Euro 2016 Food Challenge: Romania: Sour Chicken Soup

This is very definitely sour, but I quite like it!  You can put noodles in it too, but it's weigh day today so I'm being extra good.

Ingredients

2 chicken thighs, bone in but skin removed

2 small onions, diced

2 celery sticks, sliced

3 medium carrots, diced

3 garlic cloves, crushed

2 pints chicken stock

A handful of fresh parsley, chopped

4 tbsp reduced fat soured cream

Juice of 1 lemon

Fry the onion, carrot and celery until the onion is translucent. Add the chicken thighs and brown them on each side.  

Stir in the garlic, parsley and stock. Simmer on the hob until the chicken is cooked through.

Remove the chicken thighs, strip the meat off the bones and shred the flesh.  Add the shredded chicken back into the soup.  Stir in the lemon juice and soured cream. Season and serve.

Euro 2016 Food Challenge: France: Summery Pistou Soup

Having holidayed, studied and lived in France at various points in my life, I'm no stranger to French cuisine, so for the Challenge I wanted to do a dish I've never tried before. So I found this. A summery, minestrone type soup characterised by its Pistou sauce - basically a French pesto.  Intensely garlicky, but simple, fresh, healthy, and very tasty.

Ingredients 

2 leeks

1 courgette

3 tomatoes 

100g green beans

1 can cannellini / haricot beans, drained and rinsed

2 pints vegetable / chicken stock

Frylight

Basil

Garlic

Olive oil

Chop all the veg.  Spray a stockpot with Frylight and fry the leeks until wilted. Add the rest of the veg and the beans and fry for another minute. Add the stock and cook for about 20 minutes.

Now make the Pistou sauce.  Chop a handful of basil. Peel 1-2 garlic cloves, chop roughly, then sprinkle over some rock salt and grind the garlic to a paste with the back of your knife. Stir through the basil and add enough olive oil to bring it together as a sauce (synned as necessary - I used 1 tbsp).

Serve the soup with a spoon of the Pistou sauce on top.

Euro 2016 Food Challenge: Ukraine: Borscht

This could probably count for a few countries, but my recipe book says it's Ukrainian so I'll go with that.

This recipe is incredibly easy, and makes loads so you can freeze some for another day.  The original recipe used raw beetroot, but I'm lazy so use pre-cooked!

Ingredients
1 large onion
3 fat garlic cloves
3 large carrots
1stick of celery
600g cooked beetroot (2 Asda packs = 10 beets)
A big squirt of tomato puree
1 chicken stockpot
2 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp paprika
2 pints boiling water

Peel the onion, carrots and garlic.  Finely chop all the veg (or blitz in a food processor).  Put in a large stock pot with the rest of the ingredients.  Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 45-60 minutes.

Serve as it is if you want to leave it chunky, or blend for a smoother texture. Season to taste. Serve with a dollop of soured cream if you have syns to spare.

Euro 2016 Food Challenge: Portugal: Caldo Verde

Caldo Verde, a.k.a. Portuguese Green Soup.  This is the only Portuguese recipe I know, but it's one of my favourites, and as chorizo is so high in syns I thought I'd have a bash at a syn-free version. 

I first saw this on one of the Hairy Bikers' programmes, and I've cooked their recipe so many times I know it off by heart:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/caldoverdeportuguese_73565

In my slimmed-down version, I've swapped the chorizo for gammon and smoked paprika, and used a mix of swede and potato to up the speed food content. 

Ingredients

Frylight

2 large onions, peeled and sliced

4 garlic cloves, sliced

1 large potato, peeled and diced

300g diced swede

250g lean smoked gammon / bacon, cubed

1 tsp sweet smoked paprika

1 tsp hot smoked paprika

2 pints chicken or vegetable stock

2 bay leaves

A large bunch of spring greens, finely shredded

Spray a large stock pot with Frylight and sweat the onion over a low heat until translucent.  Add the garlic and gammon, and fry for another couple of minutes before adding the potato and swede.

Add the paprika and stir well to combine. 

Fry for a couple more minutes then add the stock and bay leaves. Simmer over a lowish heat until the potato and swede are cooked.

