Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Soup (gluten free) with Ciabatta by Paul Hollywood (not gluten free) - a comforting winter-warmer

Some like it hot!

You will need:

2 or 3 Red Peppers

2 Ramero Peppers

1lb tomato flesh (about 500gm)

1 large onion

1 or 2 carrots

2 rashers of lean un-smoked bacon

1 or 2 red chillies - depending on how 'hot' you like your soup

1 clove of garlic

1 pint of stock * if you use a stock cube, make sure it's gluten free *

Salt

Black pepper

So, there I was, bumbling round the supermarket, muttering under my breath that I hate supermarket shopping – a necessary irritation in the flow of an otherwise enjoyable morning – when I spotted a treasure chest of superb ingredients for a Soup of the Day at Fancy Pans. Piled up in an area given the delightful name of Vegetable Dump was an abundance of juicy, red peppers. I scooped up most of them, leaving a few for other lucky shoppers and then noticed a juddering trolly approaching the Vegetable Dump which was being pushed by a member of the supermarket staff called 'Here to Help'. There was a small mountain of very ripe vine tomatoes threatening to tumble floor wards from the post-date load of fruit and veg. I nodded towards the tomatoes, he shrugged and I transferred them from one wobbly trolley to another – mine.

Snatching up some buy-one-get-one-free bacon bargains, I headed towards the checkout with my collection of red, out of date, fruit.

To make the soup, I tipped the red fruits into the sink and washed them thoroughly. For one batch of soup I took two large red peppers and two of the Ramero type and took the hard stalk and core out making sure I scraped all the seeds from the flesh. When the peppers were sliced in half I popped them into the oven to roast. I then took a couple of pounds of the tomatoes and put them into a bowl.  I first poured boiling water over the tomatoes and then ran cold water over them so that I could easily skin them and take the pips out. Having done that, I weighed them and there was a pound of flesh – Shylock would have been proud. I did think that had I not been able to find such lovely tomatoes, a 500gm can of chopped would have been equally as good, and saved on time. 

I checked on the peppers – they were roasting nicely. 

I rummaged in the veg store and found a red chilli.

I didn’t want to touch this really as it’s so painful when you rub your eyes after chopping one of these red-devils. I pulled on a pair of disposable gloves, the kind you see paramedics wearing, to perform this operation and kept them on to chop a large onion too – it’s so hard to get rid of the smell of onion once infused into your skin. Likewise with a clove of garlic which I crushed. Whilst in chopping mode, I diced a carrot and then chopped up a couple of rashers of bacon. Into a large, saucepan I poured some vegetable oil and turned on the heat. I then threw in the onion, carrot, bacon and garlic and left them to cook for a few minutes. When the peppers were roasted I was easily able to peel off the skin. I suppose I could have just chopped them up without roasting them, but I would have had to put the end product through a sieve to make sure there were no residue nasty bits. The onion and carrots were soft so I added the peppers, tomatoes and chilli and gave it a good stir. From the fridge I took about a pint of vegetable stock, we are out of chicken stock at the moment, but that would have worked too. If you do try this recipe, you can always use a stock cube and boiling water if you don’t keep stock in the fridge (who does?) If you do use a stock cube, make sure it's gluten free if you are making a gluten-free soup.

After about twenty/twenty-five minutes everything was cooked and I took the hand blender and jooshed the soup. It did need a little more salt and I also added some freshly milled black pepper.

 I love this with fresh Ciabatta – just gorgeous. Master baker Paul Hollywood will guide through it if you would like to make your own, but it is tricky so you may need to buy some it you need it sooner rather than later.

 © Karen Ette 2013

Tomato Soup (with Paul Hollywood's Focaccia bread)

Wednesday’s soup of the day is another of my favourites – Tomato.

Here at Fancy Pans we like to grow our own produce wherever we can. 

Imagine this:  it’s a warm summer’s afternoon and you step into the greenhouse.  The greeting is a heavy scent of warm, damp earth which is laced with the fresh smell of ripening tomatoes, teasing its way through to draw you in.  When you take a glossy, ripe fruit and gently twist so that it leaves the vine, you can feel its warmth between your fingers.  Close your eyes and pop it into your mouth (if it’s a cherry tomato that is, don’t try this with anything larger).  The warm sweetness is a flavour unique to that moment and a tomato which left the plant some time earlier will not have that delicious, instant burst of mouth-watering satisfaction  – divine.

For the soup, you can indeed use fresh tomatoes, either home grown or shop bought, but you can also use the tinned variety if it’s winter and  fresh tomatoes are watery and flavourless.  Morrisons have a range of tinned, chopped tomatoes enhanced with various flavours: herbs, garlic, Basil, chilli, which are great store-cupboard  staples to have.

If you are going to use fresh tomatoes, you need to peel and de-seed about 2 pounds.  Put them into a large basin and pour on boiling water.  Leave them for about 30 seconds or so, then drain the water and pour on really cold water.   Drain the tomatoes and you will now be able to remove the skins easily.  Remove the seeds and chop the flesh.  Keep it to one side.  If you choose not to peel and de-seed the toms, you will need to put the finished soup through a sieve to remove all the nasty bits.   

Peel and chop a large onion (or two smaller ones).  Take a large carrot (or two smaller ones) peel and chop.  Lastly, chop up two rashers of lean, un-smoked back bacon – unless you are vegetarian in which case it’s probably best to leave this out. You will also need a sprinkling of herbs – I like thyme, but mixed herbs are fine too.  If you are using tinned tomatoes you could use the ones with herbs already in.   

