Optimstic Fascination

12 Soups: Pea and Ham

Soup No 1: Pea and Ham Soup

Daniel loves pea and ham soup, for the last ten years Daniel has told me every time I buy him canned soup “Make sure it is pea and ham”.

So for our first soup I decided to make it for him, even though I am not a fan. I used a recipe from this cook book.

Ingredients

500g green split peas

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large brown onion, chopped finely

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 ham hock (1kg)

2 medium carrots, chopped finely

2 stalks celery, trimmed, chopped finely

4 fresh thyme springs

2 bay leaves

2 litres (8 cups) water

1. Rinse peas under cold water until water runs clear; drain
2. Heat oil in large frying pan, cook onion and garlic, stirring, until onion softens. Place onion mixture in 4.5 Litre slow cooker, stir in peas and remaining ingredients. Cook, covered, on low, 8 hours
3. Remove ham from cooker. When cool enough to handle, remove meat from bone, shred coarsely, and return meat to slow cooker, Discard skin, fat and bone. Season soup to taste

Serve topped with coarsely chopped mint leaves thinly sliced green onions and greek-style yogurt (I did not do this part)

Review

Pea and Ham soup will never be my favourite soup, however, I have to say this was the best pea and ham soup I have ever had.  Dan and I are looking forward to trying this one again, but with a little bit more ham hock, mine weighed under a kilo and I also think next time I will add those mint leaves, green onions and greek-style yogurt, but it was definitely the perfect dinner for a cold winter’s night.

12 Soups

I was inspired by Elise Blaha's 2011 project to make 40 homemade loaves of bread, and her current project of 40 Pizza. I thought that I would love to do something similar, but committing to 40 was just a bit too much for me since my attention span is like a two year old lately. Elsie had comment she had original thought about doing soup after bread, and I liked that idea especially with winter approaching, plus Dan and I both love soup in winter.

So I decided that I would set myself the task of making 12 different soups over the winter months. That is pretty much one a week, should not be too hard, right?

Zucchini, Lemon & Chilli Pasta with Rocket

Serves 4. Prep 10 mins. Cook 10 mins

Ingrediates

2tlb olive oil

5 Zucchinis (750g), thinly sliced diagnally

200g sliced hot pancetta, chopped

5 anchovies, finely chopped

3 cloves, garlic

2 small red chillies

salt and pepper

350g large pasta shell

1tlb finely grated lemon rind

2tb lemon juice

100g bunch rocket

1 cup grated pecorino cheese

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves (I forgot to buy parsley, it still tasted fantastic)

1) Heat oil in large frying pan over high heat. Add zucchini, pancetta, anchovies, garlic and chillies. Cook, stirring for about 10 mins of until golden brown and tender. Season with salt and pepper.

2) Meanwhile, cook your pasta

2) Place pasta, zucchini mixture, rind, juice, rocket, cheese and parsley into a large bowl. toss to combine. season.

Chicken PJ's aka Chicken Parmigiana

Guess What? I forgot to take a photo again. You are all going to think that I don't actually cook these recipes but just blog about them to make it look like I am a good cook. Well I do cook them, but as a public services I will also announced that I AM NOT A GOOD COOK. I can follow a recipe and make food turn out ok, but this is no science. If you want to see a good cook, my suggestion is click HERE. Any-who, I decided to cook what I called CHICKEN PJ's, I am told by Future HUBBY that is not quite the right term.

 I found the recipe here. The recipe serves about 8 people.

Ingredients

• 4 (8 oz) chicken breast halves, sliced in half
• 3/4 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp butter, melted
• 3/4 cup reduced fat mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup of Sauce (Recipe Below)
  
• cooking spray

Preheat oven to 450°. Spray a large baking sheet lightly with spray.

Combine breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese in a bowl. Melt the butter in another bowl. Lightly brush the butter onto the chicken, then dip into breadcrumb mixture.  Place on baking sheet and repeat with the remaining chicken.

Lightly spray a little more cooking oil on top and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Turn chicken over, bake another 5 minutes. Remove from oven, spoon sauce over chicken and top with shredded cheese. Bake 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted.

The Sauce

Ingredients: 

• 2 (28 oz) cans imported crushed tomatoes (Tuttoroso)
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 large onion finely chopped
• 1 cup carrots, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup fat free chicken stock
• fresh basil

Directions:
Saute garlic in oil, add onions and carrots and saute on medium-low for about 2-3 minutes, until soft. Add tomatoes and chicken broth and simmer 45 minutes on low.

