COURGETTE SOUP

Since my previous courgette soup post I have discovered numerous versions of the recipe for courgette and cheese triangle soup.  In fact I am amazed that I had never come across it before.  Keen to have another go at it I popped down to Tesco for some ingredients.  

However I was shocked to find most of the chiller and freezer cabinets empty!  The current heatwave seems to have caused a problem and they had been cleared.  Fortunately the cheese section was still functioning so I was able to get my “Laughing Cow” triangles. 

Like so many recipes, there are lots of different versions of it.  My friend who first told me about the soup gave me her recipe and she adds crème fraîche at the end for even more creaminess.  She cooks the courgettes in stock, not butter.  Some recipes add the cheese triangles at the start, some melt them in at the end of cooking.  Others include garlic, onion or spring onion.  In the end I took elements from a number of recipes and it was delicious; a delicate flavour and gorgeous creamy texture.

I ate it warm on day one and cold from the fridge with some chopped chives as garnish on day two.

Ingredients

5 courgettes, wiped (mine were huge so I used 3)

5 Laughing Cow or other cheese triangles

3 tsp Marigold stock powder, or a stock cube or pot

2 large knobs of butter

chopped chives or spring onions to garnish (optional)

Method

Melt the butter in a large saucepan.  Chop the unpeeled courgettes and cook gently in the butter on low heat until beginning to soften.  This is the stage at which many recipes add a chopped onion, chopped spring onions or crushed garlic.  I omitted them.

Add the stock powder and cover with water.  Stir well and simmer gently, covered, for about ten minutes until the courgettes are tender.  Add the cheese triangles and stir until they are melted in.

Blend in the pan using a stick blender (or transfer to a food processor/blender) and blend until smooth.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve warm or cold.  Garnish with chopped chives or spring onions (optional)

Serves 4

BANANA UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

A very delicious banana cake!

Back in the UK for a spell I did my customary sweep of the five local charity shops.

I found three cookbooks at £1.50 each.  They all appeared to be brand new.

The one entitled "the baker" is very much a "how to bake" book not just a collection of recipes.

The recipe for banana upside down cake caught my eye.

On the way home from the charity shop I called for some milk at the corner shop and spotted two bunches of bananas reduced in price so that clinched it!

The recipe said to line bottom and sides of the cake tin but I opted for using a circle of paper that was bigger than the tin and therefore came up the sides a bit.  It seemed to work.

The recipe said to use a 20cm tin which to me seemed a bit small.  I couldn't fit the right number of bananas in the bottom and also the quantity of mixture filled the tin more than I would normally do.  I came to the conclusion that 20cm was a mistake and would use a 23cm tin next time.  

It produced a very deep cake which dipped alarmingly in the middle!  The picture in the book shows a shallower cake with more sliced bananas on top, lending weight to my theory that the tin size stated was incorrect.

The recipe also included a lot of sugar and less flour than I would have expected.

However, the cake looked stunning and tasted divine!

It was very sweet and very bananery.

In the book it says it should be eaten on the day of baking.  Certainly the next day it was a bit more moist but equally delicious and the day after that made an excellent pudding warmed and served with ice cream!

I would definitely make it again - it would be good for a cake sale - but I would use a larger tin and possibly slightly less sugar.

Ingredients

For the banana topping

50g unsalted butter, melted

60g light soft brown sugar

6 large ripe bananas, peeled and cut into half lengthways

    (Using the size of tin stated I only fitted in 3 medium bananas)

For the cake

125g unsalted butter, softened

230g light soft brown sugar

2 eggs (I used medium)

185g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 large very ripe bananas, mashed (mine were medium)

Method

Grease and line the base and sides of a 20cm round cake tin.  I used a springform tin and see my notes about the size of tin and lining above.

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160° fan.

Pour the melted butter over the base of the tin and spread out with the back of a spoon if necessary to make sure the whole of the base is coated.  Sprinkle the sugar evenly over the top.

Arrange the cut bananas in a pattern over the top of the sugar, cut side down.

To make the cake, using electric beaters, cream the butter and sugar until lighter and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Sift the flour and baking powder over and fold in, followed by the mashed bananas.

Spoon the mixture carefully over the sliced bananas and level the top.  Bake for 45 minutes or until the cake passes the skewer test.

Remove from the oven and leave in the tin for 5 minutes then turn out upside down onto a wire rack to cool.  Sit the rack over a dinner plate to catch any drips of the topping.  

Cuts into 8-10 generous slices.  Best eaten on the day it is made (see my notes above).

SMOKED SALMON PATÉ

 

Every so often I make smoked mackerel paté which you can see here.  This time I had some smoked salmon in the freezer so I decided to use that instead.  I also looked for a different recipe and adapted this one by Paul Hollywood from the BBC Food website.

