Minestrone Soup

Weekend lunches are always a bit hit and miss.  As the children grow they have different activities.  A formal lunchtime is no longer an option, so I try to create lunches which can be eaten as they and their extra friends pass through the house.

Soups are warming, welcoming and they can be as hearty and cleverly filled with vegetables without the children realising.   Minestrone is a particular favourite.  It takes a little more preparation but is definitely worth the extra effort.  The earlier you prepare it in the day the better the flavours blend and the richer the soup tastes.

Ingredients 
oil
onions finely chopped 
bacon small lardons
leeks finely chopped 
carrots finely chopped
other vegetables you wish to use up - chop finely
splash of sherry
tinned tomatoes 
chicken stock
spaghetti  chopped into tiny pieces
grated parmesan or cheddar to garnish





Heat the oil and add the onions and begin to soften

Add the bacon lardons and let them start to cook.

Add the other vegetables depending on how long they need cooking carrots should be early on with green beans if you are using followed by softer vegetables like leeks.

Keep stirring occasionally to stop it sticking.


Add a splash of Sherry or sometimes I use Masala if I have no Sherry.  Stir well.

Stir in the tinned tomatoes and then add the chicken stock. bring to the boil.  Allow it to boil well for a few minutes.

Keeping it boiling add the broken up pasta, allowing it to continue cooking for long enough to cook the pasta "al dente".  Add extra water if required.



Keep cooking this for as long as required on a low heat, remembering to stir occaisionally.

When the time comes serve with the grated cheese and with warm crusty bread of your choice. warming, popular and great to stretch for unexpected guests.

Enjoy and let me have your soup recipes to try out.

Tiggy 

take a look at my complex and busy life in my other blog Tiggy Hayes

Oven Chips

Not everybody has a deep fat fryer in the kitchen or the luxury of a chippy in close proximity to their home.

This is an easy recipe that anyone can do.

Ingredients
Potatoes cut into large chips
Lard rather than oil
Paprika



Add the chip potatoes to a pan of water  and bring them to the boil

In the meantime melt the lard in a hot oven









When the potatoes are soft but still in shape drain them and add them to the melted lard sprinkle with paprika and put in the oven for about an hour.





Serve and enjoy.

Tiggy


Take a look at my other blog and see what I have been up to,  Tiggy Hayes 

Tip of the Week - Cheese Sauce

With cheese being so expensive this simple little addition to cheese sauce makes the taste deeper and appear cheesier but by using less.

As you make your roux (butter and flour) add a dollop of dijon mustard to the mix.  

Continue with your sauce.

Add boiling milk rather than cold in small batches to help the silky smoothness of the sauce. This works for in all bechamel sauces.

Then use a strong / mature cheese to give lots of flavour without using too much cheese.

If you are using this as a topping (lasagne/moussaka)  beat two eggs really well, allow the sauce to cool slightly before mixing them in well.  This will give a richer taste and give it a light fluffy feel to the topping.  You can still add a light sprinkling of cheese on top but the eggs will brown nicely.

Stir Fry Veg

How often do we have odd vegetables left over; not quite enough to feed the whole family but you don't want to throw them out? In my house they sit there and fester and end up being thrown out and I am annoyed at the waste and that I have not used them in something. 

A curry or a stew can take any left over vegetables cut up small and added to the pot.   One of my favourite methods however is stir frying them with sweet chilli sauce at the last minute and then serving them with the main meal.

Necessary ingredients 
Oil 
Onions  chopped finely 
Ginger chopped small 
Garlic chopped small
Sweet Chilli Sauce 
Spinach and or Watercress  -This is added at the very end and not cooked

Optional ingredients 
Carrots sliced
Green beans sliced
Courgettes sliced
Red and Green peppars
Fennel, Mange Tout, Celeriac cut very small 
Bacon Lardons 
Chilli chopped small depending on how hot you like it
Button Mushrooms or larger Mushrooms cut into small chunks 

Have all your vegetables ready chopped so you can concentrate on stir frying, take you eye off it and that is the point it will burn.   I find a wok the most useful pan for this , but a frying pan will do the job just as well.

We like the freshness of this dish and the crunch of vegetables. You can pre-boil the vegetables if you want but remember you take away the texture and goodness if you do this.  I don't pre-cook them for this recipe.




About 5 minutes before serving heat the oil then add the onions and garlic to fry gently.  

Add the remaining vegetables,  root veg first with lighter vegetables at the end.  Keep the spinach and watercress out at this time.   If you are using bacon add it early as it requires thorough cooking.  Cut up small enough it will cook very quickly.  




Keep stirring  adding the other vegetables (keeping back the watercress and spinach still) as you stir.



Just before serving add in the sweet chilli sauce and make sure all the vegetables are coated.  You do not need a lot. 

