Classic Carrot and Coriander Soup

It's become a bit of a soup week!

Today I made carrot and coriander soup, and here's how you can too:

You need:

1 onion

1 500g bag of carrots

2 medium potatoes

oil

1 hand full of fresh coriander

2 litres of good quality stock (again, I'm loving knorr/continental stock pot)

pepper

First you need to wash your carrots and potatoes and chop the carrots into slices and the potatoes into 1cm cubes.

Now peel and chop your onion into smallish pieces. Put your onion, carrot and potato into a large saucepan with a splash of olive oil over a low - medium heat.

Chop your coriander into fairly small pieces and add to the pan. Put the kettle on to boil.

Cook slowly until the onions are soft, stirring occasionally then add your stock.

Simmer for 15-20 minutes until the vegetables are very soft, season with pepper to taste and blend until smooth.

Serve with a sprig of coriander on top with crusty bread and butter. Perfect for a chilly evening!

Serves 4-6. 

P.S. if you live in London, or know someone who does, check out my catering services at http://m.gumtree.com/p/business-services/greenwich-tea-time-catering-perfect-for-your-next-party-bonbonnierewedding-favour-jams-available/1032432267

Super Simple Leek and Potato Soup

Hello! and welcome back to me...

Today it's raining in London (no surprise) so there's nothing better than a yummy hot soup to put a smile on your dial :)

I love to make soup because it's cheap, quick, good for you and you pretty much can't get it wrong!

So to make a Super Simple Leek and Potato Soup for 4 you need:

2 medium leeks
2-3 medium potatoes
olive oil
1 litre good quality stock (I recently discovered Knorr/Continental stockpots - like little tubs of stock jelly! Very authentic.)
pepper
bread to serve - sour dough is a great match for soup

To make, simply chop of the dark green leafy part off the leek and discard. Now slice the light green part in half lengthways and carefully wash it.

Slice the two halves as thinly as you can (5mm would be ideal) and place in a large saucepan with a good glug of olive oil.

Wash your potatoes, slice into 1cm cubes (with the peel on) and add to the pan. Put the kettle on for the stock.

Put the pan over a low - medium heat to slowly soften the leeks, around 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the leeks are soft and sweet add your stock and pepper (no salt - as the stock is salty enough) and turn down to simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes are very soft.

Now blend until smooth and serve with a sprinkle of grated cheese, a twist of freshly ground black pepper and some buttered toast... Cosy!

Hot Apple Cider, Perfect for Autumn Evenings!

This recipe came from one of my favourite blogs - A Sweet Pea Chef www.asweetpeachef.com/

It's very simple, you need:

2 liters good quality apple juice
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 apple, unpeeled and halved
1 small navel orange, sliced into 1 cm slices
2 tsp. whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
1/2 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice

Serves 6-8

All you need to do it put your apple juice in a large pan over a medium heat to heat up.

While it's heating, stick your cloves into the flesh of the apple halves inside and out (like in the picture from Lacey's blog).

Once your apple juice is hot, stir in the brown sugar until it dissolves.
Now add your clove studded apple, orange slices and spices. Bring to a simmer and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Strain your cider and serve hot in mugs or punch glasses.

This is a great one for parties and if you want to make the cider go further you can get away with adding a little boiling water as it's quite sweet. Do so to taste.

Bacon and Egg Cups

I saw this yesterday on the Martha Stewart site and just had to try it! Mine doesn't look as pretty but it was fairly delicious! This recipe us perfect for having a nice breakfast on a work/school day as you can pop it on and go and get ready. 

The concept is simple -  you need per person:

1 slice of bread

1/2 tablespoon butter - melted

1 slice of bacon

1 egg 

You can make as many as you like in one go using either a muffin tin or ramekins - just grease them and put the oven info 180 degrees c to preheat. 

Martha Stewart says to cut circles out of the bread and overlap 2 of them - and if you have time/can be bothered please feel free to. But I'm lazy/time poor so I just cut the bread in half and sort if squeezed it in trying not to allow gaps and making as much of a cup shape as possible. 

Now melt the butter and spread/pour/brush it onto the bread cup. 

Put your bread cups into the oven and put your bacon in a pan. Cook the bacon until just done (it will cook more in the oven) and lay one slice on top of each bread cup. 

Crack an egg into the cup on top of the bacon and put back in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the white has just set. 

Remove bread cups from tin/ramekin with a spoon and serve immediately with your favourite breakfast condiment! 

What's your work morning breakfast option?

