Peas Louise

God I love pea soup but it's a real divider, especially when it's made with ham hock. It's a love hate soup for sure. I mostly associate pea soup with summer which is daft because we don't have to wait until then. Frozen peas are a dream in soups; much better in fact that pod-fresh. Peas contain a high level of complex carbohydrates and bags of fibre. It's the carbohydrates that make them naturally sweet which is why babies will happily have them introduced to their plate before any other green vegetable. I used to make this for my husband all the time before we got married...I think it sealed the deal and admittedly, it's lifted directly from my friend Jane's book. It's an all-round nutritional and winter winner because it's made with fresh fennel bulb. The aromatic, anise like flavour of fennel just clicks with peas and not unlike celery it has a warming effect on the body. When I eat this soup I end up with cheeks like belisha beacons as the embers of the fennel glow, rest and digest in my stomach. Packed with vitamin C and phytonutrients, it's a bumper boost for your immune system too. Glow make it, it's dead easy.

Ingredients:

600g Fresh Fennel (chopped)

500g Frozen Peas

1 litre of Chicken or Vegetable Stock

A big bunch of fresh Mint (chopped)

Salt & Pepper

Method:

Place fennel, peas and stock in a large saucepan. Bring to the boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until the fennel is tender.

Add the chopped mint and scoop out a cupful of the mixture and set aside for later.

Transfer the mixture to a blender and puree the whole thing down

Return the puree to a clean pan and add the cupful of reserved mixture

Salt and Pepper to taste. Et voila!

Serve with slices of oven toasted bread rubbed with garlic, brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt.

Anyone for tennis? Ok, Squash?

I'll eat anything with squash attached to it. I love it in a semi-warm salad with thinly sliced pears, pine nuts, parma ham and rocket drizzed with sticky balsamic and I get feverish waiting to eat it with thyme, garlic and lemon-laced roast chicken. I've eaten some pretty rubbish squash soups over the years, usually made with boiled squash (yack) and a pitiful stock. Squash soup shouldn't be a waterlogged excuse but a rich, velvety and deeply flavoured meal in a bowl. Depending on which point in winter I'll roast the squash with cumin and dried chilli to stoke the internal furnace but my No1 squash recipe is the one I'm sharing here. I know it seems a bit of a fag but if you can be bothered to make fresh pesto, go for it, you'll never look back. At worst, buy the freshly made stuff from an authentic Italian deli. I'll come running for you if you even reach for anything that comes out of a jar! You might notice that the base of this soup is made, yet again, with my one-pot arsenal of pancetta, onion, carrot and celery but you'll understand why once you adopt the same idea.

Soup Ingredients:

4 or 5 average sized butternut squash

1 onion finely chopped

1/4 stick of celery finely chopped

2 carrots finely chopped

1 pack of smoked pancetta (optional)

2 pints (approx) of good chicken or vegetable stock

Bunch of thyme

Olive oil

Salt & Pepper

A couple of tbsp ricotta cheese or a small pot of single cream (optional)

Pesto Ingredients:

Two packs/plants of fresh basil

Small pack of pine nuts

Lots of freshly grated parmesan cheese

Lots of the best olive oil you can afford

Coarse sea salt

A squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Soup Method

Whack the oven on to its highest setting. Place your peeled and chopped squash onto a generously sized baking tray, drizzle with oil, spike generously with thyme, salt and pepper and give everything a good mix up. The total roasting time depends on the squash because it varies in water content.

This recipe requires at least an hour long roasting so that the squash sort of shrinks and becomes concentrated, sticky and dark brown at the edges. Turn down the heat to 190/200 c after about 15 mins. While the squash is roasting fry off the pancetta in a heavy bottomed pan. Once crisp add onion, celery and carrot and sweat down for 5 to 10 mins. Turn off the heat and make up your stock. Once the squash is ready, turn it into the pancetta and vegetables and pour over the stock. Bring everything to the boil, stirring occasionally and simmer for 5 minutes. Spoon the contents of the pan into a blender (you will need to do this in batches to avoid over crowding) and whizz-up until the mixture turns totally smooth and velvety. Don't rush this stage. If you think it's blended enough, blend it again for another minute just to be sure. The consistency at this stage will resemble a dense but loose puree and that's where all the flavour is. If you really must thin it down, do so with more stock - never water - but remember each drop of water reduces intensity. Transfer the entire blended mixture to a clean pan and spoon in your ricotta or single cream. Put the pan on the heat (on a low setting) with the lid on until it becomes volcanic.

