Moroccan Spiced Split Lentil Soup

As I mentioned earlier in the week, I have been on a bit of a Moroccan kick lately, after borrowing a cookbook from a friend and realising that cooking from recipes isn't actually that hard after all (I almost never use recipes...). After finding this delicious and easy soup, I just had to give it a try. It turned out to be the perfect, quick dinner for a snowy Sunday night AND it would cost all of about $2 to make for four, good-sized servings. Is there anything not good about this recipe? I think not... I served mine with flat breads that I made out of a batch of sourdough that I hadn't got around to baking. You could do this with any bread dough - just separate into balls, roll out flat on a floured surface and cook in a hot pan until brown.

Moroccan Spiced Split Lentil Soup from 'Made in Morocco' by Julie Le Clerc and John Bougen
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 onions, finely diced
2 Tbsp Moroccan spice blend*
2 x 400 gram tin of tomatoes
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup split red lentils
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or coriander

Heat oil in a saucepan and cook onions until soft. Add spice blend and cook a further minute until fragrant. Add tomatoes, stock and lentils and bring to the boil. Simmer 15-20 minutes, stirring regularly. Add more water if mixture becomes too think. Season with salt and pepper and serve garnished with herbs. I added a dollop of organic yoghurt on top of mine too.

*Spice Blend
2 tsp each of cumin, coriander, paprika, ginger and cinnamon
1 tsp each pepper and turmeric
1/4 tsp each chilli powder and nutmeg

Place all spices in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder and mix until combined. Store in a sealed jar. Makes 1/4 cup.

Last night I made a beautiful lamb kefta tagine with tomato and honey sauce from this same recipe book - it was divine! I highly recommend you check out this book if you are keen to give Moroccan cooking a try. It is simple, beautifully photographed and the recipes use normal ingredients that you are likely to have in your pantry. My kind of cooking.

'Made in Morocco' by Julie Le Clerc and John Bougen

A Project - suggestions needed!

Hello, hello - it's very unusual for me to be writing a post in the middle of a Monday, but the snow I was talking about yesterday arrived! Somewhere between bedtime last night and the alarm this morning, a considerable sprinkle was sprunkled and here we are, with the second snow day in three weeks! It's actually very much like de ja vu... but I'm not complaining! A surprise day off is giving me time to catch up on some reports for work but also some much neglected blog posts!

So, for my project - I had been on the hunt for a new light fitting for our dining area for some time now. The current one is embarrassingly hideous and since we bought our gorgeous new/old table, I had visions of a talking piece much like this one... Well, a patient wait on Trade Me had me purchasing this little beauty last night (I went and collected it about half an hour after the auction finished, I was so excited!). It's solid brass, weighs a ton and cost me all of $29. I was quite pleased with myself :)

But, I have a quandary. I always had visions of painting it, much like my inspiration, to be a funky, colourful centre piece above the classic wood table. However, Paddy thinks we should leave it brass... I've taken some photos of the area it is to go in, and I'm after some advice from you all! So, please, impart your wisdom and taste on me - to paint or not to paint? And if so, what colour??

The old lampshade - you can see why I want to upgrade!

The new lamp shade!

To hang above the table...

Painted maybe the same colour as the chalk board?

From My Kitchen - Sunday 14th August

Well I am sitting here writing this and hoping for yet another snow storm to hit! This time it will be much more exciting and enjoyable as we now have a fully functioning heating system and are all snuggled up warm inside. The weather has been wild all day but still no sign of snow... Fingers crossed we wake up to a decent layer of white tomorrow morning...

I have borrowed a Moroccan cookbook off a friend and have ear-marked a few recipes to experiment with this week. On the stove at the moment is a pot of ridiculously easy split red lentil soup, it only takes 10 minutes to cook, smells amazing, and is made with ingredients I have in my cupboard - sounds pretty good to me! Here is what else I'm cooking for dinner this week...

Dinner
Sunday - Moroccan split red lentil soup with sourdough flatbreads
Monday - miso, leek, mushroom and soba cha noodle broth with pork and ginger dumplings
Tuesday - tagine of kefta meatballs with tomatoes and eggs (from my Moroccan cookbook!)
Wednesday - vegetarian shepard's pie with steamed broccoli and kale
Thursday - buckwheat kasha with roast veges

Baking
- wholegrain sourdough
- chocolate and craisin biscuits

To Do
- soak lentils and chickpeas (for shepard's pie)

Coming up this week (so I'm accountable and actually get around to posting things!):
- split red lentil soup recipe (cos' it's so darn easy and you should all make it!)
- my version of the super easy and delicious self-saucing chocolate mug puddings
- miso, leek, mushroom and soba cha noodle broth recipe
- an exciting new make-over project

