Curried Vegetable & Lentil Soup

This is a hum-dinger of a soup recipe, just perfect.  Hearty, spicy, wholesome and another recipe from weight watchers.

Curried Vegetable and Lentil Soup

Serves 4   2 Pro Points per serving

5 sprays Lo Cal oil

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tbs curry powder

2 medium carrots, chunky chopped

150g butternut squash, peeled and chunky chopped

1 medium courgette, chunky chopped

1 ltr vegetable stock, made from cube

2 tbs tomato puree

75g split red lentils

S&P

In a stock pot, use the lo cal spray and heat, add the onion and garlic and gently fry until soft.  Add the curry powder and stir in for a minute.  Add the rest of the veg and mix together and then pour in the stock, tomato puree and lentils.  Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes until the veg are tender.  The soup will have thickened nicely, add S&P to taste.

I made two batches of this soup over the weekend, it was that delicious!

Carrot, Parsnip & Coriander Soup

I have been making a fair few soups recently, great for packing hubby and myself off to work with something healthy for lunch.  This is the best one I have made up so far, choc full of veg and oh so good for you.

Carrot, Parsnip & Coriander Soup

4 Servings.  WW Points per serving 1

1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, chunky chopped
3 parsnips, peeled and chunky chopped
1 chilli, de-seeded and chopped
2 tsp oil
1 ltr Stock - from cube
handful of fresh coriander
2 tsp dried coriander (spice)

Heat the oil and gently and fry the onion till soft, add the carrots and parsnips and soften slightly.
Add the coriander spice and seasoning. 
Pour over the stock and simmer away for 20 minutes or until the carrots are soft.
Add the chopped chilli and chopped fresh coriander, remove from heat and cool slightly.
Using a hand blender blitz until as smooth as you desire.  I like a fairly course soup with the odd chunk of veg.

Butternut Squash Soup with Parmesan Croutons

I love butternut squash soup, nothing compares to how warming, thick and creamy it turns out, perfect for misty Autumn days, curled up next to an open fire.  I usually just fry up an onion add chopped and peeled squash with vegetable stock and chopped sage leaves, simmer away for 20 mins then blitz with a hand blender, add a little creme fraich or cream if I have it to hand and yum.  Whilst riffling through the Jamie at Home cook book I noticed his recipe and decided to give it a go.

Squash Soup with Parmesan Croutons

Serves 8

olive oil

16 fresh sage leaves

2 red onions, peeled and chopped
2 sticks of celery, trimmed and chopped
2 carrots peeled and chopped
4 cloves of garlic peeled and chopped
2 sprigs of rosemary leaves stripped
1 fresh red chilli chopped
2Kg butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and chunked
2 ltrs chicken or veg stock

16 slices of ciabatta (I used french stick slices)

Parmesan

In a large pan add oil and heat then fry the sage leaves until dark and crisp, approx 30 secs remove and put to one side.  Add onion, celery, carrot, garlic, rosemary, chilli and S&P to the oil and cook gently for 10 mins until soft.  Add the squash and stock.  Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 mins.

Whilst the soup is cooking drizzle oil over the bread slices and the press in some grated Parmesan  on each side of the slices.  In a non stick frying pan fry with no extra oil until golden on both sides.

Once the squash is soft and cooked through whiz the soup with a blender, I like it fairly smooth with a few chunky bits.

Dish up and serve with 2 croutons on each and the fried sage leaves on the top and an extra grating of Parmesan.

This is a great soup and a good way of using up all the leftover squashes and pumpkins from my Autumnal/Halloween display.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Another one of the comfort foods I am craving whilst in my sickened state has been lovely thick creamy soup with crusty bread. Finding I had a butternut squash in the veg rack I went about turning it into a scrummy warming supper.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

1 Butternut Squash

1 Onion Chopped

1 ltr Vegetable stock

1 tsp chopped fresh Sage

S&P

Rapeseed oil

Double Cream (Naughty, but hubby could not find the creme fraich at the shop)

Preheat you oven to 200oc, cut the squash in half length ways, remove the seeds and score the flesh in a check pattern, this will help it cook more quickly. Drizzle over with the rapeseed oil and season with S&P. Pop into the oven to roast for at least half an hour.

