Italian Bean Soup

           

                                                 

                                                       Italian Bean Soup


A wonderful warming, filling and yet healthy soup including lots of store cupboard or fridge ingredients you're bound to have at hand. This is as low fat as I could make it.

I had a good turn out of my kitchen cupboards this week due to redecorating... I know I had far too many cans in one cupboard, in fact 4 cans of barlotti beans and several green lentils and goodness knows how many cans of tinned tomatoes...arghh a great excuse to use some up I thought.  Well, this soup recipe makes enough to serve at least 6 healthy portions as long as you have a reasonable supply of vegetables at hand,  I added some herbs and parmesan shavings from the fridge for an extemely pleasant lunch for all.

Now what do I do with 3 cans of Black Cherries...wait for the next thrilling instalment


Here's how I made it

Ingredients:-

100g/3oz pancetta (or smoked bacon) sliced or cubed...  Completely optional if you are vegetarian use 1tbsp olive oil instead.
1 large onion diced
1 large carrot diced
2 sticks of celery diced
few leaves of tuscan kale or1/4 of a pointed cabbage... Sweetheart or Hispi thinly sliced
4 cloves of garlic crushed
2 bay leaves (remove on serving)
tsp dried thyme
1 heaped tsp paprika
2 400g/13oz tins of Barlotti beans or similar variety
1 400g/13oz tin green lentils
1  400g/ 13oz tin chopped tomatoes
2 tbsps tomato puree
2 stock cubes chicken or vegetable
Parmesan shavings
3 tins of water (using the chopped tomato can)
2 tsps salt
1 heaped tsp black pepper
A little chopped parsley or basil to serve

Heat a large saucepan (no oil) and add the pancetta/bacon or the olive oil if your a vegetarian
Cook the pancetta for a couple of minutes then add the onion, celery and carrot. Sweat for around 5 minutes on a low heat.
Add the garlic , tomato puree, smoked paprika, thyme & bay leaves...add a lid to the pan a sweat further until the veg starts to soften,
Now add the canned tomatoes, rinse the out the can adding the water to the pan plus another 2 cans of water....add the stockcubes, salt and pepper.

Cook on until everything is tender.
Now add the drained beans & lentils.
When this comes back to the boil add the cabbage.
Cook for around 8 minutes until the cabbage is al-dente
Check the seasoning and serve adding a little chopped parsley/basil and some Parmesan shavings
Serve into warm bowls whilst hot and serve with some crusty bread

Telegraph Fabulous Foodie Entry..Coffee Marinated Ribeye Steak with Griddled Pears, Gorgonzola and Walnuts and Griddled Little Gem Lettuce & dressing

By Doreen Simpson
Fabulous Foodie 2015 contestant

5:55PM GMT 30 Jan 2015

From food bloggers to market-stall holders and supper-club chefs, Fabulous Foodie, a three-round cook-off, challenges eight contestants to produce their finest dishes using ingredients from Aldi, including its new and exotic Specially Selected range.

In the , Doreen Simpson, set mouths watering with her unusual take on a steak dinner, Try her recipe for yourself, below:

INGREDIENTS

Serves 4

4 ribeye steaks, ¾in thick

for the marinade:

100ml good strong cold coffee

2 tbsp soft brown sugar

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 clove garlic, crushed

for the salad:

4 firm but ripe medium-sized conference pears, peeled, halved, cored and pips removed, brushed with a little olive oil

4 little gem lettuce, in lengthwise quarters with core intact, brushed with a little olive oil

100g Gorgonzola

Handful toasted walnuts, chopped

Handful pomegranate seeds

for the vinaigrette dressing:

2½ tbsp red wine vinegar

1 shallot, finely chopped

25g Gorgonzola

2 tsp Dijon mustard

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp walnut oil

Pinch sugar

METHOD

The steaks will need at least an hour to marinate, better still if they can be left overnight in the fridge.

Mix all the marinade ingredients together and place in a sealable bag. Add the steaks, seal up and squish the marinade around to make sure each steak is well covered. Chill until ready to cook.

Remove the steaks from the marinade and blot dry with kitchen towel. Brush each steak on both sides with a little olive oil and heat up a griddle pan until hot (it should be uncomfortable to hold your hand above the pan).