Mango (or Raspberry) Cream Pastry Stack

This dessert is simpler than you think. Perfect for wowing guests or taking to a BBQ (when the sun comes out of hibernation!)


Serves 9

1 cup milk
2 egg yolks
1/3 cup caster sugar
25g plain flour
300ml Thickened Cream, lightly whipped
2 sheets of pre-rolled puff pastry
3 mangos, sliced. (this would also work with Raspberries - fresh or frozen)
1 tbsp pistachios, finely chopped

• Preheat oven to 210°C or 190°C fan. Line two large baking trays with baking paper.
• Heat milk on low, until just simmering. 
• Using an electric mixer, beat yolks and sugar until pale and thick. Add flour and mix to combine. 
• Pour egg and flour mixture over hot milk and mix well. 
• Transfer this to a clean saucepan and cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick. 
• Transfer to a bowl, cover surface with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold. 
• Fold through 1/2 cup whipped cream.
• Place your pastry sheets on prepared trays. Bake for 15-20 mins, until puffed and golden. Set aside to cool completely.
• Lightly press one of the pastry squares to flatten slightly. Split the remaining pastry in half, lengthways, between the puffed layers. 
• Spread half of custard mixture along the flattened piece of pastry. Top with one third of the mango slices and a piece of pastry. (this gets messy!)
• Spread over remaining custard mixture and half the remaining mango slices. Top with remaining pastry. 
• Spread over remaining whipped cream and top with remaining mango slices and pistachios. 

Serve on it's own or with pouring cream. YUM! Looking forward to summer already!

Cheat's Carbonara - No Cream, Low Fat

I created this recipe on a day when dinner didn't work out and I had to make something from the odds and ends I had. I found some bacon in the freezer and spaghetti in the cupboard, and we always have eggs so I thought "I'll make carbonara!" then remembered you need cream, which I never have unless we have guests :( I was a little bit stuck for ideas so I decided to just 'fake' a carbonara, and this is how.

Serves 2

You need:
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp plain flour
2 cups skim milk
1 cup cheese (this is cheat's carbonara so use what you have, Parmesan is best though)
1/2 cup chopped bacon pieces/diced bacon
250g spaghetti (or whatever pasta you have)

• Put a saucepan of water on to boil with a pinch of salt
• Once your water is boiling add your pasta
• Heat your butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat.
• When the butter is completely melted, add your flour and stir until a paste forms.
• Now slowly add your milk, a bit at a time, whisking well before adding the next part.
• Once you have added all your milk, stir in your cup of cheese. The sauce should now be nice and thick (add more milk if it is too thick).
• In a small frying pan, fry up your bacon pieces until they are crispy and stir into the cheese sauce.
• When your pasta is soft, drain it and return it to the pan. Pour over the cheese and bacon sauce and serve!

Serve with freshly ground black pepper and grated cheese.

What's your dinner back up plan?

Italian Meatballs the Nigella Way!

I have to confess, I totally stole this concept from Nigella Lawson, so credit to her for the great idea! I saw it  on the Nigelissma show and to be honest I didn't take the whole recipe just the fact that she squeezed the meat out of Italian Sausages and turned them into meatballs - YUM!

So here is my recipe for Italian style meatballs with spaghetti.

Serves 6

You need:

1 pack of Italian pork sausages (500g-600g)
2 x glug olive oil
2 cloves of garlic - crushed or sliced
1 onion, diced
3-5 fresh basil leaves
2-3 stalks thyme
3-5 fresh oregano leaves
3 400g tins diced tomato
300g mozzarella cheese (approx.)
500g dry spaghetti

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C
• Prepare a large deep baking dish with a glug of olive oil
• First you need to get the meat out of the sausages, this can be a little fiddly and to be honest gross - but persevere, it's worth it! Once you have a bowl of sausage meat, roll into small balls about this size of a walnut and place in your prepared baking dish. Put in the oven to brown
• Now put your water onto boil for the spaghetti.
• Gently heat another glug of oil in a large saucepan over a low heat and add your garlic, after the garlic has softened slightly add your chopped onion and fry gently until soft. Try not to colour them too much.
• As your onions are cooking, add in your herbs, chopped into medium pieces, and stir to spread the flavour.
• Add the spaghetti to the water when it is boiled.
• Once your onions and garlic are nice and soft add your 3 cans of tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes.
• By this time, your meatballs should be nicely browned. Take them out of the oven and pour your tomato sauce over them and sprinkle generously with mozzarella cheese.
• Put back in the oven for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden.

Serve with spaghetti and garlic or herb bread. Molto delizioso!

