Thai Spiced Sweet Potato Soup

The weather gods are on our side this week, West Linton must be in favour. The sun is out, the sky is blue and the cafe is buzzing.

We are working hard to get word out about the Green Apple Cafe, dropping flyers, setting up a facebook page, tweeting regularly, I hope it gets everyone in our local area to come by and visit, catch up with friends and try out our new menu. Every day we make fresh soups, salads, paninis and lots of yummy cakes.

At home, I am testing out new soup recipes to add some spice to the summer menu. If we have the predicted "barbecue summer" we will be needing some fresh and light flavours to entice people in so we are experimenting with flavours from hotter climes: India, Thailand and the Middle East. We've had curried butternut squash soup, chicken noodle soup with lemongrass and ginger and today, a gentle sweetly spiced Thai soup with creamy coconut milk and a little bit of a chilli kick.

Thanks to everyone who has come out to support us in our first few weeks, I hope you all come back again soon.

Thai Spiced Sweet Potato Soup
 
1tbsp vegetable oil
2 onions, finely chopped
1 large clove of garlic, crushed
2 heaped tsp Thai red curry paste
1 can coconut milk
1 litre chicken stock
1 kilo sweet potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
Salt and pepper
Fresh Thai basil or coriander to serve

Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed saucepan. Saute the onions and garlic gently until soft - around 5 minutes.
Stir in the curry paste and fry gently for anonther minute or two to release the flavours from the spices.
Add the coconut milk and chicken stock, bring to a simmer and stir to blend.
Put the sweet potatoes  in the pan and simmer for 15-20 minutes until they are soft.
Blend the soup to a smooth puree then season to taste with salt and lots of black pepper.
Sprinkle with basil or coriander and serve with hot naan bread.

Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins

Don't you just love spring. Sometimes it seems forever coming, I spend weeks on wee forages into the garden looking for buds, checking the herbs for signs of new life and then eventually feeling the delight at finding those first tender stems of rhubarb poking through their big cabbage-like leaves.

Most of those early signs of life are snapped up by my boys for the traditional Scottish treat of raw rhubarb dipped in a pot of sugar but I managed to spirit a few away to try these muffins.

Green Apple Cafe is a week old now and the fresh food and home baking seems to be going down well with those who have ventured way out into the countryside to find us. This week we've been trying out all sorts of recipes: oatmeal biscuits, rocky road cookies, cupcakes, tray bakes and scones to name just a few but just for today I need to make the most of this meagre bounty from the garden. I started with rhubarb scones, then made rhubarb crumble cupcakes (definitely coming back to those) but my favourite of the day is rhubarb strawberry muffins. On sale with coffee tomorrow.


Rhubarb Strawberry Muffins

150 g rhubarb
1 tbsp sugar
280g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
85g caster sugar
1 egg
125 ml whole milk
150 ml strawberry yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2oz melted butter
5 strawberries

Chop the rhubarb and place the rhubarb and a tablespoon of sugar in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Add just enough water to cover. Cook gently for around 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool while you prepare the muffin batter.
Prepare the muffin tins. Preheat oven to 180C.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and sugar.
In a seperate bowl, whisk the egg, milk, yogurt, butter and vanilla together.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Stir to combine. The batter will be slightly lumpy.
Add the prepared rhubarb and stir through the muffin batter.
Top each muffin with half a strawberry.
Spoon into muffin tins and bake for 18-20 minutes.

Bring It on!

Yeah..... bring it on!!! After weeks of anxiety, I am getting really excited about the cafe@The Hub opening this week. We'll be open tuesdays, thursdays and fridays initially will extend the opening hours soon. The plan is to start out with a fresh and simple menu and build our repertoire slowly. But still, I am obsessively testing all sorts of soup and panini recipes this week just for fun. 

When the cafe opens, we'll be rotating sandwiches, testing out fillings and chatting to visitors to see what our customers would most like to see on the menu. Meantime, I am devouring cookbooks, blogs and cafe menus and taste testing any and all sandwich fillings I come across. Really it is the best excuse ever to spend all my time making cakes and going out for coffees - all in the name of research.

This sweet and sour relish is one of my favourite condiments. Its strength is beautiful with blue cheese, the richness cuts through the sharpness of goat cheese and its balsamic sweetness adds depth of flavour to beef or roast vegetable paninis.

Today's lunch will be roast beef sandwiches with caramelised onion relish. A little blue cheese adds depth, a slick of mustard adds bite and a handful of rocket adds a peppery crunch but I love it best served simply with rare beef.

Caramelised Onion Relish

4tbsp olive oil

4 large red onions, finely sliced into half moons

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp dark muscovado sugar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Saute the onions gently for 30-40 minutes until soft and golden. Add the garlic for the last few minutes of cooking and gently stir through the gelatinous oniony mess. Add the balsamic vinegar and sugar and stir well through the onion mixture. Bubble gently for a minute or two to allow the sweet and sour flavours to meld then season to taste. Keep in the fridge and use within a week or bottle as you would chutney or jam (in sterilised jars) where it will keep in the pantry for months.

Dark Chocolate and Stem Ginger Cookies

I've been a cookie monster this week. I've made Scottish shortbreads flavoured with lemon zest, with cardamom and with vanilla seeds (more of those later). I've made American chewy cookies with chocolate chips, marshmallows and smarties, I've made Smitten Kitchen's World Peace cookies and I've searched for the perfect adult-friendly chocolate cookie.

