Green soup recipe November 7, 2009
Posted by Sarah in dining in, food, green, health, home made, organic, recipe, soup, vegetables, yoghurt.1 comment so far
I wanted soup. Something bursting with greens. Something healthy, light and tasty. I had a head of broccoli and some home made chicken stock in the refrigerator, and after trawling my google reader feeds I came across Heidi’s recipe for Broccoli Cheddar Soup. I used her recipe as inspiration and ended up with this magical green goodness.
I served it with a big dollop of organic yoghurt sprinkled with smoked paprika. I imagine it would be great with Heidi’s recommended croutons, but we had cheese on toast instead, which was perfect in it’s simplicity. The next day i reheated some for myself over the stove top, and poached an egg in it as it was warming through. It was totally delicious, and added some welcome protein. Enjoy!
10g unsalted butter
1 onion, finely chopped
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
300g podded broadbeans, blanched and peeled
1 head broccoli, cut into small pieces
1 bunch spinach, roughly chopped
1.25 litres chicken stock or water
1 bunch chives, finely chopped
40g grated cheddar cheese
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
salt and pepper, to taste
Melt the butter in a large pot over a medium heat.
Add the onion and celery and saute for a few minutes until soft, add the garlic and stir for 30 seconds.
Add the broadbeans, broccoli and chicken stock.
Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, or until the broccoli is just cooked.
Turn off the heat and add the spinach. Stir until wilted and combined with the rest of the soup.
Blend with an immersion blender until smooth.
Add the chives, cheddar cheese and smoked paprika and stir until the cheese is melted.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serves 4
Breakfast of champions November 4, 2009
Posted by Sarah in dining in, food, fruit, health, home made, mango, oats, organic, rhubarb, yoghurt.add a comment
Rolled oats soaked in organic rice milk, topped with mango, stewed rhubarb and organic yoghurt. I love the colours of this mornings breakfast, they’re so vibrant!
We’ve nicknamed this month NOvember. We’re training 5 x a week, counting calories and eating really well. We both feel great! I suppose it’s a bit of a detox too, in a roundabout kind of way.
Chewy oatmeal and date cookies October 7, 2009
Posted by Sarah in baking, butter, dining in, food, fruit, home made, recipe.add a comment
The weather here in Sydney has taken a sudden dive. All of a sudden our picture perfect not-winter has turned on us, reminding me that this city does indeed have seasons. Albeit slightly irrational, fleeting ones.
I’ve been so cold this afternoon at home that I made a batch of these delicious cookies to warm the house, and our bellies.
I used Deb’s recipe for thick, chewy oatmeal raisin cookies. I didn’t have any raisins in the house so I subbed them for chopped dates, and subbed the walnuts for a mixture of pecans and macadamia nuts.
They’re so delicious, I hope there’s some left for Joh when he gets home….
Pancakes for breakfast September 27, 2009
Posted by Sarah in butter, dining in, food, fruit, home made, organic.2 comments
Delicious!
Best pumpkin soup ever (recipe) September 15, 2009
Posted by Sarah in dining in, food, health, home made, organic, recipe, vegetables.add a comment
I’m sitting here at my desk, eating the most delicious pumpkin soup. It may just be the best I have ever made, which is ironic considering I made it without really paying much attention. It seems a bit silly to be posting a recipe for something so simple, but sometimes simple is just what you need.
1kg organic jap pumpkin
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves organic garlic, finely chopped
1 large organic onion, diced
1 litre chicken stock or water (I use my homemade stock, this blog post by Michael Ruhlman perfectly describes why you should too)
1 cup water
200 grams sour cream
1/2 bunch organic kale (about 300 grams)
salt and pepper, to taste
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Cut your pumpkin into fairly large sized chunks, leaving the skin intact. Discard seeds. Place on a roasting tray and cook in a hot oven until you can easily slide a knife into the flesh, about 30 mintues. You want the pumpkin to be soft before it goes into the soup, so be sure to check that it’s completely cooked before you remove it from the oven. Remove the tray from the oven and leave the pumpkin to cool down to room temperature.
Heat the olive oil over a medium heat in a large stock pot. Add the onion and cook slowly until the onion is nicely caramelised, about 10 minutes.
While the onions are sweating remove the skin from the flesh of the pumpkin. If the pumpkin is cooked properly the skin will peel off very easily.
Once the onions are cooked add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, then add the pumpkin and chicken stock and/or water. Bring this to the boil and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionaly.
Wash the kate well in a bowl of water. Separate the leaves from the stems. Discard the stems. Place a frying pan over a medium heat and fill with the kale. Put a lid on the pan, if you have one, and wilt the kale for three minutes, turning every so often so the kale cooks evenly. Remove from the frying pan to a chopping board and leave to cool completely.