Pesto Method

While you're waiting for the soup to re-heat, add pine nuts, basil and a pinch of sea salt into a blender and whizz until coarse/amalgamated. I'm not mad on paste-like pesto, I prefer mine more rustic but it's totally your preference. Transfer to a bowl and grate in your parmesan like a mad person, you will need lots so don't be shy. Squeeze in some lemon juice and douse everything with olive oil. You'll be horrified by how much oil you need so try not to think about it. The mixture needs to be very loose, gorgeous and glossy.

Serve the soup in a warmed bowl with the pesto dotted generously on the top. It's gorgeous too with a slice of grilled parma ham or pancetta on top.

Soya Bean Snack Attack

Along with yuzu and sashimi the wondrous edamame bean is one of my favourite things in the Japanese culinary canon. It's the perfect legume - delicious, nutritious and filling. I hate the term 'superfood' but this green giant is packed with vitamins and are so, so good for you. A mere 1/2 a cup contains more fibre than 4 slices of wholemeal bread and you can eat them with almost anything.

They're super with fish (especially battered or breaded with caper-heavy tartar sauce), wicked in a stir-fry and asian broths and my husband always adds them to his Vietnamese beef salad. My favourite way to eat them is as a snack, warm and doused in a good soy sauce. If you're buying supermarket soy sauce, don't bother with anything less than Kikkoman. I know there's a lot of salt going on but if you want to bring out the full character of the beans, sprinkle a good sea salt over them too, the flakey crunch works perfectly.

You can buy fresh edamame beans in their pods from Japanese food stores but if like me you live in the sticks, frozen ones (such as Birds Eye) are near perfect and the one benefit here is that they're as fresh as daisies.

I'm known to grab a handful straight from the freezer...they're that good.

Comfort Beef & Ale

It's freezing out there and after a full day at the farmers market (on two hours sleep) I needed comfort with a capital 'C'. I was pretty much weaned on local beef and this recipe is my nostagic go-to. Mum used to make this for the family all the time, all year round. Mine's a nod to a classic bourguignon but fancier and a bit more delicious. Soz Maggie.

Ingredients:

2 lbs of good quality stewing or shin beef

Onions x 2, cubed

Carrot x 2, cubed

Celery x 1/4 of a bunch, cubed

Pancetta

Garlic x 2 cloves

Dark ale or Guinness x 1 good sized bottle

Red wine x 1 glass

Neat liquid beef stock

Tomato puree x 1 small can or two tbsp

Fresh thyme x 1/2 bunch

Water x 1 cup

Pepper

English mustard x tsp

Plain flour x 2 tbsp

Method:

Heat a little oil in a heavy bottomed casserole pan/dish and once it's really hot add the beef and brown on both/all sides in batches to avoid steaming. Don't skimp on this bit, you'll end up with something quite pathetic. Set aside. In the same pan add the pancetta and fry until crisp. Add the onion, celery, carrot and garlic to the pancetta, turn down the heat and sweat the whole thing down for five minutes. Return the beef to the pan, sprinkle over the flour, add the tomato puree, ale, red wine, a few good glugs of the neat stock, water (You're aiming for concentrated flavour so keep an eye on your liquids...you don't want the beef to be swimming around in the pan) thyme, pepper (as much as you prefer) and mustard and give everything a good stir. Don't be tempted to use anything other than English mustard, it just won't do. Put a lid on the pan and whack up the heat. As soon as it starts bubbling, put it in the oven for 3 hours on 160 degress, stirring lightly on the hour.

Serve with steamed dark greens, sticky/sweet roast parsnips and a dollop of Colemans.