Christmas has come and gone and now is the time of year I try to make up for the excesses of Christmas feasts and Hogmanay partying.
2009 was a year of excess; roast duck in bed, potatoes sizzling in goose fat, everything au gratin and countless bottles of lush Cairn o Mohr wine. 2010 was healthier, as I was trying to lose a few pounds and even hitting the gym once or twice. 2011 will be a good year, I can just feel it.
I made this soup a few days ago and let me just say, it was just what I needed. Few things can beat a smoky, warming soup on a cold winters night, and you can't beat throwing in the odd ham shank either!
Ham shank and cabbage winter soup
3 tsp rapeseed oil
450 g smoked ham shank
1 head cabbage, shredded
2 carrots, roughly chopped
3 onions, chopped
5 large tomatoes, quartered
2 L water
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
Heat oil in pan. Brown the ham shank and remove.
Sautee onions until softened, then the cabbage and carrots. Return the ham shank to the pot and add water to cover.
Simmer for at least 1 hour, but preferably for as long as possible.
Add the tomatoes to the soup and simmer gently a further 15-20 minutes.
Showing posts with label vegetables. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vegetables. Show all posts
Sunday, 23 January 2011
Saturday, 27 November 2010
Super healthy spinach and kale soup
In keeping with the soup theme, I made this tonight with a couple bags of greenery I found lurking in the fridge that has maybe seen better days. Perfect for soup thoough, and I love a green soup. May make this again for St Patrick's Day next year. Plus both me and the boy have been feeling a bit run down, so the huge amounts of garlic should hopefully help.
Spinach and kale soup
400g organic spinach (Phantassie)
200g organic kale (Phantassie)
3 medium onions, chopped (W Christie butchers)
8 cloves garlic, chopped (W Christie butchers)
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 tsp wild garlic pesto (Sacla)
2 Knorr vegetable stock pots
½ tsp black mustard seeds
A pinch of nutmeg
750 ml boiling water
Heat oil in a large pot. Sautee onions for a few minutes until translucent, then add the garlic – do not cook the garlic for very long, as it has a tendency to burn. Add the black mustard seeds to the onions and garlic to toast them slightly.
Now add the spinach (you could break it up or chop it if you like, but I was terribly lazy and just threw it all in at once. Ah well, it gets blended anyway so it shouldn’t matter). Add the kale as well – you will probably need to break it up a bit as it is hardier than the spinach.
Add the water and the stock; you could use fresh vegetable stock if you like but I had a few stock pots to hand so just used them. Cook the soup down until the spinach and kale are wilted. Season with some sea salt; add a small pinch of nutmeg, maybe some freshly ground black pepper.
Using a handheld blender, puree up the soup – the blender we have is amazing and we don’t even need to take the pot off the hob. I don’t like my soups totally smooth so I’ll usually stop just short of totally blended – I like a bit of texture!
To serve you could spoon in some crème fraiche, but this is super tasty and very healthy as it is. I think this may go some way to counteract the week of takeaways we’ve just had, bad me!
Spinach and kale soup
400g organic spinach (Phantassie)
200g organic kale (Phantassie)
3 medium onions, chopped (W Christie butchers)
8 cloves garlic, chopped (W Christie butchers)
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 tsp wild garlic pesto (Sacla)
2 Knorr vegetable stock pots
½ tsp black mustard seeds
A pinch of nutmeg
750 ml boiling water
Heat oil in a large pot. Sautee onions for a few minutes until translucent, then add the garlic – do not cook the garlic for very long, as it has a tendency to burn. Add the black mustard seeds to the onions and garlic to toast them slightly.
Now add the spinach (you could break it up or chop it if you like, but I was terribly lazy and just threw it all in at once. Ah well, it gets blended anyway so it shouldn’t matter). Add the kale as well – you will probably need to break it up a bit as it is hardier than the spinach.
Add the water and the stock; you could use fresh vegetable stock if you like but I had a few stock pots to hand so just used them. Cook the soup down until the spinach and kale are wilted. Season with some sea salt; add a small pinch of nutmeg, maybe some freshly ground black pepper.
Using a handheld blender, puree up the soup – the blender we have is amazing and we don’t even need to take the pot off the hob. I don’t like my soups totally smooth so I’ll usually stop just short of totally blended – I like a bit of texture!
