I, like almost everyone else I know, am dosing up. Supping at a honey & lemon while considering a purchase of vitamin C & zinc tablets (the latest in a line of 'if you want to avoid getting ill you should...') As the lurgy inevitably closes in & essay planning reaches - excuse the pun - fever pitch, I still try to take comfort in cooking snug, wintry dishes that also contribute to the armour of my immune system. I've been taking full advantage of the weather having finally taken a colder turn (although I am wearing all of my clothes now so I'd rather it didn't get any colder) to cook up plenty of soups, stews & pies. Too many afternoons spent rattling a Heinz tin to retrieve the last cubed carrot, I recently decided that there was really no excuse for me not to have attempted to make soup from scratch.
Not only would I have the knowledge of every pinch that went into it but the ritual of my biggest pot blipping away for an hour or so on the hob appealed to me - roughly chopping root vegetables, crumbling stock cubes into boiling water & buttering bread to dunk into the puréed pulses, all while I could sit happily reading at the kitchen table. Lately I've tried the earthy celeriac & apple soup from my much-loved 'A Modern Way To Eat' by Anna Jones - initially just a little worried that I'd made an oversized batch of apple sauce ('the problem being...?' I hear you cry), I actually found the that sweetness of the apples balanced the liquorice undertones of the not-exactly-glamorous celeriac, topped off with an indulgent splash of brown butter & a handful of toasted hazelnuts. Mostly due to my mother's completely unfounded hatred of most root vegetables, I'd never tried celeriac before but it's certainly something I'd happily cook again, shredded into mash or made into soup.
Once all of the leftovers had been eaten up, I set about making a second batch of soup, this time from a recipe on one of my more recent discoveries in terms of food blogs, a delectably deep curried butternut squash soup from 'A Thought for Food'. I'm always looking for new ways of using butternut squash that isn't my usual polenta-crusted wedges served with veggie burritos & or folded into a split lentil dhaal like this favourite from Lisa of 'That's Food Darling'. Chopped & simmered in a generous selection of spices, the simplicity of the recipe surprised me in its depth of flavour: sweet, creamy & warming all at once. Topped with a dollop of tangy creme fraiche & a scattering of roasted seeds really made it for me not only on the day but also the two following.
Spurred on by celeriac (not a phrase I thought I'd use all too often), it was more root vegetable recipes that I was seeking for the rest of the week which lead me to this recipe from, yes, Anna Jones & to the domination of my fridge by the three punnets of mushrooms, bundles of carrots, parsnips & swede that this pie called for. I spent almost three hours peeling, chopping & grating, boiling, blanching & baking but suffice to say that it was a labour of love. This rosti is essentially red onions, chestnut mushrooms, carrots & swede simmered in the creme fraiche I managed to resist spooning into my soup, white wine, wholegrain honeyed mustard & an amazing vegetarian alternative to Lea & Perrins' that Ava of 'Guac & Roll' put me onto by the name of Mushroom Gravy. Praise be! This unsuspecting sauce is already making its way into toppings for cheese on toast & chilli non carne shortly & it something of a revelation for me. All of this was crowned with a crisp, thatched topping of grated parsnips that looked good & tasted even better.
Until then, I've still got a lot of Camus criticism to be reading & so I'll be sticking to stews & microwavable leftovers (hello tonight's dinner) until the foreseeable future - I've keen to try this healing looking curried yellow split pea soup from 'Sprouted Kitchen', Yotam Ottlolenghi's new take on the most festive of vegetables in his brussel sprout risotto(!) & Ava's stuffed sweet potatoes, all ideal hibernation food while it's not looking especially tempting outside.
On that note, I think my hot water bottle is due a refill & time for another serving of that mushroom & parnsip rosti pie.
What've you been dishing up lately? Any nut roast recipes you'd like to share?
Speak soon - O.