The Easiest Cookies You Will Ever Make

You know when you just want a cookie, like, right now? Well this is what to make when you have that moment. Even a beginner could make these 3 ingredient flour-less cookies in 15 minutes flat!


You need:

1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees c
Line a large baking tray with baking paper
Mix together your 3 ingredients well
Spoon teaspoons of mixture onto the tray and flatten with a fork
Bake for 7-10 minutes until they are golden.
Cook on baking tray until they harden slightly

Makes 20 cookies, serve with a cuppa, or two :)

Voila! A quick post for quick cookies! ENJOY!

Adapted from 4 ingredients' website

MYTH: Meringues are Too Hard

My husband loved meringue nests, as a kid, he used to buy packets of them and eat them dry! As a good wife, I decided I really should learn how to make them but was a little afraid as I had heard so many stories of them going wrong, on top of the fact that fluffy pavlovas and lemon meringue pie topping gross me out!

I looked at a number of recipe and settled with one that looked simple enough and just gave it a go!

They turned out beautiful and chewy, just the way I like them (after I put them in the oven for the second time because they were sticky!) and I made them, and even larger pavlovas a number of times over the summer - even on very hot humid days! And once, I dripped a bit of egg yolk in, fished it out, and it still worked. So basically, if I can make these work - so can you!

So here is the recipe I borrowed from the blog Being Creative.

• 3 eggs
• pinch of salt
• 175g sugar (when on health kick I reduced this to 140g and it still worked)

• Preheat your oven to 140 degrees c and line a large baking tray with baking paper
• First you need to separate your egg whites, this can be a daunting task for some, and there are many methods out there. My favourite method, though it feel a little gross, is to simply tip the egg into my clean hand and let the white run through my fingers keeping the yolk in my hand. It eliminates the risk of the shell breaking into the yolk.
• Once you have your 3 egg whites (it really is important to keep it as pure as humanly possible) pour them into a large bowl and add a pinch of salt.
• Whisk your egg using an electric mixer for 1 minute on low
• Increase to medium speed and continue whisking for 2-3 minutes until your mixture is firm and fluffy and clings to the whisk when pulled out of the bowl.
• Keeping the mixer running, add the sugar, one tablespoon at a time and whisk until the mixture is very firm and glossy.
• Either spoon free-form shapes onto the baking tray, or pipe nests using a piping bag with 1cm nozzle.
• Bake for 30-40 minutes until the shapes are pale and dry to touch. Cool in the oven.

Serve with fresh whipped cream and/ or marscapone and fresh berries.

If you are looking for a snack on a diet, try it with Greek yogurt and a any fresh fruit!

Do you have a story of something you thought you could never cook?

Microwave Potato Wedges

Ok confession. I'm an over commiter. Yesterday's over commitment was to dinner. I came home from work around 5.30 and my husband had to be out by 6.30, and his family were on Skype from Ireland so it was probably 5.45 before I even got in the kitchen... And I thought it would be a good idea to make potato wedges from scratch.  Good plan Becki! After I chopped and seasoned them I realised I should have parboiled them but it was too late. I thought for a moment then make a crazy decision to microwave them! So here is my recipe for microwave  potato wedges in 15 minutes (7 if you skip the crisping stage)

Feeds 4 as a side dish:

2 large potatoes cut into small wedge shapes
1.5 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin seeds
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
1/2 tsp ground paprika
1/4 tsp ground chilli
Salt and pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C
In a non-metallic dish, mix together your oil and spices.
Add your potato wedges and shake to cover well - use a basting brush to cover any bare bits!
Place your dish in the microwave and heat on high for 7 minutes or until your potato is soft enough to eat (microwave times may vary, check every 30 seconds after 5 minutes).
Take your dish out of the microwave, drizzle with a little olive oil and place in the hot oven on the top shelf.
Cook for 7-10 minutes until crispy.

Serve with sweet chili sauce and sour cream!

Quinoa Porridge: Not as gross as you think!

I can't eat oats.  I don't like to say I'm allergic, but it is quite painful when I accidentally do eat them! Anyway, that over-share to say, I miss porridge! I survived many a cold winter morn by the magic of porridge but now it's no longer an option for me. With the mornings getting colder (and the toast options getting boring-er) I decided to try quinoa porridge.

