This is an easy way to spruce up a cup of soup with store bought pastry.
How to make pastry lids for soup
Tag: dinner ideas
Thick Chicken Soup
If you need to speed things up in the kitchen you may make this soup with store-bought stock and rotisserie chicken.
45ml olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
a small bunch of salad onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1l chicken stock
2 eggs
60ml fresh lemon juice
375ml cooked rice
500ml cooked chicken breast, shredded
Place a saucepan on medium-high heat and add the oil, onion and salad onion.
Cook until the onion is soft and translucent.
Add the garlic and stir-fry for 1 minute.
Pour in the chicken stock and season with salt and pepper.
Bring the mixture to the boil, turn down the heat and leave to simmer.
Add the eggs, lemon juice and 60ml of the rice to a blender.
Blend until smooth.
Keep the blender running and slowly pour in 250ml of the hot stock.
Now pour this mixture into the stock mixture in the saucepan while stirring.
Add the rest of the rice and the shredded chicken.
Simmer the soup for 10 minutes, on a low heat (do not let it boil) until thick.
Spoon into bowls and serve immediately.
Tartiflette
1kg potatoes
200g bacon, diced
30g butter
2 onions, thinly sliced
125ml dry white wine
125ml cream
450g soft rind cheese of your choice, I used Camembert, traditionally Reblochon is used
Peel the potatoes and slice them into 1cm thick rounds.
Add the potato to a large saucepan and pour in enough cold water to cover. Season the water with salt and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook until the rounds are just tender – about 25minutes.
Drain the potato rounds and return to the saucepan. Set aside.
Preheat your oven to 180℃.
Place a saucepan on medium-high heat and add the bacon.
Lower the heat once the fat renders, add the butter and cook for 5 minutes.
Add the onions, season with salt and pepper and cook until soft and translucent.
Add the wine and cook for a further 2 minutes.
Add the potato rounds and mix through.
Pour the cream over and mix again.
Spoon the mixture into an ovenproof dish.
Slice the cheese into halves, horizontally and arrange on top, cut-side down.
Bake in the oven for 40 minutes – the cheese should be melted, bubbling and golden brown on top.
Serve immediately.
Beef Stroganoff Pie
1kg beef, cut into 2cm cubes
30ml flour
45ml vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
10ml smoked paprika
30ml tomato paste
15ml wholegrain mustard
250ml beef stock
300g brown mushrooms, sliced
80ml + 80ml sour cream
1,2kg potatoes, peeled and quartered
50g butter, cubed
Add the cubed beef to a bowl and sprinkle over the flour.
Season with salt and pepper and toss to coat.
Place a saucepan over medium-high heat and pour in the oil.
Cook the beef in 3 batches, for 5-6 minutes or until browned all over.
Spoon the beef into a bowl and keep on the side.
Add the onion to the saucepan and cook until translucent.
Add the garlic and paprika and stir-fry for one minute.
Add the tomato paste, mustard and stock and bring to the boil.
Return the beef to the saucepan, reduce the heat to low and cover with a lid.
Simmer the beef for one hour, stirring every now and then.
Preheat your oven to 200℃.
Remove the lid, add the mushrooms and simmer without a lid for 30 minutes more.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in 80ml sour cream.
Spoon the mixture into an ovenproof casserole dish.
Cook the potato until very soft, drain and return to its saucepan.
Add the remaining 80ml sour cream and half of the cubed butter and mash together.
Season the mashed potato with salt and pepper.
Spoon the potato on the beef and spread it evenly to cover the beef.
Dot with the remaining butter and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
Stand the pie for 10 minutes before serving.
Dressed up Corn on the Cob
Cook the corn to your liking and then simply dress it up in one of two ways. Both the recipes are enough for 6 – 8 corn on the cob.
Spicy Mexican Corn:
125ml mayonnaise
10ml + 10ml smoked paprika
5ml chilli flakes
5ml salt
125ml grated parmesan cheese
2 lemons
Add the mayonnaise and 10ml smoked paprika to a small bowl and mix through. Set aside.
Add the other 10ml smoked paprika, chilli flakes and salt to another bowl and mix together.
Brush the cooked corn with the mayonnaise mixture, sprinkle over the spice rub and roll the corn in the grated parmesan.
Cut the lemons into quarters and serve with the corn.
Herbed Corn:
60ml parsley, tightly packed
60ml coriander, tightly packed
60ml garlic chives
30ml grated lemon rind
80g grated parmesan cheese
60ml butter, cubed
Chop the parsley, coriander, chives and grated lemon rind together until very fine and spoon into a shallow dish.
Add the grated parmesan to another shallow dish.
Melt the butter and brush it all over the cooked corn.
Roll the corn in the herbs and then in the parmesan.
Serve immediately.
Pulled Brisket with gnocchi and gremolata
1kg brisket, fat on
2 onions, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 carrots, chopped
1 x 400g tin of diced tomatoes
240g tomato purée
60ml Worcestershire sauce
60ml apple cider vinegar
20ml wholegrain mustard
30ml brown sugar
10ml smoked paprika
store bought gnocchi
Preheat your oven to 160℃.
