Pea and fennel soup

This is a lovely soup, with the sweetness of leeks and peas, the fragrance of fennel, and the savouriness of garlic. I just love the vivid green of this soup, it really brightens my day!

Quick and easy to make, and reasonably cheap when in season (fennel is really cheap at the moment!) this is a fantastic go-to soup for weekday meals. Serve with crusty bread for optimal eating pleasure ;) 

Ingredients

1 fennel bulb, finely chopped
1/2 leek, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
750ml vegetable stock
500g frozen peas - fresh or frozen
1 bunch spinach, chopped.

Method

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat, add fennel, leek and garlic, sauté until soft.
Add stock, peas, fennel, and spinach.
Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer until all the veg is cooked.
Purée until soft and smooth. 

Serve and enjoy!
 

Lazy winter vegetable soup

I remember in my early 20's a friend of mine asking me "How do you make soup?" I remember staring at her with bemusement. How could anyone not know how to make soup? It's as easy as toasting bread - well, some soup is. I realised later that there are some techniques with cooking soup that you do need to know, even though most of them are fairly simple. Anyway, I guess she was never taught to cook at home, another thing I couldn't fathom. I remember making pikelets with my mum when I was very small - maybe 4 years old - and soups with my Babcia when I was maybe 8 years old. I grew up cooking, helping to cook, and trying to avoid having to cut up all the vegetables... I guess not everyone is lucky enough to have these experiences.

Anyway, I digress. I think this is the first soup I taught my friend to make. It is super easy, as all it requires is to prepare the vegetables and use a bought stock - a good quality one though, that relies on the flavour of the ingredients and not an over-abundance of salt. No blending, no roux, no cream to add and hope it doesn't split, just a simple basic vegetable soup. I think it is delicious though, and I make it a lot during winter. Obviously if you have the time and know-how to make your own stock that will make it even better. 

I cut my vegetables on the chunky side, but if you prefer them finely sliced that will work just as well.

Ingredients

1 onion, chopped
2 carrots,sliced
1 parsnip,sliced
1 turnip, sliced
1 potato, diced
1 litre of stock

Method

Sauté onion in a little oil or butter until translucent.
Add in the remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer until all the vegetables are cooked. If soup is too thick, add water to increase the liquid.

Serve with crusty bread. 

Jerusalem artichoke soup

This is a really earthy, silky soup, that really hits the spot on a cold rainy day. This recipe makes 4 main serves, or 6-8 entrees.

Jerusalem artichoke soup

Ingredients
olive oil
1 onion sliced
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 kg jerusalem artichokes, chopped
1 litre good quality vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste


Method
Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until translucent.
Add in the other ingredients and bring to boil.
Turn heat down and simmer until the artichokes are tender.
Blend/puree the soup until smooth.
Season to taste.

Serve with crusty bread, or a garnish of some fried mushrooms or bacon with finely chopped parsley or thyme.

Spiced roast vegetables

I don't know where this dish originated, but we have been making it in our family for as long as I can remember. It is a mix of roast vegetables, smothered in olive oil and spices, and baked until soft. A perfect dish for autumn, especially if you have a bumper harvest of root vegetables and pumpkins waiting to be devoured.



This is a very easy dish to prepare, and one that is tasty enough on it's own as well as a great side dish for roasts.

Spiced roast vegetables

Ingredients
Desired amount of vegetables for roasting (we usually use a mix of any or all of the following: capsicum, pumpkin, sweet potato, potato, and jerusalem artichoke - though you are welcome to experiment with other veggies as well - onions and whole garlic cloves in their skin go very nicely)
olive oil - just enough to coat the veggies
pinch of salt
paprika
nutmeg

I usually use 1 generous tbs of sweet hungarian paprika with 1 tsp of nutmeg to about half a standard baking pan/roasting pan of veggies. You can add a little bit of heat with a little hot paprika, chillis, or cayenne pepper if you want it extra spicy. ;)

Method
Cut all veggies to around the same size and arrange in dish.
Sprinkle the salt and spices on top
Add a small amount of olive oil, and mix through the veggies until they are all lightly coated with oil

Place in a 190 oven and cook until veggies are tender - usually 40 minutes or so.
Serve!

Jerusalem artichoke chips

Jerusalem artichokes are a tuber, and a member of the sunflower family - a fact which sees them called "sunchokes" in some parts of the world. They are quite yummy, with a taste that is a little sweet, a little nutty and a little like a globe artichoke. They can basically be cooked like a potato - boiled, roasted, sauted, etc. They are lower in calories and GI than potatoes - which make them a good potato substitute for those on low-GI or low-carb diets.This is due to their high levels of inulin–a form of soluble fiber which is also a prebiotic, and therefore good for the digestive system. Inulin has also shown been shown to increase calcium absorption substantially, so if you have any worries in that department eat them with a source of calcium for a bit of a boost. They are also good sources of iron and potassium, so they are a really healthy little tuber.