Take a large pan and put about 1 – 2 ozs butter in to it (margarine is fine too or vegetable oil, but not olive oil.)  Heat the butter until melted.  You can add a little vegetable oil to prevent it burning.  Throw in the onion, carrot and bacon and leave to cook until the onion is soft.  Whilst it’s cooking, make up about a pint of stock.  Chef makes ours from scratch so we always have some in the fridge, but you can buy it ready made from the supermarket, or use a stock cube.  Chicken  or vegetable stock works best. 

When the onions, etc. are cooked, add the tomatoes (1½ lbs or about 750 grams, that’s a tin-and-a-half, - what the heck, put 2 tins in.)  Then sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar into the pan and add the stock.  Lastly add about ¼ teaspoon of white pepper then leave to simmer for a while – about 15 – 20 minutes should do it.  When the soup is cooked, take it from the heat and liquidise – either in a food-processor/liquidiser or with a hand-held blender. 

Mix a dessertspoon full of cornflour with a little cold milk. Measure half a pint of milk and warm it up then add to the soup.  Add the cornflour mix and heat until thickened.  Keep stirring so that it doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan and to make sure there are no lumps.

The thickness of the soup is really up to you.  Add as little or as much milk as you want to.  You may prefer not to add any, in which case you probably won’t need the cornflour mix either.  The key thing is: taste, taste, taste.  Adjust seasoning to your preferance.  You can add ground black pepper if you like the flavour of it – the choice is yours.

I like Focaccia bread with this soup – once again Master Baker Paul Hollywood will show you how to make the perfect Focaccia (click here)– or you could just buy it from a patisserie or supermarket.   

Enjoy!

Ingredient recap:

1½lbs tomatoes, skinned and de-seeded (or same amount of tinned tomatoes)

1 large or 2 small onions

1 large or 2 small carrots

2 rahsers of lean, un-smoked bacon

1 oz butta (or margarine, or veg oil)

1 pint stock

Sugar - about a teaspoon

Pepper & salt – to taste

Herbs

Milk

Cornflour – dessertspoon full

For the Focaccia - click here 

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Happy Easter - Fabulous food by Paul Hollywood, Mary Berry and Rick Stein

Hot cross buns!                                                       
Hot cross buns!
One ha' penny, two ha' penny,               

Hot cross buns!
If you have no daughters,
Give them to your sons
One ha' penny,
Two ha' penny,
Hot Cross Buns!

But why Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday?

Buns are traditionally eaten hot or toasted, on Good Friday, and some say that the cross on the top represents the crucifixion. However, although the first recorded use of the term "hot cross bun" was not until 1733, it is believed that buns were eaten in Saxon times in honour of the goddess Eostre (the cross is thought to have symbolised the four quarters of the moon). Eostre is probably the origin of the name Easter, but don't ask me when that was though - we need an historian to tell us.

English folklore includes many superstitions surrounding hot cross buns. One of them says that buns baked and served on Good Friday will not spoil or become mouldy during the next year (ha ha). Sharing a hot cross bun is supposed to ensure friendship throughout the coming year, particularly if "Half for you and half for me, Between us two shall goodwill be" is said at the time. They have been associated with Easter tradition since at least the 1300s, when a monk distributed buns to the poor on Good Friday.  The cross on the top denoted that these were of inferior quality and therefore the ones to give to poor people, apparently.

Red Magazine tested and tasted Hot Cross Buns across the High Street and their findings are that Sainsburys ‘Taste the Difference’ are tops. The Guardian also did their taste test with the same conclusion, so Sainsbury's are tops for the third year running.  I tried Tesco's which sadly were a tad dry.  It all depends really on how much spice you like in a bun, how much fruit, white, brown, etc. so everyone’s choice of a good bun is a moveable feast.  You can, of course, bake your own and adapt the recipe so that your taste-buds are delighted with each bite.  I would recommend Master Baker Paul Hollywood’s recipe.

Fish on Friday

From Wikimedia Commons

JOHN DORY is a flat, round fish which can weigh up to 7lbs.  It is yellow/olive green with a silver belly (the French word dorée means gilded) and has spines along its back. The phrase ‘swim like a fish’ doesn’t really come into it as it is a poor swimmer.  It has another name too: St Pierre (or Saint Peter).  The reason for this comes from the dark spot on its flank which is said to be St Peter’s thumbprint.  It is actually there to ward off and confuse predators as it looks like a huge eye.  Rick Stein's recipe for fillets of John Dory with cucumber and Noilly Prat (pronounced prat NOT praaaa) is sublime.

SIMNEL CAKE           

From Wikimedia Commons

In the 17th century, female servants would bake a rich fruit rich cake to take home on their rare visits to their mother's on Mothering Sunday which is always on the fourth Sunday during Lent.

The word Simnel comes from the Latin word Simila which means fine wheaten flour and this was the type of flour which was originally used.four centuries ago. 

Simnel cake is a symbolic Easter cake: Eleven marzipan balls or figures are placed around the circular marzipan-coated cake to represent the  remaining disciples (without Judas Iscariot who had betrayed Jesus and hung himself). Some Simnel Cakes will have a larger figure or ball in the centre of the cake to signify Jesus.

My favourite recipe for this delicious cake is Mary Berry's.

Fancy Pans Café wishes everyone a Happy Easter and hopes you enjoy today’s food and recipes.

HOT CROSS BUNS  Recipe by Paul Hollywood

FILLETS OF JOHN DORY WITH CUCUMBER AND NOILLY PRAT Recipe by Rick Stein

SIMNEL CAKE – an Easter treat. My favourite recipe by Mary Berry

Karen