Sweet Potato Soup

Sweet Potato Soup (four 4)

This is my favourite soup recipe, quick, easy and so tasty!

• 750g sweet potato - peeled and cubed (or a mix of sweet pots, butternut squash and carrots)
• 1 litre veg stock ( I use a stock cube)
• 1/2 onion (diced)
• coconut cream - tablespoon grated
• Spring onion - chopped, teaspoon grated ginger and teaspoon chopped garlic
• Pinch dried chilli flakes

 Cook onion gently in the pan and add stir fry paste until softened. Add vegetables and stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 mins. Take off the heat and add the coconut cream, stir in until melted. 

Use a stick blender to blitz or pour into a blender and blitz until smooth,sprinkle in the chilli flakes and season to taste.

This is a thick wholesome soup, great served with a dollop of soured cream or yoghurt. Or if you add more stock or even a can of coconut milk to thin it out it's a lovely light starter.

Sorry no pics at the moment - will add some next time I whizz up a batch!

Chinese-style Pork Loin

I just love char sui pork, this is a similar flavour just without the bright pink colour, possible msg and the takeway price tag!

This for my dad-in-law, Tony after I cooked it Friday night :) (told you I'd put it on here!)

Pork loin can look a bit unappetising before it's cooked, especially if you get a vacuum packed one from the supermarket. Alot of people are put off pork because they've eaten it when it's as dried up as an old boot, but give this a chance, it's good!

Easy and simple so I'm not even going to list the ingredients separately!

Put the pork loin in a roasting dish and add (roughly) a tablespoon of soy sauce,  and a splash of either cider, white wine or chicken stock (whatever you've got in the fridge) and sprinkle a couple of teaspoons of five-spice over the loin, also some powdered garlic if you have it (or just tuck some sliced garlic around the loin) and some star anise (if you don't have these don't worry)

Cover with foil and cook for half the time the loin needs to cook for (ask your butcher or read the packet) then remove the foil, turn the loin over, drizzle with 2 teaspoons (approx.) of honey, another sprinkle of 5 spice and soy sauce, and cook for the second half of the recommended cooking time.

Go for an all out chinese feel by slicing thinly and serving it with stir-fried vegetables cooked in a tasty sauce (try my spring onion and ginger sauce) and noodles or egg fried rice (click here for the recipe)

Feel free to experiement with different flavours (a bit of sweet chilli sauce if you like it hot) but this is a good base to work from, enjoy!

Spanish chicken bake

All quantities are approximate on this - whatever you have in fridge available at the time!

• 6 new potatoes
• 2 handfuls of cooked chicken (great for using the leftover roast from a sunday!)
• 1 handful of chopped chorizo (or use chopped bacon and 2 tsp of paprika)
• small red onion chopped into chunks
• 1 garlic clove - chopped
• 1 tin chopped toms
• splash of red wine / chicken stock

Boil new potatoes for 5 minutes, drain and add to roasting dish. Add everything else and stir well. Cook for 30mins at 200*C (gas 6), stir halfway through cooking.

Minimum effort, so tasty and minimum washing up, which is what I like!

Enjoy.

Classic Beef Stew

Beef Stew taste of nostalgia (for 4)

This beef stew always makes me think of my Nan, who sadly passed away last December. Many a rainy Sunday afternoon was spent with steaming bowls of stew, a stack of buttered bread and a squeeze of either brown or tomato sauce, followed by stewed apple and custard and either a game of Newmarket or Scrabble. Lots of my favourite early memories are spending time with my Nan, who taught me, above everything else, the most important thing to do in life is to be happy.

So to the recipie, this is as simple as you can get, the quicker you can chop the quicker it is to do, and no nonsense of the beef jumping in and out of the pan :). Oh yeah, you will need a BIG pan!

1lb cubed stewing steak

4 medium potatoes

1 small swede

1 medium white onion

1 parsnip

4 medium carrots

(There's other bits aswell but that's mainly store cupboard stuff)

• Finely dice the onion and cook slowly in a splash of olive oil, untill it's really softened, but don't let it brown.
• sprinkle the cubed beef with flour and salt n pepper and add to the pan, add a beef oxo and crank the heat up. You want to seal the beef and keep stiring untill it's just starting to catch.
• Turn the heat down whilst you add all the chopped veg ( chop into bitesize chunks but make sure the potato is slightly bigger or it will break up to easily) 
• Add boiling water just until the veggies are covered, bring back to the boil and then turn down to a low simmer.
• After an hour, add a teaspoon of marmite, half a teaspoon of mustard (I use dijon but whichever) and sprinkle in gravy granules whilst stirring until the gravy is as thick as you like.
• Leave it a bit longer (30 mins) if you can, stir occasionally so it doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan.

 That's it, serve and enjoy!