Come to a Barbeque at my Kitchen Table

It's Barbeque season and, although the weather has been rather variable, when the sun shines we love to cook and eat outside.  Some hardy souls even brave the rain and wind and carry on regardless.  Here are a few of the products that have arrived on my kitchen table for review and how I think they can be served as part of al fresco eating.


Let's start with some soup!  "Soup at a Barbeque!" I hear you cry, well yes... ideal for those days that are not quite warm enough and also perfect to keep hunger pangs at bay while the barbie is heating up and the main event is cooking.  This healthy Glorious Skinnylicious Soup is perfect to start your party.  The San Antonio Fiesta is a  hearty chilli sin carne with Black eye beans, Haricot beans, Black Turtle beans, and Red kidney beans. Also carrot, red pepper, basmati rice, a smoky Chipotle chilli paste, a pinch of peering at colourful floats parading past and ending the night shamelessly line-dancing in an old dancehall.

For those who prefer something a little smoother and sweeter there is New England in Autumn and it certainly doesn't taste like it has less than 1% fat. Made from roasted butternut squash with a hint of warming cumin, this soup reminds us of happening upon honesty stalls full of autumn harvests and strolling under colourful tree canopies.  Kids will love this too.


Now, you can't have a barbeque without burgers.  These are a little different, they are haggis burgers which I made by combining 500g of beef mince and 450g Macsween Haggis, then forming into patties. Chill and then cook in the usual way on the barbeque or fry them, cook under the grill or bake in the oven. Serve with salad, homemade coleslaw and homemade potato wedges.



To dress up your burgers, sausages or steaks you need some spicy sauce or a tasty marinade.  Encona Taste Explorers have a great range of sauces and marinades provide something a little different,  how often do you taste Jamaica, Korea or Morocco on the grill?

With Encona’s new marinade range, you can spice up your barbeque and bring flavour to the fire. You have a choice immersing your food in Jamaican Jerk, Korean BBQ or Moroccan Harissa.

Each marinade has been inspired by its origin, combining authentic ingredients to create three mouth-watering marinades that will make you feel like you are sunning in the Caribbean, riding a camel in North Africa or wandering through Gwangjang market.

A spicy and fragrant Moroccan paste made with a blend of chilli puree, herbs and spices; the harissa marinade adds the perfect kick to a lamb skewer.

For those who feel taste travelling to Morocco isn’t far enough, you can take your taste buds all the way to Korea. The BBQ marinade is made with a blend of gochujang spices, which can be enjoyed on beef, chicken, pork or grilled vegetables.

Alternatively, you could virtually hop across the pond to the sandy beaches of Jamaica, and enjoy a beach BBQ with a mild jerk marinade blended with scallions, hot pepper and pimento spices.

Each marinade is suitable for vegetarians and  two are gluten free.
Time to get saucy with Encona Peruvian Amarillo Sauce, a blend of authentic Peruvian Amarillo chillies, roasted onion, spices and herbs creating a sweet, subtle chilli flavour with a hint of garlic – the perfect way for eager taste explorers to get their taste buds tingling without the cost of a plane ticket.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

I was provided with samples to review, all opinions are my own. 

Labels: barbecue, barbeque, burger, Elizabeth Shaw, Encona, Glorious Skinnylicious, haggis, halloumi, Macsween, marinade, mints, Moose Maple Butter, rice and grains, sauce, Soup, Uncle Ben's

posted by Janice @ 00:00 149 Comments

From Pies to Puddings: The February Slow Cooked Challenge Round Up

 I'm always amazed by the variety of dishes that are entered to the Slow Cooked Challenge and as there was no particular theme this month, we have everything from pies to puddings with a side order of focaccia.  Thanks to all the cooks who entered this month, it's such a pleasure to visit your web sites and blogs to see what you have made.


