Veggie or not – take 2! … the “not” element, the notes… and the dumplings

the “not” element

Turn your veggie soup into “not” if you prefer. Remember the bag of chicken bits stripped from your Sunday slow cooked chicken? Add the bits of chicken to your soup after you've blitzed and thickened.

the notes

Without being too ridiculous try and keep your carrot, onion and potato a similar size so that they cook evenly.

Don't put potatoes in with the carrots, onion and oil – the starch that is released from the potatoes means that they will cement themselves to the bottom of your saucepan!

If you want to shuck your chickpeas i.e. remove the outer husk, have a look at the blog for Sunday 18thMarch 2018 – Veggie Rendang – the shucking and the photos – The shucking stuff which gives you chapter, verse and photos.

If your soup is to include the bits of chicken you could use your chicken stock from slow cooking your chicken on Sunday instead of vegetable stock.

The savoury equivalent to the “cherry on the top of the cake” is a dumpling. Vegetarian suet is out there!

the dumplings

100g/4oz self raising flour

50g/2oz vegetarian suet

pinch of salt – mixed together

Add 100ml cold water, gradually to mix

and form into balls – 4 large or 8 small

Bring your soup to a simmer then add the dumplings, cover and continue to simmer for 20 minutes.

What you do is up to you

weigh your dumpling ingredients ahead and

set aside, covered in your mixing bowl

Make the stock base for the soup on Sunday – take it as far

as you've time or inclination and all that's left

is the blitzing, forming the dumplings and then

simmering for 20 minutes

Here's your bowl of comfort!

Finally – if you don't fancy adding the chicken to your soup you could always dip into your box of bacon bits and throw in a handful or two after you've blitzed and thickened – just a thought!

Veggie or not – take 2!

It's Thursday evening and soup's up.

Carrot, Coriander and Chickpea Soup

1lb/500g Charlotte potatoes, peeled and diced

l large onion, finely chopped

4 large carrots, peeled and diced

2 stockpots, vegetable or chicken

1 litre of water

1 tsp mild curry powder

1 heaped tsp coriander

Salt and black pepper

Rapeseed oil

1 can 400g/240g drained weight can of chickpeas -

(14oz/8½oz) drained and shucked

(optional – see notes to follow)

with veggie dumplings

Soften onion and carrot in drop of rapeseed oil for approx 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add curry powder, coriander and black pepper, cook the spices with the onion and carrot for 2 minutes so that the flavours are released.

Add the stockpots, plus 500ml water and simmer until the pots have melted.

Add the diced potatoes and the remaining 500ml of water, bring to the boil then simmer for 10 minutes until the carrot and potatoes are cooked. Taste, then add salt to personal taste.

At this point you can set aside the soup until you are ready to serve.

Before serving pop 3 ladles of soup into a food processor/liquidiser and blitz. Tip the thickened soup back into your remaining soup, add the chickpeas, heat and serve.

By blitzing a portion of the soup no artificial thickening is required. The potato is your thickener and the joy of using a variety like Charlotte is that those left in the soup retain their shape - together with the other veggies and the chickpeas it is definitely a soup of substance!

Stand by for the “not” element, the notes and the dumplings.

Veggie or not, here I come ...

… now for the “not” … and the photos.

Remember lining a baking sheet with bacon on Sunday and turning it into boxed bits?

The method in my madness is simple – if you have meat eaters to cater for then now is the time to dip into your Sunday stash of boxed bacon bits and sprinkle liberally over the top of your orzotto with miso roasted mushrooms .

Here are the photos :

Bacon bits in a box!

Everyone's happy.

Veggie or not, here I come!

Miso roasted mushrooms

Serves 4

250g chestnut mushrooms, sliced

3 tbsps miso paste

2 tsps soy sauce

2 tbsps mirin

1 tbsp dark soft brown sugar

Mix the ingredients thoroughly into a marinade. Box and set aside. Add the marinade to the mushrooms an hour before roasting to give it time to infuse, use a strong plastic food bag.

When you're ready to cook, pre-heat your oven 150fan/170c/Gas 3.

Place your marinaded mushrooms into a foil tray and roast for 15-20 minutes.

In case you're not familiar with miso paste, I used brown rice miso - it is available in most large supermarkets.

It's up to you what you do

You can roast the mushrooms the day before but reduce the

time to 10 minutes and then either re-heat in the oven for 10 minutes

or warm through in a small saucepan whilst making the

orzotto

Here's what to expect :

the marinaded mushrooms

then roasted

and served

Ta dah!

Veggie or not – orzotto photo-guide

Here they are :

Onions and orzo

Stock and wine added

it glistens – just like the real thing!

Add the Parmesan – creamier - even better

Add the parsley – better still

How good does it look?

Stand by for the miso roasted mushrooms!

It's Wednesday evening …

… veggie or not, here I come!

Tonight it's orzotto with miso roasted mushrooms.

If you've not come across orzo before let me enlighten you, orzo is a pasta and it looks exactly like rice. If you're a lover of risotto but haven't the time or the inclination to make it when you come home from a hard day at work, orzotto is the answer.

Orzotto

Serves 4

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped finely

260g orzo pasta

425ml chicken stock (or vegetable)

75ml dry white wine

2 tbsps lemon juice

200g frozen petit pois

2 tbsp fresh pesto

bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped

75g parmesan cheese, grated

black pepper

extra grated parmesan to serve

Heat the oil in a large frying pan on a medium heat and fry the onion for 2/3 minutes. Add the dry white wine and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in orzo and cook for 1-2 minutes and then add the stock all at once. Simmer and stir occasionally for 7/8 minutes until nearly cooked. Stir in the lemon juice and the frozen peas. Simmer for a minute and then add the parmesan cheese and continue to simmer for 2 minutes until the peas are cooked then add the pesto and the parsley.

Season to taste with black pepper and serve with an extra sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

If you want to omit the wine increase the stock to 500ml.

It's up to you what you do

If you want to weigh your ingredients ahead I can only tell you that it doesn't take long at all and the pleasure you'll get when it takes you 15 minutes to cook and you're ready to serve is not to be sniffed at. The choice – as they say – is yours!

Photo-guide up next.

Faff free foto guide … the Kedgeree

Here's the usual step by step guide :

I am my own worst critic … I loved it. The smoked fish and the sweetness in the curry sauce is a perfect combination.

Lunch box anyone?

I've passed this box to a friend – I hate waste!

Will let you know the verdict.