Rosemary Roasted Cauliflower & Smoked Bacon Soup

Three flavours that really hit the mark for me are rosemary, cauliflower and bacon. And I can think of so many ways to eat them, but it is still 'Soup Saturday'. Actually in all honesty, its Sunday, but yesterday I was far too busy being lazy to make soup. I woke up this morning and actually felt that I was missing something - it was guilt from not making soup the day before!

So I grabbed the cauliflower that has been sitting in the fridge for about a week and decided on a creamy soup with bits of bacon running thought it. I went into the garden to get some rosemary - and it has snowed in London. Quickly shutting the back door I set about making the soup. That'll warm us up!

Ingredients:         (Serves 4)

10 rashers smoked streaky bacon
1 head cauliflower, broken into florets
3 tsp. finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 tbsp. oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 litre vegetable stock (cube is fine)
150ml double cream
1 spring onion, sliced

Method:

Pop the oven on to heat at 180 C. Spread the cauliflower over a baking sheet and drizzle with 1 tbsp. oil and sprinkle over the rosemary. Put in the oven to roast for 25-30 minutes.

Grill the bacon, dabbing at the fat as you occasionally turn it over, to make it nice and crispy. Break or slice into pieces and leave to one side.

In a large saucepan, gently fry the onion and garlic in the oil until soft. Add the roasted cauliflower, bay leaves and stock and leave to cook on a low/medium heat for about 15 minutes. Then remove the bay leaves, take off the heat and use a hand blender to blitz the soup until its smooth.

Put the soup back on the heat and add the cream. Warm though and add some black pepper and the bacon.

Serve in a large bowl topped with some more bacon, spring onions and a dash of black pepper. Delicious! 

Ostrich Steak with Blueberry Sauce

I am so happy that more stores seems to be selling the less common meats like ostrich. Its such a healthy meat as it contains hardly any fat, is rich in iron and low in cholesterol.  And on top of that it has a lovely buttery aroma while its cooking and tastes delicious.

It works well simply pan fried, like a beef steak and goes with many different sauces. Here I happened to have a bag of frozen blueberries that were delivered in error, so I thought I'd make a sauce with them.

Ingredients:                (Serves 2)

2 ostrich steaks
1 small shallot, chopped finely
2 tbsp. oil
200g frozen blueberries, defrosted
250ml red wine
2 tbsp. honey
15g butter
salt & pepper

Method:

For the sauce, gently fry the shallot in half the oil. When the onion is soft, add the red wine with a quarter of a cup of water and bring to a boil. Let boil and reduce until you have about half of the amount of liquid left and its slightly thickened.

Add the blueberries and honey and turn to a simmer, with the lid half on. Leave to cook for a further 15 minutes. Stir in the butter and taste for seasoning.

Brush some oil on the ostrich steaks and season with a little salt & pepper. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the steaks for about 2 minutes each side (you can have them a little rare if you like). Then let them rest on a board, under some foil for 2 minutes.

Serve the ostrich sliced with some creamy mashed potatoes, garlic spinach and lashings of blueberry sauce. Lovely!