Tag: Peppers

Tomato & Pepper Soup

  • The idea for this soup came about from a salad with vinaigrette that was left over.
  • The vinegar gives the soup a tangy taste and the chilli flakes a little ‘heat’ 

INGREDIENTS

  • 500g tomatoes
  • 3-4 Peppers – red, orange or yellow – not green
  • 1 -2 tablespoons wine or cider vinegar
  • 1 litre of vegetable stock 
  • ½ – 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
  • 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

  • Skin the tomatoes in boiling water.
  • Chop the tomatoes into quarters and fry gently in the sunflower oil.
  • Cut the peppers into medium sized chunks and add to the tomatoes and stir.
  • Add the vegetable stock and the vinegar.
  • Add the chilli flakes and simmer gently until the peppers are soft.
  • Take the pan off  the heat  and purée the contents with a stick blender.
  • Season to taste.
  • Reheat before serving if necessary.

Meakin – Spanish Garden Soup Dish

Bean & Pepper Soup

This soup was inspired by the vegetables in my Tuna & New World Salad 

Ingredients

  • 1 tin of Beans – Cannellini, Pinto or Mixed – drained
  • 4 tomatoes – skinned & chopped
  • 1 small tin of sweetcorn – drained (or cooked frozen sweetcorn)
  • Yellow or Orange Pepper – chopped
  • 2 red chillies – chopped fine
  • 1 bunch of spring onions – white and green parts chopped
  • 1 litre of vegetable stock
  • 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • Salt & pepper to taste

Method

  • Fry the onions, tomatoes and peppers in the olive oil.
  • Add the sweetcorn and chillies.
  • Add the vegetable stock.
  • Bring to the boil and then simmer for around 20 minutes.
  • Add the beans and simmer for another 15 – 20 minutes.
  • Add the lemon juice.
  • Season to taste.
Meakin – Midwinter China – Spanish Garden

Tuna Salad – Mostly New World

  • This salad is based mostly on vegetables that came from the New World.
  • It is very colourful.
  • The proportions are not so important – I have given what I used.
  • It is best to use a different colour for the pepper to the chilli so you can tell the difference.

Ingredients

  • 1 tin of Tuna – drained
  • 1 avocado – peeled and sliced or chopped
  • *
  • 1 tin of Beans – Cannellini, Pinto or Mixed – drained
  • 4 tomatoes – chopped
  • 1 small tin of sweetcorn – drained (or cooked frozen sweetcorn)
  • Yellow or Orange Pepper – chopped
  • 2 red chillies – chopped fine
  • 1 bunch of spring onions – white and green parts chopped
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1-2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt & pepper to taste.

Method

  • In a large bowl mix all the vegetables except the avocado.
  • Pour over the lemon juice and olive oil and season.
  • Put the ingredients into a large serving dish.
  • Put the avocado and tuna on top and mix in slightly.

Dish is Cadiz by Meakin – 1964 – 1970

Ukrainian Salad

  • I bought this jar of salad from my Polish shop.
  • It is Sałatka ukraińska – Ukrainian salad.
  • It was very good.
  • Good to have in as a standby.
  • I wanted to make a similar salad.
  • I looked this up and could not find a recipe similar with beetroots.
  • I noted down the ingredients written on the label.
  • Vinegar and sugar were used in the jar – I used lemon juice and honey.
  • The salad will come out differently each time if you change the proportions of the vegetables.

Ingredients

  • 3 medium boiled beetroots
  • 1 onion
  • ½ a small white cabbage or sweetheart cabbage
  • 1 large or 2 medium carrots
  • 1 red pepper
  • Juice from 2 lemons
  • 2 tablespoons of runny – honey 
  • Salt & pepper to taste

Method

  • Grate the beetroots using a coarse grater.
  • Chop the onion into fine pieces.
  • Shred the cabbage into fine strands.
  • Grate the carrot using a coarse grater
  • Chop the pepper into small pieces.
  • Mix all the vegetables together.
  • Mix the lemon juice and honey.
  • Mix the dressing with the vegetables
  • Season to taste.

Note

  • Tastes good straight away but can be kept in the fridge for several days as well.

    Pepper Soups

    These are very tasty soups with a wonderful colour.

