Mexican turkey meatball soup

I often make a large batch of soup on the weekends, so that I have a tasty healthy lunch every day at work.  This was a soup that I made last week and enjoyed for 4 lunches.  Luckily I am quite happy to eat the same thing several days in a row, but it would freeze well if you had problems with that. Though warming and comforting as all soups are, it has the tastes of Mexico so invokes a little taste of summer at the end of winter.

Turkey meatballs

• 
  
• 1lb ground turkey
• 1 jalapeno pepper finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon of ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon of ground coriander
• salt and pepper

Mix all the ingredients together

Form in to small meatballs, about the size of a large marble, and place on a lined cookie sheet.

Cook in a preheated 350 oven for about 15 to 20 minutes until cooked and turning golden.

Easy roast chicken with carrots and potatoes

I guess it is no secret I love roast chicken, I love the smell of it cooking, I love crispy chicken skin and I love the versatility of it.  Chicken goes with so many flavours and is a staple in just about every culture in the world. Sunday night I was feeling like roast chicken and decided to do another riff on the chicken legs cooked on a bed of vegetables.

I kept this very simple letting the taste of the wonderful free range chicken shine through. There was 4 for dinner that evening, so I used four whole chicken legs cut in half and a whole de boned breast.  I was hoping to have a couple of pieces left over for lunch, but I was sadly disappointed.

To feed 4

2 pieces of cut up chicken per person (maybe extra if they are hungry)
1 medium potato per person cut into chunks
1 carrot per person sliced thickly
1/2 small onion per person or 2 green onions per person chopped
2 cloves of garlic sliced for 4 people
Sprig of rosemary
2 tablespoons of olive oil

Place the potatoes, carrots, onion and garlic in the bottom of a roasting tin. Drizzle with olive oil salt and pepper and toss together.

Roasted butternut squash soup

A very good friend of mine injured herself skiing, and during the first few days of recuperation, the only thing I could think to do was make soup for her.  Soup is always comforting, and some how when you are not feeling well or hurt soup is what appeals.  I had some good home made chicken stock in the freezer, so I spent Sunday afternoon making soups.  I had bought a butternut squash in my fridge also and decided to convert this to soup.

This made enough for 4 big servings

1 whole butternut squash
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 onion chopped
1 clove of garlic sliced
6 cups of chicken stock
2 whole star anise
1/2 teaspoon of grated nutmeg (if at all possible fresh)
1/4 cup of cream (optional)

Cut the squash in to quarters take out the seeds and lay on a foil lined cookie sheet, then drizzle with olive oil salt and pepper.

Roast in a 350 oven for about 3/4 of an hour or until the flesh is cooked through and starting to go golden. This concentrates the flavour and adds sweetness.

While you are waiting for the squash to cool down enough to handle, sweat off the onions and garlic in about 1 tablespoon of olive oil until they are translucent.

Roasted chicken with fennel and pasta

This is a dish that I made while up at Whistler to feed the returning skiers. I wanted to make something that did not require me do a lot of cooking near serving time, using few dishes and I was presented with a lovely free range chicken as my main ingredient. For the most part I was trying to use what I found in the fridge, which was fairly well stocked.

To feed 4

1 whole chicken cut up or equivalent in pieces
1 fennel bulb sliced
1 onion chopped
4 cloves of garlic peeled and sliced
2 cups of grape tomatoes or you could use large ones sliced
1 cup of pitted olives.
3 table spoons of olive oil
4 cups of dried penne pasta
1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
1 bucket of baby arugula
juice of 1 lemon

Put the fennel onion and garlic in large shallow roasting tin.  Place the chicken pieces on top and scatter over the tomatoes and olives, then drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive and salt and pepper.

Place in a 400 oven for about 45 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and crispy golden.

Date and proscuitto appetizer

I had the good fortune to spend the weekend at Whistler at my friends place right on the ski hill. This is a little wasted on me as I do not ski, but I can provide food for the more adventurous amongst us, and I have learned that it is critical to have a cold beer and a nibble for everyone as they come down off the slopes.

We had heavy snow that day, this was the view from my window in the morning.

And this was the view when I was waiting for my hungry skiers to come in from the snow.

One of my friends had left the ingredients and instructions for these appetizers, someone in her family had made these and she had thought that they would be a great apres ski nibble. These are quite rich and so though they are small probably 2 per person would be enough.

Walking the English countryside

One of the very nicest things about a walk in England is, if you want it to, every walk can end in a pub!  Recently I went for a very short trip to visit long time school friends and I was staying in Chipperfield in Hertfordshire.  Though this an easy commute to central London and only 20 minute drive (when the M25 is not plugged) to Heathrow airport you are in lovely rolling hills and small villages a great place to go for a walk through the English countryside, and there are lots of pubs.

It was late January, but the sun came out and a walk was definitely in order. It has however been raining a lot in fact record breaking rain, so wellington boots were the preferred footwear for going through the mud and puddles.

The first day we went for a walk around lunch time and so decided to stop at a local pub called the Boot for a bite to eat.

It was a classic pub from the outside, a little worn on the inside, but cosy and I think quite old. I decided to order the classic British pub lunch "plough mans lunch"  this can vary in size and quality, the most basic being bread, cheese and a pickled onion.

Els's mess

There is a traditional English dessert called Eton Mess, which consists of crumbled meringue whipped cream and strawberries.  Very easy and actually rather good. This variation on the Eton Mess was done by a new friend who I met whilst staying with a friend on my quick trip to England.  We were having a small dinner party one night and Els offered to make her signature dessert. She did not have a name for it, but due to it's resemblance to Eton Mess we called it Els's Mess.

Very quick and simple but it really needs to be put together at the last minute or the meringue will go soggy. Hard for me to give quantities here as really you can make as little or as much as you want depending on the number of people for dinner, but here are the basic ingredients with proportions.

Pre made or bought meringue (about one nest per person)
Greek yogurt (If you use 0% this is actually quite a light dessert)
Lightly whipped cream (equal quantity to yogurt)
Lemon juice (juice of one lemon to about a cup of yogurt)
Frozen raspberries and blueberries (about a 1/4 cup per person)


Earlier in the day crumble half the meringue in to the bottom of the individual serving dishes we used cut glass tumblers.

Mix the yogurt and cream together and add the lemon juice.  I think I would add some lemon zest as well to punch up the flavour even more.  Keep the yogurt/cream mixture in the fridge until ready to assemble.  I think you could make this with just yogurt as long as you had a good quality Greek yogurt, then it would be almost a diet dessert!