From My Kitchen - Sunday 7th August

I'm a few days late this week as things are busy, busy, busy in my neck of the woods. I've been helping out with Paddy's school production, which opens tomorrow night and with the gym and acupuncture, I'm only just getting to sit down for a few minutes now! We have booked a trip to Melbourne in October, and to save money for it I have set myself a goal of not buying lunch for a single day this term. Usually I am pretty good but I can get a bit slack and it soon eats away at my money (no pun intended). I normally try to make sure I cook enough dinner for us to both have some for lunch the next day, and this works best if I dish it up when I serve dinner, so we aren't tempted by second helpings! However, on those days when there isn't enough I have a few go-to tricks to feed a hungry tummy. Watch this space for some cheap, quick and easy lunch ideas for thse busy working bodies out there. Anywho, here's dinner for this week:

Dinner
Sunday - dinner at the neighbours
Monday - lemon and caper chicken on brown rice with steamed broccoli
Tuesday - coconut cream mushroom cabonara with wholemeal penne
Wednesday - warm roast pumpkin, orzo and chorizo salad with a spicy dressing
Thursday - grilled halloumi on a lentil and greens salad with Asian dressing

Baking
- sourdough
- perfect recipe for self-saucing chocolate mug puddings (recipe coming!)

To Do
- soak brown rice
- make halloumi
- soak lentils

From My Kitchen - Sunday 31st July

So, this week is the first week back for the school term, after a lovely break from work. I have lots on this week - the gym on Monday night, accupuncture on Tuesday night and a few other bits and pieces to get through as well. Tomorrow night's dinner is a quick crock pot meal, but this week I am really lookin forward to Tuesday's meal - I've had this recipe filed away on my Pinterest for a while now and can't wait to taste it made up! I loooove peas, and we have a huge bag in the freezer from mum and dad's garden last Spring. Which reminds me, it's actually about time I planted my own peas, as I'm excited to say, it's allmmmooosst Spring here!

Dinner
Sunday - free-range pork sausages, roasted Brussels sprouts and kumara wedges
Monday - curried coconut pumpkin and chickpeas on brown rice (made in the crock pot)
Tuesday - spaghetti with green pea pesto
Wednesday - steak and mushroom pie with steamed broccoli and swede mash (we didn't end up having it last week!)
Thursday - fresh vege and noodle salad with creamy avocado dressing

Baking
- sourdough
- rhubarb muffins (also didn't end up having them last week)

To Do
- soak chickpeas
- soak brown rice
- defrost pie filling

Snow and Bread

Today in my lovely city we woke up to an actual Winter Wonderland! It had been snowing heavily overnight and it continued throughout the day, leaving us with a rather thick layer of the white stuff. In true Christchurch-ian fashion, the city shut down and we all had a snow day!

Max loved the snow!

What better to do on a snow day than make bread and soup. For the soup, I was lazy and used one of those great Kings soup packets and added in a few veges, but the bread was my classic favourite - wholemeal five seed. Perfect with lots of butter, dunked into a bowl of hot soup after a snow frolic!


Wholemeal Five Seed Bread

1 1/2 - 1 3/4 cups warm water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups wholemeal or spelt flour
1 1/4 cups white flour
1 Tbsp each of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, flaxseed and sesame seeds
1/4 cup wholegrain rolled oats
1 1/2 tsp bread yeast

Place all ingredients in a bread maker and set on the dough option. Alternatively, if you are organised, follow the steps for no-knead bread in this post. Keep an eye on the dough for the first five or so minutes, to make sure it has combined properly. Add a bit more water if it is too dry or a bit more flour if it is too wet. Once dough cycle has finished, turn dough out onto a floured surface and give a quick knead. Shape into your desired loaf, slash the top a few times and place in an oven, preheated to 200 degrees celcious. Bake for around half an hour or until the base sounds hollow when tapped.

From My Kitchen - Sunday 24th July

Brrr it's a cold one here at the moment - I can hear hail on the roof as I type this and we have had snow flurries throughout the day. Normally I would love this stormy weather but as we lost our heatpump to an aftershock about a month ago, it is not quite as nice to be huddled around a struggling oil heater instead. And you better believe getting out of bed is a mission in itself! Luckily, we are supposedly on an 'emergency waiting list' and should hear from someone in the next 7-10 working days but I am not hopeful... Until then, soup is most definitely on the menu!

Dinner
Sunday: curried mushroom soup with homemade ciabatta
Monday: warm lentil salad with roasted baby carrots and cauliflower cheese
Tuesday: I'm getting taken out for a dinner date, lucky me!
Wednesday: individual baked pumpkin soups (like these, how cute are they!) with cheese sticks and a green salad
Thursday: steak and mushroom pie with a green salad

Baking
- muffins for the freezer - perhaps rhubarb, as I have quite a stash in the garden
- spelt sourdough