When autumn strikes, I don't know about you, but my mind immediately turns to soup. In fact, it turns to soup before autumn has fully struck. Those days when the weather turns from comfortably warm to "hmmn, I think I'll take a sweater with me", seem to spark off the desire. I find myself pondering lunches and thinking "I'll have a look down the supermarket soup aisle", not to mention speculatively considering keeping the vegetable peel for soup stock. It's a dead giveaway every year.
Every so often, I've found myself making soup for lunch. However, it invariably ends up being just eaten by myself as the menfolk seem to prefer beans on toast, or something in a packet involving pastry for their lunches. Now I like soup - but eating the same one for the next four lunchtimes gets a bit dull, no matter how good it is.
So, as a result, I've been developing a nice line in "Dinner soup". That is, the kind of soup that - having partaken of a bowlful - you know you've eaten. A soup with a nice balance of protein, vegetable and carbohydrate that, without the liquid, could pass for a main course with perhaps a little gravy added.
One such is this chicken & vegetable dinner soup.
Now we all know the reputation that chicken soup carries with it - of being wholesome, healthy and akin to penicillin in lots of situations. That's a fairly unbeatable place to start. My thinking was to stay with that spirit and not add anything that would be superfluous to the cause. No wine, or butter, or cream, or spice. Just chicken, vegetables and herbs. Clean, pure and simple.
The task was to get every last bit of chicken flavour into the soup and prevent it from becoming a vegetable soup with chicken, yet not cook the chicken to within an inch of its life. I think my method of poaching the chicken in the soup stock, then removing it and adding it back at a later stage, took advantage of both those requirements. The stock had the benefit of the chicken cooking in it, but the late addition of the chicken prevented the meat from becoming overcooked. Perfect. In the meantime, the veggies had a lovely time bathing in some very chickeny chicken stock and all of them were chosen to complement the chicken flavour in one way or another.
I will admit to having a terrible wrangle with myself over pasta versus dumplings. I did SO want to include dumplings, but I also wanted to include pasta - and I knew we were going to be eating the soup with crusty bread so three major carbohydrate sources was just a carb too many. In the end, I dropped the idea of the dumplings in favour of keeping the soup relatively fat free and light. However, if you want to swap the pasta in favour of dumplings, then go right ahead. I won't argue and neither will your diners, I'm sure!
I hadn't intended for the bite-sized chunks of veggies to cook quite as much as they did. I had in mind that the veggies that were chopped small would ultimately dissolve into the soup and the bite sizes would stay cleanly cut, but tender to the bite. Well, the former happened, but the latter didn't. Ultimately though, I was so pleased with how the soup finished. I think the cleaner cut, just beyond al dente vegetables would have detracted from the comfort food nature of this soup - and you all know what a complete sucker I am for comfort food.
The flavour was super-chickeny, the chicken wasn't dry at all, each vegetable could be discerned in a spoonful (well, except maybe for the onion and garlic that were just part of the general melange) and crusty bread dipped into the broth was just divine. Hubby abstained from dinner that night, but son & heir declared that not only was the soup delicious, but it was most definitely a "do it again" recipe. On you come, autumn. I've got this under control.
CHICKEN & VEGETABLE DINNER SOUP (serves 4-5)
Ingredients :
1 litre chicken stock
quarter of a tsp dried thyme
quarter of a tsp dried tarragon
half a tsp dried parsley
half a tsp ground black pepper
2 skinless & boneless chicken breasts
1 skinless chicken leg or 2 skinless chicken thighs
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped fine
1 clove garlic, sliced
1 carrot, half sliced, half chopped fine
1 leek, halved and cut into 1 inch pieces
2 celery sticks, half of one chopped fine, the remainder cut into pieces
half a butternut squash, peeled, de-seeded and cut into bite sized chunks
2 small potatoes, one cut into small chunks, one in bite sized chunks
1 red pepper, cored and cut into bite sized chunks
1 sweetcorn cob's-worth of kernels
1 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 large handfuls of dry macaroni
sea salt, if necessary
2 good handfuls of frozen peas.
Method :
Make up the litre of chicken stock (if you're using a cube, use one and a half for extra flavour) in a pan and add the thyme, tarragon, parsley and black pepper to it. Bring to a gentle boil and add the chicken. Simmer gently for 15-20 minutes or until the chicken is just cooked and will shred with two forks.
Remove the chicken from the stock and reserve.
Pour the stock into a separate container and reserve. Rinse out the saucepan, to remove any scum stuck to the sides.
Add the olive oil to the pan and on a moderate heat, add the onion and garlic. Cook, stirring regularly, until transparent. Make sure not to colour the onion at all.
Add the carrot, leek, butternut squash, potato, sweetcorn, celery and red pepper along with the reserved stock, rosemary and bay leaf.
Bring back to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the vegetables are just soft.
In the meantime, shred the chicken breasts and the meat from the chicken leg or thighs. Discard the bones.
Add the chicken and dry macaroni to the pot and simmer until the macaroni is done.
A few minutes before the macaroni is cooked, taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary, then add a
handful of frozen peas and simmer until the peas are piping hot.
Serve with chunks of crusty bread and fresh butter.
Printable version
I woke up this morning with two priorities in mind. One was to bake some Muffins involving Quince in some way. The other was to blog on the Ratatouille Bake we ate for dinner last night.
