Irish Summer Minestrone and No Knead 90's Seeded Brown Bread
Colourful comfort food on grey, rainy days
I FEEL LIKE I AM ADMITTING DEFEAT IF I PUT ON THE HEATING AFTER APRIL. Goddamit, it’s meant to be Summer, and I’m going to act like it. I’m channeling the Irish Da today: next I’ll be yelling at people to switch off the immersion after ten minutes. But after twenty-two years living in Ireland, I’m going to say out loud what we all know: for three weeks out of the four in July, it is going to lash raining. Biblical proportion rain, plague of locusts, end of day type torrential rain. Facts.
My parents came to visit me for three weeks in Ireland from South Africa one July and it rained. And rained. And rained. So we did what any sensible people would do: we ate, and ate and ate. We ended up visiting five different Avoca’s in the three weeks and it was fabulous. I can’t speak for now, but Avoca always symbolised quality food for me. Plus, the experience was made really special by the wonderful staff, beautiful presentation and that extra something that is Irish Hospitality (capital letters intentional).
Forget the dozens of hotels springing up and exorbitant prices for a coffee and scone. True Irish hospitality is in your DNA. And the most Irish of things is to feed and water people: nothing brings you more joy and you won’t take no for an answer until a cup of tea has been had and the ‘good’ biscuits delved into. When I’ve been sick or troubled, there has been many a food parcel dropped round and queries of ‘Have you had your dinner yet?’.
In rainy weather and rainy life phases, nothing is more comforting (besides a hape of potatoes) than a steaming bowl of soup and thickly buttered bread. My preference is butter so thick that it leaves teeth marks. And when you dunk the buttered bread in the soup it leaves a golden shimmer of melted butter on the surface. Perfection on a rainy day in July.
Making a big pot of soup is one of the best life ‘hacks’. Forget the sheet mask and bubble bath, do something today that Future You will be grateful for. For extra smugness, bake a loaf of bread. Baking bread shows that you care, that you made an effort. Even more meaningful is when it is just for you. That is peak adulting in my opinion. ‘Cos you could secretly be scarfing a chipper, but here you are, making a wholesome meal.
These two recipes are some of my oldest and most beloved. I taught the soup recipe in a Susty Kids class a few months ago. Which prompted me to share the recipe today as a mom messaged me saying how Child 1 had made it for guests and it went down a treat. It brings me such joy to hear stories like this. That I can share a recipe that you, your friends and your family will enjoy for years to come. So if you make one of my recipes and like it, please let me know, you’ll really make my day.
You know when you go through a phase of making a recipe a lot and then you forget about it? That’s me and this brown bread recipe. I was so excited when I rediscovered it that I made it three times in one week. Fantastic fresh but also superb toasted, which isn’t always the case with brown bread. So not a crumb of bread will go to waste.
Pick Your Protein Chicken or Cannellini Bean Summer Minestrone Soup
This recipe is much loved and well used, colourful and delicious. The only thing I would add is that if you want it to last a few days or to freeze it, cook the pasta separately, and add half a cup just before reheating a portion. Otherwise the pasta becomes too mushy. You can substitute a can of baked beans in tomato sauce instead for the fancy schmancy cannellini beans, just drain off some of the tomato first, as it is rather sweet tasting.
Serves 4-6
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
1 stick celery, diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 litre chicken or veg stock
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp Italian mixed herbs
¼ cabbage, shredded (I like a sweetheart cabbage as it is much easier to slice or buy coleslaw mix as a shortcut)
200g diced chicken (about 1 chicken breast), OR a can of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
85g macaroni or other small pasta
145g frozen peas or petis pois
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Salt and pepper
Method:
Heat the oil in large saucepan.
Add the onion, celery and carrot and cook over a medium heat until very soft. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute.
Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, stock, dried oregano, mixed herbs, cabbage and chicken or beans. Bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer with the lid on for 10 minutes.
Add the dried pasta and cook for a further 8 minutes.
Stir in the peas and simmer for the last 3 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper and garnish with fresh parsley.
No Knead 90's Seeded Health Bread
This was the health bread du jour in the nineties, served in my favourite café with a wholesome sprouted salad and soup. I have several versions of this recipe using different seeds and types of bran. I couldn't make this a use-whatever-you-like recipe as flaxseed and chia seed for example suck up a lot of liquid. So, it is what it is. While the recipe is pretty forgiving, remember that too much experimenting can lead to an inedible lump and wasted ingredients. Learn from my mistakes!
Dry ingredients bowl: larger bowl
3/4 cup (180ml) stoneground wholewheat flour
3/4 cup (180ml) plain white flour
1/2 cup (250ml) oat bran (in the cereal aisle, cheap as chips)
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bread soda (bicarbonate of soda)
1/2 cup (125ml) pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup (125ml) sunflower seeds
2 tbsp sesame seeds
Wet ingredients bowl:
1 egg
1/4 cup (60ml) oil (I use avocado oil or a light olive oil)
1/4 cup (60ml) molasses or honey (I use roughly half and half)
1 cup (250ml) buttermilk (or 1 cup of milk with 1 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice added)
Topping:
2 tsp sunflower seeds
2 tsp pumpkin seeds
1 tsp sesame seeds
Method:
Preheat a fan oven to 180°C. Grease a large loaf tin with oil or butter.
Measure out all the dry ingredients into a large-ish bowl. I actually use a large Tupperware, put the lid on and give it a good shake to disperse the ingredients evenly. You can't sift the flour as there are too many wholewheat 'bits' in it. And I often weigh up the bread the night before I want to bake it, so the Tupperware is super handy.
In a smaller bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. If you are using acidulated milk (milk with vinegar added) instead of buttermilk, leave it to stand for 10 minutes before adding. It will curdle and thicken and that's as it should be.
Make a 'well' in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in all the liquid. Add all the seeds, except for the topping seeds. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, mix the dough quickly and thoroughly.
Pour the dough into the prepared loaf tin and scrape out the bowl with a spatula. Give the tin a shake to level out the dough a bit. Sprinkle over the pumpkin seeds, then sunflower seeds and finally the sesame seeds.
Bake the bread on the middle shelf for 45 - 50 minutes until baked through. Test doneness by inserting a skewer, it should come out clean with no wet dough stuck to it.
Allow the bread to rest for at least 10 minutes before turning it out of the tin. Leave the loaf to cool for at least an hour before slicing to prevent crumbling. It will still be warm enough for butter to melt slightly.
Enjoy within 3-5 days or slice and freeze. Excellent toasted so there should be zero-waste.
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Happy cooking!
xoxoxo
Rozanne