Melt me an onion......

The heat pump is blasting and my weather app tells me it is all of 6 degrees outside. Temps like that, and a whole bag of onions in the pantry says Onion Soup, complete with cheesy crusty croutons melted on top. I will warm myself from the inside out.

I also want to celebrate the kitchen brilliance that is slowly cooked onions. Their sweet melting deliciousness is out of all proportion to the ease of preparation. OK, once you have got past the peeling and chopping, but it is so worth it, trust me. If you have caramelised onions in the fridge, you are well on the way to a really good dinner, lunch or snack

How about on top of pizza, with some crumbled feta and fresh thyme? See here for a fabulous pizza dough recipe......
Or spread on top of Hummus, sprinkled with toasted pine nuts, and served with warm pita breads....
On top of a steak in a glorious steak and onion sandwich, with plenty of mustard
With cheese, for a very posh cheese and onion toasty....
Sprinkled with flour and stirred with beef stock and wine for onion gravy, Toad in the Hole with that?

Or, of course, in soup

My Onion Soup


enough for 4 big bowls


6-7 medium onions, peeled
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp of salt
1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 litre beef stock
Splash of white wine (optional)
Fresh ground black pepper

To serve

Crusty bread, sliced & toasted under the grill
Gruyère cheese (or whatever good melting cheese you have on hand)

Melt the butter with the oil in a large saucepan. Chop your onions in half then into thin crescents, and add to your butter/oil mix.

Sprinkle with salt and the crushed garlic, and cook on a low heat for about 50-60 mins until melting and golden. Yes, that is nearly an hour of cooking, in that time the sugars in the onions caramelise and give you the most wonderful sweet flavour.

You only need to give them an occasional stir, but otherwise don't have to do much for that hour. The onion pile will shrink dramatically! When you have lovely sweet , melty onion, add your beef stock and wine (if using), with a big grind of pepper, and leave to bubbly happily on the stove for another 30 minutes or so.

You can enjoy as is, or to really gild the allium, pour into individual soup bowls (check out my retro beauties!) and top with your croutons and a handful of cheese. Pop under the grill until the cheese is bubbly and molten, then scoff in front of The Block, glass of vino optional

I thought this might count towards my five fruit and veg a day, but the opinion of the girls in the knitting circle at work (I am bottom tier, working on a scarf) decided onions are a condiment......or seasoning. I am counting.

Tortilla Soup, ole....

Forgive the title, I did at least restrain myself on the ! front.
This is a great supper if you feel like a Mexican hit, but without any heaviness or cheese. It is essentially a tomato based soup with chilli and cumin, topped with tortilla chips, avocado and lots of lovely coriander. Light but packed with flavour, I added chicken, but it would be just as good without. Or with some fresh prawns, or even firm white fish.
The recipe it self is based on ones I found in Mexican Food Made Simple, by Tomasina Miers, and Lighten Up by Jill Depleix, with some tweaking to fit what I actually had in the pantry.

Tortilla Soup

makes three generous portions

Soup
1 red onion
Splash oil
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
Squeeze of tomato paste if you have it
1 small tin crushed tomatoes
4 small ripe tomatoes, chopped (or another small can if you don't have any fresh)
Half a chopped fresh red or green chilli, or a large pinch of chilli flakes
2-3tsp sauce from a tin of chipotle chillies (optional but adds wonderful flavour)
1.2 litres chicken or vegetable stock
1 skinless chicken breast if using, finely sliced, or fresh prawns

Put the oil into a medium saucepan, and add the onions. Cook over a medium-low heat until the onions are soft, then add the chopped garlic. Cook for a further two minutes, then stir in the cumin, tomato paste, oregano, tomatoes and chilli . Pour over the stock and stir it all together. Bring to a gentle simmer, and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the chicken if you are using it and cook a further 10 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. If you are using prawns only cook for 4-5 minutes or they will become tough. Check the seasoning and spoon into bowls. Add plenty of the following toppings to taste

Toppings

Handful corn chips or baked fresh corn tortillas
Fresh red chilli, finely sliced
Avocado, peeled and diced
Squeeze of lime
Slivers of red onion
Lots of fresh coriander

This is such a great supper, filling but not heavy or greasy, even my nephew was satisfied, and he can eat like only a sporty 20 year old can....Who am I kidding, I can eat like a sporty 20 year old too, just seems I have forgotten the sporty bit...I do have it on good authority I was 20 once at least.

