Oven-roasted tomato and capsicum soup

It is a few days until Winter officially arrives and already the temperature has dropped making it perfect to get into the kitchen and cook some winter favourites. This soup is one of them, and even though it seems like a lot of work, it is totally worth it in the end. This recipe is from the Super Food Ideas Winter Favourites cookbook (2001).

Oven-roasted tomato and capsicum soup

8 tomatoes halved

2 red capsicums, halved and seeded

1 sweet potato, peeled and sliced
2 tbls olive oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed

4 potatoes, peeled and rougly chopped

2 Spanish onions, rougly chopped

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 sprig rosemary

basil leaves to taste
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup natural yoghurt
15g prosciutto, grilled

1. Bake tomatoes, capsicum and sweet potato brushed with half the oil in a moderate 180 degree oven for an hour.
2. In large saucepan heat the remaining oil, saute garlic, onions and potato for 3-4 minutes.
   Pour stock over vegetables, stir in rosemary, basil and seasonings.
3. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for half an hour or until vegetables are very tender.
4. Drain excess oil from roasted vegetables, add to stock and puree mixture with a hand blender or in batches in the food processer.
5. Reheat before ladling into serving bowl. Top with a dollop of yoghurt, a slice of prosciutto. Serve with crusty bread.

 *My Notes*

If using a hand blender to puree the mixture don't be too concerned if there is rosemary that hasn't been blended or tomato or capsicum skin, it adds to the texture of the soup.

Bacon works just as well as prosciutto and sour cream can be used instead of natural yoghurt. If you don't want to use yoghurt or sour cream try using grated parmesan cheese. Garnish with either a few chives or a sprig of rosemary.

Bangers and Mash with a twist

Normally it is mashed potato, peas, sausages and onion gravy that makes up the typical Bangers and Mash meal in our house. However seeming it was the week of the Royal Wedding of Will and Kate I thought that I would put a bit of a twist on the meal, with mashed sweet potato, broccoli and cauliflower and sausages with a onion and tomato gravy.

Mashed Sweet Potato

Peel and dice sweet potato, cover with water and bring to the boil until the sweet potato is fork tender. Drain and mash sweet potato, add a small amount of butter or margarine and milk and mix in until you get a smooth-ish consistency, don't over work the potato. Add ground coriander and ground cumin to taste.

Sausages with Onion and Tomato Gravy

Brown sausages in a pan, once browned add sliced onions and allow to soften, add in diced tomato and allow to soften. Add in two tablespoons of traditional gravy mixed with one cup of water to the pan and allow to thicken, stir often, the gravy at this stage will be very thick. Once thicken add extra water (a little under half a cup) to thin out the gravy but not so that it is going to be runny, add a few splashes of Worcestershire sauce and allow to simmer until the sausages are cooked through, this should be about ten minutes, stir every so often to prevent a skin from forming on the gravy. If you find the gravy is to thick just add a little extra water.

Serve with the mashed sweet potato and steamed broccoli and cauliflower.

ANZAC Biscuits

I love making these biscuits as they are simple and one of the first biscuits I learnt to bake. The age old question is how do you like them, crunchy or chewy? I have always preferred my ANZAC biscuits to be chewy. I have always used the same recipe from The Australians Women's Weekly The Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits , and have found to ensure that they come out chewy is to add a little extra liquid and to keep an eye on them during baking, so as not to over cook them.

ANZAC Biscuits

1 cup rollled oats
1 cup plain flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup coconut
125g butter or margarine
2 tablespoons golden syrup
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 tablespoon boiling water

Combine oats, sifted flour, sugar and coconut. Combine butter and golden syrup, stir over gentle heat until, melted. Mix soda with melted butter/syrup mix and stir into the dry ingredients, add the boiling water and stir in. Place tablespoonfuls of mixture on lightly greased oven trays (I just line the oven trays with baking paper); allow room for spreading. Cooking in a slow oven 150 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes. Loosen while warm, then cool on trays.

^The above tend to produce crunchy ANZAC Biscuits... to make chewy biscuits I always add just a little bit more water to the mixture about a tablespoon and will bake them short of the 20 minutes, about 18 minutes or as soon as they have turned golden brown.