Watercress soup and ploughmans lunch

This recipe is my Grandma's and I've been eating it for years! It so easy to make, and pretty cheap to make too! It tastes creamy but doesn't actually have any cream in, so it makes me feel a little healthier which is always nice...

Scott and I had this soup for lunch today, with a sort of ploughman's platter. We are little piggy's I know, but we both both try to make all meal times special and enjoy creating new and old concoctions for breakfast, lunch and tea (and the naughty snacks in between).

Ingredients:

1 onion

1 potato

butter 1oz

1 packet of watercress, (roughly a handful and a half)

milk 1/2 pint

vegetable or chicken stock 1/2 pint

salt& pepper

Optional - Cream to drizzle on top.

Chop the onion and potato. Melt the butter in a saucepan and saute the onion until transparent. Add your potato and watercress, milk and stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce your heat, cover and leave to simmer for 20 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, then blend in small batches in a blender/liquidiser. Return to the pan and season to taste.

To serve: You could add a drizzle of cream, but to be honest, it's already delicious and creamy enough.

I don't think I really need to explain this one, but the basics are that a ploughman's is a yummy lunch time dish with fresh bread and butter, a selection of cheeses and chutneys, with a little salad. I added some salami and ham because I was being greedy in Morrison's and couldn't resist them. Just cut everything into your desired sizes and display them prettily on a plate, and that's it!We had herby onion ciabatta, and a poppy seed roll which was really and fresh.

I don't usually round the corners of my pictures, but I thought I'd give it a go to see how they looked. What do you think?

Here were just a few cheeses that I picked up on the way home from college. The Brie was lovely, very mild which is how I like it, and the red Leicester was good too. I wasn't keen one the Green waxy one though, as the texture was a bit fatty, and the herby onion flavour wasn't very strong, so it just tasted a bit like plain cheddar. The snowdonia Cheese version however is amazing, but just a little out of my price limit for a Wednesday lunchtime!  But overall, a lovely lunch :)

Panzanella

Panzanella is a traditional Italian dish, made from left over bread and juicy tomato's. I first discovered it on Jamie Oliver's '30 minute meals' programme, which if you haven't watched, I recommend you do as it's full of delicious recipes that can be made in 30 minutes for family dinners etc. But back to Panzanella, it's yummy and pretty cheap to make. There are many variations, but the basics are torn stale bread, tomatoes and a tasty olive oil based dressing.

Panzanella for one

(adapted from Jamie Oliver's recipe)

Ingredients:
3-4 large tomatoes.

Vine tomatoes have the most flavour, and that is essential for this dish! If possible try to avoid buying salad tomatoes as they have little flavour! I chose red, orange and yellow ones from Morrison's in Wrexham.

A stale baguette or ciabatta torn into golf ball sized pieces (I used pumpkin seed bread as it was what we had in the bread bin)
handful basil leaves, torn
2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

a pinch of sugar

1 garlic clove
3 anchovy fillets, sliced into 2 long halves

Preheat the oven to gas mark 7-8.

 1. Tear your bread into small chunks, and place in a baking tray. Crush the clove of garlic over the bread, and drizzle with a little olive oil. Now toast them in the oven for roughly 10 minutes.

2. Take them out of the oven and place into a large bowl. Now chop your tomato's into chunks and mix them together with the bread. You can add you basil leaves here too. Don't worry if your heavy handed, it's useful as it means the juices from the tomatoes will run into the bread.

3. Mix together your balsamic, olive oil and pinch of sugar. Add some salt & pepper to taste, and pour over your bread and tomato's.

4. chop the anchovies into small pieces and scatter over the dish. Give it all another good mix, and there you have it!

Garnish with a few more basil leaves.

It's a lovely dish to have, and you can add anything else that you fancy too it, from chopped shallots, capers, torn mozzerella etc! Scott and I enjoyed this with some elderflower cordial, and followed it up with a cheeky raspberry donut!

Goats Cheese salad

This was so so good!

Grilled Goats cheese, salad leaves, balsamic dressing, polenta croutons, toasted seeds and raspberry pulse (saucy drizzle) from Archie Browns in Cornwall.
They specialise in Vegan and Vegetarian food, and they also have a healthfood shop downstairs.
Well worth trying if you are ever in Penzance in Cornwall.