Showing posts with label soup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soup. Show all posts

30 Nov 2013

Mexican Tomato Soup, Chilli Nachos, Veggie and Feta Sprinkles

Meal 103 - November 30th - Mexican Tomato Soup, Chilli Nachos, Veggie and Feta Sprinkles

You'd be forgiven for thinking that I've taken my foot off the gas in my 15 minute meal challenge as it has been a while since I posted anything. And you'd kind of be right, as circumstances have been dictating my schedule recently. Today's Mexican tomato soup was supposed to be the first of three meals this weekend, as I looked to take advantage of a rare weekend at home. Unfortunately things did not go quite according to plan...

12 Nov 2013

Thai Chicken Laksa, Mildly Spiced Noodle Squash Broth

Meal 96 - November 12th - Thai Chicken Laksa, Mildly Spiced Noodle Squash Broth

Unlike many others, I can't help but feel the title of this meal is selling it short a bit - no sizzling or mighty or flashy or killer or crackin', just mildly spiced. It's almost apologetic. But to be honest everything about this dish looked appealing to me. The chicken in particular looked reminiscent of a certain sticky kicking chicken, and the soup, although not something I'd normally have on a weeknight, looked chunky and flavourful enough to just about fill me up. Plus the soup we'd had last week proved to be a massive winner.

7 Nov 2013

Minestrone, Poached Chicken & Salsa Verde

Meal 95 - November 7th - Minestrone, Poached Chicken & Salsa Verde

Being a man with a rather healthy appetite, I wouldn't normally consider making soup as an evening meal. I need carbs, calories and dollop of saturated fat. Flavoured water doesn't cut it. But, Lolz had a cold and it was a pretty grim night, and to be honest, this looked like it had a bit more about it than your average can of Baxter's... "souped up" you could say... so I thought I'd give it a go.

13 Oct 2013

Squash Soup, Sagey Chestnut Dumplings

Meal 85 - October 13th - Squash Soup, Sagey Chestnut Dumplings

It's been a while since I last did a soup/ sarnie 15 minute meal, and, lo and behold, my spreadsheet told me it was time to rectify that particular problem. It turns out I've done all the sandwiches, so, with the weather conveniently cold, grey and miserable I turned to the soups. We got some squash in our veg box, so decided to have a go at this one.

10 Sept 2013

Winter Squash Penne, Mint & Avocado Chopped Salad

Meal 76 - September 10th - Winter Squash Penne, Mint & Avocado Chopped Salad

It's not quite winter admittedly but I've taken to donning a jacket when I go to work and I make the rules so decided to have a bash at this wintery pasta recipe. We'd also received what was apparently a "pattipan squash" in our veg box and I thought I could substitute that in for the butternut squash. Upon further investigation, the pattipan variety is actually quite different to the butternut equivalent and is in fact more like a courgette, but I'm beyond worrying about such details so decided to press on regardless. To be fair this was another of the notorious "book exclusives" so god only knows how it might turn out.

25 Feb 2013

Mushroom Soup, stilton, apple and walnut croutes

Meal 20 - Feb 24th - Mushroom Soup, stilton, apple and walnut croutes

With poor Lolz feeling under the weather I agreed to make her a Sunday afternoon soup. We weren't able to make our minds up on which one though so Lolz rigged up a basic lottery system involving a hat and three bits of paper with "tomato", "mushroom" and "squash" written on them. And rigged is probably the operative word as, surprise surprise, I picked the dreaded mushroom option. My demand for a recount was ignored, and, with some loud and suggestive coughing on Lolz's part, I was "encouraged" into the kitchen to begin making our lunch.

My problem with mushrooms is not just the taste - they actually offend pretty much all my senses. I can't stand the smell. They look weird. They even feel like they are alive, like a creature that you would expect to find under a rock. Basically wrong on all kind of levels. I was glad to finally get them in the pan and get them cooked. Alongside the soup we made some "croutes" and in doing so established, several times, that our smoke detector was working well. Fortunately, no major damage was done and with the soup successfully handblended, we plated up.

In an attempt to keep calories under control, the recipe uses basmati rice instead of cream. It kind of works, but maybe at the expense of a bit of richness. It was also quite delicate on the mushroom flavour - for me this was great, but mushroom fans may prefer something a bit more powerful. The croutes were really good - mushrooms are obviously not to my tastes, but apple, walnut and stilton is a classic combination which go really nicely with the lightly charred, garlicky ciabatta.

Lolz gave the dish 8/10. She moaned that the soup was underseasoned and wasn't keen on the walnuts or apples. Difficulty rating 2/10 - extremely straightforward.






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