Carrot and Coriander Soup

Just a quickie-

Here is one of my favourite soup recipes, its dead simple and one I make quite often.

Ingredients:

7 large carrots

1 large onion

chicken/vegetable stock (enough to cover the carrots and onions)

tsp dried coriander

1 tbsp butter

fresh coriander

salt & pepper

Method:

Chop the onions and sauté in butter until translucent. Whilst the onions are sautéing, chop the carrots and add them to the onions. Stir for 2-3 minutes and ensure carrots are coated in the butter. Pour over the stock, season and add the dried coriander. Cook on low until the carrots are soft (about 20 minutes) Remove from heat, add the fresh coriander and blend your soup. If the soup is to thick, you can thin it down with a little milk or cream, depending on how healthy your feeling....

Serve with a little chopped fresh coriander and soup bread and butter, because lets face it, what is soup with bread?!

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 :)

Minestrone Soup

For my lunch today I made Minestrone soup, which is one of my favourite varieties. I love the tomatoey (yes that is a word) juice with the chunky vegetables and the hint of the smoked bacon.

Minestrone Soup

Ingredients:

3 sticks celery

1 large onion

2 carrots

4 cloves garlic

2-3 tablespoons tomato puree

2-3 tins chopped tomatoes (depends how runny/thick you want your soup)

1 can cannellini beans

1/2 bag spinach

4 large cabbage leaves

2L stock cube (vegetable or chicken)

5-6 rashers smoked bacon

2-3 handfuls of pasta

Fennel Seeds, Chili flakes, smoked paprika (or whatever you like really)

 Fresh basil & coriander.

Cut bacon into strips, and saute in a frying pan with the onions until browned. Chop the celery and carrots into small chunks and add to the pan along with the minced garlic. You can now add your desired herbs and spices etc. Cook until slightly softened. Then add the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree and stock. Bring to boil for ten Min's. Now add the pasta, cabbage and cannellini beans and simmer for 20 minutes. Before serving add the spinach and season to taste.

Serve with warm crusty bread, chopped basil and coriander, and a shaving of Parmesan.

 Perfect for a cold night in, and made better if worn in a one-sie, or is that just me?!

Roasted Tomato and Onion Soup

Ingredients:

2kg/4½lbs large ripe plum tomatoes, halved/

2 garlic bulbs, cut in half horizontally

2 large red onions, peeled, quartered

few sprigs fresh thyme

1  1/2 tbsp Honey

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

250ml/9fl oz vegetable stock (optional)

100ml/3½fl oz single cream (optional)

few drops Worcestershire sauce (optional)

          Method:

1.      Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 8.

2.      Place the tomatoes, garlic, onions and thyme into a large roasting tin and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Drizzle with the oil, and roast in the oven for 40-50 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly.

3.      I said use two bulbs of garlic, with the first, pull the bulbs from their skin and mash in with the soup. The other is purely to enjoy as a sweet little treat for all you garlic fans out there, though if you everyone is a fan in the house, you could always add it to the soup as well.

4.      Tip the roasted tomatoes and onions into a food processor along with the mashed garlic, and pulse until smooth.

5.      If the soup is too thick, pour into a large saucepan and loosen the mixture with either vegetable stock, or single cream. Add a little Worcestershire sauce to season, if you like.

This is a recipe I have addapted from Sophie Dahl's Recipe Book, which is really worth buying if you can.