The chipotle chillis (actually jalapenos which have been smoked) are spicy and smokey and well worth including. I always find far to many in a can, so I fresh them in little ice cubes, and use them as needed. They defrost perfectly, just don't plop one into your drink by mistake.....

I also freeze fresh corn tortillas, these I defrost as needed, brush lightly with oil and pop into a 170C oven for about 5 minutes to crisp up. This is a great alternative to frying, and unlike a lot of brought corn chips has no weird flavourings.

For more Mexican ideas go here

Super easy Laksa.....

I cant say I fully understand the logic behind hot food cooling a person down, the same is supposed to be true of hot tea. But I do know even in the middle of summer I sometimes crave hot and spicy. What I don't want to do is turn the oven on, like most NZ homes we don't have air conditioning (actually the Minister of Finance says we do, the poor mans version also known as Open A Window.....) and the oven makes the current humidity even more unpleasant. So a quick spicy stove top supper is called for. I wont vouch for authenticity, not having ever been to Malaysia, but I can vouch for the taste, yummo.

Quick Laksa - with thanks to the Malaysian episode of Food Safari

4 shallots peeled (or use a small onion)
2 cloves garlic
thumb size knob of peeled ginger
1 green or red chilli (or use chilli flakes, or chilli paste)

Blitz together all of the above ingredients in a blender with a 1/4 cup of water, then pour into a medium saucepan containing a splash of vegetable oil. Fry for a couple of minutes, then add

1/2 jar Laksa paste (I picked mine up at the supermarket, or try an Asian grocer)
750 mls water
small can coconut cream
couple splashes of fish sauce
juice of half a lime
tsp of sugar (I used palm sugar, but brown or white would be fine)

The oil from the laksa paste will spilt out, this is perfectly normal, so don't worry!

Stir and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 10 mins, then add Tofu puffs .My green grocer has these already fried, as would any Asian grocer. You can also make your own by deep frying firm tofu in vege oil for a couple of minutes until golden. Cool, and cut in half. I know it seems a faf, but I love the way these soak up the spicy coconut soup, mmmmm! You can also use the oil to fry off some shallots. These are also available to buy at an grocer, but it takes minutes to make your own.

Pour the soup mix over rice noodles which have been soaked in boiling water for 15 minutes then divided between two bowls. Garnish with any/all of the following......

Bean sprouts
Spring onions chopped
Coriander
Fried shallots
Chopped chilli
Lime wedges

You could easily add chicken, beef or prawns to the mix if you like, and vege such as mushrooms or beans, but this was plenty for us on a warm night. I made extra shallots and tofu, which will be used along with the bean sprouts (why such big bags??) and coriander for a lovely pad thai noodle dish for tonight's dinner.......

Little dumplings for a little dumpling....

Actually I am slightly less dumpling like this week, although this weight loss thing sure is sloowww. However last nights supper was fresh, light, yet delicious, and I am sure it helped things along nicely...

I was watching Rude Boy Food on Food TV the other night, Aaron Craze worked at Fifteen, Jamie Oliver's restaurant in London then won a competition to start his own pub. He is also on Market Kitchen from time to time. I was all prepared to cringe at the Mockney references, and at times all the faux wide boy nonsense was a tad irritating. But he can cook, and all three dishes were food I would want to eat, although probably not while freezing my tits off on a grim Southend beach....

Aaron made dumplings, which were also demonstrated at my cooking class at Somerset Cottage on Sunday. I can wholly recommend these classes, you will undoubtedly come away having learnt a trick or two, have some great recipes, and a lovely lunch, what could be better? The dumplings at the class were pumpkin, but I fancied pork , which is what Mr Rude Boy whipped up also.
Dumplings are quite easy to put together, and rather therapeutic to make. The trick is to make a whole batch at once, then freeze them.

