Category: Starters, Salads & Soups
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Recipe: Carrot Salad
Carrots are the work of the devil’s boring brother-in-law who he hates getting stuck with at family parties. As I child I didn’t like them in round slices (ok, I still don’t) and would cunningly hide squelchy carrot and parsnip mash under my cutlery. Working in an old folks’ home as a student involved weekends…
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Recipe: Celery, potato, and nutmeg soup
This simple and straightforward recipe will warm your bones on these cold days. Oh, and it’s mad cheap. I made a pot which fed two people for three big lunches, adding the nutmeg and milk at the last minute each time. Ingredients 3 medium potatoes, washed, unpeeled, chopped Around 5-6 sticks of celery 3 cloves…
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Courgette and Almond Soup
Oh no! The parson’s coming to lunch. You have to make something tasty yet modestly impressive and still have enough time to throw on your tea-dress. And find out what a parson is. This soup is just the trick. It’s pretty but still comfort food and everyone from kids to indigestion-ridden granddads love it. Courgettes…
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Reader’s Recipe: Katia’s Curried Parsnip Soup
Our reader Katia shared this healthy recipe with us recently. For those who have an aversion to parsnips (you are legion!), you could substitute carrots, sweet potatoes or turnip. Ingredients dash of oil 1 large onion (or to taste) peeled and roughly chopped 2/4 cloves of garlic peeled and roughly chopped a nice piece of…
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Reader’s Recipe: Nicola’s Healthy Bruschetta and Baked Couscous
Bruschetta is one of the most appealing things on the Italian menu, but the white bread makes it a little unhealthy. Our reader Nicola gave us a suggestion for a healthy bruschetta, and also shared a great recipe for baked couscous, another nutritious choice. Bruschetta 6 vine tomatoes, chopped Dressing: 1 clove garlic crushed 4…
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Black Rice Recipes
Have you ever tried black rice? It’s available in most Asian shops but it’s something I rarely see on menus. I first had it in a delicious salad, in an amazing vegetarian restaurant in New York (it was years ago and I have tragically forgotten its name) and have been cooking it at home ever…
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Summertime lamb soup
Words to describe lamb: warm, comforting, nourishing. Delicious in stew. Everything you’d want on a cold winter’s day. Happy summer. Spring lamb is at its best right now, in the middle of this unseasonably pleasant summer. Whacking it onto the barbeque is one option, but I still had a lot of meat leftover from Aldi’s…
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Recipe: Potato and broccoli soup with ginger and cardamom
The slight bitterness of broccoli, the earthiness of potatoes, the spiciness of ginger, and the sweetness of cardamom add up to a really gorgeous soup. It’s perfect for these wet days. I adjusted the recipe for a friend on the Weight Watchers diet, reducing the amount of potato and adding more broccoli instead. It’s a…
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The supercure: Chinese chicken soup
So incredibly simple, wonderfully cheap, enormously comforting, and bursting with curative powers, this soup is the perfect antidote to both the snowy weather and any lurking colds or flus. No sweating, no reducing – this is a Chinese style soup so just cover it with water and boil away. It will take about three minutes…
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Mezze recipes, part two
I’m really loving Anissa Helou’s fantastic mezze recipes, as well as the stories on her wonderful blog. She currently has a lovely tale to tell about chocolates made from camel milk. Here’s two more mezze recipes from her excellent book Modern Mezze; check out more of her books here. Mezze are so versatile: they make…