Pumpkin & Spanish Paprika Soup

Autumn/Fall is has been with us for a while now and pumpkins are bountiful at this time of year. So as per usual I came up with another delicious and tasty soup. You can do this soup by using the flesh from your pumpkins that you may have carved for Halloween. The sweetness of the pumpkin flesh and the unmistakeable taste of Spanish paprika make this soup an explosion of flavour on your palate with every spoonful. If you do not have Spanish paprika stocked in, you can use regular paprika but make sure it is the sweet variety. You can prepare this soup as a starter at a dinner party or as a delightful supper accompanied by buttered rustic bread. If you want to make this soup vegan just omit the butter and used a little bit more oil. So, go on, give it a go and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did! For 4-6 people you will need...

• 850g pumpkin, chopped into 1 inch pieces
• 1 large potato, diced
• 1 medium white onion, chopped
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 teaspoons sweet Spanish paprika
• Few celery leaves [optional]
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 ½ litres [7 cups] boiling water
• 2 vegetable stock gel pots [or cubes]
• 15g Butter & 1 tablespoon olive oil, for frying
• Flaked almonds, to serve
• Pumpkin seeds, to serve

How to...

1. In a large stock pot, heat the oil and butter on medium heat and fry the onions for about 5-7 minutes until soft and translucent.
2. Now add the garlic and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the pumpkin, potato, paprika, celery leaves [if using] and stock gel pots or cubes. Give it a good stir and season with freshly ground black pepper. 
4. Pour in the boiling water and stir well, bring to a boil. Now reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 45 minutes to an hour.
5. Turn off the heat and let cool down a bit before blending with a stick blender or in a jug blender until you get a velvety consistency.
6. Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle with the flaked almonds & pumpkin seeds. Serve hot.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Aljotta - Maltese Fish Soup

This Maltese soup obviously comes to be because of Malta's geographical location, that is, an island in the middle of the Mediterranean sea. Originally this soup was made by fishermen's wives to use up any small fish that would have gotten into the fishermen's nets. Most of the time this soup is made using these very famous Mediterranean small fish called Vopi (in Maltese). Funnily enough, these fish in English are called Boops Boops or Bogue, which is a species of small sea-bream. These fish are available in any Mediterranean fish market from Spain to Turkey but since I cannot find them over here in England I usually use either sprats or sardines. The soup will turn out equally delicious. This soup needs to have liquid consistency, like a broth and usually rice is added to it. Also, Amanda and most of the Maltese people leave this soup as it is but if you do not like small fish bones (which are completely edible) all you need to do is put it through a sieve before you ladle the soup into your serving bowl. It can be served as a starter or even as a main meal on its own when bread with crusty bread (preferably Maltese bread). Give it a go and if you want let us know if you like it or not. For about 6 portions as a starter you will need...

• 500g small fish like vopi, sprats, sardines, gutted but left whole
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 4 tomatoes, de-seeded & chopped
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon dried mint
• ½ teaspoon dried marjoram
• 100ml dry sherry or dry white wine
• 2 Knorr fish stock pots or stock cubes
• 1.5 litres boiling water
• Salt & pepper
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• Lemon wedges, to serve

 How to...

1. Heat the oil and cook the onion & garlic until golden brown.
2. Add the tomatoes, fish, mint, marjoram, salt, pepper and stir slowly, so as not to break the fish. Cook for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally.
3. Add the sherry or wine, give it a stir and cook until all liquid has evaporated.
4. Now add the stock pots or cubes to a measuring jug and dissolve them in some boiling water, about half a litre or so. Now add to the fish in the pot, add the remaining litre of boiling water. Stir carefully, add the tomato paste and stir again.
5. Bring to the boil and simmer on low to medium heat for about 30 minutes.  Now if you do not like munching on the edible tiny fish bones, just pass the soup through a fine sieve before serving.
6. Serve hot with lemon wedges.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Tunisian Lablabi - لبلابي

Lablabi is Tunisia's national dish. It is very common in eateries all around the country as it is very quick to plate up once you have the base for the dish. The base for the dish is simply a chickpea soup flavoured with garlic and cumin. I cooked the chickpea soup in our slow cooker but you can cook it on the hob by letting it simmer for 3 hours on low/medium heat. It is very important though that if you do not cook the chickpeas in the slow cooker you need to pre-soak the chickpeas before cooking. Once you have the soup, it's all easy peasy from there onwards. Give it a go...you will love it. You will need...

For the soup

500g dried chickpeas 

6 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tablespoon ground cumin

2 litres boiling water

½ tablespoon bicarbonate of soda

To plate up...