The mixture is simply a bit of chopping and stirring, then it is just a case of filling each wrapper, while resisting the temptation to overfill.....you don't want fat little dumplings bursting out of their wrappers do you?

The following made 47 dumplings, I used 6 per bowl of soup, and froze the rest.

Pork Mixture

500 grams minced pork
3 spring onions finely chopped
3 tbsp shaoxing cooking wine (or a splash of sherry or ordinary wine)
3 tbsp soya sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
Knob of ginger about the size of your thumb, grated
Handful chopped coriander
1 red chili deseeded and chopped (or use chili flakes)
zest & juice of a lime

Simply mix the whole lot together, and use about a teaspoonful in each dumpling wrapper. You can also use wonton wrappers. I got mine from Farro but you can usually pick these up at the supermarket, or greengrocer.

To make the dumplings I put my filling into each wrapper, then dipped my finger into a small bowl of water and ran it around the edge of the wrapper. Fold over the filling and press the edges together. I then went around and crimped the edges between each of my thumbs, creating a sort of pleat. Believe me it sounds a lot more complicated than it is, and as long as the filling is sealed in, it does not really matter what they look like. As you can see I have taken that piece of advice to heart. I am quite democratic in my ethnic boundaries however, and I can assure you my samosas look equally amateurish....

 

For the record 47 of these little puppies took no more than about 35 mins, so not quite as time consuming as you would think.....

 

To cook, I heated up  

                      

3-4 cups of fresh (well, frozen actually!) chicken stock, 

A large knob of ginger that had been sliced into 5 pieces,

One sliced chili (to taste)

Big splash of soya sauce,

Big splash of kecap manis (that thick Indonesian soya sauce I would add to everything if I could)

When the stock was simmering I cooked half the dumplings for about 5 mins, stirring gently when I first put them in so they didn't stick, then removed them to a warm plate and cooked the other half. These were also put on a plate, and I added

Half a sliced red pepper

A handful of sliced mushrooms

Big bunch of chopped fresh spinach 

Two sliced spring onions,

Simmering for a couple of minutes until everything is cooked. Put your dumplings into warm soup bowls, and ladle over the hot stock mixture. Sprinkle with chopped coriander, and more fresh chili if you like. This method, while slightly more time consuming that simply throwing everything into the stock and cooking, means the dumplings remain perfectly cooked, rather than turning to mush while the vege cooks......

We really enjoyed this supper, the dumplings are light yet substantial, and the soup, with plenty of ginger , veges and chili is really tasty. To freeze the remaining dumplings I simply put the whole oven tray in my freezer, and when frozen took them out and bagged them up into portions of ten, feeling terribly domestically fabulous while I did so....

My next mission is to create a vegetarian dumpling filling that is equally delish, so watch this space....

Nowhere near Tuscany Ribollita........

My first vege box from Epicurean Supplies arrived yesterday, what a treat. Jammed packed with lots of lovely fresh organic vege, a selection of herbs, and three lemons.
My box was $36 including delivery, I am not sure how this stacks up against a visit to the greengrocer, but part of the reason for me trying a box scheme is not purely financial. I also want the choice, and indeed to be effectively forced to use what I have to produce tasty meals. Like many people, if I am rushed, tired or generally not concentrating I tend to go onto auto pilot when shopping, getting the same tried and trusted things, rather than trying new ingredients. I don't like waste, so using what I have will be my challenge (and don't we know I love a challenge...!)

So tonight's dinner was a hearty "sort of" Ribollita, or Tuscan Bean & Cabbage Soup. Ribollita means "re-boiled" , and I believe traditionally the soup was made using the remnants of the previous days soup or broth, with cavelo nero, a type of Italian Kale and beans added. I say sort of, because of course I was not reboiling anything (unless you count the chicken stock from my freezer?) and lets be honest, I am a rather long way from Tuscany....

