Anyone else delighted that the evenings are drawing in and the air is cooler? I love autumn. The colours, smell of wood smoke and crisp air. It's also the season for beautiful squashes, pumpkins and curly kale. For me, soup is the ultimate homemade comfort food. Great with warm, crispy bread and hearty enough on their own. Here are a few of my favourite seasonal soup recipes:
Roasted Butternut Squash and Fennel Soup
Ingredients:
1 butternut squash
1 fennel bulb
1 onion
1 litre vegan stock
3 cloves garlic
4 sprigs thyme
1 red or birdseye chilli
1 thumb piece ginger
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 block creamed coconut
Juice of 1 lime
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Wash the squash, de-seed and chop into chunks. Put it in a baking dish with coconut or olive oil (not virgin!) and season. Roast in oven for about 1/2hr. The skin will soften and is edible. Don't worry!
Meanwhile, chop the fennel, onion and garlic and sweat in a pan with some oil over a low heat and with the lid on. Shake the pan every few minutes so nothing sticks on the bottom and burns. Do this for about 7mins. Add the chilli and flakes, ginger, stock, roasted squash, and coconut and let it simmer over a low heat for about 20mins. You may need to add more water. Blitz and over a low heat, season and add the lime juice. Serve with a dollop of coconut yogurt and a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds. Enjoy!
Note: I'll add more soups this week and include photos. Also, let me know if you'd like recipes for veg you're not sure how to cook or what it goes well with.
Showing posts with label soup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soup. Show all posts
Sunday, October 8, 2017
Friday, August 14, 2015
Simple Mutha Supper!
For this post I want to keep it real. I'm talking about quick, healthy, easy meals with a few simple ingredients that taste like a hug feels. Or something.
Here are three...and a half recipes for you to try this weekend. Perfect for something super fast and healthy to set you up for a night out, or to rustle up before a night in front of the telly.
Please let me know what you think or how they worked out for you.
I'm not one for measuring and weighing every little thing so just go with it. Experiment. Live life on the edge. I like the sense of danger. It makes me feel alive.
Celery cashew soup
Don't judge it till you've tried it.
Glug of olive oil or similar
1 cup cashew nuts
2 heads of celery, chopped
1 potato, peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 spoon Bouillon powder or other veg stock
1 mug of soya milk or alternative
flat leaf parsley, chopped (if in doubt, just chop it)
Nutmeg, salt and black pepper to taste.
Method:
Heat the oil in a large pan and with the lid on, on a low heat, sweat the potato, celery, onion and garlic for about 10 minutes. Give the pan a shake every few minutes so nothing sticks and burns.
Throw in the cashew nuts and sweat for a further 2 mins. Then add enough boiling water to cover the veg and stir in the veg stock.
Simmer for about 1/2hr until everything is nice and soft. Blitz the soup in a food processor until smooth. Then add the milk and season with the nutmeg (freshly grated is best), salt (taste the soup first as some veg stocks can be very salty!) and pepper.
Stir in the chopped parsley and serve! Ta daa!
I like this with toasted spelt bread. But that's just how I roll.
Variation:
To make a deliciously creamy, vegan spinach soup, swap the celery for spinach. Omit the parsley though! Also, adding a fennel bulb to this recipe is delicious. You can also use the fennel tops in the soup and on top as a garnish.
Courgetti with avocado pesto and stir fried tofu
This meal is insanely tasty and so simple you'll be asking yourself why you didn't think it up. But you didn't and I did. You're just going to have to live with that.
I bought my Spiralizer from Amazon. I've managed to add bits of my fingers to the ingredients a few times so just be careful!
Serves 2.
Coconut oil or other fryng oil
1 slab of tofu cut into squares. keep it chunky
For the marinade:
Teryaki sauce
juice of 1 lime
1 green chilli, sliced
For the pesto:
1 ripe avo, mashed
Juice of 1/2 lemon or 1 lime
Handful fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
2 courgettes, spiralized!
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 inch chunk of ginger, sliced into matchstick kinda size
To serve:
Pine nuts gently toasted in a dry frying pan
1/2 a lime
Method:
Melt enough coconut oil in a frying pan to cover the base generously.
Gently fry the tofu chunks with the chilli, sliced garlic and ginger, turning frequently, until golden brown.
In a wok gently stir fry the courgetti in coconut oil for a few minutes until they soften.
Meanwhile, mash up all the pesto ingredients together and mix it with the courgetti in the wok.
Drain the tofu on kitchen toil and discard the garlic and ginger. It will most likely be burnt.
Plate up, scatter with pine nuts and squeeze that lime!