    Ingredients

    • 2 large onions
    • 4 red/orange/yellow peppers
    • 100g butter
    • 2 cloves of garlic – crushed.
    • 1½ litres of chicken stock
    • 1 tablespoon of tomato purée
    • Salt and pepper to taste

    Method

    • Thinly slice the onions.
    • Cut all the peppers into thin strips.
    • Melt the butter in a large frying pan.
    • Gently cook the onions until they are golden.
    • Add the garlic and peppers and cook for a few minutes longer.
    • Transfer the mixture to a large saucepan.
    • Add the chicken stock and tomato purée.
    • Bring to the boil.
    • Turn the heat down and simmer gently with a lid on the pan.
    • Simmer till the peppers are very soft.
    • With a slotted spoon remove some of the cooked peppers.
    • Roughly chop/mash these.
    • Purée the rest of the soup.
    • *
    • Put the large chunks of peppers back in.
    • Gently bring back to the boil.
    • Season to taste.
    • *
    • Serve with rye bread croutons.

     

    Royal Doulton – Tapestry 1966 – 1988

    Peppers & Bean Soup

    Ingredients

    • As above and
    • 1-2 tins of white kidney beans drained.

    Method

    • Make the soup as above up until the soup has been puréed.
    • Add the beans to the soup.
    • Bring to the boil.
    • Lower the heat and simmer for around 5 minutes (can be longer – the beans should be soft.)
    • Put the large chunks of peppers back in.
    • Gently bring back to the boil.
    • Season to taste.

    Royal Stafford – Blossom Time – 1950s

    Gypsy Soup

    Zupa cygańska is Gypsy soup and is so called  because it contains red peppers.  I think the smoky meats may also evoke the idea of camp fires.

    Ingredients

    • 4 large tomatoes
    • 2 red or orange peppers
    • 1 large onion
    • 4 medium potatoes
    • 100g smoked bacon – chopped into small pieces
    • 200g of Polish sausage – sliced and chopped
    • 2 bay leaves
    • 2-3 grains of allspice
    • 3-4 peppercorns
    • a little sunflower oil for frying
    • Chopped flat-leaved parsley to serve

    Method

    • Use boiling water to skin the tomatoes and leave to cool.
    • Chop the tomatoes into quarters.
    • De-seed the peppers.
    • Chop the peppers into small pieces.
    • Chop the onion into small pieces.
    • Fry the onion gently for a few minutes in a large frying pan.
    • Add the chopped tomatoes & peppers.
    • Fry gently for a couple of minutes.
    • Add the bacon & sausage and mix.
    • Cover the mixture with water and cover with a lid.
    • Cook gently for around 10 minutes.
    • Transfer the ingredients to a large saucepan.
    • Add the bay leaves, all-spice and peppercorns.
    • Add around 1.5 litres of water and bring to the boil.
    • Cover with a lid and simmer gently for around 30 minutes.
    • Peel the potatoes and cut them into large “cubes”.
    • Add the potatoes to the soup and cook gently until the potatoes are cooked.
    • Serve with chopped flat-leaved parsley.

    Note

    Do not let the potatoes disintegrate into a pulp.

     

     

    Served in Royal Stafford – Blossom Time from the 1950s.

    Note

    If you do not have the fresh ingredients  you could use tinned tomatoes and bottled peppers.

    Gulasz Soup

    This is a soup I often make when I have some gulasz left from a meal, in fact I often make extra so that there is some!

    There should be about 3 chunks of meat per serving – though of course that depends on the size of the chunks.

    This works well with either beef or pork gulasz.

    Ingredients

    • 350g of already cooked gulasz made with beef or pork, peppers and tomato such as in earlier posts.
    • 1 tin of cannellini beans – drained.
    • 750ml of chicken stock – can be from a cube or concentrate.
    • 1 teaspoon of chilli powder.
    • 2 tablespoons of tomato purée.
    • 125ml of soured cream.
    • Salt & pepper to taste.
    • Flat-leaved parsley or chives to serve & an extra dollop of soured cream if desired.

    Method

    • Put the gulasz into a large pan.
    • Add the drainned beans.
    • Mix the tomato purée with the stock and add this to the pan.
    • Add the chilli powder.
    • Bring to the boil, cover and let it simmer for around 15 minutes.
    • Season to taste.
    • Gently stir in the soured cream.
    • Sprinkle on chopped parsley or chives to serve.

    Note

    Butter beans or haricot beans should be good too.

     

     

    Soup plates are Royal Doulton – Burgundy – 1959 to 1981.

