Winter Warmers: Soups, Stews, Favourite Comfort Foods

Not much, since it's more of a sweet relish than a salty/sweet pickle.
Just scratch a bit over, maybe a teaspoon or so, to bring out the flavours.
How much sugar you end up adding for the quantity of capsicums you have will probably be more important than how much salt. It's pretty hard to mess up though.

 

Well it came out pretty well. Tastes great. Not as thick as I'd like but I ran out of patience to cook it for another halfa.
I ended up using about 2 1/3 cups of sugar to cut the vinegar taste enough. About 2 teaspoons of salt.
I didn't have any Kaffir lime leaves but was planning to use some of my frozen lime zest..... But I don't have any left so no lime. I couldn't find fresh chili anywhere so ended up using dried ground, about 1 teaspoon worth. Kept it mild & to be honest, next time I'd use more as I can't really taste it. I added a dash of Worcestershire sauce right at the end & I'm glad I did. It just needed a little something & that hit the mark.

Thanks for the recipe mate. It's a winner.

 

-AL- cheers for the feedback and pics man!

It's a good Base Recipe to muck around with I reckon, one thing I found is that you can use more dried/powdered spices than you'd think would be necessary to give the level of heat that you want, due to the long cook time and high sugar content I guess.

I like the idea of adding a dash of Worcestershire or soy at the end for that extra dash of something something.

 

Today's lunch was Ham, Cheese & Tomato sandwiches with the Capsicum relish.
Outstanding!

 

For sure mate, goes really well with simple favourites like your Ham/Cheese/Tomato sanga. Roast beef/pickled red onions/mustard/relish is another classic combo I can highly recommend.
Or serve it up with a cold cut/charcuterie platter. We're in the right season to really get stuck into it, give some away as gifts, etc...
I need to go and buy a bag of capsicums, like, tomorrow...

 

Bumppity boppity, Roasted Cauliflower & Garlic Soup time at my property.

I bought a head of cauliflower on special with the intention of making a traditional Cream of Cauliflower soup, checked out a few recipes, then decided to try something a bit more interesting. So I cobbled this together.
The cauli is seasoned with salt, pepper, herbs and spices then roasted until lightly browned before simmering in stock, which adds a delicious savoury depth of flavour that is further enhanced by the sweetness of roasted garlic.
Potato is added to thicken and bump up the heartiness factor. It all combines to make a pretty bangin' Winter Warmer of a soup that is hard to mess up.

TIME NEEDED

Prep: 15-20mins
Cooking: ~2 hours
Most of the cook time is in waiting for the cauliflower to finish roasting and the soup to finish simmering.
And then waiting for it cool down a bit so it can be blended without risk of splashing boiling hot napalm all over your kitchen.

SPECIFIC TOOLS REQUIRED

• Oven or toaster oven for roasting, baking tray/sheet, baking paper
• Large saucepan or stockpot with lid
• Stick blender/jug blender/food processor
• Mortar & pestle or spice grinder for the spice mix (optional)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 medium head of Cauliflower
• 1 medium or 2 small onions
• 1 celery stalk
• 1 potato (floury/starchy type)
• 3-4 unpeeled garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp butter
• Olive oil to brush over cauliflower before roasting
• 500-750ml chicken or vegetable stock, equal quantity of water (you can omit one or the other or adjust the ratio as you prefer)
• 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup light cream, to taste (optional)
• Salt, pepper, herbs, spices for cauliflower seasoning mix, bay leaves to go in the soup

METHOD

1. While the oven is preheating to 180C, trim the cauliflower of its leaves and the manky bottom part of the stalk, then chop the whole head into ~3cm thick slices/chunks.
It's not necessary to cut out the core, lots of good nutrients in there and it's all going to be roasted/simmered/blended. Arrange the slices on a baking-paper-lined oven tray or baking sheet with the unpeeled garlic cloves.

2. Prepare your seasoning mix. I went with about 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, white pepper, dried thyme, dried tarragon, ground cumin, and smoked paprika.
I ground these into a fine powder in the mortar & pestle but this step is optional, you can just mix them together. Adjust the choice of herbs/spices to your taste, add a little cayenne for a bit of heat, etc.

3. Lightly brush the cauliflower and garlic cloves with olive oil (I discovered at the last moment that my bottle was basically empty, derp, so I cheated and used olive oil spray). Lightly sprinkle with the seasoning.
Flip the slices/chunks and repeat on the other side. Roast for 30-45 minutes, turning once or twice, until the seasoning has "infused" and the cauliflower has some nice golden-brown colour on it.



4. While the cauli is roasting, peel and roughly chop the onion/potato/celery. When it's getting close to being nicely roasted, melt the butter in your soup pot over medium-high heat until foaming then add the onion and celery.
Reduce heat to medium-low and cook gently for about 5 minutes until the onion starts to turn translucent. Grab the tray out of the oven, pop the garlic cloves to one side to cool down a bit, add the roasted cauliflower to the pot.

5. Add the potato along with a couple of bay leaves if (I threw the celery tops/leaves in at this point too), then add enough water/stock to cover. Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins and into the pot.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat, then cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally (give yourself a head-start on the blending step and start breaking up any big chunks of cauliflower while stirring).
It's done when the potato chunks easily break apart when crushed against the side of the pot.



6. Remove from heat and allow to cool uncovered for 10-15 minutes. Fish out the bay leaves, then blend patiently and thoroughly via your preferred method until very smooth.
Gently whisk in the cream while the soup is still warm, taste for seasoning and add salt if needed, then return to a low heat to bring the soup back up to a nice serving temperature.



Serve and enjoy topped with a little fresh grated nutmeg (pictured), or a sprinkle of finely chopped parsley, or a birdsnest of thinly sliced fried leek, or a pile of toasted panko breadcrumbs...



I'd love to hear some feedback on this recipe if anyone ends up making it.
As with any recipe, omit/substitute any ingredients you're not fond of, replace the chicken stock with vege stock and omit the cream for a vegetarian version, etc.