Scottish Scran 6 - Lentil and Ham Hock Soup

Hello!

I'm back! Kittie is officially now in a different kitchen... and just about recovered from the trauma of moving...

What a week. In the space of seven days...

• I've packed up my wee flat and moved into a proper house!
• I've left the cats with their new owner - happy to report things seem to be going well so far!
• Three of my good friends have left the country - two to South America, and one to Turkey... have a wonderful time guys, missing you already.
• My work contract has come to an end - back to the bench for me...
  
• My best friend has booked her tickets for a six month traveling expedition - exciting!!
  
• ... and last, but by no means least, one of my best friends has just got married - congratulations, M&M!

So. After all the upheaval, bustle and rush, there is nothing like a huge steaming bowl of broth to sooth and comfort; make the world all seem just a little bit more normal. A soup that's seen me through sore throats and winter days, a student staple and a Christmas treat...

Lentil and Ham Hock Soup

Serves 10-12, depending on the bowl!

• 1 ham hock, preferably smoked
• 2 large onions, roughly chopped
  
• 3 medium carrots, roughly chopped
• 1 carrot, for the stock
• 1 celery for the stock
• 2 cloves garlic (optional) Left whole, but bashed a bit
  
• 2 cups red lentils, washed
• 3 sticks celery, roughly chopped
  
• 6 black pepper corns
• 2 bay leaves
  
• 1 clove
• butter to fry
  
• salt to taste

Prepare the Stock...
Place the hock in a large soup pot. Add one onion, one carrot, one stick of celery and the garlic (if using). Add the bay leaves, peppercorns and clove, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for an hour and a half.

Strain the stock, reserving the hock, and discard the veg and spice.

Prepare the Base...

Heat some butter in your soup pot, then add the rest of the onion, celery and carrot. Fry until softened slightly, then pour in the stock. Stir in the lentils and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the lentils are cooked through. Check seasoning after about 10 minutes and adjust as required.

While the lentils are cooking, remove as much meat as you can from the hock, and chop into bite-sized pieces.

Finish the Soup...

Once the lentils are fully cooked, remove the soup from the heat and blitz to desired consistency. Add the hock meat pieces into the soup.

Serve!
Serve your lentil broth with crusty bread, a grind of black pepper and a sigh of relief.

Scottish Word of the Day!

Puggled - knackered, tired,

Ah'm fair puggled efter moving' yisturday - ah wiz desperate fur mah scratcher by the time ah got in mah new hoose!

---

This is also my entry for the amazing World Food Day event being hosted by Ivy and Val!

World Food Day is an event to raise awareness of the problem of hunger in the world and to bring to our attention what we can do about it personally. It is a day to encourage us and our governments to be well informed on the issues and to have a plan of action!!!

The event requires participants to make dishes that will feed at least 6 people...

We could then lay each dish back to back and have enough food to feed everyone on our street. If more people joined we could feed everyone in our city...our country...the world...you get the picture!!! A conga line of international dishes to feed the world!!!!

Tried, Tested and True: Tomato and Rice Soup with Asparagus

Oh no!

I'm late!

:(

Basically I put the wrong date for Tried, Tested and True into my calendar - I thought I had until Thursday... Ooops... Well, here is my submission anyway - Giz and Psychgrad - I'm sorry it's late!

Tried, Tested and True is a new blog event which is being hosted by Giz and Psychgrad from Equal Opportunities Kitchen. If you haven't checked out their blog, do so. NOW! They are a mother/daughter duo, with cracking writing styles and lovely food. The aim of this event is to showcase the guaranteed crowd pleasers - the dishes that are always appreciated by friends or family.