1. Onions and Paper Buffalo Pie
2. Family Friends Food 5-grain and Onion Soup with Cheese Brulee
3. Baking Queen 73 Slow Cooker Spinach and Feta Focaccia
4. Searching for Spice Slow Cooked Pork in Peanut Sauce



5. How to Cook Good Food Game Pie
6. Belleau Kitchen Slow Cooker Brisket with Caramelised Onions
7. Chardonnay and Samphire  Leek, Sweet Potato and Aubergine Curry
8. Baking in Franglais Slow Cooker Rice Pudding
9. Cloud of Cookmorphosis Easy Peasy Delicious (Asian Style) Duck Confit

The new challenge will be open very soon, February doesn't give much turnaround time with it's meagre 28 days, so please bear with me.



If you would like to find out more about the Slow Cooked Challenge then please visit the page which has all the details.

Labels: Brisket, Buffalo, curry, Duck Confit, Feburary Round Up, Focaccia, Game Pie, Pie, Pork, Rice Pudding, Slow Cooked Challenge, Soup

posted by Janice @ 09:26 8 Comments

Join me for Celery Soup and a Spring Four Course Dinner

I've been shopping at Aldi again, picking up some great deals on spring produce and making them into an amazing four course dinner for you.

The Soup Course
Let's start with some delicious Celery Soup, I found this lovely recipe for dairy-free Cream of Celery Soup on Pinterest, it comes from the very talented Erren's Kitchen and uses potato as a thickener.

The Fish Course
A very simple four ingredient Smoked Mackerel Pate  is whizzed up quickly in the food processor and is very moreish.  I've served it with large slices of toast but it would be ideal on cocktail oatcakes or thin slices of french bread at a more refined dinner party.


The Main Course (Entree)
Pot Roasted Scotch Beef with Roast Potatoes, Yorkshire puddings and Spring Greens. The beef was cooked in the Slow Cooker doused with a bottle of dark beer and enough stock to cover three-quarters of the meat, then cooked on low for 8-10 hours.  Once cooked, I reduced the cooking liquor by half , by boiling it on the stove to make an intense and delicious gravy.



Dessert
Okay, so pears are hardly 'spring' produce but I couldn't resist these pears, they looked so good and when I peeled and quartered them to make the Pear Upside Down Cake, they were indeed perfect and perfectly ripe. I'll be posting the recipe for the cake very soon, it comes from the latest book Hummingbird Bakery - Life is Sweet which I'll also be reviewing.

Aldi Shopping List
Celery - 65p
Maris Piper Potatoes - 2.5kg  - £1.89
Smoked Mackerel Fillets - £1.59
Silverside Scotch Beef Joint - £8.10
Spring Greens - 59p
'Specially Selected' Yorkshire Puddings - 99p
'Best in Season' Pears - £1.29

Many thanks to Aldi for providing me with vouchers to purchase the ingredients for these recipes. I was not paid and all opinions are my own.

Labels: Aldi, cake, celery, Pears, Produce, Scotch Beef, Smoked Mackerel Pate, Soup, Spring Greens, Srping, Yorkshire Pudding

posted by Janice @ 18:27 16 Comments

Pesto Chicken Macaroni Soup - Recipe Clippings

This is my entry for the January Recipe Clippings blog event, read more about it on the Recipe Clippings page.  I haven't quite got round to cutting out this recipe for future reference, it's part of 10 ways with Chicken Soup in the February 'Eat In' magazine.  There's a base soup recipe which you then change to make the different recipes, I chose to make the Pesto, Chicken, Macaroni Soup.  I replaced the macaroni with wholewheat fusilli and reduced the amount of pesto by half otherwise no changes.

Pesto, Chicken Macaroni Soup
Serves 4

1 tbsp vegetable or olive oil
2 onions, thinly sliced
1 carrot, quartered and sliced
2 celery sticks, finely sliced
2 waxy potatoes, diced (skin on)
500g chicken thigh fillets
2 chicken stock cubes
2 dried bay leaves
240g macaroni
200g green pesto

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a high heat.  Saute the onions, carrot, celery and potatoes for 5 minutes.
2. Stir in the chicken, stock cubes bay leaes and 1.5 ligres boiling water.  Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low. Simmer, covered, skimming off any scum that rises to the surface, for 30 mintues or until the chicken and vegetables are cooked. Discard the bay leaves.
3. Remove the chicken to a chopping board and cool slightly, finely shred, then return to the soup with the macaroni. Cook for 8 minutes or until tender. Stir in the pesto. Season and serve.

