Provencale Prawn Soup (aka the Greenhouse Soup)

I thought it was bad enough going gluten free, but when I recently found out that fellow GF Blogger, Karina ( of Gluten Free Goddess fame) has a whole, HUGE list of 'no-no's', it made me realise how easy I have it, really. By The Bay challenged the GF community to come up with new or adapted recipes that would be suitable for Karina and the first appropriate one of mine that sprung to mind was this one.

This Provencale Prawn Soup is a GF adaptation of a recipe from the June issue of delicious. Magazine (to which I recently treated myself with a subscription). It uses so many of the vegetables that are in season right now, that I re-christened it the Greenhouse Soup. While the original recipe calls for prawns, I think a good version could also be made using chicken or firm white fish with the appropriate stock. Of course you could always keep it fully vegetarian as well.


Provencale Prawn Soup

3 tbsp Olive Oil
15 Large Cooked Prawns (peeled, tails intact, shells reserved)
1 tsp Tomato Puree
100 ml Water
1/2 Large Red Pepper (deseeded and chopped)
1 Large Ripe Tomato (deseeded and chopped)
1/4 Small Cucumber (deseeded and chopped)
1 Large Clove Garlic
1/2 Clove Garlic (crushed)
150 ml Vegetable Stock
Approx 6 Cherry Tomatoes
1 Pinch Cayenne Pepper
1 Pinch Sugar
2 tsp Fresh Basil Pesto (I make my own with Basil, Pine Nuts, Garlic and Olive Oil)
Basil Leaves to garnish


1) Heat 2 tbsps olive oil in a large pan. Add the prawn shells and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the tomato puree, cover with the water and simmer for 5 minutes. Transfer to a food processor and blend until smooth. Press through a fine sieve to leave a smooth 'stock' and clean out the food processor.

2) Add the chopped pepper, tomato, cucumber, garlic clove and a little olive oil to the processor and blend until smooth. Remove the tails from 3 of the prawns and blend with the vegetables. Transfer to a pan, stir through the prawn stock and heat gently.

3) Mix the prawns and cherry tomatoes with the crushed garlic and a little olive oil. Season well before roasting or grilling for 5 minutes.

4) Stir the cayenne, sugar and seasoning into the soup and divide between 2 bowls. Top with the prawns, cherry tomatoes, a teaspoon of pesto and seasoning as required.

I'm Loving... Risotto

I admit it. I've been on somewhat of a risotto binge recently...
Until recently, I'd never really cooked the stuff but when shopping last month, I picked up a box of Arborio rice and figured I'd give it a go. And then another go. And then another because the first ideas were just so nice.

The wonderful thing about risottos is that you can put near enough anything you like into them and they're really very simple to make. Depending on your ingredients, they can be light or rich and work as either side dishes or as main courses in their own right. While my main picture is of a chicken variation, I've also had huge success with other ones as well. Below is my recipe for a basic Risotto 'Blanco' - do try making variations such as Mushroom risotto, Pea and Smoked Mackerel risotto or my Personal Trainer, Emma's favourite, Asparagus, Pea and Mint risotto - absolutely perfect for this time of year!


Risotto Blanco

1 cup Arborio Rice
1 Onion (chopped finely)
1 clove Garlic (minced)
2 cups Chicken (or Vegetable) Stock
1 heaped tbsp Parmesan
1 tbsp Butter
Salt & Pepper

1) In a saucepan, melt the butter and slowly saute the garlic and onion together until soft (but not brown). [If using meat or mushrooms, I add them now]. Add the rice and continue to fry gently for a couple of minutes.

2) Add the stock and bring to a gentle simmer. Cover the pan and stir every few minutes until the rice absorbs the liquid and it 'just' tender - it should still have a little 'bite' to it. (You may need to add more stock during cooking). [If using vegetables, I tend to add them towards the end of cooking so they aren't overdone].

