the easiest soup you will ever make (+ new recipe project)

I must admit, there is a food-crazed chubber living inside of me. I think about food all of the time. In fact, the clearest sign of something being seriously wrong is me not wanting to read/talk/write/think about food. The day after I had all four of my wisdom teeth out in the chair, I insisted my loving father (who drove all the way down from Canberra with Sir Ricky Ricardo the dachshund to look after me) take me out for pastry. Yes, even in extreme oral pain, I was still fixating on food.

I am imagining-up recipes or new uses for ingredients all of the time. On the tram, in the bath, sometimes even while sleeping. When I came up with the below recipe I was somewhat skeptical. Given how easy and how cheap it is, I wasn't entirely confident the flavours would turn out how I'd imagined. How wrong I was! 

Slow-Roasted Pumpkin Soup

You will need:

600-700g butternut pumpkin, skin removed and roughly cubed

4 gloves of garlic (this is for a very garlicy soup, cut back if you're not as infatuated with garlic as I am), lightly crushed the the flat blade of a knife, peeled

2 tablespoons of cream

1 teaspoon sage, chopped

1 tablespoon parsley, chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1-2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock (not pictured). You could use water, by why waste an opportunity to add more depth of flavour?

salt & pepper

Place pumpkin pieces and garlic into a small baking tray, cover with olive oil and lightly season. Shake around a bit so all the pieces are covered in oil. It's important the pumpkin is somewhat overcrowded, as above. The idea is that they don't get crispy. they get all soft and squishy.  Cover with foil and place in a an oven pre-heated to 100°C. Cook for a minimum of 1.5 hours. but your soup will taste better if roasted for longer. I roasted mine for 2.5 hours.

This is what you're aiming for, the pumpkin should easy give away to gentle pressure from a spoon.

Next, remove pumpkin and garlic and place in either a blender, food processor or large vessel to blend with a stick blender. Reserve the oil left behind, it will be intensely infused with garlic. Ideally, use this oil to make crispy croutons for the top of your soup. 

Add cream, herbs and 1 cup of stock and blend. Depending on how thick you would like your soup, add more stock. I only used 1 cup in total.

Voila! Doesn't that look wonderfully wholesome and yummy? This is an incredibly rich soup, despite having very little added fat. As such, you'll be able to serve 4 people easily as you'll only want a smallish serve. You could lessen the richness by blending more stock in. Serve topped with a dab of cream and a sprinkling of herbs, croutons would not go astray here either. I think this would work equally as well with roasted capsicum, or a combination of capsicum and grape tomatoes.

For my new recipe this week I decided to make a frittata. I was decidedly unmotivated and disinterested in finding a recipe this week (quite concerning, really) and spent a large part of Friday pouring over recipe books, magazines and websites with nothing really grabbing me. When I found the recipe below on the Australian Women's Weekly website, it's simplicity interested me and I've also never made a frittata. Of course, I couldn't help myself and I've modified the recipe slightly.

Leek, Potato and Tomato Frittata

You will need:

1 tablespoon olive oil
400g (4 medium sized) desiree potato, sliced
1 medium leek, thinly sliced
½ cup semi dried tomatoes
4 eggs, lightly beaten
3 egg whites, beaten until slightly frothy
½ cup (125 mls) milk
½ cup (60g) grated cheddar cheese
sea salt and pepper

Given that I live alone and don't wish to eat frittata for the next fortnight regardless of how delicious it is, I reduced the recipe. Ingredients listed above will make a frittata to serve 6, all pictures are for half the above ingredients..

Heat oil in 25cm heavy-based oven proof frying pan. The original recipe specified 20cm pan, however that's what I used for my reduced quantity and it ended up quite full. Add potatoes and cover, turning occasionally until cooked (approximately 4 minutes). 

Add leeks and continue to cook for another minute, until leeks are softened. Add tomatoes and stir, remove from heat.

Whisk eggs, cheese, milk and seasoning in a large bowl. Ensure you whisk the 3 egg whites separately before adding to the other ingredients. This will help your frittata to be nice and light. Before adding the egg mixture to the other ingredients, make sure the potatoes, leeks and tomatoes and evenly distributed and squish down slightly to create an even-ish layer. Pour egg mixture into pan. I also sprinkled some parsley on top (after taking the photo, of course).

The original recipe instructed to cook on the stove top over a medium heat until almost set then finish off the cooking process in the oven and this is what I did. However, I would suggest to you first cook the frittata briefly (2-3 minutes) on a high heat on the stove top to create a nice crust on the bottom, before placing in an oven preheated to 180°C until set (approximately 15 minutes).

All done! As this looks so lovely as is, I would serve it straight to the table in the pan with a lovely crisp green salad. This would (did!) make a lovely light supper or a fantastic no-fuss lunch. It can be served warm, at room temperature or chilled. I personally think the flavours will be best if warm or at room temperature. The egg whites really do make this dish lovely and light, but the potatoes make sure it's filling without being stodgy. I'll definitely be cooking this again, experimenting with different 'fillings'.

Well that's it for another week! I'm thinking next weekend maybe a pie is in order, what do you think lovely readers?

Comments

[ondressingup]

I've spent a wee while now browsing through your blog and had to comment! You write to so well and with humour and your recipes and food reviews are great. I've been so well entertained. I hope you don't mind but I've linked you. xoxo

[Dee]

Oh wow, that looks gorgeous. I want it now!

[Amy Alexandra]

On dressing up: Thank-you, that's such a lovely thing for you to say. And an extra thank-you for the link, I'll be sure to check out your blog.

Dee: Try the recipes! Worth the minor effort, I assure you