This month I was at a bit of a loss on what to enter. As I am living off my store cupboard, my choices were limited. Then at the weekend it hit me... SOUP! I love soup - I eat a lot of it - and am used to massive bowls of steaming broth up on Scotland. I have a couple of favourites - one being my thick and hearty garlic and spinach soup. I'm also a huge fan of spicy lentil soup... and of course Scotch broth! But for this round up I decided to post Tomato and Rice Soup with Asparagus. It is a healthy, warming soup, which can be thinned down for summer months, or made almost as thick as a risotto for the winter! As it is coming into Spring, I opted for somewhere in the middle.

The asparagus isn't a constant - but I do usually try to add some extra veg for the vitamins. This was my first purchase of British asparagus this year - how amazing does this look?!

Gorgeous!

No matter what vegetable I use though, my soup is always a hit. Healthy, warming and cheap - I remember the first time I made it at university halls - feeding about 12 of us about 20p each! Ever since then it's always been my standby, my fallback. What I make when I'm feeling ill, or when I'm stressed and really busy. Unexpected visitors? All the ingredients are in the cupboard - and this soup can be ready inside half an hour! Fussy eaters? Everyone like tomato and rice! (Well, just about. And if they don't, there's a chippie on the corner!)

Perfect!

Tomato and Rice Soup with Asparagus

• 1 cup brown rice, soaked for 1 hour in hot water then drained and rinsed.
  
• 10 thick stalks of asparagus
• 500ml stock - I used turkey stock that had been frozen from Christmas... it even had lovely chunks of turkey meat in it... yum!
• 500g passata
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Put the stock and the passata into a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the drained rice, the paprika, cayenne and coriander, cover and turn to a low simmer.

Meanwhile, snap off the woody part of the asparagus stem and gently peel from below the tip. Chop the stem into rounds - each about 3/4 mm thick - and set aside the tips.

In a frying pan heat a glug of olive oil and fry the asparagus rounds - adding the garlic and some black pepper after a couple of minutes. Fry for another couple of minutes. Roughly chop the turkey meat from the stock and add it to the pan, along with the asparagus tips. Turn the heat off and set aside.

Once the rice is cooked, taste the broth and adjust the seasoning. Add the asparagus/turkey mixture and heat until the tips are al dente.

Serve with hunks of granary bread!

Store Cupboard Cooking Day 9

No Croutons Required: Chillies, Spice and All Things Nice

Hmmm...

So yesterday I realised that the deadline for No Croutons Required is fast approaching. Spicy vegetarian soup. I can do that. In fact, I make spicy soup pretty much every week - at least once. I had already made spicy Thai soup in the last week for Presto Pasta Night. Yay - an excuse to make more soup!

I considered various options. Asian soup was out - I made some pretty recently and I had it for lunch yesterday! Hmmm... spicy lentil soup, tomato soup? Nah, wasn't feeling the lentil/tomato love...

I realised that what I actually wanted was curry. A thick, smooth, spicy, rich curry soup...

So I have adapted one of my favourite curry recipes, and turned it into a soup. It is still pretty much a whole-meal soup - the potatoes and chickpeas add some real bulk. Serve with some nan bread, and you're sorted!

It wasn't until I took the pictures that I realised that my soup looks very similar to last month's NCR entry... So now I feel like I'm being dull and unoriginal... Am I a one-soup pony?? Tune in next month to see if I can escape the spinach!

Curried Chickpea & Spinach Soup with a Cilantro and Chilli Drizzle

Makes a lot of soup! Probably 4 big bowls - or 6 normal ones...

• 400g tin tomatoes
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 medium/large onions
• 3 tbsp ghee
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 piece fresh ginger (about 2 inch long)
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tbsp tumeric
• 500 ml vegetable bouillion
  
• Large bag spinach, washed
• 3 green chillies
• small handful of chopped cilantro
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 medium potatoes, diced
• 400g tin chickpeas
• 1 tsp garam masala

Heat the ghee, chop both the onions, and fry over a medium for about 15 minutes, until soft.

Meanwhile, peel and roughly chop the ginger and garlic. In a liquidiser or blender, blitz the ginger and garlic with the tomatoes and about a quarter of the stock. Once the onions are ready, add them to the tomato mix and blitz it all to a smooth puree.