To serve you could spoon in some crème fraiche, but this is super tasty and very healthy as it is. I think this may go some way to counteract the week of takeaways we’ve just had, bad me!
Monday, 22 November 2010
Oxtail soup
Tis the time of year for soup. I’m not usually a huge soup person, especially during the summer months; I’m more a solid food kind of girl, with the emphasis on chewing. Makes me feel like I’ve worked for it – pureed food just seems too easy.
I get lazy in winter, and I think it’s a fabulous time of year to get cosy under a thick tartan blanket on an armchair of epic proportions, with the lights down low and a good film on the telly. There’s really nothing better to get me in that snuggly frame of mind than a nice bowl of steaming hot soup and some crusty bread. My favourite at the moment is Falko’s spelt and honey (dinkelbrot mit honig), which is amaaazing. It may be the best bread I have ever tasted, and I buy it every weekend at the farmers market. And as far as the soup element is concerned, nothing beats homemade.
My lovely boy made a version of oxtail soup over the weekend; it is gorgeous, but quite different from any other oxtail soup, I promise!
Hearty oxtail soup
1.5 kg oxtail
1 bottle Madeira wine, medium dry
Flour
500 ml beef stock
3-5 onions, chopped
Carrots, chopped
Romanesco, in florets
Brussels sprouts, halved
20 cherry tomatoes
Dust the oxtail with flour, then brown in some oil (we use Summer Harvest rapeseed oil) in a heavy, lidded casserole dish. Remove the meat and set aside. Add the onions and sauté – you might need to add some more oil at this point. When the onions have softened, return the oxtail to the pot; now is the time to add the whole bottle of Madeira. Cook it all down for about 15-20 minutes before adding the beef stock. Season. Simmer over a very low heat for a very long time; my boyfriend cooked this soup over a period of 5 hours, but you could probably get away with a couple hours.
Meanwhile, in a separate pot of salted water, blanch the vegetables. You can add as many or as few vegetables to this as you like, but we used a couple large carrots, half a huge head of romanesco, and about 10-12 sprouts. Drain.
Once the soup has sat simmering for what seems like forever, and you can no longer remember a time when you did not have soup simmering on the hob, remove the oxtail from the broth.
Set the meat aside and add the drained vegetables to the soup. Toss in the cherry tomatoes as well; there is no need to chop as the soup will cook down further;
simmer the soup with the vegetables and tomatoes for about 20 minutes, mashing the vegetables with a wooden spoon if you prefer soups with a chunkier texture, or puree with a handheld blender if you prefer something a little smoother. I personally like mine with a bit of texture, so only lightly blended it.
Now, you have one of two choices. You could shred the meat and add it to the soup, or you could leave it out altogether. We did half and half; as there is quite a lot of soup yield, we added shredded oxtail to half the batch and left it out of the other batch. It’s wonderful and yummy either way, and I can’t think of a more perfect meal on a freezing cold Edinburgh winter night.
I get lazy in winter, and I think it’s a fabulous time of year to get cosy under a thick tartan blanket on an armchair of epic proportions, with the lights down low and a good film on the telly. There’s really nothing better to get me in that snuggly frame of mind than a nice bowl of steaming hot soup and some crusty bread. My favourite at the moment is Falko’s spelt and honey (dinkelbrot mit honig), which is amaaazing. It may be the best bread I have ever tasted, and I buy it every weekend at the farmers market. And as far as the soup element is concerned, nothing beats homemade.
My lovely boy made a version of oxtail soup over the weekend; it is gorgeous, but quite different from any other oxtail soup, I promise!
Hearty oxtail soup
1.5 kg oxtail
1 bottle Madeira wine, medium dry
Flour
500 ml beef stock
3-5 onions, chopped
Carrots, chopped
Romanesco, in florets
Brussels sprouts, halved
20 cherry tomatoes
Dust the oxtail with flour, then brown in some oil (we use Summer Harvest rapeseed oil) in a heavy, lidded casserole dish. Remove the meat and set aside. Add the onions and sauté – you might need to add some more oil at this point. When the onions have softened, return the oxtail to the pot; now is the time to add the whole bottle of Madeira. Cook it all down for about 15-20 minutes before adding the beef stock. Season. Simmer over a very low heat for a very long time; my boyfriend cooked this soup over a period of 5 hours, but you could probably get away with a couple hours.
