The weather really has been miserable this past week . . . cold, showery and windy! Mind you, we do need the rain. Our garden is simply gasping for it!



One isn't really inclined to eat warm weather food on this rainy cold days though. One wants comforting sustenance . . . rib sticking, tummy warming, soulful food.
A nice warming soup always fits the bill perfectly. Especially soups such as this tantelizingly delicious Honeyed Tomato Soup here today! It's simple, easy, quick and fantastically tasty!



Rich and herby with just a hint of sweet . . . your guests will wonder what your secret is. It tastes like it should have a bazillion calories in it, but guess what?? THERE IS HARDLY ANY FAT! It's just tomatoes, herbs, love fat milk . . . and that incredible richness comes from tinned skimmed evaporated milk.



Oh sure . . . you could use cream, but it's not really needed. You get all the deliciousness of a full cream soup, without any of the fat or calories!

I like that. Of course, one cannot say the same about the accompanying sandwich, but then . . . you can't have it all can you?



*Honeyed Tomato Soup*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

A deliciously simple tomato soup, slightly sweetened with honey. I find the honey helps the tomatoes from being too acidic. It just tastes wonderful. Who would guess that is is low in fat!

2 (390g) pouched of chopped Italian tomatoes with onions and garlic (about 4 cups)
2 ribs of celery chopped
splash of white wine
1/2 tsp dried sage
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
2 TBS runny honey
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
250ml of skimmed evaporated tinned milk (1 cup)
250ml of 2% milk (1 cup)

Place the tomatoes, celery, white wine, sage and rosemary into a saucepan. Bring to the boil. Immediately reduce the heat to a low simmer. Stir in the honey and season to taste with some salt and black pepper. Simmer for about 15 minutes, until the celery is soft. Blitz until smooth with a stick blender if you have it, or very carefully in a regular blender. Alternately you can put it through a moulee. Return to the heat. Whisk in most of the tinned milk, reserving a bit for a garnishing. Whisk in the milk. Heat through. Ladle out into 4 heated soup bowls. Drizzle a bit of the reserved tinned milk on top and drag through it with a toothpick to make a lovely swirl.



These are quite simply one of my favourite ways to make a grilled cheese. Simple and yet filled with wonderfully rich flavours! The tanginess of the strong cheddar cheese, combined with the sweetness of red onion marmalade, tucked inside a sturdy loaf and grilled until it is scrummily oozingly delicious! If you can't find Onion Marmalade, you could use a good chutney, and then again you could make your own.



*Cheddar and Onion Marmalade Panini*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

These are soooo good!! The perfect "go with" for a cup of soup!

8 thin slices of a sturdily rustic white loaf (I used a French Boule, which
I sliced into 1/2 inch thick slices)
4 generous tablespoons of onion marmalade
8 ounces of a good strong farmhouse cheddar, sliced
softened butter for buttering

Heat your panini press. Lay out 4 slices of your bread. Spread 1 TBS of onion marmalade onto each. Top with a generous amount of cheddar, dividing it equally amongst the bread. Top with the other 4 slices. Butter each sandwich lightly on each side and place into the Panini press. Grill until the cheese is meltingly scrummy and the panini have nice grill lines. Serve immediately.

Don't think I'm getting all hoity toity on you now . . .  this really is just a glorified open faced tuna sarnie!   But Tartine sounds very special doesn't it?  Okay so maybe it is a bit hoity toity . . .  but sometimes it's okay to expand your horizons a tad.  That's my story anyways and yes, I'm sticking to it!

 I was recently invited to become part of the 2015 Better with Leerdammer Blogger team.   As a member of the team I would be challenged to create a sandwich with the ingredients provided for five days running.  I am a big fan of Leerdammer and so for me, this is a delicious challenge to fulfil! This is Day Two!

I think most of the schools here in the UK are back in session today, with possibly a very few exceptions.  They went back to school in Scotland last week.   The summer seems to have passed by very quickly.  It seems it no sooner started and it is now ending . . .  sigh . . .

 

It's one of my favourite flavour seasons of the year now . . . Aspagarus season! The shops are slowly beginning to stock fresh British Asparagus, which I believe is the most delicious tasting asparagus in the world!!

 

Of course there is asparagus readily available all year round . . . but it more often than not comes from Peru.  Nothing against Peru . . . but . . . do you really want to eat asparagus that's been grown half a world away, sprayed with something to keep lasting longer . . . and pasted onto our grocery shop shelves some what . . . multiple days or even weeks later???

 

I think NOT!  Yuck!!  I turn my nose up at that tasteless foreign stuff all year round . . . I'm waiting for Spring  when our English Asparagus comes into season, I'm ready to line up and partake as often as I can.  It is a short season and I want to indulge myself as much as I can during those few weeks in May and June when it's available!

 

I love it steamed, until it's crispy tender and still nicely green . . . dipped into melted lemon butter, or hollandaise sauce . . . it's also a real treat used as soldiers instead of toast with your soft boiled eggs.  It makes beautiful pasta dishes, even more gorgeously delicious . . . goes wonderfully with chicken . . .



It's absolutely  breathtakingly delish in  salads . . . or wrapped in pancetta and grilled.  It makes fabulously tasty spring tarts and is wonderful with poached or scrambled eggs.  In fact it's just wonderful when paired with eggs, full stop!



