Dayrecipe Food Community

Lovely, rich soup made with my favorite vegetable. I made this tonight after a day of shopping in minus 0 degree winds and the first snowfall of this season. It was wonderful. It was warm and filling without being over heavy. I like the cheese just sprinkled on the top but if you would prefer you could certainly add and mix it into the soup.

MAKES: 8 servings
INGREDIENTS:

• 2 lbs broccoli
• 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup light cream
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 6 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese
• Hot pepper sauce (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Trim flowerets from broccoli and reserve.
2. Put aside stems for another use.
3. In a medium saucepan, combine flowerets and chicken broth.
4. Bring to a boil; reduce heat.
5. Cook, uncovered, over medium-low heat, until broccoli is tender, about 12 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, in a heavy skillet, melt butter and saute onion until golden, about 8 minutes.
7. Reduce heat to low and stir in flour and cook, stirring constantly, 2 minutes.
8. Stir onion-flour mixture into soup.
9. Heat to boiling; cook until thick.
10. Remove from heat, and add salt and pepper.
11. Transfer broccoli mixture to the container of a food processor and blend to desired creaminess, I like some very small chunks left.
12. Transfer to clean pot. Add milk, cream, nutmeg, and dash of hot pepper sauce.
13. Heat slowly to boiling, stirring constantly, and remove from heat.
14. Serve at once.

I love both the taste & the health benefits of Matcha tea. Not only do I enjoy drinking the tea but also baking with it – it is actually extremely versatile…why not give it a go? These little cakes are a gorgeous pale jade green colour & the extra sparkle on the top makes them perfect for a special occasion.

Makes 12-15 mini cakes

INGREDIENTS:

For the Mini Cakes

• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1 cup white granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 medium free range eggs
• 2 cups self raising flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1 lemon
• almost 1/2 cup skimmed milk
• 1.5-2 tsp matcha tea (Japanese green tea powder).

For the Buttercream Topping:

• 1 cup homemade or store bought buttercream
• 1 tsp matcha tea
• 1/2 tsp bronze edible glitter
• 1/4 tsp matcha tea

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place the margarine, matcha tea, eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl. Using an electric hand held mixer beat the mixture until light and creamy.
2. Finely zest the lemon and add to the bowl along with the baking powder and salt.
3. Cut the lemon in half & squeeze the juice into a measurement cup, top up the lemon juice with the skimmed milk until you have a total of 1/2 cup of liquid.
4. Pour the milk mixture into the bowl & whisk on high for a few minutes.
5. Sift the flour & gradually add to the miture, mixing well until completely combined.
6. Set the oven to 180c & allow the mixture to sit until the oven is preheated, preferably 10-15 minutes.
7. Spoon the mixture into a muffin pan lined with paper cases (until two thirds full).
8. Place in the oven & cook for 22 minutes – or until just set & springy to the touch.
9. Once cooked, remove from the pan and allow to cool on a wire rack.
10. Once cooled, beat the matcha tea into the buttercream until it is an even green colour and fluffy consistency.
11. Spread a generous amount of the buttercream on top of each mini cake. Top with a sprinkling of matcha tea and the bronze glitter.

TIPS:

1. You can increase the matcha tea in the mini cakes by 1/2 tsp or more if you like a stronger taste & deeper green colour.
2. Try using lime instead of lemon for a slightly different citrus zing!