Soup’s On…

The weather has been cold, wet and dreary lately and nothing is more warming or comforting than a big bowl of thick tasty soup. I chose to make this soup as I love the combination of carrots and thyme. The red lentils act as the perfect thickener in place of the usual potato. The tortilla croutons provide a nice crunch and are lighter than standard croutons. The consistency of the soup is quite thick, which I personally love, but if you prefer thinner soups you could easily achieve this by adding more stock. I like to freeze the leftovers in single serving portions that I can then reheat and take into uni with me for lunch as it makes a welcome change to sandwiches.

This is also my first entry to any of the food events that regularly take place. ‘Soup’s on’ is an ongoing event for February that’s hosted by Alanna over at A Veggie Venture. Check out the other entries and rules here.

Carrot, Red Lentil and Thyme Soup with Tortilla Croutons

For the soup
1 onion
3 medium carrots
200g dried red lentils
1 clove garlic
2 tsp dried thyme or 2 fresh sprigs
2 pints vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to season
1 tbsp olive oil
Small knob of butter

Method
Heat the oil and butter together in a large saucepan. Peel and roughly dice the onion and carrots and add them to the pan.
Crush the garlic and add to the pan along with the thyme. Cover with a lid and allow to sweat over a low heat, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, for 10 minutes until the carrots are just beginning to soften.
Rinse the lentils under cold water and add to the pan along with the vegetable stock.
Cover and leave to simmer for 15-20 minutes until the carrots have softened and the lentils have become soft and mushy. (If using fresh thyme sprigs, remove them at this point).
Blitz the soup either with a hand blender or in a liquidiser until thick and smooth.
Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve with the tortilla croutons and a drizzle of cream.
Serves 3 – 4 depending on appetite.

For the croutons
1 flour tortilla
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp dried thyme
Pinch of salt

Method
Brush the tortilla with the olive oil and sprinkle over the dried thyme and a pinch of salt.
Cut into 1-2cm squares and place on a baking tray.
Bake in the oven at 200oC for 3-4 minutes until crisp and golden.

Mini Double Choc Chip Cookies

These cookies are loosely based on the well known Tollhouse Cookies. They are soft in texture and caramely in flavour with lots of little chocolate chunks throughout.

When I say these are mini, I mean mini. If you look at the picture below that green disc is actually a plastic milk bottle top that I added to the picture to allow a size comparison. These cookies are bite size and were perfect for dipping into a chocolate fondue that I made on Valentines Day to share with my boyfriend (Chris). They would also be great for children’s parties or for when you fancy a little treat and don’t want to eat an entire cookie. You could of course make them bigger and bake them for longer to get regular sized cookies.

Mini Double Choc Chip Cookies
(Adapted from: The Great Big Cookie Book by Hilaire Walden)


Ingredients
55g unsalted butter/margarine
40g caster sugar
35g dark muscovado sugar
½ tbsp vegetable oil
100g plain flour
¼ tsp baking powder
25g dark chocolate
20g white chocolate

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C or Gas Mark 4. Have a large baking tray ready, but there is no need to line or grease it.
In a bowl, beat the butter/margarine until soft and then add in both of the sugars and beat until well combined.
Add the vegetable oil and beat until incorporated. Then work in the flour and baking powder. The mixture should come together into a soft smooth dough.
Finely chop the white and dark chocolate and gently kneed into the dough until evenly distributed.
Then, break off small marbles sized pieces of dough and roll them into little balls. Set them on the baking tray about 1inch/2.5cm apart. Flatten each dough ball slightly with your hand.
Bake them in the oven for 8-10 minutes until lightly golden and just firm. Leave them to cool for 10 minutes on the baking tray before removing them to a wire wrack to cool.
These keep very well stored in an airtight container. Makes around 24 mini cookies.

Note: The cookies will be quite greasy when they first come out of the oven, this is due to the oil. I found that placing them on a sheet of kitchen roll after they were cool this got rid of any unwanted grease.

My very first post!

Welcome to Apple & Spice.
I have been an avid reader of many food blogs for the past year and have marveled at the talent and creativity of so many bloggers and their united love/enjoyment of food. So much so, that they have inspired me to create my own. I have put it off for a while – what if I didn’t do it right? What if it all went wrong? But I have since decided that unless you give things a go then you’ll never know and I hate wondering ‘what if?’ So here it is, my first post on my new blog, fingers crossed I work out how it all works. Enjoy.