The soup was really filling and had a lovely flavour, it was ideal to take to work for lunch and is hearty enough to make an excellent main meal with lots of crusty bread. 

Labels: Chicken, Eat In, lunch, macaroni, Pesto, Recipe Clippings, Soup

posted by Janice @ 10:32 7 Comments

Crock-pot Bread and Food Warmer Soup in Crocktober

Today Crocktober took a turn for the worse and a turn for the better!  The weather outside was frightful, cue for a song, strong winds, torrential rain and so so dark.  I battled my way into work against the elements, well between the house and the car and the car and the office at the other end.  But I knew that inside my trusty tote bag was a a secret weapon...my Crock-pot Food Warmer.

You just fill the Crock-pot Food Warmer with pre-cooked food, in my case soup, and plug it in two to three hours before you want to eat and it slowly warms your food.  I have to say I was a little sceptical about the benefits of this gadget.  It's quite bulky and wouldn't be so convenient if you had to commute by train or bus, the other thing is that we have a microwave in our kitchen at work, so I wondered if it would be worth carrying it in when I can easily heat my food in the microwave.

However I was wrong, my cynicism was misplaced because, after two hours, the soup was at the perfect temperature with no hot or cold spots. There were no foodie smells escaping into the room either and the soup tasted much better than it usually does when I heat it in the microwave.


The home made Cream of Vegetable Soup (leeks, carrots, celery, stock and milk) was made in the Pressure Cooker but could have been made in the Crock-pot, it's just that it was busy cooking the bread that accompanied my soup.

It was Lucy at Baking Queen 74 who put me on to baking bread in my Crock-pot.  I started, as she did, with a Wrights Bread Mix, but having seen how well it worked I will be extending this to bread flour, yeast and water, it was just so easy, in many ways even easier than the bread machine and no mixy-pokey thing sticking into the bottom of the bread leaving a big hole when you take it out.



After mixing and kneading, pop the dough into the Crock-pot, lined with baking parchment,  on low for an hour to rise, then an hour and 45 minutes on high to bake the bread. The bread isn't crisp on the outside, it's slightly steamed, but it was very tasty and went brilliantly with the vegetable soup.


Share the love of slow cooking in your Crock-Pot with the Crocktober Community on Facebook

Thanks to Crock-pot for providing me with a Countdown Electronic Crock-pot and Crock-pot Food Warmer, I was not paid for this post and all opinions are my own..

Labels: Bread, Bread mix, Crock-pot, Crocktober, Food Warmer, slow cooker, Soup

posted by Janice @ 21:02 1 Comments

January Slow Cooker Challenge Round Up

Many thanks to everyone who checked out the Slow Cooker Challenge and particularly to the seven cooks who made some soup in their Slow Cooker and linked up to the challenge.   It seems that soup is not something many people use their slow cooker for which surprised me as a bit of a newbie to this method of cooking.  I have to say that since I got this slow cooker (I had one in the 80s but never really got on with it) I've become a total convert and am cooking just about everything that I possibly can by this thrifty way of cooking.


Turkey and Kale Scotch Broth is a healthy Low-Calorie soup brought to us by Queen of the 5:2 diet, my friend Karen Burns Booth of Lavender and Lovage.  Karen has lost 13 kilos in the last 6 months following this two days a week fasting diet. Find out more about how she did it and get this soup recipe and many more delicious recipes.



Linzi at Lancashire Food tells us she took a little poetic license with the medieval recipe for Lentil and Vegetable Potage.  What she has created, is a lovely thick and comforting plate of soup, perfect for cold winter weather.

Spicy Red Bean Soup is more of a meal than a soup! Deon van Schalkwyk  of Food Jam has brought us this huge pot full of healthy goodness, and just how inviting would that be to come home to? 



Carrot and Coriander Soup is a very popular combination of flavours and has been shared by Ness at JibberJabberUK.  Ness overcame a rather unpleasant experience when making soup in her slow cooker during her student flat sharing days, if you want to find out what happened click through to JibberJabberUK

Red Lentil and Chickpea and Tomato Soup with Smoked Paprika my own contribution to the challenge found at Kaylyn's Kitchen on the Slow Cooker from Scratch pages, so many really tasty recipes adapted for the slow cooker.