Add the onion, garlic, carrot and tinned tomato to a food processor and blitz until it is a thick saucy mixture.
Pour in the tomato purée, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, sugar and paprika and blitz again.
Add 5ml salt and stir through.
Decant the sauce into an ovenproof saucepan.
Place the brisket on top of the sauce and then spoon enough of the mixture over to cover the meat.
Place a lid on the saucepan and bake in the oven for 4 hours.
Remove the brisket from the oven, take off the lid and leave to cool for 15 minutes or so.
Pull the meat and fat apart with two forks and add it to a saucepan.
Cook your gnocchi according to packet instructions.
Place the saucepan with the meat over a low heat, add the gnocchi and stir through.
Serve warm with gremolata.
Hummus Pasta
This can be served warm or cold, as a fragrant pasta salad.
250g dried pasta (I used Cavatappi)
30ml olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 handfuls of baby spinach
250ml hummus
the juice and grated rind of 1 lemon
a handful of small basil leaves
Cook the pasta according to packet instructions. Reserve about a cup of the cooking water.
Add the olive oil to a large saucepan and cook the onion over medium-high heat until soft and translucent.
Add the garlic and stir-fry for one minute.
Now add the spinach and stir-fry for another minute.
Turn the heat down slightly and add the hummus.
Slowly add the cooking water of the pasta while stirring constantly. Stop adding water once it is of a consistency that will cover the pasta and still stick to it.
Add the cooked pasta and stir to coat with the sauce.
Squeeze over the lemon juice and grate the lemon over the pasta.
Taste and season with salt.
Serve the hummus pasta with grated parmesan cheese and a scattering of basil leaves.
French Onion Pasta
This is enough pasta for two hungry adults.
220g dry pasta of your choice – I used wholewheat
60g butter
2 large onions, sliced
2,5ml salt
3 cloves garlic, minced
60ml white wine
45ml thyme leaves
125ml beef stock
15ml Worcestershire sauce
125ml grated Gruyere cheese
60ml cream
Cook the pasta according to packet instructions.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan set over medium-high heat.
Add the sliced onion and sprinkle over the salt.
Cook the onion for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. If you stir too often the onions will take a longer time to caramelise. It is also important to regulate the heat – if it browns too quick, it will be burnt and not caramelised.
Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, stirring continuously.
Now add the wine and scrape any onion bits from the bottom of the saucepan.
Add the cooked pasta, thyme leaves, stock, Worcestershire sauce and stir to incorporate.
Finally add the Gruyere and cream and stir through.
Serve the pasta with extra grated cheese on top.
Saucy Chicken
200g bacon, diced
4 chicken breasts, skin removed
125ml flour
60ml panko breadcrumbs
5ml salt
60ml vegetable oil
60ml butter, cubed
60ml flour
625ml chicken stock
80ml milk
10ml Worcestershire sauce
5ml onion powder
5ml dried tarragon
2,5ml salt
Place a heavy-bottom saucepan on medium heat.
Add the bacon and cook until crispy and browned. Remove from the pan.
Place the chicken breasts on a flat surface and halve them horizontally so that you have 8 thin chicken portions.
Mix the flour, breadcrumbs and salt together in a shallow dish.
Coat the chicken generously with the flour mixture.
Pour the vegetable oil into the saucepan and allow it to warm up.
Fry the breasts for 3minutes per side, remove from the saucepan and set aside.
Remove the oil from the saucepan and wipe it clean with paper towel.
Now add the butter and allow to melt over medium-high heat.
Sprinkle in the flour and stir around until it forms a paste. Cook for one minute while stirring.
Gradually pour in the chicken stock and milk and whisk continuously.
Now add the Worcestershire sauce, onion powder and tarragon.
Reduce the heat to a simmer and add the chicken back into the sauce.
Sprinkle over the bacon and simmer for 5 – 10 minutes.
Serve the chicken and the sauce on creamy mashed potatoes.
Oven Pumpkin Risotto
This oven risotto is one of the very best dinners you will make. It is low effort and easy cooking with delicious taste rewards. NB: do not substitute the pumpkin with butternut!!!
30ml vegetable oil
30ml butter
150g smoked bacon, diced
1 large onion, finely diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
250ml arborio rice
625ml chicken stock
60g butter, diced
500g pumpkin, peeled and diced (1cm x 1cm)
125ml grated parmesan cheese
15ml parsley, chopped
Preheat your oven to 190℃.
Place an ovenproof saucepan on medium-high heat, add the oil and butter and add the bacon.
Fry until cooked and starting to turn crispy.
Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon, leaving behind the fat.
Add the onion to the saucepan and cook until soft and translucent.
Add the garlic and stir-fry for 1 minute. Turn off the heat.
Add the rice, stock, 60g butter, pumpkin and cooked bacon to the saucepan and stir together.
Cover with a lid/aluminium foil and bake for 45 minutes, until the rice is soft.
Remove from the oven and stir in the parmesan.
Taste and season with salt and pepper.|Sprinkle over the parsley and serve.
My Whisk and I 