Friday 2 March 2018

Hot Food for Cold Days

Many of you have been experiencing very wintry weather over the last weeks, and my small part of the globe was no exception. We've had nights as cold as -12 Celsius (around 10 F) and days not getting above freezing point. Icy gusts of wind were biting your face whenever you dared to (or had to) venture outdoors. There were beautiful sunny days, too, but still bitterly cold. I have not been running for ages as I tend to get nose bleeds when the air is very cold, and I am one of those "just for fun" runners who really do it just for fun and so I won't torture myself by running when it is too wet, too cold or too windy for my liking.

What to do to keep warm? I usually opt for the dual approach: Warm from the outside and the inside! That means of course warm clothes and making good use of hot showers and central heating for the outside part, and drinking copious amounts of hot drinks (tea and coffee, with the occasional mug of vegetable broth spiced with ginger) and eating hot food for the inside part.

A few weeks ago, I took all the remaining spuds and carrots from another meal and turned them into a thick soup, generously adding ground ginger, nutmeg and pepper for a bit of extra heat, and served it with home-made croutons and freshly chopped chives from the windowsill. O.K. and I had this soup for our evening meal when he arrived at my place for the weekend one Friday night.

The "recipe", if you can call it that, goes like this:

Take whatever you find in terms of potatoes and carrots. Oh, and I added an apple. It does not give off a noticeable apple aroma later on, but it complements the other ingredients well.


Start with the spuds, as they take the longest. Peel and chop them, then put them in a pot of water to boil.

In the meantime, peel and chop the carrots. Do the same with the apple.


Add to the boiling potatoes and close the lid. Now go away and do something else for about half an hour. You may want to stir the vegetables occasionally. 


Once the vegetables have been simmering away long enough to be soft-ish, mash them up with your spuds masher.

Add salt, pepper, ground ginger and nutmeg (careful there - too much nutmeg can easily result in a slightly musty taste) and butter. 
Serve with croutons and freshly chopped chives on top. Fried bacon bits or sausages would also make nice additions.


On the Sunday, I made another warm-up meal by using a ready-made Thai red curry paste for a sort of stir-fry with bits of turkey and vegetables fried in the wok. We ate that with mie noodles. It was very welcome after a nice long walk in winter wonderland - more about that in my next post.

We did not neglect the intake of fresh food for vitamins, having fresh fruit with our mueslis and a big bowl of salad with the soup. So far, our immune systems have been successfully fighting all the flu viruses around us. Let's hope it stays that way.

The forecast here is for milder temperatures this weekend. We'll see. For now, keep warm and well, wherever you are!

12 comments:

  1. We've just had a return of winter and lots of snow, so this soup sounds like a wonderful idea to me! My younger daughter and two granddaughters are coming for dinner and I think soup will be a delicious part of our meal. I've never used nutmeg in such a soup, but I think I will try it, cautiously, as you suggest. It will go well with this newest winter wonderland!

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    1. For me, nutmeg is obligatory whenever I make something with potatoes - but only a small amount, and I always buy a whole nut and grind it freshly with a special little grinder.
      The dinner with your daughter and granddaughters sounds lovely! I am sure you'll have a great time with lots of laughter around the table.

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  2. Like the look of that soup. In fact, I'm sure I can smell it...

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    1. It did smell nice. As for the look, I realise that the photos in the pot are not the most appetising - it looked really nice in the soup bowls, with the croutons and chives on top. But by then, all we wanted was to eat it while it was hot, and I didn't think of getting the camera out just for that :-)

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  3. Your soup sounds nutritious and delicious! Just the thing for cold weather.

    It's supposed to get close to freezing here for the next three nights, then back to warm, warm temperatures. Spring is early here this year. A lady from a farming family told me we're only about two weeks from the first strawberries of the year!

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    1. Strawberries?! That is so remote in my mind right now - it won't be before the end of May here!
      Your weather is really taking you on a rollercoster there. Enjoy your early spring!

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  4. I love making/eating soups, and often make delicious ones from whatever is hanging about in 'frig and veg baskets - they can be the best of all on a cold winter's day.

    Hope your bitter cold leaves after this big storm across Europe is done! We have a huge one hitting the east coast of the US today, the northern states getting hit badly with snow, but luckily here we have just rather scary high winds. My finger are crossed in hopes this won't impact our travel in just a few days!

    Have a fun weekend - Mary x

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    1. Soups are great, aren't they! Using whatever you find around the kitchen is the best way for creating different soups every time; I bet they never turn out exactly the same but are always delicious.
      I hope your travel plans are not going to be affected by the weather!

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  5. I made something a bit like this except that I ended up adding a tin of beans to make sure there was enough protein. Not going to win me any michelin stars, for that reason, but actually it was very nice. I have discovered chopped root ginger and this can give a lift to all kinds of things, including salads.

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    1. I have tins of baked beans in my kitchen cupboard but always safe them for "later"; maybe I should make beans on toast next time O.K. is here. My cooking definitely won't be eligible for any michelin stars, but I usually like how things turn out, in spite of my strange habit of never trying what I am making while I am cooking. Chopped root ginger in salads - that sounds like an interesting idea!

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  6. Do you have nutmeg that you grate, or do you have grated nutmeg in a tin?
    The kind we have in a tin here is not very nice so I don't use it.
    Ginger now, that is a different thing! I LOVE ginger, I always have it on hand! I know that people buy ginger and grate it, but I just like the kind that you buy already in a glass jar. I love it in my stir-fries and also like to have it on chicken or pork. I should have called myself GINGER Girl! :-)
    Your soup looks good by the way. Wish I could send you some of my Dad's onion cornbread to go with it, you would love it!!

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    1. I have a special little grater with a compartment for the whole nut, and only use this, never a tin.
      For ginger, I use the lazy option and have it in a glass jar like you! Mmmh, the thought of your Dad's cornbread to go with the soup makes my mouth water... I better get breakfast!

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