Summer Tomatoes

Summer Tomatoes

With seasonal tomatoes arriving in all their varieties now, its the time to celebrate their flavour with herbs that enhance them.

This simple, yet strong flavoured dressing is perfect for the larger varieties, remembering always to store your fruits at room temperature to maximise their smell and taste. 

For a generous serving for two people or as a simple starter for four:

Take one kilo of ripe tomatoes, the beefier the better.  Cut them in in half and take out their cores, then slice into wedges and place in a large bowl.

Take two large red peppers, core them and then cut them in into strips and also add these to the bowl.

The dressing is a simple affair, with two large cloves of garlic, three dessert spoons of capers and a handful of black pitted olives, all chopped roughly and put into a screw top jar.  Add some of the preserving vinegar from your jar of capers and add a similar amount of balsamic.  Then add two to three times this volume of good extra virgin olive oil. 

Add the cap to the jar, shake virgorously and pour over your summer fruit.  Toss and serve with toasted bread or some crumbled feta.

Tomatoes - keeping it simple

As the first flush of ripe tomatoes come through what could be better than a fresh tomato salad, served at room temperature and with all the flavour of Summer?

When tomatoes are in season, you simply want to celebrate their taste.  So any accompaniment should be a partnership to the tomato's natural flavour.

• four large ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges (if you've bought these from the supermarket, leave them on the side to bring to room temperature - this will maximise their flavour)
• one small red onion, halved and sliced thinly
• a handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped roughly
• two dessert spoons of salted capers, chopped roughly
• 2 good glugs of extra virgin olive oil

In a large bowl, add all the above and using your hands, make sure that everything has a coating of oil.  Cover with clingfilm and leave on the side for an hour or more.

Use as salad on its own, as a filling in crusty bread or, add olives and feta and gorge yourself whilst sitting in the sun...

Slow braised Rabbit with mint and parsley

A relatively simple dish especially good as an alternative to a Sunday roast. 

Depending on the size of your rabbit, portion wise, one saddle is generally fair for each person. 

For four, simply increase all the ingredients by a similar ratio, although the amount of parsley should only be increased by half. 

Marjoram and Thyme are also great additions to the herb mix for this particular recipe and if using either, I would tend to use 15 grams of parsley to 5 grams of either of these herbs; i.e. still maintaining a 20 gram portion of fresh herbs in total.

For two saddles of Rabbit:

• Four dessert spoons of good olive oil
• 10 grams of mint, chopped finely
• Three large cloves of garlic, chopped finely
• Two good pinches of salt
• Two good pinches of caraway seeds
• 20 grams of flat leaf parsley, chopped roughly
• Two large onions, sliced
• 500 mls of good vegetable stock, reduced by half
• 50 mls of good balsamic vinegar

Place your Rabbit in a large bowl.  Add the oil, mint and garlic, the salt, the caraway seeds and the sliced onions and ensure the meat is evenly covered.

Place to one side, covered, at room temperature for 30-40 minutes or, in a sealable plastic bag in the fridge overnight, taking the bag out about an hour before you need to start cooking.

Pre-heat oven to 160c.

Reduce your stock and allow to cool slightly, then add the balsamic.

In a heavy oven dish, scatter a little more oil in the base and put half your parsley/herb mix onto the bottom.  Place the rabbit and onion mixture and the remaining parsley scattered on around and on top.  Add the liquid to the side rather than pouring over the top of the meat.  Cover tightly with oven foil and place in the in oven, for an hour.

At the end of this period, uncover, increase the heat to 180c and cook for a further 25/35 minutes, depending on the size or the number of rabbit pieces you have placed in your oven dish.

Take out of the oven, cover loosely and allow to stand in its juices for 20 minutes. 

Serve on a bed of Spring greens or puy lentils.

If you are serving with roast potatoes and want a thicker gravy, I would transfer the remaining juices into a saucepan and whisk in a little butter and flour, perhaps adding a little pinch of ground black pepper at the end.

Kitchen diary: Party secrets

Ever invited a dozen people around for drinks and had those sinking feelings just before people are due to arrive?

 

Well, a little under 25 years ago, a certain elderly, ex-Actor was entertaining upwards of ten people at a time in a room no more than twenty feet square in Soho, in the West End of London.

 

Afternoon tea at Eliot's flat was a grand affair, or rather it seemed to be, it wasn't until much later that I was taken aside in confidence (especially as my liking of French and Italian cooking was by then well known to my friends) after a particularly splendid Sunday afternoon. 

