Sunblush tomatoes

(Recipe renamed and revised after experimentation)

Most supermarkets sell these as "Sunblush Tomatoes". This recipe is based on Nigella Lawson's, who calls them "Moonblush Tomatoes" because she dries them in the oven overnight.

Ingredients

1lb/500g cherry tomatoes.
1 teaspoon sugar (preferably caster sugar)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt in grinder (or 1 teaspoon table salt)
Olive oil to store

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 240C.
2. Halve the tomatoes and arrange in a single layer on a baking dish. Sprinkle over the sugar, oregano and olive oil. Grind over the salt, ensuring all tomatoes are covered - approximately 7 grinds. (If using table salt, sprinkle over.)
   
3. Place the baking dish into the very hot oven, close the door firmly and switch it off. Leave overnight. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN FOR AT LEAST 12 HOURS.
4. Next morning, decant into a container and refridgerate.
   

They last for a week.

- Pam

Parsnip and Lemon Soup

It's Tuesday, so it must be recipe day.

(Yes, I know, I haven't done one for ages. Call me slack or something. But "Recipe Tuesday" is now back and raring to go.)

About 3 weeks ago, the farm shop started selling this year's parsnip crop. I bought a kilo (2lb), planning to make the Parsnip and Cashew Nut Roast from the Weight Watchers' cookbook, Cook, Eat, Enjoy. My flat refusal to pay £6/kilo for cashews at the supermarket and inability to organise myself to go for a wander "down Southall" to the Asian shops to buy cashews at half that price, meant that the parsnips grew old and wizened in the fridge. They were looking very ropey when I dug them out of the veggie draw yesterday and decided to make soup.

(It was either make soup or bin them. The Frugalista in me insisted on the former option. As it was, about half the quantity of leathery old parsnips ended up in the bin.)

I like vegetable based soups for all sorts of reasons: they're an easy way of getting some of my "five a day"; they're usually cheap; they are low in WW points; and, for a former vegetable hater (me), they offer a great way to disguise or alter the taste of a not-much-liked vegetable and make it appealing.

This is another Weight Watchers' recipe, this time from their Pure Points cookbook. The whole quantity of soup costs 8 WW points. The recipe originally said "serves 4", but the soup is rather thick - you could easily water it down a bit further. Also, don't be alarmed at the cumin; it adds something to the flavour, but you won't taste it in the final soup. The lemon isn't particularly noticeable either, what it does is neutralise the bitterness of the parsnips.

Ingredients

500g (1lb) Parsnips, peeled and sliced
1 onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Grated rind of 1 lemon*
750 ml vegetable stock (I use 2 teaspoons of Marigold brand stock powder for this)
300ml skimmed milk
Olive oil spray
salt and pepper

Method

1. Spray a large saucepan with the oil spray and heat. When the oil is hot, stir in the onion. Turn the flame under the pot to low, cover and leave for approximately 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. (I do this then prepare the parsnips and the lemon.)
2. When the onion is soft, stir in the parsnips then sprinkle over the cumin. Fry for approximately one minute, stirring all the time, or until the aroma rises.
3. Pour over the stock, stir and bring it to the boil. Cover and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes or until the parsnip is soft and mushable.
4. Remove the pot from the heat and either transfer the contents to a blender/liquidizer/food processor or use a wand whisk to blend the contents until smooth.
5. Return the soup to the pot. Stir in the milk and the lemon rind. Season with salt and pepper. Reheat but DO NOT boil (the milk may curdle due to the lemon).
   

If you don't eat it immediately, this will thicken on standing. It seems to freeze well (I haven't defrosted any yet, but it didn't split or anything when I froze it).

- Pam

* I store grated lemon rind in an ice cube tray in the freezer. Whenever we use lemons, I'll grate the rind and pack it into the tray. I think half a lemon gives one cube of rind. Stop grating when the yellow bit disappears - you don't want the bitter white pith.

Courgette Cake

Another entry in my continuing saga of how to use up courgettes. :o)

I first had this cake at a team meeting in 2003, when Nikki presented it as her "mystery cake". It was unadorned with icing or filling, green flecked, delicious and totally mystifying. We couldn't guess the main ingredient.

This is my version. The original is in Nigella Lawson's, How to Be a Domestic Goddess. I make it as a loaf cake and serve it unadorned. This way, it is perfect for lunch boxes. The recipe makes 12 large slices or 24 half-slices at 2 WW points for each half-slice.

Ingredients

2 medium sized courgettes (zucchini), grated using course side of box grater
2 large eggs
125ml vegetable oil
150g caster sugar (I use vanilla sugar)
225g self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Method

1) Preheat oven to 180C/350F.

2) Combine eggs, oil and sugar in bowl. (I do this in the food processor.)

3) Sieve in flour, bicarb and baking powder and beat until well combined. Mixture is quite stiff.

4) Stir in grated courgettes (if using food processor, process for minimum time until combined).

5) Pour into lined loaf pan and bake for 60 minutes until slightly browned and firm to touch.

6) Allow to partially cool in loaf pan before turning out.

7) Fight DH off so that you can get a piece! LOL!

Enjoy!

- Pam

Aloo Gobi

Several days late, but here it is: my Aloo Gobi recipe. Much kudos goes to DH who came home from work yesterday to find me tearing the lounge apart, muttering about a missing cookbook. He found it for me sometime after midnight.

This recipe is based on the one in the Weight Watchers' cookbook, Low Point Spice, by Joy Skipper. I've checked it against other versions and, as far as I can tell, the spicing is authentic. The recipe makes a huge quantity - I usually end up freezing 3/4 of it, since 1/4 makes a good sized side dish for 2 or 3. You could easily halve the ingredients, but I'd keep the spicing the same. Oh, and in case you didn't know, "Aloo" means potato and "Gobi" means cauliflower.

Another tip: the recipe calls for 2-3 tablespoons of chopped fresh coriander/cilantro. Buy it by the bunch - it's cheaper that way - and do what my Asian friends do: wash it well, chop it up roots and all, and freeze it loosely packed into bags. Then when you need it to flavour something, either sprinkle over a handful or add it by the tablespoon.

The entire recipe is 5 WW points or 540 Calories.

Ingredients

Low-fat cooking spray or oil spray (or use 1 teaspoon oil)
3 onions, chopped
1 medium cauliflower cut into florets
3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped into 2cm/1 inch cubes
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger (or use 2 ginger "cubes" see here for details)
1 400g/14oz can chopped tomatoes
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon ground chili
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon garam marsala
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 small bunch fresh coriander/cilantro including stems, chopped (enough to make 2-3 tablespoons)
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
Salt to taste

Method

1) In a small bowl, combine the chili, turmeric and ground coriander with a little water. Mix to a paste.

2) Spray a large saucepan with oil. Over a low heat, gently saute the onions until soft.

3) Add the cauliflower, potatoes, ginger and the spice paste mixed in step 1. Stir well to coat the vegetables in the spice paste. Fry until the aroma rises. Pour over the chopped tomatoes. Bring to a simmer, cover and and simmer gently for 15 minutes.

4) Stir in the garam marsala, the cumin seeds and the fresh coriander. Cover again and cook for a further 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Season with salt to taste.

5) Serve hot as an accompaniment to an Indian meal or to accompany a plain meat dish, e.g. grilled steak.

- Pam