It was easy to make, perfectly delicious and kept for a few days in the fridge.  We had ours with some toasted walnut bread and a glass of something chilled.

I recently spotted a very similar recipe where Boursin cream cheese with garlic and herbs is used instead of plain cream cheese, which sounds delicious.  See here.

Ingredients

200g (or one pack) sliced smoked salmon

100g full fat cream cheese

100g full fat crème fraîche

1 lemon (zest of the whole lemon, juice of half)

2 tsp creamed horseradish or horseradish sauce

1 tsp mustard

Chopped fresh dill (optional)

Method

Put all of the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until almost smooth.  Stop the machine when the texture still has some flakes and lumps. 

Season with salt and pepper and add more lemon juice, horseradish and mustard to taste.  

Chill in the fridge until needed and serve with toast, crusty bread or croutons.

Serves 6-8 as a starter, 2-3 as a filling for jacket potatoes.

CREAMY COURGETTE AND LEEK SOUP (soupmaker recipe)

 

A friend was waxing lyrical recently about a soup that she used to order in a local restaurant, now long since closed.  The chef divulged the recipe to her and she makes it for herself in a saucepan fairly often.  It seemed to consist of principally courgettes and cheese triangles!

With some courgettes and cheese triangles in stock I decided to have a go and see if I could make it in the soupmaker.  I added a leek and some potatoes because I thought it could be quite bland and a bit thin without them.

It turned out to be a delicious soup with a delicate flavour.  It wasn't especially cheesy but very creamy.  Definitely one to make again and a neat trick in using the cheese triangles to add creaminess.

Ingredients

2 large courgettes, washed

1 leek, washed

2 medium potatoes

4 cheese triangles (such as Laughing Cow)

1 vegetable stock pot

Method

Prepare and chop enough veg to fill the machine to the bottom line.

Add the cheese triangles, the stockpot and enough water to fill to the top line.

Cook on smooth.  Season to taste when done.

Makes 4 generous portions or 6 as a starter.

LEMON SYLLABUB

 

A little while ago I made lemon posset for a dinner party dessert.  You can read about that here.  I served it in a variety of small, dainty cups and glasses.  

Then a couple of months ago I acquired some more small Pyrex glass cups at a village brocante which would also be perfect for the dessert.  You can read about that here.  My thinking was white china cups for the ladies, plainer glass ones for the gentlemen, corny and old fashioned I know but I didn't have a full set of either so a mix and match would be fun.  They are both roughly the same capacity.

The next time I had it in mind to make lemon posset I was looking for the recipe and came across one for lemon syllabub instead.  I wondered what the difference was.

Essentially, for lemon posset you cook the cream and mix in lemon juice.  For lemon syllabub the cream is not cooked but you make a lemon syrup and also include some sweet white wine which appealed to me!  (Other recipes I have seen online suggest just using ordinary white wine.)

Mary Berry's recipe for it is in her book "Classic Mary Berry" and also on the BBC website as a video which you can see here.  Interestingly in the book the recipe suggests leaving the syrup to infuse for at least an hour or even overnight whereas in the video you combine it with the whipped cream as soon as the syrup has cooled.  

To whisk it up I used what I call my "spider whisk" because it reminds me of the ginormous spiders we get here in France.  You push the handle up and down and the spider bit twizzles round at huge speed, making it very effective as a hand whisk.  I was pleased to find that even French double cream whipped up quickly using it.

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The other day I found a set of ten of these little glass sundae dishes in a UK charity shop. 

They cost next to nothing and are perfect for the next syllabub!

(Or ice cream, or chocolate mousse.)

Ingredients

1 lemon (well scrubbed if not unwaxed) rind and juice

100ml sweet white wine

75g caster sugar

300ml double cream

Method

First, make the syrup by peeling strips of rind from the lemon as thinly as possible using a vegetable peeler or small sharp knife.  Put the rind into a small saucepan with the lemon juice, sugar and wine.  Bring to the boil gently and once the sugar has dissolved simmer for a few moments.  Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Strain the cooled syrup into a bowl but reserve the peel.

Add the cream to the bowl and whisk until it just holds its shape, ie until thicker but still floppy, not stiff.

Divide the syllabub evenly between six cups, glasses or ramekins,  dropping a dessertspoonful at a time into each one.  

Cut the lemon peel into thin strips and use to decorate the syllabub.  Chill in the fridge for a minimum of two hours.  The dessert is ideal for making the morning or day before you need it.

You could also decorate it with a sprig of mint, a few raspberries, sliced strawberries or edible flowers such as violas.

Serves 6.