or subtracting to suit you and whomever you are cooking for.  I sometimes make this with individual spices but more often turn to a good paste and then shake in a couple of extras that I like.  The use of a paste not only makes this even easier and quicker  but may be a useful shortcut for those without an entire spice drawer at their disposal.

The reasonably large quantity of stock which is required to cook the cauliflower is then given substance and body by the addition of red lentils.  I have only used half a tin of coconut milk because I’m looking for a suggestion of its sweet, fragrant note rather than a full on green curry vibe – the other half I freeze until next time.  I also use all the cauliflower, stalks, leaves and all which makes the supremely satisfying, not only in the eating sense but also in the frugality and no waste sense.

Cauliflower Curry

I add the cardamom and nigella seeds simply because I like their specific flavours but it is entirely up to you and the curry will absolutely not suffer without them.  If you love ginger add some grated ginger or chuck in extra garlic if that is your thing, the following is simply my way, you can go off piste as you please. The paste I have taken to using is a Jamie Oliver Keralan one but any good quality medium heat paste will be fine – use what you have.   Brown rice seems to work particularly well with this and leftovers are tip top for lunch the next day.

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 generous tablespoon of curry paste (see introduction)

100g red lentils

1 litre vegetable stock

1/2 can coconut milk

1 cauliflower chopped into small florets, stalk and leaves cut up too

A handful of cherry tomatoes

Fresh coriander, chopped

Soften the onion in the oil and then add the paste and lentils, stir it all well and then add the stock and coconut milk.  Bring it up to a simmer then add the cauliflower, florets, stalk, leaves and all.  Cook for about 15 minutes until the cauliflower and lentils are cooked – the lentils will break up a bit and thicken the sauce.  Add the cherry tomatoes for the last few minutes just to heat through and soften a bit.  Serve with masses of chopped coriander sprinkled over and some brown rice.  Serves 4.

 

 

 

Student food

 

Times have changed Chez May as my daughter starts her second year at University.  Food wise this means two things;  at home we can relax into more vegetable based, mediterranean style cooking and secondly I am on call for the odd piece of advice when it comes to cooking, said daughter now being in a shared house.

When I look back at my days of sharing a house it was definitely more fun, practical and economical when we shared shopping and cooking.  I once found myself living in a flat where we all had a shelf in the fridge and a shelf in the cupboard.  Miserable – not only were the contents of everyone else’s shelves more appealing than my own but it meant we cooked and ate separately, truly no fun at all.  Thus, before Minty left, we conducted an experiment.  I wanted to buy a bag of food as reasonably as possible the contents of which would serve four people sensible, easily cooked and delicious food for several days.   The challenge was to see how far the groceries would go and to make sure that nothing got wasted, that ingredients were used for more than one recipe and little twists and hints would give additional ideas. My daughter isn’t a fan of what she calls my hippy, lentil stuff but we found many recipes that fit the bill, there was only one absolute veto.

Minced beef can be easily transformed into a bolognese, cottage pie, meatballs or chilli (February 2014), all easily eeked out with no loss of flavour.   Whilst none are cutting edge recipes they absolutely are suppers that many students will be happy to both make and eat.  Of course many teens are adept at more sophisticated and exotic recipes but I would recommend getting the basics under your belt (literally) before branching out.  There is nothing more demoralising or more likely to put you off cooking than a disaster when you are hungry.

Vegetables can be sneaked into many things under the guise of ballast and stretching for another guest, such as can red lentils which melt away as theycook and become almost unidentifiable (almost).  Tired vegetables get a chance to shine chopped into a cottage pie or a soup and most fruits can either be whizzed into a smoothie or tucked under a crumble (October 2015).  Always aim to throw nothing away.

Our bag consisted of some vegetables which would provide a base for the bolognese, chilli, soup and dhal.  A basic collection of spices including curry powder, which can be built on.  The ever useful tinned tomatoes and red kidney beans.  Red lentils for the Easy tomato soup (March 2020) the easiest thing in the world yet cheap, delicious and filling which my daughter loved – but also for the quick dhal, which my son and I could eat every day but which my daughter wouldn’t even taste.  Pasta and rice of course, stock cubes plus oil, vinegar and mustard. There was also flour for quick flatbreads (March 2018), soda bread (April 2013), pancakes and crumble.  Chicken thighs to be split between the always popular Claypot chicken (May 2103) and a gentle curry – incidentally chicken thighs are less likely to dry out than breasts and to my mind, far more delicious.

