Tag Archives: cheese

Chickpea, Leek and Potato Soup

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Chickpea, Leek and Potato Soup

A hearty blended soup made with chickpeas, leeks and potato, flavoured with garlic and finished with grated cheese.
Perfect for a quick and warming meal.

Chickpea, Leek and Potato Soup

Servings: 4
Total time: 35m

INGREDIENTS

  • 400g jar cooked chickpeas, washed and drained
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • 4 leeks, halved and thinly sliced
  • 3 large cloves garlic, chopped
  • 2 medium potatoes, roughly chopped
  • 1 litre vegetable stock
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • Parmesan or cheddar cheese, grated

METHOD

  1. Heat some olive oil in the pressure cooker.
  2. Add the onion, garlic and leeks and cook gently for 5–10 minutes until soft.
  3. Add the potatoes, chickpeas and vegetable stock, then season with salt and pepper.
  4. Cover and bring to pressure.
  5. Reduce the heat and cook for 15 minutes.
  6. Release the pressure, then transfer half of the soup to a bowl and blend until smooth.
  7. Return the blended soup to the pan and stir well.
  8. Serve, sprinkling with grated cheese.

Celery and Potato Soup with Cheese

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Celery and Potato Soup

A smooth blended soup made with celery, potato and soy cream, finished with grated cheddar.
Perfect as a light lunch or starter.

Celery and Potato Soup

Servings: 6
Total time: 35m

INGREDIENTS

  • 50g butter
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 head celery, chopped
  • 450g potatoes, peeled and chopped
  • 1000ml vegetable stock
  • 200ml soy cream
  • Salt and pepper
  • 100g cheddar cheese, grated

METHOD

  1. Heat the olive oil and butter together in the pressure cooker.
  2. Add the onion and celery and fry gently until soft.
  3. Add the chopped potatoes and vegetable stock, then season with salt and pepper.
  4. Cover and bring to pressure.
  5. Lower the heat and cook for 15 minutes.
  6. Release the pressure.
  7. Blend the soup well using a stick blender.
  8. Stir in the soy cream.
  9. Serve in bowls, sprinkling over the grated cheddar.

Celery and Roquefort Soup

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Celery and Roquefort Soup

This soup is quick and easy to make.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 head of celery
  • 1.2 litres of vegetable stock
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • ground black pepper
  • 180g Roquefort or blue cheese
  • 1 jar chickpeas, drained (optional)

METHOD

  1. Wash the celery and cut in half.
  2. Put the celery into a pressure cooker.
  3. Add the vegetable stock and salt.
  4. Close the pressure cooker and bring up to pressure.
  5. Once it has reached pressure, turn down the heat and time 15 minutes.
  6. At the end of the cooking time, remove from the heat and leave to cool and release pressure.
  7. Add the blue cheese and blend with a stick blender.
  8. Serve.

NOTES

If you want a more substantial soup, add a jar of chickpeas and heat through. Otherwise it can be served with bread,.

Smoked salmon pasta

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Smoked salmon pasta

smoked salmon past

Smoked salmon pasta

This pasta dish is made with smoked salmon, spinach and cream cheese. A couple of spoonfuls of the pasta cooking liquid are added to the dish at the end to moisten it slightly. The dish is then served with freshly ground black pepper and grated parmesan cheese.

INGREDIENTS:
100g pasta per person
1/2 or 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
50g spinach per person, finely shredded
50g cream cheese per person
 zest and juice of 1/2 – 2 lemons
1/4 – 1 packet smoked salmon
handful of basil, roughly chopped
salt and pepper
olive oil

METHOD:
Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water.

Meanwhile, heat some oil in a large wok. Gently soften the garlic for a few minutes before adding the spinach to wilt. Add the cream cheese and mix well to combine, before adding the lemon zest and juice. Season with black pepper.

Drain the pasta, keeping back some of the cooking liquid.

Add the smoked salmon to the sauce along with the pasta and basil. Check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper if necessary. Stir in a couple of tablespoons of cooking liquid to slacken the pasta slightly.

Serve with grated parmesan cheese.    

Vegetarian moussaka

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vegetarian moussakaThis is my take on the classic Greek moussaka. I found the recipe in the Thorn Cookery Book for Electrical Appliances, a cookery book I bought before going off to Poly.

Instead of aubergines, the recipe uses potatoes which are thinly sliced and then fried. The first time I cooked it, I did as instructed but after all that faffing around, the fried potatoes looked just like crisps so I decided to substitute crisps the next time I cooked it and it worked perfectly.

It’s nice served with small jacket potatoes which you can start off ahead in the oven so that they are all ready together.

INGREDIENTS:
MOUSSAKA:
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large red pepper, chopped
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 aubergine, chopped
1 courgette, chopped
oregano
400g cooked lentils
2 x 400g can of tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato purée
1 large bag crisps

CHEESE SAUCE:
500ml milk
2 heaped teaspoons Dijon mustard
100g butter
a large wooden spoon of flour
large handful strong cheese, grated
1 egg
salt and pepper

METHOD:
Heat the oven to 180ºC-200ºC.

Heat some olive oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion until soft. Add the garlic and fry for a couple of minutes and then add the other vegetables. Fry until soft.

Pour in the tomatoes, lentils, tomato purée and oregano, season with salt and pepper and cook until the tomatoes have reduced and you have a highly flavoured tomato sauce.

Meanwhile, make the cheese sauce. In a saucepan, melt. Add the flour, stirring well and then gradually whisk in the milk. Season with salt and pepper and add the mustard, and cook gently on a low heat, stirring from time to time. When the sauce has thickened, take off the heat and stir in the grated cheese. Leave to cool.

In a large glass dish, put a layer of half the tomato/vegetable mixture and cover with a layer of crisps. Top with the remaining tomato/vegetables and finish with another layer of crisps.

When the sauce has cooled down, beat in an egg and pour over the top of the moussaka. Sprinkle with some grated cheese.

Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes until the top is golden brown. It’s a good idea to check after 20 minutes and turn the dish round if necessary so that it cooks evenly.

Serve with jacket potatoes.

vegetarian moussaka