Wednesday 7 October 2009

Dan's Pea Soup

Peas (Duh): About 1 - 1.5 cup(s) per serving

Vegetable stock sufficient to cook the peas, and have a bit extra

Crème Fraiche

Handful of fresh mint, finely chopped

Bacon, preferably thick, chopped into small chucks

1) Fry up the bacon, good and hot so it browns all over and starts to crisp up

2) Bring stock to the boil and add the peas

3) Cook the peas until they are almost done. They should still have plenty of bite. Don’t worry, they will keep cooking after you….

4) Drain peas – put the mint in the bottom of the colander so the hot stock drains through it. Reserve the stock

5) Mash peas with a blender / food processor. Keep them coarse.

6) Add enough stock to cover the pure and mix together

7) Taste and season – don’t forget the back will be salty, and the crème fraiche creamy!

8) Finish with crème Fraiche and top with bacon

9) Eat

Potatoes and carrot soup

Hi guys

just so I won't forget to practice, I wanted to post this soup recipe for you.
It is very similar to the one Natália has already published, but it is a bit different. :-)
So here it is.

Ingredients:
- two carrots, sliced
- three to four medium-size white potatoes, in chunks
- 1 onion, chopped or grated
- 1/2 tbsp butter
- 1 1/2 glass of milk

* Cook the carrots and the potatoes until they are very soft. Put them aside, but don't throw the water away.
* Chop or grate the onion and fry it on the butter until soft and gold.
* In a blender, put the fried onion, the potatoes, carrots with half the water they were cooked in, and the glass of milk. Mix everything together. You can add a bit more of the water if it is too thick.
* Put the soup back in the pan and simmer until it boils.

Serve with bread and a mature cheese.

Tuesday 6 October 2009

Vegetable (Spinach) Soup


Dear friends,

These are some guidelines that you can use to do different vegetable soups. This time we did a spinach one, but you can do it with different vegetables.
It takes about 20 minutes to peel things, 20/25 to do the base and other 15/20 for the vegetable to cook. That is, depending on your choices, it takes between 40-60 minutes.

For the base of the soup I usually use potatoes, carrots, onion and garlic. The quantities and proportions will depend on how thick you like your base/soup and the kind of vegetable you intend to add (sometimes, for a spinach soup for example, more carrots and less potatoes tastes nicer). As a guide for a 2 litre (of water) medium thick soup, you can use 4 or 5 medium/big potatoes, about 3 big carrots, 1/2 onion and 2 or 3 cloves of garlic.
I also tend to add some chicken stock (1/2 cube); add salt to taste. Bring everything to the boil and, when its all cooked (try with a fork), take it out of the hob for a few minutes and blend it all together. You should now have a nice soup base. You can also add different items to this base such as butternut squash or pumpkin.

After the base is ready, put it in the cooker again and add your 'vegetable', washed and sliced/cut in smaller pieces, if necessary. These can include spinach, cabbage, runner beans, leeks, or anything else that occurs to you. You can even use a mix. It looks nice if you also add some sliced carrots (about 1/2 or 1/3) or pumpkin, and some bits of rice or small pieces of pasta (1 small handful). Wait until everything is cooked and add some olive oil (2 or 3 soup spoons) just before turning the cooker off. Your soup is ready to eat.

If you prefer smoother soups, you can cook everything at the same time and blend it all together. You can also add water whenever necessary/desired (but it is faster to cook the base in just enough water and then add for the vegetables' part). If your soup comes out too thin, you can cheat a bit by adding mashed potatoes (flour).

Monday 5 October 2009

4 Breads: Yeast, Corn, Loaf and Machine

YEAST BREAD: Egg Bread (Challah)

3-31/4 cups flour
1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package yeast
1 cup very warm water
2 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large egg

Mix 1 1/2 c flour, sugar, salt and yeast with warm water, oil and egg. Beat until smooth. Add remaining flour until dough can be easily handled (not too sticky).

Place dough on floured surface and knead about 10 minutes until smooth and springy. Place dough in large, lightly greased bowl. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let raise in warm spot for about an hour.

Dough can be rolled out into square, then rolled tightly and placed seam-side down in 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. Or dough can be divided into 3 equal parts, each part rolled into rope and loosely braided on cookie sheet. Cover dough with plastic wrap and let rise another 50 minutes.

Heat oven to 375 F. Brush bread with one egg yolk to make shiny. If in loaf pan bake 30-35 minutes, if braided bake 25-30 minutes until golden brown.




Gluten-free Corn Bread

2 cups yellow or white cornmeal
½ cup boiling water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg
2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
1 ¼ cups buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F, heat oven safe skillet or medium size casserole dish. Stir together ½ cup cornmeal and the boiling water. The cornmeal will get the consistency of a thick porridge or grits. Beat the egg into the reserved cornmeal porridge. Whisk in the buttermilk (or substitute) and oil to make a thin batter. Set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together the remaining 1 ½ cups cornmeal, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients, whisk just until smooth and immediately pour into the hot skillet (or casserole dish). Bake until the center of the cornbread is firm and the edges are golden brown, about 25 to 40 minutes.


Loaf Bread: Zucchini (Courgette) Bread

3 cups shredded courgettes
1 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 large eggs
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts
1/2 cup raisins

Mix all ingredients. Pour batter into either two 81/2 x 41/2x21/2 or one 9x5x3 loaf pan. Bake 8 inch loaves 50-60 minutes or 9 inch loaf 1 hour 20 minutes, or until knife inserted comes out clean.