There were only nine or ten of us, including the host, but the little flat accommodated everyone with ease, the Edwardian daybed was a perch for two and an intricately carved Persian long, but quite low, stool was topped with cushions for another two.  Chairs in many different styles, although two rather grand Gothic charges stood out like thrones, completed the eclectic seating arrangements.  Small tables and terracotta drums held small bowls and platters with an varied assortment of nibbles, some of the regular nut and crisp variety but there were also some little plates of less expected offerings.

To put this in repast in context, it was the late eighties, probably 1988 or 1989, flat, as I've said before was just a room with a small separate kitchen and bathroom.   The fact that it was just off Charing Cross Road in London's theatre land just made it (for me anyway) that much more boho.

Every 20 or 30 minutes for about 2 hours Eliot came out with two small silver trays with small offerings, some sweet and savoury and others simply savoury.  We were then all, very politely of course, ushered out of the flat for the next event, which normally ended up in a small bar or café owned or managed by one of his friends.

And the secret methodology to all this boho chic? 

"The only "homemade" bits "dear" are the toasted bread, the bean paste, the olive mix and a rather clever trick with potted dates.  I suppose you also need to know your audience and how to set up the smoke and mirrors, that's the easy part.  But ignore anyone who says you have to have even numbers of guests, odd is always more interesting.  We're lucky, you hardly ever meet an untalkative gay man or actor, but do try to have some quieter ones, otherwise you can't hear yourself above all that trilling and showing off."

Small party organisers note:

·        Know your venue and facilities well, in Eliot's case, he knew he couldn't cater for more than ten people and that feeding ten people would be difficult if everything wasn’t done totally in advance.  He had only a small half fridge, so two buckets with ice was used to chill the wine and another two buckets were used with ice to use for cooling trays.

·        Set your scene.  In Eliot's flat, the "smoke and mirrors" simply referred to what's the best use of the room, arranging the furniture so that everyone was facing one another, in a semicircle and with the main source of light at the open end of this arrangement - so no-one is squinting at the person opposite if they are sitting in front of an undressed window.  If you need to layer your seating arrangements place high/hard seated chairs behind much lower ones - the Gothic chargers were placed behind the Persian stool (as so the two people lucky enough to get this seat could easily swivel and chat to those behind them).  

·        Remember to allow for enough surfaces to put glasses and bowls on, hence the array of small tables and terracotta drums in this little Soho flat, there was always somewhere "to put a napkin".  In  the centre of the semi-circle, don't be tempted to fill it by putting a table there for example, after just a few minutes, it will be moved to one side anyway.

·        Food, make it simple and make it ahead of time.  See the mini-recipes below, but also go to non-mainstream food shops, in Soho, in London at the time, Eliot had a number of choices, including Chinese, Japanese and Jewish food shops but also a number of other middle eastern café's just a short bus ride away on the Edgware Road.  Having heavily spiced almonds, hazelnuts or olive mixes are very easily shopped for now but 25 years ago, shopping around for something special took a little more time.  Still if you are still wanting more snack ideas, I've a few ideas of my own.

·        Eliot bought olives and herbs and small jars of peppers and chillies separately and simple made a fresh mix every few days, having an afternoon tea simply meant that he made a large batch.

·        He made his "toast" by griddling thin slices of French bread but he "discovered" an Italian bakery in Farringdon he would go there specially to get ciabatta instead.

·        Know your audience.  Balance your invitations.  Yes, you will always have your extrovert guests, but make sure they don't drown out the ones who also have an opinion.  Remember, it's not just the extrovert who are loud, it’s the nervous ones who've breathed in that first glass of wine too, so know your audience, calm them, reassure them and if they are too quiet, give them something to do so it forces them to interact, perhaps ask them to take around the opened bottle of fizz to top up glasses or distribute a tray of treats and napkins.  They will have the excuse to joke about the service or explain about what's in the food or do some healthy flirting.

Stuffed dates

A simple and tasty, but fiddly, finger full of fun are these stuffed dates.  Remember those boxes of dates you always had at Christmas, well here's a tip on how to use them.  De-stone them (that's the fiddly bit and fill the spaces with some small wedges of a tart cheese - goats cheese, feta or even a little blue cheese too.  Put on a plate with sprinkling of finely chopped parsley, so easy.

Bean paste

My own involves cooking, Eliot's was a lot more straight forward.  A tin of pre-cooked pinto beans, drained with two dessert spoons of olive oil, a teaspoon of cumin and a teaspoon of hot smoked paprika, and mashed well.  The paste was then put on "toasts" and small additions were placed on top, a little ham, or couple of slices of tinned artichoke, or a little griddled chorizo.

