It's snowing!
I was going to spend the Easter weekend re-gravelling this:
I might be inside cooking casseroles and other hearty winter dishes instead!
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Monday, 2 April 2012
Leek and Potato Soup
While I'm thinking about soup...the other Sunday I made leek and potato soup with leeks from my Dad's garden. This how I did it. I do hope, incidentally, that anyone who reads this doesn't think that I think I've invented something new when I post about things I cook...I know that everything I make has been made thousands of times already and that most people reading will know how to do it...I just like posting about it!
Anyway, leek and potato soup. I chopped all the leeks I had. Being home-grown they smelt delicious and onion-y, quite unlike the ones you get from the supermarket. I must grow leeks in my garden at the soonest possible opportunity...I then chopped three medium sized potatoes. I use roughly the same weight of potatoes as leeks, as I like a thick soup.
Anyway, leek and potato soup. I chopped all the leeks I had. Being home-grown they smelt delicious and onion-y, quite unlike the ones you get from the supermarket. I must grow leeks in my garden at the soonest possible opportunity...I then chopped three medium sized potatoes. I use roughly the same weight of potatoes as leeks, as I like a thick soup.
Then I melted some butter on a low heat. This is my splendid soup/casserole pot. It's brilliant for making large batches of things.
Then I added the leeks and the potatoes and let them sweat for five minutes or so.
Then I added one pint of chicken stock and one pint of water.
Then I brought my soup to the boil, turned down the heat, let it simmer for half an hour or so...then it was time to play with my new toy!!! Mum bought it for me and it is VERY exciting.
It makes lovely, chunky soup and takes much less washing up than the liquidising jug on my Kenwood.
While I was making my soup, I had the most beautiful view of our next-door neighbour's flowering currant tree...
...and I was acompanied by an attention-seeking cat.
Lentil, Leek and Chorizo Soup
This one is for Nikki, who asked for more recipes
Soup, soup, I love soup. And it's a good thing too, because every Sunday night I make a big batch, put it in a tupperware jug and take it to work for my lunch every day for the whole week. I started off following recipes, then started to make my own up. My mum taught me that you can make soup out of pretty much any combination of vegetables as long as you have an onion, and that if you don't have an onion a leek will do. So, one Sunday night - after I'd made my Cod in Tomato and Chorizo Sauce in fact - I made this soup out of what I had to hand. And it was absolutely delicious.
I'm behind on my soup-making this week, but this is a good thing as it's a particularly good night to be making soup. It's grey, drizzly and about 10 degrees colder than it was yesterday and I've just cycled home in it. However, my soup's now simmering away and I'm now freshly showered and snuggled up in my pyjamas, dressing gown and fluffy socks all ready for a bowlful. This is how I made it.
I took two large leeks, one large carrot and two thick slices of chorizo. I chopped everything up, which I always find very satisfying, then fried the chorizo in olive oil for a couple of minutes in my trusty soup-making pot. Normally I use butter when I'm making soup as it makes an enormous difference to the taste, but butter and chorizo together is a bit too much of a good thing.
I fried the chorizo on quite a high heat, then turned it down before I added the leeks and carrots. I gave everything a good stir, put the lid on, and let everything sweat down for a few minutes (but not many, I wanted my soup before too long!).
Then I added the lentils - red ones. I use 100g to one pint of liquid, but you can use more or less depending on how you like your soup. I like it THICK! I used 300g as I wanted a big batch (about six portions).
Then I chucked a pint of chicken stock and two pints of water in, and brought the whole lot to the boil for a minute or two, another good stir, then turned the heat down so it was simmering. After about 45 minutes it should be ready to be liquidised (of which more later...) and enjoyed.
A note on stock - I have been experimenting with cheap stock cubes to see if they're as good as Oxo ones. They're not. They're too salty which is why I only used one to three pints of water. If I was using Oxo ones I'd probably use two. And I never season my soup before it's finished, in case it's too salty from the stock cubes. You can add it, but can't take it away...that's a tip picked up from Her Royal Highness Delia Smith by the way.
Soup, soup, I love soup. And it's a good thing too, because every Sunday night I make a big batch, put it in a tupperware jug and take it to work for my lunch every day for the whole week. I started off following recipes, then started to make my own up. My mum taught me that you can make soup out of pretty much any combination of vegetables as long as you have an onion, and that if you don't have an onion a leek will do. So, one Sunday night - after I'd made my Cod in Tomato and Chorizo Sauce in fact - I made this soup out of what I had to hand. And it was absolutely delicious.
I'm behind on my soup-making this week, but this is a good thing as it's a particularly good night to be making soup. It's grey, drizzly and about 10 degrees colder than it was yesterday and I've just cycled home in it. However, my soup's now simmering away and I'm now freshly showered and snuggled up in my pyjamas, dressing gown and fluffy socks all ready for a bowlful. This is how I made it.
I took two large leeks, one large carrot and two thick slices of chorizo. I chopped everything up, which I always find very satisfying, then fried the chorizo in olive oil for a couple of minutes in my trusty soup-making pot. Normally I use butter when I'm making soup as it makes an enormous difference to the taste, but butter and chorizo together is a bit too much of a good thing.
I fried the chorizo on quite a high heat, then turned it down before I added the leeks and carrots. I gave everything a good stir, put the lid on, and let everything sweat down for a few minutes (but not many, I wanted my soup before too long!).
Then I added the lentils - red ones. I use 100g to one pint of liquid, but you can use more or less depending on how you like your soup. I like it THICK! I used 300g as I wanted a big batch (about six portions).
Then I chucked a pint of chicken stock and two pints of water in, and brought the whole lot to the boil for a minute or two, another good stir, then turned the heat down so it was simmering. After about 45 minutes it should be ready to be liquidised (of which more later...) and enjoyed.