Return the puree to the pan, add the salt and simmer for 30 minutes.

Add the chilli powder, paprika, turmeric, ground cumin and ground coriander and mix thoroughly. Simmer for another 15 minutes.

Add the diced potatoes and chickpeas, then gradually stir in the stock until you get the consistency you want. (I kept it pretty thick - it was going to be my dinner!) Continue to cook until the potatoes are soft.

Meanwhile, wilt the spinach and blend to a puree. Add to the soup, taste and adjust seasoning if required. Add the garam masala.

To make the cilantro chilli drizzle, blend the cilantro with the chillies and olive oil.

Serve the soup with a drizzle of ... erm... drizzle (!) and garnish with a few cilantro leaves and a sprinkle of cumin!

Home Coming Thai Noodle Soup!

I survived!

I have just returned from a week's skiing in Obertauern, Austria - and have made it home pretty much in tact... although I do have some very attractive bruises. Especially on my butt from where A pushed me off the chairlift... (apparently it was an accident...)

So now I'm home, washing done, cats treated and mollycoddled to make up for the neglect. It's after midday, and I'm in my PJs, about to start looking through my Google reader to see what new fabulous recipes have been concocted in my absence. (Current unread sat at 237!)

But before I do, here's a quick post of some thai noodle soup I made last night when I got home. After the stodge of Austrian cuisine, I was desparate for something light and spicy! Which isn't to say I didn't enjoy the stodge - more to follow on that later (homemade cheese spatzel with roast onions anyone??)!
...
...
...
Oops... I got sidetracked! And now it's no longer Sunday, but Monday night - and I have even survived the first day back to work! Still not had a chance to catch up on my food blogs though...

Anyway - back to the recipe... and I'm going to send this over to Ruth at Once Upon a Feast for Presto Pasta Night!

Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

Makes one huugge bowl - or two normal sized ones...

• 1 large banana shallot, halved and finely sliced
• 1 small clove garlic, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger, grated
• 1 tbsp thai curry paste (I used green, but anyone would do!)
• Half a red pepper, sliced
  
• 1 chicken breast, finely sliced
• Handful of mushrooms, quartered
• 1 small courgette, sliced and halved!
• 165ml tin coconut milk
  
• 350ml chicken stock
• 1 portion rice noodles
  
• 1 thai red chilli, sliced
• Small handful cilantro, roughly chopped
• fishsauce to taste
  
• light soy sauce to taste
• lime juice to taste
  

Heat a small glug of olive oil in a pan, then gently fry the shallot, ginger and garlic for a couple of minutes, then add the mushrooms and thai curry paste and fry til done.

Meanwhile, cook noodles according to packet, drain and rinse.

Chuck in the rest of the veg, the stock, coconut milk and the chicken. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for 5 minutes, or until chicken is done.

Add noodles, taste and adjust seasoning with fish sauce and soy sauce. Dish up and garnish with the red chilli and cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice!

Italian Cookery Course: Soup Aux Moules

Blimey... I just realised it's been almost a week since my last post! I've got a wee bit of catching up to do - what a busy week! Though not in the kitchen - the last two nights we've had takeaway... tsk tsk tsk...

Anyway, here is one of the recipes from my Italian cookery class last week by Francis Adou - a gorgeous, rich, creamy mussel soup. I seldom eat cream, and as such this was maybe a little bit too rich for me - I think next time I will serve it in half size portions.

Because there will be a next time - it was seriously good!

It was the first time I've cooked with mussels - I was always a little bit scared on them. The first time I ever ate mussels I got terrible food poisoning. (I even went blind for a couple of hours - took me a long time to even look at shellfish again...) I think that put me off cooking any shellfish - I didn't want to be responsible for causing anyone else that kind of sickness! Anyway, under the watchful eye of Francis, I cleaned and de-bearded, and discarded the dead ones - and I'm now confident I can go it alone!

