Apple and Parsnip Soup: Meat Free Monday

I don’t know about you but I’m so ready to get back onto a healthy diet after a wonderful christmas full of delicious food and plenty of wine! Me and the hubby have decided to do one of our soup weeks again to help kick start the new year! We’ve never done a soup week in winter before so my usual recipes were not really tempting us – plus I like to try and keep the ingredients seasonal!

So I decided to cook a classic apple and parsnip soup with my own personal preferences of flavours (I’m not a fan of curried parsnip soups sorry!). I also made use of my Walnut and Parsley pesto (recipe here) by slicing up a french baguette, toasting one side of each slice and then on the other side I spread on some pesto and put it back under the grill to brown up. One or two slices per person is enough) The flavours of the pesto with the soup was wonderful and made a perfect wintery combination!

Serves 4 large bowls

1 Onion
1 Leek
1 Parsnip
1/2 Bramley Apple (Around 150g)
1 Garlic Clove
1/2 teaspoon Ground Cumin
1/2 teaspoon Dried Thyme
750ml Vegetable Stock

To prepare the vegetables: Dice the onion. Slice the leek and the parsnip into small chunks. Peel and core the apple then slice into chunks around the same size as the parsnip. Crush the garlic clove.

Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a saucepan and add the leek, onion, garlic, cumin and thyme. Fry for around 4-5 minutes untill softened then season with salt and pepper. Add the parsnip and cook for a further minute or two. Try not to brown the veg as it will change the colour of the blended soup.

Add the apple and the vegetable stock and simmer on a medium heat for 10-12 minutes.

Take off the heat and using a hand held blender puree the soup (you could also pour it into a blender). Serve with some black pepper and the pesto croutons!

“A Pretty Plate of Vegetables” – My Invention Test

I love watching cookery shows, I always have since I was younger, and at the moment I especially love Masterchef Australia (watching it in the UK so don’t tell me who wins!)! My favourite challenges are the mystery box invention tests, I am always amazed with how quickly the contestants  think of a unique idea and make it work (most of the time). I think the key is keeping things simple but doing them well and presenting them nicely.

I decided to set myself an invention test of sorts- I couldn’t do a mystery box as I bought the ingredients myself- although I may ask my husband to set me one of those one day that would be so much fun! So anyway I set myself the challenge of creating a meal using just vegetables that would be filling, easily made on a budget and really nicely presented.

I’m a bit of an oddity because I LOVE all vegetables and have no problem with being presented with a plate containing nothing else but I think the challenge here was convincing other people that a plate of vegetables could be a nice meal. I think I did quite well as I enjoyed the combination of flavours, different textures and also it didn’t look like it was an incomplete meal. I did use potatoes as one of my vegetables to add a base flavour and texture.

So here is what I am calling “A pretty plate of vegetables!”. In true Masterchef style please feel free to judge the dish based on the criteria (don’t be too mean though haha!) It is actually cabbage leaves stuffed with roasted vegetables, served with roasted potatoes and a pepper puree.

Serves 4:

1 Onion
1 Red Pepper
1 Yellow Pepper
1 Green Pepper
350g Butternut Squash
2 Large Baking Potatoes
12 Savoy Cabbage Leaves
1/2 teaspoon Dried Thyme
1/2 teaspoon Dried Basil
1/4 teaspoon Garlic Powder
Bunch Fresh Parsley
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil

Pre heat the oven to 180c. Drizzle a little Olive Oil into a baking tray and pop it in to the oven to warm up.

To prepare the vegetables you will need to: Roughly chop the onion. Cut the Peppers in half and remove the seeds and stalk. Peel the butternut squash and dice into small chunks. Chop the potatoes into 2cm cubes, try to keep them quite symmetrical for a nice presentation.

Taking the baking tray out and spread the pepper halves, butternut squash and onion out on the tray. Sprinkle over the dried basil and thyme, garlic powder, a little salt and some fresh parsley. Put the tray back in the oven and roast the vegetables for 25 minutes. This step can be made in advance if you like and left in a bowl in the fridge over night!

When the vegetables are cooked take them out of the pan and put to one side in a bowl. Take 1/2 of the red pepper and 1/2 of the yellow pepper and put it in a blender with a few pieces of the cooked onion and some black pepper. blend untill smooth and put to one side to heat up later.

I use the same baking tray from the vegetables to cook my potatoes in as you get the nice flavours (and it saves on washing up) so at this point put your potato cubes on the baking tray, drizzle with a little more olive oil if needed, a sprinkle of salt and they will take around 20-25 minutes in the oven to be nice and crispy.

Put a pan of water on to boil and once it is boiling add your cabbage leaves for 1 and 1/2 minutes. Then take them out and drain the water off them. Keep the water you’ve just used as we will steam the cabbage parcels over it. Pour out a little if your steamer dips into your pan as you don’t want to boil them!

You will need to cut out the tough stalk of the cabbage leaf as it makes it easier to roll and quicker to cook (see picture below). You can throw those bits away or if your peckish while cooking you could do what I did and dip them in the puree and tuck in!