A note on stock - I have been experimenting with cheap stock cubes to see if they're as good as Oxo ones. They're not. They're too salty which is why I only used one to three pints of water. If I was using Oxo ones I'd probably use two. And I never season my soup before it's finished, in case it's too salty from the stock cubes. You can add it, but can't take it away...that's a tip picked up from Her Royal Highness Delia Smith by the way.
Sunday, 1 April 2012
It's Garden Time!
It's Sunday, which means it's garden time! Hooray! I'm tired today as Alastair and I did quite a long wak yesterday, so I have just done a few jobs today. I have:
1. potted my cauliflower seedlings on.
I sowed my cauliflower seedlings loose in a seed tray. I might be inclined, I think, to sow them directly into fibre pots next time (if there is a next time). I wasn't quite expecting anything to come up, so when an entire seed-packet germinated I wasn't quite sure to do with them!
I half-filled the fibre pots, then made a little hole with my finger...
My potting trowel (which is what I think it's called!) was very useful for filling the little pots, because of its pointy tip.
2. potted my courgettes seedlings on.
My courgettes sprouted splendidly, I couldn't believe it!
Unlike my cauliflower seedlings, they were clearly ready to go into bigger pots. The were bursting out of their fibre pots.
3. potted my broad beans on.
And put them in bigger pots. They are in soil from the garden, so I hope they're okay.
All the pots were put in the coldframe, where hopefully they will be safe from the frosts and not get too hot when the sun shines.
6. top-dressed my blueberries with ericaceous compost (this sounds impressively knowledgeable, but it's what it said to do on the label!). Aren't they splendid?!
7. pruned my gooseberry bush. Poor gooseberry bush. He's never done very well. In the summer of 2010 he had one gooseberry on him, and last summer he had none. He's had the sword of Damocles hanging over his head ever since, as Alastair keeps asking when I'm going to get rid of him. But I'm not giving up on my gooseberry bush yet! I'll see if a hard prune does the trick.
8. tidied up my clematis montana - just getting rid of the dead wood and rearranging him a bit - who is about to flower profusely and splendiferously. He has literally hundreds of buds.
9. planted some delphiniums (where Clematis Seboldeii used to be). I am deeply sceptical about these. I bought them in a box from B&Q, and I'm not quite sure what I expected to see when I opened the box, but I first thought that I'd been sold a bag of compost. On very close inspection, it was a bag of compost with what looked like some bits of slightly fluffier compost in it (little dried-up roots I think). It said on the packet to soak in water for 3-4 hours then plant. I wasn't quite sure how to soak in water, so I lay the fluffy things on top of the soil in the garden where they were going to go and gave them a good water. I kept soaking them every so often, then after about 3 hours, stuck them in holes and covered them up. We shall see what happens!
1. potted my cauliflower seedlings on.
I sowed my cauliflower seedlings loose in a seed tray. I might be inclined, I think, to sow them directly into fibre pots next time (if there is a next time). I wasn't quite expecting anything to come up, so when an entire seed-packet germinated I wasn't quite sure to do with them!
I'm not sure whether it was the right thing to do or not, but I thought that some of them might like to spend a little time in fibre pots before being potted on to bigger pots. I don't have that big a garden so I selected 10 of the most splendid seedlings and transplanted them into fibre pots.
I half-filled the fibre pots, then made a little hole with my finger...
...and gently lowered the roots into it. I have read that you're meant to handle seedlings by the leaves not by the stem, but they didn't seem to mind either way as long as I was gentle.
My potting trowel (which is what I think it's called!) was very useful for filling the little pots, because of its pointy tip.
2. potted my courgettes seedlings on.
My courgettes sprouted splendidly, I couldn't believe it!
Unlike my cauliflower seedlings, they were clearly ready to go into bigger pots. The were bursting out of their fibre pots.
The brilliant thing about the fibre pots is that you don't have to take the seedlings out of them, you just put them in the bigger pot. They rot down and fertilise the seedling. Again, as I don't have that big a garden, I only transplanted 10 plants. The remaining ones will be given to neighbours who garden.
I ran out of compost, so one of the courgettes has been potted in soil from the garden. I wonder if it'll grow any differently.
Strictly speaking these aren't mine, as Dad sowed them for me, but they have been living in the coldframe since before they were little green shoots so they're kind of mine! They were flourishing.
I teased their roots apart...
And put them in bigger pots. They are in soil from the garden, so I hope they're okay.
All the pots were put in the coldframe, where hopefully they will be safe from the frosts and not get too hot when the sun shines.
4. planted some onion sets. Never done this before either so hope I did it right!
I was helped by a very silly cat.
6. top-dressed my blueberries with ericaceous compost (this sounds impressively knowledgeable, but it's what it said to do on the label!). Aren't they splendid?!
8. tidied up my clematis montana - just getting rid of the dead wood and rearranging him a bit - who is about to flower profusely and splendiferously. He has literally hundreds of buds.
9. planted some delphiniums (where Clematis Seboldeii used to be). I am deeply sceptical about these. I bought them in a box from B&Q, and I'm not quite sure what I expected to see when I opened the box, but I first thought that I'd been sold a bag of compost. On very close inspection, it was a bag of compost with what looked like some bits of slightly fluffier compost in it (little dried-up roots I think). It said on the packet to soak in water for 3-4 hours then plant. I wasn't quite sure how to soak in water, so I lay the fluffy things on top of the soil in the garden where they were going to go and gave them a good water. I kept soaking them every so often, then after about 3 hours, stuck them in holes and covered them up. We shall see what happens!
That's quite a lot actually, isn't it? I deserve a cup of tea!
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