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Category Archives: Soup

Please, Parsnip

12 Monday Jun 2017

Posted by Fabric of Madness in Soup, Uncategorized, Vegetables

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parsnips, soup, spicy, vegetables, winter

We were lucky to be given a couple of homegrown mean looking parsnips the other day. In no way were they perfect, but who can say “no” to fresh produce! Somehow soup just seemed the right thing to do, after all it is Winter, and excellent to use for work lunches.

My inspiration came from Deliciously Ella, with a few changes.   I managed to fill 3 small freezer bags plus keep some for lunch tomorrow. So probably about 4 servings. Less or more dependent on how much extra water or milk you might decide to add.

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Spiced Parsnip Soup:

4 parsnips                  you will see from my photos this is a bit of a guess, the shape of my parsnips were not the usual shop type shape!
3-4 small potatoes
1 carrot
Olive Oil          for roasting
400ml water
165ml can coconut cream
1 large clove garlic (peeled)
1 teaspoon tahini (or a bit more, to taste)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
¾ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon apple cider
2 teaspoons chilli flakes
1 teaspoon mustard seeds

Preheat the oven to 180C. Chop the parsnip, carrot and potatoes into chunks. Place in the roasting tray with olive oil, salt and some of the chilli flakes. Roast for about 40 minutes, until soft.

Let cool. In the roasting pan (because I am trying to save you dishes) add all the other ingredients.  Blend in batches until smooth (if too thick add more liquid). To serve just heat – if too thick then dilute with water, more coconut cream or milk, or just milk, or stock.

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I decided to portion this up for the freezer – easy to take to work and reheat in the microwave.

Delicious! And this is all for me because Mr MWCED says he just can’t marry the idea of parsnips and soup. Missing out he is.

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Pasta e Fagioli Soup with Focaccia

01 Sunday May 2016

Posted by Fabric of Madness in Dinner, Pasta, Soup, Vegetables

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bacon, beans, bread, focaccia, parmesan, pasta, pesto, vegetables

It must be the colder weather.   I just knew that what I wanted to eat needed to be soup, needed to be pasta, and needed some freshly baked bread.  What I didn’t know was what it was called.  So my apologies to any purists out there – this version was created and then I realised nothing is ever really created (well, ignoring the amazing items that come from Heston) and found that Italy has the name for my pot of bubbling goodness.

tiny little pieces of pasta just waiting to be souped

tiny little pieces of pasta just waiting to be souped


Enough for 3 or 4 people, or 2 really hungry ones:

3 tbs olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
3 cloves garlic finely chopped, or fewer or more, up to your taste
1 carrot diced
4 slices bacon finely chopped
1x400g can diced tomatoes opened
handful parsley chopped – I also had some basil that I chopped with the parsley – use whatever herbs you have on hand (or dried ones if your garden is bare
about 1 litre chicken stock yup, I cheated, and used the little pots of stock that you add water to. They are probably one step up from stock powder, but hey I’m not saying this is gourmet
150g soup pasta to be perfectly honest I would use any pasta shapes I had at home, just happened to have ‘soup pasta’. They are tiny little shapes of pasta that work well for soup.>
1 x 400g can cannellini beans opened and drained – you could be Very Organised and cook up your own, but this dinner is all about speed – after all it’s Saturday night and we have to watch the rugby
parmesan grated – as much or as little as you like – Mr MWCED likes his on the side so not much went into the soup – I grated about ½ cup and it all got used
Pesto to taste, about a teaspoon
salt&Pepper to taste – will depend how salty your stock is – I always grind a fair whack of pepper into my sauces and soups
  • Heat pan with a tablespoon of oil and brown off the bacon. Once this is cooked put aside.
  • Clean out pan and add rest of olive oil. Heat and add onion, let sweat a few minutes then add garlic and carrot.   Cook for around 5 minutes or so, then add tomatoes and half of the parsley. Cook for about 10 minutes.
  • Add half the stock and then pasta.   Stir continuously for around 6-8 minutes until pasta is soft. Add more stock as needed. Soup should be quick thick.
  • Add cannellini beans, a bit more parsley, the bacon and heat through. At this stage add parmesan and maybe a bit of pesto if you like.  Check taste and season with salt and pepper if needed.

This is a recipe that can be adapted however which way. Add more /different vegetables, experiment with herbs, use different pasta, add some chopped Italian sausage, just have fun.   And, more importantly, eat some delicious soup!

