The Review - FOOD & DRINK- Cooking with CLARE Published: 6 Decemeber 2007
Chop up some raw broccoli to add the finishing touches to a super soup
Hearty home-made soup and a saucy Spanish affair
Clare Latimer cooks up meals that can expand for extra guests
I WAS walking round Regent’s Park the other day, partly wondering what to cook for my guests that were coming to dinner that evening and partly thinking how much of this wonderful Royal Park had become “sow and mow” grass areas for sport and thinking how lucky we north Londoners are to have Hampstead Heath which, thank heavens, is not going in the same direction.
My phone then rang and the grown-up kids that I was having to supper asked if their dad could come as their mum was going into hospital. Of course... and off to the shops I went.
The ingredients for the following recipes seem to gather in my bag and off home I scuttled. I made the soup and prepared the main course.
The phone rang and their mum had decided that as her operation was so big she would have one day to calm down and so could she come to dinner.
You may wonder where all this is going, but the bottom line is that I invented a new and, I think, stunning and very healthy soup entirely due to this situation.
I added the raw broccoli after the cooking and ended up with this delicious concoction.
Not only did the soup go down very well but “mum” eventually came through the operation well, if a little sore!
Broccoli and goats’ cheese soup
Ingredients Serves 6
1 onion, peeled and chopped
25g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
3 heads broccoli, main stalks removed
600 ml full fat milk
200 ml chicken or vegetable stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
75g (approx) creamy goats’ cheese log.
Method Put the onion, butter and oil into a large heavy- based saucepan and fry gently for about five minutes or until the onion is soft. Chop the broccoli heads roughly and add two thirds. Pour in the milk and stock and season with the salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, cover and then simmer for about 10 minutes or until the broccoli is just cooked.
Leave to cool slightly and then put into a blender. Add the rest of the uncooked broccoli and the goats’ cheese and blend until smooth.
Pour back into the saucepan and leave until ready to heat for serving. Heat slowly and simmer for three minutes then serve.
Spanish rice affair This is a great dish, especially when you have to expand for extra guests. The chorizo gives a lovely exotic rich spicy flavour to the affair without having to add the flavours separately.
You can take the meat off the bone when cooked if there are more people than thighs and that makes the portions easier to serve fairly!
Ingredients Serves 6
Splash olive oil
12 chicken thighs
1 red pepper, cored, deseeded and chopped
225g chorizo, skinned and chopped
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 teasp paprika
1 red chilli, chopped very finely, optional
1 litre chicken stock
350g Spanish paella rice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Handful parsley, chopped
Juice of 1 lemon.
Method Put the oil and chicken thighs in a large saucepan and brown on each side. Add the peppers, chorizo, onion and garlic and cook over a gentle heat for three minutes, or until the onion is soft.
Stir in the paprika and chilli and then add the stock. Bring to the boil and then add the rice and stir well again. Add a little salt and pepper, cover and simmer over a low heat for 15 minutes checking regularly to see that the rice does not stick.
When the rice is cooked, check the seasoning and then transfer to a serving dish.
Sprinkle over the parsley and lemon juice and then serve.
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