 Jennifer from Girl Eats World took the opportunity of using The Slow Cooker Challenge to give her the push to make her family's Lentil Soup recipe in her slow cooker. It looks like a really warming and filling dish.

Food lover Catherine of Noble Nourishment has adapted her sister-in-law's Tomato and Basil Soup for her Slow Cooker, sounds like a really good idea and one I will definitely be making as these are some of my favourite flavours.

 I am so delighted that, my Twitter friend, Sarah managed to make this Slow Cooker Guernsey Bean Jar, based on a traditional recipe given to her by a friend from Guernsey 30 years ago.  Sarah has recently been in hospital, but was determined to take part in the Slow Cooker Challenge.  Sarah is a very experienced at cooking in the slow cooker, look out for news of her latest e-book at her blog Tales from the Kitchen Shed.

Thanks again for the fabulous entries and remember to come back on the 1st February to find out about the next Slow Cooker Challenge.

Labels: Broth, challenge, January Round Up, lentils, Slow Cooker Challenge, Soup

posted by Janice @ 07:30 4 Comments

French Onion Soup

It's been quite a long time since I've made French Onion Soup and after eating it today, I realised that I must make it more often!  I was looking for a simple soup to make and knew I had plenty of onions in the vegetable drawer of the fridge.

I used my OXO Good Grips mandoline to slice the onions finely and gently sauted them with oil and butter until they were soft and golden.  It was only then that I thought I should, perhaps, check out a recipe.  I found the ideal recipe at BBC Good Food although I didn't use wine in my soup but replaced this with a bit more beef stock.

I had one pannini roll left over from the Chorizo Burgers so split it, divided it into triangles, drizzled with olive oil and some cheese slices and put it under the grill to brown.  The bread was perfect to float on top of the soup and then push down into it, soaking up all the sweet oniony broth.



This is such a simple soup to make and the ingredients are inexpensive and freely available, so I am entering it for this month's Credit Crunch Munch, the blog event run by Helen at Fuss Free Flavours and Camilla at Fab Food 4 All. 

Labels: BBC Good Food, cheese, Credit Crunch Munch, French Onion Soup, onions, OXO Good Grips, Soup

posted by Janice @ 09:00 7 Comments

Summer Soup with Herbs

Even in the summer, you sometimes feel the need for a bowl of soup. This weekend I decided to make a pot of soup using summer vegetables and herbs. It's not a million miles from minestrone and was created with what I had available in the fridge and the garden.

Summer Soup
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 stalks of celery
2 medium courgettes (zuchinni),cut into large chunks
200g carrots, peeled and diced
4 ripe tomatoes, deseeded and chopped.
1 ltr vegetable stock
salt and pepper
bouquet garni of rosemary, thyme, marjoram and chives
2 tbsp Orzo pasta (or other small pasta)
4 tbsp chopped flat leaved parsley

1. Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion, celery and carrots. Put the lid on, turn the heat down to medium and let the vegetables sweat for about 5 minutes.
2. Add the courgettes and tomatoes, put the lid back on for another 3 minutes.
3. Add the vegetable stock and bouquet garni and season with salt and pepper.
4. Simmer for 15 minutes then add the pasta and simmer for another 5 minutes until it is cooked.
5. Add the chopped parsley just before serving.


I'm entering this recipe for Cooking with Herbs run by Karen at Lavender and Lovage.
I'm also adding this to No Croutons Required. No Croutons Required is a monthly vegetarian soup and salad challenge.
It's hosted by Jac at Tinned Tomatoes and Lisa at Lisa's Kitchen.This month Jac is hosting and the theme is 'Seasonal'.
My seasonal ingredients are courgettes, tomatoes and herbs.

Labels: celery, Cooking with Herbs, courgette, herbs, No Croutons Required, Soup, summer

posted by Janice @ 15:26 7 Comments

Credit Crunch Munch - The May 2013 Round Up

#19 Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog for her Mango and Chocolate Cake.

Labels: Bake, Bread, cake, cook, Credit Crunch Munch, Frugal Food, May Round Up, money saving, pasta, Soup

posted by Janice @ 20:38 6 Comments