3) Stir through the parmesan, salt and pepper to taste. The finished consistency should be tender grains that are almost creamy.

Pasta Primavera

With recent high pressure systems over the UK bringing unseasonably warm weather, Spring has most definitely sprung. The trees are very nearly green, the flush of cherry blossom is blowing away, and spring flowers are blooming everywhere. With the British asparagus season just starting, I'm in nearly the perfect location to take advantage of some of the best spears in the country - I'm just down the road from Evesham.
Now the weekend before last I tried my hand at making fresh pasta - it worked well, but I didn't roll it out thinly enough and it *really* didn't look pretty enough to share pics. Fortunately I froze some of the dough, which meant tonight I had fun rolling it out really thinly. Result? pretty damn good pasta, even if I do say so myself - will share the recipe another time.

The sauce recipe is loosely based on one I saw on the BBC's Saturday Kitchen show, but makes more use of the seasonal, spring vegetables I have to hand. Oh yeah, and guess who's still trying to finish up the purple sprouting broccoli? ;-)

Enough fresh spaghetti for one person
6 Asparagus Spears (chopped into 1" lengths)
4 Purple Sprouting Broccoli Spears (chopped into 1" lengths)
1 large handful Frozen Peas (fresh would have been better, but I didn't have any)
3 slices Prosciutto Ham (cut into small pieces)
2 tbsp Grated Parmesan (plus a little more to serve)
50g Butter
1/2 clove Garlic (crushed)
2 tsp mint (I used the freeze-dried stuff because I didn't have any fresh)
Salt and Pepper


1) Melt the butter in a small pan and fry the garlic for a few seconds.

2) Add the asparagus, broccoli and peas and stir in a little water. Continue to cook for a couple of minutes, stirring regularly.

3) Stir through the mint, parmesan, salt, pepper and ham and remove from the heat.

4) Cook your pasta in salted, boiling water; drain and toss with the sauce until well-covered.

Serve immediately with a little more parmesan and black pepper on top.

Chicken and Broccoli Stir-Fry

I finally found somewhere that sells gluten free oyster sauce! Wing Yip have supermarkets around the country, but none very convenient for me, so I placed an order online this weekend. Unfortunately the postage cost £5, so I made sure I got my money's worth by stocking up on a couple of jars of oyster sauce, Shaosing, bags of black fungus and dried chinese mushrooms, and some other bits and pieces - I've got a couple of recipes in mind for this week, can you tell? :-)

But in the absence of oyster sauce, what do you do when you receive the most enormous bunch of purple sprouting broccoli in your vegetable box?
On Saturday night, having just finished a stack of ironing, I realised it was getting pretty late and that I was actually, pretty hungry! Wanting something quick, I figured that a stir fry would work. If you have a rice cooker, it's even better because you can just set the rice cooking and by the time the rest is ready, the rice is cooked!

1 Chicken Breast (chopped into smallish pieces)
5 Purple Sprouting Broccoli Stems (chooped into 1" lengths)
1 Clove Garlic (crushed)
1/2" Fresh Ginger (sliced finely)
1 tbsp Cornflour
1 tbsp Oil
2 tbsp Soy Sauce
1/2 tsp 5 Spice Powder
1 large tbsp Honey
1 tbsp Lime Juice

1) Mix the chicken with the cornflour and a little of the oil until well-coated. Set aside for 15 minutes. (This is where you start preparing your rice and cooking it ;-) )

2) Blanch the broccoli in boiling water for a couple of minutes; drain and set aside.

3) Fry the garlic and ginger in the remainder of the oil for 30 seconds. Add the chicken and continue to cook until sealed. Add the broccoli and stir-fry until the chicken is *just* cooked.

4) Mix the soy sauce, lime juice, honey and five spice together before adding to the pan. Stir through until everything is well-coated. Serve immediately over your rice.

