VEGETABLE SOUP

Good Morning to you,

I love carrots.

I love sweet potato

I love ordinary potatoes

I love, love, love, parsnips

So it will come as no surprise, when I tell you, that I just love vegetable soup. I have checked my vegetable rack and yes, I have all the right vegetables, ready and waiting,  to be turned into,

vegetable soup..... with the added bonus of some large cheesy croutons to dunk into the soup.

Some days, I find that I do not eat as many vegetables as I should, you know how some days are, you plan to make a meal, but something happens, which upsets those plans.  So on days when I feel I need to increase my intake of vegetables, I make this vegetable soup. 

So I am popping on my apron, and I just know, you are going to love the music I am listening to today.

The Mamas and The Papas.  You cannot fail to think of sunny days when you listen to "California Dreamin" and who doesn't love "It's Getting Better".  If I feel a little low, I play this cd and my spirits are immediately lifted.  This is fabulous music from my teenage years, which I still enjoy today. 

Living in Cyprus, as a teenager, the summers were very hot, so during those long, hot summer months, we would enjoy hours of fun, swimming and sunbathing at the beach. At the time, my best friend was Maria, and she owned a transistor radio, which we all thought was fabulous, and each time we went to the beach, Maria would bring along her transistor. We would carefully lay out our beach towels, so that no sand was able to get onto the towel, then carefully place ourselves on the towel, again trying to stop any sand from getting on the towel, and when we finally lay down, we would close our eyes and listen to the music. You could always guarantee that The Mamas and The Papas would be played, along with The Byrd's and The Lovin' Spoonful.

Now that The Mamas and The Papas are singing, it is putting me in a really light hearted mood... and oh yes, I am singing along..... can't you hear me. 

So without further ado, it is time to get on with the vegetable soup.

INGREDIENTS

1 medium sized onion

3 large carrots

5 medium sized potatoes

I used a mixture of new potatoes and old potatoes

2 medium sized sweet potatoes

2 large parsnips

(large, because I love them)

1 250g tin of plum tomatoes

PLUS

1 teaspoon salt 

1/2 a tablespoon of chilli flakes 

1 litre of homemade stock or 
Marigold Swiss Vegetable bouillon stock

METHOD

Place 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan

and

finely chop the onion 

add to the pan. 

Saute over a low heat until the onions are translucent

While the onions are sauteing 

Peel the sweet potato

and

carrots

then cut into chunks.

When the onions are translucent,

add  the carrot and sweet potato to the pan, and

turn to coat with olive oil

Peel and chop the parsnips into chunks

and add the the pan, 

again mix to coat with olive oil

Peel and chop the potatoes and

add them to the pan.

Again  toss to coat with olive oil
(you might find that you need to add

 a 3rd tablespoon of  olive oil)

Add the tomatoes,

do not worry about chopping them, as

the cooking process will break them down

Add half a tablespoon of chilli flakes

(less if you prefer a milder flavour)

Add a teaspoon of sea salt

Using 2 tablespoonfuls of  Marigold Swiss Vegetable
bouillon powder

(or homemade stock if you have some at the ready)

Mix the Marigold Bouillon with a litre of hot water

and stir to make sure the powder has dissolved.

Add to the pan and stir.

Place a lid on the pan and bring to a simmer.

Check the soup after half an hour and if you feel you 

need a little more liquid, then add a little more.

Simmer for 45 minutes or until all the vegetables are tender. 

Remember to taste for seasoning,

please be careful as the soup will be hot,

and you will have a richly flavoured vegetable soup,

which costs very little to make.

Now you have a couple of alternatives, you can serve the vegetable soup and leave the vegetables as they are, which is how George likes his soup, or you can,

blitz the soup so that it is nice and smooth, which is how I prefer my vegetable soup.  

You could also blitz half of the soup, then add it back to the vegetable soup in the pan and stir. This makes for a thicker soup, and you still have chunky vegetables to enjoy.

I tend to serve this soup with garlic and cheese croutons. You can make your own large garlic and cheese croutons as I have, or you can make the smaller garlic and oregano croutons, as we made here.

You can make this vegetable soup using your favourite vegetables and believe me when I say, it is a much cheaper and a much healthier way to enjoy soup.

Whatever vegetables you decide to use..... ENJOY.

So take care and I will see you later in the week.

This week I will be joining,

Yvonne at StoneGable

and

Karen at Sew Many Ways

APPLE AND BLACKBERRY PIE

Good Morning to you,

Although the weather is colder, the wonderful thing about Autumn, is the big, fat, juicy blackberries which appear amongst our hedgerows. I love blackberry picking, but as yet I have not been able to locate any blackberry bushes.