What shall I cook first with this very healthy little tuber - I know! I'll make something not very healthy out of them!!! Bwahahaha!

Jerusalem artichoke chips

Jerusalem artichoke chips are the irregular shaped ones
at the top of the picture. The round chips are potato.

• Cooking oil of your choice (I used sunflower, it seemed appropriate)
• jerusalem artichokes sliced finely - you don't need to peel them, but make sure they are well scrubbed of all dirt!
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil to about 190ºC. If you don't have a thermometer (and I don't) drop one slice of artichoke or potato in the oil to see if it floats. If it floats and does not immediately burn, the oil is hot enough for the rest of the
chips. If it burns it is too hot.

Add in the artichoke slices a few at a time so you don't cool the oil down too quickly. Cook till golden, then bring out and lay on a paper towel to absorb the excess oil. Season to taste, and serve as is or with vinegar or sauce, or whatever takes your fancy. These chips are every bit as good as potato chips, crispy, though they taste a little sweetier and nuttier/earthier.

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Note: Growing jerusalem artichokes is pretty easy. All you really need to do is plant a couple of tubers in spring and wait. It'll grow into tall (up to 6ft) stalks with small yellow sunflower-like flowers. Once they die back in autumn it is time to start digging them up - usually after the first one or two frost. I started with two tubers two springs ago, and now have them planted in 5 spots in the garden. Today I harvested one out of 5 plots of jerusalem artichokes - all this came from a 30 x 30 cm spot in the garden. Talk about prolific!

Zupa Grzybowa (Mushroom Soup)

If you google the web for Zupa Grzybowa you'll find that there are probably as many recipes for this yummy soup as there are Polish cooks. Some start off by cooking a roux which will later thicken the soup. Others thicken at the end with a clever combo of sour-cream and flour. Some add barley. All would probably agree that the best mushrooms for that are those that are grown in Poland... but I really have no access to them fresh or dried, so I can't comment! The addition of dried porcini, however, does add a lovely depth of flavour to it. Perhaps one day I will be able to use Polish mushrooms - if so, I'll tell you what they are like. :)

I'm giving you my version which does not use a roux, and is usually not thickened at the end. It freezes well at that point. You can thicken it with sour cream and flour if you wish when re-heating - instructions will be given below. Or you can simply serve with some sour cream on the table for people to add to their liking.

You can very easily make this soup either vegetarian or vegan by using vegetable stock and omitting the sour cream

Zupa Grzybowa

500g mixed fresh mushrooms
100g dried porcini (or if you happen to be able to get dried Polish mushrooms give them a whirl!) - soak these for about an hour before use.
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 litres good quality vegetable or beef stock - use the fresh kind, not one made up from stock powder!
1 cup pearl barley (optional)

cook onions in olive oil until translucent. Add in fresh mushrooms, dried mushrooms, and the water the mushroms were soaking in (run through a sieve to catch any grit). Stir through. Pour in the stock, add in 1 cup of rinsed pearl barley. Put a lid on it and cook at a medium-slow heat for about an hour. If using the pearl barley make sure you cook it long enough so it is soft - the hour usually suffices.


for thickening...
2tbs cornflour
2 cups of sour cream
mix the cornflour and sour cream together. Whisk in a wee bit of the hot soup to loosen it and bring it to the same temp as the soup (so it doesn't curdle when added). Pour into the soup, whisking until it comes to a boil.

Delicious served with toasted sourdough.

As the Polish say smacznego! or Bon apetit!

Haupia - Christmas style :)

 Am just about to head out the door to a Christmas dinner with some of the neighbours. It's a pot-luck affair & I elected to bring dessert. Of course - what else would I bring lol? I racked my brains about what to bring and then decided to do a test run of the haupia for another friends Christmas party next week which has a Hawaiian theme. Haupia is a sort of set-custard made of coconut milk and is really quite delicious. I paired this with some tropical fruits, and some red-coloured dessicated coconut and came up with this fruit platter. I think I could have done a much better job with the presentation, but given this is the first time I have made haupia I think I did OK.

Haupia

4 cups of coconut milk (which is about 2 cans)
2 1/2 cups water
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup cornflour

Combine the coconut milk and water. Stir till smooth, add in the sugar and cornflour. Cook over a low heat, stirring until it turns thick and shiny. (A bit like making a white sauce!) Pour into a clean baking tray and cool to room temperature, before chilling in the fridge. The haupia will set - it will be wobbly like a gelatin-based pudding but quite soft.

I then used cookie cutters to cut one of my haupia slices into christmas stars, and coated them with dessicated coconut and arranged some tropical fruits around it on the platter.

 

I even cut my kiwi fruit into little stars :)