Getting better - minestrone soup for the soul

We're all in the process of shifting these rotten bugs, and I always turn to soups to help. There's just something about a hot bowl with lots of veggies and other good things in it that makes me feel better.

It was actually a suggestion at Slimming World that I try making soup - one of the things I struggle with is snacking. Biscuits and tea had become a bit of a habit during my pregnancy and then to 'keep me going' when breastfeeding. It was a habit I needed to shift, and happily I seem to have managed it. That said, fruit in the middle of winter is only ever going to have a limited appeal, and a cup or bowl of soup keeps me going nicely. This is the second time I've made my minestrone and although it's not in the slightest bit authentic I do really like it.

My minestrone (serves 6-8)

1 red onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 sticks celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
3 peppers - I use red and yellow, diced
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 box passata
1 big splodge tomato puree
2 big handfuls of small pasta (or just break up some spaghetti)
2 pints of chicken/ veg stock
Fry light

Spray a big saucepan with Fry light and soften the onion, garlic, celery and carrots for about 10 minutes or so. If it starts to stick, add a splash of the stock
Add the other veggies, give the pan a good stir
Add the tomatoes, pasta and tomato puree, and fill the tomato tin up with water and add that too
Add the stock and leave to simmer for 30 to 45 minutes
After the soup has been simmering it should be nice and thick - add the pasta and if it feels like it might need it, another tinful of water
Turn the heat up so the pan's at a gentle boil for 7 or so minutes to cook the pasta through.

It's now ready to serve, you could garnish with shredded basil, and if you're not on Slimming world or dairy free (or both!) a big handful of grated chese in the middle of the bowl would be fabulous.

Don't feel restricted by this recipe though - if you have tinned beans, then add some for some extra fibre and protein (and if you're me to make it go a bit further although this makes lots and lots). Lardons would add some extra flavour, or even chopped leftover ham - if you've done a ham in Coca-Cola lately it's a great way to use up the end of the joint. Which is now making me want to do another ham. If you've got some courgettes or mushrooms, they'd be nice additions too.

I don't serve this with bread, because of the pasta. But I know that soup is always better with bread for dunking.

Souper Dooper: Tom yum soup

It's actually a take on Tom yum soup. Without the coconut milk, and with a dash of fridge-bottom ness about it, making it slightly more frugal than either the name or this post would suggest.

I really have no appetite right now, my inclination is oddly, not towards traditional comfort foods, but to the clearing spice and cleanness of thai (or at the very least, thai influences). That said, this was a cobbled together lunch that made use of the last of my veg box, and a jar of tom yum paste left over from the Fusionfood challenges late last year.

1 glug oil
3 tablespoons tom yum paste (I used FusionFoods)
1 clove garlic crushed
3 pieces of galangal (I use Waitrose's dried galangal)
1/2 tsp lazy chilli
250g prawns (it's amazing what you find when you dig through your freezer)
Spring greens, leaves finely shredded
1 stick celery shredded
1 red pepper, chopped into matchsticks
Handful rice noodles
Boiling water

Heat the oil gently in a wok or frying pan and add the paste, cook until you can smell the aromatics
Add the garlic, chilli and galangal and continue to fry gently
Add the prawns and cook through until hot
Meanwhile, pour a kettle full of boiling water over the noodles and the shredded greens, and leave for about 4 minutes
Drain, the greens & noodles and add to the wok/ pan, stirring briefly
Add 150ml(ish) of boiling water into the wok/ pan and stir so that everything is combined
Serve in a bowl, and eat, alone and away from a mirror

The original recipe asked for coconut milk to be added at the end of cooking, and then coriander. I didn't add these as I didn't have them in and I didn't want the cooling sweetness of the coconut milk. That said this was particularly fiery and the sourness really came through, so it could probably do with the balance of the coconut milk. Something about it's clearing heat really appeals to me, with the lightly cooked vegetables and freshness of the broth says healing to me. And after all, that is what I'm after at the moment.

What appeals to me about this is that it could be prettied up into a lovely dinner, or if pushed for time and fresh food (like myself) a quick and easy lunch for one.

A person can develop a bad, bad cold: Split pea soup and soda bread

If you follow me on twitter you'll know this has been a poorly week in Penelope's Pantry. I've been completely wiped out by a virus/ infection that's manifesting itself through recurrent migraines. As you can imagine all thoughts of food and cooking have long gone out of the window, but by Friday I was just starting to feel a bit less like death warmed up. Then M came home from Newcastle. With the same bug/ virus. Now despite the fact that I have no energy, I've turned on Accu Broadway and am cooking my little heart out. I knew we needed some hearty, easily digestable, healing food and so I turned to Nigella.  I knew her recipes wouldn't fail and that I was bound to find something in one of her books that would sound attractive and not require much brainpower. Soup it was.

I've added this to Maison Cupcake's Forever Nigella blog hop for January - be sure to pop over and have a look at all the entries.

Nigella's Split Pea and Frankfurter soup (with a couple of Pantry amendments)

2 cloves garlic
1 celery stick
1 carrot, peeled
1 onion, peeled
500g yellow split peas
1250ml vegetable stock
Pack of frankfurters - I used Waitrose's own brand
1/2 tsp ground mace
3 tablespoons of rapeseed oil

Blitz the vegetables and garlic up in the food processor, and tip into the warmed oil in a large pan
Soften gently, but don't allow to colour
Add the mace, and stir in so it's evenly distributed
Add the split peas and stir in
Add the stock (I just used 4tsp of Marigold veg bouillon in a litre and a quarter of water)
Bring to a gentle boil, pop a lid on your pan and turn the heat down and cook for an hour
I found I needed to add another half a pint of water as my lentils had absorbed all the water making this more like a casserole in consistency than a soup
Add your chopped up frankfurters, then adjust your seasoning to taste (as they're quite salty I found)

At this point I felt that the soup was missing something so added a teaspoon of lazy chilli, once stirred through you don't get a huge kick of chilli but it adds a much needed warming depth. You could equally add fresh chilli at the start but it retained some of it's freshness by not cooking it through.

Serve hot with soda bread.

No Knead Soda Bread, based on this recipe but amended slightly

300g malted grain bread flour
1 pot buttermilk 284ml (isn't that an odd amount?)
1 dsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt


Preheat your oven as hot as it will go
Put the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix through roughly with clean hands
Add the buttermilk and mix (again, by hand) until you have a soft, pliable dough. I needed all the buttermilk, despite the original recipe stating less, but flour is a moveable feast, so if you don't need it all don't fret, everything just needs to come together.
Dust your worktop and hands lightly with more malted flour, and shape the dough into a round (now, if I can manage this with one arm in plaster anyone can)
Cut two dints in the loaf with either your spatula or a sharp knife

Bake for 20ish minutes - I do this on a pizza stone, as it normally results in a nice crispy bottom for loaves that aren't in a tin. Mine today took about 40 minutes, but that's probably down to having a slightly wetter dough. It's done when you can tap on the bottom and it sounds hollow, and when the top is lightly crusted.

That's our poorly Pantry tea tonight, it'll be served cwtched up on the sofa, under blankets hopefully with a shockingly fabulous film on in the background.