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Lentil and chickpea soop

Easy, tasty, healthy soup that takes 5 minutes to prepare and no more than 30 minutes from start to finish.

Serves 3-4 for a substantial main.

Ingredients

  • 180g puy lentils (or similar whole lentils)
  • 240g (net) can of chickpeas
  • 400g can of tomatoes
  • 1 small handful each of coriander and flat leaf parsley, leaves finely chopped and stems tied into a bundle
  • 1 red onion, chopped
  • 1 tspn cinnamon
  • ½ tspn ground ginger
  • 1 — 2 tspn harissa or minced chillies
  • 4 tblspn olive oil
  • juice of about ½ a lemon

Method

Heat the oil in a large saucepan then add the onion, frying until soft. Then, add the lentils, chickpeas, herb stems and spices, with 1 1/2 litres of water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the lentils are soft to your liking.

Take it off the heat and add the chopped herbs and lemon juice. Add salt and pepper to taste. Don’t serve the bundle of herbs.

Eat with crusty bread.

July 21, 2021 Tom soup lentils chickpeas vegetarian

Ham Hock Lentil Soup

This is one of Matt’s faves — long has he spoken of its powers, but I had never made it until yesterday.

Ingredients

  • 1 large ham hock
  • 2 litres of chicken stock
  • 1.5 litres of water
  • 80ml extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 leek, sliced
  • 5 cloves garlic, sliced
  • 2 sticks celery, sliced
  • 1 carrot, peeled and sliced
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 4 sprigs of thyme
  • 1 stick cinnamon
  • 1/2 tbsp fennel seeds
  • 1 tbsp cumin seeds, roughly grounded
  • 1 red chili, sliced
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 can of crushed tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup brown rice
  • 1 cup red lentils
  • Mountain Bread
  • Plain yoghurt
  • Hot chili sauce
  • Fresh coriander

Method

Cut hock into large pieces and place in a pot with the bone, 1l stock and water. Bring to the boil and then simmer, covered, over low heat for about 30 mins.

Heat olive oil in a saucepan and cook onion, leek, garlic, celery and carrot over medium heat for 10 minutes until golden, and then stir in herbs and spices.

Add cooked vegetables to hock meat with tomatoes, tomato paste and the rest of the stock. Simmer over low heat for 55 minutes until thick and tasty.

To serve, toast mountain bread in a sandwich press and break pieces over soup. Spoon over yoghurt, a little chili sauce, and a sprinkling of coriander.

Instant Pot adaptation

Do the vegetables first (using the sauté setting), then transfer them to a bowl.

Cook the ham hock meat and bone in 2.5 litres of water on high pressure for 15 mins. (I totally forgot the stock! The soup is super-tasty without it though.)

Return the vegetables to the pot, along with rice, lentils, tomato paste and tomatoes. In my Instant Pot there was no room for more liquid, so I just cooked it all at high pressure for 30 minutes. It really was over-full, I probably should have removed the ham bone to reduce risk of death, but HERE I AM, telling you the tale of the very tasty soup.

May 23, 2021 Ham Lentils Matt Virginia Soup

Is Schmaltzy Chicken Cabbage the Greatest Bang-for-Effort-Buck Ever Created?

Everybody in our gang cooked Smitten Kitchen’s roast chicken with schmaltzy cabbage last year. It was the ultimate Pandemic Food: simple, rich, comforting, simple, chickeny, schmaltzy. On the weekend we returned to it after several months without (the pandemic goes on and on, after all), and it remains The Greatest. Never not be eating SCC.

May 17, 2021 Chicken Easy Virginia

Perfect poached eggs

I always thought poached eggs were hard, but after digging about, here is a fool-proof way to get em perfick.

Ingredients

  • Eggs (ideally room temp)
  • A little vinegar (optional)

Note: the fresher the eggs, the better they’ll hold together

Method

Put a fair amount of water into a saucepan - enough that the eggs will be fully submerged - and bring it to the boil. Choose a pan that’s big enough to accommodate the number of eggs you’re cooking without them rubbing up against each other.

Add a splash of vinegar - this helps keep the eggs together. Don’t use so much that your eggs taste vinegary though (unless you’re into that).

Strain the eggs

This is a touch controversial, but eggs have two different types of whites: a runny one, and a thicker one that surrounds the yolk. Removing the runny one stops the white from blooming out when you put it in the saucepan and leaves you with a nice, neat ball of deliciousness.

Use a fine strainer and break the egg into it. Let the runny white strain through, then very carefully (so you don’t break it) pour out the yolk and surrounding firm white into a small bowl, ready for cooking. Use separate bowls if you’re cooking multiple eggs.

Cook em

Once the water is boiling and your eggs are ready, remove the pan from the heat.

Carefully slide your eggs into the still water (it doesn’t need to be swirled) so they fall as neatly as possible.

Leave each egg in the water for 3 minutes (maybe a touch longer if your eggs have been in the fridge).

Fish em out

At 3 minutes, use a slotted spoon to remove the egg. Drain as much as you can on the spoon, and then dab gently with a paper towel to remove any remaining watery excess.

Nom them.

April 14, 2021 Tom eggs

Single pot barley with tomatoes

An excellent cold-weather staple in our house, originally from Smitten Kitchen (via Virginia). Super-easy, fast, hearty.

Serves 2 for a substantial main.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cup pearl barley
  • ½ a large onion, cut into very thin quarter moons (white is ideal, but whatevs)
  • 2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
  • 250 grams of lil tomatoes, halved/quartered (or big ones chopped up)
  • A bit of salt
  • Some dried chilli flakes (to your needs/desires)
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • A few basil leaves
  • Grated parmesan (for serving)

Method

Put the water and barley into a medium saucepan while you prepare the other ingredients (this allows the barley to pre-soak a bit). Add the other ingredients (except for the basil and parmesan) as you get them ready.

Bung it all on the stove uncovered, set a timer for 30 minutes. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer.

Stir from time to time.

Once your timer goes, test the barley for chewiness, leave it on a bit longer if you like it softer. When it’s done, add the basil strips and stir through.

Serve with some parmesan sprinkled over the top and some format of greenery (like broccolini or somesuch). Also very excellent with a poached egg on top that can run down into the barley when broken open.

April 13, 2021 Tom barley tomato

Nigella’s salmon kedgeree

This is a winner – it absolutely survives being made from freezer salmon fillets (as I discovered today, when a day-long power outage made some decisions for me), and it has few enough ingredients that it might almost be a pantry meal. I’m also guessing that it’s going to be a very good breakfast tomorrow.

April 9, 2021 Virginia Nigella salmon rice