When Natasha and Danielle were little, we would all go blackberry picking and I remember they would eat more blackberries than they would  put into their baskets.  Their mouths would be stained by the rich blackberry juice and often as not, there would be juice, staining their clothes as well, but being a canny mother, I always made sure they were wearing clothes which were old, so they could enjoy the blackberry picking, and not worry if their clothes became stained.

As I said, I have not found a good blackberry hedge yet, so I was so pleased to find blackberries, which had been grown in Yorkshire, being sold at Morrisons, my local supermarket. I decided to pair them with some Bramley apples which had been grown in Kent, and this is what we are making today,

an Apple and Blackberry Pie.  The blackberries and apples have been cooked and they have released this wonderful juice.

So, if you are ready to cook, it's on with the apron and the music I am listening to today is,

Ladysmith Black Mambazo.  The first time I heard Ladysmith sing was when we bought the Paul Simon LP, Graceland, where he featured Ladysmith. After hearing them sing, both George and I were smitten.

We are both in the kitchen at the moment, so George has chosen today's music,  and as always there is a little story to tell.  When our girls lived at home, he was the only man in the house, even Chloe, our King Charles Spaniel was a girl, so in the house, there were four girls and one man. Added to that, when Natasha and Danielle's girlfriends came around as well, it was sometimes all too much for him... well you know how girls can chatter.  He would find his Ladysmith Black Mambazo LPs, put on his large earphones, (it was the days of the large earphones) place his chair in the sunshine and we would be told not to disturb him as he was "Going to Africa". He would then close his eyes and listen to the music for an hour or so. Really he was escaping us girls.  The only girl allowed to disturb him was Chloe, as invariably, he had no choice, as she would climb up on his lap and go to sleep.

I am now ready to bake, I have my ingredients ready.

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE PASTRY

275g plain flour

100g cold unsalted butter

25g  of lard

1 level teaspoon of salt

5 tablespoons of iced water

use as much or as little as you need to combine the pastry.

These are the ingredients to make the pastry.  I have not taken any photographs as we have made pastry many times.  Once you have made the pastry,

cut the pastry so you have two thirds for the bottom of the pie and one third for the top.  Cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.

You will also need,

1 egg yolk to brush over the pastry before baking.

FILLING

8 medium sized Bramley Apples

300g blackberries

150g Demerara sugar
or if you prefer granulated sugar,

but keep back 25g to sprinkle on top of the pastry

2 tablespoons of cornflour

50g unsalted butter

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

METHOD

Pre-heat the oven to 180 F

1 x 10 inch, buttered, loose bottom cake tin

Juice the lemon

Peel core and chop the apples

and add the lemon juice.

As you peel and chop each apple,

toss them in the lemon juice so that they do not

discolour.

Add the Demerara sugar and mix 

(remember to hold back 25g of sugar)

Add the cornflour and mix

Lastly add the blackberries and mix carefully,

as you do not want the blackberries to break.

Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll out.

Fit the pastry gently into the baking tin, don't force it

and allow  a little overhang.  As you can see on the
right hand side, I had to do a little patchwork.

Place the apple mixture inside
and dot with the 50g of unsalted butter.

 Roll out the pastry for the top of the pie and place it over

the apple and blackberry mixture.

Crimp the edges and brush the pastry with the egg

yolk to create a lovely golden brown pastry top.

Sprinkle with the remaining 25g of demerara sugar.
Using a knife, make two slits in the top of the pie
to allow any steam to escape.

Place the apple and blackberry pie on a baking sheet.

Bake in a pre-heated oven, for 30 minutes, until the pie crust

is golden, then reduce the oven temperature to 160 F and

cover the pie with tin foil and bake for a further 45 minutes

to 1 hour.

It takes the apples this long to bake as we used a lot of apples.

Remove the pie from the oven, but leave the pie on the 
baking sheet  and  allow to cool for

45 minutes, before you release the pie from

the cake tin. The pie will be warm, rather than piping hot,
and by eating the pie warm, you will be able to enjoy the flavours.

You will see in this photograph that some of the pastry has been

cut after baking. Sometimes I give the pastry a little trim with a

sharp knife, if the edges don't sit properly.  I just go around the

pastry using  a knife, it gives a cleaner look to the pie.

I thought I would show you the side of the pastry, as I did not

want you to worry if your pastry was not smooth. It will have a

few wrinkles, this is because it was placed into the cake tin  as one piece of pastry.

So using seasonal fruits we have created this lovely 
Autumnal pudding.