Mixed olives

As above, but the possibilities are endless, not everyone likes olives, try making up a mix with small cherry tomatoes and/or with small balls of hard cheese.  I particularly like toasted chorizo chopped in large dice and mixed up with pieces of onion and sweet pepper.

 

Fish pate - another kitchen diary

 

Savoury pancakes

Do you need a quick cooked breakfast (or supper) with limited eggs in the store cupboard?

With just three small eggs, some ground almonds (four heaped dessert spoons), some finely chopped spring onions, two dessert spoons of fat (melted butter or oil) and your regular amount of seasoning, whipped to smooth batter, makes four good sized, thick pancakes.

I used a ladle to gently pour into a small non-stick frying pan (with just a little olive oil).

Takes no time at all, but remember to turn down your heat after the first one as your pan will be hot and you may burn the batter.

Served here with baked sausages and mushrooms.

Cod Loin with Sage & Celery Crunch

A mid-week simple supper paid a relatively healthy homage to the traditional fish supper.

A good sized cod loin is needed for this, ideally about 200 grams plus per person.  The loin should be evenly shaped if possible with a good thickness so that the cooking time - just under 20 minutes in a hot oven in its foil parcel - provides just enough residual heat to complete the task whilst it's resting on the side for a few minutes.

For two people:

• Four dessert spoons of good extra virgin olive oil
• 12 grams of sage, chopped finely
• Two small sticks of celery, approximately 15 cms in length, chopped finely
• Two generous pinches of sea salt
• One lime, topped and tailed and using the middle for three slices to set on top of the fish and the juice of the top and tail.

On an oven sheet, place a piece of baking foil, dull side facing you and use one dessert spoon of oil over this this.

Mix the sage, celery and salt together with a further spoonful of oil and lime juice and place a third of the mixture on the foil.

Place the loin on top of this and spread the remaining sage mixture as evenly as possible over the top.  Add the lime slices and then create a foil parcel.  Place in the oven for 20 minutes.

Serve with a fresh salad or vegetable of choice.

Salted black olives and tomato salad

A great accompaniment to many a main course, but especially served with risotto or grilled fish, this salad is more of salsa with its smaller pieces and with its mint, lemon and capers has more than just nod to Malta and North Africa.

For two generous portions:

• 150 grams of tomatoes, deseeded, cored and chopped into one centimetre cubes
• 100 grams of cucumber, deseeded, peeled and chopped, again into roughly one centimetre cubes
• A good handful, approximately a dozen, large black salted olives, chopped roughly (do not rinse)
• Six to eight large caper berries, thinly sliced
• 20 grams of fresh mint, chopped coarsely
• A half teaspoon of dried mint
• A half teaspoon of dried cumin
• Two dessert spoons of good extra virgin oil
• The juice and zest of half a lemon

Mix all but the lemon juice/zest in a bowl and allow to stand, covered, for about 30 to 40 minutes.

Just before serving, add the lemon juice and zest, combine thoroughly.

Linguine with Kale & lime

A quick supper, normally defined by me as doable in under 30 minutes, is always a blessing, especially if you arrive home in the evening no earlier than 7pm most week days.

With coat off and cooker switched on; pan and water (and a good pinch of salt) on the hob and glass of wine in hand, not necessarily in that order, I can make dinner, change into more comfortable clothes and be at the table eating in 30 minutes with this dish.  You will need a second lidded saucepan and good eye for timing.

Whilst water is on, change and have a quick hand scrub.  Another slurp of wine, stripping the kale from its spine and roughly cutting into strips before thoroughly washing in cold running water, and we're off:
 

Per person:

• Salt
• Water
• Linguine - a handful/or your usual portion
• Olive oil - four tablespoons
• Kale - 150 grams, washed and cut into rough strips
• Garlic - a clove finely chopped
• Caper berries - five or six large juicy ones, sliced
• Lime - both zest & juice
• Parmesan - four table spoons, finely grated

Whilst your linguine is cooking your pan of salted boiling water, your second pan should be on a medium heat with a half your olive oil, a little pinch of salt, your kale and your garlic with the lid on.  After a few minutes shake the pan (with the lid on) and then continue to cook on a slightly lower heat for five to eight minutes.

When your pasta is ready, drain and add the other half of your oil so the strands do not stick together.

