It’s true. I don’t get these people who love to cook. I’m not exactly allergic to the kitchen, it’s just that if you’ve lost me, don’t start your search there.
Today though, I’ve created something – two somethings actually. Not sure what to call it – but, I suppose one at least can be called Tomato and Carrot Soup. The other creation is going to be called Garden Stew-p.
My cookery method is a little spontaneous, no recipe book, no method or ingredients list.
Today, I used:
Tomatoes from my greenhouse
One and a half onions (don’t ask)
Potatoes and Carrots from my garden
Peas also from my garden (5 pods, again, don’t ask)
Beans from my greenhouse (8 pods… look, it’s best if you forget about asking, ok?)
Garlic powder
Cider Vinegar
Butter
Chicken Stock cubes or Vegetable Stock cubes for vegetarian option
Water
My Method:
Go through the kitchen and realise you've got nothing in except for stuff you've grown over the summer - and that's in the garden, still growing. Go out, dig up and forage in the garden and then see what you can make of it all.
I thoroughly cleaned all the veg. Preparation consisted of topping and tailing the carrots, cutting nasty and/or green bits off the potatoes, removing about 20 peas from the 5 pods (look, I call that a success!) and a similar amount of pink kidney beans from their pod-like things.
For the Garden Stew-p:
I chopped and fried the onions, garlic powder and cider vinegar in a little butter in a large saucepan, went off to scrub the veg, forgot about the onions, but caught them before they burned (Lucky!)
Then filled the pan half full with water and the chicken stock cube, put it back on the heat, adding a handful of carrots and potatoes and all the beans and peas (no need to split them, there’s not enough to make a difference).
Leaving them on to simmer, I prepped the tomatoes. More of that later.
When the veg had cooked – a good half an hour*, I took the concoction off the heat and blended everything – that serves two purposes, it makes a soup and removes all need for questions like, “What is that, actually?”
Now for the fun part. I grew all my own veg except for the onions.
Some of the potatoes and carrots are exceptionally tiny and fiddly to clean. I therefore clean them with a small nail brush.
That’s a teaspoon.
Then I chuck the tiny potatoes and carrots into the soup and put it back on to simmer.
When it’s done, you can eat it there and then, refrigerate it for a day or so or freeze it.
*You need to keep an eye on your own stuff, once the bigger potatoes and carrots are soft, that’s when I consider them ‘done’, you may have a different opinion - go with what you know.
Tomato and Carrot Soup:
Heating a little butter, I chucked a few tomatoes in, then a few more and a few more to fry and get tender. The garlic powder and cider vinegar went in then (no, sorry, I don’t know how much), along with half a saucepan of water and the chicken stock cube.
I removed the skins as they rose to the surface.
A large carrot, saved from the other soup was chopped and put in with the tomatoes. When the carrot had softened, the soup was removed from the heat and blended. I added black pepper and a generous knob of butter (snigger, I said ‘knob’) to taste and, as we say in this part of the country, “Job’s a good’un!”
OK, I messed up. I forgot to take a pic of the tomatoes and carrot concoction, sorry.
Verdict:
An hour later, hubby is still here, so that’s a success in my book!
The tomato and carrot soup is a thick, tasty soup (makes your tabs laugh*) and I think a little less cider vinegar would manage, but it really was tasty.
I’m calling it a success! The Garden Stew-p is tomorrow’s dinner, so I’ll let you know how it goes.
*A local saying, meaning “WOW! That takes you by surprise in the taste department!”