Black-Eyed Peas and Broccoli Soup

For those of you asking about my allotment and vegetable growing antics.  I have started sowing some seeds.  Tomatoes on the window sill in our home; and all other seeds like climbing beans, broad beans, peas, courgettes in the greenhouse. 

Now onto some food.  For those of you who read my blog post last weekend about Broccoli, this may not come as a surprise to you - as yes, in true style D did come home again from the supermarket  with, Drum roll please - Yes more Broccoli head!

And it won't be a surprise to you Again, when i tell you that I made another Broccoli soup.  I chopped the florets roughly and added it to this spicy Black Eyed Pea soup. I wanted it to cook the broccoli down, so that it would disintegrate, fall apart and get lost in the soup, but its still visible. 

It actually turned out to be a good bowl of soup.  I especially liked the black eyed peas which i don't eat often, but when i do.  I really enjoy them as they satisfyingly melt in the mouth that I can only describe like snow on your tongue with a light buttery sweetness.  The broth is lightly spiced with  cayenne, paprika and cumin.  The broccoli is optional if you want to give the soup some depth.  Also if you do decide to make this soup, you will need to soak the black eyed peas overnight or at least 2 hours before you make this recipe. 

I am sharing this Black-Eyed Peas with Broccoli with Soup, Salad and Sammies hosted by Kahakai Kitchen. 

Now onto this cake, another recipe that i am blaming on D as we had bananas going black and brown in the fruit bowl, and I really dislike waste.  

Pea Shoots, Red Pepper and Potato Curry

Not the biggest harvest from the garden, but we are beginning to get some homegrown vegetables and fruit.

I don't think we are going to do well with the broad beans.  A lot of the plants were smothered in black fly. The climbing peas called Telephone and Champion - I am already pondering whether i would grow them again, as lots of height, but not much yeild, but they are growing. 

The Dwarf Purple beans called hestia are doing really well.  Of course, got to take into consideration they are a month in advance of the other climbing bean plants as it was given to us by our neighbour. We are gowing them in pots.

And first courgette. The courgette leaves are growing magnificently, they are huge like a fan, but the courgettes themselves have been a bit disappointing. I have had to cut of a number of the courgettes off as they were moulding.  I think the rain is to blame. I am sharing this very small harvest with Dave over at Happy Acres who hosts Harvest Monday every week.

I also made this Red Pepper, Potato and Pea Shoots Curry with pea shoots from the garden. 

It's not a bad follow on from the Pea Shoots and Asparagus Pasta Salad that I shared last week. This Red Pepper, Potato and Pea Shoots Curry is adapted from my Marrow Curry with Fenugreek, rich, buttery and mildly spicy. 

Pea Shoots, Red Pepper and Potato Curry
Serves 4 - 6
Ingredients
100g butter or vegetable oil
3 medium onions, minced
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 inch of ginger, grated or minced
1 teaspoon of salt or to taste
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder
2 fresh green or red chillies, sliced or 1 teaspoon of chilli powder or to taste
1 x 400g tinned tomatoes
2 red peppers, chopped into cubes
1 large potato, peeled and chopped into small cubes
Bunch of Pea Shoots, leaves removed from the stalk
Method
In a large wide pan, heat the oil then add the minced onions, garlic and ginger and cook until transparent, add the spices and cook until the butter or oil rises to the surface. 
Add the tomatoes and cook until broekn down.  I tend to use a masher.
Then stir in the potatoes pieces and cook until beginning to soften, but still has some bite. 
Stir now and again to stop the sauce and potato from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Add a splash of water if necessary.
When the potato is nearly cooked, stir in cubed red pepper.
Cook for a few minutes, before stirring in the pea shoot leaves.  
Cook until the leaves have wilted properly, like spinach that they almost coat the vegetables.
Serve with rice, roti or naan bread. 

Broccoli Soup with Cream of Horseradish

I am surprised at quite how often broccoli nearly goes to waste in my home, but always rescued from finding its way to the compost bin in the form of a bowl of soup. 

