Leek and Bacon Soup

I had a slight online shopping disaster recently and ended up with 4 times as many leeks as I wanted.   Now, you may not think this is a disaster and indeed, if I was cooking just for myself, rather than for my reluctant leek eating husband as well, I would also not be too worried.   It would just give me an excuse to dig out a few more leek recipes.    After all, it is about a year since I last bought some so there should be plenty of things to make.   I considered disguising them as onions, after all, they’re all from the same family and said lovely husband loves onions, spring onions and garlic.   He just has something against leeks!  Unfortunately, after I danced around, laughing about my shopping mistake, showing off the two bags to him, he now knows exactly how many leeks I have hiding in the fridge and is wise to any tricks I might try to use to get him to eat them.  Therefore I resorted to serving them up for lunch when a couple of more leek-friendly visitors were coming around.   That way, three people were happy, and well, you can’t make everyone happy all the time, can you?

Having read the last paragraph, I’m sure you won’t be surprised that the main ingredient in this soup was leek, and if you like leeks, you will like it, although it’s so simple it hardly needs a recipe.   And if you like bacon, and a little salty fatty kick to your healthy vegetable packed soup, then the fried crispy bacon pieces really finish off the soup well.  I know bacon’s not really healthy, but you could tell yourself it’s just a garnish, and to add a bit of flavour, and you will be eating so many leeks in this that you don’t need to worry about it at all.  In fact, I would even say you need the bacon to create a balanced meal!

I am sending this to Deb at Kahakai kitchen for Souper Sundays.  I am also sending it to Helen at Fuss Free Flavours for Frugal Food Fridays as it uses leftovers.

Ingredients – Serves 4

3 leeks

1 large potato, peeled and cubed

2 cloves garlic, crushed

Black Pepper

1 tsp vegetable bouillon powder

4 rashers bacon

How to Make Leek and Bacon Soup

1. Put a little olive oil in a large saucepan. Roughly chop the leeks and add to the pan along with the garlic.  When the leeks are soft, add the potato.   Sprinkle on the bouillon powder.    Cover with boiling water from the kettle.   Bring back to the boil and then lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

2. Cut the bacon into small pieces and fry until crispy.    When done, drain on some kitchen paper.

3. When the potato is cooked, take off the heat and blend with a stick blender (or you could put it into a blender in batches).   Taste and season if necessary.   I added lots of black pepper.

4. Serve the soup, topped with the bacon pieces, alongside warm bread or toast

 

Salade Liégeoise

I planned to make this recipe in December but somehow I never had time and never had the right ingredients.   Salade Liégeoise is a Belgian potato salad with bacon, green beans, onion and a vinegar dressing.   I also added a few peas as I think they go so well with bacon and potatoes.   I wanted to make a Belgian dish as Belgian was the December destination for My Kitchen My World.   As I write this on 2 January, I hope I’m not too late, but even so, it was definitely worth making.   I served it warm for lunch but it would also be great cold as a side dish or as a packed lunch.   The salad comes from the city of Liége which is in the French-speaking part of Belgian and was the nearest city to the town where I did a Belgian exchange when I was at school.  Now, over 15 years later, all I remember about the food is the chocolate (it was Easter time) and the fruit flavoured beer, but when looking for inspiration online, the name Liége caught my eye and that’s what led to the making of this salad.   I looked at lots of recipes when making this dish but the one it most resembles can be seen here.

In January, the destination for My Kitchen My World will be Jamaica.   The last few months have been a little quiet so if you fancy making a Jamaican dish, then do check it out.

I am also sending this to Deb at Kahakai Kitchen for Souper (Soup, Salad and Sammie) Sundays.

Ingredients – serves 2

Enough new potatoes for 2 people

Handful of green beans

4 rashers bacon

1/2 onion, thinly sliced

2 tbsp peas

Black pepper

Red wine vinegar

How to make Salade Liégeoise

1. Cut the new potatoes into largish chunks.    Boil in lightly salted water until cooked through.

2. At the same time boil the beans in another pan.   Add the peas just before the beans are ready.

3. Add a little oil to a frying pan.  Cut the bacon into small pieces and add to the pan.    Fry until beginning to crisp.

4. Add the onion to the bacon and continue to cook for about 1 minute until translucent.

5. Add the potatoes and black pepper to the pan.  Continue to cook for about 3 minutes so the potatoes gain a little colour, stirring occasionally.   Add the green beans and peas and heat through.

6. Add a splash of vinegar.   Give the pan a final stir and then serve.

 

Stuffed Jacket Potatoes Skins

These were just incredibly delicious.   Some food combinations cannot be beaten and this is one: bacon, cheese, potato, onion.   All on one plate = nice.    All mixed up together = incredible.   If you don’t agree with that, come back for my next blog post, but today, I’m focusing firmly on  soft, comforting, cheesy potatoey gooiness with a salty bacony kick.    Yes, there are hundreds of possible fillings for potatoes, but right now, I can’t think of another filling I would rather have than this.   If you know of any better ones, not involving the two key ingredients of cheese and bacon, please tell me, and I will gladly widen my repertoire.

