Tomato Soup

I'm huddled in front of the fireplace on a very cold and rainy June evening and the sound of the crackling fire and the hum of my laptop are the only sounds in the house. The rain has finally stopped. This is the perfect time for a quick blog post before the busy week starts, I think. And what better way to bring a little colour and cheer into this grey day than write about tomato soup and share these beautiful pictures with you...

I never quite got tomato soup until I started roasting the tomato's, and my life was changed really. Now I'm hooked. In my catering company the napolitana sauce is one of the basic sauces we use almost daily, so there's nothing as easy as diluting that intense deep red sauce into the quickest and cheekiest dinner for my husband and I, served with home-made ciabatta croutons, what could be better?

I'm quite passionate when it comes to soups and as I've mentioned in one of my previous posts, the fact that soup makes the cut as a  main-meal in my books, was something my husband had to grow use to. Soups are one of those dishes you just need to try, throw yourself into it with abandon and gain the confidence you need to make them following simply your nose and your taste buds. Once you're there, the options are endless! When I think of soups, I think of a dear friend of mine who would ask me the same question over and over, "how much stock or water do I add?". The answer was always the same,"...I don't know, about 1 liter, you need to taste it and see". It comes down to feel and getting the seasoning and thickness just right, so there is a little skill in making a good soup, I must admit.

Roast Tomato Soup
(Makes 8-10 portions)

Ingredients:
1 onions, roughly chopped
2 tins whole, peeled tomatoes
2 garlic cloves, sliced
2 tbsp tomato paste
4-6 whole organic tomato's
roasted vine tomato's for garnish (optional)
2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tsp brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste
fresh basil/parsley/sage to serve
1 liter vegetable stock
ciabatta bread
1/4 cup good quality olive oil (for croutons)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Cut all the tomatoes in quarters, place them in a roasting tray and drizzle them sparingly with olive oil.
Season with  salt and black pepper.
Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.
In a large pot, slowly saute the onions and the garlic until soft and translucent.
Add the soft, roasted tomatoes and the tinned tomatoes.
Add about 750ml of vegetable stock to the pot and bring to the boil. Turn the neat down and simmer for 20 minutes.
Blend the soup with hand held blender until smooth and add the sugar.
Taste the soup and dilute with the remaining stock, if needed. Adjust the seasoning.

To make the croutons: Tear the bread into chunky, bite-sized pieces. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast until they are golden brown and crispy.
Serve this soup with croutons, fresh herbs and a drizzle of good quality olive oil.

Grapefruit

When I was a little girl my mother would give me half a grapefruit sprinkled with sugar, each segment delicately cut loose for me to eat it more easily. I still remember that bitter sweet deliciousness, it's such a fond memory, but thinking about it now I realise it was quite unusual for me to be eating, not to mention enjoying grapefruit at that age! Somewhere along the line, probably when I started doing my own shopping and choosing what to fill my fruit bowl with, grapefruit didn't quite made the cut and many years passed without me giving them much notice.

Then, a few months ago, a Taiwanese friend of mine invited my husband and I over for a traditional meal prepared by his mother who was visiting at the time. I was flattered that she wanted to teach me a traditional (with a South Africa twist) version of a rice flour tray-cake. So there I was, learning a little about Asian-style baking, a real first for me. For one, a small bowl was used for measurements, which generally seemed less precise and a lot more about 'feel'.

When we had all eaten more than our fare share and were waiting for the cake to cool, his mom disappeared into the kitchen and came back bearing gifts - a yellowish grapefruit and spiky dragon fruit! I had only seen dragon fruit in Indonesia at the road side stalls but was never brave enough to buy one. She told us that she had grown the tree herself from a fruit many years ago. We all sat around the dining room table sipping cup after cup of jasmine tea and nibbling on the most delicious grapefruit and dragon fruit chunks. The grapefruit was a variety that I hadn't tasted before with a more yellow peel and a light pink coloured flesh, just beautiful.

It's as if my appetite for grapefruit has been reawakened and I have since come up with some adventurous recipes using them.
Here are two inspirational ideas if you share my sentiments about the very under appreciated grapefruit.

   
Firstly, I made a beautiful salad with locally smoked salmon trout, grapefruit segments, radishes and radicchio, using grapefruit juice in my vinaigrette. Another idea is when roasting beetroot in the oven, add some slices of grapefruit to sweeten and caramelise in the pan with the beetroot, add some blanched baby leeks and you've got a delicious veggie side dish. 

Enjoy!

Operation: Wedding Cake

As much as I boldly say “I don’t bake wedding cakes anymore”, I am trying unsuccessfully, to put that phase of my career behind me. You see, there are a few opportunities that I simply can’t resist – like my brother’s wedding day! And frankly, what makes a more apt wedding gift to a sibling than the wedding cake itself! Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t enjoy making wedding cakes…

So, years after O My Darling Cakes has been shelved and my piping bag and pallet knife are by far the least used tools in my kitchen, I find myself phoning a friend to ask her which is the best butter to use for butter cream icing. The problem is that most of the butters available in the stores are so yellow that is would definitely not give me pure white butter cream – crucial for a wedding cake.

Like most wedding cakes I’ve baked, this one was a journey. From high points like eating warm buttermilk sponge off-cuts late at night, to the general low point of piping for 6 and a half hours...What a great thing to blog about I thought, share my ups and downs with you…The idea was to take some pictures as I went, which didn’t transpire in the least (I think I snapped some on the first day) So, this comes a little outdated, three weeks after the wedding, but better late than never, they say.

I thought I’d share the very easy butter cream icing recipe I used. I did make about 6 batches so feel like a little bit of a butter cream snob (expert). But first, let me tell you a little more about the cake itself...My new sister-in-law had some adventurous ideas, first being to make a 'rainbow cake' for her wedding – a huge trend at the moment. Being very diplomatic, I convinced her to instead have three colours of a hot pink, lighter peach and white vanilla sponge. (After the first blue-coloured sponge came out the oven green, I knew it was time for drastic measures to be taken) The second obstacle was the fact that the icing technique was something I’d never seen or done before. Thanks for nothing, Pinterest.

I’d would like to report that considering the obstacles, this wedding cake was a breeze and one of the cakes I am the most proud of for sure, but I am rather relieved that my next one isn’t for another 4 months!

Vanilla Buttercream (Swiss Method)

Ingredients
600g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 recipe Swiss Meringue
1 tsp vanilla extract
140g good quality white chocolate, melted

Swiss Meringue Recipe
240ml egg white
400g castor sugar

Method

Combine the egg whites and the sugar in a mixing bowl. Place the bowl over simmering water and heat to 60 degrees Celsius, whipping constantly to avoid cooking the egg whites.
Remove from the heat and whip the mixture on a high speed to lukewarm.
Cut all the butter into evenly sized blocks.
Lower the speed on the mixer and add the vanilla.
Gradually whip in the butter until everything is combined and the icing has a soft whipped butter consistency.
Slowly mix in the melted white chocolate when all the butter is mixed in.

Note: This icing will set hard in the fridge. It is ideal for wedding cakes or cupcakes. Add flavouring like orange zest, 2 tbsp of strong coffee or liqueurs.
It also freezes very well. Simply thaw and whip to the right consistency!