Author: Gary @ BigSpud

A bit of a geek who loves food.

minestrone soup

minestrone soup with pesto

I saw Oliver’s Twist the other day, a TV programme of Jamie Oliver’s created for syndication all over the world. It’s little seen in the UK until recently, when the Good Food Channel started running them. In this one, he was making food for his then-14 month old daughter Poppy. The minestrone soup he made really caught my eye, and my tongue!

I found his recipe for minestrone on his site. ‘Minestrone’ loosely means “the big soup” and has no set recipe; it’s an Italian staple designed to use whatever vegetables are in season and stretch them out for soup. I had some cauliflower and courgette leftover from yesterday’s curry so they were definitely going in, along with some tomatoes and asparagus tips I had.

I started by sweating down a diced onion and some crushed garlic, along with some finely chopped basil stalks. I find the stalks of basil plants infuse your soffritto with such perfume, it’s really delicious backnote. I wasn’t impressed with the quality of my tomatoes so I added a squirt of tomato puree here too. I then added the diced veg as above, spaghetti snapped into 2 inch pieces and vegetable stock. I let it simmer until the pasta was al dente, then scooped into deep bowls topped with shredded basil. The final genius touch by Jamie was a generous dollop of pesto; it sounds a bit odd but the powerful ingredients seep gently into the broth and infuse it with sunny flavours. Very tasty, and one that will stay with me all year depending on what’s in the cupboard!

Tags jamie oliver

cauliflower coriander courgettes curry food tomato

vegetable tikka masala

Curry is a mythical, hybrid beast in England. Born of curious Raj influences, the modern Indian food apparently bears little resemblance to food eaten in India today. Most of us experience the odd names of the menu and play roulette with what we get, as they appear different from restaurant to restaurant.

After making garam masala and forming it into a tikka paste, I can now make a curry with it. I started by frying a sliced onion, and when softened I added a dessert spoon of paste and allowed to sizzle a little. Then I chucked in some sliced courgette and cauliflower and stirred it round to allow the paste to soak in. Then a litre of stock and tin tomatoes and allowed to simmer until tender and thickened, about 20 minutes. I served with pilau rice, yoghurt raita and piles of fluffy naan.

The best part about dishes like this is despite all the preparation you’re never entirely sure of the exact flavour until it’s in a curry. It had a pleasing spice, the paprika stamping it’s authority at first amped up by the smoky sea salt, then the coriander and cumin tickle and tingle. Then the gentle fire of the chilli remains. Very nice, though I think it would very good with lamb.

Best of all, I have another serving of tikka paste to use up. Yum.

coconut coriander cumin curry food garlic ginger

tikka paste

After garam masala, the next logical step is to make some tikka paste as the basis for a curry.

Into a blender went: my garam masala, a smal piece of ginger, two garlic cloves, a squeeze of tomato puree, a de-seeded green chilli, paprika, a touch of cayenne, touch of cumin, fresh coriander, dessicated coconut, ground almonds, smoked sea salt, and a splash of veg oil to bind it together. Whiz it up, and I’ve got this pungent mix bursting with potential. What will become of it?!

bay coriander cumin curry food nutmeg

garam masala

Or Gary Masala, as I call it in my kitchen (ho ho). It’s a Hindi expression, meaning “hot paste” although I have heard other translations. It’s a blend of ground spices that are the cornerstone of the Indian kitchen.

Contents vary from cook to cook, from family to family; as a clueless Essex boy I have taken a ‘greatest hits’ from others I’ve heard about. I’ve made mine with: cinnamon sticks, cumin seeds, black peppercorns, nutmeg, mustard seeds, bay leaves and coriander seeds (all spices should be used in their whole unground form for maximum aroma). I lay them all out on a baking tray and put them in a mildly warm oven (about 140C) for about 45 mins. This can be done in a dry frying pan but I find the papery dryness from the oven lends itself better to crushing without gaining a scorched taint. The great side-effect of this is your kitchen is filled with a powerful aromatic perfume. Then comes the crushing: I don’t have a spice mill capable of this so it’s down to the good old pestle and mortar for me. I then store it in an old Schwarz spice pot.

The possibilities of this are great – I have a recipe coming up for this later this week…