Meanwhile, in a separate pot of salted water, blanch the vegetables. You can add as many or as few vegetables to this as you like, but we used a couple large carrots, half a huge head of romanesco, and about 10-12 sprouts. Drain.
Once the soup has sat simmering for what seems like forever, and you can no longer remember a time when you did not have soup simmering on the hob, remove the oxtail from the broth.
Set the meat aside and add the drained vegetables to the soup. Toss in the cherry tomatoes as well; there is no need to chop as the soup will cook down further;
simmer the soup with the vegetables and tomatoes for about 20 minutes, mashing the vegetables with a wooden spoon if you prefer soups with a chunkier texture, or puree with a handheld blender if you prefer something a little smoother. I personally like mine with a bit of texture, so only lightly blended it.
Now, you have one of two choices. You could shred the meat and add it to the soup, or you could leave it out altogether. We did half and half; as there is quite a lot of soup yield, we added shredded oxtail to half the batch and left it out of the other batch. It’s wonderful and yummy either way, and I can’t think of a more perfect meal on a freezing cold Edinburgh winter night.
Sunday, 10 October 2010
Healthy lunch - brown rice with mackerel - 6 Oct 2010
It's been a busy couple weeks for me, starting uni and still working at my job part time as well. It's great, don't get me wrong - I love being busy, and it makes me appreciate my weekends even more. Home cooking has taken a backseat though, and we've had a few more takeaways than usual. In fact, it was takeaway fest in our house all week after Em left...yikes!
I did manage to muster up a super-healthy lunch to take with me to uni. It's hard to believe it's been a whole weeks icne I lasted cooked anything in my kitchen! This was pretty basic, filled to the brim with fresh veg, and hopefully went some way to balancing out the week of (slightly) unhealthy eating!
Brown rice with mackerel and veg
75g brown rice, dry weight
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
1.5 cup sugar snap peas, sliced
1 cup cauliflower (I used the lime green version from Phantassie)
10 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tin Portuguese sardines in tomato sauce
1 small tin sweetcorn
Cook rice according to packet instructions.
In a separate pan, heat the rapeseed oil and sautee the cauliflower and sugar snaps, just until tender. Add the cherry tomatoes. Finally add the mackerel, breaking up the fish with a wooden spoon. The last thing to go in should be the sweetcorn. Season.
Add the cooked rice (drained) and mix well.
I did manage to muster up a super-healthy lunch to take with me to uni. It's hard to believe it's been a whole weeks icne I lasted cooked anything in my kitchen! This was pretty basic, filled to the brim with fresh veg, and hopefully went some way to balancing out the week of (slightly) unhealthy eating!
Brown rice with mackerel and veg
75g brown rice, dry weight
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
1.5 cup sugar snap peas, sliced
1 cup cauliflower (I used the lime green version from Phantassie)
10 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tin Portuguese sardines in tomato sauce
1 small tin sweetcorn
Cook rice according to packet instructions.
In a separate pan, heat the rapeseed oil and sautee the cauliflower and sugar snaps, just until tender. Add the cherry tomatoes. Finally add the mackerel, breaking up the fish with a wooden spoon. The last thing to go in should be the sweetcorn. Season.
Add the cooked rice (drained) and mix well.
Wednesday, 16 June 2010
Steamed honey soy salmon parcels with rice noodle stir fry
We had salmon for dinner last night, which is a pretty big deal in my house as my boyfriend is not a fan of fish – childhood trauma, fish bone, choking etc. The topic has come up before how we should try to eat more fish, but we’re the kind of household that resorts to meat in a pinch, and to be honest I’m a lazy cook on days I work. So Monday to Friday we slap a slab of meat onto a plate with potatoes or rice, or pasta if I win that night. We don’t do much to the meat except grill it on the George with some balsamic.
Except last night, I had a big tail piece of salmon from Creelers calling my name in the fridge. Too often I buy fish and have to freeze it at the last minute because we’d totally forgotten about it, but I was determined that food I’d bought fresh would be eaten fresh from now on (dagnabbit!)), so into the oven it went. We even went all-out with the healthy eating and had loads of veg with it.
The fish and the onion came from the farmers market, the fennel from RealFoods (my regular stop off point in town on days I go to Pilates class), and the rest of the veg I picked up in Marks and Sparks yesterday on my way home – I don’t usually get veg from the supermarket, but their food hall is ok (I was there to return some clothes I’d bought in a moment of madness) and I only picked up produce sourced from the UK.