Shove it in yer gob! Yummy.
Spaghetti alla Olivia
I made it, so I named it. Plus my name is basically Olive in Italian.
Serves 2.
Ingredients:
Spaghetti. obviously.
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup black olives
1 tablespoon capers
Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 bag of rocket
Avocado pesto from previous recipe. I would use the juice of 1 lemon rather than lime though.
Grated vegan cheese to top. I like the almond one with this recipe. Available in Planet Organic or another well stocked health food store.
Method:
Cook pasta. Bung everything together. Done,
I drizzle the spaghetti with olive oil before adding anything else as I like it extra lubricated!
Hope you enjoy these meals as much as I do. If in doubt, add lemon or lime juice to EVERYTHING as it makes food taste AWESOME!
If you enjoyed this post please follow me on Instagram for more food porn and bite sized ideas!
Eat well. Xx
Here are three...and a half recipes for you to try this weekend. Perfect for something super fast and healthy to set you up for a night out, or to rustle up before a night in front of the telly.
Please let me know what you think or how they worked out for you.
I'm not one for measuring and weighing every little thing so just go with it. Experiment. Live life on the edge. I like the sense of danger. It makes me feel alive.
Celery cashew soup
Don't judge it till you've tried it.
Glug of olive oil or similar
1 cup cashew nuts
2 heads of celery, chopped
1 potato, peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 spoon Bouillon powder or other veg stock
1 mug of soya milk or alternative
flat leaf parsley, chopped (if in doubt, just chop it)
Nutmeg, salt and black pepper to taste.
Method:
Heat the oil in a large pan and with the lid on, on a low heat, sweat the potato, celery, onion and garlic for about 10 minutes. Give the pan a shake every few minutes so nothing sticks and burns.
Throw in the cashew nuts and sweat for a further 2 mins. Then add enough boiling water to cover the veg and stir in the veg stock.
Simmer for about 1/2hr until everything is nice and soft. Blitz the soup in a food processor until smooth. Then add the milk and season with the nutmeg (freshly grated is best), salt (taste the soup first as some veg stocks can be very salty!) and pepper.
Stir in the chopped parsley and serve! Ta daa!
I like this with toasted spelt bread. But that's just how I roll.
Variation:
To make a deliciously creamy, vegan spinach soup, swap the celery for spinach. Omit the parsley though! Also, adding a fennel bulb to this recipe is delicious. You can also use the fennel tops in the soup and on top as a garnish.
Courgetti with avocado pesto and stir fried tofu
This meal is insanely tasty and so simple you'll be asking yourself why you didn't think it up. But you didn't and I did. You're just going to have to live with that.
I bought my Spiralizer from Amazon. I've managed to add bits of my fingers to the ingredients a few times so just be careful!
Serves 2.
Coconut oil or other fryng oil
1 slab of tofu cut into squares. keep it chunky
For the marinade:
Teryaki sauce
juice of 1 lime
1 green chilli, sliced
For the pesto:
1 ripe avo, mashed
Juice of 1/2 lemon or 1 lime
Handful fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
2 courgettes, spiralized!
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 inch chunk of ginger, sliced into matchstick kinda size
To serve:
Pine nuts gently toasted in a dry frying pan
1/2 a lime
Method:
Melt enough coconut oil in a frying pan to cover the base generously.Gently fry the tofu chunks with the chilli, sliced garlic and ginger, turning frequently, until golden brown.
In a wok gently stir fry the courgetti in coconut oil for a few minutes until they soften.
Meanwhile, mash up all the pesto ingredients together and mix it with the courgetti in the wok.
Drain the tofu on kitchen toil and discard the garlic and ginger. It will most likely be burnt.
Plate up, scatter with pine nuts and squeeze that lime!
Shove it in yer gob! Yummy.
Spaghetti alla Olivia
I made it, so I named it. Plus my name is basically Olive in Italian.
Serves 2.
Ingredients:
Spaghetti. obviously.
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup black olives
1 tablespoon capers
Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 bag of rocket
Avocado pesto from previous recipe. I would use the juice of 1 lemon rather than lime though.
Grated vegan cheese to top. I like the almond one with this recipe. Available in Planet Organic or another well stocked health food store.
Method:
Cook pasta. Bung everything together. Done,
I drizzle the spaghetti with olive oil before adding anything else as I like it extra lubricated!
Hope you enjoy these meals as much as I do. If in doubt, add lemon or lime juice to EVERYTHING as it makes food taste AWESOME!
If you enjoyed this post please follow me on Instagram for more food porn and bite sized ideas!
Eat well. Xx
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Super natural delights...
