Spicy red lentil & tomato soup (Guardian)

• Knob of butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 gloves garlic, sliced
• 1/s tsp coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 ltr vegetable stock
• 300g red lentils
• 400g tin chopped tomatoes

1. Put medium saucepan on medium heat. Add butter and oil.
2. Once butter has melted add onion, garlic, coriander and cumin seeds. Fry, without colouring, for 5 min.
3. Add stock and lentils. Cover and simmer for 10 min.
4. Add tomatoes. Cook for 15 min, until lentils are tender.
5. Puree and season to taste.

Serves 4. Serve with natural yoghurt and roughly cut fresh coriander onto each serving.

Can add bacon for an extra flavour.

Pea soup

Pea soup

• 6 rashers bacon
• 1 onion
• 1 bag frozen peas
• 1 lettuce
• 500ml vegetable stock (3 stock cubes)
• Mint (fresh or dried)

1. Chop onion and bacon. Place in pan with a little water and fry until soft.
2. Add chopped lettuce and peas. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
3. Add vegetable stock and mint. Simmer for about 10 minutes.
4. Cool, then blend.
5. If freezing, bag up and put in freezer. Or:
6. Return to heat and heat until almost boiling to eat straight away with crusty bread and lashings of butter.

Crumbly Oat Banana Squares - Jo style

175g sugar (I use fructose, so use 1 third less)
175g margarine
225g self raising flour
100g porridge oats
4-5 medium bananas, mashed
25g sultanas (or similar - I use more than 25g to spread over the bananas)
Honey
Ground ginger
Ground cinnamon
Caster sugar for the top

1. Warm your oven to 200°C
2. Cream the sugar and margarine together
3. Cut in the flour and oats to make a crumbly mixture
4. Sprinkle half into a baking tray (12 by 8 inch) and press down lightly
5. Spread over the bananas and sprinkle the dried fruit, ginger, cinnamon and drip the honey over
6. Sprinkle the rest of the mixture over and again press down lightly bake it for 25 to 30 mins until golden
7. Sprinkle with caster sugar

Wait until it cools (if you can) and cut into appropriately-sized chunks

Handy gadget

Half price in the Woolworths sale. I have a terrible memory, so for cakes and breads and other oven-based, lengthy cooking, this is a life-saver. Well, a food saver, anyway. No more burnt nut roasts or bread! Yay!

Sweet potato, (carrot), coconut and pine nut soup (Sainsbury's, tweaked by Jo)

Serves 4

1 tablespoon olive oil
25g (1oz) butter
2 fat garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1 large onion, peeled and chopped (or 4 spring/salad onions)
1kg (2lb 4 oz) sweet potatoes (or mixture of sweet potatoes and carrots, if you don't have enough sweet potatoes!) peeled and cut into cubes
2 teaspoons red Thai curry paste
570 ml (1 pint) hot vegetable stock
4oo ml coconut milk
Up to 100g toasted pine nuts

1. Heat oil and butter in a large pan, partially covered.
   
2. Stir in garlic and onion and cook gently for around 5 minutes.
3. Stir curry paste into onions (add more to taste if you like it spicy!)
4. Add sweet potatoes (and carrots if using mixture).
5. Pour in stock then the coconut milk. Stir.
6. Add 50g pine nuts and some seasoning.
7. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook as before for 15 minutes.
8. Liquidise until smooth.
9. Return to pan and reheat gently to serve.
   

To serve, pour into bowls, add a sprinkling of the remaining pine nuts and a grinding of black pepper. Serve with warm crusty bread.

Chesire cheese, pancetta and pea frittata (Sainsbury's with some Jo tweaks)

Serves 4

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion peeled and slices
2 cloves garlic (I added)
170g cubetti di pancetta (bacon would work just as well)
6 medium eggs
110g (4oz) frozen peas (more if you like peas!)
110g (4oz) Cheshire cheese, crumbled (more if you like cheese!)