Turn the heat off and put in the Spinach and Watercress, stir gently. Cover the pan and take to the table.  The steam and heat will wilt these leaves and allow them to retain all their goodness and vibrant colour.


Serve as a side dish or as a topping for baked potatoes. 

We had it with Risotto.   My children will not eat risotto with any additions so instead I add a separate dish and serve it as a topping. They are quite happy with this - so am I.  Not only do the children eat their vegetables, I have cleared the fridge of all the odds and ends.  

I have sometimes added left over cooked vegetables at the last minute as well.

See how this goes down.  It also would be great for a student all in one pot - add some sliced new potatoes (pre-boiled if possible) and keep the bacon, then use the vegetables available.    They could add kale or  spring greens a few seconds before end if they cannot get watercress or spinach.  

Let me know any other combinations that could be added.  I have served it with bbq sauce instead of sweet chilli, as a warm side salad to burgers or sausages.

Tiggy

See how life is treating us in  my other blog Tiggy Hayes

5 Minute Meal

Five minutes and Five easy steps! 

This is such a fabulous store-cupboard quickie and absolutely perfect to send off to those youngsters starting out in the unknown territory of student digs.     I rarely do this as with a family of five it no longer takes just five minutes and I forget that just because it is a fast foods it still provides all the essentials needed at mealtimes.   I would agree it is not the most elegant meal served up but quick, convenient and cheap are all essentials a young student will need.

I use packet mash potato as this was given to me by a vegetarian cook who balanced all her meals. Packet mash contains certain necessary nutrients lacking from real mash, it also means the meal can be produced in 5 minutes. 

Packet of instant mashed potato
Tin of Tuna 
Tin of baked beans 
Cheese - cheddar grated




Mix the mash according to packet instructions.  

Empty the tin of tuna and mix in






Add the baked beans and again mix in 







Finally put in half the cheese and stir through 



Top with remaining cheese and cook in the oven, under the grill or I have been known to zap in the microwave.  As the potato is already hot when you begin this all takes minutes to prepare.  When the potato browns and the cheese melts it is ready.  My son loves it with lashings of tomato sauce,  I prefer a sprinkling of course ground pepper.  You don't really have to add anything it is fine as it is.

Sit down at the table and enjoy before rushing back to finish that essay.

See how this goes down,  it is easier and quicker for one person than for a family but is such a great standby in case.  Do you have any student recipes let me have them to share?


Tiggy 

See how I am coping with the business of day to day living in my other blog  Tiggy Hayes

Warm Chicken Salad

Autumn, particularly early on is a difficult time.  Just too hot for the full roast but too cold for another Sunday barbecue so what do you serve?   Having planned according to the weather forecast I was doing a roast dinner.  The day turned out to be far too hot and we ended up have an extra four people so this went down very well.

Chicken 1 - 2 for roasting
Oranges - halved
Onions - unpeeled but halved
Cranberries (I had some in the freezer.  Pomegranate seeds would work as well but I would add right at the end as decoration) - defrosted
bag of mixed Spinach, Watercress and Rocket




Stuff the chickens with the Oranges, onions and cranberries. I used four oranges so put two halves in then the onions and then finished with the other two oranges.

I did use pepper and salt over the skin before cooking.





Roast these according to your normal cooking process, removing them when they are brown and crispy on top.





In to a bowl carve the chicken, or pick it to bits keeping the legs and wings separate.    


Add the salad to the chicken bowl and mix well with hands.  The heat of the chicken allows the salad to begin to wilt.


Taking out the oranges, squeeze any remaining juice from them into the roasting dish.  Let any cranberries fall into the dish.


Pour some of the juices over making sure all the cranberries are used.   (This is when I would add the pomegranates if using).


Arrange on serving platter and then add the reserved legs and wings on top.

Serve with buttery minted new potatoes and a warm bean salad.

Enjoy  and let me know what different combinations you come up with.

Tiggy 

See the last of the Swanwick trilogy at my other blog Tiggy Hayes

Caramelised Fruit Crumble

My husband and I found ourselves scrumping apples from a pub garden the other day. It is not quite as naughty as it may sound; we did have full permission from both the owner and the chef who had so many apples he did not know what to do with them and these were the ones he could not cope with.  

The apples themselves were eaters but very sharp and by caramelising them they softened and sweetened.   Added to them I had other fruit needing using up so it became a full on fruit mixture.

Butter
Apples - peeled, cored and sliced
Pears - peeled, cored and sliced
Blueberries
Brown sugar
Flour 
Seeds - I used Vanilla flavoured pumpkin and sunflower



Melt the butter and add the fruit depending on what you are using.   I cooked the apples first with sugar.




When they had softened and the sugar dissolved into a dark liquid coating the apples I added the remaining fruit which did not require as long.



I cooked this stirring regularly allowing the blueberries to split and the differing tastes harmonise amongst themselves.  Then I transferred to the serving dish.  