I love Halloween. Not only is it a fun excuse to hop on my broomstick and wreak havoc, it hails the start of winter feasts and celebrations.
Winter stews and soups are the ultimate comfort foods. They are like a cosy blanket when you come in from the cold and wet. Easy, quick and cheap to make, they also keep well and can be frozen for another time. Nutritious, nourishing and nurturing. A bowl of good, home made soup cannot be beaten.
(This monster pumpkin and gourds are on display outside SMBS health foods in East Dulwich. The pumpkin will be cut up on Tuesday 2nd Nov and given away. Hope they have a chainsaw!)
So, when I received a sugar pumpkin in my Riverford organic veg box this morning I had one thing on my mind.....SOUP! I must admit, I have been giving this recipe a lot of though! Everyone who makes pumpkin soup tends to follow a generic formula . The soup I created came to me when I was trying to sleep. Obsessed? Me...?!
My pumpkin soup is a marriage of complementary flavours, with a kick! A caribbean twist, you could say!
Sweet and Spicy Pumpkin soup (serves 4-6)
I am using pumpkin flesh instead of human, hopefully the zombies won't notice...
Sugar pumpkin refers to the edible kind rather than the "Jack-o'-lantern" type
Ingredients:
1 small/medium sugar pumpkin
3 medium carrots
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
stick celery
2 medium potatoes
1/2 litre vegetable stock
coconut oil
1 inch piece ginger finely chopped
1/2 can coconut milk
juice 1/2 an orange
juice of 1 lime
1 tspn chilli flakes
1/2 tspn paprika
Cracked black pepper
Toasted pumpkin seeds and rye bread for croutons (to serve)
Start by cutting the pumpkin into 8ths and rub with coconut oil then paprika. Put on baking tray in the oven at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes until soft and roasty looking. Meanwhile chop all the veg ang heat 2 table spoons coconut oil in a large pan. Throw in the veg and ginger cover with the lid and sweat (the veg not you) shaking the pan occasionally so the veg doesn't stick. After 10 minutes add the stock.
When done, remove the pumpkin and let it cool before peeling off the skin and adding to the pan. Switch off oven and put pumpkin seeds on baking tray in oven. Keep an eye on them as they only take a few minutes to toast.
Simmer soup for 20 minutes and then blitz in a food processor or with a convenient hand held blender. Then add the coconut milk and orange and lime juice. Continue to simmer. Add as much pepper as desired and a sprinkle of chilli flakes and 1/2 teaspoon paprika. Simmer.
To make croutons, cut piece rye bread into squares and fry in a pan with coconut oil.
Bewitching Orange and Almond Cake:
This cake is amazing! It's gluten free and not too sweet. It is sweetened with organic jaggery, an unprocessed sugar rich in B vitamins and mineral salts. These nutrients are essential for its digestion and metabolism when ingested. White sugar is nutritionally void and leaches nutrients from the body. I found lovely, rustic looking brown bags of jaggery at Authentic Roots in Croyden. A really fantastic and delightful independent health food shop run by knowledgeable and friendly staff. Ghandi was an advocate of jaggery. And if it's good enough for Ghandi.....This is a low sugar cake, I deducted 100g from the original recipe. The protein from the eggs and the fibre from the whole orange will help the sugar to be released more slowly into the blood stream. However, if you need a lower glycaemic load, you can use Xylitol or coconut sugar which have a very low glycaemic impact.
You can leave out the baking powder and bicarb if dietary requirements dictate. Just expect it to need less cooking time.
This cake is SO easy to make and will seriously impress with its rich flavour and moist texture. You literally whizz all the ingredients together in a food processor, and bake. Result!
I have to credit Queen Nigella for this recipe. It is from the wonderful "A Fair Feast" cook book. I have tweaked it somewhat by using jaggery instead of caster sugar and added some lovely spices to complement the orange and chocolate notes. Sorry, Nigella, but I think you'll find I improved it.
2 medium sized organic oranges
6 organic, fair trade eggs
1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
200g ground almonds
150g jaggery
50g fair trade cocoa
2 teaspoons mixed spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger
Crème fraiche for serving
Pre heat oven to 180 degrees/ gas mark 4 and grease and line a 20cm or similar spring form tin
Boil the oranges for an hour or until soft, cut in half and remove pips then blitz them in a food processor. add all the other ingredients and whizz! Pour into cake tin and bake for about an hour. Check after 45 mins. A skewer should come out clean after insertion.
Serve with a blob of sour cream/crème fraiche
Eat the lot.