The recipe is based on one from Jamie Oliver's Italian cookbook, which has some great recipes, and lovely styling. It is interesting to note how his books have got much more "matt" looking, matt paper and photography replacing the glossy images of his earliest books. I am pretty over the glossy cookbook myself, but each to their own.......

Anyway, the recipe, this makes enough for 4 good servings (that's four normal grownups, not four picky toddlers.....).
Most ribollita recipes use stale bread IN the soup, I have a life long aversion to soggy bread (don't even get me started on Summer Pudding, I feel queasy just thinking about it..), so my version takes the day old bread and makes it into croutons to sprinkle on top. I can hear Italian mamas spinning in their graves from here.......

If you don't share my neurosis, please feel free to stir the cubed bread into the soup when you add the cabbage. This will give you are thicker textured soup, but you can add more stock if you want it a little thinner

Ellerslie Ribollita by way of Jamie's Italy by way of Tuscany......

1 red onion diced
1 carrot diced
1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1 leek, thinly sliced (your knife skills will improve making this soup...)
1 large clove of garlic, thinly sliced
Splash of olive oil
Good pinch of dried chili flakes
Good pinch of fennel seeds, roughly bashed in a mortar & pestle or use a rolling pin...
1 tin plum tomatoes, and a pinch of sugar
1 tin canellini beans, drained
2 cups chicken stock
150grams cavelo nero, washed and thinly sliced, stalks & all
Handful of stale bread cubes, either toasted in the oven to crispy OR stirred into the soup....
Olive oil and parmesan to garnish

Put a good glug of oil in a heavy based saucepan and add the onion, carrot, fennel, leek and garlic, along with plenty of salt & pepper. Sweat over a gentle heat with the lid just ajar for 15-20 mins until the veges are soft but not brown. Add your chili & fennel seeds, then stir in your tomatoes with a pinch of sugar. Turn the heat to medium, add the chicken stock and beans, and bring to the boil. Turn the heat back down to low, and stir in your cavelo nero and bread if you using it. It will look supremely unappetizing but stick with it.Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes or so until the cavelo nero is tender and the soup has reduced and thickened. Taste for seasoning, then serve in deep bowls sprinkled with your croutons, a good glug of fruity olive oil, a sprinkle of parsley and parmesan cheese, yum!
This is a really comforting supper, tasty, filling and full of good stuff, without seeming in any way worthy. First vege box day a success me thinks.
My sister came over to watch the netball, and was moved to comment  "it didn't look much when I arrived, but it tastes fantastic". Thank you esteemed food critic sibling.........

I have rainbow chard to use next, I am thinking maybe a gratin, with perhaps a cheeky little steak, Mr PK is craving some meat.....


I am off this weekend to Somerset Cottage in Tauranga, to attend one of their fantastic cooking schools. This time the class is all about vegetables, very appropriate, and I cant wait! Will have lots of lovely recipes and ideas to share next week, will keep you posted.....

Potato and bread, the path to happiness...

Flicking through The Best of Annabel Langbein (what a great go-to book, packed with recipes, and they work) I came across a Potato Focaccia Dough recipe. Potato and Bread. Combined. What's not to love?

Potato and Focaccia Dough- from The Best of Annabel Langbein

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 1/2 tsp dry yeast
1 cup packed cooked mashed potato ( I didn't have any leftovers, so  I boiled two Agra potatoes and mashed with butter, seasoning and a splash of cream as usual, there was enough for breakfast the next day with a poached egg, joy)
1/4 cup EV Olive Oil
4 1/2 cups strong bread flour (plus a bit extra for mixing)
2 tsp salt
More oil & sea salt for topping

Put the water in a jug with the yeast, I also added a 1/2 tsp sugar, stir, and put in a warm spot next to the heater for 10 minutes or so. Meanwhile put your mashed potato, flour, salt & olive oil into a bowl and either add the water yeast mix and stir with a wooden spoon or your fingers, or do as I do & use the dough hook attachment on your much loved Kitchen Aid. If you are doing it by hand tip the mix out onto a floured bench and knead for about 10 mins by hand (for a description of kneading see here ) It will take 5-8 minutes in the Kitchen Aid. When the dough feels smooth and silky, and bounces back when pressed you are good to go. It may be slightly sticky from the inclusion of the potato, so you may need to add a little more flour, this is quite normal. Rub the inside of the bowl you have used with a little oil, put the dough back in and leave to rest in a warm place until it has pretty much doubled in size, this will take 1-1.5 hours. Yes it takes time, but it isn't time you are actually required to do anything.

