Recipe CXXIV: Home-Made Spicy Tomato Soup

Cooking on a Sunday is one of life's pleasures, and this weekend was one of those. As our guests were bringing the dessert, I decided to make a starter. This one is one of the finest things you can do in a kitchen, and it really is so, so simple.

Ingredients:

2 kg fresh tomatoes

1 green chili pepper

1 red chili pepper - keep some of the seeds, depending on how spicy you want it

1 sweet red pepper

1 large onion

4-6 cloves of garlic 

All of the above chopped into pieces

Three-quarters of a bottle of red wine

A teaspoonful of a red spice (cayenne pepper or even tandoori masala)

5 teaspoonfuls of Worcestershire sauce

3 thick slices of white bread

A fresh basil plant from a reputable supermarket, leaves broken 

50 g butter

Salt to taste

Instructions:
Put a lot of butter in a large, heavy non-stick frying pan or saucepan. While it is melting, add the onions and a pinch of salt, and fry gently for a few minutes - you don't want the onions to burn and crisp up. Add the peppers and garlic. Let them slowly sweat until soft. Then add the red wine and Worcestershire sauce.
(To give it your own personal touch, you could always use a variation - just use your imagination - something like Tabasco sauce, or red wine vinegar, soy sauce or even balsamic vinegar, but make sure whatever you use, the flavours fit!)

Let the red wine and Worcestershire sauce reduce by about half until it turns into something less liquid and more gloopy.

You are now ready to add the tomatoes. Put a lid on top, turn the heat right down to a gentle simmer and let the tomatoes soften until they are easily crushed.

Once they are really soft, add the basil, bread and red spices. Let the contents of the pan mingle for 10 minutes or so, while the bread soaks up some of the liquid.

Pass the contents of the pan through a blender and pour into a serving bowl.

Serve with a nice bottle of red wine. We chose Louis Chèze Caroline Saint-Joseph 2011, a fantastic wine that really highlights the spiciness of the soup.

Enjoy!

Recipe CIV - Rocket Salad

A few days ago, I read something from a Mr Lobstermuncher of Beckenham, Kent, along the lines of "Rocket Salad is rubbish", or words to that effect. Anyhow, I beg to disagree, Mr Lobstermuncher. Rocket salad is really tasty, but that means doing something with it. I have often wondered why kids don't want to eat veggies and salad - if they're so dull and lifeless, I wouldn't want to eat them either. I mean, you wouldn't have ever drunk tonic on its own unless you had spent some time convalescing in the 19th century, so that's why people add vodka or gin. The same goes for salads. Most leaf salads are quite bitter if you do nothing to them. Here's a little suggestion using ingredients nearly everyone has in their kitchens, or are easy to obtain.

Ingredients:

Some rocket salad

Some olive oil

Some balsamic vinegar

(Oil : Balsamic ratio = 3 : 2)

1-2 tsp brown sugar in a bowl

20-30 raisins or sultanas

4-5 hazelnuts

Some ground black pepper

2 cloves of garlic (cut into pieces)

Some grated slices of hard cheese like Cheddar, Parmesan, Manchego, Leicester, etc...

Instructions:

Take the olive oil, the balsamic vinegar, the pepper and garlic, and pour them in the bowl with the sugar. Give them a gentle swirl with a spoon until it's all mixed up.

Take your hazelnuts and crush them with your finger, sprinkling half into the bowl with the salad, and half into the oil and vinegar mix. Cut up half of the sultanas and put them in the oil and the whole ones in the salad. Mix up the salad, then taste the oil mixture and add more of what you think (maybe sugar, maybe oil or vinegar), then pour it all over the rocket salad and toss until all the leaves are saturated.

Finally, add the cheese on top and serve with your main course!

Cherry tomatoes go very well with this dish, as do Mozzarella, basil, chives and a lot of other ingredients. If someone says, "But I don't like .....," just remember that when it's mixed up with other ingredients, it probably tastes fine. But you're going to put people off for life if you serve certain things on their own!

Recipe LXXIII - Mint and Mustard Marinade

I love lamb. But here in Germany, it's really hard to find. In fact, if you go to the supermarket in this area, you find a thousand kinds of pork. I had an argument with the local butcher because once I dared ask for wild boar and she thought I was being awkward. Who's the customer here?? So I do most of my non-pork meat shopping in Luxembourg. I picked up these delicious lamb chops on a recent shopping trip there and I wanted to give them proper respect, especially as the pack said "Origin: UK", which was a pleasant surprise. The proportions in this recipe are purely by rule of thumb, so if you want it sweeter or spicier or sharper, you just add more of one ingredient!

Ingredients:
A few sprigs of fresh English mint
A teaspoonful of ground cumin
A tablespoonful of mustard (you choose the kind - I used a Dijon-style, but I'm pretty sure English or Russian would be just as good)
A tablespoonful of balsamic vinegar
A tablespoonful of golden syrup, molasses, caramel or honey
Ground black pepper
Salt



Chop your mint into small pieces. I used a blender. Put all the ingredients together in a bowl and mix until they form a sticky consistency. Dip the lamb chops in there one by one or all together and coat them. Put them in the fridge to marinate for a minimum of two hours.



They will take on a tremendous amount of flavour in that time.



Put a high-sided non-stick frying pan with some olive oil on a medium-high temperature and once hot, place the lamb chops in there. Fry them until the outside is done to your liking.



I served mine with roast carrots and potatoes, but use your own discretion, of course.



I will be making this again very soon!