Arford Books Cooks

Easy recipes from Apple Tree

Category: Soups etc (Page 2 of 4)

Crispy Chicken Wings

24/10/2019 /

These are cooked to crispy first, then smothered (or not). See our other recipe for Buffalo Wings for an alternative. For 1Kg of wings:

  • 2 tbs of baking powder
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • 1/2 tsp onion or garlic powder

Take a large plastic bag and put the baking powder in it. Pimp it up with the seasonings – you can play around and experiment with what you add at this point.

  • 1 kg chicken wings (£2.49 from Tesco)

Cut away wing tips and feed to the dog (they can eat raw chicken bones). Cut through the joint to make two sections per wing. Dry on kitchen paper. Toss in the bag to coat with the seasoned baking powder.

Turn the oven up to 200C (fan). Place the coated winglets on an oiled grill rack placed over a drip tray. You could probably use a cake cooling rack for this. Bake for 50 minutes turning once at mid-point. You might think this is a long time – it is, they will be cooked long before this but it makes them extra crispy. Just watch they don’t burn.

You could use them at this point to dip into sauces but if you want to make fiery finger food, carry on:

  • 1 tbs hot sauce (or more)
  • 1 tbs honey
  • 1 tbs melted butter

Mix, then paint all over the wings, or pour over and toss the wings about to coat.

Now get dipping with spicy wings!

Cauliflower and Cheese Soup – Mary Berry

17/10/2019 /

This is very quick and you can make it in an Instant Pot or on the stove – both methods given.

  • tablespoon of oil
  • 1 onion, chopped

Saute in Instant Pot or gentry fry in the pan until translucent

  • 1 Cauliflower

Chop into florets, slice the stalk and pale leaves. Add to the pot and cook for a minute or two

  • 2 tbs plain flour

Add to the pot and stir about

  • 1 litre vegetable stock

Stir in, cover and cook. Instant Pot Soup setting for 10 minutes or hob for 15-20 minutes until tender.

  • 50g blue or cheddar cheese (or vegan cheese/equivalent)

Stir in and melt. Zip with a hand blender and adjust the seasoning, you might need a little salt and white pepper.

Parsnip, hazelnut and apple soup

14/10/2018 / / 0 Comments

This is a really “different” soup that is good for everyday and would stand up for a dinner party starter too.

  • 100g hazelnuts, roughly chopped
  • Bunch of sage leaves (about 20)
  • 500g parsnips, peeled and chopped into 1cm cubes
  • 2 eating apples, peeled and cut into cubes
  • 4tbs oil

Heat your oven to 200C. Reserve a few sage leaves, 1 tbs of oil and 15g of nuts. Toss the rest into and oven tray and roast for 30 minutes until tender and slightly charred.

  • 1 litre vegetable stock

Remove the sage leaves from the tray and discard. On the stove top, pour the stock into the tray and bubble until the charred bits in the tray have loosened and incorporated into the liquid. Blend until smooth. If it is too thick, add some more stock.

Fry the reserved sage leaves and hazelnuts in oil until the leaves are crispy and the nuts are brown.

  • 4 tbs creme fraiche (or vegan alternative)

Serve the soup in bowls with a spoon of creme fraiche and a scatter of nuts and leaves.

 

Butternut squash soup recipe

Best ever butternut squash soup

10/09/2018 / / 0 Comments

Ten out of ten for this one. You can use any type of squash or pumpkin but butternut is the best.

  • 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cubed
  • 2 celery stalks sliced
  • 3 leeks sliced
  • 2 carrots sliced
  • 1 tsp black mustard seeds
  • 30g butter or Bertoli (or oil if you want vegan)

Chuck everything in a big pot and sweat gently for 10 minutes.

  • 1.2L light chicken (or vegetable stock to make it vegan)

Add the stock and simmer for 25 minutes. Whizz with a stick blender. Adjust seasoning and serve.

Even more incredible with Gremolata sprinkled on top:

  • 1 tbs parsley chopped finely
  • 2 cloves garlic chopped finely
  • zest of one lemon

Mix the above. That is Gremolata. Sprinkle on meat and fish to zap it up a bit if it needs it.

 

Blue Cheese Dip

05/07/2018 / / 0 Comments

Great as a dip for veg, crackers and buffalo wings

  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 small clove garlic, chopped
  • 1 tbs milk
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon
  • salt and pepper

Mix. That’s it!

Smoked Mackerel Pate

11/03/2018 / / 0 Comments

You will need:

The easiest dish in the world. Take your best-ever smoked mackerel as described here, and remove all bones and skin. Mix with cream cheese (Philadelphia or supermarket equivalent) in a ratio of twice as much fish as cream cheese. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste, but go easy on the salt and pepper until you have tasted it – your brine may have made the fish spicy enough already. Serve with toast fingers, or, if you really want to impress, make canapés with little circles of toast topped with smoked mackerel, a sliver of gherkin, and a sprinkle of fresh chopped parsley. Very posh.

For other fish recipes check out my Boat-Angling site

Pitta Chips

11/03/2018 / / 0 Comments

Great for dips. Make as many as you like. All you need is a pack of pitta breads and some olive oil.

Heat the oven to 190C

Slice the pittas in half horizontally so they are thinner.

Paint each side lightly with olive oil (I say paint because I use a silicone cooking brush)

Cut into triangles.

Place on an oven tray in a single layer.

Cook for 8-10 minutes. Watch them carefully, at the 8 minute mark they will go from white to brown very quickly, you want to catch them when they are golden.

Let them cool then keep in an airtight tin.

 

Awesome BBQ Sauce Kansas-Style

11/03/2018 / / 0 Comments

This is good. Cook your pulled pork in it and slather more over later.

  • 1 1/4 cup/300 ml ketchup
  • 1 cup/240 ml water
  • 1/3 cup/80 ml cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup/60 ml ​dark brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons/30 ml molasses
  • 1 tablespoon onion powder
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon celery salt
  • 1 teaspoon allspice

Put the lot in a saucepan. Simmer for 20 minutes. Cool and use! They say it keeps in the fridge 6 days – I think it will do better than that.

Buffalo Wings

27/11/2017 / / 0 Comments

Really easy, really tasty, really cheap too.

  • 3 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 3 tbs cider vinegar
  • 1 tbs paprika
  • 1 tbs Worcester sauce
  • 2 tsp celery salt
  • 2-4 tbs hot pepper sauce depending on heat preference
  • 3 tbs honey

Mix to a marinade

  • 1 kg chicken wings (£2.49 from Tesco)

Cut away wing tips and feed to the dog (they can eat raw chicken bones). Cut through the joint to make two sections per wing. Toss in the marinade to coat and marinate for as long as you have, from an hour to overnight. Heat your oven to 180C (160C fan) and place the wings on an oven tray. Reserve the spare marinade. Cook for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, toss in or coat with the reserved marinade. Turn the oven up to 200C (180C fan) and cook another 20-30 minutes, turning and basting if you have any marinade left. They are cooked when they are sticky, glazed and charred!

Recipe from BBC web site

Tzaziki dip or sauce

09/07/2017 / / 0 Comments

Serve as a sauce with grilled chicken or as a dip

  • 125ml plain yogurt
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon  salt
  • grinding of black pepper
  • 1 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 1/2 cucumber

Grate the cucumber coarsely. Get it as dry as possible by draining in a sieve and/or patting dry with kitchen paper. Now mix everything together.  That was easy!

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