When the dough is ready split it into two. I took one portion and popped it into the freezer, the other I rolled out to about 3 cm thick on an oven tray, and placed a tea towel over it, then left it back by the heater to rise a little again for about 30 mins. Pre heat your oven at this point to 220C. Put fingertip dimples all over the dough (just like a brought one!), brush it with EV Olive oil, and sprinkle with Maldon sea salt. I know I sound very precise with the salt, but unlike rock salt which is meant for grinders, a sprinkle of this stuff wont break your teeth, rather just flake into ozone saltiness on your tongue. Pop into the oven for about 20 minutes, then leave to cool on a rack.............if you can resist the smell, in which case you are a better girl than I.
This is simply the best loaf I have ever made. I know I should not wax lyrical such about my own cooking, but quite frankly modesty would be misplaced here, it might make you believe this loaf was something less than utterly delicious and not bother making it. That would be a disaster.........

We ate almost the whole loaf, no butter or oil, just dunked into bowls of vege soup (I admit, Kings soup mix, a few added vege and a bacon bone from the butcher, good stuff for a cold afternoon). I did save a tiny sliver for my lunch the next day, which I spread with butter, and it still tasted good.
If you have never made bread before, can I urge you to do so, it is so rewarding. The house smells yeasty and wholesome, the dough feels gloriously soft and smooth, yet alive in your hands, and the lucky person you break bread with will look at you like you may, just ever so slightly, in a very non-smug NZ sort of way, actually be touched by genius.............just smile serenely and keep eating.

I am covering breadmaking at my next cooking class on Wednesday 4th August, this session is full, but if you are interested in attending another class covering bread, please let me know as I would be happy to do a repeat class if there is enough interest. The more people who can bake their own bread and pizza, the happier I will be........

Souperfoods.......

Winter has most definitely arrived. The oil heater in the lounge is constantly on, and despite Pru’s best efforts to actually wedge herself in between the columns, some heat heroically still manages to penetrate the rest of the room. I hate being cold. How people live in snow and arctic conditions is truly beyond me. I imagine my ancestors, sitting in a damp cottage in Ireland somewhere, struck out for the New World not because they were starving, or sick to death of potatoes (yum!), but because they wanted to be warm. Given my inherited lack of any sense of direction whatsoever, they were probably aiming for Florida, or maybe Hawaii, but Auckland is still considerably warming than many other parts of the country, thank the Lord they never reached Dunedin….


To me cold means soup. Soup to warm, soup to nourish, soup for no other reason than I can put it in a cup and warm my hands. Saturday lunch was a bowl of Broccoli soup, with some Turkish bread, slathered in pesto and warmed in the oven (see, even my bread has to be warm…). Tasty, super easy to whip up, cheap, and filling, surely this is a definition of superfood? I sprinkled some blue I found lurking in the cheese bin onto my bowl, guilding the lily maybe……?

Broccoli soup


A good size knob of butter

1 medium onion peeled and diced

1 large potato peeled and diced

2 small-average size heads of broccoli

300 ml chicken stock mixed with 250 mls water

A dash of cream (optional)

Melt the butter over a gentle heat and add your onion and potato. Sweat gently for about 10 mins until the onion is translucent. Season with a good pinch of salt & pepper, and add your broccoli and stock/water mix. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 10-15 mins until the broccoli is tender. Blitz with your trusty stick blender (or tip into a normal blender & puree, I avoid this as I can’t seem to transfer hot liquids without burning myself……) You could put it through a sieve if you like it extra smooth, but it is fine a little chunkier. I add a dash of cream, but again it isn’t essential. Check the seasoning, and serve steaming hot with or without a carb element.

