soup time!

This is one of my favourite recipes, for a soup that I made on the weekend, and some twitter peeps asked me to share, but then I realised, I didn't take a photo of it before it got all eaten up... it does look and smell and taste delicious, I promise! And it's so good in this horrid weather (2 full weeks full of rain!?!?)... so after some umming & arrhing about an appropriate image to accompany the recipe, I remembered that I hadn't shown you all my lovely Paper Boat Press magnets, I bought them at Finders Keepers, and I love them.

And now for the Recipe-- Chilli, Corn and Red Capsicum Soup:

1 coriander sprig (cilantro)
4 corn cobs
30g butter
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
1 tablespoon plain flour
2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup cream

1. Trim the leaves off the coriander and finely chop the roots and stem. Cut the kernels off the corn cobs.

2. Heat the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the corn kernels, capsicum, onion and chilli and stir to coat in butter. Cook, covered, over low heat for 10 minutes. Increase heat and add the coriander stem and root, cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Sprinkle with flour and cook for another minute. Take saucepan off heat, gradually add the vegetable stock, then add 2 cups of water, and return to the heat. Bring to the boil, reduce to simmer for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

3. Ladle 2 cups of soup into a blender and puree until smooth, return to the saucepan, and add the cream. Season, and sprinkle with coriander leaves.

Yum.

B.

What I'm cooking right this minute...

Thank goodness for my collection of Womens Weekly and Family Circle cook books! Most of them are a bit old school, and the recipes require a little 'contemporising', as they are all second hand, but they save the day again and again!

Chicken with lemon and rosemary:

You'll need:

2 tbs olive oil
12 free-range chicken drumsticks
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1  cup vege stock
1/2 cup white wine (I'm using a sauv blanc)
1 tbs grated lemon rind
2ts lemon juice
1 tbs freshly shopped rosemary
2 tsp of cornflour
1 tbs water
1/4 cup cream

You need to:

Heat oil in pan, add chicken and brown; remove from the pan. Add garlic, stock, wine, rind, juice & rosemary to same pan, bring to the boil before returning chicken, let simmer uncovered for 20 minutes or until chicken is tender. Remove chicken from pan, add the blended cornflour and water, and stir over heat until sauce boils and thickens. Add chicken and cream and serve.

I also parboil a bunch of baby potatoes and add them to the pan. Yum yum... photos later!

B.

How to win friends and influence people...

Chocolate and Ginger Biscuits: The trick is to share them!

Ingredients:

• 250g unsalted butter


• 1 cup raw sugar


• 2 eggs


• 1tsp vanilla essence or paste


• 2.5 cups SR flour or plain flour w. baking powder


• 100g dark chocolate, chopped into pieces


• 100g crystalised ginger, chopped into pieces

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 190^oC.


2. In large bowl, cream butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat in eggs, one at a time.


3. Gradually add flour to the butter mix until well combined. Add ginger and chocolate, and evenly mix through.


4. Make teaspoon sized balls of the batter and lay out on a lined baking tray. Cook for 10-15 minutes, depending on how soft you like your biscuits.

Yum, yum, but I need to make some more... none left, and that was a rather large batch!

B.

Change is grand!

I'm loving this picture! Feels so true, so many constant transformations... I know I'm finding myself, but I know I'm still learning and changing. Sorry to get a little corny, but everyone needs some corn in their lives sometimes!

B.

Lemon Semolina Biscuits

These are my fave biscuits! They are lemony and soft, and they really make you think about what they must be putting into store-bought biscuits, which are all hard, and just don't compare...

200g plain flour

100g semolina

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsbp bi-carb soda (baking soda)

pinch salt

110g unsalted butter

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

200g sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

grated zest and juice of a lemon

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

60g sugar, for rolling

Soften the butter by leaving it at room temp for 30 minutes.

In a bowl, mix together the flour, semolina, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and set aside.

Cream together the butter, olive oil and 200g of sugar, until light and fluffy.

Add the egg, yolk, vanilla, lemon zest and juice until well combined.

Bit by bit, add the dry ingredients until a soft dough forms.

Wrap the dough in cling-wrap, flatten into a disc (I usually set this up on a plate), refrigerate for 90 minutes.

Preheat oven to 170C; put the 60g of sugar in a bowl.

Using lightly floured fingers, take a small piece of dough and roll into a ball, about the size of a golf ball; roll the ball in sugar and place on baking sheets covered with baking paper.

Each ball should be about 4cm apart.

Bake for 20-25 miuntes.

Cool and store in an airtight container.

B.

Real Lemony-Lemony Goodness

SERIOUSLY... BEST EVER LEMON TART RECIPE IN THE WORLD!
Pastry:
150g unsalted butter
80g icing sugar
35g almond meal
1 egg
250g plain flour
1tsp vanilla paste

Lemon curd:
5 eggs
270g sugar
juice and zest of 5 lemons
350g butter

Combine butter, icing sugar and almond meal. Add the flour, vanilla paste, and a pinch of salt, mix until combined. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Grease 5cm tart tins and dust with flour. Roll the pastry until 3mm thick. Line each tin with pastry and rest for 1 hour (or the pastry will shrink).

Preheat oven to 180oc, and bake for 10-15 minutes (until pastry is golden). When cooled, fill with lemon curd.

Lemon Curd: mix eggs and sugar. Add the juice and zest. Cook in a bowl over boiling water (stir constantly, do not let boil). When thickened, strain onto butter and blend with a hand held mixer.

Now... be prepared to have the yummiest mix of lemon-sugar goodness... when I haven't had them in a while, and I forget how intense the flavour is, my taste-buds go a little berserk!

Guillaime Brahimi, Good Weekend Mag. Sydney Morning Herald.