Broccoli and Goats Cheese Soup!

For Christmas I got a food processor... and it is most definitely one of the best Christmas presents I have been given! I have been loving making my own soups that are easy to make, cheap, tasty and healthy. So I thought I would share my favourite recipe with you.

Broccoli and Goats Cheese Soup

3 large heads of Broccoli

2 cloves of garlic (or 1 tsp of garlic purée)

1 red onion

2 vegetable stock cubes

200ml low fat crème fraiche

1 pack of soft Welsh Goats cheese

1. First finely dice the red onion and gently fry in a large saucepan with the garlic. Ensure that the onions do not brown or it will change the flavour of the soup.

2. Chop the broccoli into smaller florets and remove the thicker stems.

3. Dissolve the vegetable stock cubes in 500ml of boiling water and add to the onions and garlic.

4. Add the Broccoli to the saucepan and simmer on a low heat until the broccoli is tender. It doesn't matter if all of the broccoli is not submerged, just pop a lid on the pan and stir occasionally.

5. Depending on how thick you like your soup, (I like mine quite thick) drain about 100ml of the stock off of the broccoli and transfer to the food processor and blend to the desired consistency.

6. Return the blended broccoli to the saucepan, add the goats cheese in small pieces until it has all melted. Then add the crème fraiche.

7. Transfer into bowls (or containers to freeze) add black pepper, serve with a bread roll and enjoy!

This recipe makes 4 servings of soup at 250 calories per bowl... or three generous servings! and is it perfectly fine to freeze; I freeze three of the four servings and they keep really well and are easily thawed and reheated, or simple popped frozen into a pan and gently heated until it has melted and piping hot.

For variations, you could use double cream instead of creme fraiche, or exchange the goats cheese for stilton or another cheese of your choice.

Also… not only do I get to enjoy the yummy broccoli soup, but my pet rabbits get to take advantage of the leftover broccoli and discarded stems.

Goats cheese and caramelised onion tarts

I've been at it again! I just can't help but cook up a storm in the kitchen... and on the menu tonight? Goats cheese tart. I recently made some mini bite-size goats cheese and caramelised onion filo pastry tarts for a colleague's birthday party, and they went down so well I thought I would make a great big dinner sized one. Here's how I did it:

First I cut up three red onions and fried them at a medium heat with a drizzle of oil. Just as the onions began to soften and brown I turned down the heat and left them to cook more slowly, stirring occasionally to ensure that all of the onions were evenly cooked. The key to extra tasty onions is the cook them over a long period of time to allow the natural sugars in the onions to caramelise. I usually cook the onions for about 45mins to an hour.

About 10 minutes before the onions are finished cooking, I added a few pinches of sugar to help the caramelising of the onions and also a generous splash of balsamic vinegar to cut through the sweetness. While the onions were just finishing off I greased the ceramic tart dish and prepared the filo pastry (I cheated and bought some pre-made pastry). I used 4 layers of filo pastry with a brushing of water to make sure that the pastry stayed together during cooking. It's important to not have too many layers of pastry otherwise it doesn't cook all the way through and is soggy... it needs to have a nice crispy crunch to serve as a contrast to the soft onions and goats cheese.

I filled the pastry tart with the caramelised onions and layered the goats cheese generously on the top, and popped in all in the oven at 180 degrees for roughly 20 minutes so that the filo wasn't over cooked but so that goats cheese has melted. Then I served the tart with a fresh salad and a drizzle of the balsamic vinegar... et voila! This goats cheese tart easily served four people and was delicious, I thoroughly recommend!

I even had enough filo pastry left over to make some little bite-size cheese and bacon tartlets... I put a dollop of soft cheese in the centre so that they weren't too dry, fried the remaining onions with some chopped up bacon, topped with a little grated cheddar cheese and popped into the oven until the filo pastry is thoroughly cooked... scrumdiddleyumptious!