Rosemary, Butternut Squash and Ham Stew

This is one of those 'what have I got in the kitchen?' stews, made on a day when you notice the first autumn tinges of red and gold in the trees, and you need to keep turning the heating on and off!





Nutrition Info (per serving)
Calories: 508
Protein: 21g
Carbohydrate: 68g
Fat: 17g
Dietary Fibre: 13g

Ingredients (makes 3 servings)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon chopped dried rosemary
1 medium onion, diced
1 tsp garlic puree
1 butternut squash
1x 400g tin red kidney beans
1 x 400g tin chick peas
180g chopped cooked ham hock
2 dsp mirin
2 dsp reduced salt soy sauce

Method

• Peel the butternut squash and place whole in a microwavable dish.  Microwave for 5 minutes, cut in half, and microwave each half for a further 5 minutes.  Scoop out the seeds, and chop the squash into bite-sized pieces.
• In a large saucepan, add the oils and onion, fry over a medium-high heat until golden brown, add the garlic puree and rosemary, stir and take off the heat. Turn the heat down to medium.
• Quickly add water to about a cm depth and stir to stop the onion mixture sticking.  Add the kidney beans, chick peas, squash and ham hock and spoon over the mirin and soy sauce. Stir well.
• Put the lid on the saucepan, and continue to cook over a medium heat for another 20 minutes without stirring.  Take the lid off, stir well, and continue to cook for another 5-10 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated, and the whole flat smells of rosemary.
• Serve immediately whilst your mouth is still watering.

Creamy Shiitake and Wasabi Soup

I don't often buy mushrooms, but I just fancied some mushroom soup today, and this creamy smoky soup with a very slight kick is what I came up with...





Nutrition Info (serves 1 as a light lunch)
Calories 253
Protein 11g
Carbohydrate 43g
Fat 5g
Dietary Fibre 7g

Ingredients
1 potato (about 150g)
100g shiitake mushrooms
100ml soy milk
50ml drinking yoghurt
1tsp wasabi from a tube
200ml water

Method

• Wash the potato and microwave in the oven for about 8 minutes until cooked.  Wash the mushrooms.
• In batches, blend the potato with the mushrooms, soy milk, drinking yoghurt and water.
• Gently heat the mushroom cream in a saucepan and mix in the wasabi.
• Serve hot with a grating of black pepper.

Pea, Potato and Ham Soup

Nutritional Info (per serving)
Calories 224
Protein 10g
Carbohydrate 43g
Fat 3g
Fibre 8g




Ingredients (serves 2)
300g potatoes
150g frozen peas
80g onion, roughly sliced
100ml soy milk
20g parma ham, chopped
salt

Method

• Steam the potatoes whole in their skins in the microwave for about 10 minutes. (I use the LeKue steam case.
• About 5 minutes into cooking time, add the sliced onion and frozen peas and finish steaming.
• Puree in batches in the blender.  Put into a saucepan and heat gently.  Add salt to taste.
• Pour into two bowls, and divide the ham over the two bowls.

Broccoli and Gorgonzola Potage

This is a creamy tasty satisfying soup! The recipe makes enough for two people for lunch.









Nutritional Information (per portion)
Calories 371
Protein: 18g
Carbohydrate: 56g
Fat: 10g
Dietary Fibre: 9g 


Ingredients (serves 2)

430g potatoes, unpeeled
220g broccoli
160g onion
150ml soy milk (or regular milk)
50g gorgonzola
salt and pepper to season

Method

• Roughly chop the broccoli - stalks, florets and leaves all OK.
• Roughly slice the onion.
• Steam all the vegetables.  I use my LeKue steamer for this in the microwave, steaming the potatoes whole in their skins for 10 minute, the broccoli for 5 minutes and the onion for 2mins 30 sec.
• Measure out together 150ml soy milk and 350ml water.
• In batches, blend the steamed vegetables and liquid together in a food processor, transferring each batch to a large saucepan.
• When all the soup has been blended, crumble in the gorgonzola and stir over a gentle heat until the cheese has melted.
• Season to taste.  I used a good grinding of salt and a black pepper mix that includes orange and lemon peel and garlic.
• Serve hot.

Creamy Smoked Salmon and Potato Soup

This tasty and pretty soup is a delicate shade of pink, highlighted with wisps of fresh green dill. 







Ingredients (serves 4 as a starter)
1 onion, sliced
500g potatoes in their skins
70g smoked salmon
1 x 150g pack of silken tofu
1 tsp olive oil
fresh dill
freshly grated black pepper

Method

• Caramelize the onion in the olive oil until golden brown.
• Meanwhile cook the potatoes in boiling water for about 20 minutes.  Drain and cool under cold running water.
• Break up the potato in the saucepan, add the onions, smoked salmon, tofu and dill.
• In batches, blend all the ingredients together in a blender with water to the desired consistency.
• Reheat to serve.

