Broccoli and Goat's Cheese Soup

My husband calls me the Queen of Soups. And it is true. Is there anything better than a good soup in the winter or fall or really spring? Soups is all I cook at night. They fill you up and warm you. Did you know that it is one of the tricks for asians people to stay thin? 

I have found a keeper recipe in the book Good Housekeeping Cookery Book at Tyndale House in Cambridge. So good! 

INGREDIENTS:

-700 grams of broccoli
-2 medium onions. 
-150 grams of crumbly goat cheese.

-50 grams of butter.
-1 litre of chicken/vegetable stock.
-pepper and salt.
-6 garlic cloves (optional).

STEPS:

1. Melt the butter in a pot and cut up the onion in slices. Saute in low heat till it becomes translucent. 

2. Add the 1 litre stock and bring to a boil. 

3. And now add the broccoli that you have cut up in florets and bring it all to a boil again. Then turn down fire to simmer for 20 minutes.

4. Now let the soup cool a little and now add the cheese and stir.

5. In the meantime you can prepare the garlic if you want (totally optional this step). Basically just roast some garlic cloves in the oven with some oil. Let it roast for 20 minutes.

6. Get your hand blender and puree the soup. 

7. Finally serve in bowls and add black pepper and the garlic cloves to give some extra roasted flavour. You can peel the cloves and stir them in the soup but for me that was too much.

Superb! 

again: who would have known that goat cheese and broccoli would go together?? Not in a million years I would have guessed this.

 

Creamy Fish Pie

Still in the UK and enjoying some basic British recipes. Another one I was after: fish pie. Around 1 hour in total, massive mess in the kitchen but worth it. 

I watched these two videos to make this recipe, but pretty much followed this one. 

INGREDIENTS:

-5 eggs.
-4 salmon fillets.

-2 satchels of mashed potatoes or 

1 kg of potatoes.

-2 or 3 handfuls of spinach.

For the white sauce:

-5o grams of butter.

-50 grams of flour.

-350 ml of milk.

-2 tsps. of dijon mustard.

-50 grms of cheddard cheese.

-salt.

-pepper.

-green onions.

STEPS:

1. Boil the eggs for 12 mins until they fully boiled. Peel them off.

2. Cut up the salmon fillets in slices not too thin and distribute in pan as well as the eggs cut up in fours.

3. Get the sauce ready. Melt the butter in a stove and add the flour, creating a paste. Now add the milk and stir and stir and stir. Bring it to a boil and get it out of the stove. It will thicken. Now add the seasoning, the mustard, the grated cheese, the pepper, the salt and the green onions. Make sure it is all tasty and salty.

4. Now add the sauce onto the baking tray with the salmon and the eggs and distribute it. 

5. Add the spinach on top of the sauce, distribute.

6. Now get your mashed potato going (I did instant), and when ready pour on top and with a fork trace some lines. Now add the cheese.

7. Stick in oven for 30 minutes in 200 degree temperature until it gets golden on top.

Delicious. Although next time I will add fish stock to the white sauce.

Who would have thought for one minute that mustard, cheese, spinach, eggs and salmon could actually go together?? We are too tough on the brits....they do some have a couple of good recipes here and there. ;) 

 

The very best chicken Soup by Turia Pitt

In Cambridge!

How beautiful is fall you all....it seems like this season everything is colourful and magical, with orange, yellow and pumpkins, bikes and leaves.  

So I came across this recipe of Turia Pitt on her favorite chicken soup, she is also a sucker for chicken soup like me. So I screenshot it and since then I have already made it twice in one week.

 So here it is.

INGREDIENTS:

-1 whole chicken.

-2 medium onions.

-2 cloves of garlic

-4 carrots.

-4 sticks of celery.

-2 cubes of chicken stock.

-15 brussels sprouts (optional)

-black lentils. (optional)

-black pepper, salt, white pepper, rosemary.

STEPS:

1.  Chop up the two onions with the garlic and sautee until onions are traslucent and a lovely aroma comes.

2. Chop up the carrots and celery and sautee for a few minutes.

3. Now add the whole chicken into the pot. Yes do not be afraid, just do it like the photo. 

4. Cover it with water and add the chicken stock. Here add your spices, I add rosemary always, black pepper (lots) and lentils if you want. Turn it down to a simmer. 

5. Let it simmer for about an hour. Now add the Brussels sprouts and let is simmer for another hour if you want. 

6. Now after 1 or 2 hours get the chicken out and shred the meat and add back to the soup. Ready!

Super comforting soup that can last for 4-5 days. The longer you leave the skeleton in the soup the better but do not leave the whole chicken with the skin or the soup will turn super greasy.

Thank you Turia and her friend who gave her this recipe.