1. Heat oil in a large, non-stick, oven-proof frying pan.
   
2. When oil is hot add onion and pancetta. Cook until onion is soft.
3. Meanwhile, whisk eggs with freshly ground black pepper.
4. Add cheese & peas to pan, stir, then pour over the beaten egg.
5. Cook over a low heat, tilting the pan now and then, drawing in the sides of the mixture so it cooks evenly (a bit like an omelette).
6. After 5 minutes place under the grill and cook for another 5 minutes until top is golden and set.

Cut into wedges and serve with salad.

Bonnie's Yoghurt Bread

2 1/2 cups Hovis Granary Flour
1 1/2 cups plain flour
2 tsps salt
1 1/2 tsps Bicarbonate of Soda
500ml plain yoghurt
3 Tbsps honey

Preheat oven to 175 deg C.
Grease bread tin.
Combine dry ingredients tog; combine yoghurt and honey tog then mix with dry ingredients.
Pour straight into tin and bake for an hour.
Mixture may look dry but don't worry.

Jo: "Add 3 mashed bananas for a good banana bread. I want to try it with either chopped walnuts or chopped fresh Rosemary. I think it could be good to experiment with!"

POTATO AND FENNEL BAKE (Abel & Cole)

4 large potatoes (or 6 small), scrubbed
1 bulb Fennel
2 gloves garlic, crushed
300 ml single cream
300 ml milk
1 egg
Butter, for greasing
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Nutmeg

Preheat 190°C/ 375°F/ Gas Mark 5. Thinly slice the potatoes and fennel thinly. Butter a large baking dish and arrange the potato and fennel slices in alternative layers with the garlic and lots of seasoning in between. Mix the cream, milk, egg, nutmeg with lots of seasoning. Pour the mixture over the vegetables. Cover with foil and bake for about 1&1/2 hours, removing the foil for the last 30 minutes until brown on top.

Jo: "Makes enough for about 4 people, with a little something extra. Would go lovely with chicken."

Creamy curried carrot soup (Extending the Table)

Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a large saucepan.
Add and saute 2 medium carrots, sliced. Sprinkle with sugar after about 5 minutes.
Add to saucepan:
2 tablespoons flour,
curry powder (I added about 2 teaspoons of korma powder - mild - which gave it a nice kick)
500ml chicken or veg broth (I used chicken OXO cubes)
Bring to the boil while stirring and simmer until carrots are tender.
Blend until smooth.
Season to taste (I used ground black pepper)
and stir in 1-2 tablespoons sour cream or plain yoghurt

Jo: "This makes enough for 2 portions. Up the quantities to make more. Enjoy! It's a soup with a difference."

PARSNIP NUT ROAST (Abel & Cole)

With veggie roasts, you can add just about anything you've got lying around, like leftover cooked vegetables, potatoes, beans, cheese, stale bread or oatmeal - and it’ll taste great! Serve with gravy and steamed veggies.
Serves 4

1 tablespoon oil
2 onions, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
150 g raw cashew nuts, ground
150 g seasoned breadcrumbs
1 egg
3 medium parsnips, peeled, cooked and mashed
1 teaspoon dried thyme
150 ml vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste
1 handful grated cheddar

Preheat oven to 180°C, 350°F, gas 4.

1. Cook the onion and garlic in butter over a medium heat until the onion is soft.
2. Combine all the ingredients except the cheese in a large bowl, adding just enough stock to make it moist.
3. Spoon the mixture into a greased loaf tin, cover and bake for 45 minutes.
4. Uncover, sprinkle with cheese, and bake for another 15 minutes.

Jo: "Tasty! Reckon apples would go nicely with the parsnips. Very filling. Yum!"

Domestic goddess in training

I get a fruit and veg box every week now. From Abel & Cole. It's good value. And it's got me interested in cooking and baking. It's introducing me to some interesting new vegetables and fruit, and I'm finding some new recipes.

Which I will share with you.