So far, it's got to 1.50pm and I've had a shower, had breakfast, been to Sainsbury's (extra-curricular trip, for flour), returned and caught up with my email whilst having a coffee, then had lunch, then had an extra-curricular trip to the Ashley Road to drop hubby off. Only now, am I getting to one of those priorities. Does this happen to everyone, or is it just me?
Yes, I could have got out of bed before 9 a.m. but I have been so totally dog-tired for the last two days that having a bit of a long sleep through was getting to be vital. I'm always scared to become too tired, just in case - one day - my brain decides to melt as it did some 2 years ago when I had a mini stroke. Don't want that to happen again, just in case next time it decides not to be mini! Anyway. Enough rambling about not having time - let's get on and tell you about the Pasta Ratatouille Bake.
I had tripped over this recipe on the Good Food Channel's website and it appealed to me for the following reasons :
1. It provided three of your five-a-day vegetables in what appeared to be extremely palatable form;
2. It used pasta, so was potentially a good alternative to using potatoes in a dish;
3. It was oven baked with cheese melted over the top, which is very palatable for young Son.
I knew Son wouldn't enjoy the courgettes, but they were big enough for him to avoid. I had hope that he would enjoy the broad beans, as they were a relatively new vegetable for him and, coming in frozen form, were easy to keep handy.
As it turned out, the dish was delicious and baked well with the pasta. I used Spirali instead of the classic macaroni, largely because we already had some Spirali in the cupboard. I also used Thyme instead of Basil, as my Basil plant had died over the last two days of sharp overnight frosts. Even being kept in the kitchen didn't help it. I admit that I also added a tablespoon of tomato ketchup to the sauce, just to add that little tang that the fresh tomato wasn't providing. The last adjustment was that I grated over some sharp Cheddar cheese as well as the Parmesan, in order to up the cheese quota so as to appeal to Son. The recipe makes a fair amount - way more than would feed 4 people - but nil desperandum as it made a lovely lunch the following day.
PASTA RATATOUILLE BAKE (feeds 5-6)
Ingredients :
200g pasta (Spirali or Macaroni are good)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
4 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 courgettes, sliced (you may need 3, depending on how many you're feeding & the size of the courgettes. Mine were big!)
200g broad beans (fresh, frozen or tinned)
1 tbps tomato ketchup
125ml vegetable stock (from a cube is fine, just don't add too much extra salt)
25g parmesan cheese, grated
10g sharp cheddar cheese, grated
Method :
1. Preheat the oven to 180deg c/gas mark 4.
2. Cook the pasta according to the instructions given on the packet and drain.
3. Meanwhile, in a deep frying pan, heat the oil and cook the onion for 5-10 mins, until it's tender and golden.
4. Add the garlic for the last 2-3 minutes and cook through.
5. Stir in the herbs, tomatoes, courgettes, beans, stock, tomato ketchup and seasoning and simmer for 5 minutes.
6. Combine the pasta with the vegetables and stir gently, then decant into a warmed casserole dish.
7. Grate the cheese over the top, then oven-bake for 30-35 mins.
Excellent served with Sausages, Gammon, Pork Chops.
This evening's dinner was a real treat. We don't have it often because of the calories involved - but as we're all cheesehounds, it always goes down very well.
I had a bit of a challenge with this one, as hubby had declared that he hadn't really enjoyed my previous incarnations of Macaroni Cheese, so I was determined to do the best I could with this one. I knew I had to make sure the Macaroni was cooked just that tad past al dente, the sauce was suitably cheesy, you could just taste the English mustard, and that the sauce was sufficient from a quantity point of view. But then, a dry Macaroni Cheese is no fun for anyone.
MACARONI CHEESE (serves 4-5)
Ingredients :
2 tbsp butter
350g macaroni
half a pack of smoked streaky bacon, diced
1 onion, diced fine
1 garlic clove, finely grated
2 tsp English mustard powder
3 tbsp plain flour
500ml whole milk (and a bit extra, in case of need)
250g mature cheddar, grated
10 g parmesan, grated
50g breadcrumbs.
Method :
1. Pre-heat the oven to 190deg C (fan). Boil the pasta for 2 mins less than stated on the pack.
2. Meanwhile, cook the bacon and set aside. Then add the onions to the fat left by the bacon and fry gently - without colouring - until they are soft.
3. Grate in the garlic clove and cook for 1 minute more.
4. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute, then gradually whisk in the milk until you have a lump-free sauce. Add the mustard and whisk in, along with some black pepper.
5. Simmer for 5 mins, whisking constantly until thickened. Take care that it doesn't begin to burn on the bottom of the pan.
6. Remove from the heat and add the cheese, stir until it is melted, then add the bacon and stir in. Taste to check the seasoning.
7. Stir in the drained pasta, then decant into a large casserole dish and scatter over the breadcrumbs.
8. Place into the oven and bake for 20-30 mins until crisp, golden and bubbling at the edges.
From a personal point of view, I enjoy a side salad with my Macaroni Cheese as I find the pasta itself can get a bit samey towards the end, plus the cheese sauce can get a bit much without a flavour to counter its richness.
So I decided upon a small mixed salad with a honey & mustard dressing. The dressing I made from scratch, using :
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp cider vinegar
half a tsp of whole grain mustard
1 tsp of runny honey
salt & pepper
I just put them all in a cup and whipped them up with a fork. It was the kind of dressing that I could easily eat by the spoonful without any salad and I was correct in my thought that it would complement the main dish. It did so very well indeed.