Add fresh basil last 10 minutes (herbs will become bitter if cooked more than 20 minutes). Julia always adds herbs into the sauce near the end.

Taste for acidity, if sauce is a bit tangy (acidic) then add 1 tbsp of sugar. For a calorie free way to cut the acidity in the sauce add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda.

Tagliatelle with Zucchini and Prosciutto

Have I ever how much i love Zucchini, I think it may be just my all time favorite vegetable. So when I came across this recipe in  a magazine i just had to try it.

Ingredients

375g dried tagliatelle or fettuccine pata

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

100g thinly sliced prosciutto

2 small (180g) Zucchini, sliced thinly

2 clove garlic, chopped finely

1 fresh large red chili, sliced, optional

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1/2 cip (40g) shaved parmesan cheese

lemon wedges, for serving

Instructions

1) Add pasta to a large pan of boiling well-salted water; boil, uncovered, until just tender. Reseve 1/2 cup (125ml) of the cooking water, drain pasta, return to pan

2)Meanwhile, heat 1 Tablespoon of the oil in a medium frying pan. Add prosciutto, in batches, in a single layer, cook until browned. Remove from pan. Reserve some prosciutto for garnish, crumble remaining prosciutto.

3) Add Zucchini to some pan, cook, stirring, until softened but not coloured. add the remaining oil with garlic and chili, cook, stirring, until fragrant

4) toss zucchini mixture, including the oil, with hot pasta, crumbled prosciutto, parsley and enought of the reserved cooking water to moisten. Season to taste.

5) top the pasta with parmesan and reserved prosciutto. serve with lemon wedges, crusty bread and a rocket salad, if desired

The recipe services states it serves 4, but i think it could easily serve 6, especially if you are having bread and salad with it

Yet again, i forgot to take a photo but trust me it looked good but tasted even better

Mid-Week Cooking: Tarragon Chicken

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons of oil
• tablespoon of Garlic (or to to taste)
• 2 fat spring onions
• 1/2 teaspoon of dried tarragon
• 2 chicken boneless
• breast fillets, skinless and boneless
• 80ml of white wine
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt flakes
• 60ml thicken cream
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon
• pepper, to grind over

Instructions

1. Heat Oil in a frying pan or casserole dish (make sure it has a lid).
2. Once, hot enough add garlic, spring onions stir, then sprinkle in the freeze-dried tarrragon, stir and cook for a minute.
3. Put the chicken fillet in pan, curved side down and cook for five minutes. (Hint: put spring onion on top of chicken to stop it from burning)
4. Turn the breast over, add the white wine. Once it start to bubble, add the salt. Put the lid on, turn the head down low and leave it to simmer for ten minutes.
5. Remove teh chicken breast to warmed plates. Bring the liquid to a boil, add the cream and give it a good stir. Sprinkle in the fresh tarragon, stir again and give a good grind of pepper.
6. Pour over the chicken and give a final scattering of fresh tarragon.

Cheesy Chilli

This recipe is from Nigella Lawson's new book, Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home. My Parents gave Daniel and I this book for Christmas, and we are just in love with all the recipes. So tonight i am going to try my hand at the first one which is Cheesy Chili. Even though i have had the day off work, i just want some quick and easy to cook for dinner tonight mainly because we are desperately need to do a food shop, so with the ingredients i have on hand i can mange to cook this.

Nigella describes it as "easy, quick and comforting"

Ingredients

110g chorizo, cut into fat coins and halved

500g beef mince

1/2 teaspoon coca powder

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 x 15ml tablespoon tomato paste

1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes

125ml water, swilled from empty tomato can

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 X 400g can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

2 X 125g fresh mozzarella cheese balls, chopped ( I only have a pack of 500g grated mozzarella, so i just going to use half of this)

seas salt f;ales and pepper, to taste

handful chopped fresh coriander, to serve

• Put a cast-iron casserole or heavy-based pan (needs to have a lid) on the heat and add the chorizo, Nigella says that you need to cook them long enough for the orange oil to appear
• Add the mince (make sure you break it up with a wooden fork)
• When the meat begun to loose it raw colour, sprinkle with cocoa and oregano, dollop in the puree and give a good stir before adding the canned tomatoes. Swill the empty can out with 125ml water, and empty that in turn into the pan, followed by the Worcestershire sauce and drained, add the rinsed kidney bean, then let it come to the boil
• turn the head down, put the lid on and simmer for 20 minutes.
• Remove the lid, and let it come to the boil again, then turn off the heat and stir in the mozzarella. stir and serve immediately.

