Mr Slater’s Soup

14 11 2009

Whilst I am a big fan of Nigel’s food, I don’t own any of his books. A friend at work made this and thoughtfully shared the recipe with me. This has to be one of my all time favourite soups. Roasted red pepper, tomato and chili soup. Perfect for a wet, windy British autumn.

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Put your oven onto 220C. Take a large roasting pan and place 3 red peppers (halved and deseeded), 5 whole tomatoes and 6 unpeeled cloves of garlic on it. Drizzle with oil, add a little salt and pepper, then roast for about 30 minutes. Nw take 3 red chilis, half them lengthwise and deseed them. Add to the roasting vegetables and close the oven door for a further 20 minutes.

When everything is charred and wrinkly, remove from the oven and place in a pan with 900ml of vegetable stock. Bring to boil then simmer for about 15 minutes. Let it cool a little then whiz it all up in a blender or with a stick blender.

Take a handful of mint leaves. Chop finely and mix with some olive oil.

To serve, put the soup in a bowl, top with some of the minty oil and some crumbled feta cheese.

Reminder to self: Buy some new soup bowls


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Spiced Cauliflower Soup

9 11 2009

Not quite a soup, not quite a curry, but delicious all the same

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Couple of tablespoons sunflower oil
1 large onion – chopped
1 clove garlic – chopped
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon turmeric
600 ml vegetable stock
1 x 400ml can coconut milk
1 cauliflower – cut into florets
handful fresh coriander – roughly chopped
½ teaspoon salt
optional hard boiled eggs – halved or quartered

Heat the oil in a pan, then fry off the garlic and onion until soft. Add the spices and fry for a few seconds then add the stock and coconut milk. Tip in the cauliflower and bring to boil. Simmer until cauliflower just soft then add salt, coriander and eggs.

Serve with hot buttered nan bread


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Burger Disaster

2 11 2009

OK so I had everything now to make the Strand Cafe Burgers. I wizzed the carrots, celery and onions, then found lots and lots of stringy bits of celery in the mix. Way too much to pick them all out. So onto the compost heap it went. Will start again at the weekend. I think fine chopping rather than wizzing perhaps is in order – at least for the celery and onion.

So in keeping with my current soup diet (I had eaten 5 soups in 3 days) I made a Thai Pumpkin Green Curry Soup which was actually quite nice. Rather than using lemograss, coriander, holy basil, chilis, and all that other stuff I just don’t keep in the kitchen, I cheated and used one of the few vegetarian green curry pastes available.

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This serves about 6 people
Heat some sunflower oil in a large pan.
Peel and de-seed half a medium pumpkin and chop roughly.
Add to hot oil and fry off for a few minutes.
Now add about 100g of curry paste – more if you want it hotter.
Pour over a standard 400g tin of coconut milk then top it off with water and a teapoon of stock powder.
Bring to boil then simmer until the pumpkin is soft.
Wizz it all with a stick blender of in the food processor. Add more water if the soup is too thick.
Serve with sliced chili, or coriander leaves or maybe sliced spring onions.

Apologies for the poor photo – little bit of spilt soup on the side of the bowl. It would never pass the Masterchef test.

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Pea, Mint and Lettuce Soup

28 06 2009

I must say I could eat this soup forever. Just delicious. Light and fresh. The dried chili makes the back of your mouth tingle ever so slightly at the end of every mouthful. I served this with a home made rye and mixed seed loaf. This would no doubt be even better when the peas from the allotment are ready. Just a few more days and several bucket loads of water needed.

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This will make enough to serve 6-8 people

big knob of butter
2 shallots (or one small onion) – roughly chopped
1 dried chili
2 little gem lettuces – roughly chopped. Alternatively you could use any other lettuce – about half a head
400g petit pois
5-6 large springs of mint – stalks removed
1½ litres vegetable stock
150ml single cream

Melt the butter, then fry the shallots and chili until the shallots are softened. Now add the lettuce and stir until wilted. Put the rest of the ingredients except the cream in, bring to the boil, then simmer for about 5 minutes.

Remove the chili then whiz the soup up with a hand blender or in a food processor then strain through a sieve to remove the pea skins and any other lumpy bits.

Return the a low heat and add the cream. Mix well and serve when hot. I think this would also work well served cold.


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Courgette Soup

17 05 2009

I found this on a random Google search one day when looking for something to do with all my courgettes from the allotment. It sounds like it’s going to be a bit watery and bland, but the end result – with the addition of cream cheese – is far from it.

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1 tablespoon olive oil
Large knob of butter
1 onion – peeled and roughly chopped
1 leek – finely sliced
2 cloves garlic – roughly chopped
3 medium potatoes – peeled and diced
3 medium courgettes – diced
Vegetable stock
3-4 tablespoons Cream cheese (Philadelphia or Mascarpone) or natural Greek yogurt
Salt
Black pepper
snipped chives to garnish

Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan. When the butter has melted add the onion, leek and garlic. Fry gently for about 5-7 minutes till softened then add the potato and cook for 10 minutes over a low heat. Add courgettes and enough stock to just cover the vegetables. The courgettes will release more water as they cook. Bring everything to the boil then simmer for a further 20 minutes or so until the potatoes are nice and soft.

Place the contents in a food processor or blender. Add the cream cheese or Greek yogurt and whiz until all the lumps have gone.

Transfer back to a saucepan, add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Heat and serve topped with warm bread and a few snipped chives.


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Italian Bean and Vegetable Soup

22 04 2009

A lovely, light soup that works well any time of year. I used fresh borlotti beans and cavalo nero grown on the allotment last year but you could use pretty much any bean (cannellini, flageolet, pinto) and any green leafy vegetable such as curly kale, spinach, savoy cabbage, etc.

italian-soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium leek – cut in quarters lengthwise then finely sliced
1 medium carrot – peeled and diced
1 stick of celery – finely diced
2 cloves garlic – finely chopped
Bunch of cavalo nero or spinach – finely sliced
1x400g tin of borlotti beans – drained
Vegetable stock
1 teaspoon dried Oregano or a little more if using fresh
Salt
Black pepper
Parmesan cheese – grated
Chili infused olive oil, crushed dried chili or finely sliced fresh red chili

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add leek, celery, carrot and garlic and fry for about 5 minutes. Add the sliced cavalo nero or spinach and cook for a further 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Drain the beans and add with about a teaspoon of fresh or dried oregano. Add enough stock to just cover all the vegetables, bring to boil and then simmer for about 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Serve topped with grated parmesan cheese and a drizzle of chili infused olive oil. If chilis aren’t your thing try a little freshly grated nutmeg on top.


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Categories : allotment, soup

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