Soup Aux Moules

Excuse the sloppy bowl and dark picture - I was at Boyfriend's house, and starving! My belly became more important than the photo ;)

Serves 2 large bowls - or 4 small :)

• 3 large shallots, finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 20 g flour
• 250 ml fish stock
• Generous pinch of saffron
• 100 ml double cream
• Sea salt
• 250ml white wine
• 500g mussels
• ½ bunch of flat parsley
• olive oil to fry
  

Sort and clean the mussels - pull out the stringy beard, discard any that are cracked, or any that are open and don't close up when gently tapped!

Heat the oil and fry the shallots gently for 4 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for a further couple of minutes until the shallots are soft but not coloured.

Sprinkle in the flour and stir well to absorb all the oil. Slowly add the stock, mixing to make a smooth broth. At this point it felt like I was making a risotto - which I now have a craving to do! Could be a plan for tonight - I'm having the girls round!

Add the saffron, cream and seasoning, then simmer for 15 minutes. Make sure

Meanwhile, in a different pan, heat the wine over a medium heat. Add all the mussels, then cover and cook for 4/5 minutes until they are all open. (Any that are not open after 6 minutes should be discarded.)

Strain the liquid, allow to cool slightly, and add it to the soup. Allow the mussels to cool, then remove the meat from the shells and add to the soup.

Reheat gently (don't let it boil!), add the parsley, and serve.

Italian Cookery Course: La Ribollita

This recipe is adapted from a recipe I was given at my Italian cookery course by Francis Adou.

This is a 'proper' winter soup - full of lovely winter vegetables! Ribollita means 're-cooked' in Italy, from looking on a few sites on the internet, it seems that the traditional method of cooking is as follows:

• Make basic soup (as per recipe below) - this is basically a typical minestrone soup.
• The next day, spoon the soup into a baking dish and layer with slices of bread - scatter with sliced red onion and bake until the top is crunchy and golden. Some non-traditional methods add cheese here!
• On the third day, break the bake up so that the bread is broken into the soup - it should be thick enough to eat with a fork!

Another re-cook method I read was to put more vegetables and water into the pot each day and cook for another hour - not so sure about the health and safety of this - I guess you can still only do it for 3 days or so!

I didn't do either re-cook method this time - I ate it all as it was on the first day (with help of course!) But I do like the sound of a variation each day - so will give this a go next time!

Making sure everything is cooked veeerrryyy slowly is really important to get the best taste out of all the vegetables.

La Ribollita

• 1 400g tin of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 2 courgettes, finely chopped
• 2 stocks celery, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 large potato, diced
• 1/2 savoy cabbage, shredded
• 200g chopped tomatos (either tinned or fresh - I used fresh!)
• 1 spring onion, chopped
• Thyme, sage, rosemary - fresh or dried
• Dried red chilli, to taste
• Butter and olive oil for frying
• salt and pepper, to taste

Heat a knob of butter and a glug of olive oil in a soup pan.

Add the onion, garlic, carrot and celery and sweat over a very low heat for 10 minutes until soft, then add the spring onion, cabbage, potato and courgette and cook for a further 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the beans, tomatoes, herbs and chilli, then add 1 litre of water and season. Bring to the boil, then simmer until all the vegetables are cooked through.

Taste and adjust seasoning if required.

At this point, you can serve the soup as it is - however, you may want to blend or mash some of it to get a different consistency. This time I left is all whole, however, next time I'll probably try blending 50% of it to see how it turns out!

No Croutons Required: Spinach and Garlic Soup

As soon as I heard about the new blog event: No Croutons Required I knew I was going to like it! It is about vegetable salads and soups - and every month is going to have a different theme. Now I love soup (I think it's such a Scottish thing - a huge vat of broth to line your tummy on a chilly day!) and was excited to get an excuse to go home and make some! (Even though what I should have done was go home and do housework as I have a parental visit today... Never mind - my dad likes soup too!)

