Nettle, potato and garlic soup aka glove up soup!

When Life gives you nettles....you buy gloves!

As you can see Life has given me an abundance of free food in the form of stinging nettles. They fill the backyard near the chicken coop and thanks to the prickles the chickens don't eat them. 

Nettles spread like no ones business so if you aren't the best gardener (like me) you can just say you dedicated your garden to your love of nettles.

The only down side to nettles is they grow in the winter when it's dark by the time I get home so it's not a convenient mid week ingredient without some forward planning.

While a soup is the easiest use I think they slip into any recipe that calls for some greens so my next plans are to try them in a pesto and a ravioli.

To prepare them I pick the leaves off the stem and rinse thoroughly in cold water. I also don't touch them without gloves even after they are cleaned.

When it comes to nettles slogans from my youth come in very handy 

"if it's not on it's not on!" 

The chickens can disappear into the depths of the nettle maze, I assume their feathers protect them from the prickles. (Wish my pants did!) 

The giant "tomato sauce day" colander so that's a lot of nettles. 

Nettle, potato and garlic soup
Ingredients

• 2 brown onions chopped
• 6 large potatoes quartered skin on
• 1 head of garlic peeled (less if you don't like garlic as much as I do)
• 3-4 cups of nettles (it's not a precise measurement its rather just however many nettles you have)
• Olive oil
• 2L Stock approx (chicken, veg or just water)

Method

• Add a splash of olive oil to a pot.
• Sauté onions till just soft.
• Add potato, garlic and cover with stock.
• Simmer until potatoes are falling apart approx. 30 mins.
• Add nettles, cook for 1 minute
• Blend till smooth.
• Season and serve with a crusty roll and far too much butter!
• Cream (150ml) can also be added to the soup if you like a creamier soup 

Chow Down to Eurovision 2015 - Spain

Hola, and well as the song goes...Oh I'm (we're) off to sunny Spain! 

Which in a random piece of Eurovision trivia, was sung by Swedish singer Sylia who twice tried at Melodifestivalen to represent Sweden (2002, 2013) though imagine if Sweden had selected Y Via Espana to represent them in 1974 we could all be saying ABBA who?

So onto our Spanish entry in our Eurovision food passport and it couldn't be easier. 

I discovered this recipe while flipping through cookbooks in a library....Libraries are basically bookshops but you can peruse through the books and no one yells "you gonna buy that mister? This aint a library!" 

When I saw a soup that was basically old bread I thought we have a winner as I usually have a lot of bread needing a home!

This recipe is the perfect addition to your Eurovision menu as its so quick you can have it done before the first votes spokesperson have gotten through how much they really really really enjoyed the wonderful show!

The recipe was inspired by the Bread and Garlic Soup with Saffron recipe in the 

MoVida Spanish Culinary Adventures by Frank Camorra and Richard Cornish

Garlic and Bread Soup (Sopa Castellana)

• 4-5 thick slices of few day old sour dough
• 5-6 garlic cloves
• Olive oil
• Saffron
• 1.5 litres of chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 tbsp. cream
• Sweet paprika

Method

• Break up the bread and bake in a 150°C oven for about 5-10 minutes, don't let it burn
• Finely slice the garlic
• Add a good glug of olive oil a large heavy base saucepan on medium heat
• Add the garlic to the saucepan but don't let it brown
• Add the saffron and stir
• Pour in the stock and let boil
• Add the bread and stir
• Add cream 
• Serve topped with paprika 

You don't have to bake the bread yourselves........I guess we don't all love our families and friends (I'm joking don't write in!)

Edurne placed 21st in the final with Amanecer which is a shame as I really love this song and it would be among my most played of 2015.  

The passion of the Spanish fans I witnessed in the press centre was a true inspiration, hugging, crying, cheering all while completely focused on every second of the rehearsal. 

Many onlookers could call their enthusiasm OTT (not Lepland) Over The Top but I admire just how much they support their artists. 

There are quite a few countries that could take a leaf out of Spain's book when it comes to getting behind your entry!