As I’ve said before, cooking and eating well are one of the absolute joys in life and being able to feed yourself healthily and economically is a valuable life skill.  That’s why I am obviously keen for Minty to eat well but also to enjoy cooking and sharing food with others.  I’m not saying the alternative is a diet of Silk Cut and Jacob’s Creek but….

Finally a photograph of iced buns because they are far more tempting than a picture of a bag of groceries and also an easy recipe for a welcome treat (May 2017).  More recipes to follow.

 

 

 

 

 

Black Bean Shakshuka

Straight off let’s be clear that this is my version of a Shakshuka – the fact that it has a spiced tomato sauce with eggs poached in it leads me to use the name but it may not have full North African credentials.  That said it is properly delicious and is a regular chez May.  You probably have the ingredients to hand but if not  Shakshuka is happy to be flexible and adapt to your store cupboard.  Most of the year I will use a tin of good tomatoes but in the summer a pile of just too soft tomatoes are ideal.  I’m as happy with chopped coriander or parsley strewn over the top so use what you have or both.  This is an absolute favourite of my son but if he isn’t around I will add some spinach just before the eggs to wilt in the heat of the tomatoes.

The black beans were an addition when I was short of bread to toast so wanted to bulk up the Shakshuka a bit.  We liked this version so much that they are now a permanent addition, they give a little extra texture which I find most welcome – great for adding some fibre to your diet especially if you are off the bread for any reason.   Cook one of two eggs per person as you please, I find one is enough for me but the lads in the house welcome two.  As ever with my recipes there is room for manoeuvre, both as mentioned above but also in the level of spicing.  Listed below are the spices I use but do add extra spice by way of chopped fresh chilli or a pinch of chilli flakes if that suits. Should I have run out of harissa I will just up the amount of paprika and cumin and will certainly add chilli in this instance.

Black Bean Shakshuka 

I tablespoon oil

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon harissa

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon tomato puree

1 tin tomatoes (I prefer whole to chopped but whatever you have)

1 tin black beans, drained

Eggs, as many as you want to use, see introduction

A handful of chopped coriander or parsley or a combination of both

Salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a frying pan for which you have a lid (or you can use a baking sheet instead of a lid).  Cook the onion for 10 minutes or so until soft and translucent but not coloured.  Add the garlic and all the spices along with the tomato puree.  Cook for a couple of minutes then add the tinned tomatoes along with a slosh of water to rinse the can.  Finally add the beans along with a good sprinkle of salt and a couple of grinds of pepper.  Simmer for 5 minutes to bring it all together then make as many dips in the sauce as you have eggs.  Crack the eggs into the dips and put the lid on the pan whilst the eggs cook.  When the whites are set remove from the heat, cautiously check the seasoning of the sauce – add some salt and pepper to the eggs but you decide if the sauce needs any more.  Strew over the chopped herbs of your choice and serve on toast if you like.  Serves  3-4 and is good for breakfast, lunch or supper.

Party Salad (and 10 years)

How this became known as Party Salad I don’t know but a salad needs a name and this has stuck.  One of the reasons may be that the components can be made ahead and brought together at the last minute whilst in your high heels and sequins. I served this to some friends recently and they all loved it, had seconds and asked for the recipe so you can’t beat that.

Never easy to get a picture of a salad so let me tell you what you see here – at the bottom there is a layer of baby spinach topped with a layer of brown rice which has a trickle of the herby green sauce.  Then comes the pickled cabbage on top of which the roasted vegetables are strewn.  Finally more green herby sauce, a few blobs of Greek yogurt, some toasted seeds and then the pink pickled onion.   So several layers but happily all can be made ahead with the spinach either coming from the shops or, if you are considerably more efficient than me, your garden.

I have served this salad, or variations of it, many times recently and any leftovers are positively stellar in packed lunches.  You can of course customise it too – use bulgar wheat instead of brown rice if you prefer or even little boiled new potatoes cut in half if that’s what you have.  Here I have roasted peppers, courgettes, onions and carrots, use the recipe for roasted vegetables from the salad (July 2014) using whichever veg you want.  In the summer I made the herby green sauce with parsley as per the recipe (July 2013) but recently used coriander as there was a big bunch in the fridge – different obviously but quite delicious.

My spicy seeds are perfect for sprinkling over (November 2018).  To make the pickled cabbage use the recipe for the quick pickled onions (August 2014) using quarter of a white cabbage very finely shredded.  You could have a layer of picked onions instead of cabbage plus the pickled onions on top, one less thing to make I suppose but I have no doubt a bowl of pickled cabbage in the fridge won’t last long.  There is just something about the combination here that I love, all the flavours and textures together, knock out.

