Creme d'Asperges

Quite possibly the easiest asparagus soup recipe in the world... And it's totally delicious, too :)

Around 500g green asparagus
1 large onion, chopped finely
3 tablespoons butter
4 - 5 cups of vegetable stock
1/2 cup creme fraiche, sour cream or heavy cream (depending on taste)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice (optional)

Cut or break the tips off of the asparagus in about 1 and a half inch sections. Reserve for garnish.

Cut the remaining stalks into 1/2 inch pieces. Cook the onion in two tablespoons of the butter over low heat until softened. Add asparagus pieces and season as desired with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring for five minutes. Then add the stock, cover and simmer until the asparagus is very tender (15 - 20 minutes).

While the soup simmers, cook the reserved tips in boiling water until just tender, then drain.

Remove the soup from the heat and puree until smooth, then return to the heat. Stir in the cream and add a little more stock if a thinner consistency is desired. Bring soup to the boil and whisk in the remaining tablespoon of butter.

Serving: Ladle into bowls and add lemon juice if desired. Garnish with asparagus tips.

Spirali Ciociara
This is spirali ciociara for the lazy people ;)

# Couple of handfuls of cooked spirali pasta
# Tbsp of butter
# Large pinch of chopped fresh Italian parsley
# Tiny pinch of minced garlic
# Sprinkle of salt
- Mix these all together well.

At the same time, heat in a saucepan
# A cup of Leggos Primavera pasta sauce
# 1/6 cup of water
- Make sure it's blended together well so that it's runny and smooth.

Grate up about 1/2 cup of cheese.

Put the pasta and cheese into the sauce in the saucepan, mix it around well, ensuring that the cheese melts totally. Once that's done, put it in a serving dish and voila!

Hmm... well, that was enjoyable *lol*

Rick Stein's Seafood Lover's Guide series just came to an end today. Already watched it a couple of years ago, and altho I'm a vegetarian, I did enjoy watching the series - a lot has to do with Rick's presentation style.

It's good to see a TV chef with a real passion for food and food heritage. And none of the "Low fat" crud. Or the irritating tw*ting on about themselves and annoying camera angles. Or being boring. Or making food that you'd never in a million years eat.

All I want to say now is: P*ss off, Delia Smith. And take your irritating diet recipes with you!

Celebrity chefs

Having fallen in love with the New Idea Saturday Kitchen show on Channel 7 and being crushed at the thought that it'll be finishing in a couple of weeks time *insert appropriate crying sounds*, I got thinking about celebrity chefs and was kind of surprised by how many of them I actually like *lol*

Nigella Lawson - she's just lovely. And her recipes are delightfully simple.

Jamie Oliver - I didn't actually like him until the school lunches series was on and it impressed me with the effort he was making to ensure that the lives of young kids will actually be of a good quality in terms of food.

Rick Stein - he's my cooking hero. He's so passionate about everything, focuses on old style things, doesn't disregard things, expounds fresh ingredients and local produce and all of that. Very pleasant. And Chalky is cute!

Ian Parmenter - he used to be on ABC's Consuming Passions. Very, very funny. Entertaining to watch.

Ainsley Harriott - if he wasn't already married, I'd want to marry him *lol* The joy about the food is infectious and his styles are fascinating. Always new perspectives on old ingredients.

Gordon Ramsey - he's the Simon Cowell of the cooking world, which can be amusing sometimes.

Hewie - plump and cheerful and a good practical food cook.

Celebrity chefs I don't really like...

Delia Smith - she's okay, but just far too clinical.

Madhur Jaffery - not sure if that's how her name is spelled, but everything she makes seems to turn out some variety of brown or orange. But then I don't really like Indian food, so ah well.

Jeff Janz - annoying.

Georgio something-or-other, who is occasionally on the New Idea show. He's okay, but just doesn't work for me. And I wouldn't use his recipes.

In The Beginning

I've decided to start another blog.

One that focuses on food, recipes, stuff like that. Some variety of web domestic goddess thing or whatever.

It may be interesting, or it may not be...