Exploding Soup

Soup.  I love soup.  This weekend I decided that I was going to make soup as a reward to Brian and I for being such good humans and painting our hall.  We have been putting it off for two years...

So, I chopped up a butternut squash, a sweet potato and two carrots.  I put them in a pan with enough veg stock to cover them and then let them boil till they were soft.  

Then I let it cool, put it in the blender, and this happened...

I could have cried.  The bottom of my blender unscrews so that it can go in the dish washer and either I didn't screw it back in tight enough or it worked it's way loose in the blending process.  How unimpressed can one Karen be... fucks sake I was angry!  Almost a whole roll of kitchen roll later, a clean t shirt and a lot of swearing we had tinned soup for lunch, and the kitchen was tidy again.

And do you want to know what the worst bit is?  It was really, really tasty! I ate some from my hand before I cleaned it all up to see if it was worth making again some day.  It was, but if this ever happens again I will not be a happy bunny!

Easy Peasy Quick 'Baked' Potatoes

 I love baked potatoes but they take so long to cook that I can never be bothered baking them when I'm at home.  I never have them when I'm out to eat because it feels like a waste of 'eating out'.  So, imagine my joy when I saw a magic way to bake potatoes in forty minutes...  I had to do it, cover it in butter, salt and cheese and put it in my face.

This is so easy that I feel a fool for typing it...  Take a potato and cut down into it but not all the way to the bottom, it should fan open a bit.  If you do manage to cut all the way down it (like I did) then stab it back together with cocktail sticks.  Cover it in oil and then put it in the oven at at least 220 degrees C for forty minutes.  The skin will go all crispyand the flesh will bake but in a whole new way!

Take them out of the oven and remove the cocktail sticks, season and cover in butter.  Then just treat it like a baked potato.  Brian had his with mixed baked beans and cheese and I just stuck to my favourite, cheese and butter.  Delicious.  

This is Brian's review...

So I'm taking that as a ringing endorsement (what can I say, the boy loves baked beans) and I will be making these again, for sure.  There are three pre-baked baked potatoes in our freezer and I'm not sure if I can bring myself to eat them now!  The produce box is doing good things for my soul...

Veg Box Number One

I have tried a veg box before and to be honest it was a bit of a fail.  It was from a local-ish farm shop and for weeks on end I got bunches of kale and pumpkins that I could do little with.  So, I stopped for ages and recently signed up with my local green grocers to recieve one of their boxes.  

The deal is £10 of vegetables and £5 of fruit and it's delivered to the house on a Monday, just after lunch time.  It has come from Clementine of Broughty Ferrywhich is a lovely shop that I could spend a lot of time and a lot of money in.  One day I might find the courage to go in with the camera and ask if I can take photos... Maybe.

This is box number one and what I received in it:

three apples

two pears

two plumbs

two oranges

three bananas

a pomegranate

a courgette

half a cuecumber

a beetroot

1kg potatoes

a cauliflower

300g mushrooms

one red onion

one white onion

100g fine green beans

one massive sweet potato

one leel

a quarter turnip

3 massive dirty carrots

one red bell pepper

10 cherry tomatoes on the vine

one yellow bell pepper

If I had bought this all in my local supermarket it would have cost me £17.50.  Actually, I say if I had bought it all, I couldn't if I'd tried as my local shop doesn't sell pomegranates, raw beetroot or plumbs.  So paying £15 for all of it was not only cheaper but I got some lovely things that I wouldn't have been able to get my hands on otherwise.  

Everything smells and looks delicious - what we have eaten so far has been lovely and Brian loved the look of one of the apples so much de adopted it as his very own.  This box worth won't keep up going for a week, we will need more apples, oranges and bananas but other than that vive la veg box!  More next week with produce box number two!  

Lemon Hummus, Wraps and Carrot Sticks

Yes, it's hummus in a tea cup - what else does one serve hummus in?  Hummus is one of those things that I really enjoy to eat but had never made.  I have thought about it, but not actually done it.  Well... I have now!  