It has been welcome, especially as the temperature has dropped and the rain came drenching the soil. The plants and trees that I see outside my window are looking much better for it - truly lush and dare I compare and say that some even  look like broccoli heads sitting comfortably on the horizon. I will have to take a picture to show you what I see.


We have had this Broccoli Soup with Cream of Horseradish twice.  Firstly as is - just Broccoli and Lemon, the second time I remembered to stir in the creamed horseradish.

According to the cookbook and my pencil scribbles, I noted that I had made a variation of this soup in 2004 with shallots and lemon. The original recipe uses lime and fresh horseradish, but I have used horseradish from a jar, hence why this is not vegan. 

Whilst flicking through the cookbook, I wish I had also spotted this Broccoli and Ginger Soup recipe to make, well maybe next time.

I am sharing this Broccoli Soup with Cream of Horseradish with Soup, Salad and Sammies hosted by Kahakai Kitchen. 

Broccoli Soup with Cream of Horseradish
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium potato, peeled and cubed
Zest of a lemon
250g or thereabouts broccoli, chopped
800ml vegetable stock
2 teaspoons horseradish
Salt and pepper to taste
2-4 tablespoons chives, chopped
Method
Heat the oil in a wide pan, and saute the onions until translucent, then add the potatoes, lemon zest and cook for 5 minutes without colouring.  
Then stir in the broccoli and the vegetable stock.
Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
Turn off the heat, allow to cool before blending either with a hand blender or in a liquidiser.
Reheat season to taste and stir in the horseradish and chives, gently reheat before serving.
Adapted from New Covent Garden Soup Company's Soup and Beyond. The original recipe can also be found in their publication A Soup for Every Day: 3665 of our favoruite recipes

Red Yellow Green Macaroni Pasta Salad

We haven't had much of an appetite really, as we not expending much energy, but yesterday was different having spent much of it in the garden continuing with the digging and weeding that we had worked up an appetite.

I took me less than 30 minutes to put this dish  together and much of that was cooking of the macaroni pasta and lunch was served:  a big bowl of Red Yellow Green Macaroni Pasta Salad. 

The macaroni pasta is combined with colourful peppers, spring onions, black olives and then smothered in a Dijon Mayonnaise.  It really was one of the easiest lunches to put together and eat.  I served up and took my bowl outside to eat out in the sun, and I am not even a sun person. I am coming to appreciate my outdoor space a lot more than I have done so in the past. 

D enjoyed Macaroni Pasta Salad so much that he went back for a second helping.  I made a big batch that will serve us both for lunch today as well as tomorrow. I am sharing this  Red Yellow Green Macaroni Pasta Salad with Soup, Salad and Sammies hosted by Kahakai Kitchen.

Swiss Chard Paneer

Next weekend will be the weekend when we will turn our thoughts to the festive season.  Its the weekend we will also bring down the Christmas tree and decorations from the attic.. but this weekend is a lazy weekend.  So lazy that I have nothing of interest to share, I feel zapped and lacking both energy and enthusiasm.  I hope the festive season injects some pizazz into me! 

I made this Swiss Chard Paneer early this month.  Its an adaptation of Saag or Palak (Spinach) Paneer that you often find at South Asian take-aways and restaurants.

The rainbow chard came from my garden.  There is still plenty to harvest.  

The pan roasted paneer made for a change.  I normally just throw it in the dish and let it warm through, but fancied being a little bit naughty.  You can see the brand of paneer cheese I used if you visit my In My Kitchen blog post.  This was a gorgeous dish to eat with rice, the chard had softened so much that it coated the paneer like silk.  

So this recipe is my contribution to the last edition of  Eat Your Greens challenge that I co-hosted with The VegHog.  There is still time to join in if you want.  Follow this link on how to participate. 

Recipe below

Black chickpea and sweet potato frittata bites

I made these Black Chickpea and Sweet Potato frittata Bites over the festive period. 

I had some friends coming over for a few hours, so wanted to make some light bites and nibbles for them which included these Black chickpea and sweet potato frittata, which was sliced into bite size pieces.  Its both sweet and savoury.  You can see the studded black chickpeas and orange sweet potato chunks with a flicker of red here and there from a red pepper.  It was nice to nibble. 

