No Churn Mango Sorbet

This homemade No Churn Mango Sorbet is exactly like the 'Italian' mango ice cream my kids eat in France, and just so simple to make (with a food processor).

Makes just over 500g (about 8 scoops)

500g frozen mango chunks
Juice of 1 lime
50-100g sugar (maple syrup can be used instead)

Simply blitz all the ingredients in a food processor until smooth, adding more sweetener to taste.  It can be eaten straight out of the mixer bowl as a stiff smoothie, or freeze in an old ice cream container. If freezing, try to remember to stir the sorbet with a strong fork every hour at least a couple of times. This breaks up the ice into smaller crystals making it more scoopable.

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Courgette Glut Gazpacho

Courgette Gazpacho is a great way to use up a courgette glut. I first had a green gazpacho in France from a carton bought in a supermarket. I googled the brand (Alvalle) to find the ingredients but have had to guess the quantities.

Serves 4 as a starter

2 medium courgettes, topped & tailed
1/2 cucumber

1 green pepper, de-seeded

1/2 small onion, peeled

1 garlic clove, peeled

2 heaped tbsp greek yoghurt (optional)

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1tbsp wine vinegar

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander

400ml chilled water

Salt & pepper to taste

Roughly chop all the vegetables and liquidise. Can be eaten straight away, poured over ice cubes to chill some more. Or chill in the fridge for 30 minutes to let the flavours develop.

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Banana, Orange, Oat, Nut, & Seed Smoothie

A diagnosis of high pressure has made me determined to eat more fruit and veg, and smoothies seem one way to do this.

Serves 1

Half a banana
3 tbsp porridge oats
1 tbsp mixed nuts
1 tsp chia seeds (optional)
200ml orange juice
1/2 tsp turmeric (optional)
1/4 tsp ground cardamon (optional)

Plonk everything in a Nutribullet or similar and blitz until smooth.

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Filling Summer Tomato Soup

Gazpacho, in the quantity I make it and drink it, is filling.  However, to make it more so, I have combined Gazpacho, Ajo Blanco, and Salmorejo.

Serves a greedy 1 (makes 1 litre)

1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 can chilled water
1/4 cucumber
1/4 small onion
1/2 a red pepper
1 small clove of garlic, peeled
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
50g almonds
1 slice of bread, torn into pieces

Roughly chop the cucumber, onion, and pepper and liquidise all the ingredients. Serve.

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Chilled Summer Soups

It's hotting up nicely outside so here, in no particular order, is my list so far of chilled soups...

Bortsch - chilled beetroot soup

Gazpacho - Spanish Tomato, Pepper & Cucumer Soup
Ajo Blanco - Spanish Almond & Garlic Soup
Yoghurt & Cucumber Soup
Chilled Lemony Sorrel Soup

Tinned Tomato Gazpacho

Last year I posted my parents tried and tested Gazpacho recipe, but I have to say nine times out of 10 I now make a cheaper version with tinned tomatoes and save tasty summer tomatoes for a tomato salad.

Serves 4

1 tin tomatoes

1/4 medium onion

1/2 cucumber

1 small clove garlic, peeled

1/2 red pepper 

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

Large pinch of salt

1/2 tin cold water

Roughly chop the larger ingredients and liquidise in a blender until smooth.  

My blender jug has measurements up the side and I found that it makes the right quantity and texture if you top it up to the 1 litre mark with chilled water after a first blitz to liquidise. 

Chill if you have time or serve with a few ice cubes to keep cool.

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Apple, Berry, Ginger & Oat Smoothie

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Walking back from school drop off in the pour rain I was set on having a slice of Christmas Cake when I got in.  But guilt over Christmas excess took over once I was in the door and I decided to have a smoothie.

200ml milk
3 tbsp porridge oats
1 apple, cored and roughly chopped
1 small slice of ginger
2 dessertspoons frozen berries

Ideally, soak the oats in the milk overnight in the blender cup.  This softens them up for liquidising otherwise it is a bit 'rubbly'.  Liquidise with the rest of the ingredients, and optionally leave to stand for 10 minutes after liquidising if you haven't managed to soak the oats.

This works with any milk; rice, soya, low fat, and pretty much any fruit - apple, pear, banana, or berries - cherries, blueberries, raspberries, mixed berries which you can freeze yourself in small portions from fresh or tinned.

Baby & Toddler Friendly Curried Parsnip Soup

Yesterday was the first day that I truly felt a nip in the air.  Princess, who is recovering from hip surgery, and I discussed soups for lunch in the greengrocers.  And after dismissing Cauliflower Cheese Soup, we settled on Curried Parsnip Soup which is a sign that Autumn is really here.