With a crumble top I do like to use measured ingredients, this is what I use for the family of 5 or 6 but double for more people.  175g of plain flour with 75g of butter which you rub together until it resembles the texture of breadcrumbs.   



Then I add the same amount of brown sugar (75g).  Mix it through thoroughly and then scatter over  the fruit.  It should  cover the fruit liberally.  I had ready mixed seeds in the cupboard but any neutral seeds or oats could be sprinkled at this point.  It gives an added crunch to the crumble.

Cook in a pre-heated oven until you can see the fruit bubbling round the edges and the top has turned a deep golden brown.   Top with ice-cream, clotted cream, regular double cream or warm custard.  I can guarantee this will go down a treat.

Crumble is a wonderful winter's pudding but I try to utilise what fruit is available.   Blackberries are another great free fruit that has its abundance in the autumn, with sugar added to these they do not necessarily need the pre-cooking. 

 I also serve my family a wonderful spicy plum crumble when the plums are falling and in abundance.  Cut lots of plums in half and remove the stones, add to a pan of melted butter.  Add a star anise, freshly grated nutmeg and a couple of cinnamon sticks.  Cover this with red wine, golden syrup and some sugar (not too much by now) and allow the fruit to break down and marry the flavours before transferring to the dish.  This particular crumble is great if you have visitors, it tastes exquisite and looks professional.

Fruit puddings are a fabulous way of getting fruit into children and mine love the different combinations which work well with each other. 

Have you any different combinations that surprisingly work well, share them with me and my other readers.  

Take a look at what I am up to in my day to day life at Tiggy Hayes

Tiggy 

Beetroot and Fennel Gratin

Sometimes especially with side dishes I am a little more adventurous and cook separate sides for us and the children.    We had this to accompany our fish but it would go equally well with cold meats or could stand alone as a vegetarian alternative.

In a bid to try and be a bit more diet conscious I tried to do away with the heavy cheese sauce which I know works  but used low fat yoghurt and a dash of cheap mayonnaise.  This worked surprisingly well adding an extra dimension to the dish.

Beetroot - top and tailed.

Fennel

Spinach

Low fat Yoghurt

Mayonnaise

Cheese 

Bake the beetroot in a hot oven until you can prod with a knife and it comes out easily.  About 40 minutes for the three medium sized ones I used.

Peel them while they are still warm. Then slice them roughly.

Cover the base of your serving dish with lots of spinach.

Add in your fennel.   I don't pre-cook this as I love the crunchy texture but if you wish to pre-boil this before adding it will work the same.

 Layer the beetroot slices on top of the dish  then I mixed low fat yoghurt with a dollop of mayonnaise and dotted it over the vegetables. (Cheese sauce is a good substitute)

Cover in a good sprinkling of grated cheese.   I used cheddar but low fat varieties are available. 

Bake in the oven until it is golden brown on top, then serve as a truly delicious accompaniment. 

This is a great combination of vegetables that seem to be in abundance late summer and a change to the normal plain vegetables that I serve up for my pernickety children.

Enjoy and let me know other combinations that work together.

Tiggy

check out what I have been up to at my blog Tiggy Hayes

Cheesecake

Do you remember those delicious home made cheesecakes from your childhood when they were still uncommercialised and had a lighter flavour?    I serve this up for the children sometime who actually do not like cheesecake normally, they love this version.

This is not a last minute pudding as it needs chilling to allow it to set.

Packet of biscuits - digestives or I used ginger nuts
Butter
Tub of Soft Cheese
Tin of Condensed Milk
Sheet of Gelatine 
Tin of Mandarin Pieces 



Break up the biscuits in the old fashioned way - a bag and a rolling pin or you can use a chopper to get them really small and even.

Melt the butter and add the biscuits - mix well 

Cover the bottom of the dish with the biscuit mix, leaving a slight well in the centre.  Leave to chill for a good hour or so  -  I use the freezer to help things along.

Soak the gelatin according to the packet instructions - as different makes have different ways of making it.  I use leaf gelatin so it needs to be soaked in cold water.

Meanwhile, in  a blender add the cheese and the condensed milk and whisk well till it is a runny consistency.  Add in the soaked geletine and whisk again.    You could add vanilla extract or lemon juice at this point but it is fine without.

Pour into the hard biscuit base and return to the freezer / fridge for chilling.

Make sure the centre is solid before serving then remove from fridge and add the drained mandarins. At this point any fruit can be used, strawberries, raspberries or any other.

Serve to the delighted family but be warned - there is enough for about 10 people so I tried to save some for the next day.  The fridge imp was obviously hungry overnight and there was non left the following day!

Have a go and let me know any variations you come up with.  

Tiggy 

check out my trip to the Swanwick Writing School on my other blog at Tiggy Hayes