Parsnips and Bagels...

Back again with more Sunday cooking and baking. I have a batch of parsnip and apple soup on the go, ready for next week at work, and a few bagels in the oven, to try to perfect my bagel making, and provide fuel for next week.

Two foodie things have been on my mind today;
1 - having watched a couple of episodes of Jamie's 15 Minute Meals this morning, I am wondering what the obsession is with quick food, and whether this speed cookery is going to make people cook more, or whether it will mean that people who already cook spend less time in the kitchen! I have no problem at all with Jamie Oliver, in fact I think he's great. But I do wonder, whether people really need 15 minutes of intense, cannot leave the stove cookery, as opposed to recipes that can be made easily, in a half hour to and hour, when you arrive home from work, if you don't have fancy gadgets. Cooking, to me, is something enjoyable, where I can relax and play with textures and flavours - rather than a 15 minute military operation that just happens to have food as an end product. This sounds rather more critical than I mean it to - having just read it back. To be more positive, if this gets people into the kitchen, increases their kitchen confidence, and leads them to cook more and enjoy cooking - brilliant!

2 - I went to my local supermarket earlier only to discover that they no longer sell what I consider to be a basic kitchen necessity, cornflour. I said to the man, how will I make sauce? And he said, use the 'Sauce flour'. This I pointed out was plain flour and made from wheat, whereas I quite often like a wheat free sauce, and flour on its own is not really an effective thickening agent. In short, I need cornflour. But is it the case that no one is using it? That no one bought it and it was simply rotting on the shelves? Or are we all just supposed to buy jar and packet sauces, stuffed with colourings and flavourings and salt??? Grrr.

Oh dear. Rant over. Lah de dah. I've made some popcorn to cheery myself up, Munch Munch, Yum Yum.

So, for a delicious parsnip and apple soup, I have done as follows:

Finely chop a white onion and add to a pan with a slug of plain oil - I use rapeseed. These need to be softened on a medium heat, watch them closely and stir often as you don't want them to brown. I put salt and pepper, a bay leaf and a shake of dried mixed herbs into the onion.

Chop the parsnip into a smallish dice. For quantities, I used 5 medium sized parsnips to one Bramley apple - adjust quantities depending how much you want to make - remember that the apple will dominate if there isn't enough to balance it out - 3/4 parsnip to 1/4 apple seems about the right quantity to me.

Add the parsnip to the softened onion, and stir about for the flavours to get to know each other, and for the parsnip to warm a little before adding stock (chicken or veg). Let it bubble away for 15 minutes or so before adding the apple. Bubble for another 15-20 minutes, and then allow to cool for a little while before blending into a smooth soup.

You could eat this straight away with a swirl of cream, or divide it between some tupperware containers and take to work for a lovely healthy lunch.

To go with this lovely soup, I made some multi-seed bagels. this was my second attempt, the first having gone ok, I wanted to try again to try to improve the look of them. Sadly, I have not achieved this, and the look like, um, well, mishapen bagels! But they taste lovely, they are chewy and soft, and the multiseeded flour I've used this time adds great flavour and texture. The issue with the look seems to be that a skin forms on the dough which makes it hard to change the shape - I will do some research and conquer this delicious doughy treat!

A foodie roundup!

I seem to go through times when there is plenty of time to fill with blogging, and times when there is just not a spare moment. Rest assured, I still cook my little socks off during this time and have had recent success with the following:

Nigella-style steak, salad and chips, followed by chocolate fondant. - this was for a dinner with friends, for which I would never usually do steak as I am worried about it turning out tough and chewy... However, I bit the bullet and headed to Borough Market to chat to a lovely butcher who sold me two delicious long strips of hanger steak (or skirt) for a mere £8! And the opposite veg stall had me in raptures, I bought the most wonderful, frothy-looking lettuce, a beautifully fragrant bunch of thyme, and scarlet cherry tomatoes! I marinaded the steak in oil, salt, pepper and thyme, fried it quickly turning it frequently but allowing a caramelised crust to form on each surface. I made a thick mustardy vinagrette and dressed the leaves with it. I spread these around a chopping board, and sliced the steak thinly and laid it in the middle. I made chips to go with this (just potato sliced, oiled and baked) and chocolate fondants for afters - the recipe for which was insanely simple and the soft little puds were just lovely! Recipe from BBC Food and Mr James Martin. 
Baking bagels - A moderate success, and delicious to eat. The look is a little tricky to get right, and the second attempt is currently in progress.

Butternut squash and leek soup - enjoyed for my work lunches
Sweet potato and leek soup - as above - both of these are lovely autumnal soups as simple as a potato and leek but with just a little more sweetness and comfort.
Strudel cupcakes - courtesy of Delicious magazine and loved by those in my office and those in my other half's rehearsal room.
Ribs in Jerk seasoning, with wedges and root veg slaw - so simple, and such a treat!
Root veg rosti - a lovely autumn dish, with grated potato, carrot and bramley apple squashed into a pan with thyme and seasoning, and a good few chunks of butter. The tomato sauce was made with paprika and cinnamon and lent a lovely richness and North African contrast to this English country garden supper!
A fruit cake! Not very exciting, but my first go at a Dundee recipe, and I am impressed by the golden, fully fruited soft cake-ilicious results!

My busy bee levels of cookery have been inspired by reading my two new favourite magazines, The Simple Things, and Delicious. I could not possible cook all these recipes, and I haven't tried - but just having read them makes me want to do more interesting things with the meals that I make, and to put that little more effort in to finding new ingredients, and new combinations.