Simple Carrot Soup

Introduction

When I was little, my Nan used to make the most amazing carrot soup. For me, it was magical. How did this pretty disgusting veg (I'd didn't like them then) turn into a delicious soup?

So it turned out we had a bunch of carrots in and a bit of left over coriander from my last curry. With weather changing, this has wholesome carrot & coriander soup written all over it. I did a little bit of research (I googled carrot soup) and discovered it seemed to be really easy.

So this is my attempt at a very simple and quick recipe that turned out to be delicious. I suspect it would work with other root veg instead of carrot. Given the time of year, perhaps pumpkin or (bleurgh) beetroot. Or maybe that massive squash I got recently...

Ingredients

7 or 8 large carrots – no idea what the weight was but this made a lovely amount

1 stick celery

8 shallots

1 espresso cup of red lentils

Veg stock – I used a cube with hot water

Spices

1 tsp coriander

2 tbps coriander seeeds

Small bunch of fresh coriander

Method

• Heat some olive oil and a good spoonful of butter in a pan
• Very roughly crush the coriander seeds
• Mix in in the roughly chopped shallots, carrot, celery & crushed coriander. Keep stirring until it softens
• Stir in the coriander power and the lentils. Mix well

• Add enough stock to cover well
• Bring to boil and simmer until the carrots are soft
• Stir in the chopped coriander leaves
• Blitz with a food processor. The soup should go thick and creamy and delcious

Enjoy :-)

Green Lentil Curry

Introduction

One of the reasons I haven't posted a new recipe for a while, is that I've been using the blog as intended. I've been making the stuff I've already written about. So when I made a new lentil curry, I wondered if it was worth adding.

I think it is different in that this is a fairly quick recipe, not one of my usual slow cooked meals. As for the ingredients, they were pretty much what we had leftover the day before a new veg delivery.

Ingredients

1 pound or so of meat. I used diced pork but chicken would work well.

Green lentils – about 4 espresso cups worth

Veg

1 turnip

2 courgettes

2 onions

1 large carrot

1 stick celery

Spices

About 2” fresh ginger

4 cloves garlic

1tsp mustard seeds

½ tsp fennel seeds

2 crushed Allspice cloves

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tbps coriander seeeds

1 tbsp curry leaves

1 tsp tumeric

1 tsp fenugreek

Good bunch of fresh coriander

Method

Curry

• Get the pan hot and add a good glug of nut oil. Add all the seeds and the curry leaves. Stir fry until the seeds darken and start to pop

• Throw in the finely chopped onion, garlic, ginger, celery & chopped stalks from the fresh coriander. Turn the heat down a notch so the garlic doesn't burn and go bitter. Keep stirring until the mix goes translucent

• Add the other chopped veg, the carrot, the courgette and the turnip. Mix well and cook for about 7 mins, until they begin to soften.

• Add the meat to the mixture and stir in until browned

• Mix in the green lentils and then pour in enough stock to cover. I just used a chicken stock cube and boiling water.
• Simmer until the lentils are tender and the sauce is as thick as you want it.
• Finish with chopped coriander leaves and a splash of lemon juice. If you're feeling frisky, stir in a splash of natural yoghurt just before serving. I served this with half a caulie that I'd blitzed in a food processor and fried off with garlic and coriander. Delicious!

Enjoy :-)

Cheesebake (Updated)

Introduction

When I first set up this blog, for the purpose of simply recording recipes when I could access them, one of the first I wrote was a Cheesebake. It was very simple, no pictures. More of a reminder to be honest.

Recently, we had a massive pile of spuds and a lot of cheese. This usually means a cheesebake. I also saw it as a good opportunity to put a full recipe with pictures on.

Just as a bit of background, I'm sure I've been told somewhere along the line that this is an old family recipe. I bet there are loads of similar variations but what is true is that I have had this for tea for as long as I can remember. It definitely feels like an old family recipe, one I hope my cheese and potato hating daughter will learn to love...

Ingredients

Potatoes – Enough to fill the tin you are using. I always use too many but as a good rule I would use 3 to 4 spuds per person. This gave us two meals for two adults and a greedy little boy

Grated Cheese – whatever type you like. I was lazy and used a whole 250g bag of ready grated mature chedder

Bacon – about 2 pieces per person

1 Onion

2 tins chopped tomatoes

Method

1. Peel and wash the taters. Slice into about 1cm thick slices. Cover with salty water and bring to the boil.
   
2. Meanwhile, slice and dice the onion and bacon. Fry gently in a little olive oil and a spoonful of butter until the onion is clear and the bacon is cooked.

5. The potatoes should be cooked until they are soft; about mashing consistency but not quite ready to disintegrate. Drain and allow to cool slightly so you can handle the pieces
6. Mix the tomatoes in the bacon/onion mix. There is no need to keep the heat on
7. Preheat your oven to about 200°C and oil up an oven dish.
8. Now, layer the bottom with potatoes. Use the different sizes to fill as many gaps as possible. You should use about half of the spuds.
   
   
   
9. Put about half of the bacony-tomato mix as the next layer. Try to spread it evenly
10. The third layer should be grated cheese
11. Repeat with another layer of spuds, tomato and cheese
    
12. Bake in the oven for about 20 mins or until the top cheese layer goes crispy
13. Serve with lashings of Brown Sauce

Enjoy :-)