The reason this soup is baby & toddler friendly is that is so thick.  It all but clings to the spoon enabling clueless kiddies to stand a fair chance of getting most of it in their mouth.  This is also of benefit to 10 year old Princess, as sadly her level of physical disability means she cannot feed herself.  This soup is also 100% hidden vegetables, and you can increase or decrease the curry powder to suit tastes.

Serves 4
2 medium parsnips
1 large potato
1 large carrot
1 large onion
1 clove of garlic
1 stick of celery
1 stock cube (vegetable or chicken)
Boiling water
Milk (optional)
1 tbsp sunflower oil
2 tsp medium curry powder

Roughly chop the vegetables.  As everything is pureed at the end of cooking you don't need to peel the potato or the carrot.

Fry all the vegetables for a few minutes over a medium heat to soften them and give them a bit of colour.  Add the curry powder, stir through and cook for another minute or so then add enough boiling water (or half water half milk) to cover the vegetables with about 2cm of liquid and the crumbled stock cube.  Bring to the boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Liquidise and season to taste.  You can always add more milk or water to make this soup less thick if preferred.  I added a pinch of paprika to mine but left Princess' plain.

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Ajo Blanco - Spanish Chilled Almond, Bread & Garlic Soup

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I made a version of this with watercress in for last year's Alresford Watercress Festival.  It was tasted by Sophie Grigson, but didn't win any prizes.

I'd say it is certainly a soup for garlic lovers, and best served in a shot glass or espresso cup as you can get too much of a good thing.  But it certainly is a great little livener or appetiser on a hot summer's day.

Serves 4-6

115g blanched almonds, cashews, or walnuts
3-4 slices stale white bread
1 large clove of garlic
300-350ml water
5 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
salt to taste

Roughly chop the bread, crusts and all, and place in a liquidiser cup with all the other ingredients and as much of the water as will fit.  Liquidise, add the rest of the water if it didn't all fit to get to a suitable soupy consistency.  Season to taste and leave to chill for a couple of hours or overnight.

Ideally serve in shot glasses or espresso cups on a hot summers day!

Gazpacho - Chilled Spanish Tomato, Pepper & Cucumber Soup

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Can't believe I haven't posted this until now.  Thought I'd quickly sit at the Mac, find the recipe and tweet it.  But now I find myself typing it out at a desk at a hot sunny window.  And for the record, when I search out this recipe next year, it is topping 30C and I've just been for a 30 minute bike ride!

My parents brought this food processor recipe for this summer soup back from the United States along with their now antiquated Kenwood Liquidiser in the early 1960’s, and it remains a firm family favourite.  I do have another recipe for Alentajan Gazpacho from Southern Portugal which I'll post when I next make it!

Serves  2

4 ripe tomatoes
1 red pepper
¼ cucumber
1 small clove of garlic
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
¼ tsp chilli flakes
Salt & pepper

Roughly chop all ingredients.  Put all ingredients into a liquidiser, and blend until liquid.  Chilled water can be added if the soup is too thick for your taste

My mum serves the soup with small bowls of more finely chopped red pepper, cucumber, and freshly made croutons to add a little more crunch.  But I can never be bothered.

Chilled Bortsch or Beetroot Soup

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Beetroot must be the Marmite of vegetables.  Mention it to the wrong person and they start gagging and retching at the very thought of it.  I'm sure this is because of a traumatic memory of the overly vinegared stuff on their grandmother's table served with the cold cuts.  But sadly it is hard to get past the amateur dramatics to get them to try it served a different way.  After all, it's flamboyant colour is near impossible to hide.

Chilled Bortsch has been a favourite of mine since my early teens, when my mother seemed to go through a phase of working her way through the 1960s recipes from her Kenwood liquidiser manual.  But as I didn't have this manual I based mine loosely on Nigella's recipe from her Forever Summer book...with a few tweeks.

Serves 2

2 large or 3 medium cooked beetroot
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp ground cumin
200ml chilled water
salt and pepper
1/4 onion
1 vegetable stock cube
2 tbsp greek yoghurt

Blitz all the ingredients apart from the water and yoghurt in a liquidiser or stick blender cup.  When liquidised add enough chilled water to make into a suitable soupy consistency.  Season to taste and chill for 30 minutes in the fridge. Add a tablespoon of Greek Yoghurt to soup before serving.