Remove and once cooled scoop the flesh out of the skin, put to one side

Fry the onion in a little olive oil till soft add the squash pulp and the stock and further seasoning.

Leave to simmer covered for 15 mins, stirring occasionally. Add the chopped sage for the last few minutes.

I then used a hand blender to remove most of the lumps from the soup, I like to leave a few chunks for a bit of texture. Then pour in a drop of cream, swirl and serve with warm crusty bread.

This soup was so thick and creamy, in my haste to scarf it down I forgot to take a photo of the dished up dish! The fresh sage really added a lovely zing to the soup and using the rapeseed oil to roast the squash with adds an extra 'roastiness' taste. So quick and easy to whip up.

Basque Red Bean Stew

Hubby with low tolerance levels decide to locate the kitchen again last night, for a little experimentation and the results were pretty pleasing.

He works for a Basque company in the UK and frequently makes trips over to the Basque region of Spain. Over there everything stops a 1pm for a lunch hour and he often finds himself being taken out to local eateries for lots of homemade food. One of his favourites is the Red Bean Stew, apparently a dish that is cooked in every household from recipes handed down for generations. After talking to some of his work colleagues he came away with his own idea on how to replicate this dish.

Basque Red Bean Stew

Serves 6

1 Onion chopped

250g Morcilla or Black Pudding

5 cloves of garlic

75g chorizo, chopped into small chunks

300g Smoked bacon piece, chopped into chunks

2 cans of red kidney beans, keep the juice

1 litre hot water

Bay leaf

1 green chilli

1/4 tsp Cayenne

Couple of handfuls of broad beans

Gently soften the onion and garlic for a few minutes in a deep pan. Add the chorizo and bacon and fry for a couple of mins.

Add the kidney beans with juice and water, add the cayenne and bring to the boil and the leave to simmer, covered for at least an hour.

Near the end of cooking time add the broad beans and finely chopped chilli.

Cut the Morcilla into slices and the pan fry until crisp.

Serve up, with the Morcilla cut into chunks with fresh bread.

A tasty heart dish, next time he will use a ham hock that can be boiled beforehand to reduce the amount of salt in this dish, although it was on the high end of salty it was in no way overpowered by it and we both went back for seconds! Keeping the black pudding out of the main dish kept it in one piece and added another texture to the stew.

I think I will encourage him to make this again and perfect his recipe.

Hearty Pasta Soup

Yet another super simple recipe from Good Food.

Hearty Pasta Soup

1 tbs Olive Oil

2 Carrots - chopped.

1 Large Onion - chopped

1 ltr Veg stock

400g can chopped tomatoes

200g frozen peas & broad beans

250g pack fresh filled tortellini. I used goats cheese and caramelised onion

Chopped basil leaves

Grated Parmesan

Heat oil in a pan and fry the carrots and onions for 5 mins. Add stock and tomatoes, simmer for 10 mins. Add peas and broad beans.

Once veg is tender, add the pasta. Return to the boil and simmer for 2 mins.

Serve with basil and Parmesan on top.

Hubby whipped up a batch of Rosemary and sea salt Focaccia to go with the soup and very nice it was too.

Supreme Sarnie & Celeriac Soup

After the success of the Crab Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms yesterday I decided to turn the leftover mix into a lush sandwich. I added a little mayonnaise and lemon juice to the crab, shrimp and spring onion, dolloped it on a lightly toasted ciabatta roll and added a little leftover salad - Delicious.

I then needed to use up my beloved Celeriac prior to Hubby's return. He cannot bear celery and celeriac is too much like it for him to enjoy, so I have to plan my celeriac fixes when he is not around. Last night I made a Celeriac and Potato Soup

1 Medium Celeriac approx 600g, peeled and cubed

1 Large Onion, finely sliced

2 Medium sized floury potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 Lt Chicken or veg stock.

knob of butter

3 sage leaves

2 strips of lemon peel

Melt the butter in pan, gently cook the onions until soft, not coloured. Add the potato and celeriac, pour over the stock add the sage leaves and lemon peel. Bring to boil and simmer for 30 minutes. The celeriac should be soft, stir to breakdown the potato and thicken the soup, remove the sage and lemon peel.

