Snow Day Soup & Frolics.

Since Sunday afternoon it's been snowing and snowing...and snowing. Not the usual grey mushy stuff we have here in the UK but bona fide snowy powder, perfect for snowman making. Much excitement ensues when you work in Education as there is a possibility school will be closed and it will be officially declared a Snow Day. To be honest by 4am on Monday morning while watching Hubby slide up the drive for a days work in Brum (& consequently being stopped by the police and being told he was mad to drive to Brum) I decided I wasn't going to work. The idea of sliding down the lanes filled me with fear. Instead I settled down to a day in the house. Not only Monday but today, Tuesday, was also declared Snow Day.

As I've mentioned before, the residents of this little row of cottages come out in force when something is cracking off. Be it floods, powercuts or being snowed in we come together and sort the problem out then recover with a cup of tea...even if it is made on the BBQ during powercuts. Most of us were up and about today and yesterday clearing the snow along the private road we all live off. As it is a private road and doesn't belong to any of us in the row (ah good old ancient boundary issues) it isn't gritted, so after having to push each others cars up the road while sliding all over the place we decided some sandbags had to be sacrificed.



The novelty of being stuck in the house soon wears off and with the snow outside I was itching to don the crampons and get out onto the hills. Not the cleverest idea considering I would be on my own so instead pulled on my funky wellies and a multitude of layers and headed up and out of the village. I really enjoyed my walk. The land looked so beautiful and peaceful blanketed in snow.



Mr Robin, the crazy thing, has been entertaining me (come on, he's far better than Loose Women!) and kept dancing behind the suet feeder as I tried to get his photo. This is the same robin who sometimes likes to hop/dance back and forth across the garden step while singing at the top of his voice. I usually hear him before I see him. He does have a lady friend, but I haven't seen her in a while.

Today we have no milk, but main thing is I still have cream for my coffee and a few Raspberry Brownies to keep me company. It's a bit of a hike to the nearest shop and it's down country lanes. Hubby only got out of the drive this morning by me and the other neighbors pushing him. In my little car, there isn't a chance of me getting out. I've taken the advantage to being snowed in by doing quite a bit of cooking.



A week ago I received my signed copy of River Cottage Handbook: Bread. Since starting to make bread last year I've become more interested in the science behind bread and what makes it work. I'm really impressed with the book and is full of great advice, without being patronising like some books can be. I'll be meeting Daniel Stevens himself on a bread making course in a few weeks time. I made focaccia a few summers ago and it was dire, however by following Daniel's recipe and advice I think I have just produced the best piece of bread I have ever baked. The bread was so good I had to go back for more. I've decided Dan is my new hero!

To accompany the bread I made some Snow Day Soup using the veg I could find languishing in the fridge. I don't really have a recipe for this but essentially gather all the veg you can find (in my case carrots, leeks and a small potato), gently fry off the leeks. Throw in a clove of garlic, the rest of the veg, a bay leaf and 800ml of veg stock. Simmer for 30 min then blitz in the blender.

Beetroot Soup

There is something really beautiful about beetroots. Their colour is out of this world...and they also have the ability to make a right mess of the kitchen. Hubby went a bit mad when buying beets for the beetroot brownies so I had quite a few left over. I wanted to make a hot dish with only a few ingredients. After a bit of searching online I settled on a beetroot soup.

Hubby is obsessed with beetroot. As a child he was known to eat a whole jar of picked beetroot, which in turn caused concern to his poor mum when he started peeing purple...anyway that's another story. Today he reveled in his beetroot themed lunch of beetroot soup and beetroot brownies. Bless him. I promise this will be the last of the beetroot recipes for a while!

Beetroot Soup
Serves 3-4

knob of butter
1 onion, diced
500g beetroots, boiled and diced (approx 4 medium sized beets)
300ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp celery salt
150g pot of plain yogurt
black pepper

1)In a deep pan cook the onions in the butter until softened. Stir in the diced beetroot.

2) Pour in the stock, cider vinegar and celery salt. Bring to the boil. Take off the heat, blitz into a smooth consistency then stir in yogurt and a twist of pepper. Eat hot or cold

Carrot & Lentil Soup

After a busy week in work and with Hubby being out today doing blokey things I've decided to dedicate today as "bake and watch great girly stuff" day. So far I've watched an sung along to Hairspray while making soup and then BBC's wonderful romp Casanova is now the soundtrack to the tart (no pun intended) I'm baking this afternoon.

The soup was an ideal way of using up a few vegetables that were about to go past their best. Next time to give it more of a warming kick I'm going to add a pinch of chilli powder. The soup and tart I'm baking will be perfect for a picnic at the beautiful Kedleston Hall tomorrow. Last time we were there they were filming The Duchess so didn't get to see inside of most of the hall.

Carrot & Lentil Soup
Serves 3-4

1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp paprika
1 onion, sliced
4 small carrots, sliced
70g split red lentils
200ml orange juice
500ml vegetable stock
Salt & Pepper
2 tbsp plain yogurt

1) Crush the whole spices in a pestle & mortar and dry fry for a few minutes. Add the remaining ingredients (apart from the yogurt) and simmer for 30 min.

2) Blitz the soup until smooth then stir in yogurt. Serve.

