Spiced lentil and sweet potato soup

A recipes for those in-between days - simple fodder after the Christmas lunch and before the New Year's Eve party.
There are so many recipes for lentil soup and now that the soup dragon has taken up residence within the internet, you are only ever a few clicks away from a bottomless cauldron of recipes.
Soup is a staple at Netherton Towers. When the offspring were small there was generally a pot of botbot (BitOfThisBitOfThat) soup on the go to feed them and any after school hangers on they may have picked up along the way. Leftover or limp veg, stock, rice and tins of tomatoes, the contents of the fridge - anything could be chucked together in an instant and I just love the power of the blender to hide things that kids claim not to like, but don't notice if they can't see them.

This one, on the other hand, was made in a more leisurely and considered manner, with the ingredients weighed out, so that I could share it.
It is a thick, warming soup, with a warm undercurrent and a little bite added to the  - long pause while I search for a less clichéd word than velvety; nope, brain has ceased up, the texture will remained adjectiveless - smoothness of blended lentil and potato.

1 onion, chopped
2 tblsp oil -  I used some garlic and chilli oil for an extra kick, but rapeseed or olive will work equally well
1 tsp ras el hanout
100g red lentils
450g sweet potato (or squash), peeled and diced
1 litre stock, vegetable or chicken (vegetable stock will make this a vegan/vegetarian dish)
1 red pepper, finely chopped

Put half of the oil into a large pan or casserole and warm over a moderate heat.
Sweat onion until soft and translucent.  Be gentle, you don't want brown or crispy bits, but you do want to coax the sweetness out of the onions.
Add the spice and stir well, cook for 2 -3 minutes.
Add the sweet potato, lentils and stock.
Simmer for around 30 minutes until the lentils are thoroughly cooked and the potato is soft.
Blend with a stick mixer or in a blender.

Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan
Add peppers, cook for 5 minutes

Stir into soup.
Serve.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2018 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Cooking for a food writer

So what do you do when a Leith trained food writer comes to see you? 

1. Offer to cook them lunch.
2. Panic.
3. Lie down in a dark room, waiting for the rush of blood to pass and figure out what you are going to prepare.  Let's face it, a sandwich is not going to cut the mustard.

On Thursday, we had a visit from Xanthe Clay, to talk to us and find out more about what she described as our "famous pans".  You may already have seen some of the pictures she posted on Instagram.
As she was due to arrive, with photographer, at around noon, it would have been churlish to offer no more than a cup of tea and a biscuit, so I took the sound advice offered up by Bill Clinton in his 1992 campaign KISS, Keep It Simple, Stupid.

The weather being somewhat unpredictable at present, soup seemed like a good option; warming if the wind blew in from the North East, but full of Spring vegetables.

This is what I made and I am pleased to say everyone present had 2 helpings.  What more could I ask for?   The onion and olive focaccia was baked in a 10" Prospector pan and the photo is courtesy of Xanthe.

2 Tblsp rapeseed oil, we always use Bennett and Dunn 

1 large onion

3 carrots

1 potato

1 can cannellini beans

1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes

750ml water 

4 sprigs fresh thyme

2 handfuls kale

1 handful wild garlic

1 tsp sugar

2tsp salt

Finely chop the onion.  Cut the carrot and potato into 5 - 10mm dice, trust me, this is the hardest part of the whole recipe.
Pour the oil into a casserole or large pan and warm gently.
Add the onion, carrot and potato and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes. You do not want the vegetables to brown, just soften.
Add the drained beans, tomatoes, thyme, sugar, salt and water. Cover with a lid.
Simmer for 30 minutes.
Roughly chop the kale and throw into the soup.

Cook for another 10 minutes, then add the chopped wild garlic (omit this if it is out of season, when you can substitute spinach if you wish).

Let the garlic wilt into the soup and serve immediately.

© Netherton Foundry 2017

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Cauliflower soup

I hadn't intended to write this one up, after all, it was just "lunch". But after I carelessly posted a picture on Twitter, I got a request for the recipe.

So without further ado and none of my usual ramblings, here we go:

4 tblsp rapeseed oil
1 onion
1 cauliflower
2 large potatoes
700 ml vegetable or chicken stock
Grating of nutmeg
Black pepper
Grated Parmesan
50g hazelnuts
Sage leaves

Chop the onion finely.
Warm half the oil in a large pan or casserole
Add the chopped onion and cook over a gentle heat until soft and translucent.
Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and chop into even sized chunks.
Cut the cauliflower into florets
Place potatoes and cauliflower in the pot with the onions.
Pour in the stock, season to taste with nutmeg (optional) and black pepper (essential!)
Bring to the boil and simmer for around 20 minutes until the vegetables are very soft.
Stir in Parmesan to taste.
Blend the soup until smooth.
Check the taste and add salt if you wish - do not add salt before you add the Parmesan, as it contains a lot of salt itself.
Keep warm.
Toast the hazelnuts in a dry frying pan over a medium heat - keep an eye on them, they can burn in the twinkling of an eye
Chop coarsely when cool enough to handle.
If using the sage leaves, warm the remainder of the oil in a frying pan and drop in the sage leaves. Cook briefly - we are talking seconds - until crisp.