Mixed Bean and Olive Chilli

This chilli was one of my 'must-get-recipe-from-mum' ones, because it's wonderfully quick, cheap and with the exception of the minced beef, makes use of lots of storecupboard bits - brilliant if you've not been shopping for a while. That said, this week I registered with a couple of supermarkets who do online shopping / delivery services; not for the convenience (although having your groceries delivered is always a bonus and has the advantage in that it's one less car going to the supermarket), but for the simple reason that I'm a compulsive impulse buyer. Let me lose in a supermarket and I can inevitably find a hundred and one things that I *need* but weren't on my shopping list. So yeah, I signed up for online shopping. My biggest reason NOT to go shopping online before now was mainly for the fruit and vegetables - I'm really fussy and like to pick 'just' the right ones that are ripe. Now I get my organic vegetables delivered as well, it's no longer a problem!

Anyhow, back on to the chilli...
Best made with 2-for-one minced beef (on offer of course), a leftover chunk of cheese from the fridge, plus the few other random ingredients you may have laying around in your storecupboard.
Happy cooking, and I hope your weather is as nice as it is here!

500g Lean Minced Beef
1 Medium Onion (chopped finely)
1 Tin Mixed Beans (rinsed well)
Approx 12 Green Olives (stoned and chopped in half)
2 tbsp Tomato Puree
2 tbsp Sundried Tomato Paste
2 tbsp Chilli Powder (hot or mild, your call)
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Minced Garlic
1 Beef Stock Cube
Grated Cheese (for topping with)
Oil

Preheat oven to 200 Celcius

1) Fry the garlic and onions in a little oil until browned. Add the minced beef and continue to cook until brown.

2) Add the tomato puree and paste, chilli powder, cinnamon, beans ad olives. Mix well and stir in the beef stock cube with a little water. tir again and allow to simmer gently for 15 minutes.

3) Transfer to an ovenproof dish, cover with grated cheese and bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese is just browning and going crispy on the top. Serve with rice and/or tortilla chips.

Chicken and Pesto Lasagne

Another recipe inspired by delicious Magazine's Italian special!
Any GF'er knows that shop-bought, gluten free pasta is a really hit-or-miss affair - I've been cooking and eating gluten free since January now and in that time have come across some real winners and losers insofar as pasta is concerned. Delicious Magazine had a recipe for making your own fresh egg pasta and I had intended to make my own lasagne sheets for this recipe that I dreamt up. Unfortunately we had scrambled eggs for breakfast and guess who forgot to buy more... As a result I was forced to use 'quick' pasta sheets which resulted in a rather chewy lasagne because there's not a lot of liquid in it. Note to self - remember to buy lots of eggs next time! Other than that, this recipe tasted *really* good - again, shop-bought green pesto can either be really good or really bad. Fortunately it's really easy to make although my basil plant's looking a little sorry for itself now :-)

Serve the lasagne with fresh salad leaves - I dress mine with my favourite Honey and Balsamic Vinegar Dressing

30g Fresh Basil Leaves
100g Pine Nuts
2 Cloves Garlic
100ml Olive Oil

2 Chicken Breasts (chopped into small chunks)
1/2 Smoked Sausage (Matthesons (Kielbasa-style), chopped into half-rounds)
1 Small Onion (chopped finely)

1/2 Pint Milk
200g Cheddar (grated)
100g Mozzarella (sliced)
20g Parmesan
1 Bay Leaf
1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
2 tbsp Cornflour

12 - 15 Fresh Lasagne Sheets
Salt & Pepper

Preheat oven to 180 Celcius

1) Make the pesto first; blend all ingredients together in a food processor or with a hand blender, to a creamy consistency.

2) Fry the onion in a little oil until golden. Add the chicken and sausage and fry until cooked through and slightly crispy. Set aside.

3) Make the cheese sauce; mix the cornflour in a little of the milk until smooth, before adding the rest of the milk. Heat gently in a saucepan and stir in the nutmeg, bay leaf, parmesan and half of the Cheddar. Stir until thickened and set aside, removing the bay leaf just before use.