Once your Kale has had sufficient cooking time, add your pasta, caper berries and lime and mix together off the heat.  Add half your Parmesan and combine and then as you serve add the rest.

Kitchen diary: Wild garlic

One of the key ingredients to my cooking this week has been a very old friend, wild garlic.

Personally, I think this herb is very underused and probably more useful that the bulb variety (don't misunderstand me, wild garlic does have a bulb, but the ones I've picked are of no size and it is the stalks and leaves which seem to have the most character to me).  It still grows wild, although you are likely to find it on the Isle of Wight or Kent than anywhere else and of course, it is now grown commercially.

For some locals it is still known as Ramsons, which probably relates to the old key indicator for woods, especially in the south of England. 

If you do go out walking, you will probably smell it before you see it.  If late on in summer you will see a "skinny" version of the regular onion head, i.e. a globe of flowering head stands on stalk above the leaves, which to look at are quite shiny, wide and pointy.  The leaves have visible parallel veins and the underside is soft and the leaf as a whole slightly cushioned or squishy, as the four year old of a friend of mine used to describe it.

The reason I say more "useful" above is that the stalked of the leave, although short are very friendly when finely chopped to butter sauces, and rather gorgeous too in savoury version of welsh cakes.   The leaves themselves can be eaten raw and put into salad, but can (and should) be used instead of chives. 

 

A brilliant use is for a garlic and potato soup or for a very English pesto utilising hazel or cob nuts instead of pine nuts.  Rapeseed oil is such a good oil to use here, or if it is nutty you want, go for more hazelnut, always a winner especially with a mushroom sauce.

Weekend food

This weekend was a busy one for food and without the formal recipes.  Saturday was a steak and olive oil/sea salt encrusted baked potato and enough salad to sink a small island kind of meal.  And no microwaving the potato first, it was a hot oven for an hour jobby, which always produces the best of crispy skins.

Sunday was scrambled egg day, regular scrambled egg after watching the other half look through Moroccan Riads and south Spanish Moorish villas inspired a more north African take on one of our regular Sunday breakfasts.  Hence the addition of chopped wild garlic and a toot (a half teaspoon apparently) of sweet smoked paprika.  Again, no microwaving, just cooked gently in saucepan with butter and a little Argon oil.

Sunday dinner was more steak - this time lamb wrapped in streaky bacon with whole wild garlic leaves between the different meats.  Laid on a deep baking sheet with a little cider balsamic and orange juice used as basting liquor.  The garlic and mint gravy utilised the resulting sweet meaty juices just right.

Warm salmon salad

This is a great dish for a supper for friends.

As with many supper dishes, this is infinitely scalable so the quantities below are per person.  Depending upon the size of your fish portions and your tomatoes, you may need a little more/less butter and and you may like to add a little more seasoning to your tastes.

For the fish

• Two table spoons of good extra virgin olive oil
• Two large ripe tomatoes, cut into thick slices
• Two tablespoons of fresh chopped tarragon
• One salmon portion
• Salt and pepper for seasoning

For the salad

• A quantity of leaves
• A small sweet pepper, de-seeded and cut into fine strips

For the dressing

• 25 grams of butter
• A half teaspoon of smoked paprika

Preheat your oven to 170c.

On a baking sheet, lay a piece of oven foil and use half of the oil to coat it.  Lay half the tomatoes on the bottom and a third of the tarragon.  Place the fish on top and lay the remaining tomatoes on this.  Sprinkling a further third of the tarragon on this with the remaining oil and season.  Create a parcel out of the foil and place in the oven for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, add the leaves and sweet pepper to a plate and bring water to a low simmer in a large saucepan.

When your fish is done, take out of its parcel and allow to cool on the side. 

Place a bowl over your pan of hot water and place the tomato and fish juices into it.  Add a little butter at time and whisking continuously this should be enough to make a creamy tomato butter dressing.  Add the remaining tarragon.

Once the sauce is ready, the fish should be cool enough to handle and flake onto the salad.  Pour the dressing over this and dust with the paprika and serve.

Simple suppers: Warm Lamb's liver salad

Warm Lamb's liver salad with fresh figs and a cider balsamic dressing.

A simple yet elegant supper is this very flavoursome salad, just the thing to bring a little spring freshness your evening.

As the liver (and the dressing) has full on favours, less is definitely more.

A selection of baby/spring salad leaves, in this case pea shoots, lambs lettuce and baby spinach, set on your plates.