Nigella goes on to give you tips on how long it will freeze and way to use leftovers.

Result: Daniel and I both loved this. Daniel added some extra chili (after it was served) as it is piquant rather than fiery hot, which makes it perfect for me.

Midweek Cooking: Goat's Cheese Quiche

We are having the wonderful Ms Alex over for dinner tonight, and i wanted to cook up something very yummy and something i had not cooked before, so i decided to make Goat's Cheese Quiches

Ingredients

4 eggs

1 cup (250 ml) milk

1 cup (250 ml) 35% cream

Salt and pepper

1/4 tsp (1 ml) nutmeg

2 tbsp (30 ml) butter

1 large garlic clove, finely sliced

1 green onion, finely sliced

2 cups (500 ml) spinach, stemmed

1/2 cup (125 ml) goat's cheese, crumbled

1 9-inch (22-cm) pie crust, uncooked ( I actually bought some pasty, as i wanted to make individual muffins sizes ones)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 °F (205 °C).

In a bowl, beat eggs with milk and cream. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and set aside.

 In a skillet, melt butter and saute garlic, green onion, and spinach.When spinach becomes limp, remove from skillet and spoon mixture into pie crust. 

Sprinkle with cheese. Cover with egg mixture and bake for 20 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 325 "F (160 °C) and bake for 15 minutes.

I will post up a picture and how it went tomorrow

Audit: I was unable to take a picture due to the fact that they were eaten too quickly... i guess that really says it all.

Mid-week cooking: Chocolate and Beetroot Cake recipe

This week I am cooking something thatI have already share on this blog which is my lasagna recipe...  and since Dan and I have been keeping it simple this week, i.e . so far dinner this week has consisted of tuna, pasta and pesto (Monday); bagels, cream cheese and smoked salmon, and last night we order pizza from crust.  So there was not much mid week cooking this week so I thought I would share a favourite baking recipe of mine.

Chocolate and Beetroot Cake recipe

Prep time: 30 mins    Cook time:50 mins  serves: 8

Ingredients

100 g drinking chocolate

230g self-raising flour

200g caster sugar

100g dark chocolate, minimum 60% cocoa solids broken into pieces

125g unsalted butter

259g cooked beetroot, grated

3 large eggs

Instructions
1 . Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Butter and flour a 18cm round cake tin
2. Sift flour and drinking chocolate together in a bowl, then stir in the sugar
3. in a bowl suspended over a pot of hot water, melt the chocolate and butter
4. add the beetroot and the eggs and mix well
5. add the beetroot mix to the dry ingredients and mix well
6. place mixture into cake tin and cook for 50 minutes or until skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool for ten minutes
7. decorate by shifting some icing sugar over the top

This cake is very simple to make and very moist and chocolaty.

E

Spanish Metaballs

another what i am cooking for dinner post

this week the recipes comes from this book by Dorling Kindersley

prep time 20 mins cook time 1 hr


makes 48
freeze up to 3 months

Ingredients
750g minced veal
250g minced pork
2 garlic cloves
115g parsley, finely chopped
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
5 tbsp dry breadcrumbs
100ml milk
2 tbsp light olive oil
3 onions, finely chopped
1 tbsp flour, plus extra for dusting
400ml red wine (you can use white too)
2 large eggs, beaten
250ml sunflower oil or groundnut oil
2tbsp chopped parsley, to garnish

1. place the veal, pork, garlic and parsley into a bowl, and mix together well. season with pepper and nutmeg and set aside

2. put the breadcrumbs in another bowl, pour in the mil and set aside to soak

3. heat the olive oil in the casserole over a medium heat, and cook the onions, stirring for 4-5 minutes or until softened. sprinkle in the flour and continue to cook for a further 1 minute. Pour in the wine, and season to taste with salt and pepper. bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat and cook for 1 minutes or until the sauce is reduced. Press the sauce through a sleeve and return to the casserole over a lower heat.

4. squeeze the excess milk from the breadcrumbs and add the crumbs to the mat with the eggs and 3 tbsp of the reduced sauce. Mix thoroughly then roll the mixture into golf ball sized balls and dust each with a little flour

5. Heat the sunflower oil in a large frying pan,. Working in batches, fry the meatballs, turning frequently for five minutes or until even brown. remove them from the pan, drain on paper towel and transfer to the casserole.

6. poach the meatball gently in the sauce for 20 minutes or until the meatballs are no longer pink when cut in half. serve warm, with the sauce poured over, and garnished with parsley

Good with crusty bead or with olive herbed mash potatoes and green beans.