This was such an easy lunch to serve and pull together come lunch time, but making the hummous was not quick.  I used dried chick peas, in the name of trying to do things properly, but I shall not be doing that again.  By the time the peas have boiled and simmered for the time needed I think I used enough gas to justify buying tinned chickpeas!  So I have stocked up. I also found getting my hands on tahini a bit of a challenge and had to try three separate supermarkets, so don't give up hope if you can't find it!  Health food shops also stock it (well, most of 

I served this with, as you can see, carrot sticks and some wraps that had gone a bit past fresh, cut into bits and toasted under the grill.  These turned into the perfect hummus boats!

To make the hummus:

125g dried chick peas,

3 tablespoons of tahini,

2 tablespoons of olive oil,

one garlic clove,

the juice of two lemons,

a bay leaf and, 

water.

The night before you're wanting to make the hummus soak the chick peas in enough water to cover them, and leave them overnight.  

The next day drain them and rinse them well.  Put the chick peas and the bay leaf in a pan and bring to the boil.  Then reduce to a simmer for up to three hours - until you can push a fork happily through the peas.  Now drain the peas and keep the water.  

Into a blender place half of the peas, the tahini, the oil, the lemon juice and the mashed garlic.  Add the cooking liquor slowly till the mixture is quite smooth.  Now add the rest of the chickpeas and more of the liquid till you reach the consistency you like.  I made mine quite fine, but I think next time I will blend it less to get more bite.  

And that's what I did... but next time I think I shall add more lemon juice and maybe some chilli for Brian.  Maybe.  There are hundreds of variations to the recipe and I do fully intend to play with it! 

Magic Bread Dough

Since I embarked upon my quest to make better food bread has been a big focus.  I started looking at ingredients in shop bought bread and before I had done much research at all I decided action was needed.  This is the second bread recipie I have tried so far and I love it... but this one is magic.

As much as I love making sourdough it takes it's own precious time and I know that finding the time to do all that's needed to make it can be a challenge.  To this end I decided to stretch my skills and this felt like a sensible way to stretch them.

This is Hugh Fearnely-Whittingstall's Magic Bread Dough recipe and I bloody love it.  I am experimenting with different things to do to it and I will keep you updated.

This dough can be used for:

pizza bases,
flat breads,
rolls, (see below)
bread,  (see below)
bread sticks,
stuffed bread sticks (work in progress here), and,
pitta breads.

You can also freeze it (according to Hugh), I have some in the freezer at the moment so I will report back...

Enough waffle, let's make bread.  These are the shortest instructions ever...

Take 250g of plain flour, 250g of string white flour, 10g of salt, 5g of fast action yeast and 325ml of warm water.  Put all of these things in a bowl and combine them together.  Then knead till it comes together, it will be stciky but try not to add too much flour, just stick with it.  Once it's come together and you have put 10 or so minutes kneading into it leave it to prove in a warm, dry place for up to two hours, till it's doubled in size.  Knock it back and it's ready do do stuff to!  How easy was that?

For a loaf or rolls shape it now and leave to prove again till it's doubled in size and then bake.  For rolls take a squash ball sized lump and round it off, it will be a tennis ball size when it's proved.  Then bake them in the oven at 220 degrees C for up to 12 minutes till they sound hollow.  For a loaf shape it and prove it, then tip it onto a hot floured oven tray and put it in the 220 degrees Celsius oven for 25 minutes to start, and bake for longer if needed till it sounds hollow.

This is my new quick bread recipe.  You could make up the mixture at the start of the day, prove all day and then knock back and bake in the evening.  Easy!  Coming later on this week I will have an even quicker bread recipe for emergency eatings (but I need to decided which recipe I prefer, oh no!  I need to make more bread!) so keep your eyes peeled for that!  Enjoy!

Homemade Pizza

We love pizza in this house, we like lovely fat, unhealthy take away pizza, we like crispy, slightly healthier oven pizza and we adore the pizza from the kebab shop in the village.  We have never made pizza at home however... till this weekend.  

Pizza base, with home made tomato sauce, mozzarella,cheddar cheese, green olives, Parma ham and sun dried tomatoes.  Brian added some Franks Hot Sauce because he's a spice monkey. The bases are an odd shape, but we tried!

