Thursday 5 January 2012

Health, wealth and happiness - spinach and nutmeg soup

This is what I hope to be the first of many "Health, wealth and happiness Thursdays". I intend to cook a different meal each week that encompasses all of these qualities: health - it has to include healthy ingredients (vegetables, fruit, complex carbs, low-fat protein, healthy fats). Wealth - cheap to make: each portion has to cost under £4, and happiness - the food has to be tasty! So basically, that's it. Hopefully making something new each week will encourage me to find healthy, cheap and tasty things to eat, and get me clued up on how to alter recipes to make them healthier. So without further ado, this week's offering is
Spinach and nutmeg soup




I got the recipe from the New Covent Garden soup book, but altered it a little, so below is my version of their recipe:
Serves 3
Ingredients
Olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
teaspoon of plain flour
400ml vegetable stock
good splash of lemon juice
300g fresh spinach
nutmeg
100ml milk
salt & pepper
Heat the oil and cook the onions over a low heat in a covered saucepan for 10 mins, then add the flour and cook for another two mins. Add the spinach, nutmeg, lemon juice and stock, cover, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 mins until the spinach has wilted. Let the soup cool a little, then blend using a liquidiser or a hand blender. Pour in the milk and reheat gently (you can also add cream at this point, but I left it out), then serve, topped with fresh herbs or a swirl of cream.
Health - spinach is REALLY good for you - high in vitamin C and has been shown to help prevent prostate cancer. Also the recipe was easily adapted to leave out the butter and the cream.
Wealth - I already had most of the ingredients, but the bits I has to buy were the spinach and onions which cost about £2 altogether, so I'd say it was a success on that front!
Happiness - super-tasty! The nutmeg and lemon juice add a bit of interest, and even without the cream it was lovely and smooth. It's not a great colour (sort of murky green). Will's input: "It were dead good!"
So generally the first health, wealth and happiness Thursday was a success!

1 comment:

  1. Many thanks for this - I lived in the UK for 10 years and would buy the NCG Spinach and Nutmeg all the time... can't wait to try this!

    One small thing - I do wish you'd tell how us much nutmeg to use! I bought some fresh ones but I have no idea how to use - guess the taste test will rule here knowing how powerful a taste nutmeg adds to a dish.

    Thanks,

    Mike

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