15 March 2011

Coconut & Spinach Soup.

Wow…what a busy few weeks! Between a cheeky ski weekend in Switzerland, family visits & a raucous birthday party (well hosted Miss B.H!) i haven’t spent nearly as much time in the kitchen as normal-but that will hopefully now be rectified. You would think that less time in the kitchen would mean less eating…gladly not! 

Switzerland, without a doubt my favourite European county, (after Scotland) is an amazing place to ski & also to eat. Ski resorts admittedly do not host the lightest cuisine but i find anyone who doesn’t like fondues, rosti’s, raclette & bratwurst hard to trust. What can be better-especially after a hard days skiing & a few après beers. We tried a local broth fondue in which we cooked veal & beef, & of course no ski weekend is complete with out a cheese fondue. I love how people are always slightly suspicious of cheese fondue  & then moments later they seems to have eaten a kilo of cheese & are desperately scrapping the bottom of the pot. It seems to win so many people over. So all in all it was a hilarious weekend filled with great runs, impressive tumbles, cross dressing barmen & icy Erdinger beer. Then on return my sister ‘The Captain’ came down from Edinburgh & i cooked a lovely Jamie Oliver dish of Spicy Cod with Lemon Courgette Couscous for her & the houseboy. Quick & tasty it proved very popular and was probably the most healthy thing we ate the whole weekend. I also made a Spinach & Ricotta Pie…ok have now just realised I have a spinach obsession-the houseboy banned courgette after that particular obsession so looks like spinach will go the same way. Anyway it was handy to have in the fridge for snacks & i for one was very glad it see it at 3am on Sunday morning after a night out in Bayswater. The Captain was more than a little suspicious  of this dish but then again when we were growing up her favourite foods were: smoked salmon, tomato ketchup sandwiches &  Marks & Spencers sausage rolls-pretty much in that order!

This weeks choice is great if you are super busy but still want something homemade, its light enough for lunch & can be adapted to be more substantial if needed. I also hope you like spinach as that two recipes in a row…Aye aye popeye!

Ingredients:
  • 250g spinach
  • 1 can of coconut milk
  • 2 pints of stock-either veg or chicken
  • 1 medium size onion
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1/2 red chilli
  • Double cream (optional)
  • Coriander to garnish
  • Seasoning

Finely chop the onion, garlic & chilli and cook gently in butter until soft, making sure the onions don’t colour. Add your (hot) stock & the coconut milk and bring to a brisk simmer. Simmer for approx 10 minutes, then add the spinach & quickly take off the heat. Stir gently & season. Pour into a food processor and pulse until the spinach is roughly chopped, if you don’t have a food processor just rough chop the spinach before adding to the stock. You can add a swirl of cream as you serve up. To make this more of a filling meal you could add some diced boiled potato or maybe some shredded chicken. 

Engelberg, Switzerland

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