Creation of food
DX Dammit, organic veg box people, why is with this "squash" stuff?! I mean, OK, it might be perfectly suited to the Cumbrian climate for all I know, and the flesh is a nice colour, and it has a bland sort of taste that goes with everything... but I don't know how to get the bleedin' pips out!! Took me ages, carving away at the bits. Grrr. (When I was finished, my mother shouted "So didn't you try squashing them?" Ha bloomin' ha.)
Anyway, am making my first proper meal since my eye surgery (have always been asleep or blind up till now), so I thought I might celebrate by sharing recipes, which I see I've never done up till now - GASP.
Cheryl's minestrone
(Yeah, it's a bit of a mess. My food criteria are that they should be tasty, good for me and plentiful, in that order. Aesthetics aren't really my strong point... The peas look particularly alarming.)
INGREDIENTS
Big pan
Frying pan (or another ordinary one, if you use enough oil and don't let the edibles burn)
Cup (250ml-ish)
Passata (red gooey substance made of squished tomatoes - Italian shops and health food shops have it, as do posh supermarkets e.g. Sainsbury's or Waitrose)
Tin of tomatoes
Tin of lentils, black beans or chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
Lots of vegetables (any really, but must include onions and GARLIC)
Tomato Kallo stock cube
Half a teaspoon sugar (any kind will do except Muscovado)
Quarter teaspoon salt (note: when I say teaspoon, I specifically mean 5ml)
One eighth of a teaspoon black pepper
Oregano and basil (say quarter to half a teaspoon each)
1. Get a big pan and pour into it two cups (250ml or thereabouts) of water and one of passata. (You can go up to one and a half cups of each if you want a richer taste, but no more or the consistency will be too thick and the soup will catch the bottom of the pan. It's also a lot more painful if boiling soup splashes on your hand.)
2. Add a tin of chopped tomatoes and the solid part of a tin of black beans, lentils or chickpeas. (Drain the liquid out and pour it down the sink - it doesn't taste very pleasant.)
3. Go and see what the veg box people have sent you this week and grab a bit of everything. (Today's soup features tatties, celery, squash, neep, carrot and red cabbage, but I use whatever's in season.) Chop it up and throw it in the stock. Put the soup on the hob on a medium high heat.
4. While it's working up to the boil, add the seasoning: half a teaspoon of sugar (to bring out the sweetness of the tomatoes), a quarter teaspoon of salt, some oregano (say half a teaspoon again), some basil and a Kallo tomato stock cube (or whatever brand you use, as long as it's tomato).
5. When the soup reaches the boil and is bubbling away merrily, turn the heat down to minimum. Leave it to simmer until the spuds are soft. (It sometimes reaches the boil for me a second time and I have to move the pan to a smaller burner.)
6. Turn off the heat on the soup burner. (Some people add a little bit of pasta at this point, but I cram in so many vegetables I don't really have the space. Oops.) Crush two or three cloves of garlic (or less for you strange people who do not worship and adore the stinking rose) into the frying pan. Chop courgette and onion. Start frying in olive oil. If there aren't any green things in the soup, you can add frozen peas to it as well at this point.
7. Once the frying-pan things are done, tip them into the soup. Mix together and serve, with some nice bread if you've got some. Ta-dah!
8. Persuade your mum to wash up.
A final note: for the last six or seven years, I have worn contact lenses, which provide an impermeable shield against onion fumes. Accordingly, I was curious as to what would happen when I tried peeling onions without them for the first time. And... NOTHING happened!! (Until I rubbed my eyes, that is. Ouch.) My dear old optics must have become desensitised. A win-win situation!! :DDD
Anyway, am making my first proper meal since my eye surgery (have always been asleep or blind up till now), so I thought I might celebrate by sharing recipes, which I see I've never done up till now - GASP.
Cheryl's minestrone
(Yeah, it's a bit of a mess. My food criteria are that they should be tasty, good for me and plentiful, in that order. Aesthetics aren't really my strong point... The peas look particularly alarming.)
INGREDIENTS
Big pan
Frying pan (or another ordinary one, if you use enough oil and don't let the edibles burn)
Cup (250ml-ish)
Passata (red gooey substance made of squished tomatoes - Italian shops and health food shops have it, as do posh supermarkets e.g. Sainsbury's or Waitrose)
Tin of tomatoes
Tin of lentils, black beans or chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
Lots of vegetables (any really, but must include onions and GARLIC)
Tomato Kallo stock cube
Half a teaspoon sugar (any kind will do except Muscovado)
Quarter teaspoon salt (note: when I say teaspoon, I specifically mean 5ml)
One eighth of a teaspoon black pepper
Oregano and basil (say quarter to half a teaspoon each)
1. Get a big pan and pour into it two cups (250ml or thereabouts) of water and one of passata. (You can go up to one and a half cups of each if you want a richer taste, but no more or the consistency will be too thick and the soup will catch the bottom of the pan. It's also a lot more painful if boiling soup splashes on your hand.)
2. Add a tin of chopped tomatoes and the solid part of a tin of black beans, lentils or chickpeas. (Drain the liquid out and pour it down the sink - it doesn't taste very pleasant.)
3. Go and see what the veg box people have sent you this week and grab a bit of everything. (Today's soup features tatties, celery, squash, neep, carrot and red cabbage, but I use whatever's in season.) Chop it up and throw it in the stock. Put the soup on the hob on a medium high heat.
4. While it's working up to the boil, add the seasoning: half a teaspoon of sugar (to bring out the sweetness of the tomatoes), a quarter teaspoon of salt, some oregano (say half a teaspoon again), some basil and a Kallo tomato stock cube (or whatever brand you use, as long as it's tomato).
5. When the soup reaches the boil and is bubbling away merrily, turn the heat down to minimum. Leave it to simmer until the spuds are soft. (It sometimes reaches the boil for me a second time and I have to move the pan to a smaller burner.)
6. Turn off the heat on the soup burner. (Some people add a little bit of pasta at this point, but I cram in so many vegetables I don't really have the space. Oops.) Crush two or three cloves of garlic (or less for you strange people who do not worship and adore the stinking rose) into the frying pan. Chop courgette and onion. Start frying in olive oil. If there aren't any green things in the soup, you can add frozen peas to it as well at this point.
7. Once the frying-pan things are done, tip them into the soup. Mix together and serve, with some nice bread if you've got some. Ta-dah!
8. Persuade your mum to wash up.
A final note: for the last six or seven years, I have worn contact lenses, which provide an impermeable shield against onion fumes. Accordingly, I was curious as to what would happen when I tried peeling onions without them for the first time. And... NOTHING happened!! (Until I rubbed my eyes, that is. Ouch.) My dear old optics must have become desensitised. A win-win situation!! :DDD