Snapdragon's garden

Vitamin Central - Green herb and yoghurt soup

I have 2 teenage daughters, aged 16 and 13.

Over the past year the main point of conflict in our home isn't clothes or homework - it is vitamins.

Their new found reluctance to eat vegetables (they ate them without a fuss as small children), combined with a seeming fear of going outside (where there is no wifi) have me stomping about the house declaiming about shingles and immune systems in a very "aged P" manner.

I don't like the image that conjures up, so this quick and easy to make soup has become my secret weapon. It is all things green and vibrant whizzed up so that nothing can be "picked out.

It is known in our house as "green soup" - as the actual ingredients change from month to month - but I prefer to think of it as "vitamin central".

 

Green Soup - for 4

2-3 handfuls of any of the following - ideally you want a mix - parsley, nettles, spinach, mint, chard, sorrel, coriander roughly chopped.

2 onions finely chopped

25 g of butter or oil

1 litre stock (chicken or vegetable)

Salt to taste

Natural yoghurt

Cook the onions in the butter or oil until soft and translucent.

Add in the greens in batches and stir so that they get coated in the oil and begin to wilt.

Add in the stock and bring up to a simmer - cook for 5-10 minutes until all the greens are tender.

Whizz up in a blender or with a whizzy wand until as smooth as possible.

Serve and stir in a swirl of natural yoghurt to each bowl.

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Rhubarb, carrot and ginger soup

I no longer eat sugar or wheat so I had been wondering what I would possibly do with all our beautiful home grown rhubarb now that crumbles and pies are off the menu.

Then I came across various soup recipes which use rhubarb to cut through the sweetness of root vegetables. - This is my take on them - a soup which went down well at a family lunch yesterday - eaten by octogenarians and teens alike!

It is an unusual soup - really savoury, sharp and light.

Rhubarb, carrot and ginger soup.

Ingredients

2 tblsp olive oil

3 onions - chopped

2 cloves garlic - crushed

3-4 sticks of rhubarb - diced

10 carrots - diced

1 inch ginger

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground coriander

1 litre stock (chicken or vegetable)

1 tin coconut milk

2 tblsp fish sauce.

 

Fry the onions and garlic gently in the oil until soft.

Add in rhubarb, carrots, ginger, cumin and coriander and cook for 5 minutes - do not allow them to colour.

Add stock and simmer for 15 minutes until vegetables are soft.

Add coconut milk and whizz it all to a puree either in a blender or with a whizzy wand.

Stir in the fish sauce - this gives it a really rounded out flavour, stopping the rhubarb being too astringent.

When you want to serve heat it up gently and top with chopped coriander (or chives/basil/mint)

 

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Making mayonnaise

In more leisurely times I have whiled away hours making my own bread and pasta; In the past I have laboured over elaborate pies and pastries and diligently ground out pesto with a mortar and pestle.
Now my cooking tends to be of a speedier turn as it fits in between work and whatever needs done with the children.
The sole thing left in my domestic goddess repertoire is making mayonnaise.
I was reminded of this as our friends Jane, Simon, Hannah and Rosie came round for a spur of the moment barbecue after Drymen Agricultural Show on Saturday - we grilled mackerel and ate them with salad, potatoes and some mayonnaise which I whisked up on the hoof to much oohing and ahhing.
I hate to break the illusion but must confess that it isn't all in the technique. The amazing thing about having chickens is that you get absolutely spanking fresh, still warm eggs.  You can't possibly go wrong when you make mayonnaise with such an egg - you can forget all the drop by drop business and lob in the oil one handed while you whisk.  It is a quite different thing to using shop bought eggs.
Perhaps I should have kept quiet and pretended I was superwoman. . .but then Jane has known me since we were both on maternity leave and baking our way through Nigella books while obsessing about the quality of vanilla extract and where to get colour paste. 
The beautiful chalky white egg held by Rosie was laid by our most hansome chicken, a black majorcan whose eyes are dark and not at all mad chickeny orange like the others.