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.

Quick & Low Fat Courgette Lasagne

I've got yellow courgettes (zucchini) growing in my vegetable patch. This is the first time I've grown them, so it's been a bit of a learning curve. Anyway, last week I harvested the first four and made this lasagne. It's based on a recipe from Rosemary Conley's Low Fat Cookbook. (I still haven't unpacked my copy since we moved 4 years ago, so have no idea how much it differs.)

I'll post a photo of the courgette plant when I have access to the camera.

Quick & Low Fat Courgette Lasagne

Serves 4. 3 WW points a serving.

Ingredients

1 teasp Olive oil
lasagne sheets x 6
150ml yoghurt (this is half one 500ml pot - 500ml weighs 300g)
1 egg
1 tablespoon cornflour (cornstarch)
1 tablespoon red wine
1 onion chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
4 courgettes, sliced
2 x 14oz cans tomatoes, pureed in blender
1 teasp dried basil


Method

1) Heat the oil in a deep pan. Fry the onion and garlic until the onion is transparent (if it starts to burn splash in some water).

2) Add the courgettes and fry until they soften.

3)Stir in the tomatoes and the basil. Bring to the boil then simmer until the sauce is reasonably thick (20 minutes or so).

4) Combine the red wine with the cornflour and stir into the tomato mixture. Bring back to the boil and, stirring constantly, simmer for 2 minutes. The flour stops the tomato separating and should thicken the sauce further.

5) Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.

6) Beat the egg into the yoghurt until both are combined.

7) When the sauce is thick, assemble the lasagne, in a lasagne dish:

-spread a small amount of tomato sauce (no courgette) across the bottom of the dish, then cover with 2 sheets of lasagne.
- pour over 1/3 of the courgette mixture and cover with another 2 sheets. Repeat.
- cover the last two sheets with the remaining courgette mixture. Spread the yoghut mixture evenly over it to cover.

8) Bake at 200C for approximately 40 minutes or until lasagne is cooked and the top has solidified.

- 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

Cauliflower & Pea Terrine

Today’s recipe is perfect for a cold starter for a dinner party or for the main course on a hot summer day. If you are tempted to serve it hot, good luck – the only time I’ve turned it out hot, it collapsed and started slithering down the side of the kitchen cabinet! That version only had one egg, so next time I made it I doubled the quantity of eggs.

This is perfect if you aren't that keen on vegetables but want to ensure you get your five servings of veggies a day. The cheese tones down the sulpherous taste of the cauliflower - not my favourite vegetable. I've yet to meet someone who doesn't like peas. Don’t know what to do with the other half of the cauliflower? Make Aloo Gobi (recipe next week).

The original version of this recipe is in Rose Elliott’s Cheap & Easy Vegetarian Cookbook. I think hers uses more cheese, too. The method below is all mine.

This recipe serves 4 as a main course, 8 as a starter. A main course serving costs 2.7WW points.

If you want to try a different version, I'd suggest broccoli instead of cauliflower, coupled with sweetcorn. Drop the mint and put the cheese with the corn, not the broccoli. The points would remain the same.

Ingredients

40g/1oz Butter
50g/1.5oz strong Cheddar Cheese grated
125g/4.5oz Green Peas (frozen is fine)
30g/1oz flour
2 Eggs
300ml/½ pint milk (skimmed if doing WW)
1/2 cauliflower
1/4 teaspoon dried mint

Method

1) Preheat oven to 180 C

2) Line a loaf pan with non-stick silcon paper/greaseproof paper

3) Break the cauliflower into florets, place in a saucepan, cover with water, bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes

4) Meanwhile cook the peas in boiling water for 5 minutes.

5) In a saucepan, melt the butter over a low heat. Remove from heat. Wisk in the flour and blend until smooth, forming a roux. Return to heat, stiring all the time. When the roux is foaming, gradually stir in the milk and wisk until smooth. Bring sauce to boil, stiring constantly. Once boiled, simmer for 10 minutes, stiring ocasionally. (Sauce very thick).

6) When vegetables are cooked, drain them carefully.

7) In a blender/liquidizer/food processor, combine half the sauce with the drained cauliflower, all the cheese, and one egg. Blend until smooth. Pour into the lined loaf pan and smooth out until even.

8) In the blender again, combine the peas, mint, the other egg and the other half of the sauce. Blend until smooth. Pour over the cauliflower mixture and smooth out the top.
9) Bake at 180 C for at least an hour, until firm. Allow to cool in tin before turning out. Serve cold.

- Pam