This is my husband’s signature dish. For as long as I have known him (over 13 years now!) he has been cooking this dish and it was on pretty high rotation in his “bachelor pad”. Whenever he volunteers (or is “encouraged” to volunteer) to cook dinner he’s bound to go for a variation of this meal. You can make it with chicken or lamb any other meat and served it with rice or noodles. It’s particularly yummy with sliced cucumber to add a refreshing crunch to complement the smooth sauce.

1 large onion
½ cup water
2cm piece green ginger
1½ tablespoons tomato paste
500g lean rump or boneless blade steak
¾ cup long grain rice
¼ teaspoon tumeric powder
1½ tablespoons oil
1 cucumber
1½ tablespoons curry powder
fresh coriander (optional)
¾ cup coconut milk

Chop onion and grate ginger. Slice meat thinly. Heat half the oil in a heavy frying pan. Brown meat and set aside. Heat remaining oil in pan and add onion, ginger and curry powder. Fry for a few minutes, stirring. Return meat to the pan and season to taste. Add coconut milk, water and tomato paste. Bring to the boil and simmer, covered for 10 minutes.

Put a large pot of water onto boil, add turmeric and then rice and cook for 7-10 minutes or until tender. Drain.

Uncover curry and simmer for a further 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve hot with rice and slice cucumber. Sprinkle with freshly chopped coriander, if using.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serves 4

I have just finished making up a batch of Potato & Leek Soup because there happened to be leeks available in the supermarket this week (not that common).When I was pregnant with my eldest daughter (Guerita) I never had cravings for anything weird or disgusting, but I would get obsessed with a particular food and need to eat it every day for weeks on end. It was very strange. At one stage I was craving hot dogs, which was not a particularly healthy thing to be eating daily, although at least they were the homemade kind and not those awful ones that have been kept warm for hours. The other thing I had a major craving for was Potato and Leek Soup and I would make batch after batch and have it for lunch and sometimes dinner too every day. Probably explains why I put on so much weight during the pregnancy, what with all those carbs and cream!

So, I can pretty much make this recipe in my sleep, and although I couldn´t face it for a while after Guerita was born, its back on the menu again these days. Its a very simple recipe with no fancy ingredients, but it sure is tasty.

Potato & Leek Soup

55g butter
115g leeks, white end only, finely sliced
4 cups (1 litre) stock
350g potatoes, peeled and chopped (if you like your soup thicker, add more potatoes than this)
pinch salt & pepper
150ml double cream
12 green leek rings for garnish
4 sprigs of fresh chervil

Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the leeks and sweat gently over a low heat for 10 minutes until translucent but not coloured.

Add the stock and potatoes, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, until the potatoes are soft. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Leave the soup to cool slightly before blending it to a creamy smoothness in a liquidiser or with a hand blender. Return to the pan to heat through again. (I usually just use the bamix straight in the saucepan)

Just before serving, stir in the cream. Serve piping hot, with a few rings of leek and sprigs of chervil for garnish. (I don´t bother with the garnish unless its for guests. I am too keen to scoff it to bother about decoration!)

There´s probably a million variations on this recipe - if you´ve got a special ingredient for your Potato & Leek soup, let me know - I´d love to try different versions!

I posted this recipe on my other blog when I was going to a few Cookie Exchange gatherings around Christmas time. It comes from a (US) Better Homes and Garden magazine called “100 Holiday Cookie Recipes” and was a great (and yes, super easy) recipe for making a big batch of treats.

Super Easy Chocolate Bars 1 cup butter, softened
½ cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour (plain flour)
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (1¼ cups)
1 cup semisweet chocolate pieces
½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
½ teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F (175C). For crust, in a large bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Beat in sugar and 1/8 teaspoon salt, scarping sides of bowl. Beat in the flour on low speed until combined. press two-thirds of the crust mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 13×9×2-inch baking pan.

For filling, in a medium saucepan combine sweetened condensed milk and chocolate pieces. Stir over low heat until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. remove from heat. Add nuts and vanilla. Spread hot mixture over the crust. Sprinkle remaining crust mixture over chocolate mixture. Bake in preheated oven about 35 minutes or until golden. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into squares. Makes about 25.

To Store: Cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

One of my favourite soups has got to be Pumpkin Soup. It perfect for a cold winter’s day, but let’s face it, it’s so yummy you could eat any time of year.

Its hard to buy pumpkins here in Mexico, so when we can (mostly around Halloween), I usually stock up and make batches of Pumpkin Soup, and then freeze it and try to ration it out so we can enjoy it for more than a few days. It rarely works, because once I know its in the freezer, I can’t help but crave it. I love the rich orange colour of the soup and the thick texture of it. A chunk of crusty toasted French baguette to dip in and you have a filling easy meal.

The recipe I use is a really simple one taken from a Woman’s Weekly cookbook. As well as the regular range of cookbooks (of which I have many), they have this great series of mini cookbooks on fairly specific topics. I’m pretty sure this comes out of the one called Soups. Figures. I always use butternut pumpkins if I can. I think they have a smoother, milder flavour. Plus they are so much easier to cut up. Sometimes I add a bit of cumin (maybe a teaspoon or 2. Depends on how much you like cumin!) if I feel like a change.

Pumpkin Soup

40g butter
1 large brown onion (200g), chopped coarsely
1.5kg pumpkins, chopped coarsely
2 large (600g) potatoes, chopped coarsely
6 cups (1.5 litres) chicken stock
½ cup (125ml) cream

Melt butter in large saucepan; cook onion, stirring, until soft. Stir in pumpkin and potato; cook, stirring, 5 minutes. Stir in stock, bring to a boil. reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, about 20 minutes or until pumpkin is soft, stirring occasionally.

Blend or process soup, in batches, until pureed; push through sieve into a large clean saucepan. Just before serving, add cream; stir over heat until soup is hot. Serve topped with a dollop of sour cream and chives, if desired.