• A large knob of salted butter and a tablespoon of good extra virgin oil
• Portions per person:
• Two fresh figs, topped and tailed (if needed), halved and then sliced and portions set on top of your leaves.
• 100 grams of lamb's liver, sliced thinly
• 30 mls of cider balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon of capers, chopped
• 2 tablespoons of fresh mint, chopped

On a medium to hot heat, add your butter and oil to a medium sized frying pan.  As the butter finishes bubbling, add your liver and turn as it browns.  A few minutes later (as this is all it will take) add your balsamic vinegar and capers and half of the fresh mint and reduce the liquid by half.

Turn off the heat and add the remaining mint, stir and then pour the mixture over the salad leaves and figs.

The whole dish takes less than 20 minutes.

Quick & Simple Suppers

For neither of these recipes have I put quantities, use as much or as little as you like as both are scalable and either can be made at the drop of a hat.

Passing by my corner shop in evening on the way home is always an adventure so it normally depends on what they have as to what is cooked for supper.  Mushrooms and green vegetables are always a great standby, especially if you have some chunky bread or a can make a quick mash alongside (but then, that's another story - a mash of what?  Potato (regular or sweet), chickpeas or butter beans, or maybe, as with last summer, my broad bean and basil mash went down a treat!).

Mushrooms on toast

One of my personal favourites for the a quick tea, with really fleshy Portobello mushrooms, sliced thickly and fried with a little smoked garlic in half salted butter and half extra virgin oil.  A little added sweetness is provided by a red pepper, cut in half and sliced thinly into half-moons which are softened along with the mushrooms.

Topped with roughly chopped mint and a half teaspoon of caraway seeds a few minutes before serving on  sourdough toast, just the best.

Here I've also set these under the grill topped with goat's cheese.

Crispy bacon with steamed chard

Another quick supper which takes less than 20 minutes to prepare and cook. 

Strip your cleaned chard and add, along with a sliced red pepper, and a crushed garlic clove to a heavy bottomed saucepan along with a little olive oil and a couple of spoonful's of cold water (none however, if you haven't shaken your chard too vigorously after washing) on a medium heat.  Cover tightly and shake the saucepan after a few minutes and again another five minutes later.  The chard should be more or less cooked at the is point, so add a shot of sweet sherry and cover again before returning to a very low heat.

In a separate pan, heat through a generous knob of butter and a tablespoon of extra virgin oil and add to this 75 grams of chopped salty bacon.  Fry until crispy.  Then, add to this the chard mixture and fold through and serve with bread and butter.

Kitchen Diary - Butter Sauces revisited

Roasts and sometime, flavourless meat and fish are a necessity of our daily lives it seems.

Depending on your mood, a butter sauce, with or without a little flour as a thickener can be a delight to make and to serve.

Utilising pre-floured butter portions as well as herb and garlic butters are always a quick solution to recipe's short comings in flavour. 

There comes a time when you don't really want to over season fish or white meat as you aren't completely aware of its provenance and leftovers, especially roast pork, beef and turkey can be a little bland without their regular accompaniments, and these are grateful for the added moisture and silkiness a butter sauce provides.

A good standby (and quick butter sauce) utilises a Provençal style butter which is easily kept in the freezer.

 

Provençal style butter

 

Take:

• 250 gram pack of softened butter
• Four or five cloves of garlic
• Four heaped tablespoons of finely chopped thyme, rosemary and oregano
• Four chopped and then mashed anchovies

Blend them together with three/four tablespoons of good olive oil.  Stand in the fridge for just five or ten minutes and roll into a sausage about an 3 cm in diameter and divide into four portions and freeze.

The sauce itself in simplicity itself, a reduction of 175 mls of dry white wine and 175 mls of vegetable stock - so that you are left with about 150 mls of liquid.  Add half a portion of your butter and melt into the sauce.  Then, with a hand whisk, add the remaining butter a small amount at a time until the result is an emulsion which covers the back of a spoon evenly.

Alternatively, add a small chopped onion to a medium heat with a quarter of the portion of butter and, as the onion softens, add two teaspoons of plain flour.  Stir until the flour has been absorbed by the butter and then add the reduced wine and stock as above.  As the sauce thickens and cooks out the flour for about 10 minutes, reduce the heat slightly.  Take the sauce completely off the heat as you are about to serve and add small extra knob of butter and whisk in gently to give the sauce a sheen.

Of course, a little goes a long way but if you feel the need baking vegetables in the a sauce (especially leeks or onions) is an extremely good accompaniment or a fantastic dish in its own right and for this you will probably need a larger quantity, a little experimentation goes a long way.