Ingredients – Serves 4 as a starter, 2 as a main meal

2 baking potatoes

2 rashers bacon

3 spring onions, finely sliced

3 tbsp grated red leicester or other hard cheese

1 tbsp cream cheese

Salt

Black pepper

Olive oil

How to make Stuffed Jacket Potatoes

1. Coat the potatoes in olive oil and season.    Bake in the oven for an hour.

2. Put the bacon in a dry frying pan and fry until crispy.   When cool, cut into small pieces.

3. When the potatoes are ready, cut in half and scoop out the soft potato into a bowl.

4. Add the cream cheese and mash into the potato with a fork.   Mix in the chopped spring onions, hard cheese and bacon.   Mash together and season.

5. Put the filling back into the potato skins and return to the oven for 15 minutes.

 

Spaghetti Carbonara and Review of Dreamfields Pasta

When I was a student in Durham we never used to eat out in restaurants except on someone’s birthday.  And then, it was always an Italian restaurant.   At the time, I hadn’t got into spicy food.   I was wary of chilli and so scared of Indian food, I thought I didn’t like Chinese food much as I didn’t like sweet and sour or lemon chicken, which everyone else seemed to love.   It may sound hard to believe, considering what I now like to eat, but I grew up in the middle of the countryside, 8 miles from the nearest town (of about 10,000 people), which had no Indian restaurants and only one Chinese one which I went to for the first time when I was 17.   My mother was (and is) a very good cook and made healthy but traditional dishes – pies, quiches, casseroles with potatoes and vegetables or salad.   A lasagna or moussaka was about as exotic as it got!  The nearest dish to curry was coronation chicken.  Really, when I look back at what I used to eat and what I used to avoid, I can hardly believe I was the same person.

Once I got to university, I think a lot of my university friends were the same with the result being that spaghetti carbonara is a dish that reminds me of my pre-spice days, as it was the dish I always used to order.   I loved the creaminess and the bacon and the fact that it was not something I would make for myself.  Not at that time anyway.  How things have changed!

So, why did I suddenly decide to step back in time and make a carbonara, perhaps ten years since I’d last had one?   Well, I recently received some spaghetti, penne and rotini pasta from Dreamfields to review.   And what better recipe to make with the spaghetti than carbonara.   Now, I’m not an expert on nutrition, but Dreamfields pasta claims to be different from other pastas in that it has only 5g of digestible carbohydrates, a 65% lower glycemic index and twice as much fibre as regular pasta and therefore could be good for people wanting a healthier pasta or those on a lower carb diet.  The Dreamfields website gives a lot more information about the nutritional content because here I have to be honest and say that as a runner, as well as a food blogger, carbs don’t bother me.   But, I do try to eat healthily and like to include foods with a low glycemic index and lots of fibre.  To me, what’s most important is the taste, the texture and does it fill me up.   And on these criteria I was very happy.    When cooked it didn’t go at all soggy like some pastas, it was nicely al dente and held the sauce well.

And it was definitely a good sauce.  It may look like a rich sauce full of cream, but, like a true Italian carbonara, it is cream-free.   The creaminess of the sauce comes entirely from the egg, parmesan and cooking water.    When you add the egg mixture, take the pan off the heat and stir quickly so you get  a silky smooth sauce, not a scrambled egg mixture. I ended up thinking, if carbonara is this easy, why does anyone ever buy a jar of sauce.   And why have I practically given up ever eating it?  Well, as it’s so simple, I still won’t be eating it in restaurants, but I might now be making it at home instead.

For more information about Dreamfields, take a look at their website.

I am also linking this to Presto Pasta Nights, this week hosted by Debbie Does Dinner Healthy.

Ingredients – Serves 2

120g spaghetti

2 eggs

4 rashers bacon

Black pepper

2 handfuls grated parmesan

1 clove garlic, chopped

Olive oil

How to Make Spaghetti Carbonara

1. Put the bacon in a frying pan to cook.   When ready remove.   Leave to cool and then chop.

2. Put the pasta on to cook according to the pack instructions.   It’ll probably take about 10 minutes.

3. Put the eggs in a bowl and beat them.   Season and add the grated parmesan.

4. Drain the pasta but reserve the water.

5. Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan or wok.   Add the garlic.   As it begins to colour add the pasta.    Toss.

6. Add a little of the reserved pasta cooking water.  Take off the heat.  Add the egg and parmesan mixture.   Keep stirring.   Add extra cooking water if it is too dry.   You should get a smooth creamy sauce.