4) Assemble the lasagne; place the chicken and sausage mixture evenly over the bottom of a 9" square oven dish. Place alternate layers of lasagne sheets and pesto, finishing with a layer of pasta. Top with the cheese sauce followed byt he mozzarella slices and the remainder of the Cheddar.

5) Bake for approximately 30 minutes until the pasta is tender and the cheese is browned on top.

Gnocchi With Sausage and Sweet Chilli Tomato Sauce

I remember eating gnocchi in a restaurant years ago and being completely put off by the plate of dense, slimy blobs. Now, many years later I felt that I ought to give the humble potato pasta another try. Inspired by Delicious Magazine's Italian month, the gnocchi here were adapted from one of their recipes to be gluten free. I also made a different sauce using my favourite Matthesons sausages (the British version of kielbasa (I think), which I recently discovered were gluten free), in a tomato and sweet chilli sauce.

The results?
Beautiful, light and fluffy diamonds, half eaten straight away and the other half stored in the freezer for another day. Brilliant!

Gnocchi
These take a little planning in advance as the potatoes need cooking and then ricing / mashing.
I baked my potatoes as it helps dry them out a little.

500g Baking Potatoes
150g GF Flour (or '00' pasta flour for non GF people)
2 Medium Eggs (lightly beaten)
1/2 tsp Salt

1) Prick the potato skins and bake until cooked - time depends on the size of the potatoes.

2) Using a spoon, scoop out the insides and pass through a potato ricer (or do as I do, and press through a sieve).

3) Add the eggs, flour and salf and combine into a pliable dough. Divide into quarters, rolling each quarter into a 1" 'tube'. Flatten slightly and cut into even diamond-shaped pieces.

4) To cook, cook in salted, boiling water for 2 - 3 minutes. Drain and melt a little butter into the gnocchi before serving.


Sausage and Sweet Chilli Tomato Sauce

1 Small Tin Chopped Tomatoes
1 tbsp Tomato Puree
1 Small Onion (chopped finely)
1 tsp Chilli Flakes
2 tsp Sugar
1/2 Smoked Sausage / Kielbasa (chopped into 1/4" rounds)
1 Handful Basil Leaves (rouchly chopped)
Oil
Salt & Pepper


1) Lightly fry the Onions in a little oil until golden. Add the sausage and heat through until the sausage has nice crispy edges.

2) Lower the heat and stir through the tinned tomatoes, puree, chilli flakes and sugar. Simmer until the liquid content has reduced by about half.

3) Stir in the basil and seasoning to taste.


Serve the sauce over the gnocchi and finish with fresh parmesan and basil leaves.

Spring Lamb with Roasted New Potatoes

From the picture, this may not look like all that much, but I think I'm on to a winner here and it certainly gets the thumbs up!
While in the UK we can get good lamb imported from New Zealand for the whole year round, April is the start of the British lamb season and Easter weekend is also usually associated with lamb (which is of course, why I have a joint of pork :-) ). The British lamb season runs from April to October, with the best lamb coming later in the season.

While we're still a little early for new potatoes (which have the best season between May and July), the imported ones do still work nicely with the lamb. I served the lamb and potatoes with Cauliflower and Broccoli Cheese and gravy made with the meat juices. Mmmmmyummy!


4 Small(ish) Lamb Leg Steaks
1 Heaped tsp Mint Sauce
1 tsp Minced Garlic
1/2 tsp Wholegrain Mustard
2 tsp Redcurrant Jelly
2 tbsp Lemon Juice
Salt & Pepper

New Potatoes
A Little Oil
1 tsp Mint Sauce
Salt & Pepper

Preheat Oven to 180 C

1) Mix the mint sauce, garlic, mustard, redcurrant jelly, salt, pepper and lemon juice and marinate the lamb in an ovenproof dish for at least 20 minutes.