Grown-up cookies are not too sweet, not too sugary and not too colourful. They have rich and decadant flavours and sometimes traditional, sometimes startling combinations. This is my favourite recipe of the week so far but we are still in the development stage.... I have a feeling these might become biscotti before the week is out. To be continued.....

Dark Chocolate and Stem Ginger Cookies

345g plain flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

250g butter

200g caster sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

100g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

2 tbsp chopped stem ginger

Preheat the oven to 175C.

Beat the sugar and butter together until light and airy.

Whisk in the beaten egg and vanilla extract.

In a seperate bowl, sift the flour together with the cocoa, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.

Stir the dry ingredients into the egg mixture. Then stir in the chocolate and ginger. Bring the mixture together, it will be soft. Scoop walnut sized balls of dough and spread out on cookie sheets - give them lots of space, they will spread out.

Bake for 12 minutes then allow to cool slightly on the baking trays, they will firm up as they cool.

Fresh Soup, Hummus and Roast Vegetable Panini, and a Lovely Cake to Finish

I have not written very much for the last couple of weeks. Life just got in the way. However, now I am very excited and more than a little bit nervous to say that I have taken on the lease on a very lovely local cafe. I am currently on a vertical learning curve (and I've hardly done anything yet) working out rules and regs, ordering and suppliers, insurances and decor.... I've barely had time to plan out all the fun bits (the food and the drinks that is) so any and all suggestions welcome - cakes, sandwich fillings, salads etc etc etc.

I will be asking for more help and ideas and writing at length later but for today, I really need to get back to feeding my family. They are soon to contract scurvy, as these past couple of weeks, most of my time has been spent at the computer and very little making lovely food.

Much as they need a good solid vegetable-filled meal, they are going to spend another week eating cookies, cakes and tray-bakes while I test out recipes for the cafe.... I'm sure there will not be too many complaints!

Fruit Crunchies

100g butter

75g soft brown sugar

1 tbsp golden syrup

100g self-raising flour

a pinch of salt

100g porridge oats

50graisins

50g finely chopped dates

50g finely chopped dried apricots

50g finely chopped pecan nuts

Preheat the oven to 160C. Prepare a cookie sheet.

On a low heat, melt butter, sugar and syrup together.

In a seperate bowl, sift flour and salt together and add the oats, dried fruit and nuts.

Add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients in the bowl.

Bring together to make a dough. Add a tablespoon or two of water if needed.

Roll the dough into around 20 walnut sized balls.

Place on baking tray and press down with the palm of your hand.

Bake for 12minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a rack.

Serve with cold milk or hot coffee.

Goat Cheese and Spring Onion Muffins

Savoury muffins! Love them or hate them? I wanted something mild but tangy, light but dense to serve with a steaming bowl of soup. The soup was traditional, hot and unremarkable: red lentils, a little bit of carrot, some onion and garlic, stock, but these muffins elevated it to a new level. Strong goat cheese (I used a sharp crumbly one) melting into the smooth creaminess of the soup is the perfect partner for a mild soup. They are also beautiful made with blue cheese and walnuts.

Goat Cheese and Spring Onion Muffins

220g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
240ml milk
100ml vegetable oil
1 egg
150g goat cheese, crumbled
4 spring onions, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 180C. Prepare a 12 hole muffin tin.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large bowl.
In a jug, whisk the milk, oil and egg together. Add the cheese and spring onions to the wet ingredients. Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients until just combined. Fill the muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes until golden and aromatic. Serve warm.

Spinach and Lemon Hummus

In this wee recipe I am trying to quietly insinuate more vegetables into our family diet. We manage our five-a-day and eat a lot of fruit but sometimes I think my repertoire of family-friendly (read 6-year-old friendy) vegetable dishes is going in ever decreasing circles. So although I throw fresh veg into every soup, fritatta, stir fry and casserole, (and even the odd cake and cookie) I am, like every parent I know, always trying to find ways to make vegetables more enticing.

Hummus starts life as a pretty healthy snack, tahini, chickpeas, garlic and olive oil all make it one of the better mid-morning or lunch options, but to give it an iron-rich kick and produce the most beautiful colour, throw in a couple of big handfuls of fresh new season's greens and give it some zing with lots of fresh lemon juice and zest. As I've said before on this recipe with crispy lamb, I love hummus and my family eat an unhealthy amount of it each week so any variation on a theme is worth a try. For a little bit of added crunch, throw a handful of toasted pine nuts over the top just before serving. Serve with baked pitta chips or chopped crudites.

Spinach and Lemon Hummus           with baked pitta chips

For the hummus:

2 large handfuls of baby spinach leaves

400g tin chickpeas, drained

1 lemon, juice and zest

2 tbsp tahini

2 large garlic cloves, crushed

100ml olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

4 tbsp plain greek yogurt

Wash the spinach and, while still wet, throw into a heavy based pan. Put a lid on, turn the heat on and allow it to steam in its own liquid for a minute or two till wilted. Drain off the cooking liquor in the base of the pan and squeeze out the spinach to remove any remaining liquid.

Blend the spinach with all the rest of the hummus ingredients together in a food processor until smooth.

Spread thinly across a large plate.

For the baked pitta chips:

4 pitta breads

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp sea salt

Heat the oven to 180C.

Cut the pitta breads into small triangles. Lay out on a baking sheet. Drizzle the olive oil over the top. Sprinkle a little paprika and sea salt on to each triangle.

Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes till fragrant and golden.