Italian Pasta and Bean soup

Because I had been thinking of soup most of the afternoon (I was cold therefore I needed to think warm things),  I was able to be ultra-efficient and get some ingredients into the breadmaker in preparation for dinner (usually I far from ultra or efficient!).   My Focaccia recipe came from a much used bread recipe book (Alison Holst’s Bread Book). Once the breadmaker had finished the dough cycle,  I then kneaded it for about 10 minutes – you know, until that time that the dough feels smooth and doesn’t need extra flour, doesn’t stick to your hands, and makes you feel kind of dreamy and proud of your domestic skills.   Roll into a rectangle, around 20cm x 30cm, place on an oven tray (I line it with baking paper) and put in a warm place for around an hour (my warm place was the oven which had been previously warmed and then turned off).   After an hour the dough should have doubled in size.  Turn oven to 225 Celsius.   Poke the loaf with your fingers to create holes over the surface.  Brush over oil and or whatever toppings you wish.  i had some homemade pesto which I mixed with a little olive oil and spread that over the bread then finished off with sprinkling Maldon salt.    Bake for around 15 minutes, until golden brown top and bottom and you Just Have To Take It Out Of The Oven And Feel Great Satisfaction.

Go on, you can do it!

Go on, you can do it!

 

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Bacon & Lentil Soup

29 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by Fabric of Madness in Soup

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bacon hock, lentils, puy lentils, soup, vegetables

Our village has just started an annual festival for the olive harvest.  The first was last year and it was successful enough for the organisers to put a lot more effort into making it bigger and better.   One of the events is a night market in our town square.  A wonderful collection of olive producers, restaurants and craft stalls creating a great atmosphere and now attracting those from out of town as well as locals.   The evening was the perfect wintry night,  crisp and still.  As we walked down to the square we could see the lights twinkling and hear the live music.  Wandering around the square and the stalls the choices were wide – you could choose mulled wine, hot chocolate, locally brewed beer,  eat a great selection of foods and be tempted to buy all kinds of thing that you don’t need but certainly want.   I knew that by the time we got home it would be great to have a hot pot of soup ready and waiting, so earlier in the afternoon started cooking.   The night before, Friday, was the end of the week and my usual grocery shopping night.  I was un-inspired looking at the meats and ended up buying only a bacon hock.   Lucky that – as it was perfect for the soup.   The rest of the ingredients were pretty much dictated by what was in the pantry.  Most of the recipe ingredients below can easily be substituted – do whatever your taste buds or stores dictate.  Hard to go wrong.

Bacon & Lentil Soup

photo (8)

150 g puy lentils, washed and drained

150 g split red lentils, washed and drained

use any combination of split peas, lentils etc – puy lentils are good to use though as they keep their shape even when having been cooked for a long time

1 bacon hock,  around 700g – but don’t worry too much if it is smaller or larger

1 onion, chopped finely

2 to 3 carrots, finely diced

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 tsp chopped fresh chilli – use more or less as you wish.  This amount just gave a bit of depth to the soup, though not ‘heat’

2 litres of water or stock – I used about 2 litres of chicken stock

1 can chopped Italian tomatoes – well,  don’t worry too much if they aren’t Italian!   Mine needed to be chopped – as they were whole.

Place onion, garlic, carrots, garlic, chilli and hock into a deep stock pot.  Add the can of tomatoes and then cover with the water or stock and add as much salt and pepper as you wish.  (If you are using bought stock then remember this may already be quite salty – better to under salt than over).

Bring to the boil, put a lid on the pan and then reduce heat and simmer very gently for around 1 to 2 hours until the lentils are tender and the meat is coming off the bone.      Once cooked, take the hock out of the pan.   Pull the skin off and then strip meat from the bone/s.    Take a couple of cups of the soup mixture and put through blender and add back to soup.  This gives a bit of texture rather than being too watery.  Add back the meat.   Taste, and add more salt/pepper if required.       At this stage you can cool and reheat later, or serve.   This probably makes enough for around 6 people.  It will certainly do us a couple of meals with a lunch thrown in.

Serve with crusty bread.  I made some herbed bread rolls – and they went perfectly with the soup.  Plus I even managed to have soft inside and crusty outside.  Yay,  I almost reach the bread making heights of Mr MWCED!

Enjoy.

 

 

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