Tasty Minestrone

I came across this recipe in one of my Italian cookery books -  I have tweaked it a little for British late winter/Spring. It is hearty and tasty and full of good stuff!

1/2 head Celery
2 Onions

3 Carrots

3 cloves Garlic
3 Bay leaves
2 cups Lentils - Puy and red
5Tbs Tomato paste
Salt

Pepper

5L water

1Tbs Dijon Mustard
3Tbs red wine vinegar
Some form of greens, 3 cups - not kale, too tough! Something like spinach, red chard, rocket, endive, chicory, spring greens, (finely shredded) - just rinsed and drained, they will wilt down in the soup.

Sweat your onions till they are starting to colour, add the rest of the aromatics (carrots, celery, garlic, bay) and sweat down till they are softened - not too long, just past the 'crunch' stage
Add the tomato paste and gently fry for 3 mins or so.
Add half the water and bring to a gentle boil.
Add the salt, pepper, Puy lentils.
At this stage, put your pasta on to boil - cool and drain when done.
After 10 minutes, add the red lentils and the rest of the water, this will not be to the consistency you want to eat it at - it will thicken considerably as the red lentils cook.
Simmer for 15 minutes
Add the mustard and vinegar, stir thoroughly, then add the greens and pasta and ensure they are heated through.

Serve with a fresh crusty loaf

Results

After all my trepidation, it actually came out OK.

The loaf rose like a champion, the crust was, well... crusty, the texture was light and airy and chewy but the flavour - disappointing.

The plain white Lidl's bread flour isn't exactly the stuff of gastronomic orgasmitude( ??) and I didn't put enough salt in. One teaspoon of Neptune's' gift wasn't enough to lift it, but all in all, not bad for not following a recipe.

What was good was; the crust - golden brown, crunchy and yet not hard as concrete; the texture - springy and white and stretchy and chewy without wearing out ya gums.

So, for a first effort with sub-standard materials I am very pleased... now down to the shops for some more serious ingredients and a date with my new bread book - Dough by Richard Bertinet, apparently the bible for those who know. I would love to do his 5 day course, but at £800 I'm afraid that her indoors puts that firmly on the 'nice to have, when we are millionaires' list.

Bread

Having set out my first blog post, it is time to get to work!

I watched a documentary the other day about Tom Herbert and his quest to make the perfect loaf, I was taken by his statement: "Bread is flour, water, salt and yeast - and time. "

I think we often forget that in these days of non-fermented factory loaves - it is such a simple food but by altering the ratio of ingredients, the technique we can create products as diverse as a brioche tarte, a pain-a-chocolat, a pita bread or a rustic household loaf.

So, to bread.

I am starting out, as so many people do with what I have in the cupboards. In this case, a packed of Allinsons dried yeast - hopefully not out of date, some strong bread flour from Lidl - after all, if you cant make it cheap, why make it at all?, water from our tap and some salt of dodgy provenance.

Not for me the heady delights of fresh Parisian yeast, organic rye flour, spring water and sea salt, oh no! I want to see what can be rustled up in a tiny kitchen with the stuff we all could have hanging around.

First, the yeast. Allinsons dried - one heaped teaspoon into 350ml of warm tap water. add 1/4 teaspoon of sugar and whisk it all together. Let it sit for 10-20 mins and check whether it is alive!

Success - although muted. Not having the 'as advertised' 1-2cm of froth, but it definitely smells of yeast and has a blob of something growing on the top - so here goes.

500 grams of 'bread flour' into the Kenwood along with a teaspoon of salt and the frothed up 350ml of warm yeasty brew - now, turn it to medium slow and let the machine have it's way with the dough for 10 minutes or so... and voila! A silky mass of dough at the bottom of the bowl.

At this stage the dough is warm from the kneading, sticky and springy to the touch. But I'm noteven half-way there yet.

So far I have worked the dough to make it elastic, allowing it to stretch out the gluten which will give us a chewy, textured product and allow the gasses from the fermenting yeast to make the dough 'airy' - or I will end up (as I have before) with a brick.

Now I need to let the dough relax and ferment, to let the yeast work it's magic by turning the sugars in the flour into gasses, which will double the size of the dough.

This can take from an hour to 15-20 hours, depending on the warmth, yeast and flour used, etc. There are no rules. You will, like me, get to know your flour, kitchen and yeast and so will have a fairly good idea of how long it takes to get from shiny ball to puffed up marshmallow stage.

So now, all I can do is wait.