CURRIED ROASTED PARSNIP AND APPLE SOUP

Soups do not come much simpler than this! As i said in the previous post we are eating healthy at present, so much of our food at present is not refined or finished with little goodies like butter. Apple is added to the soup to balance out the sweetness of the roasted Parsnip.


1.2 litres of stock(chicken or veg)
500g Parsnips
1 apple(cored,skin on)
1 medium onion
1 tbsp of medium curry powder
1 tsp of turmeric
Olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Thyme(garnish with fresh thyme)

Peel and quarter the parsnip,season with salt and pepper, add a little olive oil and roast in a hot oven till cooked through and crispy. Chop one onion and saute over a low heat in a little oil. When the onions are soft and translucent, season, add the apple and saute for three minutes, then the curry powder and turmeric, saute for a further two minutes(add a little stock if to dry). Add stock and parsnips bring to the boil, blend either with a stick blender or food processor.
Garnish with Thyme, serve.

This will make just under 2 litres of soup. We also make this soup with a little potato added, sometimes substituting 100g of the Parsnip.

HEALTHY EATING - SOUPS

A collection of recipes that hopefully i will update regularly. These recipes are not refined, but honest tasty soup recipes that we are currently trying out. In reality you can soup a whole host of different ingredients and more often than not achieve a tasty soup. Some soups will have a base of water opposed to stock, as we are trying to keep this Healthy as possible, while maintaining taste. However what soups do use water, appropriate stock can be replaced and no doubt we will also replace with stock from time to time. The use of water instead of stock, will also appeal to those who need to take a thrifty approach to feeding large families and with good fresh ingredients can allow principle flavours to shine. Please do not be put off by the wording of Healthy in the title, as it does not apply to bland. Most people have a different preference for texture of soups. Some soups will be chunky, some will be purees. If you do use any of these recipes, soup to your preference, if you feel they are good enough to serve to friends or at a dinner party take appropriate measures to pass through a sieve a couple of times for a little refinement and add garnishes at your whim.


ROASTED SWEET POTATO SOUP WITH FENNEL AND ALMOND (V)

600g sweet potato - peeled and cut into large chunks
4 garlic cloves - skin on
1 medium onion - skin on
1 apple - skin on and cored (do not use a mac,pad or phone)
25g flaked almonds, plus extra for garnish
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp smoked paprika - if smoked not at hand do not add a Benson and hedges, normal paprika is fine.
sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
600ml of water for thick soup/ increase in 100ml increments if thinner soup desired

Spices

1 tsp of fennel seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
5 peppercorns
1/2 tsp of Maldon or similar sea salt


Pre-heat oven to 200c, peel sweet potato,cutting into thick chunks, place on a roasting tray with garlic and onion,season and drizzle with olive oil. Cook till sweet potato is tender.
While waiting for the roast you have two options either twiddle your thumbs or get on with grounding the spices. You should have chosen option two. If you were clever and chose option two, remove roasted veg from oven, skin garlic and onion, add to a blender alongside cored apple,almonds and smoked paprika. Blend adding water to create your soup. Pour out into a pan and adjust seasoning if desired.

To use as a puree on a fat day, this would go superbly with a nice piece of fatty pork. Of course you do not have to be having a fat day to use as a puree, if using as a puree only add 300ml of water.

LOW TEMPERATURE COOKING

Consider this lovingly cooked piece of beef.Would you believe that this has been cooked for 17 hours! Welcome to low temperature cooking.

A method of cooking i have utilised for the past 5 years, which gives surprising results. Cooking at low temperature for long periods is not a new practice and is used extensively in the restaurant world, with many top restaurants using sous-vide water baths to cook for extended periods, with results far behind the reach of the normal oven.Now the problem. Like most people, myself included i do not have access to sous-vide, but by cooking at very low temperature in a domestic oven you can achieve wonderful results, and even turn lower quality beef, lamb into a special treat. I will not urge people to buy cheap meat or even intensively rear meat that sees the animals living in below standard conditions, but it is a fact of life for many of us who struggle on day to day that at some point we will buy supermarket beef, and globally we are having to watch the Penny's more, with the recession that appears to be taking a grip. In the UK the main supermarkets have taken to selling joints of beef which are only marked roasting joint, this is not a lot of help to the home cook. Think beef wrapped in netting then sealed in plastic, the consumer has no say in what they are buying or the quality which appears to be hit and miss at times. Independent butchers that care about the product they sell are always going to be the best bet for quality, with the major advantage of being able to see what you buy, with advice as part of the purchase! You can't go far wrong in this scenario but we do not live in an ideal world, and unfortunately for the majority, expensive beef is beyond everyday reach.