2) Boil the new potatoes in enough salted water to cover them, until nearly cooked

3) Drain and return to the pan with a little oil, mint sauce and seasoning and shake gently to coat. Bake for 30 minutes on a baking sheet, turning once during cooking to brown move evenly.

4) Bake the lamb in the dish it marinated in, for 20 minutes at the top of the oven.

Soy Glazed Salmon with Sesame Seeds

I was going to give you this recipe I came up with along with the recipe for the vegetable rice noodles that I did with it, but I've still not managed to cook rice noodles so they don't stick to the pan and disintegrate (any hints anyone? I soak in cold water for 10 minutes and then blanche in boiling water until soft)! So until I suss the noodles, you'll have to make do with the salmon by itself - not literally of course; it would go perfectly well with normal egg noodles or rice and stir-fried vegetables.

2 Salmon Fillets
3 tbsp Honey
2 tbsp Soy Sauce (Gluten-Free if you are that way inclined)
1 tsp 5-Spice Powder
1 tsp Minced Garlic
2 tbsp Sesame Seeds

Preheat oven to 180 C

1) Mix the honey, soy sauce, 5-spice and garlic together well.

2) Spoon 2 tbsp of the marinade on to a plate and place the salmon fillets face-down into the sauce so the flesh gets flavoured. Cover and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.

3) Place the salmon skin-side down on a small baking tray and bake for 15 minutes before removing from the oven.

4) Turn on the grill to high, spoon a little more marinade over each piece of salmon and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Grill on high until the top of the fish is slightly caramelised and the seeds are turning golden.

Mushroom Stroganoff

"Beef stroganoff is a dish consisting of strips of lean beef sauteed and served in a sour-cream sauce with onions and mushrooms. The reicpe, which is of Russian origin, has been known since the eighteenth century, but its name appears to come from County Paul Stroganoff, a nineteeth-century Russian diplomat." An A-Z of Food & Drink, John Ayto

While I would usually make this recipe with beef as is traditional, I wanted something really quick after the gym last week that would also do me for lunch the next day, so I threw this mushroom version together. Although traditional stroganoff recipes call for a sauce comprising bouillon and sour cream, I like mine with tomato puree (as served by my mother and apparently Brazilians) and a little wholegrain mustard. This dish is wonderful with creamy mashed potatoes or rice and mine is pictured here with stir-fried cabbage as well.

To make this recipe with beef, you can use cheap cuts of stewing or braising steak, sliced very thinly and fried, a little at a time in the pan and allowing the whole dish to simmer for at least an hour before adding the sour cream.

500g Chestnut Mushrooms (sliced to about quarter of an inch thick)
1 Medium Onion (chopped finely)
500ml Beef Stock
1 Heaped tsp Wholegrain Mustard
1 Heaped tsp Tomato Puree
Sour Cream to Taste
Salt & Fresh Black Pepper
A Little Oil (As usual, I used groundnut oil)

Serves 2

1) Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onions until just going brown.

2) Tip in all of the sliced mushrooms (there will seem to be a lot, but they will shrink!) and gently fried until just soft and slightly browned.

3) Pour in the beef stock and stir in the mustard, tomato puree, salt and pepper. Simmer for 20 minutes until the stock has reduced by about a third.

4) Stir in sour cream to taste, and serve immediately.

Purple Sprouting Broccoli With Anchovy, Garlic and Butter Sauce

Now's the season for purple sprouting broccoli - one of my all-time favourite vegetables!
Like other cruciferous vegetables, broccoli contains the phytonutrients sulforaphane and the indoles, which have significant anti-cancer effects. It is also incredibly high in vitamins C, K and A, dietary fibre and folate, as well many other minerals and B vitamins.

This is based on a recipe I saw in Country Living this month, and makes a really nice vegetarian lunch or starter. If serving as a starter, make sure it comes before a robust main course, because it is VERY strong-flavoured! I did mine for lunch with buttered, boiled potatoes.