I have listed Nigella's original recipe below.  I found all the spices made the soup too grainy for my liking and wouldn't add the coriander again.  I also worried that all the liquid would make it too watery as I like my borscht reasonably thick.  And again I didn't feel comfortable adding that much sour cream, nor had it in the house.


Nigella's Chilled Bortsch

Serves 6-8

2 large or 3 medium raw beetroot
juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1.5 litres hot chicken or vegetable stock
salt and pepper
2 spring onions, halved lengthwise
250ml sour cream

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Wrap each beetroot in tin foil and bake for one and a half to two hours until tender. Unwrap partly and leave for a while until bearable to touch. And I'd put on washing up gloves for this, too, or you'll have a touch of the Lady Macbeth's about you after. Gingerly peel them - when they're this well-cooked the skin should rub off easily - and then cut them into chunks. Put them in the processor with the juice of the lime, and the cumin and coriander and blitz to a pulp while pouring the stock down the funnel. You may want to wear an apron for this (or stand well back). Indeed, you may feel happier doing this in two batches. Taste for salt and pepper, blitz again and then pour into a large jug. Add the split spring onions and leave to cool before chilling, clingfilmed, in the fridge for up to three days. Just before you want to eat this, pick out the spring onions and, to make for a desirably creamy base, blitz again while adding the sour cream (175ml first, then see if you want the rest). Decant back into the jug (for easier pouring) then duly pour into waiting teacups. If you're using more capacious soup bowls in place of the cups, you may find you feed only six from this.

Chilled Cucumber (or Courgette) & Yoghurt Soup

If you like Tsatziki or Raita, this is the soup for you. It can be made with either cucumber or courgette, and plant based yoghurt and milk

It is a funny old soup.  I based it partly on Indian salt lassis, salted yoghurt drinks which are a bit an acquired taste, and Middle Eastern yoghurt soups.  And it seemed like a fitting end to a partly frozen cucumber I found at the bottom of the fridge. 

Serves 2, or a greedy 1

Half a cucumber or small courgette, roughly chopped
1 stick of celery, finely sliced
1/4 small onion
1/2 a small garlic clove
5 large mint leaves
Large pinch of salt
2 heaped tablespoons Greek Yoghurt, or plant based yoghurt
100ml milk of your choice or kefir

Pinch of chilli (optional)

Place all the ingredients apart from the yoghurt into a stick blender cup or liquidiser and blitz like a smoothie.  Add the yoghurt a until you have a suitable 'soupy' consistency.  Unlike greedy me, chill and allow the flavours to develop for about 30 minutes. 

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Apple & Oats Breakfast Smoothie

Day 2 of smoothies and I have found inspiration in the strangest of places - Radio 4's Just a Minute!

Listing to a digital recording whilst I made Thai Inspired Potato Fish Cakes yesterday afternoon, one of the contestants tried to talk for one minute without repetition or hesitation about smoothies. When she detailed adding apple to a smoothie she was challenged that this wasn't a proper smoothie ingredient and so went into great detail to prove in fact it was.

So after a quick google for more factual inspiration - here is today's smoothie. The recipe I found was American and used cup measurements, which I have to say is a much easier way of measuring out oats and milk for this recipe, although I only added half the milk as it looked quite enough. If you don't have a cup measure, just use a mug.

Makes roughly 500ml helping (just under a pint)

1/2 cup or mug breakfast oats
1 cup or mug milk (I'm using rice milk right now)
2 apples, chopped into eighths and cored (the recipe above says peel but I didn't and it gave the smoothie a lovely fresh pale green appleyness)
1 tsp honey

Ideally soak the oats and milk overnight so soften the oats up to make them easier to blend. But, if like me you don't get round to this, leave the smoothie to stand for 5-10 minutes after you make it (based on the fact I've just been out to hang the washing out) as this softens the oats and thickens up the smoothie.

Banana & Oats Breakfast Smoothie

After a 3 week holiday in France, and finishing off the children's calorific food, the weight has started to sneak up. So, together with towing the kids around in a bike trailer, I am trying to eat healthier.

I usually don't get round to breakfast, as I am spoon feeding 8 year old Princess, and running around after the younger two. And I find traditional breakfasts rather dull. But smoothies seem just the ticket.

This banana smoothie recipe is loosely based on a banana lassi recipe I came across years ago. The lemon juice and cardamon are optional, as is the honey to be honest.

1/2 cup or mug breakfast oats
1 cup or mug milk (I'm using rice milk right now)
1 banana, peeled
1 tsp honey
juice of half a lemon
seeds from one cardamon pod

Blitz until smooth. Enjoy.