Use a potato masher to mash the potato and swede into the soup.

Put the greens into a pan, pour over boiling water and leave to stand for a minute.

Drain the greens and add to the soup one spoon at a time until you get the consistency you like (if you want a heavy soup add more, for a lighter soup add less).

Season and serve.

Herby Hummous

We've got a glut of oregano in the garden, so I thought I'd try it in a bit of SW hummus. It's good, if you like stuff herby! Quite an earthy taste, and needs a good bit of salt and pepper to bring the flavour out. It's a winner for me though. Maybe try mixing it up with different herbs if you haven't got oregano - I reckon thyme or coriander would work a treat.

1 tin of chick peas

1 garlic clove

A small handful of oregano

Fat free plain yoghurt

Salt, pepper and lemon juice, to taste

Chuck the chick peas into a blender or food processor with the oregano. 

Make the garlic into a paste - this might seem a bit faffy, but it softens the taste and makes it blend into the mix better, so I think it's worth it. Chop finely, sprinkle over some salt and use the back of a knife to grind it into a paste (before and after pics below!)

Add the garlic paste to the chick peas and herbs, and start blending. 

When the mix is fairly well chopped, add some lemon juice and a dollop of yoghurt (technical term) and continue blending until it comes together as a rough paste, adding more yoghurt if it needs it.

Add more lemon juice if it needs it, plus plenty of salt and pepper, to taste.

Serve with a big bowl of pepper, carrot and celery crudités.

My best slimmed down tzatziki

Tzatziki is one of my all time favourite things, and thankfully the recipe stored in my head was easily adapted to be syn-free. Here it is.

500ml fat free yoghurt (Total is worth the extra spend, it's twice as nice as own brand)

1 cucumber, peeled and grated

3-4 spring onions, finely sliced

2-3 garlic cloves, crushed

A handful of mint, chopped

Lemon juice, to taste

Salt and pepper, to taste

Mix it all together.  Enjoy.

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

I made these yesterday for a dinner party and they were delicious. I'm a bit quinoa obsessed at the moment, and this recipe is based heavily on one in the "Best of Quinoa" booked I borrowed from the library last week. Seriously good, they'd make a great accompaniment for a barbecue.

(We also tried the "Turkey Sausages" from the quinoa book, but they weren't nearly as successful - although I reckon they could have potential with a bit of spicing up... Will post a recipe if I get round to trying them again.)

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

- 90g quinoa, rinsed and drained

- 240ml cold water

- 2 large red peppers, halved and seeded but with the stalks left on

- 250g cherry tomatoes, halved

- 2 garlic cloves, crushed

- A handful of basil, chopped

- 2 tbsp capers

- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Put the quinoa and water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil.  Cover and simmer for 10 mins until the water is absorbed (keep an eye on it towards the end so it doesn't burn in).

Set the quinoa aside to cool completely.  Put the tomatoes, garlic, basil, capers and balsamic vinegar in a bowl.  Mix well.  Then mix in the quinoa when it has cooled.

Spray a baking tray with Frylight. Put the prepared peppers in the tray, cut sides up.  If they don't sit straight, cut a fine slice off the bottom of the pepper, being careful not to cut through.

Stuff the peppers with the quinoa mix, spray a bit more Frylight on top, and bake for 20-30 minutes until the peppers are tender.

Roasted Squash and Sage Soup

I confess this is my other half's concoction... Super easy and super tasty, the instructions are a bit approximate though (that's how we cook in our house).  The amount of stock will depend on the size of the squash and how thick you like it. I'd start with a pint and add more if you need it.

• 1 Squash (any variety), peeled and in thick slices / chunks

• 1-2 Red Onions, peeled and roughly chopped 

• 1-2 Carrots, peeled and roughly chopped 

• Garlic Cloves, peeled

• A handful of sage leaves 

• Frylight 

• Chicken Stock

1. Toss the veg and sage together with some Frylight and roast in the oven until the veg is cooked (200C, keep checking on it until it's soft).

2. Mix with chicken stock

3. Blend

4. Heat through and serve