Caramalised Cauliflower Soup

A couple of years ago I went to a fancy restaurant in town with work. We were ordered the chefs choice menu, and the started was a caramalised cauliflower soup, not something I would normally order. I tried it, and decided straight away that I had to find a similar recipe and try it for myself. This one from Sprouted Kitchen is amazing and creamy! There is no way you would guess that its dairy free and totally healthy. I have made it a couple of times now and everyone who has tried it loves it.

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Caramalised Cauliflower Soup

Serves 4
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

Cauliflower

• 1 head cauliflower
•  extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
•  salt & pepper

Broth

• 2 tsp olive oil extra virgin
• 1 large onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 cups low sodium vegetable broth
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 Tbsp white balsamic vinegar

Method

1. Cut the cauliflower into florets and spread them on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle the fresh nutmeg and a hefty pinch of salt and pepper and toss everything to coat. Bake on the middle rack for about 35-45 minutes at 180 degrees, tossing the cauliflower halfway through, until they are fully roasted and you see a good amount of brown edges. There is a pretty wide grace period here. Remove to cool.

2. While the cauliflower roasts, start the broth. Heat the oil in a saucepan and saute the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes to soften. Add the vegetable broth, dried thyme and vinegar and warm through.

3. When the cauliflower is cool to touch, add it and the broth mixture to a food processor or blender and process until smooth. Taste for salt and pepper. If you want more contrast, add a bit more vinegar. Add it back to the saucepan to keep warm.

4. Serve each portion with a few croutons, and shaved parmesan, if desired.

Pumpkin, Sweet Potato and Red Lentil Soup

When I was a kid I hated pumpkin, but loved pumpkin soup. As an adult, I'm a little less adverse to pumpkin and still love pumpkin soup, especially on a cold wintery day. This one never quite turns out exactly the same way each time as I tend to make up the proportions as I go along depending on what i have in the cupboard, but each time it still tastes great. I've tried to figure out the basic recipe for you, but feel free to have a play around with it. Also, I put quite a bit of salt in it (I'd hate to measure how much!!) to take away the sweetness of the vegetables and give it the gorgeous savoury depth that I love.

I cook this in my sow cooker but its just as easy to cook in a pot on the stovetop.

A tasty alternative with a Thai zing is to add some Thai red chilli paste while cooking. My husband and I love it this way but his kids aren't so keen on the spiciness!

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Pumpkin, Sweet Potato and Red Lentil Soup

Ingredients

• 1/3 grey pumpkin
• 1 sweet potato 
• 3 medium potatoes
• 1 cup red lentils
• 2 onions
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 pinch ground cumin seeds
• 1 pinch ground coriander seeds
• 1 pinch mixed herbs
•  salt & pepper to taste

Method

1. Peel and de-seed the pumpkin. Peel the sweet potato. Clean the potatoes

2. Cut all the vegetables and put into the slow cooker or pot with the lentils

3. Add enough water to almost cover them all

4. Add the herbs, spices, some salt and pepper

5. Cook until the vegetables are soft (the smaller you cut them the quicker they will cook)

6. Whizz the vegetables up until it is smooth. I use a metal whizz stick which I can put in while it is still hot. Depending on what you are using you may need to let it cool first.

7. Reheat if necessary. Taste and adjust the seasoning if you like.

8. Serve up while hot. I love having it with some warm bread to dip in the soup.

Cannelloni

When the cat's away, the mice will play... or in this case, while my dairy intolerant husband was away, I feasted on some cheesy home cooked Italian.

A few years back I lived in England and did a bit of travelling through Europe. One of my favourite places was Italy, probably in big part because of the amazing food there. I so want to go back and explore some more, and possibly even live there at some stage.

This is probably not one of the healthiest recipes around (cheese galore!), but life is for enjoying, and I definitely enjoyed this!!

I sometimes find passata hard to find so I just use tinned chopped pealed tomatoes most of the time. Try to get ones with the least number of ingredients. I love the convenience of frozen spinach. Keep some in the freezer, thaw it out and you're ready to go. If you have fresh herbs thats definitely the best way to go but I was running short so just used dried herbs, although i'm not sure on the proportions if you use fresh ones - definitely taste it as you go and see what you like!!! If you're feeling totally lazy or pushed for time feel free to use substitute this sauce for pre-made sauces, although I reckon home made is definitely best!

Serve with a big salad, some crusty bread (with lashings of olive oil), and maybe a glass of sparkling water or your favourite vino.

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Cannelloni

Serves: 6 people
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 500 g spinach
• 250 g cottage cheese
• 200 g feta
• 1 packet fresh lasagne sheets
• 1 medium onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 tins chopped pealed tomatos or passata
• 2 tsp dried parsley
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
•  salt & pepper to taste

Method

Spinach filling

1. If using frozen spinach, thaw out then squeeze the water out. If using fresh spinach, wilt in a frying pan then squeeze out the moisture.

2. In a blender mix the spinach, feta and cottage cheese (this gives it a nicer texture).

3. Add salt and pepper to taste

Tomato sauce

1. In a frying pan sauté the onion and garlic.

2. Add the tinned tomato or passata, the herbs and tomato paste. Heat through then add salt and pepper to taste.

Construction

1. Add a small amount of the sauce to the base of the dish (this stops the tubes from sticking to the bottom).

2. Put some of the spinach filling along the width of the lasagne sheets. Roll the lasagne sheet over into a tube shape.

3. Cut the lasagne sheet to cut the tube off. Place this in the dish (you can use cannelloni tubes if you like, I find this is much easier though!!).

4. Repeat the construction of the tubes until all the filling or pasta is used up, placing the tubes side by side in the dish.

5. Cover with the pasta sauce, ensuring the pasta sauce gets between the tubes.

6. Cover with cheese.

7. Bake at 180degrees for 40 minutes or until the pasta is soft. If the cheese is getting too brown cover with tin foil.

8. Serve and enjoy!