Pea, Mint & Feta Soup and English Muffins

The last week has been chaotic as usual. Earlier in the week there was big concern about our cottage being flooded. The local river was at serious risk of bursting it's banks and the local geography means that when it rains (a lot) the run-off from the fields behind us flow down to one of the village ponds, which in turn bursts and flows straight past our front door. I knew it wasn't a good sign when I returned from work to find all the front doors in the row piled high with sandbags. Thankfully the pond stayed intact and our house is still dry. It still gave us a worrying few days though!

My interest in bread making is still strong and today was the turn of trying English muffins. I love them lightly toasted then slathered in butter. Very much comfort food. The soup season is just around the corner and I got the idea for this soup from a Mark Sargent soup recipe. I was pleased how this soup worked out. It is perfect and warming, but still with the taste of summer and perfect with a couple of muffins. Like most of my bread baking keep an eyeout for it on Yeastspotting.

Pea, Mint & Feta Soup
Serves 1

100ml water
110ml milk
1 tbsp chopped mint
150g frozen peas
10 cubes of feta
salt and freshly ground black pepper
drizzle olive oil

1) Bring water, milk and mint to the boil. Add peas and boil for 3 min until peas are cooked.

2) Drain most of the milky stock into a jug. Add feta to the peas and puree. Gradually add stock until you have the desired consistency. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil.



English Muffins
Makes 8

110ml milk
25ml water
1 tsp dried yeast
large pinch of sugar
225g strong white flour
pinch of salt
polenta for dusting

1) Heat milk, water and sugar into a saucepan until hand hot. Stir in yeast and leave for 15 min to allow a froth to develop on the top.

2) In a large bowl pour yeast mix into flour & polenta and mix until you have a dough. Knead dough for 2 min in mixer (10 min by hand)until you have a soft elastic dough. Place in an oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm. Leave in a warm place to rise for an hour.

3) Knock back dough then roll out until about 1cm thick. Using and 8cm cutter (or large wine glass!) cut out rounds and place on a baking sheet that has been sprinkled with a small amount of polenta. Once all of the rounds have been cut dust the top of the dough with more polenta. Cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place for 30 min.

4) Heat a heavy based frying pan to low/med. If not using a non-stick pan melt a small amount of butter in the pan. Cook the muffins in batches for 7 min each side. While cooking the rest of the muffins place the cooked muffins under a tea towel to keep warm. If you can, leave for 5-10 min before slathering in butter and eating.

Cheats Minestrone

The snow was a fleeting visit and it had melted by this morning...much to my disappointment! Last week Amanda at Little Foodies posted a natural cold remedy. As I think I'm beginning to come down with a cold I decided to give the recipe a go after work today. It was really soothing and far nicer than Lemsip. Next time I'm going to try and brave more ginger.

The microwave in work has now been fixed so I'm taking hot lunches again. I often eat this cheats minestrone for lunch as it is filling and made in 10 minutes. In reality this is nothing like true minestrone, but hey it tastes good!

Cheats Minestrone
Serves 4

1 litre of hot veg stock
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
100g of thin spaghetti broken into short pieces or macaroni
350g frozen veg
4 tbsp pesto

1) Bring the tomato and stock to the boil then add the pasta. Simmer for 4 minutes. Add veg and simmer for a further 2 minutes. Stir in pesto.

Cauliflower Cheese Soup

Yesterday was a bit of a failed cookery day. Initially I was meant to make treacle scones, but was over enthusiastic with the black treacle and instead of a dough ended up with a cake-style mix so made some odd looking cup cakes. Then for tea I made saffron rice with chicken and peppers, Hubbie really liked it, but I thought it was tasteless and boring. I've promised hubbie that tonights tea will be tried and tested homemade beef burgers!

Today it's quite cold and surprise, surprise it's raining. This calls for good old soup with huge wedges of bread & butter.

Cauliflower cheese soup

Serves 6

knob of butter

1 onion finely chopped

1 cauliflower

1 potato, cut into chunks

500ml vegetable stock

400ml milk

100g mature cheese

1) Heat butter in large saucepan and cook onoin until softened. Add cauliflower, potato, stock milk and seasoning. Bring to boil and simmer for 30 min until cauliflower & potato is beginning to fall apart.

2) Mash with potato masher (or blitz if you don't like bits) stir in cheese and serve.

This blogger formatting has a life of it's own!

Chunky Tomato Soup

Yesterday my friend and her Hubbie came over for lunch and I made Chunky Tomato Soup. Tastewise this is the closest I've got to the taste of Heinz Tomato Soup. Rather than smooth consistancy of the Heinz version it does have chunks of tomato in it (which I like). Once my friends got home they brought us a Breville Stick blender off our wedding list, so I wonder if they are giving me a subtle hint!

Chunky Tomato Soup

Serves 4

Adapted from GFM - Feb 07

1 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed (or 1 or 2 teaspoons of garlic paste)

1 can of chopped tomatoes

300ml/ 1/2pt tomato juice (or passata)

300ml/ 1/2pt veg stock

1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

big dollop of creme fraiche

1) Cook onion and garlic over low heat until softened, not browned.

2) Add tomatoes, tomato juice, stock & Worcestershire sauce. Simmer for 15 min. Season for taste. Just before serving stir in a spoonful of creme fraiche.