Things this Sunday are quite blissful in the world of R khooks. No rushing off to a big food festival, no lying in bed with an awful flu…The sun is shining and I’ve had time to get my groceries from the local market, have a cup of tea and listen to my favourite radio show. There’s a pot bubbling on the stove with an experiment (I’ll be testing it out on my local guinea pigs later today and if it’s good, you’re be hearing about it too). So in all in all quite perfect =)

I made this soup last week while I was suffering from a cold which just wouldn’t go away. Inspired by my Austrian Grandma who used to make a Grießnockerl soup (Grießknockerl = semolina dumplings). The dumplings were always soft and had a delicious buttery taste. A steaming bowl of this is just what you need when you’re stuck in bed with a red nose.

While I was coughing, sneezing and spluttering germs I spent a lot of time reading up on “superfoods” and came across this about parsley,

“When tested in laboratory research, chlorophyll from parsley showed slight anti-bacterial and anti-fungal activity. Thus, it may be used to enhance immune response and to relieve mucus congestion, sinusitis and other ‘damp’ conditions.“

So there’s my “prescription” with natural anti bacterial elements plus some carrots for the vitamin C.

Baby parsley carrots & parsley Grießnockerl Bouillon

Baby parsley carrots

3 carrots
Handful of leaves of parsley (keep a bit of the stalk on)

Peel the carrots. Chop the carrot in 2.5cm pieces. Using a knife or a potato peeler “sculpt” or peel off some of the carrot to make the tip. Using a skewer poke a whole in the top and insert the stalk of the parsley leaf into the carrot.

Parsley Grießnockerl (or semolina dumplings)

1/2 bunch of parsley
2 cloves of garlic
100g semolina
30g butter, melted
1 egg
salt
pepper

1.5l stock (I used chicken stock but use vegetable is fine too)

Whizz the parsley with the garlic in a blender until you have a paste. In a bowl combine all the ingredients, season with salt and pepper. Make the dumplings by taking a teaspoon of the mixture and rolling it into a ball.

Bring the stock to the boil with carrots. Once the stock is boiling add the dumplings. Boil for 5 minutes. Take the pot of the heat. Cover and leave for 5 minutes. Garnish with a few fresh parsley leaves and serve.

Take a look at Cookthink “Parsley”/Root source food blog event for more “anti bacterial” recipes

Last weekend I tasted the most delicious carrot soup I’ve ever had at my friend’s Grandma’s house. She told me it was a recipe from JoËl Robuchon. I decided to attempt on recreating it myself for a dinner. The spiced cumin bread soldiers are my touch. Soldiers is an English term for strips of bread or you could use the French term “mouillettes”. You usually dip them in soft boiled eggs.

This soup went down a treat. Low in calories and high in vitamin C this dish is perfect for any diet

Carrot soup with spiced cumin soldiers
Soup recipe adapted from JoËl Robuchon

2 kg carrots, peeled and chopped into rounds
2 cloves of garlic crushed
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 cube of chicken/vegetable stock
1 teaspoon of cumin
salt & pepper
boiling water
6 oranges juiced
2 tbsp of sugar (optional)

Fry the garlic in the olive oil until golden. Add the carrots. Stir for a couple of minutes. Add the stock cube and enough water to cover the carrots. Cook until the carrots are soft. Meanwhile reduce the orange juice by a third, if you’re oranges are very acidic add some sugar (this is what I had to do). Once the carrots are soft, puree until smooth. Add the orange juice, cumin and season to taste. If you prefer your soup to be less thick add more water. Serve with spiced cumin soldiers.

Spiced cumin soldiers

6 slices of bread
125g soft butter
1 bunch of parsley
1 teaspoon of cumin

Toast the bread. Meanwhile chop half the bunch of parsley finely. Combine with butter and cumin. Spread on the toast and cut into strips. Use the rest of the parsley to garnish the soup.