Remove the soup from the heat and stir through the sour cream. Grind over some pepper and add 1 teaspoon salt. Use an immersion/stick blender to blitz the soup until smooth.
Chop the kale and add to the soup pot.
Taste for seasoning.
Toast some of your favourite bread to serve alongside your soup.
Makes 4 servings
Homemade Strawberry jam September 1, 2009
Posted by Sarah in bread, butter, food, fruit, home made, jam, preserving, strawberries, thrifty.2 comments
I snapped up some bargain strawberries at the supermarket yesterday. They were perfectly ripe, so i decided to make them into jam.
I checked out my trusty old copy of the Edmonds Cookbook to see what they said about the ratio of sugar to fruit. Usually I work on a 1:1 ratio, but this time I used 1.140 kgs of strawberries to 1kg of sugar. The instructions on how to actually make the jam cracked me up – such matter of fact language. I especially like the sentence “The juice of 1 or 2 lemons added just before taking jam off element is an improvement.” It sounds like this particular author didn’t really care for strawberry jam very much at all!
When I took my jam jars out of the cupboard and the very first one that I took out of the box just happened to be an old Strawberry Jam jar from last year. It was meant to be.
I love this old preserving pan! It’s almost identical to the one that Mum uses, I have so many childhood memories of a pot of marmalade bubbling away on the stovetop. My sister actually found this one for me through her work – and I brought it to Australia with me.
And these are the lovely jars of ruby coloured jam. I can’t wait to pop open one of these to go with some homemade bread and butter later in the year. Yum!
Garage sale beauties August 24, 2009
Posted by Sarah in baking, dining in, flowers, food, garage sale, markets, recycle, tea towel, vintage.2 comments
Miss Maree and I headed to the Eveleigh Markets on Saturday for a spot of shopping and munching. We stopped at a garage sale along the way for a peak at what they had to offer. I snapped up these adorable old plates for next to nothing. The whole lot cost me just $10. The lady that I bought the plates from told me that she was very pleased to see a young person buying the plates, as they have been in the family for years. Joh made scones for breakfast on Sunday and we ate them off these plates. Perfection!
Ann’s birthday cupcake July 22, 2009
Posted by Sarah in cake, fabric, felt, food, gift, home made, sewing.add a comment
Self employed July 20, 2009
Posted by Sarah in baking, bread, cake, cheese, chocolate, food, vegetables.5 comments
I did my first paid catering gig last week. The company requested round food to go with their theme of “The Wheels on the Bus”.
Rosewater meringues, chocolate brownies, chocolate cupcakes.
Oatcakes with blue and cheddar cheeses.
Falafel with yoghurt dipping sauce, and lamb meatballs with tomato dipping sauce.
Chicken and watercress crositini, and tomato and dijon tarts.
My business cards are ready and so am I!
Photos by my good friend Elizabeth Clarkson.
Eveleigh Farmers’ Market March 2, 2009
Posted by Sarah in bike, dining in, food, markets, organic, vegetables.add a comment
This Saturday saw the Eveleigh Farmers’ Market start trading for the new year. Joh and I rose early and rode our bicycles to Redfern. We arrived around 8.15 and were pleased to see that there was a bike stand right outside the entrance to the covered marketplace.
The first stall we headed to was Yuri’s Sustainable Produce. They had a wonderful deal where you fill your bag with anything from their tables for $8. I decided to take a selection of their delicious fruit and vegetables. They had some incredible looking black russian tomatoes that filled most of our bag, I couldn’t resist them!
The eggs we got from Egganic looked so good that I bought two dozen from them.
The mini capsicum from Kemps Creek Farm were so beautiful I had to take a photo of them. We didn’t buy any capsicums, but did buy some fresh chillies, prickly pears and three bunches of ong choy (water spinach). The ladies selling the produce propped up the capsicum box so that I could take a photo of them! Then they all proceeded to tell me about the dangers of using prickly pears without gloves. I must admit they are still in the refridgerator, I did get a spine in my finger as soon as I got them home.
We also brought home a piece of Berkshire free range pasture fed pork neck. Unfortunately I didn’t get down the name of the grower, but the pork was certainly teriffic.
Joh and I headed home laden down with all kinds of goodies!
For dinner on Saturday night Joh cooked our Barramundi from Infinity Fish on the barbeque with kaffir lime leaves stuffed into its belly. I used some of our organic yellow squash and garlic from Lettuce Deliver Organics and stir fried them with the water spinach. A very nice meal indeed.
The Eveleigh Farmers’ Markets are held every Saturday and are well worth a visit. I am so pleased about a weekly produce market, it’s a wonderful thing for Sydney.