Pizza Base:

This mix makes 6 bases of this size (and is freeze-able) and it has many other uses.  It is Hugh Fearnely-Whittingstall's Magic Bread Dough.  Once you have made the dough as in the link above and it has been knocked back  flour your surface, hands and rolling pin and take a sixth of the dough and roll it into a... erm... a shape.    Brian's one, above, was 'inspired' buy the Millennium Falcon.  Let it rest while you do the rest of the preparation so it has time to form into a stable structure and doesn't behave like a jellyfish.

Pizza Sauce:

This is an improvised 'what do we have in the fridge, Babe' recipe.  Take a big-ish handful of tomoatos (I had cherry ones needing used so that's what went in) and put them in a pan with a chopped onion and some chopped celery.  Add a little oil and let the tomatoes pop.  I imagine if you were using salad tomatoes chopping them might be an idea.  Once the tomatoes were soft and happy add a tin of tomatoes and let this simmer.  Season it with salt, pepper and mixed herbs, or some oregano.  Once it has all come to the bubble and reduced transfer it to a blender and whizz till smooth.  The put it back in the pan and let reduce till it's a spreadable consistency.  This made far too much sauce for just two pizzas so we had the remainders on pasta for dinner the next night.

Toppings:

This bit is easy!  Grab what you want and throw it on but don't over do it, or your base won't cook in the middle.  When I was a student I worked in a kitchen making pizzas and I learned that less is for sure more when it comes to all toppings (except cheese, in my book).  Throw on what you want and enjoy!  It would suggest making the pizza up on the pizza tray, Brian topped his first and then the pizza tray went in the oven so I thought I'd try and make mine on the board and transfer it... fail.  I had a calzone.

The final stage, the bake:

Now that you have your sauce, your base, and your toppings you need to preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celcuis.  If you are using a pizza stone then make sure you heat this in the oven and if not then make sure your tray is hot to start. This means you need to work quickly, but that's part of the fun... Put on the sauce, the cheese, and the toppings and get it in the oven quickly!  Ours took eight minutes to cook, but keep an eye on them and do not let your toppings catch, if the base does it will be fine (or better).

When you're happy with the bake take it out of the oven and let it rest.  For goodness sake let it rest for a couple of minutes and it will cut much better and be easier to eat.  And now the wait will be worth it, enjoy!

Veggie Risotto (with bacon)

Don't panic now but... risotto.  What if I could tell you that I can make risotto in about 20 minutes, with little to no effort and with my 25 minutes to relax at the same time.  Doesn't sound like risotto does it?  I am more than slightly fed up of reading that risotto is a 'special occasion food' or 'takes a long time to make' or even worse 'needs patience'.  Risotto is easy, it is quick, tasty and nutritious, look at it, don't you want to eat it?

So, it's so easy to make that it won't take me long to get you started.  First you need to assemble some ingredients.  75g of risotto rice per person, a stick of celery or two, an onion per person, bacon lardons (or bits of bacon), a pint of stock (chicken, veg, whatever suits) and any more vegetables and/or meat that you'd like to include.  I have made it here with peas and leeks, but I normally add some chicken too. Before you start preheat the oven to 200 deg C and put a large oven proof dish in there to warm up.

For the basic risotto pan sautee the onion, celery and any other veg you're adding (except anything frozen or quick cook like peas) in a little oil and butter.  Then add the bacon and cook that through.  Stir in the rice until all of the rice grains are covered in butter and everything is nicely combined. Now pour in the stock and stir for a couple of minutes till it has reduced a little.  Hopefully by now your oven should be hot, so carefully take your dish out and pour the contents of the pan in to the dish (be careful!  It will spit and hiss and fuss at you), don't cover it and put it back in the oven.  Now leave it for 20 minutes - no stirring, no messing.  Go do whatever you need to do, or if you haven't already prepare anything else you want to put it.  I normally use left over chicken or ham so it's already cooked, but if you need to cook it now is the time.  After 20 minutes take i out of the oven add any frozen veg (peas, beans, sweetcorn, anything you fancy and the meat.  Put it back in the oven till it is of the consistency you desire - this varies from person to person, but I find it takes about 7 minutes.  

Once time is up, take it out of the oven, season with black pepper and parmesan (or hard cheese of your choice) and sereve immedicately.  This is a happy meal in it's self, but it's also lovely with salad, bread or more veg if you desire.  It's quick, easy and tasty - and it doesn't need any patience or much stirring at all!