Tomato soup for stephanie

I know, I know. Im on a bit of a food blogging binge at the moment. But we are making some pretty tasty treats and have a few new regular recipes that we make all the time, so am trying to get them up on the blog.

Made some tomato soup the other day... it was good.

Ingredients: (serves four)

Soup

1kg ripe cherry tomatoes (but I reckon any kind of toms are good)

4 large tomatoes

1 fresh red chili

4 cloves of garlic

1 ciabatta loaf

2 small red onions

4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

a small bunch of fresh basil

a few dollops of creme fraiche

olive oil

salt and pepper

Directions:

Turn on oven to 220 celsius. Get our tomatoes and quarter the big ones. Stick on a roasting tray with the peeled and crushed cloves of garlic. Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Chop up chili and add. Toss everything around and put on top shelf of oven for 12-15 mins.

Peel and roughly chop the onions and put into a hot saucepan and some olive oil and a good pinch of salt. Leave to soften, stirring occasionally. Stir in the balsamic vinegar and leave to reduce down. Once the tomatoes are roasted and are slightly blackened on top add them to the saucepan. Give them a good mix around and leave for a few minutes to bubble away. Get your blender ready. Pour the mix into the blender (in batches if blender is not big enough to take it all at once) and add the basil. Give it a good old blend around and once finished pour back in the pan (to keep warm). Add some creme fraiche or sour cream when serving.

We also made some homemade croutons using ciabatta, which we tore up and sprinkled with salt and olive oil and popped in the oven for 10-15 mins.

Guacamole platter

We had a guacamole platter with this meal. Made us feel pretty super healthy.

Ingredients:

Tomato

1-2 fresh chilies

a handful of coriander

2 ripe avocados

2 limes

bulb of fennel

1 carrot

cucumber

breadsticks

Directions:

Destone and peel avocado. Either chuck in food processor with chilies, tomatoes, and coriander or chop finely. Then squeeze the limes over the mixture. Chop up the rest of the ingredients to use as things you can dip into the guac. MmmMmmMmm (the fennel was surprisingly good)

Taste 7/10

Price 5/10

Difficulty 3/10

I made some dinner, it was good

So Jamie has a new book. I know Jenny and I are such suckers for his recipes. I'm not saying that we like all his stuff, but he does some pretty tasty stuff going on. And his palate is pretty similar to ours. So here is: Chicken Skewers with satay sauce and fiery noodle salad.

Ingredients: feeds 4

Satay

bunch of coriander

1 fresh red chilli

1/2 a clove of garlic

3 heaped tablespoons good-quality crunchy peanut butter

soy sauce

thumb sized piece of ginger

2 limes

Chicken

4 breasts

runny honey

Noodles

250g dried medium egg noodles (1 nest per person)

100g unsalted cashews

1/2 a medium-sized red onion

1 fresh red chilli

a small bunch of fresh coriander

1-2 tbsp soy sauce

1 lime

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp fish sauce

1 tsp runny honey

Garnishes

2 gem lettuces

coriander

soy sauce

limes

Directions:

So technically this should take 30 mins, but realistically more like 45. Stick some skewers in water. For the satay chop up a small bunch of coriander, garlic, 3 tbsp peanut butter and a glug of soy sauce. Peel and chop the ginger and add. Grate the zest of both limes and add the juice of one. Throw into a food processor or chop finely. Your call. Chopping by hand is obviously more work and takes longer. Also add a splash of water. Use half of this to marinade the chicken and the other half as tasty dip with the meal.

Chop up the chicken and stick them on the skewers. Toss with satay sauce. Drizzle with olive oil and stick in oven. Put on the top shelf and use the grill function (so only heat from above). 8-10 minutes on each side (or until cooked through). When you flip them over drizzle over with honey.

Put the noodles in a large bowl, cover with boiling water and a plate, then leave to soak for 6 minutes. Put a medium frying pan on a low heat. Bash the cashew nuts with a rolling pin or a pestle. Add to the warm pan and leave to toast. Peel the red onion half and add small bunch of coriander either to a food processor or chop finely. Put in a serving bowl with some soy sauce and olive oil and the juice of 1 lime and the fish sauce and sesame oil. Taste the sauce and season to taste. Drain and add the noodles. Toss everything together. And serve with chicken and lettuce. Sprinkle over with the toasted cashews (add some honey at the end of the toasting process for extra goodness).

Price: 4/10

Taste: 9/10

Difficulty: 4/10

simple pleasures...

peanut butter and sliced bananas on warm baguette.

amateur barber shop in the kitchen

Freddy's hair before and after. I took scissors to his head a few weeks ago...

locked outside

Back at the beginning of October, on Freddy's birthday, we tried to spend the afternoon at the Ashmolean. It turns out the museum is closed on Mondays so instead of going in we ate sushi and sandwiches outside in the sunshine.

happy birthday Freddy!

This morning Freddy received the cutest gift from his family. Designed by Vivi, it's an I-patch... easily mistaken for an I-pad, which he is also enjoying.

Hope this year brings you everything you want and more. xx