• 4 small French Baguettes or other crusty bead
• Tunisian Harissa paste
• 1 Lime, cut into quarters
• Capers
• Olives
• 2 cans Tuna chunks
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 4 Soft boiled eggs
• Ground cumin, to taste

How to...

1. Start by cooking the chickpeas in the slow cooker or on the hob. Remember to pre-soak them if not using the slow cooker. Put the chickpeas in the slow cooker add the garlic cloves, ground cumin, bicarbonate of soda and cover with the boiling water and cook for 4 hours on high. Alternatively, simmer on the hob for 3 hours on a low/medium heat.
2. When the soup is done, cook the eggs to your liking. Traditionally.the egg is served either raw (it cooks in the hot soup) or else soft boiled. To cook a soft boiled egg just plunge it into boiling water for 3 minutes. If you want it hard boiled, leave it for 8 minutes.
3. You are now ready to plate up. Firstly start by tearing the bread by hand into bite pieces and placing it at the bottom of the bowl. Now pour 2 ladles of soup, including chickpeas obviously. From now on, you can put the amount of ingredients you like...more of this...none of that...less of that...whatever you like. I like everything so...
4. Start with a sprinkling of capers, then green olives, then some tuna. Add harissa (as much as you want...be careful it is spicy). Drizzle with the olive oil and lime juice. Sprinkle with extra ground cumin, crack the egg on the dish, mix all up and enjoy!

Enjoy!!

R&A

Kawlata bix-Xikel tal-Majjal - Maltese Vegetable Soup with Pork Shank

For the majority of Maltese people, this is heaven in a bowl. It is a simple dish made out of the freshest vegetables and meat. If you are not so keen on the meat bit, just eliminate the pork shank, although this has now turned into another recipe as a Kawlata  without meat is called Minestra. Anyway, I could not resist when we got our vegetables box delivered and saw all that colourful and fresh produce in front of me, I had to prepare a good old Maltese vegetable soup. When we do this, we do a huge pot of it and in fact the amount of ingredients that we prepared for it were enough to fill a very large pot. After we just freeze what is left in portions, although if eating during the following days just store it in the fridge for a couple of days and reheat as necessary. In Malta it is traditional to serve it with grated cheese and Maltese crusty bread. The best thing about this soup is that when I chop the vegetables I chop them roughly to give the soup a very rustic look :) Also, slow cooking makes sure that all the flavours infuse together. We use the a cured pork shank for this soup, this can also be found labelled Ham Hock or Ham Shank here in England. It gives the soup a delicious flavour and when the soup is cooked, you can flake the meat it in the soup as Amanda likes it or else after having a bowlful [or two] of soup, eating it on the side with some bread. Heaven!! Well, enjoy making it, the ingredients list is very versatile and the amounts can be changed depending on the size of the pot. For a huge pot you will need...

• 1 Pork/Ham shank
• 3 large Potatoes, roughly diced
• ½ butternut squash or 500g pumpkin, diced
• 1 small Cabbage, chopped
• 1 courgette or Marrow, diced
• 4 small Onions, split into 4 pieces
• 1 small Cauliflower, split into florets
• 4 Carrots, diced
• 1 Turnip or ½ a swede, diced
• 100g Pulse mix or yellow split peas (pre-soaked overnight or longer)
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 vegetable or pork stock cubes or stockpots 
• 75g of small shaped pasta such as ditalini
• Salt & pepper
• 2 litres of water

How to...

1. To start with, put the pulse mix or yellow split peas in a small pan cover with water, bring to the boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Drain and set aside. 
2. At the bottom of the large pot, put the shank, skin part down and then add all the other ingredients, apart from the pasta. Give the pot a stir with a wooden spoon. 
3. Bring to the boil on a medium heat and then turn heat to low and simmer for 3-4 hours, stirring occasionally. About 10-15 min before turning off heat, add the pasta and cook until pasta is done. Serve with grated cheese and some crusty bread!

Enjoy!!