But how I really love it . . . is when it's roasted in a hot oven.  I simply toss with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper and then spread it out onto a baking sheet.  I roast it for 8 to 10 minutes in a hot oven.  As soon as it comes out of  the oven I spritz it with some white balsamic vinegar and sprinkle it with a few shavings of Parmesan cheese.  Oh, my . . . but it is some good done that way.

 

Today I've simply steamed it and then layered it in a delicious open faced sandwich for two.  Layered on a crisp ciabatta roll, which has been spread with some pesto mayonnaise, along with some ham, sliced tomatoes and lotsa cheese, this went down a real treat.

 

I just love knife and fork sandwiches don't you???

 

 *Open Faced Asparagus Melts*
Makes 2
Printable Recipe

A delicious open faced grilled sandwich, filled with the lovely flavours of delicious fresh Spring asparagus!

16 good sized spears of fresh asparagus
3 TBS fat free mayonnaise
1 TBS ready made Green Pesto
1 ciabatta roll, cut in half, with the top half trimmed
so that it will lie flat
2 slices of baked ham
4 thick slices of ripe tomato
2 TBS of grated low fat mozarella cheese
2 TBSl of grated emmenthaler cheese
2 TBS grated Parmesan cheese
fresh ground black pepper to taste

Trim the asparagus.  Snap off any woody ends and trim off the little pointy bits along the stem.  (These can be bitter.) Wash well.  Steam, covered for 2 minutes, until crispy tender.

Preheat the grill.  (Broiler)

Combine the mayonnaise and pesto in a small bowl.  Spread 2 TBS of the mixture onto each ciabatta half.  Place onto a baking sheet.  Pop under the grill for a vew minutes until the pesto mayo is bubbling.  Remove from the oven and then layer each slice with one piece of  ham and half of the asparagus.  Place two slices of tomato on top of each.  Sprinkle each with 1 TBS of each of the cheeses and season with a grating of black pepper.

Grill for a few minutes longer, until the cheese is melted and just turning golden brown.

 

I'll let you in on another really tasty, simple way to prepare it.  Wash and dry your asparagus really well.  Trim off the woody ends and those bitter little points.  Roll it in low fat mayonnaise to coat . . . and then roll it in grated Parmesan Cheese.  Place on a buttered sheet of parchment paper you've placed on a baking tray and roast it at a hot temperature (200*C/400*F/ gas 6) for about 8 to 10 minutes (depending on the thickness of the spears) until the cheese is melted, the spears are tender and the whole thing is scrummy, Scrummy, SCRUMMY!

After a weekend full of beautiful sun and warmth the rain comes. It coats every bloom in the garden, and dances on every branch. It is a growing balm for every thirsty leaf and petal. I know that when the sun comes again the garden will move forward in leaps and bounds, and so I sigh and make new plans . . .

This is the perfect day for a lunch of light soup and a sandwich . . . No . . . not a plain sandwich, but perhaps a Stromboli . . . it's yeasty and fragrant dough wrapped around a cheese, pesto and sundried tomato filling.

Yes . . . I could do meat, but . . . today my soul hungers for cheese and herbs. It is the perfect way to use up the last of the oven dried plum tomatoes I put up last autumn, encased like jewels in olive oil and herbs . . . it is spring and I enjoy a taste of late summer from a year just passed . . .


Herb and Tomato Stromboli
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

1 batch of pizza dough (See below)
1/2 cup of fresh basil pesto
(from the chiller cabinet at the store)
100g ball of buffalo mozzarella, torn
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes, soaked in oil, drained and chopped
1 egg, beaten


Pre-heat the oven to 200*C/400*F. Line a flat baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Roll out your pizza dough to a rectangle, measuring about 10 by 16 inches. Spread this with the pesto to within 1/2 inch of the edge all around. Scatter the torn mozzarella over and the chopped sun dried tomatoes. Roll up tightly as if for a jelly roll. Place onto the baking sheet and shape into a rough circle, folding the ends to fit together. Slash into 8 equal pieces around the edge, almost all the way through from the top down, but leaving joined at the inner edge. Fan out. Brush with some of the beaten egg.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until nicely browned and the cheese is melted and bubbling.

Serve warm.




Thirty Minute Pizza Dough
Makes enough for two crusts, or one stromboli
Printable Recipe

1 cup warm water
1 tsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 TBS olive oil
2 1/2 cups strong flour
1 tsp salt

Place the warm water in a large bowl. Stir in the sugar and sprinkle the yeast over top. Allow to sit for several minutes to proof the yeast. (about 5) Whisk the flour and salt together. Stir the yeast to dissolve and then stir in the flour mixture and the olive oil. Mix together well, at first with a wooden spoon and then with your hands. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 to 6 minutes. Place in a lightly oiled clean bowl, turning once to coat it with the oil. Cover and allow to rise for 20 minutes before knocking down and proceeding.

Broccoli wasn't a vegetable I ever remember eating when I was growing up.  I don't think it was available anywhere that we lived, or if it was, it wasn't something my mother ever bought.  My father always said he hated broccoli, and he still does, so that could very well be the reason we never had it.








Ladle into heated bowls.   Top each with a sprinkle of the remaining cheese (1/2 cup) and a warm broccoli floret. (You can warm them briefly in the microwave for a few seconds.  Nobody wants a cold piece of broccoli on their soup.)  Serve immediately!