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Tip - USE THE BEST CARROTS YOU CAN GET. It's amazing, buy them off a farmer or at a farmers market for an amazing result. Buy the coriander there too! Oh, and honey is not essential
(unless your looking for a cuddle!) |
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4 mugs of chopped carrots
1 mug of chopped onions
A teaspoon of honey
A knob of butter
5-6 cups of stock
Chopped coriander herb
Salt and pepper
The trick with this is good carrots. Buy the freshest ones you can get, preferably still dirty with the green stalks still on them from the local farmer.
Sweat the onions gently in the butter with salt and pepper until soft. Add the honey and then the carrots. Cover and gently sweat some more until beginning to glaze. Add the stock, cook until everything is soft. Season, then purée in a liquidiser really well, then if you have time sieve to get a silky smooth texture.
Add chopped coriander just before serving.
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Tip - We (to our accountant's disgust!) discovered this doesn't work with old peas. You need the skins to be super tender, otherwise you end up with water and bits when you liquidise it. Compliments where compliments are due… Well done Birds Eye! |
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You need really good frozen peas for this. We've found Birdseye frozen peas to be the best.
4 mugs of peas– chopped (only messing!)
1 mug of onions
1 scant cup of celery
4-5 cups of tasty stock
Fresh mint, chopped
A knob of butter
Seasoning: Salt, Sugar and black pepper
Sweat the onions and celery in a knob of butter with salt and pepper until nice and soft. Add peas and stock. Cook until everything is soft. Add mint and
liquidize.
Magic… Pea soup! Try eating it chilled too. |
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Tip - Make sure you liquidise this really well while it is still hot. Don't ask me why but when we tried liquidising it cold, it split the soup and made it a nasty, fake looking orange! |
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This is really simple. Just get
3 tins of peeled chopped tomatoes
2 mugs of onions, very finely chopped
1 cup of cream
4 cups of tasty stock
A knob of butter
A tablespoon of sugar
Fresh basil, chopped
Salt and pepper
Sweat the onions in a knob of butter with salt and pepper until nice and soft. Add the tomatoes, picking out any green or hard bits. Simmer for 5 minutes then add stock. Cook for another few minutes.
Add sugar, and season to taste. When every thing is soft, liquidise really well, then sieve. Finally, just before serving, Add cream and freshly chopped basil.
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Tip - We highly recommend the sieving bit, taste it before and after, you'll be amazed by the difference. Also, don't worry if it's not really white after whizzing. The cream will sort this out! |
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Vegetable soup is not a science. Cully & Sully use
1 mug of diced potato
1 mug of diced onion
1 generous cup of diced celeriac
1 generous cup of diced parsnip
1 scant cup of sliced (white of) leek
1 scant cup of chopped cauliflower
5-6 cups of tasty stock
1 cup of cream
A big knob of butter and seasoning: salt, sugar and black pepper.
Remember you want this to be white so no green stuff!
Sweat the onions in a big knob of butter with salt and pepper until nice and soft. Add all the other vegetables and sweat for another 10 minutes, being very careful not to brown them. Add the stock and simmer until everything is soft. Liquidise and then if you want it extra smooth, sieve in a fine sieve… this is really worth it. Finally, add cream and adjust seasoning.
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Tip - We use button mushrooms but if your sceptical about the flavour of your mushrooms, add in some dark older ones or some breakfast flats (a larger flatter mushy). Also a few teaspoon of Soya sauce can improve the flavour tremendously. |
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3 mugs of chopped mushrooms (some older dark ones add flavour and colour)
3 cups of onions
1 cup of celery
5-6 cups of tasty stock
½ cup of cream
Salt and pepper
Sweat the onions and celery in a knob of butter with salt and pepper until nice and soft.
Add mushrooms and sweat for another minute or two.
Add stock and cook again for a few minutes.
Add cream and season to taste. Liquidise in pulse mode until you get a fine but not smooth texture.
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Serves 50 depending on use
Dukkah is an Egyptian spice mix that's much loved and even used for breakfast. The mixture of spices varies from family to family. It's all the rage in Australia at present. Serve as dips with crudités or as a spice rub for chicken breast or lamb.
Also good served with Lebanese flat bread and olive oil. It keeps for weeks or even months in a screw-top jar.
50g hazelnuts
225g sesame-seeds
110g coriander seeds
50g cumin seeds
salt and freshly ground pepper
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Roast the hazelnuts in the oven for 8-10 minutes or until the skins loosen. Rub them off in a tea-towel.
Put the sesame seeds into a dry frying pan over a medium heat, stir until they change to a slighter darker shade and start to pop. Transfer to a plate to cool.
Next add the coriander seeds. Stir and toast for a few minutes until they begin to smell more aromatic, and add to the sesame seeds.
Toast the cumin seeds next, taking care because they burn more easily than the other spices.
Put the cool spices and hazelnuts into a spice grinder or food processor and add salt and pepper. Whizz for a few seconds or better still pulse. It is important not to over blend or a paste will form. Dukkah should be a loose, grainy, spice mixture.
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Any bits of left over vegetables and a few pepper corns and herbs. Beetroot is not so suitable unless you're looking for purple stock! Things like the green of the leek that you left out of your white winter vegetable soup are ideal. The most common vegetables used are carrots, white turnip, onions, celery, mushrooms and fennel. Parsley is the most used herb but feel free to experiment.
Bung them all into a big sauce pan with cold water and bring up to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about an hour. Strain through a sieve. This freezes perfectly. We use old milk cartons because you can cut them open to get it out and defrost quickly.
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