Creamy Cauliflower Soup

Anyone want a soup that will tick a lot of boxes? High vege content - tick, fast - tick, tasty - tick, scored me a 10/10 from the judge......... Here it is.......
Ingredients
1 head Cauliflower, roughly broken up
1 litre Chicken Stock
2 cloves Garlic, sliced
1 stalk Celery, leaves as well, roughly chopped
1/2 - 1 onion, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon Butter
200 ml cream
Dash Nutmeg
Salt and Pepper
1 - 2 rashers of streaky bacon
1 teaspoon finely chopped Chives
How to:
Place cauliflower and stock in a large saucepan, lid on, over medium heat and bring to a simmer.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and add celery and onion, sauté for about 5 minutes, until you just get some colour, add the garlic and put the lid on for s further 5 minutes. Add the onion, celery and garlic to the cauliflower, and simmer for a further 5 - 10 minutes, or until everything is soft.
Cut the bacon into thin strips and fry until crispy, reserve.
Drain into the large saucepan, and reserve stock. Add the nutmeg,cream and about 1/2 the reserved stock, blend until very smooth, I use my stick blender.
Season to taste.
Serve with a dollop of cream in the centre, sprinkled with bacon, chives and freshly ground black pepper. I really like a nice, crusty bread too!!!!!

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Homemade Spring Rolls

We really like Asian food. Yum. Whether it be true Asian or westernised Asian, yum, yum, yum.

Unfortunately we no longer like the good old spring roll from the local takeaway, sorry Soo's, but mine are WAY better!

When I told Andrew I was making these for him last night, his eyes lit up like Christmas, and such appreciation of my efforts makes the fiddling worth it!

A fond memory is serving these to a bunch of our friends, blokes blokes, and Andrew was asked 'Where's the sauce?' His reply was 'Try them without, if you still want some, I'll get you some' - the sauce was not requested, only an offer of marriage.

Ingredients

1 packet of Frozen Spring Roll Wrappers

100 g chicken mince

8 green king prawns

1 carrot, grated

1 Spring onion, finely sliced

1/4 red capsicum, finely sliced

2 snap peas or snow peas, finely sliced

2 cm knob of fresh ginger, finely sliced

2 cloves garlic, finely sliced

Dash of each - fish sauce, oyster sauce, sweet chilli sauce

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 handful vermicelli noodles - the finer the better, soaked and well drained

1 beaten egg.

How to

Place sauces, ginger and garlic in a food processor, and mix very well. Add prawns and mince, not too finely - this makes the rolls have an odd texture. Mix all other ingredients in.

 

Unwrap the wrappers and place them between a folded, damp tea towel - this prevents them getting to dry as you work.

Place one wrapper in front of you - a corner pointing towards you. Place about 1 tablespoon of mixture on the wrapper, close to the corner, and roll until about half way. Fold the ends in, dab with the beaten egg and roll the rest of the way. Continue until no mix is left. Deep fry in hot, hot oil until crispy and golden.

*alter the recipe for whatever veg you have, or would like to try, I often add bean shoots, mushroom, corn, your imagination is your limitation. Enjoy!

 

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Pineapple Polenta and Thyme Loaf - Mother's Day 2013

I woke up to a day that was less than stunning, with very thick fog until nearly 10:00am, uuugh, can I just roll over and go back to the land of nod? No, Peta, you have guests for morning tea, remember? It's Mother's Day!
Hmmmm, what treat to make for Andrew's mum? I love Bev, and she's a terrific cook, I wanted something a bit different...........ahhhhh, Pineapple Polenta and Thyme Loaf - smells delish in the house while it's cooking, and I rather like the crunchy outside, dense moistness inside and the peculiar mix of sweet and savoury, here's the how to, if you want to give it a try........
Bev, this one is for you!
Ingredients:
150 g butter
150 g caster sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
75 g self - raising flour
75 g polenta
2 teaspoons baking powder
250 g canned pineapple, chopped in a processor - not too finely, the occasional chunk is rustic
1 teaspoon fresh or dried thyme, approximately
Dash of vanilla extract
How to:
Line a loaf tin with baking paper, and heat the oven to 190∘C.
In a food processor, process the polenta and thyme until the thyme is well chopped and the polenta nice and fine - set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the sugar and butter and light and fluffy, add 1/2 the flour and then the eggs, little by little, then add the rest of the ingredients and mix on a low setting until we'll combined.
Pour the very wet mix into the lined loaf tin and bake for approximately 40 minutes - until set.
Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack, it will likely ooze some butter.
It doesn't need icing, but a sprinkling of icing sugar will look pretty against the golden brown crust - if you are so inclined!
Enjoy!

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