Winter chicken soup with cheddar

This soup is a brilliant way to get rid of leftovers after a roast dinner.And, except for chopping up the veggies, this soup really takes no time to cook up for a healthy, filling and warming cold winter's day lunch. If you have an extra bob or two, spruce it up by adding Parmesan but cheddar will do just fine too.





Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
Thyme
Sage
tsp ginger
1 clove of garlic
1.5 l chicken stock
1 c orzo
1 potato
3 stalks of silverbeet (Swiss chard)
3 carrots
1/4 pumpkin
Small kumara (Sweet potato)
Salt & Pepper
Cheddar or parmesan

Method:
Pour a tablespoon of olive oil in the sauce pan. Soften the onion and garlic.Make sure they do not burn! The burned pieces float to the top of the soup and look rather unappetizing.
Add thyme, sage leaves*, ginger,salt and pepper, and freshly made chicken stock. Bring to the boil.
Add a cup of orzo, chopped potatoes, kumara, carrots and cook for ten minutes.
Try chopping all veggies about the same size cube.
Lastly, add pumpkin, silver beet as they take less time to cook.
And finally, add the shredded chicken left over from Sunday's roast!Cook for a few more minutes so the chicken has a chance to heat up.
Serve with grated cheddar or parmesan on top.

YUM!
Footnote
* I try and be ahead of seasons and pick fresh rosemary, coriander, thyme, sage leaves, basil and chives and freeze them in takeway containers, ready to be used in dishes when needed.

Carrot and cumin soup recipe - it's all about orange

Oops! I made a mistake! instead of carrot and coriander (to follow) here is a carrot and cumin soup recipe. And while you are cooking, why not explore the colour orange?

Orange means vitality with endurance. People who like orange are usually thoughtful and sincere. Lady luck's color is orange. It is also found that orange foods are asspciated with health and stimulate appetite.

There is a great book which writes about the history on many colours used over centuries.
It's called "Colour: Travels through the paintbox" by Victoria Finlay. A wonderful read over a hot bowel of homemade Carrot and cumin soup! Colour is available at Amazon UK (amazon.co.uk) for 2 quid and 44 pence.

Now back to the recipe, this is a quick and easy to make soup recipe that will add meaning to your life once you have tasted it!

Ingredients:

1 onion (orange)
quarter of a pumpkin (orange)
6-8 carrots (orange)
1l chicken stock or veggie stock (orangy)
2 tsp brown sugar (orangy)
2 tblso cumin
quarter cup of orange juice (orange)

Prepare the vegetable stock by mixing 4 Oxo vegetable stock cubes with 1 litre of water (Or fresh chicken stock). Then chop all the veggies, throw them into a good size sauce pan and cook them in the vegetable stock until they are soft.

Roast the cumin in a pan. Chuck the cumin in the sauce pan too.

When everything is cooked blend it all and add a quarter of a cup of orange juice while keeping on blending until the mixture is nice and smooth.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream and fresh chopped coriander.

Now put the book down, pour yourself a nice glass of sauvignon blanc and toast to colours and the colour orange in particular. Should keep you nice and healthy.

Adapted from www.bbc.co.uk

Pirate's club sandwiches

Ingredients

Cooked chicken will do but smoked chicken offers a more decadent taste
Dried apricots
Spreadable cream cheese
Alfalfa spouts
Two loafs of Tip Tops Spiced Fruit Loaf
Toothpicks
Avery labels
Black ink pen

Spread bread (both top and bottom pieces of bread) with spreadable cream cheese. If the cheese is too tough, zap it in the microwave for ten seconds for easier spreading.

Spread a thin layer of alfalfa sprouts on both top and bottom pieces of bread.
Slice smoked chicken and sprinkle on top of sprout layer. The cut the apricots into halves and arrange on meat.

Finally glue together top and bottom and push down on individual sandwhiches so they stick good.

Now, choose a nice sharp knife to slice off the crusts on each side of each sandwich, so that the edges are nice and square. Then cut diagonally into triangles.

Grab the toothpicks and labels! Think of a message or motif to put on each side of the flag you are about to make. I chose a pirate theme as I was going to a pirate party.

Are you a localvore? Latest food trends around the world!

Eat your zip code

Remarkables Market in action











Are you a a)herbivore, b)carnivore or, c) localvore?
What is a localvore or locavore?
How can I start to get my food miles?
What would be in our pantry if our boat didn't come?

To answer the above and listen further to National Radio's feature, click on http://preview.tinyurl.com/3rptg46

More related links, click on
httwww.vermontlocalvore.org/learnmore/whatandwhy.html
p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_food
www.bostonlocalvores.org/

London farmers market

Zuppa di castagne - Chestnut soup

In keeping with this blog's code this recipe is cheap and easy as to make and taps into the ever increasing trend of setting a low carbon footprint by using local and seasonal foods.

It's autumn and the onset of winter and there is an abundance of chestnuts in Arrowtown.

There are a heap of things one can make with them. Roasted chestnut make a great snack, Italian chestnut soup a great lunch and an Asian chestnut stirfry a great dinner.

It was all in good timing then, that I had collected a full basket of chestnuts at the time of watching David Rocco making a chestnut soup on his TV series on the food channel the other day!

Here is the recipe:


ZUPPA DI CASTAGNE - serves 4 people

25 chestnuts, roasted and peeled
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 shallot Onion), chopped
1/2 cup canned puríed peeled tomatoes or tomatoe puree for a more intense flavour (120ml)
8 cups vegetable or chicken stock (1.8l)
1 cup toasted croutons or bacon bits
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (60ml)
fresh parsley, finely chopped
Salt and fresh ground pepper to season


To start your Zuppa di Castagne:


Place olive oil, garlic and shallot in a deep pot. Cook for a few minutes or until garlic turns golden in colour.

Add tomato puríe and chestnuts and cook for a minute.

Add the vegetable stock and bring soup to a boil. Season with salt and pepper.

Reduce heat and let simmer for about 40 minutes.

Sprinkle parsley before serving in individual bowls. Add croutons or bacon bits to each bowl.

I did not have any parsley so I went without it.

Podcast "Empty Pleasures"

Driving on my usual weekly jaunt to Pine Bush, I am listening to National Radio's author interview for a recently released book on artificial and natural sweeteners (nutrasweet, stevia, saccharine) which makes for fascinating listening.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/national/twu/2011/04/30/artificial_sweeteners

Carolyn De La Pena has written 'Empty Pleasures'; it's a history of artifical sweeteners from aspartame to saccharin (a byproduct of the coal industry by the way!).

Behind the scenes at Lieven's