Saturday 22 February 2014

Roast cauliflower and chickpea soup

Ingredients:

1 cauliflower
1 large onion (or 2 small)
2 400g tins of chickpeas in water (no salt added), undrained
1 400g can of light coconut milk
Approx 200ml water or milk
3-4 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
Your favourite curry powder, to taste
1 tsp cumin
1 stock cube - I thought I had picked up a vegetable one but I actually used chicken, so either will do.
Optional - couple of tbsp plain Greek yogurt

For the roasting:
Oil
Sprinkle of medium curry powder of your choice
1 tsp black onion (nigella/kalonji) seeds
Sprinkle of ground coriander

Start by cranking up the oven to about 200F.

Pour some oil into a roasting tray and add the curry powder, onion seeds and coriander. Then slice you cauliflower up into cm thick pieces and add them and the garlic cloves to the pan, turning them so they are coated with the spicy oil. Put the tray in the oven and let it go golden - you might need to keep an eye on it and keep turning it, so set it for 15 minutes to start with.

Into a big metal saucepan that you can use a stick blender in, slice up your onions and leave them to brown over a gentle heat. You want them golden and soft.

Add the two cans of chickpeas, undrained, into the onions along with the stock cube, coconut milk and spices, and let it all bubble together. When your cauliflower is looking good, add it to the saucepan. Then when you are ready, blend it all together til it is smooth and add it back to a gentle heat while you add any extra fluid (milk, water, yogurt) to get it to your desired consistency. Taste to check seasoning and it is done! 



Sunday 16 February 2014

Christmas in February: Leftovers Pie


Sometimes you just have a flash of inspiration.  Mine was my mom dropping some turkey in gravy over that she had frozen at Christmas....which made me go running to our own freezer and cupboards...




From the bottom up: 
Cocktail sausages

Leftover turkey in gravy

Cranberry sauce (warmed so it would spread easily)

Stuffing (sage and onion)

Sausagemeat (pressed out into a flattened patty, baked and fat drained off)

Bread sauce

Stuffing balls

Sautéed Brussels sprouts!