Take your bowl of roasted veg which has been put to one side, it should have cooled down a little now. Take out a few bits of red pepper to use as a garnish and give the rest a quick mash (I used my hands as don’t want it to be too smooth) just to soften it all together and mix it all up. Place a small amount of filling in the middle of each cabbage leaf and then fold in the two ends and wrap it up like a little parcel. Pop the parcels in the steamer, put a lid on and steam for 10-12 minutes or untill the cabbage leaf stalk is soft.

Heat up the puree and put it on the plate in a nice pattern, place the cabbage parcels on top and sprinkle the potato cubes and roasted pepper around the plate. You can drizzle a little bit of extra virgin olive oil on but unless it’s really good quality I don’t think it will add too much.

I really enjoyed making this recipe so I hope you all like it x

Warm roasted beetroot and purple carrot salad

This is a really colourful salad and as you can see the purple carrots look beautiful when sliced! Also each different type of beetroot has a slightly different flavour so all together not only does it look fantastic but it also has a real depth of flavour which is enhanced by the lemony mustard dressing!

Serves 2 (with left over beetroot)

4 Beetroot – different types if you can get them
2 Purple Carrots
180g Rainbow Chard
Dried Thyme
Salt
Spray Oil

Dressing:
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
a squeeze of Lemon Juice
1/2 teaspoon Wholegrain mustard
a splash of Cider Vinegar
Black Pepper

Garlic Bread:
1 Seeded Roll (I used a flat ciabatta shaped roll)
1 Garlic Clove
Olive Oil
Dried Thyme

Wash the beetroots and carrots but don’t peel them. Leave them whole and spray them with some oil, sprinkle with thyme and salt and roast on a baking tray for 45 mins at 180c. They are done when they are soft but not shrivelled up!

Wash the rainbow chard and slice the stalks off the leaves but again leave everything whole. When the beetroot has about 10-15 minutes left blanch the chard stalks in a pan of boiling water for 5 minutes untill softened.Then add to a frying pan with the leaves and fry on a medium heat untill the leaves wilt and the stalks have browned a little bit.

To make the dressing put all the ingredients in a bowl and stir with a spoon, taste it to make sure the balance is ok – you want it to be quite lemony and sharp as the earthiness of the beetroot will balance out the flavours once the dressing is on the salad.

To make the garlic bread roughly chop the peeled garlic clove and put it in a pestle and mortar. Add about 1/2 tablespoon of oil and crush the garlic into the oil untill you almost have a paste. Add a little bit more olive oil so it’s runny, then add the thyme and mix once more. Slice the roll into about 4 or 5 slices and toast one side of each slice under the grill, turn them over and spoon the garlic oil onto the uncooked side then put it back under the grill for 1 minute untill browned slightly.

Take the beetroot and carrots out of the oven and slice each one thinly. Arrange all the vegetables on two plates (any left overs can be put in the fridge and used to add to cold salads or pasta dishes etc) drizzle with the dressing and serve with the garlic bread on the side.

Each flavour element really compliments the other, the garlic bread and dressing help jazz up the beetroot and carrot and add another dimension to the dish. Simple, healthy and not expensive to make! Enjoy x

Roasted Tomato and Lentil Soup

This is my last soup recipe for the soup week! Back on to solid grounds for the weekend because lets face it a Saturday and Sunday are no place for soups and detox! Tonight I’m finally making that “health conscious” pie I mentioned back when I’d visited the pub (after much deliberation I’ve decided on a spinach and potato pie with a filo topping) and then I’m excited to be making a stuffed courgette, a recipe I’ve been playing around with for a few weeks!

Here is my flavour filled roasted tomato and lentil soup!

Serves 4

8 Tomatoes
1 Onion
2 Celery sticks
2 Garlic cloves
1 Carrot
3 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
500 ml Vegetable Stock
1 teaspoon Dried Basil
130 Red Lentils
Spray Oil

Slice the tomatoes in half and place on a baking tray, drizzle the balsamic vinegar over them and place in an oven heated to 180c for 15-20 minutes. Slice the onion, celery, garlic and carrot and fry in some spray oil for 5 minutes untill soft. Add the tomatoes, herbs, stock and lentils and simmer for 12-15 minutes untill the lentils are cooked and all the vegetables are soft. Blend the soup and serve with some black pepper and fresh basil leaves.

I served this for my partner with some spicy sausages chopped up and piled up in the middle of the bowl! He enjoyed it and I didn’t feel so bad for making him have a soup week!

Minestrone Verde

I had this recipe for dinner last night and enjoyed it so much I have it for lunch at work today! I make minestrone soup all the time but this week I had a lot of “green vegetables” in the fridge and thought this twist on the original would work well…I was right!

Buon Appetito!

Serves 4

2 Celery  sticks
1 Onion
1/2 White Cabbage
100g Spinach (I used frozen)
100g Peas
1 Small Courgette
60g Macaroni
1 can Butter Beans
1 teaspoon Dried Basil
4-5 Sprigs of Fresh Thyme
1 Litre vegetable stock

Slice the celery, onion and cabbage and fry with the basil, thyme and a little salt and pepper in a little olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the spinach, peas, sliced courgette and stock and simmer on a medium heat for 10 minutes. Then give it a good stir and add the pasta and butter beans. Simmer for a further 10- 12 minutes, it will be ready when all the veg is nice and soft and it’s reduced down a bit.

Serve with a big chunk of brown bread and a glass of dry white wine!