Winter warmer - spicy vegetable soup

Hallo 2013!

Here is a great winter recipe that never fails me!

Ingredients:

• Chicken or Veg Stock
• Smoked paprika
• Olive oil (best kind)
• Salt
• Coriander seeds
• Dried mixed Italian herbs
• Minced garlic 
• Dried chilly (I used bird's eye) (1)
• Carrots (3)
• Sweet potato (1)
• Leek (1)
• Swede (1/4)
• Can of diced tomatoes (1)

Serve with sour cream and fresh parsley.

1. Boil about 1,5l of water with chicken or veg stock.
2. Add generous amounts of smoked paprika, dash of olive oil (best kind), salt, coriander seeds, dried mixed Italian herbs, half-spoon of minced garlic and a dried chilly (I used one dried bird's eye).
3. Roughly shop up some peeled carrots (3), one large sweet potato, one leek and a quarter of a swede.
4. Boil for about 30 minutes.
5. Drain the veg, setting the boiling liquid aside for later.
6. Chuck the veg in the oven for 10 minutes on 200C (fan-forced) with an optional small drizzle of honey to caramelise.
7. Process small amounts of grilled veg in the food processor together with the boiling liquid, plus one can of diced tomatoes, until it's a smooth liquid. I prefer the soup a bit lumpy. A bit more rustic?
8. Return to heat up, but not boil.
9. Serve with sour cream and fresh parsley.

I have tried this with all sorts of variations. For example using Indian spices and pumpkin, using corn, coriander and cumin… anything is possible. A tip for success is to think of complimenting foods and I use a geographical food region as a reference - Italian, French, Latvian, Hungarian, Thai etc.

Enjoy! : )

Minestrone

We were lucky to have a lot of tomatoes from our two cherry-tomato buckets. Here is an autumnal recipe (with a personal twist, of course) of my favorite tomato based soup - Minestrone.

Cooking time for maximum flavor is around 2 hours on a lazy Sunday night or one hour on a weekday for a less spectacular result.

You will need (in order of usage):

• butter (a reasonable quantity)
• olive oil (I prefer Bertolli, extra virgin)
• 2 cups chopped onions (or just one big onion chopped) 
• one chilli (hot!)
• one portion Knorr Bouillon Pur with herbs and garlic (or fresh beef stock instead of water... )
• water (1l or more)
•  3 to 4 large carrots chopped 
• 1 zucchini chopped
• 500ml passata  (best possible quality)
• 500g tomatoes (chopped, I do not worry about de-seeding)
• 1 can of red kidney beans
• 1 cup small pasta shells
• a healthy bunch of fresh oregano & rosemary (from the balcony or garden!)
• salt & pepper

I cook onions until slightly translucent, mix in the stock concentrate, crushed chilli and add water. Bring to slow boil, add diced carrots. When carrots have cooked for 10-15min, add zucchini, passata and tomatoes. Return to boil and simmer. Add kidney beans, pasta and herbs - cook until pasta is ready. Remember to take out any rosemary sprigs before serving. As with most soups, it tastes even better the next day. 

I use Parmesan cheese and fresh herbs to decorate. Buon appetito!