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Slow cooker carrot and coriander soup - vegan and gluten-free

Carrot and coriander soup

The last time I made soup in my slow cooker was in the second year at university. On Saturdays I worked in a well-known high street retailer of magazines, books, stationery and music. After I had finished selling Daniel O'Donnell CDs and saucy lady magazines (always sandwiched between a gardening and classic music magazine) to the good people of Southampton I would stroll back to my flat and pick a can of soup for my Saturday dinner. Every other day I would cook myself something from scratch but Saturday night was tinned soup night. One Saturday however I decided to make myself a potato and garlic soup before I went to work and leave in the slow cooker to be enjoyed by myself upon my return. Oh the joy of not even having to get the get the tin opener out and putting my bowl in the microwave for a couple of minutes! All day I looked forward to this soup feeling smug in the knowledge that a warming, tasty and filling dinner would be ready for me on my return. When I did get home I was confronted by three angry flatmates and an overwhelming garlic stench. It seemed that while I was ensuring I left university debt-free they were awoken from their slumber by the smell of my dinner cooking and as the day went on it got stronger and stronger. I did taste the soup and with my best food critic's hat on I condemned it as 'foul'. Perhaps it was one too many a garlic clove in it...I have searched through my student recipe folder for it but sadly it seems lost to history.

With such a sorry tale to tell about my soup making it's probably no surprise I have shunned my slow cooker when I have made it since. However, this changed when I was flicking through the copy of Mrs Beeton's Household Management I was given for Christmas. Whilst I was amusing myself with the thought of making turtle or calf's head soup (both out of stock at my local supermarket it seems) I came across two recipes for carrot soup. Both of them needed to be cooked for ages which made me think this would be perfect for making in the slow cooker. The first recipe required 4 quarts of liquor for just 6 carrots, 2 onions and a turnip. I found this equated to about 8 pints of stock which could only make some very watery broth with a bit of veg floating in it. So I raided my fridge, of which the contents is listed in the ingredients before, added some stock and of course coriander. The main ingredient is obviously carrots but a variety of veg can be used depending on what you have available.

I've billed this soup as being vegan and gluten-free. Obviously if you are following a vegan or gluten-free diet you will be aware of what ingredients you can use. However for other people some ingredients such as vegetable stock if you make it up from a cube can be a bit of a minefield. There are vegan and gluten-free stock cubes available in supermarkets but you may need to search through the ingredients list.

Serves 6 – Can be frozen

Equipment: Slow cooker/crockpot, hand blender

Ingredients

2lb (900g) Carrots, chopped

2 Large onions, chopped

2 Stalks celery, chopped

13oz (375g) Potatoes, peeled and diced

2½ pints (1.5 litres) Vegetable stock

1tsp (5ml) Dried coriander leaf

Black pepper to taste

Optional: to garnish fresh coriander leaf or chives chopped

Method

1. Pre-heat the slow cooker on HIGH while you prepare all the vegetables.

2. Put all the vegetables, stock and dried coriander leaf into the slow cooker. Season with black pepper.

3. Cook on HIGH for 4-5 hours.

4. Remove the pot from the slow cooker base and put on a firm surface. The vegetables should just look as it they have been cooked.

5. Using a hand blender on pulse blend the vegetables until you get the consistency you require.

6. Check the taste and see if it requires any more seasoning.

7. Either serve immediately or chill and reheat when required.

Slow cooker ale-braised beef with dumplings

Ale-braised beef with dumplings

With Christmas came a new batch of cookbooks to add to to my stash and with that a temptation to flick through them but never cook a thing from them. Help is at hand through Dom at Belleau Kitchen and his Random recipes challenge.

The idea, as the name suggests, is that you pick a cookbook at random and then go through the pages and pick a recipe to cook at random. I got four lovely books this Christmas – Lizzie Kamenetzky: The Great British Bake Off Winter Kitchen, Mary Berry & Lucy Young: At Home, Fiona Cairns: Bake & Decorate, and Mary Berry's Christmas Collection (signed!).