    More Celeriac Salads

    My Polish friend who lives in Leeds, just came back from a visit to Poland and mentioned a celeriac salad with carrots and apples that she had enjoyed.

    This started me thinking and I made this one and then I tried out a couple of other ones as well.

    Ingredients -1

    Half a celeriac – peeled

    2 -3 carrots

    3 apples

    Lemon juice

    2- 3 tablespoons of soured cream

    salt & pepper

    Optional

    A little bit of sugar

    Method – 1

    Coarse grate the celeriac.

    Peel and then coarse grate the carrots.

    Coarse grate 2 of the apples.

    Leave the skin on the other apples, remove the core  and chop it into small pieces.

    In a bowl mix the celeriac, carrots and apple together.

    Add the juice of a lemon and the soured cream and mix well.

    Add salt, pepper and sugar to taste.

     

     

    Note

    I think this tastes best when made a few hours before serving.

    Ingredients -2

    Half a celeriac – peeled

    2-3 hard pears (Conference are good)

    3-4 tomatoes

    1-2  tablespoons of olive oil

    Juice of 1 lemon

    Salt & pepper

    A little bit of sugar

    Method – 2

    Coarse grate the celeriac.

    Peel the pears and remove the core and chop them into small chunks.

    Chop the tomatoes into small chunks.

    Add the olive oil and lemon juice and mix.

    Add salt, pepper and sugar to taste.

     

     

     

    Ingredients -3

    Half a celeriac – peeled

    2-3 apples (Braeburn) are good

    2-3  red peppers

    1-2  tablespoons of olive oil

    Juice of 1 lemon

    Salt & pepper

    A little bit of sugar

    Method – 3

    Coarse grate the celeriac.

    Chop the red peppers into small squares.

    Blanch them with boiling water and leave to cool.

    Strain and the dry the peppers – with a clean tea towel or kitchen paper.

    Leave the skin on the apples, remove the core and chop them into small pieces.

    Add the olive oil and lemon juice and mix.

    Add salt, pepper and sugar to taste.

     

    Three Celeriac Salads

     

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    Served in Carnation by Royal Doulton dishes from 1982 – 1998.

     

    Zrazy – made with Minced Meat

    These zrazy are like the ones made with braising beef in that the minced meat mixture surrounds various stuffings.

    The minced meat mixture  is similar to kotlety mielone  &  pulpety – but  zrazy are cooked differently.

    You take a large handful of minced meat mixture , place the stuffing on it and then close up the mixture so you have an oval shape with the stuffing on the inside.

    Ingredients

    500g minced beef

    1 beaten egg

    4 tablespoons of semolina

    1 onion chopped and fried

    Salt & pepper

    plain flour for coating

    Sunflower oil for frying

    Stock

    500ml of chicken stock

    1 -2 bay leaves

    3-4 Peppercorns

    2-3 Allspice berries

    Stuffing

    Two stuffings often used are –

    Pieces of bottled peppers

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Sticks of Gouda cheese or similar

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    Method

    Pre-heat the oven to GM 3 – 160°C

    Mix the beef, fried onion, egg and semolina together.

    Season with salt & pepper.

    Divide the mixture into around 6 pieces

    Flatten out each piece and place the stuffing in the centre.

    Close up the mixture around the stuffing to make an oval shaped ball.

    Dust the ball with plain flour.

     

    Lightly seal these by browning then in hot oil.

     

    Place the zrazy into an oven proof dish – one that has a lid – so they are not touching.

    Pour in the stock – enough to have some at the bottom but do not cover the zrazy.

     

    Put the lid on and cook in the oven for 1 -2 hours.

    Sauce

    You can thicken the stock that the zrazy are cooked in with cornflour or you can add other ingredients such as fried mushrooms and soured cream when you come to serve them.

     

     

     

    Two shown here – cut through – one with cheese & one with peppers,  served with a mushroom and soured cream sauce.

    Served on Royal Doulton  Carnation – 1982-1998

     

     

     

    Pasta Salads

    The general word for pasta in Polish is makaron .. from the Italian macaroni or maccheroni which is thought to originate from the Greek makaria – food made from barley.

    You need some cooked pasta – small shapes are the best – I often use Fiorelli – little tubes with lacy edges.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    When I am cooking some pasta for a meal,  I often do a bit more so I have some left to make a salad the next day.

    Try not to over cook the pasta.