Drizzle the oil (either cold or from the frying pan) over the soup and sprinkle on the nuts and leaves.

You can make a vegan version of this by omitting the Parmesan

Serve with bread or cheese scones.

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

One pot, two dishes

I love lentils, cheap, versatile, tasty and low fat!!  This is a dual recipe, which makes two separate vegetarian starters from a single pot of lentils.

This is an ideal recipe to make in the Kitchen Companion - making the most of one pot cooking.

Lentil pate and lentil and tomato soup

1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped
200g red lentils
10 sun dried tomatoes
1 sprig thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme
800ml water
1 fat garlic clove, sliced
1 tin chopped tomatoes
400ml stock
Salt and pepper to taste.

Put the sweet potato, lentils , sun-dried tomatoes, thyme and water in the cast iron bowl. Cover with the cast iron lid. place the bowl on the heater base or on the hob.
Turn the heater base to its highest setting and bring to the boil.
Turn down to a low heat and simmer for about an hour - until the sweet potato is very soft and most of the water has been absorbed.
Add the sliced garlic and season to taste.  Cook, without a lid, for another 10 minutes until all the water is absorbed.

Remove the thyme if you have used fresh herbs.  Blend the mixture until smooth and cool half in the fridge.  
Serve the cold pate with toast.

Use the remaining half to create a tasty and warming soup - ideal on a chilly winter day.
Add the chopped tomatoes and  stock to the other half of the mixture.  Stir well to mix, return to the heat and warm through.
Serve with crusty bread.

Netherton FoundryShropshire 2013 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Two soups - hearty homage to the genius of Victoria Wood and Julie Walters

2 soups - with acknowledgements to Victoria Wood and Julie Walters - the 2 soups sketch is one of the funniest things, I have ever seen.  If you have seen it, you will know what I'm talking about - if you haven't, click on the 2 soups link and give yourself a giggle.

When my teenage kids were small, there were 2 authors they preferred above all others;  Dr Seuss and Helen Cooper - and one of their all time favourite stories was Pumpkin soup by Helen Cooper - I got to know it off by heart.  I am sure many of you know the feeling.

There's a good smell of soup, and at night, with luck, you might see a bagpiping Cat in the window, and a Squirrel with a banjo, and a small singing Duck. Everyone has their own jobs to do. Everyone is happy... or so it seems.... until one day Duck, the littlest one, decides it's his turn to stir the soup.

And that inspired this first recipe, a grown up soup for my growing up (all too quickly) kids

Spiced pumpkin and corn soup
A spicy blend of autumn ingredients to warm the body and soul

2 tblsp oil
2 onions, sliced
500g pumpkin flesh, chopped
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp paprika
Chilli to taste - fresh or dried
25g creamed coconut
1 litre vegetable or chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste
2 corn on the cob

I cooked mine on the versatile and incredibly useful Kitchen Companion

Put the bowl on the diffuser ring on top of the heater base  and pour in the oil.  You can choose what ever oil you fancy, I used some local rapeseed oil, but anything from olive to vegetable will do.
Heat over a medium heat and add the onions.  Sweat them until soft, but not coloured.
Add the spices, stir well and cook for a minute.
Add the pumpkin, stir well and cook for around 5 minutes.
Add the coconut, stock and seasoning and bring to the boil.

Simmer for 15 minutes, until the pumpkin is soft.
Blend until smooth and then add the kernels from 2 corn on the cob.
Cook for a further 10 minutes and serve.

We had ours with some crusty bread, flecked with fresh sage and topped with sea salt.

Soup 2 is made from more autumn bounty, including apples and sage from my garden.

Parsnip and apple soup

2 tblsp oil
2 onions, chopped
2 large parsnips, peeled and chopped
2 apples, cored and chopped - there is no need to peel them
1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
1 tsp chopped fresh sage - be careful with this, sage is a very pungent herb and too much will ruin the soup
Salt and pepper to taste

Again I used the Kitchen Companion for this.

Warm the oil over a medium heat and add the onions.
Cook until soft but not coloured
Put the parsnips, apples, sage and stock into the bowl .
Cover with the lid and bring to the boil over a high heat
Reduce to a simmer and cook for around 15-20 minutes until the parsnips are soft.

Blend and season with salt and pepper - it's likely you'll want to use a little more seasoning than usual,as this is quite a sweet soup.
I drizzled mine with hazelnut oil, for a luxurious and show off presentation and accompanied it with cheese bread.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2013 ©
www.netherton-foundry.co.uk