I first started to use low temperature cooking after an accident in the kitchen left me with a shorter index finger. I was preparing to cook a lamb dish not much different in execution than Kleftico(traditional Greek bandits meal), when a three legged cat ran across the garden shed roof. This was in my field of vision, which resulted in a fraction of a seconds loss of concentration, which caused a slip of the knife. After this little accident a rapid loss of appetite ensued, so a haphazard approach to the rest of the prep occurred with the lamb shanks being thrown into the oven on the lowest possible setting! With the oven temperature set around 50c, i trundled off to the pub for local anaesthetic. Six hours later i returned to the oven feeling no pain to retrieve my lamb, and what a delight! That was my introduction to low temperature cooking. Of course over time we adapt our methods, so i adapted this for roasting with the theory being that what ever the oven temperature is set to the meat will not reach a higher temperature inside. This theory is OK as long as you use an oven thermometer to calibrate your oven as most ovens vary quite a few degrees in their true cooking temperatures. With science playing a bigger part in our cooking today i could waffle on about collagen and molecules but that is best left to the super cooks!

Method:

Pre- heat your oven to the required setting somewhere in the region of 53c-63c. Season your meat all over with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.Take a skillet or saute pan big enough to brown your meat. Brown your meat, in a little oil on each side for a minute or so or until a dark brown. Remove from the pan and place in the centre of the oven, direct onto the oven rack, with a roasting tin placed at the bottom to catch drips!

Sit back and relax!

Notes;

For fan assisted ovens i have not got a clue! I have utilised these methods with gas and electric only.

If your not the one cleaning the oven, tell whoever is that you got this method from some telly chef, and not this dodgy blog!

If you crucify your nice expensive joint of beef don't blame me, because it was obviously you who messed it up as i was not there!

This method of cooking is not really used for expensive lean cuts, it is best used for cheaper cuts or cuts with good marbling.

Cooking at 53c will give you rare beef, so please bear this in mind if you decide to cook this way!

Using this method to cook at 100c is stupid so don't bother!

Cooking at 63c will give superb results!

ROAST POTATOES

What can beat a well roasted potato, an essential part of the British roast dinner with variations around the world! It is important to choose your potato well as not all varieties of potato are suitable for roasting! Waxy potatoes in particular are not really suited, neither are new potatoes but good floury potatoes are by far the best roasters!


Maris pipers and king Edwards being a good choice here in the UK, the latter being my preferred choice. Potato varieties globally tend to go by different names, so at least try and stick to a Floury variety!

Once you have your choice potatoes you need to give the cooking medium some consideration, plus your choice of cooking vessel! I will start with the cooking medium!

For the most adorable potatoes goose or duck fat will make you many friends, but that is only if you can persuade your guest of the health giving properties of this wonderful full flavoured animal fat, that just so happens to be low in saturates.

Beef dripping is another tasty choice for potatoes especially if rendered from meat just cooked, but unfortunately suffers from being very high in saturates, lard will achieve a very good potato but again very high in saturates, with a mix of fats you could still use a little dripping, but combine with oil for a healthier and tastier choice! Personally i would not use butter for roasting, unless mixed with another oil(this should prevent the butter from burning), but even then i find that the potatoes can be too rich!

Olive oil is another healthy option and yields good results as the photo above is testimony, vegetable oil, sunflower oil all coming in close behind! Mixtures of oils at about a 50/50 mix for example olive and vegetable or sunflower/olive and so on will give good results. Olive oil with the a small amount of rendered meat fat or juices are a delight!

The cooking vessel should at least be a good size with ample room to provide space for the potatoes to crisp, overcrowding is never a good practice! A good metal roasting tin /tray should be sufficient, as long as it is of appropriate size.

To cook;
Pre-heat oven to 190c, place a appropriate sized roasting tray into the oven with approximately 5mm of your chosen cooking medium. while your roasting tray is heating up, bring a pan of lightly salted water to the boil.
Peel your potatoes, once peeled run under the cold tap to remove excess starch(2-3minutes approx). Par boil your potatoes for approximately 8 minutes, then drain. Shake off all excess water. Remove the roasting tray from your oven, and add your par boiled potatoes, shake the tray or use a spoon to make sure all potatoes are liberally coated with fat. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper,now place the roasting tray into the hot oven for approximately 1-1 half hours.

Note:

Roast potatoes are very giving, so you will be able to get away with overcooking. For extra crunchy roast potatoes rough the potatoes a little after boiling, this can be achieved buy vigorous shaking of the tray or draining colander.

THE ROAST DINNER

A Sunday roast is almost ritual for many, the only chance for a group gathering during our hectic lives. Traditionally the males went to the pub for Sunday lunchtime ale and the womenfolk tended to the roast dinner. Now days this would sound almost chauvinistic that the man is in the pub, with the women at home, but god help any man who was not back at the desired time. Many a last laugh was had at the expense of the alpha male who decided to have that extra pint!If you were foolish enough to stay drinking there was a very good chance that the wife would march to the pub,and you would wear the dinner. That would be the unlucky version of events. If the wife was in reasonable spirits you might just be dragged out by an ear, at least with the latter you still managed to partake your dinner, by which time your humiliation might have subsided enough to sleep the rest of the afternoon in the armchair!
The Sunday roast not only has a history with traditional Sunday public house opening hours but also a meal that was eaten after church in the more traditional days.