Previous Spain Chow Down to Eurovision:

2014 Chicken and Chorizo Burgers

2013 Pork cooked in milk

Chow Down to Eurovision 2014 - Netherlands

Goedenavond this is Netherlands calling from the beautiful canals of Amsterdam.

Our trip to Amsterdam in 2011 (can't believe it's 3 years already, get me to flight centre STAT) has inspired this year's entry for Chow Down to Eurovision 2014.

One of the things I love to do while travelling, apart from eat and check out the supermarkets, it see what's on TV.

I think it gives you a taste of the differences in culture by doing something you would normally do at home.

Sadly these days it seems to be more dubbed reruns of Friends and Seinfeld, though it was fun flicking on the TV to see Australian Master chef with Dutch subtitles.

Maggie Macneal (minus Mouth) sang Amsterdam which placed 5th in 1980 and provided a wonderful soundtrack to our trip.

I'm sure none of the Dutch people tired of my head appearing out of a boat in the canals singing Amsterdam, Amsterdam at the top of my lungs.....their only respite was when my mouth was full of croquette!

 

 

One of the "delights" of our Amsterdam trip was our hotel not only had tea and coffee making facilities but Cup-a-Soup as well, clearly no expense was spared!

Not content with the good old chicken noodle, it was Chinese Tomato, which we learnt was popular with children in Holland possibly due to the addition of sweet apple sauce.

AB as a tomato fan loved it but did declare that "the croutons were a waste of time" 

I come up with my own version, that doesn't require packets or a 27 hour flight.
There are some apple croutons that have been slipped in but allegedly they aren't a waste of time!

It's a bit more adult with the apple cider and apples rather than apple sauce.

Chinese tomato soup
Ingredients

• 1kg tomato topped and halved
• 2 large granny smith grated
• 700ml chicken stock
• 300ml apple cider
• 1 clove garlic grated
• 1 small thumb ginger grated
• 1 tbsp. oil
• 3 tbsp. kecap manis
• 1 green chilli sliced finely
• 1 tbs. dark soy (use light for a lighter colour...obviously)
• 2-3tbs. brown sugar
• 1/2 an apple extra for croutons (optional)
• Squeeze of lemon juice

Method

• In a large saucepan add oil, ginger, garlic and chili
• Add the apples and tomatoes and stir to coat in oil
• Add apple cider and bring to the boil
• Add chicken stock
• Add kecap manis, sugar and soy
• Simmer on low for 20 minutes
• Blend with a hand blender
• Roughly cut extra apple into small pieces and coat in lemon juice
• Drain any extra juices and sprinkle apple croutons onto soup, or stir through (these aren't a waste of time I have been informed)

After Anouk got The Netherlands to the finals last year after an 8 year absence will The Common Linnets' Calm After The Storm continue the trend or start another drought?

I'm hoping for rain!

veel success!

Soupy Stars: Mixed onion soup with goats cheese toasts

Being in the middle of cold and flu season in Melbourne it is good to keep the immune system boosted. Knock wood I have avoided a bout of Man Flu with a regime of preventative medicine, I mean eating.

 

The smell of onions and garlic frying in butter is just one of the joys of being alive.

 

Mixed Onion Soup

Ingredients

• 1kg of mixed onions (red and brown)
• 5-6 cloves garlic 
• 60g butter
• Splash of olive oil
• 1 tbsp. brown sugar
• 120ml red wine
• About 2.5 litres of beef or vegetable stock
• 4-5 sprigs of thyme

Method

• Peel onions and slice finely (I used the food processer, no more tears)
• Peel garlic and slice finely
• Heat butter and oil on medium in a heavy base pot
• Add onions and cook for about 10-15 minutes till softened, I don't brown them too heavily but it's up to you
• Add brown sugar, red wine and stir through
• Add the stock, it should cover the onions very generously as it will reduce
• Simmer on medium for about 40-45 minutes
• Serve with soft goats cheese spread on toasted baguette, glittered with thyme leaves (oh that sounds classy)
• Onion tip, if you store them in the fridge you are less likely to cry as the juice/vapours spray less when chilled.
• Also it's good to ensure the onions have softened before adding the liquid as boiling raw onion doesn't give the same smooth texture

 

 

Everything is better with butter and a splash of oil!

