Category: vegetarian

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curried cauliflower & potato soup

A warming soup for late Autumn. Not the most attractive soup you’ve ever seen, but blessed with restorative properties like its counterpart, Chicken Soup. The turmeric is an attempt to make its colour a little less wan.

INGREDIENTS

  • half a cauliflower, chopped
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 medium/large potatoes, peeled & diced
  • 1 head of garlic, roughly chopped. Yes, a whole head.
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp each of coriander, cumin & fennel seeds
  • 1 tsp each of turmeric & chilli flakes
  • 1 heaped tsp hot curry powder (or to taste)
  • 1.5 litres good quality stock

METHOD

In a large pot soften the onion and garlic in the olive oil for a few minutes, then add the cauliflower florets and potato. Throw in the various seeds, turmeric, chilli flakes and curry powder and allow to cook for a few minutes more before adding the stock. It should smell amazing. Bring up to a slow boil and cook for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are all cooked through. Then pass the soup through a blender to pulverise the lumps (but not to the extent that it’s creamed) and return to the heat.

Serve in white bowls with hunks of bread.

And for those of you brave enough, you could try adding a bit of stilton or gorgonzola, something a bit blue from the cheese department for that extra bite.

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Roast Fennel & Tomato Soup

fennel_face

A fantastic soup with a great colour and flavour.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 large bulb fennel, sliced
  • 200 g cherry tomatoes
  • 1 large carrot, chopped
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 1 tbsp chopped rosemary
  • 1 bayleaf
  • 750 ml stock
  • 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

fennel_soup

METHOD

Roughly chop the fennel, carrot and garlic and throw into a roasting tin along with the tomatoes and olive oil. Roast in a medium oven for about an hour. Burning a little won’t do it any harm.

Then transfer all these ingredients into a pan with the stock and herbs. Make sure to scrape off any burnt bits stuck to the pan as these will augment the flavour. Add the balsamic and simmer for ten minutes. Liquidise thoroughly and pass through a fine sieve. Check the seasoning and serve immediately.

Feeds 4.

I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with the leftover pulp – I’ve made the soup without straining it, but it’s very heavy and definitely works better as a broth. I’ve used the pulp to pad out pies the next day, which is moderately successful, especially in the winter.

If you are trying to look for a compact griller which has additional internal space to cook various items at the same time, then visit YunnanKitchen.com.

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curry paste

In my search for the benefits of turmeric, I found this recipe for making a curry paste and decided I must try it! Turmeric can be used as an alternative to curry powder. It is the basis of a lot of Indian cooking, so it’s handy to have some in the fridge.

This stuff is delicious, pungent, aromatic and can be heat-regulated by increasing or decreasing the amount of chilli powder or chillies. It keeps for a month in an airtight jar in the fridge.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup coriander seed
4 tbsp cumin seed
2 tbsp fennel seed
2 tbsp fenugreek seed
4 dried red chillies
5 curry leaves
1 tbsl chilli powder
1 tbsp turmeric
2/3 cup wine vinegar
1 cup vegetable oil

Method:

Grind the whole spices to a powder in a spice mill, or grinder. Transfer to a bowl and add the remaining spices. Add the wine vinegar and mix into a paste. Add about 5 tbsp water to the mixture tp loosen it a bit. Heat the oil in a heavy frying pan, and stir fry the paste for about 10 minutes. Allow to cool a bit before putting it into airtight jars and then refrigerating. I used a lot less oil than the prescribed cup. If the mixture looks a bit too dry after stir frying, you can always add a bit more later.

If you want to make a curry powder instead of the paste, just follow the deviation above and don’t add any oil, water or vinegar.

Note:

Turmeric tends to stain everything yellow, so don’t use anything too porous when you’re making it.

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Asparagus Pee

Hmm. Strange one this. Apparently some of us do and some of us don’t. Have stinky pee after eating asparagus that is. I know I’ve raised the odd eyebrow at the odd dining occasion when enquiring of my fellow eaters if their pee smells after eating asparagus. For those of us in the know, we’ve developed a code for the micturition of stinky pee; we nod knowingly at each other and proclaim having had a moment, or an asparagus moment if you prefer.

After rummaging round in various parts of the ‘net, I’ve come to the conclusion that nobody really knows why, not even the venerable urologist. Some suggest that it is the consumer of asparagus that it the offender, others suggest that the beauty is in the eye of the beholder as it were, or in this case the nose of the offender. What has been established though is that in one poll, only 22% of respondents have fessed up to the affliction.

One thing is for sure, cometh the season, cometh the odiferous pee. About mid to late April for us here in Ireland. And I’ll be there, polling my eating-mates about my preoccupation.

And if you’re interested in a T-shirt, well, you can get a range of them here.

In the meantime, while waiting for your P-shirt to arrive, you can gently poach a few of the mighty spears for a few minutes, crank on your grill, lay the poached asparagi on the griddle, sprinkly with shaved parmesan, a little balsamic and grill till bubbling. Delicious. Or use your broiler of you’re so geographically disposed.

An excellent source of vitamins A, B and C.

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preserved lemons

To make preserved lemons, first of all obtain some fresh, organic lemons. No wax or preservatives if you can source them. The overwrapping process is possible. Wash and scrub them very thoroughly, and prepare a sterile jar with an airtight lid for storage. You’ll also need salt. Lots of salt.

Next, with you favourite knife, slice the lemon along its long axis almost to the end, then turn it around, roll it through 90 degrees and slice it along its other long axis almost to the end. So now you’ve got this almost-sliced-through lemon into which you pack your salt. It doesn’t matter if it starts spilling out, just direct the spillage into the jar but pack the lemon full of salt. Repeat this untill you’ve filled your jar or almost run out of lemons. Juice the last lemon (or lemons) and top off the jar with this juice. Add a little more salt if you feel daring. Seal the jar.

Next comes the waiting. Keep your sealed jar on a shelf at room temperature for six weeks. Turn it lovingly every day to redistribute the juice and dissolved salt. It’ll be cloudy, and sometimes you’ll see a white waxy substance leeching out of the lemon skin, possibly a reaction involving the lemons’ oils – this is OK. The atmosphere inside the jar is so saline and acidic that nothing bad can grow in there.

After six weeks, your preserved lemons are ready to use. Open the jar and take out however much you need – a little goes a long way – remove the flesh and discard, and wash the lemon rind thoroughly. Slice very thinly and add to your dish. Make like that scene in Goodfellas where Paulie shaves the garlic with a razor.

I use preserved lemon a lot with couscous and grilled poultry, it’s traditional home is Morocco, and so it’s common in North African dishes. Perhaps it’d work with more robust meaty flavours too – I haven’t tried, but I think it would overpower fish. I’m also thinking about introducing other flavours to the mix, maybe a little cumin seed, coriander seed, pepper, garlic, but I haven’t got round to this yet.

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Berbere

I have my mate George Jacob to thank for introducing me to berbere, a blend of spices often used in Ethiopian cookery. George is the Communications Officer for Self Help which promotes and implements integrated sustainable development programmes in rural Africa. His work takes him to all sorts of exotic and far flung places in Africa, and on one his travels, he brought back some berbere. This bright red powder can be used in all sorts of cooking activities – used as a spice rub for meats before grilling / roasting etc. It is fantastic stuff with a mighty kick.

 

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