I happened to have quinoa flakes in the cupboard from when my lovely husband accidentally bought some (that was a weird salad let me tell you!) so after a bit of research , I decided I needed something to mask the grossness of the flakes and make it yummy. So here is my recipe for Not Gross Quinoa Porridge

Serves one hungry person:

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup quinoa flakes
1/3 raisins/sultanas
1/2 tsp cinnamon
brown sugar to serve

In a small saucepan add all the ingredients (minus brown sugar) and bring to the boil, stirring constantly.
Reduce to simmer, still stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick and porridge-y.
Serve hot with a sprinkle of brown sugar.

That's it - my easy Not Gross Quinoa Porridge! Enjoy :)

Easy Self-Saucing Fish Parcles

This is my husband's favourite meal - and it's super easy so I thought I would share it with you today.

You will need:

1 medium sized Basa or other mild tasting white fish fillet - no skin or bones
a glug olive oil
1/4 lemon's zest
half a sprig of rosemary (approx. 5cm)
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 small knob butter
splash white wine
approx. 30x30cm aluminium foil
approx. 30x30cm baking paper

The method is as follows:

pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C

lay your square of baking paper onto of your square of foil
lay your fish on top of that

drizzle with olive oil

On top of the fillet, place the lemon zest, whole rosemary sprig, mustard and butter

fold the edges of the wrapper to make a boat like shape and add a splash of white wine

wrap the fish up completely and place in the oven

cook for approx. 30 minutes or until the fish is opaque and flakes easily with a fork - there should be no pink bits!

I serve with boiled potatoes and either asparagus or green beans - you don't need a sauce as when you tip the fish out of the foil the lemon-y, butter-y, wine-y sauce will flow onto the plate!

Enjoy!

Weeknight Cheese Platter

I don't know about you, but for me, it's always a challenge to know what to bring when someone asks for 'nibbles'. It's especially challenging when you don't know the person very well! I always try to avoid the standard bag of Doritos and a jar of dip, but at the same time, if I'm going somewhere on a weeknight I don't have time for anything much more adventurous!

So here is my quick, weeknight cheese platter, it sure to impress and satisfy everyone.

There are millions of differing ideas on cheese platters but I've tried to make it simple for you. 

My recipe to serve 6 nibblers is:

• 1 soft cheese (brie, camembert)
• 1 cheddar cheese (mature or smoked), Edam or other similar cheese
• 1.5 boxes of crackers (whatever is available - no need to be fussy. I just aim to buy something thin and not too flavourful) Make sure there are more than enough crackers
• 1 small bunch of purple grapes on branch
• 2 medium green apples, cut into thin segments
• 2-3 tablespoons of chutney - fig, tomato, capsicum (store bought is totally fine) in a small bowl
• mixed nuts - again store bought is fine, you can get great mixes from fruit markets and health food stores in a small bowl

There are always ways to dress a cheese platter up... you can really go quite crazy! But I've tried to keep my quick, cheep and easy.

Some options for glamourizing:

Image from savorysweetlife.com

dried fruit
small pot of honey
cured meats
fresh figs (I happend to have some in my fridge from a jam project I didn't quite get to!)
strawberries or other fresh berries
more cheese! Try a goat's cheese or something foreign, or infused with herbs
quince paste
roasted chickpeas

3 Top Tips:

• Generally, really hard cheeses like parmesan are not used for a cheese platter
• It's not all about taste, make sure you mix up colour and texture too
• Presentation is key, use a clean wooden chopping board if you don't have a cheese board. All the ingredients I've chosen can literally just be pulled from packets and put on the board, the only slightly fiddly bit is the crackers, try and lay them onto the board as shown.

Simply hold both ends of a stack of crackers and lay them on their sides, adjust as needed once they are lain down.

P.S. Don't forget to pair your cheese platter with your favourite soft red wine!

Homemade Smoothie Cubes

I love smoothies in the morning, but often, it's too time consuming and messy to do before work. I once paid a small fortune on 'smoothie cubes' at the supermarket, the concept was simple so I thought I would give it a go myself... plus I had some bananas that needed using up!

The process is simple and you probably already have all the equipment and ingredients, 

You will need:

• 1 or 2 ice cube trays
• A stick blender or other food mashing equivalent
• A jug/bowl/large cup for blending in
• 1 cup frozen raspberries
• 2 medium bananas

Step one: Blend up your 2 bananas with 1 cup frozen raspberries.

Step two: Spoon mixture into ice cube trays.

Step three: Freeze. It's that easy!

To make the smoothie, add approximately 1 cube for every 100 ml (3.3 oz) of milk or apple juice and blend using a stick blender.

P.S. Try experimenting with different flavours using banana as your base, try banana and muesli, any frozen (or fresh) berries, or you could even add drinking chocolate powder or ice cream for an indulgent smoothie!