Tomato and Carrot Soup – bloomin’ luverly!

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As a small child, himself knew his great grandmother, a Victorian lady who apparently had a habit of going around with her skirt tucked into her bloomers. Her great grandson remembers that she adored tomato soup, which she would sop up with chunks of bread. I never met her, but I have a vision of a Queen Victoria-like figure schlurping up her soup, then wiping her tomato-stained gob with a lace-cuffed sleeve – a sort of Eliza Doolittle character.

I asked if the Victorian’s soup was likely to have been homemade. Himself is inclined to believe that it was tinned.

Tastes like this!

Today’s recipe is homemade… from a tin - or rather a carton. That might seem a contradiction in terms however, unless you have a fantastic supply of sun-ripened San Marzano tomatoes, you’re much more likely to get the best flavour for soups and sauces from pasata (sieved tomato pulp) or tinned tomatoes. Look for brands with a conscience and go for products with nothing added. There should only be one ingredient on the label. Tomatoes!

For 6 – 8 portions of bloomin’ luverly tomato soup you will need…

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 carrots, finely sliced

1 onion, finely chopped

2 potatoes, peeled and finely diced (approximately 250g prepared weight)

1 fat clove of garlic, chopped

750ml pasata (or 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes)

750mls chicken stock or vegetable stock

1 teaspoon of fresh thyme (or ½ teaspoon of dried thyme)

½ teaspoon sugar

salt and pepper to taste

Method

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the carrot and onion. Give them a quick stir to coat them with the hot oil then turn down the heat, cover and allow to cook gently without colouring for about 8 minutes. Next, add the diced potato and chopped garlic, stir and once again, cover and this time allow them to cook for about 4 minutes.

Next add the pasata, stock, thyme and sugar. Turn up the heat until the liquid comes to simmering. Lower the heat, cover and allow to simmer gently for about 15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

Blend the contents of the saucepan to a smooth cream – a stick blender is perfect. Taste and add salt and pepper to suit your palate.

Serve with crusty bread.

I scattered the top of the soup with a little proscuitto and some finely chopped fresh celery leaves. 

Other toppings I like for this soup are shredded fresh basil; Parmesan croutons with fried bacon bits; or a simple swirl of crème fraiche, though I'm not beyond following the Victorian's example!

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Carrot, Coconut & Cardamom Soup... conspiring to comfort !

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I am studiously avoiding the bathroom scales because I know that after a Christmas of feasting it will more than likely say: “Gerroff, ya great lump!”

I got brilliant advice from a friend on how to lose weight instantly: “Turn the scales back 5kg on the 1st of January!” Unfortunately my bathroom scales are digital and they refuse to tell even the whitest of white lies. L If I’m to swap the slightly cuddlier post-Christmas me for a healthier lower-fat me ‘lite’, then it will be down to diet and exercise.

Luckily, with the turn of the year (and following multiple overdoses of chocolate truffles, mince pies, Christmas cake ...) I am craving healthy stuff – winter salads, green vegetables al dente, and soup, lots of lovely warming soup.

Today it is bitterly cold so I’m thinking... the sweetness of carrots, I’m thinking ... the warmth of cardamom ... the fresh zing of orange zest. So far, so good (tasty and reasonably healthy). However... I can’t quite leave behind the craving for richness against the harshness of winter, so I’m thinking a great big comforting swirl of nutty, creamy coconut milk.

The response from my coconut-detesting taste-tester?  “Oh ! That’s good !”

Healthy stuff...

 

For 6 - 8 portions of sunny soup that will surprise even a coconut-hater you will need...

