Broccoli and Stilton Soup

It’s been absolutely flippin’ freezing here today! Our car is actually black but, parked on the drive this morning, it was completely white – it was quite an impressive frost. Not the best day for putting up the outside Christmas lights, but at least it was dry as well as beautifully sunny.

As soon as the weather gets cold my thoughts turn to soup; there’s nothing so quite so warming and comforting as a bowl of hot soup and a chunk of fresh bread.

This is one that Mr Simply Veg has wanted me to make for some time (he likes blue cheese and I don’t; although I love most cheeses there is just something about the blue variety that gives me the willies!) so I finally gave in. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat and enjoy a piece of Stilton at the end of a meal but in this it was lovely. The cheese flavour wasn’t overpowering but it gave a real savouriness to what could otherwise have been a fairly bland soup. Looks like lunch is sorted for the next couple of days...

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
1 large floury potato, diced
1l stock
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 large head of broccoli
½ tsp dried thyme
125g Stilton, crumbled
1 tbsp crème fraiche

Sauté the onion, celery and potato for 5 minutes in the olive oil in a large saucepan; chop the thick stalk off the broccoli, dice and add to the other vegetables in the pan along with the crushed garlic and sauté for a further couple of minutes. Add the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the veg are almost tender.

Roughly chop the rest of the broccoli, add to the pan with the thyme and simmer for another 5 minutes. Blitz with a stick blender until smooth, adding a little more stock if necessary.

Keep back a tablespoon of the crumbled Stilton for garnish, then stir the rest of it and the crème fraiche into the soup.

This was based loosely on BBC Good Food's recipe.

Serves 6

Thai Green Curry

It seems ages since I last posted; I wouldn’t like you to think we've been fading away and not eating at all for the last three weeks or so, it's just that I haven't been cooking anything new and have just stuck to easy-peasy stuff that I can do with my eyes closed and which doesn’t require much thought.

I did manage to make some more chutney, though, using all the remaining fruit from the garden, I’ve also made loads of plum compote and I have six jars of Christmas mincemeat maturing quietly in the pantry, so I haven’t been entirely idle.

 

Before my recent cooking slump I had finally tracked down some Thai green curry paste. I’d been after some for ages, but trying to find one that's veggie was a bit like searching for the holy grail. Waitrose, god bless ‘em, came up trumps so a few weeks ago I added tofu, assorted veg, coconut milk and palm sugar to some of the paste and made what can only be described as a very mediocre meal…I was so disappointed; best thing I can say is, it was OK...ish.

Undaunted, I ventured into the kitchen on Friday to have another go; instead of tofu I used paneer (I seem to be off tofu at the moment for some reason) I also upped the ration of curry paste to give it a bit more zing, I changed the mix of veg and added loads of chopped coriander and a good squeeze of lime juice. This time it wasn’t mediocre, it was bloody brilliant! You will see at the end of the recipe that I’ve said it serves four…well, it would have done if the two of us hadn’t eaten it all!

 

1 pack of paneer
1 tbsp vegetable oil
125g sugar-snap peas, halved
125g baby corn, halved
150g small broccoli florets
1 red pepper, chopped into largish pieces
3 kaffir lime leaves, chopped
2 tbsp Thai green curry paste
1 tsp palm sugar
1 400g tin of coconut milk
handful of coriander, chopped
juice of half a lime

 

Chop the paneer into little batons (about half the size of your little finger) and fry in the vegetable oil in a large pan until golden on all sides; drain well and set aside on kitchen paper whilst you cook the curry.

In the same pan, in the residual oil, cook the baby corn, red pepper and broccoli for a few minutes, add the lime leaves, curry paste, palm sugar and coconut milk. Stir well and bring to a gentle simmer then immediately add the sugar snap peas and the cooked paneer; simmer for a few minutes (you want the veg to still have some ‘bite’). Stir in the coriander and lime juice and serve with rice.

 

Serves 4 (or two very greedy people!)

Gnocchi Bake

I used ready-made gnocchi here because I wanted a quick dinner after we’d been faffing around in the garden planting seeds (carrot, beetroot and courgette, since you ask). Yes, I know gnocchi is easy to make and I’m being very lazy, but I won’t tell anyone if you won’t!

This is pure comfort food; easy, quick and incredibly tasty. Serve with a tomato and red onion salad dressed with some olive oil and a splash of balsamic; add a mindless telly programme and a glass of something cold (that'll be water for me...the wine is for Mr Simply Veg) put your feet up on the sofa and enjoy.

250g gnocchi (½ a pack)

1 head of broccoli (about 350g)
350ml milk
25g butter
30g plain flour
1 tsp Marigold Bouillon stock powder
100g cheddar cheese, grated

Break the broccoli into florets. Bring a large pan of water to the boil; add the gnocchi to the boiling water, when they start to bob to the surface add the broccoli and cook for 1 minute exactly. Drain well and plunge into a bowl of cold water to halt the cooking process; drain again and put to one side while you make the cheese sauce.

Put the milk, butter, flour and Marigold stock powder into a saucepan over a medium heat and bring to the boil, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens; simmer for 5 minutes. Take off the heat and stir in half the cheddar. Stir the gnocchi and broccoli carefully into the cheese sauce.

Tip into an ovenproof dish and top with the rest of the grated cheddar. Bake at 200C for 15 minutes until bubbling and golden.

Warm Spring Salad

I bought a load of veg at the market this week with, I confess, no clear idea of what to do with it all. I do this all the time - I’m a fool to myself….

The usual suspects of tagine, chilli, curry, stir-fry etc. didn’t really appeal as I stood in the kitchen last night, with a blank look on my face, waiting to be inspired. I wanted something different!

‘Different’ appeared in the guise of a warm salad. Now, it should be said that I don’t like warm salads as a rule; the idea of warm ingredients on top of salad leaves gives me the willies – I can’t understand that concept at all (shudder!). This salad, however, had no limp leaves or wilting watercress; just lots of lovely veg and lentils and a touch of very simple dressing. Perfect.

100g puy lentils cooked in stock until tender
50g green beans
50g frozen soya beans
100g broccoli
Small bundle of fine asparagus, trimmed and halved
50g frozen petit pois
4 chopped tomatoes
¼ of a red onion, finely sliced

Dressing: whisk together

1 tbsp olive oil                 

Juice of half a lemon      

1 clove garlic, crushed

Bring a large pan of water to the boil, throw in the green beans and cook for 1 minute, throw in the soya beans and broccoli and cook for another minute, throw in the asparagus halves and petit pois and cook everything for one more minute. Drain well.

Drain the lentils and divide between two pasta bowls, top with the lightly cooked green veg then scatter over the tomatoes and finely sliced red onion. Drizzle over a little dressing…enjoy.