soup, soup, soup

Yep, Melbourne has turned on the cold again this weekend.

It's been a blustery, rainy Sunday afternoon, so of course I thought of soup.

I've spent the last few weeks moving house and STILL don't have the internet sorted at the new place, but thanks to a USB dongle, I'm able to post this soup I whipped up today with 'stuff I found in the cupboard/fridge that was going bad'.

Clearly choosing the ingredients was a very technical process *wink*.


 Stuff you need;

3 or 4 potatoes, chopped into small cubes
half a head of cauliflower, broken into small florets
400 gram tin crushed tomatoes
1 heaped tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup red split lentils
tinned corn
2 cloves garlic
2 and a half Massell vegetable stock cubes
olive oil
fresh parsley to taste

What you do;

1) Fry the garlic and potato in olive oil til it's browned.

2) Add a litre of water with the dissolved stock cubes and the crushed tomatoes. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and add cauliflower and lentils.

3) Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until the lentils, cauliflower and potato are cooked through and soft. Then add the tomato paste and salt and pepper to taste.

4) Finally, add the tinned corn and chopped fresh parsley and heat through.

That's it! My very basic peasant soup. Cheap as chips and oh so easy. The beauty of it is that you can put whatever you want in it - I just happened to have potatoes and cauliflower I needed to use. Last time I used carrot and broccolini and it was great too.

Trying New Things - Curry

image from BBC Good Food

I've never cooked curry - and I never order curry when I'm out. I always figured curry would be difficult and/or time consuming to make. UNTIL a friend sent me this link to an awesome free recipe for a chickpea, tomato and spinach curry. It was easy to make and absolutely delish! And the leftovers the next day were even better. 

Give it a go - you'll love it.

Not Osso Bucco

Right, so 'osso bucco' in Italian means 'bone with a hole' (according to Wikipedia) - and there are no bones or bones with holes in this here recipe. However, I based it on a few traditional osso bucco recipes, and the inspiration for putting it together was seeing a celebrity chef serve up a steaming dish of *almost* loveliness (besides the big meat chunks of course). So here is my veg version of Not Osso Bucco.

 

 

What you need;

eggplant

2 small zuchinnis

1 brown onion

4 celery stalks

2 large carrots

5 tomatoes

2 or 3 tbsp of tomato paste (to taste)

400g canned crushed tomatoes

fresh thyme

handful fresh parsley

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup stock (I use veggie)

semi-dried tomatoes

40 grams vegan alternative to butter (Nuttelex works well)

3 cloves garlic

olive oil

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp lemon rind

kalamata olives

What you do;

1) Melt the butter in a large saucepan and cook the garlic and onion for a few minutes. Add the carrot and celery and cook until just soft.

2) Add the roughly chopped fresh tomatoes, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, semi-dried tomatoes, wine, stock and a bit of fresh thyme. Let it boil then reduce to a simmer and leave covered for about an hour (stirring occasionally).

** While that's cooking, prep. the eggplant by slicing it thickly and sprinkling salt onto each side. Leave it in a colander over a plate for about 30 mins. **

3) In a separate pan, cut the prepared eggplant and zucchini into chunks and fry in olive oil until just browned.

4) Add eggplant, zucchini, olives, parsley, lemon rind and juice to main saucepan and cover for another 30 mins or until eggplant and zucchini are tender.

That's about it! - I like to serve it on brown rice with gremolita on top (lemon rind, garlic and parsley). You might like to add a bit of quinoa or cous cous rather that serving it on rice.

ENJOY!

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Just a side note, I found the most amazing olives the other day. They're called Mount Zero and are grown locally in Victoria, Australia near the Grampians. You have to pit them yourself but it's definitely worth it and so easy - and there's the added bonus that you can eat a few while you're doing it (when I say 'a few' I mean 'half the jar' of course).