As for the 10 years – it has been ten years since I started posting recipes here although the writing of them started many years before that.  These recipes and ideas are used by me weekly if not daily and also, happily for me, by many others.  Thank you for the many, many comments and for telling me how much you love my recipes.

 

Ice cream for breakfast (what?)

Over the years I have tucked into many an unorthodox breakfast.  Cold pizza, obviously – a classic and I expect everyone has enjoyed this questionable delight – always better in theory than practice I find.  Leftover curry, now I can remember particularly enjoying this on occasion and it strikes a chord as I hate waste. I believe there was a breakfast beer once as well but, to mitigate, the breakfast was a midday one and the sun was already high and hot.

Following these culinary surprises then, ice cream seems modest, benign even.  And here’s the thing, some speckled bananas and soft strawberries which were otherwise destined for the compost and hens respectively, became a treaty breakfast.  A highlight was that rare double glow of not wasting food and praise from one of my children for a delicious and to be repeated breakfast.

The truth, as you can plainly see, is that it’s not much of a recipe.  I feel no shame however, at presenting it here because it is delicious, healthy and just what we need during this hot weather – fruit for breakfast that cools you down and also feels like a Mr Whippy.

I used bananas and strawberries here but raspberries add a fabulous fruity brightness if you have some.  A mix of mango and passion fruit would bring a touch of the exotic to my west Dorset kitchen that would be most welcome.   The only constant is some Greek yogurt which adds creamy smoothness and brings the gravelly frozen fruit together.

When you see some bananas getting too brown and soft or the berries have become a touch squishy get them in the freezer.  Even if you don’t want to eat this ice cream in the immediate future the slow demise of the fruit won’t wait and better they go into the frosty hinterland than the bin.

Strawberry and Banana ice cream

I can’t be prescriptive here, the whole point is to use what you have.  What you see here was the result of two soft bananas and half a punnet of strawberries.  I added two tablespoons of Greek yogurt and then another once it had been whizzed initially. Here is a sort of recipe, not that you probably need it.

Two soft bananas, sliced

Two good handfuls of strawberries, hulled and chopped

Greek yogurt, two or three tablespoons

Freeze the bananas and strawberries for a couple of hours.  When they are frozen put them into a food processor with two tablespoons of yogurt and whizz until smooth.  You may need another tablespoon of yogurt.  This amount served three for breakfast.

* I like the taste as is, bright and a touch sharp from the yogurt but tempered by the sweetness of the fruit.  You can always add a touch of honey if you prefer it sweeter.

 

Soup and pudding

Much as I love the indulgences of Christmas I also relish the clean new page of January and the opportunity it presents.  In December we are encouraged to tuck in.  Have whipped cream on that!  Would you like gingerbread syrup?  Brandy butter and cream with your minced pie?  Why not it’s Christmas.  So it goes on….  Then suddenly, on the first of January it’s all about kale, steamed vegetables, cutting out food groups, veganuary.  It all feels a bit bonkers, the change from the rich sparkly food filled photographs of December to the austere, vegetable dotted ones of January.

I’ve mentioned in previous January posts that whilst it’s not for me to tell anyone what to eat I am happy to provide the sort of recipes that will help with the reset.   Although that fresh clean page of the New Year encourages good, healthy eating I am still greedy.  I want to get excited about food, love the look it and love the taste even more.  January tends to be cold and often rather grey, we need a lift and food is such an easy and satisfying place to get it.

Not the time for leafy salads, now is for crunchy numbers full of the root vegetables that relish the cold.  That they tend to grow locally is of course a bonus.  I had a celeriac lurking in the fridge that had arrived before Christmas.  Yesterday I made half into a soup along with a couple of sad, beginning to sprout potatoes, a leek plus half a bag of rocket.  The other half I grated and made into celericac remoulade (January 2016).  Some slightly bendy parsnips, carrots and beetroots were roasted back into deliciousness.  The result was enough for two lunches plus a packed one and I was relieved to avoid the guilt felt if anything has to the compost having been found at the back of the fridge past its best.   Fridge clearing at its best.

My advice would be to go large on the veg – soup is the number one superstar for using up various vegetables as well as being extremely good for us.  Put soup into the search bar at the top of this page, there are lots of different, easy soups you could rustle up. Vegetable based soups are cheap too which is a bonus at this time of year.  Easily zhuzzed up into a Saturday lunch with some really good bread, homemade focaccia (May 2014) or soda bread (December 2018) if you want to along with a crunchy salad makes this a feast rather than a sad offering.  If you still have some Christmas cheese looking less than tempting, transform it into cheese and chive scones (October 2014) or my Cheese bread (December 2014).