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive (or 15g butter)

3 pods of cardamom, seeds only, crushed

½ teaspoon finely grated orange zest (orange part only)

500g carrots, (prepared weight), peeled and sliced

1 onion, finely chopped

1 small clove of garlic, crushed

750ml good quality chicken stock

1 x 400ml tin of unsweetened coconut milk

Salt and white pepper to taste 

Finely chopped coriander leaf or parsley to serve, and some crusty white bread or a delicious nutty wholemeal bread won't hurt

 

Method

Place the olive oil (or butter) into a medium saucepan over a medium heat and add the crushed cardamom seed. Fry gently for about a minute before adding the orange zest, carrots, onion and garlic. Stir to coat in the oil (or butter), then turn down the heat to low.

Cover and cook gently without colouring for about 15 minutes, stiring every few minutes (if the vegetables appear to be sticking, add a little more oil or butter and make sure the heat is low enough – if the vegetables are sizzling, the heat is too high).

Next, add the chicken stock and unsweetened coconut milk. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover, and leave to cook gently for a further 15 minutes.

Finally, puree the soup – a stick blender is the perfect tool for this job. Taste and add salt and a little white pepper if necessary.

Serve with a sprinkling of finely chopped parsley or corriander leaf, or get posh and instead serve with parsley or corriander leaf oil artfully dotted on top.

Tuck in!

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Carrot, Cinnamon and Coconut Scones – a vanishing act!

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For years, I thought children’s writer Enid Blyton was actually called ‘Gnid’ because of the swirly font used for her name. I blame ‘Gnid’ for my obsession with food. I wasn’t half as interested in the shenanigans of her adventure-prone child heroes and heroines as I was in the food they ate. There always seemed to be a farmhouse table somewhere in the story, groaning under the weight of glazed ham, cold chicken, thick wedges of fruitcake, bowls of cherries, warm scones with clotted cream, and of course lashings of ginger beer cooling somewhere nearby in an icy stream.

I had planned two separate recipes today – one a carrot soup with the fragrant bouquet of carrots I found in the market, and the other, scones for tomorrow’s breakfast, when I started musing on the topic of ‘Gnid’. While I daydreamed, the boundaries between the two recipes became blurred and I found myself mixing grated carrot into my scone mixture, then coconut and cinnamon joined the party.

These are so quick and easy to magic up and they have a habit of vanishing just as quickly so I’ve nicknamed them the sorcerer’s scone – groan!

For 8 scones you will need...

... to pre-heat the oven to 180°C

250g plain flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon fine table salt

60g butter, cut into small pieces

125g carrots, finely grated

50g dark brown sugar

25g desiccated coconut

1 medium egg, beaten

110mls fresh milk

You’ll also need a little extra flour for sprinkling on your work surface and an extra tablespoon of dark brown sugar to sprinkle over the scone before baking.

Carrots, Cinnamon, Coconut... magic!

1.                  Place the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and butter in a mixing bowl and rub the butter into the flour, lifting and crumbling the mixture between your index and middle fingers and your thumbs, until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

2.                  Add the grated carrots, dark brown sugar and desiccated coconut, mixing until well distributed throughout the mixture.

3.                  Add the beaten egg and just enough of the milk to bring the mixture together in a soft dough, with no dry flour remaining. (Some days, the flour is thirsty and you’ll need a drop more milk; other days, you’ll have a little milk left over).

4.                  Turn the mixture out onto a lightly-floured work surface and form into a smooth ball. Transfer to a non-stick baking sheet and using your hands, pat the ball of dough into a disc about 2.5cm (1 inch) thick.  Using a sharp knife, mark the disc into 8 wedges, sinking the knife about a third of the way into the dough. Sprinkle with a tablespoon of dark brown sugar.

5.                  Transfer to the pre-heated oven and bake for 25 – 30 minutes or until well risen and golden brown. A cocktail stick inserted in the centre should come out clean. If there is still dough clinging to it, pop the scone back into the oven for a further 5 minutes then test again. Transfer to a cooling rack. These scones are best eaten slightly warm, but will keep for a few days in sealed in an airtight container.

 



It's called the fastest bread in the West because one moment it's there and next it's scone ...



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