Thick Minestrone Soup

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Mammy Minestrone

Yup so this is a minestrone I made with my mum while home over the bank holiday. I decided to make it when I saw how much lovely homegrown spinach that they had in their cupboard. Then I forgot to add it in - whoops- well it was still a great soup and a nice filling lunch that got me the whole way back to Dublin in the car without any belly rumbles.

Ingredients

 1 white onion finely diced
2 cloves of garlic finely sliced
6 fresh tomatoes (chopped, skinned if you like)
3 carrots diced
3 sticks of celery finely sliced
big bunch of green beans cut into whatever size pieces you like
1 tin of mixed beans
1 tablespoon of tomato puree
3 handfuls of dry pasta (whatever shapes you like)
1 sprig of thyme
1 bunch of parsley
1 pint of vegetable stock
A couple of handfuls of basil leaves

To Garnish 

freshly grated Parmesan
basil leaves
 
Fry your onion over a medium heat for two minutes before adding in the garlic. Cook until the onion begins to soften, then add in the diced carrots and celery. Cook for a further 5 minutes. Then add in the sprig of thyme, the bay leaf, tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes begin to soften. Then stir in all the other ingredients, except the basil, mix well and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for about 12-14 minutes until the pasta shapes are cooked. Stir in the fresh basil just before serving and garnish with a few leaves and a generous grating of Parmesan. Enjoy with some nice brie and a glass of good red wine.

I only used about 1/2 litre of stock in this and it turned out very thick, so I recommended more stock in the recipe to make for a more liquid soup. I love cooking with my mum, she ways things like 'what'll I chop next?' and 'I'll get that from the garden' the perfect cooking partner

Thanks Mum!

Baked Eggs with Herb and Parmesan Crust

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15 minute miracle

For shame out lack of blogging of late, due largely to the good weather and gardening

I have 5 minutes in which to recount this recipe so I'll make it snappy. It's after work, I've cooked dinner, done some gardening and I'm running out the door to rehearsal now. This is a quick and easy recipe which can provide a satisfying meal in less than 15 minutes.

Ingredients

2 eggs

splash of milk

5 chives - chopped

small handful of parsley

1/4 teaspoon of Dijon mustard

A handful of freshly grated Parmesan

Seasoning

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 8. Grease a ramekin dish. In small bowl combine all the ingredients except the cheese, mix gently to ensure that the yolks remain intact. Place mixture into ramekin dish and top with the grated cheese. Bake on the top shelf of the oven for 8 minutes, until golden and brown and puffy.

I served this with a slice of toasted sourdough (of Lolas making - recipe to follow) rubbed with garlic and drizzled with good olive oil as well as side salad of sugar snap eaps olive oil and sesame seeds.

and I'm off .... into the lovely bright evening

Spaghetti and Meatballs

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After the Party....

so it was Sarah's birthday and we had a party, there's was enough mess and chaos to lead me to believe we were all 16 again, raiding your parents drinks cabinet, and drinking the concoction of 6 different spirits mixed into a coke bottle.

Let's just say some of my plants were quite the worse for wear afterwards, including the basil and chili plant, so based on this unplanned harvest I made this nice meal, and fed it to my brother who was visiting before returning to his home in the snowy French alps.

Ingredients -
sauce 1 white onion - finely diced
12 tomatoes - skinned if you prefer and then diced
nice bunch of home-grown basil
1 home grown chili
2 cloves of garlic crushed
1 pound of minced beef
1 large potato - mashed
1 egg
marjoram and thyme (fresh or dried)
Grated Parmesan - a grand old lump - grated
a cup of breadcrumbs
Spaghetti cooked to your liking - my secret confession is I like mini squishy - very non-foodie I know!

I made the sauce first and let that cook away while I made the meatballs and then spaghetti while I cooked the meatballs. Fry the onion up in some olive oil for a minute or two before adding the garlic and sliced chili - cook it all until, it's softened nicely - then add in your tomatoes. Season. Bring to a gentle simmer and cover.

Cook for about 30-40 mins until it's thickened up nicely, it's perfectly ok to use tinned tomatoes here, I just had lots of tomatoes that day. I always add in a small teaspoon of sugar to sauces made using tinned tomatoes.

In a clean bowl - mix together the meat, breadcrumbs, grated Parmesan, herbs and mashed potato. Season. Then bind it all together with the egg. This made about 16 meatballs, and three is a big serving, so have some for tomorrow - make your own Meatball subs if you fancy.

Roll each bit of mixture into golf ball sized balls, then coat them in the breadcrumbs. Heat some oil in a pan and cook your meatballs in batches of around 5 or so. Turn gently and brown evenly on as many sides as you can. Serve them on top of a bowl of spaghetti and topped with some of your tomato sauce. These were just super and perfect for a Sunday night in by the fire.

