Friday Favourites - Leek and Potato Soup.

This is one of mine and my boyfriends favourite recipes.  It's best eaten with some freshly made and buttered bread but also works well to bring some or the warmth of home to lunchtime at the office.  I guess that's why he's always stealing it!

Leek and Potato Soup Recipe

2 Table spoons of butter
2 cloves of garlic
4 leeks
500g potatoes
2 Table spoons of parsley
1 Table spoon of oregano
1 vegetable stock cube and 800ml of boiling water.
300Ml Single cream/ Creme Fraiche
100g Cheese (grated)
Salt and Pepper

It's best to get the food chopped up in the order of garlic, leeks then potatos to start off with, then get you some butter and put it in your pan.

Turn on the heat and add the chopped up garlic cloves.

Stir the garlic for a minute then add the leeks. 

After you’ve cooked the leeks and garlic for a few minutes put the potatoes, herbs, salt, pepper, stock cube and boiling water in. 

Give it a stir then whack the heat up until the mixture starts to boil, then let it simmer for 25 minutes.

 After it has simmered  turn off the heat and leave the soup to cool for 10 minutes, then use a hand mixer/ blender to make it smooth or as smooth as you want it.

 Once it has been blended add the cream and stir this into the mixture before heating on a low heat and adjusting the seasonings to suit your tastes.Take the soup off the hob then dish it into bowls and place the grated cheese on top to finish it off.  If you are being thrifty this is the point where you put the soup into containers, let the soup cool down and then put them in the freezer for lunch on another day.

Then you can defrost it at will and then consume whenever you feel like it.

Nothing better than lovely warm home made soup to chase the winter gloom away!

Friday Favourite: Pizza!

I've decided that it might be nice to share a few of my tried and tested favourite recipes on selected Fridays...

This recipe is one we make most weeks and is a barometer against which I measure all other pizzas. (My boyfriend thinks this maybe slightly unfair to the other pizzas....) This is a great recipe for a treat or a cold day.

To Make this you will need:

For the Dough

125g Strong White Flour

A sprinkle of salt

A sprinkle of sugar

One 7g sachet of dried yeast

A sprinkle of oregano

150ml warm water

2 tablespoons olive oil

For the Sauce

One tin of chopped tomatoes

A pinch of salt

A pinch of sugar

A sprinkle of chilli powder

A sprinkle of paprika

A sprinkle of oregano

A few drops of lemon or lime juice

A squirt of tomato puree

or the Toppings

1 Ball of Mozzeralla

Half a block of Feta Cheese

A Quarter of a pepper

Some Onion

A few jalepeno peppers

Peppadew peppers if they are available.

Measure out the flour and sift it into a bowl, then add the sugar, salt, oregano & yeast.

Next run hot tap until it’s lukewarm and then measure your water, pour your water and oil into the rest of the dough mix. Mix the dough together with your fingers until it forms a ball then knead it for another five to ten minutes by pulling it and squishing it back together and punching it to get some air in it. My recipe says to do this until it feels soft and elastic but I normally do this until I feel tired.

Once you have kneaded the dough cover the bowl with either clingfilm or a clean plastic bag and put in a warm place for half an hour to an hour, it’s done when it’s doubled in size.

Whilst waiting for the pizza dough to rise I normally start working on the sauce and toppings, for the sauce I empty a tin of chopped tomatoes into a bowl and add the herbs, spices, lemon/lime juice and tomato puree. I mix the lot  together and then microwave it for a minute and a half and then taste it and adjust the seasonings to my tastes.  If it is a bit runny I will microwave it for a few more minutes to reduce it down and then put it to one side until I need to top the pizza.

Once the sauce is done I start to chop up my toppings and normally start with the onions and peppers.

I then preheat the oven to 230c/ gas mark 6 check on my dough and if it has risen enough I will roll it out with my rolling pin and put it on the pizza tray. (If I threw it in the air it’d most likely land on my floor/ head/ a cat and be ruined...)

When I’ve rolled out the dough and put it on the pizza tray, I put the tomato sauce on top, then I drain the mozzeralla and rip it into pieces on top of the pizza. After that I chop the feta as well as any jalepeno peppers or peppadews we have in the fridge. After I’ve covered the pizza with mozzeralla and chopped up all the toppings I pop the rest of the toppings on the pizza and put it into the oven for about twenty minutes.

Once it’s done I cut it up and then wolf it down like someone who hasn’t eaten in a week just incase someone tries to steal it. (It’s that good!)

My last tip is if you double the dough mix you can make your own garlic bread by rolling it out like a pizza and instead of topping with tomato and cheese cooking it for five to ten minutes then removing from the oven and putting garlic butter on top. (To make the garlic butter we just chop up garlic and mix it in a mug with butter then smear on to the garlic bread base.) Once you've done this return to to the oven with the pizza for another ten minutes.

Enjoy!