The sauce that is on the plate came from the pie. As the pie  rested, the juices came out of the bottom of the cake tin.  This did not spoil the pie as the base was thoroughly cooked.  I just added the juice to some Mascarpone cheese and mixed it together with icing sugar,  to eat with the Apple and Blackberry pie.

Alternatively, you could put the apples and blackberries into the base of a pie dish and use a third of the pastry to make a pie crust top.

Whichever way you decide to make this Apple and Blackberry Pie, I know you will enjoy it, served with cream, ice cream,  or that wonderful staple, custard.

So take care and I will see you later in the week.

This week I will be joining,

Karen from Sew Many Ways

and
Jamie from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom
and
Kathy from Creative Home Expressions
and
Anyonita from Anyonita Nibbles

SPAGHETTI WITH GARLIC, CHILLI AND SPINACH

Good Morning to you,

To everything, turn, turn, turn,

There is a season, turn, turn, turn,

.... and my, is the season turning. We had our first taste of Autumn yesterday..... it was cold, so very cold.  The North wind blew and the rain came down and for the first time in quite a while, I wore my coat, scarf and gloves.... that felt strange, as we have enjoyed  some beautiful, summer weather in the past couple of months.  As I look out of my window, I can see people passing by, wrapped up in their winter coats, on their way to the newsagents, to collect their morning papers.

Tuesdays are an odd day for me, as when I return home from my sewing group, I am always hungry.  I have decided it's because I am up that little bit earlier and I have my breakfast at seven, whereas normally, I would potter around a little and then eat breakfast at 9.30ish.  One thing is certain, I am always ready to eat, the moment I step inside the door.

So yesterday I made myself some fast food,

Spaghetti with garlic, chilli and spinach

and it has to be said, I was really content afterwards.

So it is on with the apron and the music I have chosen to listen to today is,

Harry Connick Jnr.  I  love his slow,  relaxed  style  of singing.   Listen to "Between Us" you will love it.

If you are ready, the ingredients we will need for this quick meal are,

INGREDIENTS

A quarter of a packet of dried spaghetti,

I chose to use whole wheat spaghetti today.

1 clove of garlic

and

1 teaspoon of chilli flakes

4 tablespoons of olive oil

one teaspoon of sea salt

and

one teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper

50g fresh baby spinach

2 tablespoons of freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 red onion

METHOD

Heat a pan of salted water

and

cook the spaghetti as directed by the manufacturer.

Make sure the spaghetti is al dente (has a little bite to it)

Whilst the spaghetti is cooking,

finely slice the red onion

Place 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a pan,

add the onions and cook over a moderate heat.

Cook until the onions take on a golden colour

Crush the garlic and

add to the pan.

Cook for a  minute

Add the chilli flakes,

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

and cook for a further two minutes.

When the spaghetti is cooked, drain, and add to the

pan with the browned onions.

Toss together

Wash the baby spinach

and

add to the spaghetti and toss together.

Pop a lid on the pan, as this will help retain the heat,
 so that the spinach wilts.

If the spinach does not wilt after a couple of minutes,

return to a low heat, for a minute or so.

Once the spinach has wilted, remove from the heat.

Grate 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese

and

add to the spaghetti, then toss together

At this point I drizzle over a couple of tablespoons of olive oil

and toss again.

Once you have plated your spaghetti,
as a final flourish,
finely grate just a little more Parmesan cheese over
the spaghetti,

.... and there you have it, a quick and easy lunch for two.  When we eat spaghetti at lunch time, we only have a light snack for supper.  

You may feel there are a lot of steps to this dish, but trust me, this is a quick dish. Do you know, I have even been known, to slice the onions the night before, to make this dish even quicker to make, but you will find that as soon as the spaghetti is cooked, the meal is practically ready..... so it takes about 20 minutes from start to finish..... not bad for an enjoyable  meal.

If you prefer a little more liquid with this garlic, chilli and spinach spaghetti, then you can always add small halved tomatoes to the dish at the same time as you add the chilli and this will create a little sauce for you.

Just to let you know, this Sunday, I had fully intended cooking with the Preserved Lemons, but they are not quite ready yet, so I have decided to give them a couple of more weeks to mature and then I shall be making a Tagine.

On a final note, I am slowly, but surely catching up with my emails, but I have decided that if you are kind enough to leave a comment, then I will respond in the reply section of my blog.  This way I am certain that I have replied to each and everyone of you.  

So take care and I will see you later in the week.

This week I will be joining,

Kim at Savvy Southern Style

and

Yvonne at StoneGable
and
D at The Shady Porch