Autumn is finally here

April has been an exceptionally hot month, truly thought that autumn would never arrive, but finally the evenings are cool and tonight the first soup of the season was cooked.  Soup is one of our great pleasures of  the cooler months.  A big plate of steaming soup and crusty bread is hard to beat.  

Each year I like to add a few new recipes to the tried and trusted.  This is the first addition for 2016.

Tonight we used our nearly two hundred year  old soup plates, beautiful blue and white china, very special to have. 

Carrot and lentil soup

Ingredients:

• 30mL olive oil
• 2 onions chopped one red and one white)
• 3 cloves garlic chopped finely or pressed
• 1 tbs grated ginger
• 1 red chilli finely chopped
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 2 tbs tomato paste                                                   
• 750g carrots chopped
• 100g dried red lentils rinsed
• 400g tomatoes finely chopped
• Juice of a lemon
• Curry leaves
• 1L stock

Method:

1.      Heat olive oil in soup pot and cook onion, garlic, ginger and chilli over medium heat for 5 minutes

2.      Add curry powder and tomato paste and cook for three more minutes

3.      Add carrots, lentils, tomatoes, stock and additional 1L water.  Season

4.      Add chickpeas tomatoes, lemon juice, curry leaves and stock and bring to boil

5.      Reduce heat and simmer for one hour

6.      Cool and blend until smooth or leave a bit chunky

7.      Season with salt and pepper and add more water before reheating if necessary.

2016 and already Autumn is upon us.  Last year I started making bread by hand after the bread maker died and have enjoyed the experience.  It is so much easier than I thought, just a very few simple ingredients and a little time to create the staff of life.

We had a morning tea at work this week, so much great food, so much friendship shared.  My contribution was focaccio with caramelised onions  and hummus.  Of course one thing leads to another with a philosophy of cooking with the best and freshest ingredients and  making wherever possible everything from scratch.  So first the caramelised onions needed to be made.
A very few simple ingredients to give such a delicious condiment so ideal for focaccio topping, but equally good as a quiche base or as part of a cheese board.

Caramelised onions

Ingredients:

• 2 onions
• 1 tablespoon of each butter and olive oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• salt
• water

Method:

1. Peel and slice onions thinly – I like the rings quartered
2. Melt butter and oil in a heavy bottomed pan on medium
3. Add onions and cook stirring gently to coat with oil/butter mix
4. Continue cooking stirring every five minutes.  Turn down the heat if the onions start to cook to fast.
5. After about 30 minutes the onions will start to colour, keeping scraping the bottom of the pan and continue cooking until the onions are sufficiently caramelised.  Be careful not to let the onions burn.
6. Add balsamic vinegar and if necessary a little bit of water to deglaze the pan.
7. Salt to taste.  Keeps for several weeks in the refrigerator

Focaccia

 Ingredients for 22cm x 32cm loaf

• 375ml water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• Yeast dry 7g
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp oreganum or cumin or herb of your choice
• Olives, caramelised onions or topping of choice
• Rock salt and olive oil for crust 

Method:

1. Place yeast, olive oil, water, sugar and salt together with 1½ cups flour in  a bowl, mix well, cover and leave for 15minutes in a warm place
2. Add remainder of flour and herb of choice and mix.  Add extra flour or water so the dough is just firm enough to knead.  Knead for ten minutes adding flour if needed.  A soft dough should result which springs back when pressed gently.
3. Place the dough in a clean, dry bowl, add two teaspoons of olive and roll over dough.  Cover with cling film and leave in a draught free warm place for 30 minutes to rise.
4. Remove from bowl and knead lightly for a minute
5. Roil into a rectangle 20cm by 30cm and place on baking paper on a baking tray. Cover and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about an hour)
6. Pour two teaspoons of oil on surface and use fingers to poke holes in the surface
7. Fill holes with topping and sprinkle rock salt on surface
8. Bake at 223^oC for 30 minutes or until golden brown

And then the delicious humous to go with the bread

Humous

Ingredients:

• 250ml dried chick peas
• 1 red chilli chopped finely
• 1 tsp cumin
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 clove garlic finely chopped
• 1½ tablespoon tahini
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice 

 Method:

1. Soak the chick peas in water overnight.  Drain and place in a saucepan,   Add a tomato and a small peeled potato (helps chick pea skin to soften) and cover with water. I often add a spring of sage as well. Do not add any salt (harden skins). Bring to the boil and then simmer until peas are soft but not mushy. Drain keeping some of the cooking water. Discard potato (I add the tomato to the humous)
2. Place all the ingredients in a processor and pulse until smooth
3. Taste and add more cumin, salt or lemon juice if needed.