A week of coloured soups...

Soup making isn't rocket science - just bung some stuff in a pan and simmer it for a bit then either eat with lumps and all or blitz - but still, there's probably nothing more comforting than a warm bowl of soup.

This week, I've had almost a rainbow of soups - bright pink beetroot and celeriac, deep grey mushroom, and a 'using up' golden orange rooty soup. I think beetroot and celeriac work really well together, and the soup really has the most wonderful colour that the photo doesn't do justice. I went travelling to Russia in the latter part of last year, and I found this soup really took me back to the beetroot and sour cream cuisine (!) that we encountered there. Here's the recipe.

Grilled portobello mushroom, watercress and sprouted seed salad and garlicky croutons

This week I have been rubbish at updating, and cooking. For saturday lunch this was lovely. I'm a big fan of mushrooms, especially portobello, and I think they go really well with goats cheese. I would have liked to add some toasted walnuts to this too, but the cupboard was bare!

A large mushroom, one per person
French goats cheese, the kind you can slice in a circle
Watercress
Sprouted seeds
Stale bread (I used seeded wholemeal)
a clove of garlic
Some thyme
Olive oil and balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper

It's really easy to make this - just grill the bottom of the mushroom first, then add some thyme, salt and pepper to the top and the circle of goats cheese. Grill under a relatively high heat until the cheese is bubbling and golden brown.

The croutons I made by just frying up a little bit of garlic in olive oil, then adding the bread which i'd torn into quite chunky pieces. Cook on a lower heat until crisp.

Then just toss the watercress in a little oil and vinegar, add the seeds and sprinkle with the croutons, and serve the mushroom in the middle.

Squash stuffed with pearl barley, mushrooms and feta

As I'm sure many other veggies have come across, there's an awful lot of rubbish veggie options consisting of some sort of stuffed vegetable, usually involving peppers and cous cous. However, I really love stuffed squash (and peppers actually - just not if they taste of nothing at all), and you can pretty much add anything you like.

I hadn't tried stuffing squash with pearl barley before, but I think it works really well, especially with the mushrooms. I like to toast the seeds because I think it helps to release their flavour into the mixture, and also prevents them from becoming soggy and retains their nice crunchiness.

How many it will feed depends on the size of your squash - mine already had the top missing as it was used for something earlier in the week, but usually half a squash is fine for one person. This feeds one.

Half a butternut squash, seeds scooped out
40g pearl barley, simmered for about 40 mins and drained
1 small onion, chopped
4-5 chestnut mushrooms, chopped into small pieces
Thyme
A few chilli flakes (if you like - I added a few just for a bit of warmth)
Maybe a tablespoon each of sunflower and pumpkin seeds
Feta cheese, to taste

Pop the squash on a baking tray (you could cut off a tiny bit of the bottom to level out so it stands up ok) with a little olive oil and put it in the oven at about 170-180 while you make the filling.

Sweat the onion for about 5 mins then add the mushrooms. Keep cooking until they're slightly brown, maybe 5-10 mins. Move them to the side of the pan and add the seeds and let them pop for a couple of mins. Then turn off the heat and add some thyme (I used dried which works fine - about a teaspoon?), chilli flakes if using and season well. Then let it cool for a couple of mins and add the drained pearl barley and crumble in some feta. Mix well.

All you need to do now is get your squash out of the oven and stuff it with the mixture, then put it back in the oven for about 20 mins - depending on the fierceness of your oven you might need a bit of foil to cover - just keep an eye on it. The squash should take about 50 mins-an hour to cook in total, but this depends on the size so best thing to do is just test it with a sharp knife to see if it's nice and soft.