Creamy Kabocha and Caramelized Onion Soup

Ingredients (serves 2 as a starter)
1 onion, chopped
1/3 kabocha (Japanese pumpkin)
1 stock cube
250ml boiling water
150g silken tofu
1tsp olive oil
freshly grated black pepper


Method

• Par-microwave the kabocha for 6 minutes, and scoop out the seeds
• Scoop out the flesh and roughly chop (reserving the skin for a smoothie)
• Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, add the onion and saute for 10 minutes.
• Remove from the heat, crumble in the stock cube and slowly add the boiling water to dissolve the stock cube.  Put back on the heat and add the kabocha chunks.  Simmer for about 10 minutes.
• Leave to cool slightly.
• Add to a blender with the tofu and blend until creamy.
• Reheat in a saucepan and serve with freshly grated black pepper.

Note: Kabocha skin is edible.  However the colour in a soup is truly revolting, trust me!  Much better to add to a green smoothie, I made one with soy sprouts.

Cauliflower cheese and potato soup

Nutrition Data (per portion, serves 4)
Calories 231
Protein 13g
Carbohydrate 17g
Fat 13g
Dietary Fibre 6g







Ingredients
1 large onion(210g)
1 tsp olive oil
1 head of cauliflower, head and stalks (520g)
160g potatoes
1 stock cube
100g grated cheddar
50g marscarpone

Method

• Wash the cauliflower and cut into florets, and cut up the stems.
• Wash and scrub the potatoes, and cut into chunks.
• Dice the onion.
• Heat the oil and fry the onion for about 5 minutes until  soft and golden brown.  Add the cauliflower, potato, 1 litre of boiling water, and crumble in a stock cube.  Bring back to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
• Stir in the mascarpone and grated cheese and stir until melted.  Leave to cool slightly.
• When cool enough to handle, transfer in batches to a blender, and blend until smooth.
• Reheat to serve, grating in fresh black pepper and nutmeg.

Gammon and Chilli Bean Vegetable Casserole

Nutrition Information (per serving)
Calories 147
Protein 11g
Carbohydrate 17.5g
Fat 3.5g
Dietary Fibre 5g





Ingredients (serves 5)
200g gammon, cooked and roughly chopped
1/2 onion (about 100g), chopped
425g (1 tin) Mexican Style Chilli Beans
1/2 white cabbage (about 280g)
1/3 kabocha (Japanese pumpkin, about 160g)
160g packet spinach, roughly torn

Method

• Put the chopped onion in a saucepan.  Soften in a little water over a low heat for about 3-4 minutes, until all the water has evaporated, and the onion is browned.
• Steam the kabocha in the microwave for 8 minutes.  Chop roughly, including the skin.
• Add the chopped cabbage, kabocha, gammon and spinach to the saucepan.
• Add the tin of beans, then fill the can with water to rinse it out, pouring the water into the saucepan.
• Cover and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened, and everything is hot.
• Serve immediately.

Carrot and Ginger Soup

This is a lovely refreshing and tasty soup, with a beautiful colour!

Nutrition Data (per serving)
Calories 61
Protein 1.5g
Carbohydrate 15g
Fat 0g
Dietary Fibre 4g


Ingredients (serves 4)
1 litre stock, made with a stock cube
500g carrot, sliced
40g fresh ginger root, peeled

Method

•  Crumble the stock cube into 1 litre of water.  Add the sliced carrots and bring to the boil, then simmer for 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile mash the ginger root in a blender.
• In batches, add the carrots and some of the stock to the blender.  Puree until smooth, and transfer to a large container.  Obviously the blender will get very hot.
• Put the mixed carrot and ginger puree back into the remaining stock and mix thoroughly.
• Reheat to serve, or I think it's better served ice-cold.

Note
This really is extremely refreshing ice-cold as the weather is getting warmer.  It freezes well, and yesterday I just took it to work still frozen and had it later in the day as a kind of vegetable slush puppy (ice drink)!  Delicious, and it's actually quite sweet too!

Kenchinjiru, Japanese Zen Buddhist vegetable soup

I got this delicious recipe from the excellent Just Hungry website. Very little was changed - just the type of stock (not having kombu dashi, I used niboshi dashi) and the quantities of vegetables - I didn't want to be eating it for the rest of the week! However I didn't scale it exactly by half, using the same quantities of tofu, konnyaku, satoimo and burdock (gobo)... My half quantities would serve 3 people. I just ate it on its own and it was filling, but you could have some brown rice with it. No nutritional information for this recipe, but it is very low in calories and fat and very high in fibre.

However, unfortunately this recipe is going to be difficult/impossible in Britain unless you live close to a very good Japanese supermarket and can get burdock root, or unless you grow it! And you're certainly going to have to use normal white potatoes! But I certainly recommend trying this kind of clear soy sauce soup with vegetables, konnyaku and tofu - it is very tasty and filling.

