Proud moments

As William and Kate emerged from St Mary's with their new baby, I was having a proud moment of my own. I was eating my first ever home-grown, perfect and totally organic cauliflower.

My cauliflower baby

I've tried growing veg before and it always starts well, in an (expensive) rush of enthusiasm, but ends in drought, neglect and a trip to the supermarket. So I was surprised and delighted to return from holiday and find several presents from the cauliflower fairy.

"No need to wash it" I thought, as it has led a pure life, so I blanched it and added it to the party on my plate (shepherd's pie and shrink-wrapped broccoli). It tasted fresh, with a pleasing crunch, but just as I was about to take my last mouthful I realised it had brought a plus one (or plus 2)... I quickly turned it over to hide the pests from my children and tried not to think about how many other camouflaged caterpillars I'd swallowed.

The hungry caterpillar and friend

The remaining cauliflowers will be carefully washed, blanched, and frozen for use in soups (where it won't matter if the freezing process has rendered them a bit soggy) such as my Cauliflower Cheese Soup.

Soup for freaks

When your loved one sends you a message saying they look like the Mule Faced Woman (from Ripley's Believe It Or Not?) following minor dental surgery, there's only one thing to do: make soup.

The Mule Faced Woman

Cauliflower cheese soup

Roughly chop a smallish cauliflower and an onion. Put them in a saucepan and add enough water to cover about two thirds of the veg. Add a stock cube, bring slowly to the boil and allow to simmer for at least 30 minutes. While that's happening, make a cheese sauce by mixing 30g plain flour into 30g melted butter, adding about half a pint of milk, a teaspoon of English mustard and about 100g cheese. The end result should be reasonably thick and tasty. Tip the contents of both pans into a blender and whizz until smooth and creamy.

Grace McDaniels made a good living out of being 'The World's Ugliest Woman', though she preferred to be called the Mule Faced Woman. Looks to me like she's just having a bit of trouble with her Big Mac...

No sweat soup

Most soup recipes will tell you of the importance of sweating your vegetables to develop a deep, rich taste. But - shh, don't tell the children - rules are made to be broken and you can save precious minutes of prep time by simply putting some roughly chopped raw veg in a pan, adding water and a stock cube or 2 and boiling until everything is soft. Then blend and add something fattening like cream, cheese, bits of bacon etc.

From sad...

I have just made soup this way, using an old cauliflower, two onions, a clove of garlic, a potato, two stock cubes, and 50g Stilton - added at the end.

...to glad

This was eaten with yesterday's baguette.  To revive old bread (not sliced), run the loaf very quickly under cold water and put it in a hot oven for about 10 minutes.  Eat straight away.

Last night I spotted 4 pears in the fruit bowl that were 'on the turn'.  I peeled and sliced them, put them in an ovenproof dish, covered them with chocolate sponge mixture and baked for about 30 minutes at 170/ gas 4 until 'set' (see note below). Result - chocolate pear pudding, served hot with cream or cold in slices.  

Note: Don't wait for the middle bit to set or the sponge around the edges will be dry. The middle is therefore the best bit, kind of chocolate-saucy and rich.

Chocolate sponge:
100g caster sugar
100g butter
2 eggs
75g self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
25g cocoa powder

Cream the butter and sugar together and fold in the dry ingredients (you may need to sieve the cocoa powder).