 

 

The toast can be served on the side to avoid the risk of soggy bread!

Soupy Stars - oh great I love dahl darl soup

"It's my sense of humour that stops me going insane" Magda Szubanski's character Lynne Postlethwaite really did know what she was talking about.

The Kitchen is one place you really do need a sense of humour mainly so that when you are wrestling a 20kg Turducken that won't fit into the pan at 2am Christmas morning, you can laugh and find a bigger pan rather than collapsing to the floor crying.

That has always been my philosophy to cooking, as long as you don't waste food and nobody dies, just have fun with it.

Thinking about the origins of this recipe made me think about just how much foodie comedy is around. From cooking show parodies such as Posh Nosh or the politically incorrect Audrey Gordon to Jamie Oliver talking dirty on YouTube (I'm sorry to be so immature)

Catherine Tate's food critics Janice and Ray inspired a dinner party menu which included a "cheese sandwich with grapes", "soup made from dried shit..ake mushrooms" and yep I even made curry from a goat..."from a goat" and this in Melbourne. The best part was watching the unsuspecting guests as each course come and they realised it all seemed a bit familiar, till one guest exclaimed " YOU dirty bastard!"

Coralee and Ross from Big Girls Blouse (the best comedy series ever) are the inspiration for this soup. I was at uni studying opera when the series aired and this skit rang so true as we were all about boob tubes and lycra, and that was just the blokes!

Being at uni we all had our turn at vegetarianism, more economics than ethics so dinner was often dahl and a group of theatrical peeps are certainly not foreign to Darl!
It felt like it was written for just us.

Poor AB has often been heard sighing "Ahhh, show people!"

Oh great I love dahl darl soup
Ingredients:

• 375g red lentils (1 packet)
• 4-5 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 brown onions, diced/chopped
• 2 shallots (or just 4 onions) diced/chopped
• 1 thumb of ginger, grated
• 3-4 garlic cloves, grated
• 1 long red chili, finely sliced
• 2 large zucchini, roughly diced
• 2 tbsp. garam masala
• 1.5-2 litres stock (vegetable or your choice)
• Chopped coriander and chilli to garnish

Method

• Rinse lentils well in cold water till water runs clear.
• When chopping the vegetables you want them to be on the smaller side as this soup isn't going to be blended.
• In a large pot on medium heat add the oil
• Add the onions, shallots, ginger, chilli, garlic
• Let the onions soften for about 2-3 minutes
• Add the zucchini and stir through
• Add the garam masala and coat the vegetables
• Add the stock covering the vegetables
• Add the lentils and reduce heat to low
• Cook for about 25 minutes till lentils are tender and melting into the soup, at the ten minute mark stir the soup to make sure the lentils don't catch
• You may been to add some more water or stock
• Garnish with chopped coriander and chilli that can be stirred through the soup
• Optional non vegan addition is a fried egg purely for the yolk porn

 

 

Soupy Stars: Norma's cream of chicken soup

This is the 100th post of Don't Boil The Sauce so I have saved it for a very special recipe.
We may need a soundtrack and a tissue for this one.

 



Today is my Nan's cream of chicken soup, a recipe I have been trying to recreate for about 20 years. Without sounding like a reality TV show contestant my Nan passed away when I was about 10 and to young to have known to pay closer attention to her cooking. Why would you need to they will always be there to make your favourites right?

If there was ever the possibility of time travel I would go back and watch her like a hawk to document every move she made when making this soup. Nothing in this world can compare to a creamy velvet flavour exploding spoonful with its melt in the mouth chicken morsels.

It was a time when the words "Fat Free" meant a freebie at the butchers and food was made rather than opened. So there is nothing light about this soup except the colour, but you can substitute for lighter optional it will just be like getting a hug from the lesser favourite Nanna.

I don't have any proof of how good a cook she was as they didn't have Master Chef or blogs back then, but she did have a catering business and I knew none of the other nannas could compete. There was a great array of treats pouring from the kitchen but how much my memories have been embellished by time and longing I'm not sure. But I do fondly remember a thing called Flummery that I could steal fingers licks of while it set in the fridge, I think it was a whipped up jelly and maybe condensed milk. I just knew it was good.

