Parsnip, carrot and mango chutney soup

Its official I am sad, yes very sad I cut out recipes and paste them in a scrap book and then on wet days, I stand at my kitchen counter and gently flick through the pages discovering inspiration for dishes to cook. This is one such recipe, inspired by a carrot and chutney soup recipe (this one contained rice as a thickener) I decided to rescue a few past their best carrots and parsnips from the vegetable rack and combine them with mango chutney in a sweet mildly spicy soup.

A perfect soup for a cool spring weekend lunch, sufficiently comforting without being too winter warming, I served this with some easy gluten free flat bread (recipe on separate post), any leftovers I plan to take to work in my trusty soup container.

The recipe would also work with other chutneys, caramelised onion would be good and its also very frugal too. What's not to like so why not give it a try.....

                                               

What you need

• 2 large carrots - peeled and chopped
• 2 large parsnips - peeled and chopped
• Vegetable stock ( I used Essential Cuisine)
• 1 tbsp mango chutney
• 1 brown onion - peeled and finely chopped
• Salt and pepper
• A little rapeseed oil or olive oil or butter

What you do

• Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the onion, carrots and parsnips and sweats for a few minutes without colouring.
• Add enough vegetable stock to the pan to cover the vegetables 
• Simmer until the vegetables are soft and add the mango chutney to the pan. 
• Blitz with a hand blender or in a liquidiser until you achieve a smooth velvety texture, add more vegetable stock if required.
• Return to the pan and bring back to simmer before serving.
• Delicious served with flat breads or artisan bread.
• This soup also freezes well

I am linking this post up to Farmers Girl's linky "Recipe Clippings" for April, as this recipe was inspired by a clipped recipe from my scrapbook.

                                           

I am also linking up to Credit crunch munch as I am using past their best vegetables which is just the sort of frugal meal I like. The challenge created by Fuss Free Flavours and Fab food for All and hosted this month by Utterly Scrummy

                                           

Also to #ExtraVeg created by Fuss Free Flavours and Utterly Scrummy and hosted this month by Jo's Kitchen.
                                                         

And to Souper Soup created and hosted over at Jo's Kitchen for soups.

                                                       


And to No Croutons required co hosted in rotation by Tinned Tomatoes and Lisa's Kitchen, a challenge for veggie soups and salads.

                                                     

And finally to Simple and in Season hosted this month by Fuss Free Flavours for the lovely Ren Behan 

                                          

Almond sponge topped apple pots

In winter nothing hits the spot like a warm pudding to round off a satisfying meal, this recipe is one I have been making for many years, originally based on Gino D'ACampo's miel e mandorle pots that I discovered was gluten free when I was entertaining a friend who is a celiac.

These are delicious served hot or cold and are easy to make, the recipe is a great way to use up apples left in the fruit bowl that are passed their best. I used a mixture of granny smiths and braeburn apples but other fruits would work as well. The pots are the perfect combination of fruit and moist golden sponge with a faint almond flavour, ideally topped off with a few flaked almonds. Serve with your choice of custard, creme fraiche, yogurt or cream.

What you need

• 6 dessert apples (I used Granny Smiths), peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces
• 50g soft brown sugar
• 2 eggs - free range
• 100g caster sugar
• 100g softened butter
• 100g ground almonds
• Few sliced almonds for sprinkling on top
• Lemon juice
• Apple pie spices (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg)

What you do

• Preheat oven to 160c
• To make the filling cook the chopped apples, the soft brown sugar, lemon juice and spices in a pan until slightly softened, add a splash of water if you like.
• Place the cooked apple filling in four ramekins, divided equally
• Whisk the caster sugar and butter until light and fluffy ( I used my mixer)
• Add the eggs and ground almonds and whisk until you have smooth fluffy mixture
• Top the ramekins with the almond topping and sprinkle with a few flaked almonds
• Bake in the pre heated oven for 45 mins or so until golden and well risen
• Serve hot or cold.

I am linking this post to "Recipe Clippings" created and hosted by Farmersgirl Kitchen, as I have said this a recipe I have used time and time again and proudly features in my recipe scrapbook.

And also to Credit Crunch Munch created by Fuss Free Flavours and Fab Food 4 all, hosted this month by Elizabeth's Kitchen, as I used some rather sad apples form the fruit bowl to create a great dessert dish.

                        

Spicy roots soup, a classic winter warmer

In the spirit of eating healthy I have been prepping some easy lunches that I can take to work, I love soup but only homemade hits the spot for me. By making your own soup you are in control of the ingredients, the level of spicing and also the portion size, and I don't know about anybody else but I can't eat a huge portion of soup (i.e can sized) so taking a packed portion works out great for me.

The clipping from my scrap book that the recipe is based on, I think its from a Tesco magazine.

Recently I noticed in Aldi they had some BPA free snap lockable soup containers on special buy so I took the plunge and purchased a set. I am hoping that this will encourage me to take my portions to work for a nutritious healthy lunch, so far so good.

My new soup container

Its an easy recipe and uses the odd root vegetable you have in your fridge or vegetable rack, the recipe also uses very little oil so its low fat and has lovely gentle spicing which enhances the sweet earthy vegetable flavours in the soup.

What you need

• 1 onion chopped (red or white)
• 2 cloves of garlic - crushed
• Couple of carrots, peeled and chopped ( I use organic if I can get them as I find they are sweeter)
• 1 small swede - peeled and chopped
• 1 large white potato, peeled and chopped
• 1 large parsnip - peeled and chopped
• A litre or so of vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• Pinch of dried red chilli (I used crumbled whole ones)
• A little yogurt to serve - optional or some omega 3 seeds
• A little rapeseed oil

What you do 

• Gently fry the onion and garlic in a little oil in a large saucepan, until softened slightly.
• Add the rest of the vegetables to the pan and cook for about 10 minutes until they are starting softened and very slightly caramelised.
• Add the spices to the pan and the vegetable stock and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until the vegetables are soft
• Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly
• Blitz with a hand blender or in a liquidiser until you reach your desired soup consistency, you may need to add water.
• Re heat to simmering point and serve swirled with natural yogurt or sprinkled with seeds
• Delicious.
• This recipe freezes beautifully

I am linking this recipe up to "Vegetable palette" over at A2K (Allotment to Kitchen), who's theme this month is Detox recipes. 

                               

Also to "Extra Veg" over on Utterly Scrummy Food and also Fuss Free Flavours as this soup contains lots of extra veg.

                                                     

And "No Croutons Required" hosted this month by Lisa's Kitchen a vegetarian challenge for soups and salads, co hosted by Tinned Tomatoes .

                                                           

And a new challenge "Recipe Clippings" as this is based on a recipe I have in my trusty soups scrapbook, this is hosted our on Farmers Girl Kitchen

                                    

And lastly Tea Time Treats, the theme this month being packed lunches and hosted this month over at Hedgecombers. A challenge jointly hosted by Lavender and Lovage.