Linguine with Chorizo and Shallots

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Chef's secret

Lola had recently been reading 'Kitchen confidential' by Anthony Bourdain. In it he reveals the secret of delicious restaurant food, so wait for it - drumroll please........

It's Butter and shallots, so to put this to the test we devised this simple pasta dish - and by all accounts it was very, very tasty indeed. Maybe not the healthiest advice to follow everyday, but every once in a while, sure what's the harm. 4 shalots, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

about 10 slices of chorizo, chopped into squares

Butter
olive oil

2 tbsps creme fraiche

lots of grated Parmesan

S & P

Cook the linguine the way you like it. Meanwhile, saute the chopped shallot and garlic in a frying pan with a big dollop of butter until soft & translucent. Add the chorizo and cook until it has released some of its red oils into the pan. Add the cooked linguine to the pan with the shallot/chorizo. Stir in the creme fraiche, and another glug of olive oil and half the Parmesan. With a spoon and a fork, toss everything about until evenly coated. Season, and serve topped with the extra Parmesan.We're off to the Electric Picnic tomorrow morning, we may well be heading here for a few snacks during the weekend - looks great. If we're together enough we may even try to review some of the food.....we'll see

Asparagus and Parma Ham

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The last spear of summer

There has been a lot of talk recently about summer being over and there having been nothing but Rain for 3 months and nothing to look forward to now but winter... blah blah blah...

I wont tolerate this kind of talk, for me, summer is never officially over until After Electric Picnic, so that means there is still almost a whole week to go!!

Whatever about summer, I'm pretty sure that Asparagus season is over, so i felt a bit naughty buying these asparagus (aspsragi?) in Aldi last week... I know, Aldi, terrible terrible person, food miles, child labour, pesticides, etc etc... Anyway, they looked great so I got them out of season. Feck it.

These spears are trimmed, steamed for about 4 mins and then wrapped around with a couple of slices of good parma ham. Then I drizzles them with olive oil, sprinkled with Parmesan shavings, and Voila, a sophisticated, unbelievably delicious starter in 5 minutes. And it looks impressive too!

Try it out, only one week until the end of summer, then it could be TOO LATE!!!!!

Asparagus Risotto

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Green shoots!

Mum and I made this recipe about a month ago for my brother Jesse on his birthday. We served it with salad from the garden and some roasted veggies. Jesse and his wife Jessica are both vegetarians so Mum always has a little panic about feeding them, it usually turns out a bit eclectic but great in the end.

Don't be intimidated by risotto, its really easy to make, you just have to use common sense and keep tasting so you know to when its cooked or needs more stock. And keep stirring!

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

2 or 3 bunches of asparagus cut into inch-long chunks

400g Arborio rice

3 tbsp olive oil OR 2 oz butter

1 large wine glass full of dry white wine

1 L/1 3/4 pints good hot vegetable sock (or chicken stock if your not a veggie)

1 medium onion

2 cloves garlic

3 or 4 sticks of celery, very finely chopped

100g Sundried tomatoes, finely chopped

Grated parmesan cheese to top

method:

Finely chop the onion and the garlic. Melt the butter/heat the oil in a heavy bottomed frying pan. Saute the onion, celery and garlic until translucent. Don't allow it to brown. This is easier if you have a lid for your pan. Add the finely chopped sundried tomatoes, followed by the rice and stir to mix everything well.

Keep your stock warm in a pot on the stove next to your pan. Add the wine to the rice and stir until almost all the liquid is absorbed. make sure the heat is not too high, it should just be gently bubbling. After this, add a ladle of the stock at a time and stir between each addition until the liquid is almost absorbed. After about 20 mins the rice will be almost cooked. It might not be necessary to use all the stock so keep tasting the rice. When it feels almost done to you, stop adding stock. It should be nicely moist, and a touch under cooked (even if you like it al dente). Then add your asparagus and one last ladle full of stock. Stir everything together until the asparagus is bright green and the stock has almost absorbed again (don't let it get too dry). remove from the heat so that no more of the liquid evaporates. You can finish it at this point by mixing in a few knobs of butter and/or some cheese (parmesan is good but you can use a few different ones, whatever you have left over in the fridge) Alternatively, like we did you can be more healthy and just finish by stirring in a good dollop of olive oil. Check the seasoning now and and add some salt and pepper if necessary. Then sprinkle with a grated parmesan.

Happy Bruv

You can make the basic risotto (risotto bianco) by forgoing the tomatoes and just using the butter, garlic and onion.

Other great combinations for risotto include:

quatro formaggio (4 cheeses, whichever ones you like!)

Blue cheese and herbs such as sage or rosemary

dried/ wild mushrooms (nicer if you use a beef stock)

home made pesto