Nettle Soup

On Monday morning I arrived at Cook House to open up, I glanced down the side of the containers and went to pick up some rubbish, at the same time noticing glass everywhere and my heart sank. It's really pretty soul destroying when you work hard at something and people decide to just help themselves. I'm pretty resilient most of the time but waiting for the police, surrounded by mess and glass, I felt pretty fed up and disheartened...

But then this morning an old man appeared at the door of Cook House with a bunch of flowers. It was Bill. A few weeks ago I found myself again on the phone to the emergency services as Bill, one of the tour guides from the Victoria Tunnel next door, had tripped in the road outside. He had hit his face on the curb and couldn't move, lying in the road outside Cook House. It was a bit scary as there was so much blood, but luckily a young doctor happened to drive past and put everyone at ease, eventually taking Bill off to hospital himself...

Bill is ok thank goodness, his face is fine but he has broken his shoulder in three places, yet is on the mend. Standing in the door of Cook House with some flowers. So I'll just concentrate on the lovely Bill's of this world and not the toe rags.... and on soup, because that always makes you feel better in times of trouble.

Did you know you can pick young nettles with your bare hands and they don't sting you? Don't blame me if you do get stung, but I've tried it and found it to be true,... most of the time... I picked about a carrier bag full. 

Heat about 3 tablespoons of olive oil and about 25g of butter in a big pan. Add 3 sliced leeks, thoroughly washed, 3 sliced onions, 2 cloves of crushed garlic and a big pinch of salt and sweat gently for about half an hour. Then add two large potatoes, peeled and diced, and leave to sweat for another ten minutes. Cover with a litre or so of either water, ham stock or vegetable stock, whatever your preference. I like to use the stock from simmering ham hocks, diluted down with water a bit so it's not too salty. Simmer everything until the potatoes are soft.

Finally add the nettles, again thoroughly washed, and grass picked out... I sometimes add a bit of spinach too depending how many nettles I've picked. Simmer for a couple more minutes then blend until smooth. Add lots of black pepper and the quantity of salt will depend on which stock you have used, keep adding in small quantities until it tastes delicious. You will probably need to add more stock or water too until it is the desired consistency. And there you have it, nettle soup, delicious, free ingredients and restorative...

Roast Courgette and Garlic Soup and Lemony Courgettes on Toast

Two more courgette recipes today, neither of which are going to win any prizes in the beauty stakes... but are pretty damn tasty! And you shouldn’t judge those courgette books by their mushy covers... Lots of people have been tweeting me saying they are experiencing glut related problems, even throwing in a few courgette facts... and tips about fritters, ratatouille chutneys and little Italian courgette cakes... and I only have about 15 more courgettes to get through...

A very simple soup to start... Roast Courgette and Garlic, simply chop up 4 large courgettes into bite size chunks, 2 onions into quarters and add 6 cloves of garlic still in their skins, a big glug of olive oil and a large pinch of salt and pepper. Roast for about half an hour at 180°C, giving it a stir every so often, until it has begun to brown and the water has disappeared. Some of those massive guys from my allotment produced a lot of water, it varies each time... Give the roast courgettes a good stir and check to see if they need more salt, squeeze the garlic out of their skins, then add everything to a pan with a chicken stock cube and 600ml of water.

Finally blitz and serve, this should be enough for 2 big bowls of soup, sprinkle a bit of mint on the top and a slice of buttery toast...

Next some Lemony Courgettes on Toast, of Guardian Cook supplement fame, one of the highlights of my blogging career so far was not the fact that this was published in a article about favourite things on toast, more that in the comments section below someone wrote 'the day I make Lemony Courgettes on Toast is the day you can take me out the back and shoot me'... it still makes me laugh...

So if you want to make them, rather than get shot, you just need to chop up 3 courgettes, add to a big glug of olive oil and cook slowly for about 10 minutes, add a finely diced clove of garlic and continue to cook. All the water should cook off and the courgettes start to fry rather than simmer in juices. This can take a while depending on the courgettes, about half an hour usually. Then add the juice of quarter of a lemon and a big handful of chopped mint. Pour the soft minty courgettes and the tasty lemony oils over two slices of hot toast and share...

Live Below the Line - Day 1

I have completed Day 1 of my Live Below the Line challenge! Yesterday I did my shopping, which was a bit stressful. I went to Asda, and only took the exact money I could spend. TLI has joined me on my adventure so I had £10 to spend, £5 each for 5 days. Supermarkets you don't know are stressful to begin with, I had no idea where anything was and their range of dried pulses was pitiful, I should have stuck with Morrisons... Buying loose vegetables to an exact amount of money is also stressful. I stood by the scales with a calculator and a notepad weighing each carrot, leek and potato one at a time!

I went to the self service till in case I went over my budget and had to put stuff back, it seemed less embarrassing at self service; I did have my sums wrong, but ended up being £1.85 under, so I still have that to spend. I couldn’t face heading back into the aisles so have yet to decide what else to buy.

I unloaded when I got home and surveyed what I had bought. I'm not sure how two of us will live on it for 5 days, it looks pretty impossible at first glance to be honest. Ten pounds just doesn’t seem to go very far, especially when you choose some fresh produce.