Only kidding. You'll be sick.
http://www.authenticroots.co.uk/
I'm going to try and sleep now. Although, I'll probably be thinking up my next culinary adventure.
Eat well. Xx
 |
| Squashes outside SMBS |
 |
| Big Daddy! |
(This monster pumpkin and gourds are on display outside SMBS health foods in East Dulwich. The pumpkin will be cut up on Tuesday 2nd Nov and given away. Hope they have a chainsaw!)
So, when I received a sugar pumpkin in my Riverford organic veg box this morning I had one thing on my mind.....SOUP! I must admit, I have been giving this recipe a lot of though! Everyone who makes pumpkin soup tends to follow a generic formula . The soup I created came to me when I was trying to sleep. Obsessed? Me...?!
My pumpkin soup is a marriage of complementary flavours, with a kick! A caribbean twist, you could say!
Sweet and Spicy Pumpkin soup (serves 4-6)
I am using pumpkin flesh instead of human, hopefully the zombies won't notice...
Sugar pumpkin refers to the edible kind rather than the "Jack-o'-lantern" type
Ingredients:
1 small/medium sugar pumpkin
3 medium carrots
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
stick celery
2 medium potatoes
1/2 litre vegetable stock
coconut oil
1 inch piece ginger finely chopped
1/2 can coconut milk
juice 1/2 an orange
juice of 1 lime
1 tspn chilli flakes
1/2 tspn paprika
Cracked black pepper
Toasted pumpkin seeds and rye bread for croutons (to serve)
Start by cutting the pumpkin into 8ths and rub with coconut oil then paprika. Put on baking tray in the oven at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes until soft and roasty looking. Meanwhile chop all the veg ang heat 2 table spoons coconut oil in a large pan. Throw in the veg and ginger cover with the lid and sweat (the veg not you) shaking the pan occasionally so the veg doesn't stick. After 10 minutes add the stock.
When done, remove the pumpkin and let it cool before peeling off the skin and adding to the pan. Switch off oven and put pumpkin seeds on baking tray in oven. Keep an eye on them as they only take a few minutes to toast.
Simmer soup for 20 minutes and then blitz in a food processor or with a convenient hand held blender. Then add the coconut milk and orange and lime juice. Continue to simmer. Add as much pepper as desired and a sprinkle of chilli flakes and 1/2 teaspoon paprika. Simmer.
To make croutons, cut piece rye bread into squares and fry in a pan with coconut oil.
 |
| Moist & sumptuous! |
Bewitching Orange and Almond Cake:
This cake is amazing! It's gluten free and not too sweet. It is sweetened with organic jaggery, an unprocessed sugar rich in B vitamins and mineral salts. These nutrients are essential for its digestion and metabolism when ingested. White sugar is nutritionally void and leaches nutrients from the body. I found lovely, rustic looking brown bags of jaggery at Authentic Roots in Croyden. A really fantastic and delightful independent health food shop run by knowledgeable and friendly staff. Ghandi was an advocate of jaggery. And if it's good enough for Ghandi.....This is a low sugar cake, I deducted 100g from the original recipe. The protein from the eggs and the fibre from the whole orange will help the sugar to be released more slowly into the blood stream. However, if you need a lower glycaemic load, you can use Xylitol or coconut sugar which have a very low glycaemic impact.
You can leave out the baking powder and bicarb if dietary requirements dictate. Just expect it to need less cooking time.
This cake is SO easy to make and will seriously impress with its rich flavour and moist texture. You literally whizz all the ingredients together in a food processor, and bake. Result!
I have to credit Queen Nigella for this recipe. It is from the wonderful "A Fair Feast" cook book. I have tweaked it somewhat by using jaggery instead of caster sugar and added some lovely spices to complement the orange and chocolate notes. Sorry, Nigella, but I think you'll find I improved it.
2 medium sized organic oranges
6 organic, fair trade eggs
1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
200g ground almonds
150g jaggery
50g fair trade cocoa
2 teaspoons mixed spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger
Crème fraiche for serving
Pre heat oven to 180 degrees/ gas mark 4 and grease and line a 20cm or similar spring form tin
Boil the oranges for an hour or until soft, cut in half and remove pips then blitz them in a food processor. add all the other ingredients and whizz! Pour into cake tin and bake for about an hour. Check after 45 mins. A skewer should come out clean after insertion.
Serve with a blob of sour cream/crème fraiche
Eat the lot.
Only kidding. You'll be sick.
http://www.authenticroots.co.uk/
I'm going to try and sleep now. Although, I'll probably be thinking up my next culinary adventure.
Eat well. Xx
 |
| Happy Halloween!! |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)