R&A

Pumpkin & Sweet Pepper Soup

Pumpkin season is upon us! Since pumpkins are so cheap and so versatile, my mind starts going crazy in the kitchen to come up with new ways to cook it. So far we used it in 3 recipes. We made the traditional Maltese hearty vegetable soup called either Minestra or Kawlata if cooked with a ham shank. Another recipe we made was a recipe Amanda came across on the net which really intrigued us, Pumpkin pie cupcakes, these turned out delicious, just like mini sweet pumpkin pies. Incidentally today is the first day of autumn and I came up with this delicious soup which is very easy to prepare, as are all soups after all! Our tips for a perfect soup are, not too much liquid and slow cooking. We put bacon to add saltiness and balance the sweetness of the pumpkin and vegetables. If you would like a vegetarian version of the soup omit the bacon and add a couple of tablespoons of light soy sauce instead. Give it a go, you will need…

• 400g Peeled Pumpkin, chopped into cubes
• 2 Potatoes, chopped
• 1 Onion, finely chopped
• 1 Carrot, finely chopped
• 1 Green pepper, finely chopped
• 1 Red pepper, finely chopped
• ½ Savoy cabbage, shredded
• 8 small tomatoes, skinned and chopped
• 4 smoked back bacon rashers, chopped (use soy sauce instead if vegan or vegetarian)
• 2 litres vegetable or ham stock
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil

How to...

1. Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the onion, carrot and chopped peppers and cooked until soft stirring frequently until soft, about 10 minutes.
2. Add the bacon if using and continue to cook until bacon turns brownish.
3. Add the pumpkin, potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, thyme, black pepper and stock and stir well. Simmer on medium heat for about an hour or more if you like.
4. When done, blend the soup in a blender or with a hand-held blender even and serve warm.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Market Fresh Soup

We love going to the market and have a look at the fragrant smelling fresh produce available. On our one of many trips to the market a few weeks ago we came across a giant parsnip and some beautiful red beets and decided to make a soup inspired by these 2 delicious root vegetables. To get a great taste, it is best to split the veg in half and roast them in an oven before scooping the flesh out and blending, but you can always boil them!!  In this recipe we boil the veg in the stock. if you have some soup left over, you can always freeze it in plastic covered bowls. As usual, for a vegetarian version  omit the bacon steak. So try and give this soup a go you will love it!!! You will need...

• 500g beetroot, cut in quarters
• Large onion, sliced
• 3 small potatoes, quartered
• 700g parsnips, roughly chopped
• 1 kg pumpkin or butternut squash, diced
• 100g bacon steak, diced (optional)
• 3 chicken stock pots or cubes
• 2 bay leaves
• Ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 4 tablespoons double cream (optional)
• Extra virgin olive oil, to serve
• Grated Parmesan, to serve

How to...

1. In a large deep pan, fry the onion and bacon (if using) in some olive oil until the onion is soft and transparent and the bacon is cooked. 
2. When onion & bacon are cooked, add the beets, potatoes, parsnips, pumpkin/butternut squash, stock pots or cubes, bay leaves, nutmeg, thyme & black pepper to taste and cover with enough water (about 1.5/2 litres). Bring to the boil on high heat and then lower the heat and simmer until the veg is firm but not soft. 
3. Alternatively you can bake the veg in a 220 degrees preheated oven for 35 minutes and add them to the onion/bacon mixture. Then add stock etc and simmer for less time!
4. Turn off the heat, leave to set for about 15 minutes. 
5. If using a blender, ladle the soup into a blender and blend, slowly pouring in the acream (if using). You can always use a hand held blender and add the cream and blend in the pot!
6. Ladle into bowls and serve with a drizzle of olive oil, grated cheese or double cream.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Broccoli & Stilton Soup

This soup is the wife's favourite and to be honest broccoli were never one of my favourite vegetables but as I grow older it is definitely becoming one of my favourites. The better quality Stilton cheese the better soup you get but if you do not find Stilton you can use you Danish Blue cheese. Get the best broccoli you can get, greenest and freshest ones possible. It is quite easy to prepare. You can serve it with buttered crusty bread, grated Parmesan cheese or a dollop of cream. For 6 to 8 servings you will need...

• 1kg broccoli, flowers separated and stalks peeled and chopped
• 200g Stilton cheese, cut into cubes
• 1 large onion, chopped
• Knob of butter
• 250ml whole milk
• 3 tbsp flour
• 2 litres of water
• 2 vegetable Knorr stock pots or cubes
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Crusty bread, to serve

How to...

1. Melt the butter and fry the onion until soft and transparent.
2. Add the broccoli, water and stock cubes and cook on a medium heat until the broccoli are tender stirring occasionally. When broccoli are tender add the cheese and stir again
3. In a small separate pan put the milk and flour and slowly bring to the boil stirring all the time vigorously until you get a thickened sauce. When it boils remove from the heat and add the broccoli mixture. Give it a good stir.
4. Turn off the heat and leave it to cool down a bit.
5. Blend the soup with a hand-held blender or into a standing blender in batches and serve with some buttered crusty bread.

Enjoy!!
R&A