One of the best butter sauces I have made in recent times is a tomato and sage sauce which is used to slowly bake courgettes red peppers.

 

Courgettes and red pepper bake in a tomato and sage butter sauce

• 3 tablespoons of good olive oil
• 1 kilo of tomatoes, skinned and roughly chopped
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 50 grams of cold water
• 2 tablespoons of plain flour
• 250 mls of dry white wine
• 250 mls of vegetable stock
• One portion (approximately 65 grams) of sage and garlic butter
• 500 grams of courgette, sliced on the diagonal
• 500 grams of red sweet peppers/paprika, cut into strips

In a large pan and over a low to medium heat, add the olive oil, tomatoes and onion and slowly cook down until the tomatoes have loosened and the onions are turning soft.  The mixture should be too dry so add the water just as things start to soften, so that by time the tomatoes and onions have started to turn into a sauce it is not sticking to the bottom of the pan.  Add the flour now and stir so that the mixture doesn't catch on the bottom.  Once thoroughly mixed through, add the wine and stock, stirring again to ensure that everything is thoroughly combined.  Cover and allow to come up to a low simmer.

At this point pre-heat your oven to 180 c and have a 25 cm x 25 cm oven dish ready.  Ideally about 4 to 5 cm deep.

Taking the lid off the pan, allow the sauce to reduce by a third and then add half the butter and stir in and place to one side, covered and off the heat.

Just before adding to the oven dish and the vegetables, in small portions, add the remaining butter and using a hand whisk, combine thoroughly.

With a large spoon or ladle, add about a quarter of sauce to the oven dish and then arrange the vegetables on top.   Add the remain sauce, there should be enough to coat the vegetables although they will not be submersed.  The vegetables will, as they cook, bake down so that the finished result should look like a pink Gratin!   The dish should be covered initially with kitchen foil for the first 25 minutes of the cooking time.  Uncover, and then bake for a further 25 minutes placed towards the bottom of the oven (if you're oven is fan assisted, turn your heat down to 160c).

Paprika and Cumin Soup

Cold weather and snow makes me think of soup, as I'm sure it does most people.

This Paprika and cumin soup has a high level of garlic too and is probably up there with chicken soup if you are feeling under the weather or just in need of an infusion of spice on a Winter's day.

For this recipe I have used my base vegetable stock but any good shop bought one will be good for this as would a light chicken stock if you think you may need a protein injection as well.  As the stock never goes above simmering temperature, there less evaporation than with many other soups so less stock is required.  However, this is very scalable recipe and for those of you who love more of a kick (but keeping the essence of the soup itself) increase the spice load in the appropriate ratio otherwise the black pepper does tend to overpower the cumin.

Five or six large fresh Paprika or sweet peppers are needed for this, but experiment as I've also made a thicker version with twice as many.  For this particular soup I use red ones but if you like, you can use the slightly sour greens which are also particularly tasty - but as they less fleshy, they do need a lower heat (say 150c).  Roast these whole and slowly in a medium (160c) oven for about 30 minutes.  Put a layer of oven foil on your baking sheet and sprinkle with just a little olive oil.

• Five or six large Paprika or sweet peppers (as above)
• Two dessert spoons of cumin seeds
• One dessert spoon of black pepper corns
• 25 mls of good olive oil
• One large white Spanish onion, halved and roughly chopped
• Five large cloves of garlic roughly chopped
• 25 mls of cold water
• One teaspoon of salt
• One litre of vegetable stock
• 50 mls of dry vermouth

In a spice mill, freshly grind the cumin and peppers corns.

In a large pan, and over a medium heat, add the olive oil and as this starts to warm through add the onion and garlic.  As these start to soften, add the ground spices and stir constantly until the onion just begins to change colour.  Add the cold water and lower the heat.  As the onion/spice paste starts to thicken slightly, add the salt and about a third of the stock.

Meanwhile, taking the Paprika/sweet peppers out of the oven and allow to cool enough to handle.  De-stalk and seed them and roughly chop them up.  The stock should be warming through and just below simmering point when you add the peppers.  Stir and then add the remaining stock and again bring to just below simmering point.  Take off the heat and cover and allow the flavours to amalgamate for approximately an hour or more.

About 30 minutes before you are ready to serve, blend the soup to a smooth consistency and add the vermouth.  Place on a low to medium heat and again, bring just below the simmer point.

Serve with a small spoon of sour cream in the centre and a little bowl of caramelised onions on the side.