Celery and White Bean Soup with Tomato

The chorizo really makes this soup. Great to deal with a celery glut. It was fun to make the celery salt too!

• 250g dried cannellini beans, soaked overnight, or 650g drained tinned beans
• 5 Tbs olive oil
• 1 large head celery with leaves - celery sliced into 1 inch pieces, leaves set aside
• 8 spring onions with green tops, sliced into 1 cm rounds
• 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 500g good quality tomatoes
• 1 Tbs sweet paprika
• 2-3 fresh chorizo sausages (about 1/2 sausage per person)

1. Make some celery salt by laying out the celery leaves on a baking tray and heating in a medium-low oven. Move them around every so oft to keep them from burning.
2. When leaves are quite dry and crumbly, remove from oven and crumble with equal parts of sea salt. Set aside.
3. Drain the soaked beans and add to a saucepan, and cover with plenty of fresh water.
4. Boil for about an hour, skimming off any scum that arises during the cooking. Add any extra water needed if it boils away too quickly. Season with a bit of salt and set aside.
5. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, and add in the celery. Cook until softened, about 10 minutes.
6. Add the spring onions, garlic, and a good pinch of salt.
7. Cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. The vegetables should be soft and beginning to caramelize.
8. Add the tomatoes and half the celery salt, and cook for another 5 minutes.
9. Drain the beans, keeping back 250 ml of the cooking liquid, and add both to the pot with the vegetable mixture.
10. Add in the paprika.
11. Bring to a low boil and simmer for another 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning and adjust.
12. Heat a frying pan up with a small amount of olive oil to prevent the sausage from sticking.
13. Slice the fresh chorizo into half-inch thick disks, then quarter them.
14. Fry the chorizo pieces for about 5 minutes or until cooked. They usually give off a good amount of oil - fatty, but tasty.
15. Serve the soup in bowls with the chorizo and some of its oil spooned on top.

the BEST roast pork

A different recipe from this site. I used a 1.9 kg pork shoulder, and it turned out really well.

Recipe: the BEST roast pork.

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this recipe can also be cooked on a BBQ that has a metal covering lid, such as a webber.

Ingredients:
Pork Leg - 1.5 to 2kg
4tablespoon white vinegar
3 teaspoon salt
i teaspoon salt

Method:

set the oven to about 100degrees.

slash the pork rind about 1cm apart, make sure you only cut the fat and not the meat.

rub the salt and the vinegar into the skin of the pork. then rub a bit more salt and pepper into the meat side of the pork.

put the pork into the oven and let it cook at 100 degrees for aprox 1hour.

after 1hour turn the oven op to 190 degrees and cook the meat for another 1hour. if its a 2kg peice of meat cook for 1:15min.

after its cooked, take it out and cover the meat with alfoil and leave it for atleast 20minutes, 30 would be ideal.



Why this is the best way to cook pork roast:

1) the vinegar and salt draw out the moisture from the skin, making excellent crackling
2) the low temperature at the start helps to draw out the moisture from the skin AND cook the meat without adding any colour, meaning when the meat is cooked the porkfat wont be burnt.
3) resting the meat wil ensure the roast is very juicy and tender. it will also allow you to make a cracking gravy (which ill write up below)



The gravy: (cant be made if using a BBQ!)

Ingredients:
150ml thickened cream
2tablespoon dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste.


Method:

once the pork has rested under the alfoil it will have given off a LOT of liquid into the roasting pan. to make the gravy place the roasting pan onto the stove on a high heat (make sure the pan is suitable for this). bring the juices to a boil. add the cream and mustard and seasoning. bring to the boil again and thicken as much as you like.

the best pork gravy EVER!


p.s: if the pan uve roasted in cant be places on a stove, just add about 100ml water to the pan and scrape away all the brown bits that are stuck to the bottom, as they contain the rel flavour. and then pour the entire lot into a pot and follow the recipe as stated.

Irish Stew

Ingredients (serves 6)

• 1.25kg lamb neck chops, trimmed
• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 3 brown onions, chopped
• 1kg sebago potatoes, peeled, sliced
• 2 carrots, peeled, thinly sliced into rounds
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3 cups boiling water
• 3 beef stock cubes, crumbled
• 1 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
• 1/4 cup mint leaves, chopped, to serve

Method

1. Cut chops in half. Place flour in a plastic bag and season with salt and pepper. Place chops in bag and shake well to coat. Transfer chops to a plate. Reserve flour.
2. Preheat oven to 130°C. Place onions, potatoes and carrots in an ovenproof dish. Top with half the chops. Repeat layers with remaining onions, potatoes, carrots and chops.
3. Whisk reserved flour, tomato paste and 2 tablespoons cold water in a large jug until well combined. Slowly add boiling water, whisking constantly. Add stock cubes and parsley. Stir to dissolve stock cubes.
4. Pour flour mixture over chops. Cover and cook for 4 hours or until meat tender and sauce thickened. Sprinkle with mint and serve.

Notes & tips

• Tip: You can also cook this stew in a slow cooker. Combine the ingredients as above and cook on HIGH for 4 to 5 hours.

Home Made Bubble Bath

An after dinner winner!

1 cup baby shampoo or eco-friendly liquid soap (Castile)
3/4 cup water
1/2 - 1 teapoon vegetable glycerin
Essential oils (optional)

Very bubbly and the bubbles were very stable. Also it didn't feel drying like a lot of bubble baths do!