No Croutons Required is being jointly run Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen and Holler at Tinned Tomatoes and this month we're making... Vegetarian Soup!

I made Spinach and Garlic Soup - hot, thick, filling and healthy! I started making this when I was a student - it evolved from potato and leek soup (!) when I tried to force more nutrients in. I still love it - I ate some of it last night, and have some here at work in a flask for when I've finished writing this. Served with a hunk of crusty bread, it's a meal in itself!

Spinach and Garlic Soup

As always, quantities are approximate - add more potato for a thicker soup, or more stock for a thinner one. I usually make this as a one-pot soup, but because the spinach was really sandy, I decided to cook it separately just to ensure all the grit was removed.

My gorgeous spinach - but how much sand???!

• 2 big bunches of spinach - I usually use a large bag from the supermarket, but managed to pick some up fresh - yummy!
• 1 kilo floury potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
  
• 1 onion, finely chopped
  
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
  
• 1 litre of vegetable stock - I made mine from Roast Vegetable Bouillon concentrate
• Salt and plenty of black pepper

Wash Spinach thoroughly (took me ages!!) Roughly chop, place in a pan and cover in boiling water. Allow to boil for 2/3 minutes, then refresh in cold water. Blitz drained spinach along with a cup or so of water to a purée and set aside.

Gently fry the onion and garlic in a little butter or olive oil until soft, then add the stock, about a teaspoon of salt and a good few grinds of black pepper.

Add the rinsed potato chunks, bring to the boil and cook until soft.

Remove the potatoes from the stock with a slotted spoon and mash. I actually used a ricer to do mine - mostly because it was at the front of my utensil drawer!

Return the potatoes to the stock mix and stir well. Taste, and adjust seasoning as required.

Add the spinach purée, taste again, and serve! You could add a swirl of cream, or a grating of parmesan to the top of this, or leave it bare - it will taste good any which way!

Now how easy was that??

Spicy Pork and Crab Meatball Soup

Well, I guess December was a bad time to start a food blog - no sooner had I started to think about it the party season started... then went to visit family for a few days... all in all, not much cooking has been done recently!

January is always a month where I try to cook everything 'from scratch'- in a panic to be healthy and save money! So the first thing I turned to when the excess of Hogmanay and New Year was over was a huge steaming spicy tasty bowl of noodle soup! Left-over pork mince from stuffing the turkey tempted me towards meatballs... and rather randomly a spare packet of brussel sprouts was a somewhat non-traditional veg - but they worked well. Though if you really don't like them, then some sliced cabbage would do just as well!


Apologies for the blurry, messy picture! Just before I made this a friend popped by and we went out for a quick New Year drink... So much for the detox. Then by the time I got home and made this, I was too hungry to stop and take my pics properly. I also forgot to put on the chilli garnish... Still tasted good though!

You will need:

24 pork and crab meatballs - uncooked

1 clove garlic - crushed
1 inch piece ginger finely chopped
1 litre Clear chicken broth
4 baby bok choi,
2 portobello mushrooms - thinly sliced
12 baby sweet corn
2 small handfuls bean shoots
Fine rice noodles (I use 100g per person!)
Chopped coriander/ wedge of lime and sliced red chilli to garnish
Fish sauce and soy sauce to season

Directions

Cook the rice noodles according to the instructions on the packet, drain, rinse under cold water and set aside.
Heat the chicken broth to simmering point - so the bubbles are only gently breaking the surface.
Add the garlic and ginger to the broth.
Gently slide in the pork balls.
Bring the broth back to a gentle simmer.
After 3 minutes, add the vegetables.
Simmer for another 3 minutes.
Check seasoning and adjust with soy or fish sauce as required.
Divide the noodles between 4 soup bowls.
Add the meatballs and veg to each bowl then ladle over the stock.
Garnish with the sliced chillies, coriander and lime.
Serve immediately and enjoy!