Ruby Soup – Beetroot Soup with Fresh Herbs

This lovely soup should be tried by anyone who says that they hate beetroots. I used to hate beetroots, too, until I actually started using fresh beetroots in my cooking. Give beetroots another chance!

Ruby Soup

4 beetroots
2 carrots
2 small red onions
3-4 smallish cloves of garlic
fresh ginger
fresh coriander
fresh parsley
gluten-free bouillon powder
sea salt

1. Peel the beetroots, the carrots, the onions, the garlic and the ginger, and chop them coarsely.

2. Wash the coriander and the parsley. I used a generous amount of coriander!

3. Put all the ingredients – including the bouillon powder and the salt – in a large pot, and add enough water to cover all the ingredients.

4. Cook until the beetroots and the carrots are ready.

5. Liquidise and serve.

6. Let me know if you still hate beetroots.

Annika

Wankers Crisps – DIY Crisps

Excuse the name of the crisps but there is a story behind it. After yet another late night at the lab during my MSc course in Edinburgh, I was craving crisps – badly. On the way back home, I walked into one of the night shops on Clerk Street and, unimpressed by the look of the Scottish brands they had on offer, was trying to think of the name of the crisps I used to have in England so that I could ask the shop assistant if they really didn’t have them. I was thinking and thinking but the name just wouldn’t come to me... until, finally, I remembered it: Wankers! As I was about to ask the shop assistant for Wankers crisps, I suddenly realised that something about the name wasn’t quite right. In fact, something about the name was horribly wrong; the crisps couldn’t possibly be called Wankers crisps! And so what would have been one of my worst English language blunders to date was narrowly avoided.

On another note, I find my mistake quite interesting as it suggests that I retrieve English words from my memory using their orthography rather than their pronunciation (the real name of the brand is Walkers, and the words “Wankers” and “Walkers” are much more similar to each other orthographically than phonetically). This is sort of supported by the fact that, to be able to memorise and/or reproduce a new foreign word, I usually need to see it written down.

Wankers Crisps

4 medium-sized red potatoes

sunflower oil

sea salt

freshly ground pepper

1. Wash the potatoes (you don’t necessarily have to peel them) and slice them as thinly as you can.

2. Wash the potato slices in cold water and dry them by placing them one by one on one half of a kitchen towel. Fold the other half of the kitchen towel on top and pat the potato slices dry.

3. Place the potato slices in a baking tray covered with baking paper, and sprinkle oil, salt and pepper on top of them. Toss them around using a spatula to make sure that there is oil and spices everywhere.

4. Cook the potato slices in a preheated 250° oven, tossing them around every 5 minutes. I think the total cooking time in my case was about 25 min. However, because of differences in size/thickness, some crisps were ready before others.  Anyway, you have to keep an eye on them as you don’t want to burn them!

5. When crisp enough, let your crisps cool down a bit (not in the baking tray, though, as they might get soft from the remaining oil on the baking paper), then enjoy them as long as they last – which, unfortunately, isn’t very long at all!

Annika

Soyotto - Veggie Risotto with Soya Beans

Instead of always buying processed soya products, I've decided to start experimenting with soya beans in my dishes. This was my first experiment, and I was quite happy with the result. I'm sure the result will be just as good with any other mix of veggies.





Soyotto

risotto rice
black soya beans
green soya beans
6 courgettes
fennel
1-2 stalks of celery
2 carrots
pea pods
1 onion
4-5 cloves of garlic
fresh ginger
gluten-free bouillon powder
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
tamari sauce

0. Soak the soya beans overnight.

1. Peel the onion, the garlic and the ginger, and chop them finely.

2. Cook the risotto rice and the soya beans together with the onion, the garlic and the ginger (please check the cooking times of the rice and the soya beans as they might differ from each other). Even though it's a "soyotto", there should be (a lot) more veggies than rice and soya beans in the final dish!

3. Peel and wash the carrots, wash the rest of the vegetables and cut them all in smallish pieces.

4. 10-15 minutes before the end of the cooking time of the rice and the soya beans, add the vegetables, the bouillon powder, the salt and the black pepper. Let the soyotto cook until the vegetables are ready.

5. Add the tamari sauce, and enjoy.

Annika