When it is particularly cold outside a pudding always seems essential to me.  There are two routes you can take here – something, clean and refreshing to reinforce your good intentions such as the granita shown at the top of this post.  The gloriously coloured blood orange granita is of course a seasonal treat (February 2013) but the golden one behind it is an iced tea granita (July 2013) and who doesn’t have a teabag in the cupboard?  Light and palate cleansing yet sweet and fruity enough to be a treat.  Alternatively choose the nursery pudding route to warm yourself up from the inside.  You will find lots of such puddings in the recipes here, this weekend we had a big baked golden syrup sponge – along the lines of the raspberry larder pudding (March 2015) but using half a tin of golden syrup in place of the raspberries and raspberry jam.  Yes it was rich, sweet and super indulgent but it was also extremely good and provided the necessary ballast for the weather along with lifting the spirits.

A little Christmas planning

I need to prepare ahead for Christmas so I don’t go truly mad. I’d love to be able to drift through the big day with a relaxed glow but honestly, it just doesn’t happen!  If I make a plan, write a list (or two) and get a few things in the freezer it helps not only with the practicality of getting food on the table but just with helping me avoid panic.

Whilst I don’t want to run anything with military precision, there are always more people around to be fed just as I would like to kick back and relax a bit.  So, my way around this is to get all the extras for Christmas Day in the freezer – the roast potatoes, bread sauce, gravy base, cranberry sauce, sausages in bacon etc.  These can be done in not much time now and I can’t tell you how reassuring it is to know all you have to focus on on Christmas Day is the bird, some greens and pudding (really).

I adore canapés, the greedy me loves something before supper and it adds necessary ballast, I need a liner when I am drinking!  Canapes add a bit of sparkle to events (even just the four of us gathered by the fire) and as I never feel like making these at ten to six in the evening, having some in the freezer is a win win. Cheese gougeres (November 2016) and cheese sables (December 2013) would be a suggestion and they just need a few minutes in a hot oven.

Some delicious bread goes a long way to augmenting a lunch of leftovers, a soup made from tired vegetables or a salad served with Christmas cheese.  Either buy a good loaf and stash in the freezer or make a loaf of soda bread (seedy soda bread April 2013/olive, thyme and chilli soda bread December 2018) which doesn’t need proving and is simply stirring store cupboard ingredients in a bowl and putting it in the oven.

A plan means you can relax, a suggestion of what you want to eat and then knowing you have what you need in the store cupboard.  I like to spread the shopping, both physically and financially.  Buy a few things now to hide in the back of the cupboard or freezer. Top up pantry essentials.  A roll of good puff pastry or flour to make some shortcrust means you are minutes away from a tart or galette, there are four or five recipes in the archives here for both sweet or savoury versions.  Whilst leftovers are an integral and important part of Christmas, a list of a couple of great salads to jazz up the cold turkey means you are a step ahead, maybe my Christmas salad (December 2013) which is crunchy, fresh and ideal or have a celeriac in the fridge and make Celeriac Remoulade (January 2016).  If you don’t feel like it, you can always make celeriac soup or a comforting gratin. Options and ideas are what I like.

 

Christmas should be cosy, sparkly and fun and it can be.  Realistically though, there is also a lot to do.  Knowing I have treats in the freezer and some bottles of fizz in the fridge, a list of easy ideas and the wherewithal to make them goes a long way to helping me enjoy it all.  Make a plan and write a list.  Buy some, make some, freeze some.  Have fun.

For many more tips and suggestions, see my posts 8 December 2020 and 21 December 2020 here.

Apple Galette

Although apples are available all year it is in Autumn when I think of cooking with them.  Laden apple trees in the early morning mist are a treat to behold and biting into a crisp juicy apple is the autumnal equivalent of a handful of Summer strawberries snaffled from the fruit cage.  We have several apple trees in the garden in varying stages of vintage and productivity.  Unfortunately late frosts this Spring did not suit some of the trees and one hasn’t produced a single apple.  The Bramley is usually my failsafe and I make lots of puddings based on its large generous apples that cook down to fluffy snow.  Sadly it is a little disappointing this year but one of the eaters has masses of fabulous, crisp and delicious apples.

Eating apples obviously cook in a different way to the Bramleys so I look to different recipes to make the most of their firmer flesh and sweet tang.  There couldn’t be a better way to showcase those qualities than this fabulous galette.  Sweet crumbly pastry that is the work of minutes (I promise) encases slices of apple.  Genuinely one of the easiest puddings to make, it comes into its own at this time of year and regular visitors to this site will know its close relation the plum galette.