In days gone by the Sunday roast provided a lot more than a meal for the family on Sunday, leftovers could be utilised for the following day. Shepard's pie being a dish that would be made with leftover lamb, bubble and squeak with leftover vegetables, possibly with the inclusion of a little dripping or fat that had been rendered from the cooked meat. Rendered fat being used as a cooking medium.
Dripping would be spread on bread for supper, and left over meat could be sliced for sandwiches for the children or the breadwinners lunch the following day. Even the dog normally gets lucky!
The roast is not only about the choice of meat but vegetables, gravy and accompaniments. Before the supermarkets held society to ransom with mass choice,our vegetables would be seasonal, with what you ate being governed by the harvest and what was available at the time . Accompaniments have always played a great part of the Sunday dinner. Accompaniments playing the part of making a marriage of flavours that might not be too welcome on there own. The classic Lamb with mint sauce, a sauce made from fresh mint, vinegar and sugar which provides an acidic note to cut through the fattiness of the lamb, or a nice white onion sauce to accompany roast lamb. Roast Beef with horseradish or mustard, just has to be a match made in heaven, that slight background of heat which somehow manages to bring all those wonderful tastes and flavours together! Roast pork with apple sauce and crackling, is another classic combination, made even more wonderful if made useing freshly picked apples.
Yorkshire puddings with the roast, although traditionally eaten as a starter, have eventually progressed to being eaten as part of the main roast Beef dinner. Now a lot of households will eat them with any roast, this is not to be condemned by the purist! It is a truly worthwhile part of the experience that i must confess to. Being of the persuasion that now views Yorkshires as a part of any roast! Suet crust pudding has lost appeal now days in our more health conscious society, but what a treat to eat with homemade gravy.
Gravy made from the pan juices, then thickened and poured over the dinner as an almost self contained sauce, helps to lift the roast to new heights and i almost forgot the tatties. Roast potatoes crispy on the outside and soft and moist inside are an absolute joy to eat. King Edward potatoes being my choice for roasting, preferably cooked in goose or duck fat, that incidentally is not as unhealthy as people assume!

A fond memory from my childhood, would be the Sundays spent at my aunts who cooked the roast whilst the men would go to the rugby club, a dinner would be cut out for a relative that lived alone, and then be delivered on foot, by whoever was old enough or available.
I was young then and like most children, had a dislike for vegetables but i would enjoy roast dinner cooked by my aunt.
Traditionally roasting was a method of cooking meats before the invention of the domestic oven, the meat would be cooked in front of an open fire using the spit roast method with a tray placed underneath to catch the juices, which could then be used to baste the meat. Basting being a method that is still in use today. The juices from the meat are spooned back over the meat to provide moisture, and stop the meat from drying out. Although sometimes fat from the animal or a fatty product such as streaky bacon is used to provide ready hands free method of basting.
In my opinion a roast dinner needs care and attention. An element of cooking skill is needed, maybe some flair and an understanding of basic techniques also. This is not a meal to be taken lightly- Done well a roast can be sublime, with the recipient experiencing all of the major taste sensations. Done badly a roast is nothing short of a minor catastrophe.
Sunday meats would normally be either Beef,Lamb,Pork or Chicken, this remains the same today in average households,with Seasonal game sometimes eaten by the more affluent family's or large estates. Rarely in normal circumstances, would this extravagance extend to the working class home. I feel that the soul of the roast dinner remains firmly with the mid to lower classes, but this was not always so. Many years ago when people were employed in the service of large households, meats were too expensive for the workers, or working class, so remained for a long time a food for the affluent.
Over the years society has changed with the advent of better wages, mass production of meat and poultry plus better and easier cooking methods. These changes are not necessarily for the better, years ago when the eating of this important meal became widespread and food was not wasted, we cared more for what was provided on our plates. The roast was viewed as a special meal to be enjoyed by the family, while not being cheap the cost of produce for this meal had to be justified with leftovers not going to waste, and the cost to the family eating and conversing together could be wholly justified and beneficial rather than the TV dinner that so often is a focal point of modern times. Modern times has produced a consumer society where excess is paramount, and society no longer cares for the old methods that we used through need and necessity, in modern times the housewife no longer has to worry about what is in the larder, what will be eaten Mondays, or if foods will spoil. Although times have changed, the roast is still a central part of British culture, and like most cultures the ritual of eating and bringing family and friends to the table remains central to ones identity.