Here is the next instalment of Verite's Community Kitchen blogs. In this post, she shares simple recipes for soup, stock and rhubarb crumble.
Comfort food for Winter
In
winter vegans and vegetarians come into their own when it comes to cooking
healthy, comforting and warming meals. Fresh British vegetables are in the
shops, with no worries about shortages in case Brexit might have closed borders.
For
lucky people with access to an allotment or good greengrocer, carrots, cabbage,
celeriac, cauliflower, celery, leeks, onions, parsnips, mushrooms and of course
potatoes are in season. The nice thing about this season is produce lasts for
ages, so there should always be something available as a basis for delicious
soup.
If
you have an allotment, now is the time to pore over catalogues deciding what to
plant. It's surprising where you can grow veg, even if you have the smallest
plot and living 200 yards from Harrods, I managed to grow cherry tomatoes and
runner beans in window boxes.
Soup
To
make soup, start with a good stock as a basis. You can buy
this in supermarkets, grocers, good butchers, etc. Use stock cubes or tins, but
before you buy, spend time reading labels. There are some good products out
there, but equally some are full of preservatives and other additives, so know
your labelling before you buy.
If
you make your own stock the simplest are probably chicken stock or vegetable stock.
For chicken stock, keep
the skin and bones from a roast chicken carcass, and pop into a large pan with
a lid. Cover generously with water, bring to the boil and add vegetables
as for vegetable stock below.
Vegetable stock - add any or all of the following
into a pan of water:
- Celery
tops and/or celery stick cut into 2-inch segments
- 1
large onion, quartered (no need to peel)
- Carrot,
cut into 2-inch segments
- Parsley,
1 bunch
- Sea
Salt 1/2 teaspoon
- Pepper,
at least 10 grinds
- You
can also add any other root veggies you have spare.
Bring
to the boil and immediately reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 2 to 4 hours,
occasionally skimming off any foam that comes to the surface and adding water
if needed so contents are just covered. Leave to cool, then strain through a
fine-mesh sieve into containers, store in the fridge or freeze. Discard all veg,
etc and use fresh veg when you are re-heating to eat. If making
stock for future use in soups, you may want to reduce this by simmering an hour
or two longer to make it more concentrated and easier to store.
Once
you have made stock, you can just add this to make many different flavoured
soups. For example,
To
make a comforting vegetable soup add as many veg as you like and simmer until
veg are cooked,
Add
pasta and tomatoes for Minestrone and heat until pasta is cooked,
Or
use veg for soups like cauliflower and stilton,
For
thick soup put everything in the blender and whizz. (make sure the lid is
secure before turning on - soup can fly everywhere!). You can add milk or
milk powder to make it more nutritious. And if you need more protein it is easy
to add protein powder or a Protein Shake or milk or you can stir in a
tablespoon of cream for topping,
Stracciatella (Soup with extra protein) - Whisk
1 to 2 eggs, then add any of following items:
- parsley
- 1 tsp semolina flour
- 1
oz grated Parmigiano Reggiano and pecorino Romano cheeses
- salt
- pepper.
Whisk
together in a bowl until well blended. You can even add cayenne pepper and
nutmeg if you want. Pour the mixture into simmering stock and
serve. The mixture produces 'egg' shreds across the top, hence the name.
Rhubarb
Rhubarb is now in season, and Rhubarb
Crumble is one of the best 'comfort puddings' I know. It
can also be made with apples, plums, or other soft fruit as well as rhubarb.
This is my favourite recipe.
- 400 to 500 grams rhubarb or
suitable fruit.
- 100g cold butter, cubed
- 150g self-raising flour
- 60g sugar (I use soft
brown, but you can use caster or granulated)
- 40g
jumbo or porridge oats (not essential if you don't have them, but they add
crunch)
- Preheat the oven to gas 6, 200°C, fan 180°C. Wash and trim the ends from
the rhubarb, then cut into thumb-size lengths. Spread evenly in a 1.2ltr pie
dish or baking dish, sprinkle over 60g sugar. and pour over enough water to
cover generously the bottom of the dish.
- In a large mixing bowl, rub together your fingertips with butter, flour,
60g sugar and oats to make a breadcrumb like mixture.
- Sprinkle this topping evenly over the rhubarb.
- Place the rhubarb dish
on a baking tray (to catch any juices that spill over) and bake for 45 mins
until tender, cover the top with foil if it begins to brown too quickly. Serve
hot with custard, cream or ice cream.
Superfoods
Every so often a PR agency will trot out this iconic
word, attaching it to a fruit or vegetable which has a glut and hoping
publicity makes it THE thing to eat. But I reckon every veggie or fruit
is a superfood - they are all good for you, with lots of Vitamin 'C', and many
have other benefits.