I make this often, fruit based puddings being one way I can persuade myself (as if) it is ok to tuck in to a pud.  That this one is so genuinely full of apples means I have even turned a blind eye on occasion to it being breakfast.  What?

Apple Galette

Generally I keep this fairly simple but if you want to go for an apple pie vibe then add a little ground cinnamon into the chopped apples or dust the cooked galette with some icing sugar combined with cinnamon.  You only need a teaspoon of beaten egg for the glaze so take it from another egg that is being cracked for another purpose if possible otherwise use milk.  The galette in the picture used four big, tennis ball sized apples and maybe there were a couple of slices too many, three would have been fine.  I don’t mind too much apple but let you know this as a guide.

100g plain flour plus a heaped teaspoon extra

60g cold butter, cubed or grated

A good pinch of fine salt

60g caster sugar, divided in two

30ml cold water

4 crips eating apples, peeled, cored and cut into slices

Squeeze of lemon juice

A teaspoon or so of beaten egg (see introduction)

A dessertspoon of demerara or caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 190 and put a baking tray into heat up.  Put the flour and butter into a medium size bowl and rub together with your fingers.  There isn’t really enough to justify getting a food processor out. When it looks like breadcrumbs add the salt and 30g of sugar followed by the water, bring it together into a ball, wrap in clingfilm and leave somewhere cool for half an hour.  Mix the sliced apples with the teaspoon of flour, remaining 30g of sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice.   Roll out the flour to a rough 30cm circle and place on a sheet of parchment, tumble the apples onto the pastry leaving a good gap and turn this pastry edge over the apples.  Brush with your glaze, egg or milk and sprinkle with the dessertspoon of sugar.  Carefully transfer the galette on its parchment paper to the hot baking tray and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown on top and crisp underneath.  Let it cool for a few minutes as the apples will be piping hot before dusting with cinnamon icing sugar if desired (see intro).

 

 

 

 

Sausages and potatoes with tomatoes, rosemary and chilli

The relaxed shuffle through the days that is the summer holidays has come to an end.  A return now to the hustle and bustle, the tail chasing and packing too much into each day.  My cooking takes on a very casual attitude when school is out, I lose the menu planning and list making structure of term time.  If there are loads of beans in the garden then dinner will feature those.  Mackerel on offer from a fishing friend?  Fab, fire up the braai. Big salads and cobbled together meals are the fall back although I do need to have a loaf to hand and lots of protein around to feed always hungry teenagers.

Towards the end of these holidays I succumbed to a cold.  It really was just a cold.  The weather already felt autumnal and so I had some sausages from the freezer to make this recipe for lunch.  In the end I felt so rotten lunch became sausages, baked beans and oven chips.  Lifted by the fabulous local sausages (Down House Farm) and I won’t hear a word said against baked beans it was a fine lunch. This recipe however feels a bit more special, is hardly any more effort and not only tastes fabulous but includes some fresh tomatoes and works a dream with a big salad.

Like so many of my recipes, you can customise this as you please.  If chilli flakes are too bold a choice then use some paprika, smoked if you prefer, which works a treat with the sausages.  Hate tomatoes, then how about some little cubes of courgette or simply onions peeled and cut into 6ths.  If you have the end of a loaf cut it into cubes, mix into the pan towards the end of cooking and you’ll have crunchy sort-of-croutons.   Either rosemary or thyme works depending on what you have, the only absolute essential is some good sausages that share their savoury flavour with the other ingredients and don’t leech a load of water into the pan.  It also makes sausages go a bit further without seeming mean if you have an unexpected guest.

Sausages and potatoes with tomatoes, rosemary and chilli

8 pork sausages

500g new potatoes

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes (or paprika, see intro)

3 cloves of garlic, unpeeled and cut in half

Small sprig of rosemary, needles removed and chopped

A couple of handfuls of cherry tomatoes

Fresh parsley, chopped to sprinkle

Preheat the oven to 200. Cut sausages into three and halve the potatoes (if they are bigger than a squash ball then cut into three.  Mix the sausages, potatoes, oil, chilli, rosemary and garlic in an oven tray and put in the oven for 25 minutes.  After this time give it all a stir and add the cherry tomatoes and return to the oven for 5-10 minutes until the tomatoes are soft and blistered and the everything else is golden.  Remove from the oven, leave for 5 minutes then sprinkle with chopped parsley.  Serves 4 with a salad or greens but very easy to scale up.