Anchovy, Garlic and Butter Sauce:
3 Cloves Garlic
100ml Milk
6 Anchovy Fillets in Olive Oil
Softened Butter (cut into small cubes)

1) Heat the milk in a small pan with the garlic cloves until the garlic is tender

2) Carefully blend the milk, garlic and anchovy fillets in a food processor (I use the Herb attachment on my funky Braun hand blender set)

3) Add the butter and blend again until the sauce is smooth. Set aside and warm just before serving.


Plus:
A Good Serving of Purple Sprouting Broccoli
- Try to get broccoli with stems no wider than 1cm but it this isn't possible, split the stems lengthways up towards the floret head to ensure even cooking.

1) Bring approximately 200ml water to the boil in a large saucepan and add broccoli stems. Put the pan lid on and boil for 5 minutes before turning off the heat and allowing to continue cooking in the steam until tender.

2) Drain and toss in a little olive oil.

3) Serve with a small ramekin of the sauce or pour a little over the broccoli prior to serving.

Cabbage and Bacon Gratin

One of the great things about having your veggies delivered is that you never quite know what you're going to be having for dinner that week - I struck it lucky this time with red onions and a savoy cabbage. Cabbage is extremely high in Vitamins, especially C, K, B1, B2 and B6. It is also very high in folic acid, omega 3 oils, dietary fibre and a whole host of minerals including calcium and potassium. Using the leftover bacon in the fridge after making soup, this has to be one of my favourite ways of cooking cabbage and it goes really nicely with sausages and gravy - mine were Waitrose gluten-free, 'Cambridge style' sausages!

1 Medium Cabbage (any kind would work, roughly sliced)
1 Red Onion (cut in half and sliced)
4 Rashers Back Bacon (sliced into thin strips)
3 Medium Potatoes (peeled and sliced into discs)
1 tsp Minced Garlic
2 tbsp Oil (I use Groundnut)
1 Handful Cheddar Cheese (grated)
Salt & Pepper

Serves 3-4
Preheat oven to 180 Celcius

1) Boil sliced potatoes in lightly salted water for approximately 5 minutes until slightly softened, drain and put to one side.

2) Fry garlic and onions in a little of the oil, add bacon and cook until just browning. Season and set aside.

3) Fry the chopped cabbage with the remaining oil until just starting to soften, add the onion and bacon mixture and stir well.

4) Tip into a well-buttered oven dish, arrange potato slices on top, sprinkle with cheese and pepper.

5) Bake for approximately 30 minute until the top is golden and the potatoes are tender (oven-bakes sausages should take about the same length of time so put them in together).

Comforting Cottage Pie

I put this together to make use of a load of veggies I got in my delivery box.

500g Lean Minced Beef
1 Medium Onion, finely chopped
4 tsps Bisto Powder mixed with a little cold water
1 tbsp Tomato Puree
approx 6 Medium Potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 Small Swede, cubed
4 Carrots,
Butter
Salt
Pepper
A Little Oil
Parmesan / Pecorino Romano (optional)

- Serves 4
- Preheat oven to 180 Celcius

1) Put the potatoes on to boil in one pan, and the carrot and swede on to boil in a second pan.

2) Fry the onions until just golden, add the minced beef and cook until browned.

3) Stir in the tomato puree, Bisto and enough water so the meat isn't too dry, and allow to cook for about 15 minutes.

4) When the potatoes are cooked, drain and mash with a little butter (or milk) and put aside.

5) Roughly mash carrot and swede together with a little butter and pepper.

6) Layer the meat at the bottom of an ovenproof dish, followed by the carrot and swede mash and topped with the mashed potatoes

7) Grate a little parmesan or pecorino romano cheese over the top (optional).

8) Bake for 20-30 minutes and serve with something like broccoli and gravy.