Christmas Soup

We know it's only November but it's been very foggy and cold today and we wanted to call it Christmas soup so there!!

Ingredients (makes 2 whopping bowls):

1 pheasant, roasted and the meat removed from the carcass (we only used half the meat and are using the rest for a pie)

4 rashers of smoked pancetta

1 carrot

1 onion

2 sticks of celery

1 clove of garlic

6 chestnut mushrooms

a handful of cooked chestnuts

a couple of handfuls of kale

800 ml beef stock

50ml marsala

1 tbl sp redcurrant jelly

pinch of dried thyme

1 bay leaf

olive oil

salt and pepper

• Chop the onion, carrot, celery and garlic and fry in a large non stick saucepan for a couple of minutes in olive oil.
• Dice the pancetta and mushrooms and add them to the pan.
• Once the pancetta has browned, add the pheasant carcass to the pan and cook for a couple of minutes, turning the carcass every so often.
• Meanwhile, in another large pan warm the beef stock through and add the marsala, redcurrant jelly, bay and thyme.
• Pour the stock over the sauteed veg and pheasant carcass and leave to simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the carcass.
• Turn the heat down to a low simmer and add the reserved pheasant meat.
• After another 5 minutes add the kale and chestnuts. Simmer for a further 5 minutes, season to taste and then serve in warm bowls.
  

Lemon, chilli and garlic squid

Ross cooks the squid in the smoking hot griddle whilst I watch from a safe distance with a glass of wine.

Ingredients (serves 2):

2 large squid

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 chilli, finely chopped

the juice of 1/2 a lemon

a small handfull of chopped parsley

olive oil

salt and pepper

• Pour a good glug of olive oil into a large bowl, add the diced garlic and chilli.
• Clean the squid and cut the tubes in half length ways and then in half again. Score the squid tubes with a sharp knife. Cut the tentacles into bite sized pieces.
• Add the squid, parsley and lemon juice to the chilli, garlic and oil and then season. Leave to marinade for around 20 minutes.
• Heat a griddle pan till smoking. Add the squid pieces to the pan - if there's not enough room for it all you'll have to cook it in batches.
• Turn the squid after a minute and spoon over some of the marinade. Cook for another minute or two and then serve hot.

Friday food

The best start to the weekend. A glass of fizz and a little plate of antipasti, and no work till Monday :-)

Chicken soup with dumplings

Even though we cheated with ready made stock and dumplings it was very very nice. And it was a work night so a little cheating is allowed!

Ingredients (for 2 large bowls with a little leftover):

4 chicken legs

approx 800ml good quality chicken stock

1 carrot, diced

1 onion, diced

3 celery sticks, diced

bay leaf and a pinch of dried thyme

salt and pepper

olive oil

dumpling mix or ready made dumplings

• Pre heat oven to 200 degrees
• Roast the chicken legs for approx 30-40 minutes until cooked
• Meanwhile, add the diced carrot, onion and celery with a splash of olive oil to a large saucepan and cook on quite a high heat until softened
• Once the chicken legs are cooked, pull the meat off the bones and chop the chicken into bite sized pieces. Put the meat in a bowl and set aside.
• Add the chicken leg bones to the sauteed veg and then add the stock and herbs. Leave to simmer on a low ish heat for approx 30 minutes.
• Remove the chicken bones and bay leaf from the soup and add in the diced chicken and dumplings. Correct seasoning and leave to simmer with a lid on for 5 minutes.