Oh, and I don’t always do measurements. I am a firm believer in seasoning to taste, so there will be no “tbsps” and “grammes” here. Where possible I’ve included the source of the produce)
Steamed honey soy salmon parcels with rice noodle stir fry
Honey
Soy sauce (I use Kikkoman or ClearSpring)
Chilli oil
Salmon tail end, cut into fillets
1 bulb fennel, julienned (RealFoods)
1 onion, thinly sliced (Phantassie – farmers market)
Rapeseed oil (Summer Harvest oils – farmers market)
Bok choy, shredded (M&S – UK)
English chestnut mushrooms, sliced (Phantassie)
Broccoli, in florets (M&S – UK)
Spinach (M&S – UK)
3 cloves garlic, chopped (W Christie’s butchers)
2 packets Ready-cooked rice noodles (M&S)
Preheat oven to 180º C.
On the non-shiny side of a rectangle of foil drizzle some rapeseed oil. I folded a long sheet in half shiny side to prevent leakage. Make a bed of sliced onion and fennel. Place the salmon fillets on top, skin side down. Season
Mix up the honey, soy and chilli oil. At this point you could also add grated ginger or garlic but I just left it smooth. Brush or drizzle on the salmon fillets.
Wrap the parcels up – I found doing it in a triangle made it easier to open up and plate. Place on a tray and stick in oven – they should bake for about 30-35 mins.
About 10 mins before the salmon needs to come out, heat some rapeseed oil in a wok. Add the diced bok choy and stir fry. Add a splash of soy sauce and a little honey. Then add the rest of the ingredients in this order: mushrooms, broccoli, garlic, rice noodles, and finally spinach. By this time the salmon should be ready and the spinach should be wilted.
Plate the noodles and remove the salmon from its parcel. Serves 2 with leftover noodles for the next day
Except last night, I had a big tail piece of salmon from Creelers calling my name in the fridge. Too often I buy fish and have to freeze it at the last minute because we’d totally forgotten about it, but I was determined that food I’d bought fresh would be eaten fresh from now on (dagnabbit!)), so into the oven it went. We even went all-out with the healthy eating and had loads of veg with it.
The fish and the onion came from the farmers market, the fennel from RealFoods (my regular stop off point in town on days I go to Pilates class), and the rest of the veg I picked up in Marks and Sparks yesterday on my way home – I don’t usually get veg from the supermarket, but their food hall is ok (I was there to return some clothes I’d bought in a moment of madness) and I only picked up produce sourced from the UK.
Oh, and I don’t always do measurements. I am a firm believer in seasoning to taste, so there will be no “tbsps” and “grammes” here. Where possible I’ve included the source of the produce)
Steamed honey soy salmon parcels with rice noodle stir fry
Honey
Soy sauce (I use Kikkoman or ClearSpring)
Chilli oil
Salmon tail end, cut into fillets
1 bulb fennel, julienned (RealFoods)
1 onion, thinly sliced (Phantassie – farmers market)
Rapeseed oil (Summer Harvest oils – farmers market)
Bok choy, shredded (M&S – UK)
English chestnut mushrooms, sliced (Phantassie)
Broccoli, in florets (M&S – UK)
Spinach (M&S – UK)
3 cloves garlic, chopped (W Christie’s butchers)
2 packets Ready-cooked rice noodles (M&S)
Preheat oven to 180º C.
On the non-shiny side of a rectangle of foil drizzle some rapeseed oil. I folded a long sheet in half shiny side to prevent leakage. Make a bed of sliced onion and fennel. Place the salmon fillets on top, skin side down. Season
Mix up the honey, soy and chilli oil. At this point you could also add grated ginger or garlic but I just left it smooth. Brush or drizzle on the salmon fillets.
Wrap the parcels up – I found doing it in a triangle made it easier to open up and plate. Place on a tray and stick in oven – they should bake for about 30-35 mins.
About 10 mins before the salmon needs to come out, heat some rapeseed oil in a wok. Add the diced bok choy and stir fry. Add a splash of soy sauce and a little honey. Then add the rest of the ingredients in this order: mushrooms, broccoli, garlic, rice noodles, and finally spinach. By this time the salmon should be ready and the spinach should be wilted.
Plate the noodles and remove the salmon from its parcel. Serves 2 with leftover noodles for the next day
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