As usual, I made way too much of this Black chickpea and sweet potato frittata bites. I wanted to give some to my guests to take home, but they were on their way somewhere else, so I ended up giving it to D to take into work the following day for his lunch at work.  He very much enjoyed it.  

I would like to add this is perhaps one of the easiest recipes to veganize by substituting the eggs for chickpea flour.  In fact, I may do that one day. 

By the way have you noticed that the food on my blog this week has been mostly burnished brown colours?!  

Sweet Paprika Mushroom Strogonoff

This is not the prettiest of pictures, in fact its a little hazy (in other words blurry) but I sill share it as it was delicious to eat. 

It is Sweet Paprika Mushroom Strogonoff that I made in December after work in the evening, another reason why its not well lit. The sweet paprika made a wonderful change form the smoked variety.

The Hungarian Paprika Mushroom recipe comes from Entertaining Vegetarians by Celia Brooks. Celia's recipe is made with Chanterelle mushroom, but it is not easy to find them fresh in my part of the world, so I used some dried chanterelle mushrooms in the cupboard and rehydrated them.  I also added some mangetout to the pot as I felt it needed a bit of crunch and colour, but once it was served up I realised the mangetout was not necessary and the burnished red tones imparted by the paprika gave it a warming glow that only made me feel happy eating it.  

Black Chickpeas Salad with Coriander

The weather is so changeable at the moment, its gone all warm again.

I came home a little earlier than usual and wanted to eat something quite light, hence this Black Chickpeas Salad with Coriander.

Of course, this was not going to be enough as a meal for two, so alongside the Black Chickpeas Salad with Coriander, I made a Tomato Tarte Tatin.  It made for a nice change.  The feta here is optional, I used it as that is what I had in the fridge, but you could substitute it with halloumi cheese or if your going for a vegan or dairy free option, perhaps smoked tofu.  I think you need a soft texture with the nutty black chickpeas and the fragrant herb brings it all together.

What I like about this salad too, it that it is quite seasonal in colours - going all autumnal, but also a perfect salad to knock up for a Halloween feast if you are planning a vegan or vegetarian Black Food Menu.  

Please don't worry too much if you can't find black chickpeas where you are, just substitute it with the traditional kind, but  do try and find them - You will always find them in South Asian supermarkets or greengrocers and they are sold as Kala Channa.  However, I have noted over the past couple of years, even supermarkets are selling Indian brands labelled as Kala Chana and they are reasonably priced, you can get three tins for a pound in some places (see here), and in a time of austerity - every pound matters.  You can even find the dried variety too, but that takes a little more forward planning.  

I am sharing this Black Chickpeas Salad with Coriander with Souper Sundays hosted by Kahakai Kitchen. I mentioned before, I don't always get to join in, but it is a pleasure when I do.  Thanks for hosting Deb; and also #EatYourGreens Vegetarian and Vegan Blog challenge hosted by me this month.  Eat Your Greens is also co-hosted by The VegHog.  Please do join in.  For those of you who have not participated before, please Follow this link on how to join in . 

Etsis Turlu - Rich Summer Vegetable Stew

I've been cooking quite a lot of Middle Eastern recipes recently.  It started with the  Iranian Pearl Barley Soup known as Ash-e Jo or Ash-e-Jow  early this year when we had freakish snow and with the unusual hot weather continuing, now I have Etsis Turlu.   

According to the cookbook author this Etsis Turlu comes from Turkey.

With the rain over the weekend, it was the perfect excuse to make a stew more suited for autumnal days and colder evenings, but i have lots of summer vegetables including courgettes, marrows and green beans coming from the garden that I wanted  to make the most of it, even if it is the height of summer.

This stew will last us good three days of the working week and we intend to eat it with couscous, bulgar wheat, rice or crusty bread.  

I am sharing this  Etsis Turlu Stew with Souper Sundays hosted by Kahakai Kitchen.