Toshikoshi Soba

In Japan, on New Year's Eve, it is traditional to eat soba (buckwheat noodles). This link explains some of the traditional beliefs about toshikoshi soba http://www.jpn-miyabi.com/Vol.12/toshikoshi-e.html.

I didn't eat soba on New Year's Eve, but I did have it for dinner tonight! This isn't a traditional soba recipe - this is just what I wanted to add to my soba... Again apologies for the photo, the colours really aren't coming out in artificial light.


Nutrition Data
Calories: 458
Protein: 34g
Carbohydrate: 55g
Fat: 13g
Dietary Fibre: 5g

Ingredients (serves 1)
60g dried soba (buckwheat noodles)
400ml of dashi (stock)
1 heaped teaspoon of red miso
200g firm tofu
50g cooked thick slice of gammon, chopped
1 teaspoon dried wakame seaweed

Method

• Heat the stock until boiling, turn down the heat to simmer and add the soba noodles. Cook for 5 minutes until al dente.
• Meanwhile, cube the tofu and add to the pan along with the wakame and chopped gammon. Stir in the miso and serve.
  

Tofu and Wakame Miso Soup

It was about time that I put a recipe for my miso soup on here. Recently, a friend of mine gave me some homemade niboshi dashi which is a dried stock mixture of grated dried anchovies and grated kombu. It's best to use a fish stock for this recipe if you substitute, although I've used chicken gravy granules before successfully enough...

Servings for this recipe vary... I had it all for myself for breakfast, but depending on when you're eating it and what you're eating it with, it could probably serve up to 3 people!

Nutrition Data
The thing I would note most with this is that whilst miso soup is very healthy, and much healthier than many other food choices available, it is worth choosing low salt varieties of stock and miso. This nutrition data is only for the tofu and the miso, and with the assumption that you eat it all!
Calories: 146
Protein: 10.5
Fat: 7.2g
Carbohydrate: 10g
Dietary Fibre: 2g

Ingredients
400 ml of dashi stock (use the instructions according to your recipe)
6 pieces of wakame seaweed
150g silken tofu
1 heaped teaspoon of miso

Method

• I made the dashi by putting 2 rounded teaspoons of the homemade dashi in a saucepan with 400ml of water, and heating it to simmering point.
• Whilst it is heating, cube the tofu and add this, together with 6 pieces of wakame.
• Take out a tablespoon of dashi and mix the miso in this, then quickly stir it in just as the dashi is simmering.
• Serve immediately.

Note
If I was doing this properly or for other people, I would have strained the dashi before adding the other ingredients, but I don't usually bother when I'm being quick.

Egg Drop and Salmon Soup

All quantities are approximate - it's really not important to measure everything out. I used a 400ml bowl because this was breakfast! If this was a side dish, then this would easily serve 2.





Ingredients (serves 1-2, multiply quantities as necessary)
400ml of water made into a light stock (I used katsuodashi which is stock made from bonito flakes, but any stock would be ok)
a dash of soy sauce (about 1 teaspoon)
1 - 2 teaspoons of seaweed, perhaps wakame (I used nebarumekabu)
1/2 teaspoon of potato starch or cornflour, mixed with a little water)
1 teaspoon ginger paste or grated ginger with juice
2 slices cooked or smoked salmon
1 egg, beaten

Method

• Add the seaweed to the stock and heat until very hot but not boiling.
• Mix in the soy sauce and ginger, and stir in the potato starch mixture. It will not noticeably thicken, but will just stop the egg from sinking to the bottom.
• Add the salmon, and stir in the beaten egg, which will set immediately in strands.
• Serve immediately.
  

Sweet Potato, Carrot, Apple, and Red Lentil Soup

Credit: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sweet-Potato-Carrot-Apple-and-Red-Lentil-Soup/Detail.aspx

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

• 55 g butter
• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 3 large carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 90 g red lentils
• 0.9 g minced fresh ginger
• 1 g ground black pepper
• 1 g ground cumin
• 1 g chili powder
• 1 g paprika
• 950 ml vegetable broth
• plain yogurt

DIRECTIONS

1. Melt the butter in a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Place the chopped sweet potatoes, carrots, apple, and onion in the pot. Stir and cook the apples and vegetables until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes.
2. Stir the lentils, ginger, ground black pepper, salt, cumin, chili powder, paprika, and vegetable broth into the pot with the apple and vegetable mixture. Bring the soup to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the lentils and vegetables are soft, about 30 minutes.
3. Working in batches, pour the soup into a blender, filling the pitcher no more than halfway full. Hold down the lid of the blender with a folded kitchen towel, and carefully start the blender, using a few quick pulses to get the soup moving before leaving it on to puree. Puree in batches until smooth and pour into a clean pot. Alternately, you can use a stick blender and puree the soup right in the cooking pot.
4. Return the pureed soup to the cooking pot. Bring back to a simmer over medium-high heat, about 10 minutes. Add water as needed to thin the soup to your preferred consistency. Serve with yogurt for garnish.