We decided to take the whole randomness very seriously and assigned each of the above books a number from 1 to 4 and entered them into the appropriately named Random.org. Out spat number 1 which meant The Great British Bake Off Winter Kitchen. To get the page I entered in the numbers 14 to 294 as these are the ones with recipes on. Out came 141 and on that page is a recipe for hot-water crust pastry. Mr JibberJabber was quite delighted by this and still remembers the giant pork pie we made many Christmases ago. However, the recipe was just for the pastry to make 6 individual pies and no filling. The previous recipe for ginger and chilli beef raised pies used this pastry but requires 6 x 220ml metal pudding basins and I don't own a single one. So, I tried again and it came out as 119 which is a picture of Ale-braised shin of beef with walnut dumplings. I have to say this was quite a relief as it wasn't something extraordinarily technical but still tinged with a little disappointment as I do make something similar with my Beef, Bacon and Guinness Casserole.

To start with this recipe is designed for six people and there are just the four of us to feed so I have amended the quantity of beef needed. I calculated that it was asking for 800g of shin beef for four which seemed a lot of meat unless you are a family of four pumas. I couldn't find shin beef but I did get two packs of 450g diced braising steak reduced so I ended up using 900g of beef. After this was cooked and dished out we found that we had enough leftover for another two portions and so this has been put in the freezer. Therefore my version of this recipe still feeds six people but with 300g less beef than the original!

I don't have any fresh thyme or bay at the moment and I wasn't prepared to go to a garden centre to buy one of each so I resorted to my dried supplies. The recipe calls for just one carrot which seems very mean for four people let alone six so I've upped this to three carrots. The major change I have made though is that this a casserole to be cooked in the oven. I don't think I have ever cooked a casserole in the oven and the casserole dish I own certainly isn't big enough to cope with these quantities. I've had a slow cooker since my parents bought me one at university because the kitchens in the halls of residence had only a hob and microwave.

Of course the star of this recipe is the ale. It states to use brown ale and this conjures up visions of Newcastle Brown and Manns but I was after something local. I consulted my in-house expert in Mr JibberJabber and he suggested a visit to the Archer Road Beer Stop.

It certainly is a rarity of shop in this day and age and most likely to be described as a 'gem'. I can't dispute that. No supermarket is ever going to stock that range of beers or give advice on which local beer constitutes a brown ale. Apparently brown ale doesn't have a very good reputation amongst real ale aficionados so breweries aren't keen on terming their beers as such. Therefore you need to look out for a dark amber coloured beer and it was suggested we try Spire Brewery's 80 Shilling Ale. The 'Shilling' categories were a Scottish 19^th century method of pricing a hogshead of beer based on its strength or quality. Don't be fooled by the tartan label as it is brewed in Chesterfield. The other beers in the photograph are all from local breweries within the triangle of South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and North Nottinghamshire.

With such good providence I am sending this over to Elizabeth at Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary and her Shop Local challenge.

As this recipe has a selection of herbs, both dried and fresh, I am also sending it to Karen at Lavender and Lovage for her Cooking with Herbs challenge.

Serves 6 – Can be frozen

Ingredients

2lb (900g) Diced beef (cuts such as shin, stewing or braising steak)

1 onion, sliced

2 Celery stalks, chopped

3 Carrots, sliced

3½ oz (100g) Chestnut mushrooms, quartered

3 Garlic cloves, crushed

1tsp Dried thyme

2 Dried bay leaves

1tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

½ pint (300ml) Beef stock

Black pepper to season

6 Shallots, peeled plus a small amount of butter to fry them

If necessary to thicken cornflour mixed with cold water

Dumplings

3oz (80g) Self-raising flour

2oz (55g) Suet

1 tbsp (15ml) Flat-leaf parsley (chopped, including stalks)

2-3 tbsp (30-45ml) Water, to mix

Method

1. Pre-heat the slow cooker to HIGH while you prepare the vegetables.

2. Add all the ingredients for the casserole except for the shallots in the slow cooker.

3. Cook for 4-6 hours on HIGH.

4. Towards the end of the cooking time prepare the dumplings by mixing together the flour, suet and parsley in a bowl.

5. Add the water one tablespoon at a time until the mixture binds together.

6. Divide the mixture and shaped into 8 dumplings. Put to one side.

7. In a small frying pan heat the butter and lightly fry the shallots until they start to colour.

8. Add the shallots into the slow cooker and stir in.

9. If you wish to thicken the casserole mix 1 tablespoon of cornflour with 1 tablespoon of water, pour in and stir.

10. Place the dumplings on top and cook for at least another 20 minutes.

11. Before serving take out the 2 bay leaves.

We served ours with roast potatoes and Yorkshire Puddings.