Recipe: Roasted Vine Tomato and Basil Soup

It's sweltering hot here at the moment (about time too!) and I really didn't feel like cooking (or writing) this evening. I fancied something light and fresh, and came up with this recipe, which made use of the lovely tomatoes and onions I received in my weekly veg box.

Photo by Zed.Cat

Roasted Vine Tomato and Basil Soup

Serves 1

4 medium vine tomatoes
1 medium onion
1 large clove garlic
half a handful of fresh basil leaves
1/4 pint stock (yeast-free)
olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Wash and quarter the tomatoes. Place in a dish, skin side up. Peel and quarter the onion, add to dish with clove of garlic (leave whole). Drizzle over a good slug of olive oil and season with pepper. Place in the oven for around thirty minutes until the tomato skins are wrinkly. Leave to cool for a few minutes.

When cool enough to handle, slip the skins from the tomatoes. Place tomato, onion and garlic, along with the juice collected in the bottom of the dish, into a blender. Whizz the mixture with half the stock until smooth. Add the basil and whizz until chopped.

Pour the mixture into a saucepan and stir in the remainder of the stock. Reheat gently over a low heat. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Serve with sourdough toast. Very tasty. :)

Recipe: Potato and Onion Fry

Well the name just about sums it up. I'd completely run out of food this evening, so had to cobble dinner together from the odd thing I had lying around. I came up with this. Add a tomato sauce and a drizzle of yoghurt (in place of soured cream) and you'd get a candida diet friendly Patatas Bravas.

Potato and Onion Fry

1 large potato
half a large onion
1 clove of garlic
olive oil
soft goats cheese
seasoning: freshly ground pepper, salt and paprika

Peel the potato, cut into quarters and boil until just tender. Meanwhile, grate the garlic and dice the onion. Fry in the olive oil until golden. Drain the potatoes and dice into pieces roughly an inch-cubed. Add to pan and fry gently until golden brown on all sides. Add a sprinkle of paprika and season to taste.

Serve with a couple of chunks of goats cheese just starting to melt on the top of the potatoes and boiled/steamed broccoli.

Paneer

Have recently been experimenting with paneer (Indian cottage cheese, which comes in a block, similar in look to tofu, and in texture to halloumi cheese). A couple of days a go, I used it as the main ingredient in a coconut curry with aubergine and onion, and tonight, I finished off the remainder by making Paneer Shashlik (or 'kebab'). I cobbled together a recipe from various online sites, tailoring it to the ingredients I already had (not intending on going shopping for a few more days). It was pretty good, even if I do say so myself:

Paneer Shashlik

Makes two kebabs

1/2 a block of paneer
Red onion
Red Pepper
1/2 red chilli
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp garam masala
splosh of lemon juice
clove of garlic
piece of ginger
kebab sticks/skewers

Finely dice the chilli and mix with the cumin, grated garlic and ginger and a good splosh of lemon juice. Cut the paneer into large cubes. Place in a dish and coat well with the chilli, ginger, garlic and lemon and marinade in the fridge for at least a couple of hours (the longer the better).

Cut the onion into quarters and the red pepper into about eight regular pieces, retrieve the paneer from the fridge and skewer onto the kebab sticks, alternating each piece of paneer with onion and pepper.

Place on a baking tray and cook in the oven at a fairly high temperature until the paneer is sizzling and starting to go brown on the edges.

Serve with a green salad and wholemeal chapattis.

Things for Lunch

Lunch is a fairly easy meal on the anti-candida diet, despite the lack of bread (so sandwiches are out). Here's a few quick and easy ideas:

• hummous ('friendly' versions available from Tescos, Sainsburys, Marks & Spencers and the Co-op - go for the plain, 'full-fat' option, 'diet' or flavoured versions are usually packed full of hidden nasties), spread on oat cakes (plain), or use as a dip for (plain, salted) tortilla chips, crudities, or - a recent discovery of mine - wholewheat chapattis (instead of the more traditional pitta bread). Make your own, or try Patak's version (sweetened with fruit juice, but I figure it must be a tiny, tiny amount), available from Sainsburys. Hummous has fabulous candida-fighting properties!
• salads (see my previous post on barbecue food, for a few ideas) - try adding tinned tuna, prawns or grilled seasoned chicken) for protein.
• eggs - boiled, scrambled or omelette-d.
• home-made soup (see recipe for my version of Onion Soup below).
• jacket potatoes with goats cheese (Sainsburys do a nice organic soft goats cheese without rind, or you could try grating a hard goats cheese), cottage cheese, or seasoned tuna mixed with yoghurt.

Onion Soup

This does take a bit of effort, but makes a smallish saucepan full, enough for two servings.

1 large onion
1 clove of garlic
olive oil spread
olive or sunflower oil
yeast-free stock cube (the only one I've come across so far is made by 'Kallo' - yellow box - and is suitable for vegans: available from 'Holland and Barrett' and other health food stores).
dried or fresh herbs (finely chopped)
salt & pepper

Finely slice the garlic clove and onion (in rings) and saute over a gentle heat for about 20-30 mins in a combination of the olive/sunflower oil and olive oil spread until soft and caramelised (this will add flavour and colour to the soup). Add the stock cube, a pinch of the herbs, pepper (the stock cube is already fairly salty) and about a pint of boiling water. Simmer for another 20 to 30 mins before serving. If the soup is too pale, you can add a splash of soy sauce or a teaspoon of miso paste (if you're allowed them) for colour.

More lunch ideas to follow...