My first day didn’t exactly go to plan, as I spent most of it eating nothing at all. I was off to the Farne Islands for a meeting about a very exciting new project I'm getting involved in. It was beautiful to be there, but I couldn’t accept tea or coffee, and when I got back to the mainland later than expected after no breakfast I was pretty hungry. You don’t know how good those fish and chip shops looked... Who would know? But I stayed strong and got in the car...

My first proper meal, late afternoon was Roast Butternut Squash soup with flat breads. I roasted the squash with onion and garlic, then simmered a potato in chicken stock and blitzed. It was fine, not my best ever soup, a little thin, but should be enough for 4 portions. It worked out at 33p for a portion of soup and 3p for both of the flat breads, so 36p in total. Not a bad start...

For supper I had Red Lentil Dal with flat breads which was delicious, spiced, warm and filling. I topped it with fried onions and cumin seeds and a couple of flat breads on the side. It was really tasty, I'll definitely make it again. This worked out at 49p for the dal and again 3p for the flatbreads, so 52p in total.

I'll keep you posted on how I'm getting on the through the week. thank you so much to everyone who has sponsored me, I have raised an amazing £395 so far!

https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/annahedworth

Coconut, Lentil and Spinach Stew

I've been hen doo-ing in the Lake District, a beautiful house full of over excited girls in food fancy dress... My costume was a piece of streaky bacon, a giant one made of foam that made me laugh every time I looked in the mirror, until the early hours when I couldn’t really see in the mirror... There was a fried egg, a giant pea pod, a lobster, a pig (organic obvs) jelly beans, diet coke, a can of Spam, the list goes on... It made for a very entertaining evening fuelled by much wine and a big house to bash around in...  

I had an excellent time, although I still feel tired and a bit emotional, staying up till the early hours doesn't seem to agree with me as well as it used to. I need comfort food in quiet rooms with blankets and nice people....  

I found this recipe on The Traveller's Lunchbox blog originally, I think they adapted it from someone else and I changed it a bit from theirs, so it's origins have changed along the way, but I imagine it has been delicious in every form. They call it a soup, mine is more of a stewy dal type thing I think... A delicious spiced coconut stew full of lentils and soft spinach.

 

Start with the lentils, 275g of green or puy lentils, rinse them, then add to a pan with 1 litre of chicken stock, a big sprig of thyme and 1½ teaspoons of turmeric. Bring it to the boil and simmer gently with a lid on till the lentils are soft, about 20 minutes, add more stock if needs be...

 

While the lentils are cooking heat a big knob of butter in a frying pan and sauté 1 large diced onion with a big pinch of salt until it is very soft, for about 12 minutes. Then add 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic, ½ teaspoon of ground cardamom seeds, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves, ¼ teaspoon of ground cinnamon, a pinch of ground nutmeg and fry for another 30 seconds. Then scrape this spicy onion mix into the lentils.

Finally add a whole tin of coconut milk and a small bag of spinach, stirring till it wilts into the warm stew. Simmer for another 10 minutes or so and check if you need salt and pepper as it is cooking.

This will sort you out if you find yourself deep in winter at the end of March or a delicate hen do patient, both of which I am currently inflicted with...

 

Curried Parsnip Soup and Ouseburn Open Studios

I'm going to be hanging out at Ouse Street Arts Club again this weekend, as part of Ouseburn Open Studios we are one of 8 venues opening their doors to members of the public. The Ouseburn Valley is the creative heart of Newcastle and on the last weekend of November the much-anticipated Ouseburn Open Studios event sees venues open their doors, offering a unique chance to come and see inside the studios of over 200 artists and designer-makers.

At the Arts Club we have set up an art-mini-mart with work to buy from the lovely Amy Dover, Laura Sheldon, Prefab77, Muro Buro, Bubblegum Vegas and Louise Green. There are some amazing prints framed and unframed, cards, T-shirts, ceramics, jewellery, dresses and tote bags for sale. Totally unique Christmas presents, I might have to do a spot of shopping myself... We also have a tiny pocket cinema showing a range of short films all weekend.

I will be manning the fort and also providing sustenance; Curried Parsnip Soup and Sausage Stew will be on hand to warm you up, with coffee from the Ouseburn Coffee Company by the cup and the bag too...

I discovered this parsnip soup last week when trying to decide what was a fitting end to the parsnips I grew myself this year. It is a simple yet delicious soup that will hopefully keep all the Open Studios visitors warm and full. A rich earthy parsnip soup with spicy curry and garlic, delicious.

Peel and chop 4 large parsnips and 1 onion and add to a baking tray with a big glug of olive oil. Add a clove of garlic still in its skin and 2 teaspoons of medium curry powder, along with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Then roast at 200°C for about 20 minutes or until golden and soft.