Cook each steak for 2-3 minutes a side (medium-rare). Leave to rest in a warm place for 5 minutes, covered loosely with foil. Slice against the grain.

For the warm salad, mix all the ingredients for the dressing, season and set aside.

Heat the griddle pan and griddle the pears until brown but still firm. Griddle the lettuce until browned at the edges.

To assemble the dish, lay the sliced steak on a plate. Place pears on one side, fill the centre with Gorgonzola and sprinkle over a few chopped walnuts. Place the griddled lettuce on the other side, dress with vinaigrette and sprinkle over a few pomegranate seeds.

Serve immediately, while the lettuce is still green and crisp. Garnish with a sprig of baby tomatoes.

Smoked Salmon and Asparagus Linguine

                                             Smoked Salmon and Asparagus Linguine


It's fast approaching Valentine's Day so I've been trying to put together a few recipes for a romantic dinner at home.  This pasta dish will only take you minutes to prepare & cook and is sure to impress your sweetheart. This will serve 2 healthy portions for a main course but you can halve the quantities for a starter sized dish.

Ingredients:-

6oz/175gms Packet of Smoked Salmon (pre-sliced) 
4oz /250 gms of dry linguine or similar pasta
a bunch of fresh asparagus (woody parts trimmed away)
7oz/200 gms Cream Cheese (I used Philly light)
splash of olive oil
grated zest of half a lemon & 2tsps of lemon juice
chopped chives or dill to finish

Method:-

Chop the tender stalks of the asparagus leaving the spear tips whole
Save 2 small slices of smoked salmon and roll  them up to form a rose as in the picture above
Chop the rest into strips
Cook the pasta in salted boiling water as per  packet instructions (usually around 7-8 minutes)
Add the asparagus to the same pan a couple of minutes before the end of cooking
Strain the pasta and reserve around 1 cup of the cooking water
Separate the asparagus spears for decorating the dish
Place the cup of cooking water back into the pan...add the cream cheese, olive oil,  lemon zest & juice
Stir to make a sauce ...do not boil it though
Add the chopped smoked salmon and the pasta to the pan stir through and plate onto warm dishes immediately
Decorate with the asparagus spears and the smoked salmon rose ....sprinkle with chives
Serve ... with a little green side salad and some warm ciabatta 

Valentine Passionfruit Heart Biscuits

   
                                                        Passionfruit Hearts ♥


Here's a great little cookie/biscuit dough recipe.  The dough keeps it's shape whilst baking so it's perfect for use with your cookie cutters for any kind of design.  

I've filled these little hearts with  a Passionfruit  filling...couldn't be better for a Valentine's treat.♥

Recipe taken from my Facebook notes:-

Basic Biscuit Dough. for the Passionfruit biscuits, alternative fillings at the bottom of the note 

this basic dough is so good as it retains it's shape whilst baking

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4oz/ 125g/half a cup of butter

2oz/60g quarter cup caster sugar

1 beaten egg

7oz/220g/1 & 3/4cups plain flour

1oz/30g/3tbsp cornflour/cornstarch

half a tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

grated rind of half a lemon OR few drops of vanilla  depending on the biscuit being made

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preheat oven to 180c/350f/gas 4

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Grease 3 baking sheets

>

cream the butter & sugar

add the egg & flavouring beat

add the sifted flour, salt & baking powder

mix together & form into a ball & it's ready to roll out.

Cut out using 7.5cm/3" cutters which ever shape you want. 

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this should make about 48 biscuits in total or 24 if you're using them as a base & top.

>

Bake for around 15 mins until light golden brown.

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For Passion Fruit Cream

>

2oz/60g/quarter cup of unsalted butter

4oz/125g/3/4cup sifted icing sugar

the pulp of 4 small passion fruit passed through a sieve to remove the seeds

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just beat these ingredients together

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sandwich the biscuits together

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Dust with icing sugar

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Vanilla Filling

60g/ 2 oz/ qurater cup unsalted butter

1 egg yolk

125g/4oz/3/4 cup icing sugar

few drops of vanilla extract

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just beat together

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Lemon filling (omit the vanilla from the biscuit recipe and add a tsp grated lemon zest)

omit the vanilla from the vanilla filling recipe, add 3 tsp lemon juice and the zest from a lemon

beat together.