Seasonal Scotland: Leek & Potato Soup

This is one of the first ~proper~ (i.e. from scratch) things I ever cooked and you just can’t go wrong with it. I’ve based my recipe on the one featured in 400 Soups. UK-grown leeks and potatoes* are available most of the year and last week I managed to get mine from South-East Scotland :) 

Serves approx 6 (freeze any leftovers!)

I always make Alex chop the onion :p He wears contacts!

Ingredients:

75g butter or oil

2-3 leeks, chopped

400g potatoes, chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 pints vegetable stock

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Heat up the half the butter or all the oil in a large pan then add the onion and leeks. Gently cook for a few minutes until they’ve softened up.

2. Mix in the potatoes and cook for a further few minutes.

3. Add the stock, cover, and bring to the boil. Reduce to simmer for 30 minutes.

4. Add the salt, pepper, and left over butter if using. Optional – take off the heat and liquidise all/part of it for a smoother soup (I like to whiz up a little bit of it to make it thicker).

To find out more about what fruits and vegetables are in season check out this amazing interactive calendar! I have one of Liz Cook’s wall charts on my kitchen window but like to use this electronic one too.

*Maincrop potatoes are generally harvested October-December but they can be stored for months so although not technically ‘seasonal’ (it’s nearly March now!) I’d still say this counts as a Seasonal Scotland dish!

Daal

A nice, simple daal.

I'm on a mission to make the perfect daal. While this is far from it, it's still pretty good and increadibly easy and cheap to make once you've got all the herbs and spices. This is probably the 4th draft of my recipe. Expect more.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1lb yellow split peas or similar (lentils, pulses etc – check cooking times)

4 large chopped tomatoes or ½ tin chopped tomatoes (optional)

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tsp turmeric

2 tsp ground coriander

4 tsp cumin (I like a mix of ground and seeds)

2 tsp garam masala

2 tbsp butter or oil

2 tsp salt

1 tsp chilli powder

½ tsp cinnamon

Method:

1. Rinse the peas/lentils/beans and bring to the boil in a large pan of cold water. Reduce heat and simmer for 40-50 mins or until soft (soaking in advance might reduce cooking time).

2. Melt the butter/heat up the oil in a large pan. When hot gently fry the garlic for 1 minute then add the tomatoes (if using) and all the spices (if using cumin seeds fry these earlier with the garlic). Mix together for a minute or two on a high heat. 

3 Add the drained, cooked peas/lentils/beans to the spice pan (most recipes say to add the spice mix to the lentils once their water is absorbed, but I think too much of the spice mix gets left behind on the old pan this way). Mix in and serve with something yummy, like fried aubergines…