Then add the contents of the tray to 600ml of chicken stock, scraping everything you can out of the baking tray for extra flavour. Then simmer the roasted parsnip mixture in the stock for about 10 minutes. Allow it to cool slightly and check to see if it needs any salt or pepper then blend until it's smooth. I added a tablespoon of crème fraiche at the end for extra creaminess. These amounts will serve 2. The rich earthy parsnip is delicious with the spicy warm curry, just the thing to warm you up as winter approaches...

Roast Cauliflower, Cumin and Yoghurt Soup

I have long taken inspiration from Claudia Rodan, her book Arabesque is never far from hand and I'm still discovering new amazing things in it that I have never cooked. A three hour roast lamb was the most recent with cinnamon couscous, chopped dates and almonds, delicious.

So when Carruthers and Kent, Gosforth's lovely independent fine wine company, suggested we team up and put together an evening of food and wine inspired by the Middle East I was instantly planning the menu. It will be a lavish tasting feast with matched wines on the 19^th July as part of the EAT! Festival. So if you fancy trying that lamb and many more tasty treats please click here for more details...

My menu planning has taken me cover to cover in lots of Claudia's books as well as experimenting with lots of my own ideas. This is a little soup that came about one lunchtime when trying to balance the lovely sunshine with the fact that I was still freezing cold. It is a roast cauliflower and spicy cumin soup but using yoghurt instead of cream adds a freshness that makes this soup summery and light as well as deep with spice and warmth, and it is also very simple.

I used half a cauliflower and made enough to serve 2-3 people. Simply chop the cauliflower into small florets and place in a baking tray, add 5 peeled shallots, a big glug of olive oil, some salt and 2 teaspoons of ground cumin. Shake it all up and roast in the oven for about 30 minutes at 180°C, until golden brown, after about 15 minutes throw in a couple of cloves of garlic, giving it a stir at the same time. When it is ready throw it all in a pan with 300ml of chicken stock and a bay leaf and simmer until everything is very soft, about 20 minutes.

When it is ready remove the bay leaf and puree until smooth and add 2-3 tablespoons of yoghurt. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper to suit. To serve scatter with some toasted cumin seeds and a little drizzle of olive oil. It is a fresh light soup that is warming and spicy at the same time, perfect for this changeable weather we're having...

Roast Pumpkin and Garlic Soup with toasted Pumpkin Seeds and Gruyere

We took a little trip over to the Lake District this weekend to check out its autumn colours. We were greeted by golden beech hedges, rain, mist and cows on the road that refused to move. It was a real stand off, they just stared us out and didn’t move one inch, which ended in us driving into a ditch to get past and very nearly getting stuck. I had visions of having to walk a mile in the rain to the nearest farm to get the car pulled out of a ditch... We made it in the end though and spent a lovely evening by the fire with the wind whistling around us. The next morning was bright and sunny and beautiful. You could hear the stags in the hills roaring at each other, hidden by the golden red bracken. The cows had helpfully moved out of the way for the drive home...

This month I have the privilege of a five page recipe feature in the magazine Living North. They asked me if I would put together a selection of Autumn recipes with hints of Halloween, so if you pick up a copy you can read about Toffee Apple Muffins, Roast Pheasant with Chestnuts and Wild Mushrooms, Dark Chocolate and Chestnut Tart, and this... Roast Pumpkin and Garlic soup with toasted Pumpkin seeds and Gruyère...

Preheat your oven to 220°C and begin by slicing the squash into eight wedges and scooping out the seeds. I find you can get a really good selection of squashes in the shops these days. This recipe works with pumpkins, butternut squash and all types of other squashes, I used an onion squash. The Halloween pumpkins that you find in the shops at this time of year are grown mainly just for carving and are not very full on flavour. The onion squash is a deep rich orange squash that looks a little like an onion... and is best roasted which brings out its earthy, nutty delicious flavours.

Place them all in a baking tray, season with salt and add a generous glug of olive oil, they tend to soak up quite a bit. They need to cook for about 30 minutes, but after 15 minutes throw in 6 cloves of garlic still in their skins and some sprigs of thyme and continue to roast, turning the squash around as you do.

While the squash is cooking dice a stick of celery, a carrot and an onion into small cubes, heat a large splash of olive oil in a heavy pan and add the vegetables. Add a large pinch of salt at this point and cook over a medium heat for about 15 minutes until soft and sticky, you don't want them to brown too much so keep an eye on them.

When they have reached a soft sticky stage add a litre of boiling water, you could also use vegetable stock if you wanted. Leave the stock to simmer until it is time to add the squash. The squash is ready when it is golden brown and soft all the way through, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool a little, make sure you keep the garlic too. When you can handle the squash you need to remove the skin and cut the flesh into large chunks and add them to the stock. Next remove the soft roast garlic from its skins and add these to the stock too. Check for seasoning at this point, you might have to add some more salt.

Allow everything to simmer for another 10 minutes. Finally blend everything to a smooth velvety soup, with either a hand-held blender or a food processor.

To serve top with a scattering of pumpkin seeds, lightly toasted in a dry pan and a grating of Gruyère cheese.

The nutty roasted flavours of the squash and the garlic are delicious with the crunchy seeds and creamy melted cheese. A bit of crusty fresh bread and cold butter makes a delightful autumn lunch...