Soup to the Rescue!

It rescued us for a few days anyway. It was cold a fortnight ago when I made these soups....Today, we have record high temperatures. That will teach me to keep up with my blogs<-------She says sheepishly.

The first soup we have is a root vegetable with Stilton soup.

2 lrg. parnips
2 turnips
3 lrg. potatoes

Bouquet Garni:
parsley
peppercorns
thyme
bay leaf
-wrap them all in a piece of cheesecloth and tie with string.

mirepoix:
1 carrot
1 stalk of celery
2 leeks

150 grams crumbled Stilton

500 ml chicken stock

Roughly chop mirepoix ingredients and root vegetables, keeping them separate. Sweat mirepoix in a pan with a small knob of butter. In a pot add the mirepoix and root vegetables and just barely cover them with water. Tie the bouquet garni to the handle of the pot and let the filled cheesecloth float on the water. Boil until the root vegetables are tender. Add the crumbled Stilton and let set to melt for a few minutes. Remove the bouquet garni and use a hand blender to smooth out the ingredients, adding chicken stock to the consistency you require. Reheat to desired temperature. Season with salt and pepper.

Tomorrow, I hope to blog the dessert I made with the left-over whole grain rolls. That will help me to catch-up further on my blogging mission. ;-)



The second soup is Curried and Roasted Butternut Squash, with an easy Garlic/Coriander Flatbread

1 lrg. roasted butternut squash

(Cut in half long ways scoop out seeds and rub with butter, place in a shallow pan and cook in a Gas mark 5 oven for about an hour or until tender)

2 lrg. potatoes boiled until tender

Make a paste of 1 lrg. clove garlic, 2" piece of ginger and 1/2 an onion

1 can coconut milk

2 tbsp. curry powder (mine was toasted cumin, coriander, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne pepper, black pepper, cloves and heavy on the cardamom)

chicken stock to thin it out, approx 200 ml

In a pot put in the paste with a small amount of olive oil and lightly heat through. Remove from the heat and add the squash, potatoes and coconut milk. Return to low heat and simmer until heated (don't curdle the coocnut milk), then add the curry spices. Continue to simmer for 10 minutes, then add the chicken stock until desired consistency. Heat for another 5 minutes. Season to taste. Serve garnished with coriander leaves and flatbread on the side.

Flatbread:

Preheat oven to Gas mark 5

250 ml warm water

5 g. salt

30 ml EVOO

310 g. AP flour

8 g. sugar

8 g. active dry yeast

handful chopped coriander leaves

2 cloves garlic

1/2 stick of butter melted

Proof the yeast in the water. Add EVOO, sugar, flour and hand mix. Add salt and knead further. Place in a greased bowl to rise for a hour. Punch down and roll into 2 thin sheets onto a 2 9x13 baking pans. Bake for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, add the garlic, crushed into the butter. After the 10 minutes of baking, take the bread out and brush with the garlic butter. Return to the oven and bake for 10 minutes more, or until the garlic is lightly toasted and the bread is golden. Remove from oven and spread coriander leaves onto the bread. Slice into triangles and serve.