We ate this on Saturday while watching Scarface…if it isn’t war films or the History channel its gangsta paradise in our hood……except of course at the moment its Football central, I believe there is a World Cup on? Mr D is already a happy bunny with Chelsea winning the Premiership, the All Whites make the second round and his soup cup may well runneth over.

Good luck tonight boys, we will be rugged up and watching!

Soup for dinner

I found some chicken stock in the bottom of the freezer (unlabelled of course, but I was pretty sure......), and soup seemed very appealing. Pumpkin is cheap at the moment, and when roasted takes on a lovely nutty sweetness, which is delicious in soup(another brilliant Delia idea). It also means I dont have to risk life and several digits hacking off the pumpkin skin, instead it peels of f easily when cooked.
Combine with your stock, some sweet browned onions and just a couple of sage leaves (don't go mad or you will have a liquid more akin to tonic than soup) Simmer gently & blitz with a stick blender, for a rich creamy soup with very little cost or effort, yummy.
We are having it with some cheese & chili rolls I picked up at Bakers Delight last week & popped in the freezer, and a Joy Bar for afters....................yes I know, JOY BARS?! Like an Eskimo Pie but with that Jelly Tip stuff through the middle, sooooo good. Don't even look at the ingredient list, just unwrap in the privacy of your own home, preferably with another consenting adult & enjoy:)
If you have a decent cinema nearby go along and see Coco avant Chanel, it is about the life of Gabrielle Chanel from her poverty stricken beginnings as a seamstress to her rise to couture glory in Paris. Audrey Tautou is wonderful as always, and it is fascinating to see how the ideas for Chanel's simple, beautiful clothes (she is credited with creating the LBD no less), when most wealthy women at the time sported more lace & frills than an 80's wedding dress.....tres bon!

Soups you Sir!

We had a roast chicken at the weekend , complete with lovely Agria potato's , roasted crunchy in duck fat, cauliflower in a very cheesy cheese sauce, and steamed ginger pudding with proper custard (5 egg yolks, yikes, for some reason I find cooking anything with large amounts of egg the last word in decadence) Anyway, I think old skool covers it!
So after spending pre-recession amounts of dosh on an Organic chicken, (which I am pleased to say did taste totally delish, although I am loath to say it was like chicken "used" to taste, in our house back in the day, chicken was roasted to incineration, or covered in sweet & sour sauce, ergo it tasted of dry nothing or pineapple....), I wanted to get every last bit of yummy out of it, in my book (or blog)this means chicken stock........
I cant encourage you enough to make your own stock, for a number of reasons, it tastes better, (the best reason come to think of it...) , you know what is in it, and 1 litre of a good quality chicken stock I saw at the Seafood Produce Market today was $13.99!!!!!!!!! forgive the ! marks, but when you know what goes into chicken stock, you will go ! as well
So for the price of a bottle of wine on special at New World , all it takes is your roasted chicken carcass , or indeed any chicken bones you can lay your hands on (my butcher sells the raw carcasses for a couple of bucks a tray) which you put into a large saucepan with an onion, a couple of carrots, a leak and some celery (from the garden, wow does it taste better) all roughly chopped . Add maybe 8 or 9 peppercorns, two bay leaves and a small bunch of parsley if you have it, cover with cold water & bring to the boil. When it boils turn the heat down & let it "blip" gently away on the stove top for a couple of hours (yes, a long time, but you are not standing over the pot stirring for that long...). Strain out the debris & either use as is, or pop it in the fridge over night, in which case any fat will solidify at the top & you can spoon it off. I don't add any seasoning to my stock until I actually use it in a meal, if you want to make a stronger flavour just boil your stock down until it is the required strength..........Bask in the fug of a great smelling kitchen, and make some soup, yum!
We are having French Onion soup for supper, complete with cheesy toasts on top, I will trade wacky dreams for a cheesy toast any day.......will post the recipe tomorrow:) In the meantime have posted a couple of garden pics, from a distance you cant see the weeds.......