This is a lovely soup, the lemon really zings the flavour of the celeriac and makes it taste like a creamy Thai soup with lemongrass. Serve plain or add some grated cheddar to the top.

Broccoli Soup

And now for something a little lighter.

After weeks of heavy food and in line with my 'Make Soup' resolution, I did just that.

Broccoli soup.

1 head broccoli - broken down into small florets

1 onion - chopped

750ml veg stock

250ml milk

Seasoning

Oil for frying

So simple - fry the onion in oil until soft, add the broccoli for a couple of minutes. Add the stock and season well. Bring to boil and simmer for 30 mins until the broccoli is soft. Add the milk and simmer for a few more minutes. Blend till smooth. A tasty soup not too thick, some dollops of blue cheese would have been nice if I had had any, but served with fresh crusty bread was just as good.

Cauliflower & Chedder Soup

Friday evening was going to be a sit in front on the TV waiting for the beef stew to cook slowly in the oven. I should know by now that nothing is ever simple.

Having put my stew in the oven, basic stewing steak, carrots, onion and beef stock, bay leaf and a sprinkling of flour - I don't bother to brown the meat, just chuck it all in one crock pot and load into oven on a low heat for several hours - I thought why not run up a little batch of soup and some bread to go with it.

I had bought a pack of just add water bread mix, which I wanted to use more like foccacia so to cook I put it into a shallow baking tray, turned the heat up on the oven to 200oc for 15 mins thinking that the stew would not mind for a short while then set about making the soup.

Cauliflower & Chedder Soup

1 Medium Cauliflower, broken down into small florets

1 Onion Chopped

3/4 Pint Veg Stock

3/4 Pint Milk

Handful of grated Mature Chedder

Put the onion into a large heavy bottomed pan and fry gently in oil, add the cauliflower and veg stock, bring to boil and simmer for 15mins. Add the milk and simmer until cauliflower is soft. Blend until smooth, toss in the chedder and season.

Whilst the soup was simmering, I noticed to my horror that the oven had stopped working, leaving the bread and stew in a rapidly cooling state. This is an intermittent problem with the oven and it usually kicks back into life after a few minutes, but not this evening. I thought I could take the stew out and put it into my cast iron pot and carry on cooking on the hob, until my brain remembered that I had the soup in it, so I crossed my fingers left it in the oven and just took the bread out as my brain had an idea!

I cut the bread into biscuit sized chunks and fried them in a little oil until they had a crunchy brown crust and the dough inside had at last cooked through - they were not terribly light, in fact I think I could have used them a doorstops, but along with the soup they were good for dunking.

The oven did eventually start working again and continued to cook the stew for several more hours. The stew seemed to be none the worse for its interruption, still giving up soft juicy meat and thick gravy, lob a handful of frozen peas in and tuck in.

Leek & Potato Soup

Pondering what to make on Wednesday night, as I had forgotten to take anything out of the freezer and the cupboard was a little bare, I sought inspiration from other bloggers and came across the wonderful blog of Ximena at Lobstersquad and her easiest ever soup.

http://lobstersquad.blogspot.com/2009/01/easiest-ever-soup.html#links

Knowing I had leeks and potatoes in I set to making it and can agree it is too easy!

500g Peeled and chopped potatoes

500g Sliced leeks

1.2 Ltr water

40g butter - I used the glorious President Butter, such a treat.

Salt and Pepper.

Add the potatoes and leeks to the boiling salted water. Cover and leave for 20 or so mins until the potatoes are mushy. Add the butter and lots of pepper. Serve. Simplicity, I would have added a grate of Parmesan or Cheddar if I had thought about it, but I was enjoying it too much.

Later on for a little snack I popped the bones from the belly pork dish I made on Sunday into the oven for an hour sprinkled with salt, pepper and Chinese five spice. Tasty and just right for nibbling in front of the TV.