While I have tried so many variations of this soup to create a recreation of that at Nan's kitchen table taste, I've come to the conclusion that the key ingredient is a cup and a half of nostalgia with just a pinch of regret.


Norma's Cream of Chicken Soup
Ingredients

• 4-5 chicken thigh fillets skin off
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1.5 litres full cream milk
• 1.5 litres good chicken stock
• 50g butter
• 4 tbsp. plain flour
• 300ml thick cream (extra to garnish)
• 5-6 spring onions finely sliced
• 1 small nutmeg
• Salt and white pepper to season

Method:

• Poach chicken thigh fillets and garlic in 1 litre of milk on low for about 20-30mintues till just cooked
• Remove fillets and cut into small cubes
• Add remaining milk and stock to pot and heat on low (it is easier to add warm liquid to the roux)
• In a large pot on high melt the butter
• Add the flour and mix together to make a roux
• Let the paste cook for about 2 minutes then slowly add 2-3 cups of liquid and whisk together, beating out any lumps
• It is now a process of slowly whisking on low heat and as the soup thickens add another 1-2 cups of liquid should take about 10-15 minutes
• If liquid is added too quickly it will take forever to thicken up again
• Add spring onions when all liquid has been added
• Add chicken cubes and cream
• Grate whole nutmeg (for me this is the secret ingredient so I go to town)
• Season to taste
• Serve with an extra dollop of cream and more nutmeg

Soupy Stars: Cream of Fennel Soup

Just like the brilliant Kath Day-Knight how can you not love to team with a theme?
 
So this winter we have Soupy Stars which came about because Kim a wonderful Saucer (twitter follower) said she was looking forward to soup recipes.
So not to disappoint there will be a whole series of soup recipes, there will be smooth, clear, creamy, chunky, hot, hairy, ok well there'll nothing hairy sorry about that ladies and gentlemen.
 
With many Saucers being in the northern hemisphere and in the midst of summer, the bonus of going global means I'll also be posting some perfect summer non soup recipes too, unless you want to put the air conditioner on full and grab a bowl of soup.
 
To kick off proceeding we are starting with fennel or finochio which for me conjures up Italy as much as tomatoes, pasta or hearing a "ciao bello". One of my favourites in salads, salami or thinly sliced on a pizza with some bresaola, parmesan and mayo, it even has it's own place in my garden.
 

Please grow for me, I know I'm not a real Italian but help a fratello out?

 

Cream of Fennel Soup with Sausage Croutons
Ingredients

• 3 brown onions, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2-3 whole fennel,  roughly chopped
• 1 potato, chopped but smaller than the fennel
• Vegetable stock (about 3-4 cups)
• 150ml light cream
• Olive oil
• fennel fronds (the tips) for garnish
• 1-2 Italian sausages

Method

• Add a splash of olive oil to a large pot on medium heat
• Add onions, garlic, fennel and potato
• Stir to coat in oil
• Just cover with stock and simmer for about 30 minutes
• When fennel is tender blend the soup smooth
• To achieve a thicker soup remove some liquid before blending, reserve in case it needs to be added back
• Add cream and blend through
• To achieve an ultra smooth soup pass through a fine sieve but this is optional
• To make the croutons squeeze out small amounts of sausage from the skin
• Cook in a frypan on low for about 10 minutes till cooked
• Serve garnished with croutons, fennel fronds and a splash of cream