    The weight of dry pasta will result in around double the weight of cooked pasta  eg 250g of dry pasta will result in around 500g of cooked pasta.

    I find that mayonnaise or mayonnaise based dressing  are best with these salads.

    Cooked vegetables work well with these salads and also tinned or bottled vegetables and so it is a good store cupboard dish.

    Below are several ideas – but you can do many variations – I always use a few different colours to make it look attractive.

    Pasta, Peppers & Sweetcorn Salad

    • 400 – 500g cold cooked pasta.
    • 1 small tin of sweetcorn, drained (or frozen loose sweetcorn – cooked)
    • 1 or 2  fresh red peppers or 2-3 pieces of  bottled peppers.
    • 1-2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
    • Salt & ground back pepper

    20171108_094335

     

    IMG_20150819_064345546

     

    Method

    • In a large bowl mix the pasta and sweetcorn together.
    • If using fresh peppers then remove the stalk and the seeds and chop the flesh into small pieces.
    • Blanch the peppers by putting them in a dish with boiling water and letting them stand for about 10 minutes then drain and pat dry.

     

     

    • If using bottled peppers then drain them from the liquid and cut into small pieces.
    • Add the peppers to the salad mixture.
    • Mix in the mayonnaise.
    • Add salt & pepper to taste.

     

    Pasta, Peas, Peppers  & Sweetcorn Salad

    Ingredients

    • 400 – 500g cold cooked pasta.
    • 1 small tin of sweetcorn, drained (or frozen loose sweetcorn – cooked)
    • 1 or 2  fresh red peppers or 2-3 pieces of  bottled pepper
    • 150g of cooked frozen peas
    • 1-2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
    • Salt & ground back pepper.

    Method

    Make the salad as above then add the cooked peas and mix well

     

     

    Pasta, Peppers & Sweetcorn Salad with Tuna

    • 400 – 500g cold cooked pasta.
    • 1 small tin of sweetcorn, drained (or frozen loose sweetcorn – cooked)
    • 1 or 2  fresh red peppers or 2-3 pieces of  bottled peppers.
    • 1  x  145g tin of tuna chunks in oil or brine – drained
    • 1-2 tablespoons of mayonnaise (variation –  add half a teaspoon of tomato puree or even hot pepper sauce)
    • Salt & pepper to taste – you will need less salt if you are using the tuna in brine.

    Method

    • Make the salad as in Pasta, Peppers & Sweetcorn Salad up to the addition of the mayonnaise.
    • Break up the tuna into smaller pieces and add this to the salad and mix it in.
    • Add the mayonnaise.
    • Salt & pepper to taste – (you will need less salt if you are using the tuna in brine).

    20180114_165443

    Variations

    Add some chopped chillies to the mixture – I use  green ones to differentiate them from the red peppers.

    Pasta, Peas, Peppers & Sweetcorn Salad with Tuna

    Ingredients

    • 400 – 500g cold cooked pasta.
    • 1 small tin of sweetcorn, drained (or frozen loose sweetcorn – cooked)
    • 1 or 2  fresh red peppers or 2-3 pieces of  bottled pepper
    • 150g of cooked frozen peas
    • 1  x  145g tin of tuna chunks in oil or brine – drained
    • 1-2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
    • Salt & ground back pepper.

    Method

    • Make the salad as in Pasta, Peas, Peppers,  & Sweetcorn Salad
    • Break up the tuna into smaller pieces and add this to the salad. and mix it in
    • Salt & pepper to taste – (you will need less salt if you are using the tuna in brine).

    20180114_170929

    Pasta, Peas, Peppers & Sweetcorn Salad with Polish Smoked Sausage.

    Ingredients

    • 400 – 500g cold cooked pasta.
    • 1 small tin of sweetcorn, drained (or frozen loose sweetcorn – cooked)
    • 1 or 2  fresh red peppers or 2-3 pieces of  bottled pepper
    • 150g of cooked frozen peas
    • 200g of Polish smoked sausage or ham
    • 1-2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
    • Salt & ground back pepper

    Method

    • Make the salad as in Pasta, Peas, Peppers & Sweetcorn Salad.
    • Slice the sausage into thin slices and then chop these into halves and quarters.
    • Add this is to the salad and mix in
    • Salt & pepper to taste.

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    Hard Boiled Egg Garnish

    1 or 2 hard boiled eggs can be chopped and used to garnish the tuna or smoked sausage salads.