Parsnip and cider soup

This soup is super easy to make, delicious and will warm you up on a cold winter’s day. The cider reduction is optional and you can use most apple ciders. I went for Jo’s cider for this which is a local cider made in Dorset. The soup is great without the cider reduction but I think it adds a nice sweet flavoursome touch to it.

It is one of my favourite soups to make and the reaction of the staff and customers is brilliant. It goes perfectly with some nice chunky bread. If you only want to make a couple of portions half the ingredients. 

 

For the cider reduction just put the cider and sugar in a pan on a medium-high heat and stir often until the cider has reduced by 2/3 then leave it to cool slightly before putting it in a squeezy bottle. Once it has cooled right down it can be refrigerated until needed. This can be done 2-3 days in advance. If the reduction is too thick then leave it out of the fridge for an hour or so prior to using.

Ingredients:

For the cider reduction:

½ pint of cider

2 tbsp of brown sugar

For the soup:

1 large white onion

2 leeks

2 sticks of celery

9 medium sized parsnips

500 ml vegetable stock

500ml milk (I used semi skimmed)

Salt and pepper to season

Method:

Slice the onions, celery and leeks and then peel and slice the parsnips discarding the tops of the parsnips.

Heat a couple of tbsp of oil in a pan and once it is hot add the onions, celery and leeks, stir for 2 minutes and then add the sliced parsnips and cook until they begin to go soft.

Add the stock and the milk and leave on a medium temperature for 1 ½ hours stirring occasionally.

Once the soup is cooked blend it and add salt and pepper to taste then serve up and add some of the cider reduction to it. 

Malta and Gozo Oct 13

Last month izi and I went to visit  the Mediterranean island of Malta for a week and both being chefs we were very excited to go and see what Malta had to offer and we were not disappointed. We stayed in Saint Paul’s bay but often ate at Bugibba as well as travelling to Valetta Sliema and Gozo and trying lots of food along the way. Even if it was just a stop off for a patizzi on the way we had a great time and tried lots of food. 

 

The Maltese cuisine is very much influenced on Italian foods particularly Sicily and the south, as well as Spanish, French and English foods. Some of our favourite meals in Malta were Bragioli , spaghetti with rabbit sauce and lampuki.

We loved all the bread and cheese too especially Gozo cheese which we had to bring some back home with us. Some of the places we visited included Da Rosi, Malet and also a lovely sushi bar in Sliema.

On our final night we decided to go for a real treat and visited a restaurant called Tarragon, this way by far the highlight of our dining experience and although not the cheapest meal we have had it was worth every penny or cent as the case was.

Tempura battered veg with sweet chilli sauce

After visiting Raun Thai the other week I wanted to make my own tempura battered vegetables and made a quick sweet chilli dipping sauce to go with it. It was a quick dish to make and is such a nice vegetarian starter or great to share. I used mushrooms, peppers, courgette, red onions and sweet potatoes for mine but you don’t have to use these and there are plenty of other vegetables like aubergines and baby corn which work just as well.

Sweet chilli sauce ingredients:

½ cup white wine vinegar
¼ cup water
1 dessert spoon chopped chillies, seeds removed
½ dessert spoon chopped root ginger
1 tbsp corn flour
3 tbsp water
¼ cup sugar

Method:

·         Bring all the ingredients to the boil except the corn flour and the 3tbsp water.

·         Reduce to a medium low heat for 10 minutes stirring occasionally

·         Mix the water into the corn flour and whisk ¼ at a time into sauce until mixture is thick enough

·         Taste and add more chilli or sugar if you want it to be hotter or sweeter

Tempura batter ingredients:

1 egg

2 tbsp flour

½ cup ice cold soda water

¾ tsp. baking powder

Method:

·         Beat eggs

·         add water and whisk

·         add flour and baking powder and whisk until smooth

Tempura battered vegetables

·         Button mushrooms quartered

·         Large chunks of red pepper

·         Slices of courgette

·         Red onion rings

·         Thin slices of sweet potato

Method:

Heat a deep fat fryer to 180°c and coat the vegetables in the batter. Fry the vegetables that will take the longest to cook first like the sweet potato and the quickest ones like the onion rings last. They only need a couple of minutes to cook, then take them out and put them on some kitchen paper or something to drain the oil. Serve up and enjoy.

