Clodagh's sunny carrot and ginger soup and health bread

Monday 3 February at 1:25pm

Clodagh’s got the perfect antidote to a cold February Monday - carrot and ginger soup with three-seeded bread.

Sunny carrot and ginger soup with hazelnut and flat leaf parsley pesto

Serves: 4

Ingredients

2 tbsps olive oil

4 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 inches of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped

1 potato, peeled and roughly chopped

1 litre of chicken or vegetable stock

For the pesto

100g fresh flat leaf parsley

50g hazelnuts, toasted

50g Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

150ml extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Warm the olive oil in a saucepan over a low heat. Next stir in the carrots, garlic, ginger, onion and potato. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the carrots are tender.
Remove the lid and pour in the hot stock, stirring well, and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for another 15 minutes.
Pour the soup into a food processor and blend to a smooth consistency
Next make the pesto by placing all the ingredients into a food processor and blitzing for a few seconds, the pesto should be chunky and not too blended
To serve, pour the soup into bowls and garnish with the pesto

Three-seeded health loaf bread

Serves: Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients

450g wholemeal flour

65g wheat germ, plus extra for dusting

65g plain white flour

65g wheat bran

65g ground flax

225g pin-head oatmeal

2 tsp soft brown sugar

2½ tsp bread soda or bicarbonate of soda

1 litre buttermilk

For the topping (1 tsp of each per loaf)

2 tsps wheat germ

2 tsps pumpkin seeds

2 tsps sunflower seeds

2 tsps sesame seeds

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 230°C, 450°F, Gas Mark 8.

Pour all the dry ingredients in to a large bowl and mix together
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and gradually stir in the buttermilk using a wooden spoon to make a moist dough
Divide the dough between 2 greased 900g (2lb) loaf tins which have been dusted with wheat germ. Smooth the top and make a spacious cross on each one with a floured knife. Sprinkle with wheat germ, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds.
Place in the pre-heated oven at 230°C, 450°F, Gas Mark 8 for 10 minutes, and then reduce the heat to 140°C, 275°F, Gas Mark 1 and bake for 1 hour
When the loaves are cooked, remove from the oven and partly cool in the tins, then turn out and leave to cool completely on a cooling rack