Soup-er

I don't think that I've seen so much rain here in all of the time I've lived in Australia. The weather is so 'British" with days and days of rain making it cold, damp and miserable. So what's the best thing to do? Make soup.

I love soup and most are so quick and easy to make.

Today's soup is red curry, sweet potato and coconut soup. It's really easy and makes a delicious warming and incredibly smooth soup.

Here's what you need.

1 onion, chopped

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into chunks.

stock to cover (or water and a veggie stock cube)

red curry paste - I won't say how much as it depends how hot you like things and what the brand of curry paste is like. I used 2 tsp.

440ml coconut cream (mine was light!)

Here's what you do!

Gently fry the onion in a large pan until it turns translucent then add the red curry paste and fry to release the most wonderful aroma. Add the chopped sweet potato, cover with stock then add the coconut milk. Bring to the boil and simmer until soft. Blitz with a 'whizzy stick' or put in a blender. Add a little salt to taste and serve with crusty bread and a beer!

Super Soup!

I must say that I'm loving the new school year. Teen Boy is starting his HSC (Higher School Cert) and Little One is no longer so little as she's just started Year 7. So why am I loving it? Well, they're so into their homework that I have a whole load of free time to spend rattling the pans in the kitchen. Yesterday was no exception and from out of the oven came Nigella's Store cupboard Chocolate cake, Maria's Mincemeat wedges (http://thegoddesskitchen.blogspot.com/), Sal's Impossible Quiche (see below!) and from the stove top, a rather lovely cupboard soup plus the remaining green beans from the garden which got many accolades at lunch. The family have begged me not to forget this one so I'm putting it here for posterity!

Saturday Cupboard Soup

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tin creamed corn

1 tin canellini beans, drained

A handful of green beans, chopped

1 chicken stock cube

1 vegetable stock cube

five spice powder

Fry the onion in a little oil until translucent. Add the tin of creamed corn and 1 tins worth of water. Crumble in the stock cubes and add the green beans. Then add the canellini beans and a sprinkle of five spice powder. Bring to the boil and simmer until the green beans are tender. Adjust the seasoning and serve!

I'm sorry but there are no photos, the homework included a science project on digital cameras. However, here's one I did earlier!! My find in the sands at Uluru!

Back to Soup!

We had a couple of days of milder weather last week which made me feel that spring was on the way but then the wind changed direction and we're back to the cold. So, cue more soup!

I had a cauliflower in the fridge and some cheese which was said to me 'Cauliflower cheese soup'. This was garnished with some crispy bacon croutons and mopped up with some home made crusty bread. Inner central heating if ever there was any!

I made the soup as I went along so there's no ingredient list but it's as easy as anything to make and is open to all sorts of variations. let your imagination run riot!

Gently fry up a chopped onion and a celery stick in a little butter or oil. Try not to let it colour too much. Add a cauliflower broken up into florets (this depends on the size of your cauli or how much soup you want to make!) and cover with vegetable stock. Home made is great if you have any but a good quality stock cube will do the job too. Simmer until the veggies are soft then remove from the heat and add a good chunk of grated cheese. I used Australian Tasty cheddar but any blue cheese would work. Blend until smooth and adjust seasoning to taste.

If you like a thicker soup then add a peeled and diced potato when you add the cauliflower or thicken with any spare mashed potato in your fridge!

Fry or grill a couple of bacon rashers and dice before sprinkling on top of the bowl of soup.

Tomato soup with spaghetti and meatballs

We're still in the middle of winter here and a hearty soup is most welcome as a warming supper. I was really taken with this recipe that appeared in the latest copy of Delicious and had great fun trying it out. It helps that we have an award winning sausage maker in town and I grabbed 500g of his gold medal winning chicken and sweetcorn sausages to turn into the meatballs. The soup is wonderfully 'tomatoey' and plates were cleared very quickly!

1 tbs olive oil

1 thinly sliced onion

2 finely chopped garlic cloves

1tbs tomato paste

2, 400g cans chopped tomatoes

1.25l chicken stock

500g thin chicken sausages

100g spaghetti, broken into 5cm lengths

Basil leaves,grated Parmesan and crusty bread to serve.

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 3-4 mins, stirring until softened. Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook, stirring for a further minute. Add the canned tomatoes and 625ml of the chicken stock. Bring to the boil and reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 mins while you make the meatballs.

For the chicken meatballs, place the remaining 625ml chicken stock in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Squeeze the sausage meat from the casings and form into about 30(3cm) meatballs. Add the meatballs to the stock and simmer for about 10 mins until cooked through. Remove the meatballs to a plate with a slotted spoon and return the stock to the boil. Add the spaghetti and cook until al dente, then drain, discarding the stock.

Use a stick blender to blend the soup until smooth. Add the cooked spaghetti and meatballs to the soup and warm gently for 5 mins over a low heat.

Ladle the soup into warmed bows and garnish with basil leaves and Parmesan, serve with the bread.

Mmmmmmm!

George's Autumn Soup

One of the best things about joining a foodie forum and creating a blog is that I've had access to a cornucopia of new food ideas and so much enthusiasm about all things good to eat that I'm wishing for a few more nights in the week to cook all the dinners I would like to taste!
Yesterdays offering was thanks to George, a fellow foodie on Vi's Pantry and creator of the wattleseed cookies in an earlier post. She's writing her own cook book and I'm lucky enough to try out some of her recipes. I chose her Autumn Soup as it's autumn here (Well, we've just slipped into winter now!), it contains ras el hannout which I've had in the cupboard but not used yet, it needs pumpkin and I have my own mini store in the garage as my veggie shop was selling them 3 for $2 and the kids had declaired their love of spinich.(I must have missed that earlier!!)
Well, this soup has the lot and was so simple to make!
Autumn Soup
Serves 6 generously
1 pumpkin
2 sweet potato
1 white onion
1 red onion
250g red lentils
4 cloves garlic
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ras el hannout
1 ltr water
100g spinach
250 ml sour cream
1 tsp harrisa paste

1. Preheat the oven to 180′c or the equivalent.
2. Cut the vegetables into 2cm dice and put in a roasting tray with the garlic, cumin and olive oil. Roast for 45 min or until soft and slightly caramelised.
3. Puree the vegetables and place into a large pan or casserole dish, add the water and bring to the boil.
4. Add the lentils, ras el hannout and simmer for 45 minutes to one hour until the lentils are soft.
5. While the soup is simmering make the spiced sour cream. Whisk the harrisa into 100 ml of the sour cream and reserve until ready.
6. When the soup is ready add the remaining 150ml sour cream and spinach, heat gently until warmed through.
7. Serve the soup with a spoon of spiced sour cream and soup almonds scattered over.

George also recommends serving this with a variety of flatbreads spread with the harissa paste but I just used crusty granary bread rolls.

The smell as the veggies were roasting was heavenly and I had to stop myself diving into the oven with my fork in hand. I needed to add more water when I put the lentils in but that was no hardship as it meant more soup for us, and we love our soup here. As I tasted the soup I was a bit worried that it might be a bit bland and had to stop myself from twidling with the seasoning and am I glad I did as the soup came alive with the spiced sour cream...do not miss that out!!!!

The aroma that wafts from the pan gives a hint of Eastern promise and of warmer weather to come. This is one we'll be repeating through the winter too!