Chow Down to Eurovision 2013 - Belgium

We have arrived safe and sound in beautiful Belgium but let me tell you we had a bit of an adventure getting here. This recipe involved having to go to Rome and almost every bottle shop in Melbourne, ok it's a bit of a stretch but work with me I'm building the drama. So lets begin, 16th January 2009 10.35am flight from Heathrow to Fiumicino.........maybe I should just do the condensed version??
When I decided to do the Chow Down to Eurovision 2013 I put a call out for recipes and ideas to my friends from various European nations. We were all connected through our time studying in Roma. It is amazing how people can bond through a shared experience of overcoming adversity, ours was Italian grammar e i verbi, la gramatica non è perfetta. My favourite experience with this group was when the school tried to replace the teacher we all adored, Sylvia, for one we couldn't stand. (All I have to say is Talk Show and the memories will come flooding back to those in the class reading this) So as a group we all stormed into the Director's office and demanded that the change not occur, this happened in about 8 different languages, lots of nervous angry facial contortions and hands gestures but in the end Sylvia stayed with us. Yay for people power, but to be honest I think they just gave in so they didn't have to endure trying to speak with us again. There was almost a complete semi final of Eurovision amongst the class, Spain, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, and Ukraine who referred to me only as "Australia" so I referred to her as "Ukraine", I'm not sure if we actually know each others names.

So the call out for Belgium was answered by Virginie who gave me this website of Flanders recipes for ideas. Grazie mille Virginie, sei sempre gentile.

Of course I decided on the beer soup, so our adventure continues. The recipe called for Rodenbach beer which with a little help from the peeps on twitter I found a store that had it, great. Only hitch by the time I got there they had sold out, as had every other store that stocked it I tried. I finally saw a bottle shop with the sign "hundreds of beers in store" what they failed to mention was the sign referred to the empty cans on display and not the 1 fridge of 6 packs. I held out hope till yesterday but I still couldn't get it so you know how I love a plan B.

I thought I'd substitute a beer of similar flavour, this involved me standing and starring at the store beer fridge till they thought I was possibly a performance art statue. I eventually found one that mentioned caramel toffee and biscuit flavour in the description, how could I lose and well transaction complete.

Before I get to the soup, today's Eurovision morsel is Belgium's 1986 winner Sandra Kim. The clip I've included is a remake of her J'aime La Vie video 25 years later. Watch out as she swaps the ice-cream of her youth for a juice, personally I would have stuck with the ice-cream.

Beer Soup
Ingredients

• 2 leeks
• 3 celery stalks
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 6 sections of lamb neck
• 660ml Rodenbach or Black beer
• 2 cups beef stock (or water and 2 cubes)
• 150ml cream
• chives to garnish

Method

• Chop the leek and celery into 3 cm pieces
• Add the oil to a large boiler on high heat
• Brown the lamb necks
• Add the leek and celery and coat with oil
• Add the beer, stock and reduce the heat to a simmer
• Simmer for about 1 hour till the lamb is tender and soup has reduced slightly
• Remove the lamb and break up meat, discard the bones
• Blend the vegetables with the stock
• Add the cream and stir through
• Add the meat back to the soup
• Serve and sprinkle with some chives (garnish is love)
• Don't drink the beer before it hits the soup!

 

 

It may not taste anything like the original beer but this soup was so delicious I could eat a keg of the stuff!

 

This year Belgium will find out if Love Kills from Roberto Bellarosa can bring home another win.

goei chance!

Chow down to Eurovision 2013 - Montenegro

2013 will mark the 5th time Montenegro has been part of the Eurovision Song Contest independently of Serbia. While they have missed out on being in a final they have managed to give us the full range of Eurovision type acts, the rock anthem, the eurotrash pop hit and even a joke entry last year. (It was a joke right? Wasn't it?)

Andrea Demirovic from 2009 with Get Out of My Life (or don't, it's up to you really) 

For today's dish I have kept it simple but full of flavour, the key to any good Eurovision act really. This recipe is based on what I found on www.celtnet.org.uk which had lots of great ideas for the different countries.

Sesame Chicken Soup
Ingredients

• 5 tablespoons of sesame oil (sounds a lot but it works)
• 1 thumb of ginger, sliced
• 500g diced chicken
• 1 1/2 cups white wine
• 3 cups water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon of black sesame seeds

Method

• In a large saucepan heat the sesame oil
• Fry off the ginger for 1 minute
• Add the chicken and brown
• Add the wine and boil off the alcohol for about 3 minutes
• Add the water and sugar and salt
• Simmer till the chicken is cooked through, 15-20minutes
• Serve with a sprinkle of the black sesame seeds

Let's see if Who See will be able to take Igranka into the finals for the first time.

срећно!