 

Spaetzle with Caramelised Onions, Bacon and Cheese

Don’t you just love it when you haven’t thought of something for a while and then you get reminded of it and the opportunity to make it.   That’s exactly what happened with this month’s Daring Cook’s challenge.   The task was to make homemade pasta without using any motorized machinery.   One of the suggestions was spaetzle.   Spaetzle. Now, why hadn’t I ever thought of making it before.   The last time I ate spaetzle was back the nineties  in my year abroad in Germany.    It was in a restaurant and as far as I remember it was served with loads of cheese, bacon and leeks.   It was heavy but delicious.  The melting cheese and leeks clinging to the spaetzle.   A really hearty meal.   With that in mind,   I wanted to make a dish similar,  but if possible, not quite as heavy.   Well, I’m not sure if I managed that but I did add some peas and serve it with a huge spinach salad.

A recipe was provided for the spaetzle but it didn’t look anything like the spaetzle I remembered.   I searched around online and came across another site with very clear pictures and step by step instructions. The only hiccup was that the recipes required you to have a spaetzle press, but looking at it, it looked remarkably similar to my new potato ricer.  I wonder…   A little more searching revealed that you can use a potato ricer to make spaetzle, as long as you use the attachment with the large holes.    Any if you don’t have a potato ricer, you can even use a colander.   And if you don’t have a colander, well,  I don’t suppose you’d be trying to make spaetzle anyway.

When I first pushed the spaetzle through the ricer into the water I was a little worried as a lot of them seemed to stick together,   but as they cooked I prodded them a bit and most of them separated again.   Spaetzle is supposed to be very irregular with thinner and thicker strands and knobbly bits so don’t worry if it appears to be going wrong, it will almost certainly turn out ok.    I was really pleased with the end result and it was much easier than I would have expected before starting.

Blog-checking lines: Steph from Stephfood was our Daring Cooks’ July hostess. Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine. She provided us with recipes for Spätzle and Fresh Egg Pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with!

Ingredients – Serves 2

200g plain flour

2 eggs

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

2 rashers bacon

Handful grated parmesan

3 tbsp peas

3 onions

Breadcrumbs

Olive oil

Salt

Black Pepper

How to Make Spatzle with Caramelised Onions, Bacon and Cheese

1. Make the batter.  Add a pinch of salt and the nutmeg to the flour.    Break the eggs into the flour and mix with a wooden spoon.

2. Add 100ml of water, a little at a time.   Stir well so you have a wet dough/thick batter.   Don’t worry about one or two lumps.

3. Put the batter in the fridge to rest.

4. Slice the onions into strips and begin to fry in a frying pan over a low heat.   Stir every so often to stop them from sticking and burning.  Add a little salt.   If you want you can also add sugar but I don’t like the onions to be too sweet and they are sweet anyway.

5. While the onions are cooking fry the bacon in a separate pan until crispy.   When cool, use a pair of scissors to snip it into small pieces.

6. Bring a pan of water to the boil. Position a potato ricer or colander above the pan.  Add half the dough and squeeze through.     When it rises to the top and has been in the pan for about two minutes,  lift out with a slotted spoon and put in a bowl of cold water. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

7. Add a little extra oil to the pan with the caramelised onions in. Drain the spatzle and add it to the frying pan with the onion.   Add the bacon too and the peas.   Fry for about 5 minutes, stirring so it is completely heated through.

8. Just before serving, stir in the grated parmesan.   Divide between two plates and sprinkle breadcrumbs on the top.

 

Pea, Broccoli and Bacon Soup

Today I just wanted to get lunch quickly – and to use up some wilting broccoli that had been sitting in the fridge for almost 3 weeks.  I know, this may not tempt you, please feel free to use the fresh stuff rather than following my lead.  I’ve also been away for Easter and have been too full for vegetables with the amount of chocolate I’ve eaten, so it was also a chance to feel a little bit healthier.  I have also been rather lazy with this blog so I now plan to write more regularly to record new recipes and techniques I’ll be trying out.  Like many people in the UK I’ve been watching a lot of Masterchef recently and have been inspired to improve my culinary skills.  Not much improvement shown in making a soup but at least I remembered to get my camera out before eating it, which is where I usually mess up.

The finished soup

Ingredients - sorry, no measurements taken

Broccoli

Peas

1 Onion

Vegetable stock

Bacon

Black Pepper

Method

Very very simple.  Chopped the onion and fried it in the bottom of a saucepan until soft, added the broccoli which had been cut up into small pieces, then added hot stock to just cover all the vegetables.

Meanwhile heat a frying pan and add one rasher of bacon per person.

After about 15 minutes when the broccoli is cooked, add the peas and continue to simmer for about 5 minutes.  Season.   Then, using a stick blender, blend the soup.  Pour into bowls and top with the chopped up bacon.