Ruan Thai

Now the summer has finished and work is a little quieter izi and I had time to go out for a meal the other night and so I told her to leave it to me and I will choose somewhere to go for the evening. It was not a difficult decision choosing to go to Ruan Thai as we had spoken about wanting to go there a few times before so I booked a table and told her to be ready for the taxi at half 7.

The restaurant is situated in wyke at the Old Castle Hotel and although it looks rustic on the outside do not be fooled as it looks great inside.  When we arrived we were the only couple there but it was a cold Monday evening and there were not many people about anywhere.

The waitress that evening was very polite and kind and we were soon served drinks and had menus (which are avaliable to view on there website). I think the positive side to having the pub right next to the restaurant was the fact there were quite a large selection of drinks including draft beer.

For starters we went for the ka num jeep which was Thai style dumplings and crispy battered prawns with a sweet chilli dip.
 

They were so tasty especially the dumplings which izi particularly enjoyed, we shared half each but they did not last very long as they were soon out of the way ready for our main course.

For main course izi went for the pad Thai and I had the ped makaam which was deep friend roast duck with Chinese leaves broccoli and cashew nuts and just because we were very hungry/greedy we also had the pak shoop which was deep dried mixed vegetables in a crispy batter with a sweet chilli sauce to share aswell.

The duck dish in itself was worth going there for it was so nice and I could have eaten it again if we hadn’t ordered too much and I was full but still no matter how much you eat there is still enough room for dessert which in my case was a chocolate hazelnut bomb.

We had never gone out for a Thai meal before but we are already planning our next trip although I think they may do takeaway too which we will have to check out.

Autumn spicy soup

Now the summer is over and autumn has arrived some of my favourite foods come into season. Pumpkins, venison, butternut squash, celeriac and parsnips. I have plenty of good seasonal dishes I would like to share and I am going to begin with a nice simple soup: something which always warms me up on a cold day.

Ingredients:

2 medium white onions

2 large sticks of celery

2 medium leeks

2 chillies

1 tbsp. ground cumin

3 carrots

½ large butternut squash

3 sweet potatoes

Vegetable stock

A small pinch of salt

Pepper

To serve

Roasted squash seeds or croutons

A chunky slice of bread and butter.

Method:

Dice the onion and chilli; slice the celery leeks and carrot. Heat a large pan with olive oil and add the chopped veg. sweat off for 5 minutes.

Peel and chop the squash and the sweet potatoes and add them to the pan with the cumin and cook for a further 5-10 minutes on a medium high heat. 

Cover ingredients plus an extra inch or so on top with a weak vegetable stock and turn the heat down to a medium low temperature and leave to cook out for at least 60-90 minutes stirring occasionally. Once all the veg is cooked through and it has cooked out for plenty of time take off the heat and blend with a hand blender until smooth. Adjust seasoning accordingly.

Dark Chocolate Brownies.

 

Today at work we took part in the ‘World’s Biggest Coffee Morning’ for Macmillan. All the staff baked some cakes and biscuits for the event and we had all sorts of goodies on offer from lemon drizzle cake to millionaire’s shortbread and cupcakes to chocolate brownies.

They all went down very well and we managed to raise almost £300 in just a couple of hours. It was nice to be involved and it was a good excuse to make chocolate brownies, which I am sharing the recipe with you today.

Dark chocolate brownies.

Ingredients:

400g dark chocolate

250g unsalted butter

3 eggs

250g brown sugar

100g flour

1 tsp. baking powder

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170c and line a large deep baking tin with greaseproof paper

Break up the chocolate and chop up the butter and place them in a bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir until it has all melted. (Make sure you keep 4-5 squares of chocolate back to eat along the way)

Whisk the eggs and then add the sugar and whisk well until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Fold the chocolate and butter mix into the egg and sugar mix, then sieve the flour and baking powder and stir in. Pour the mixture into the large baking tin.

Cook for 35-40 minutes or until the top has set and started to crack and a knife comes out clean when piercing. Leave to cool and serve. Or have warm with some ice cream.