Lorraine Pascale’s Fast, Fresh and Easy Food

1kg ripe vine-ripened tomatoes

2 red peppers

1 garlic clove

½ bag of fresh basil

6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

4 tsp sherry vinegar

A few shakes of Tabasco sauce

Pinch of sugar

5cm piece of cucumber

Handful of ice cubes

Croutons

1 ciabatta roll (about 90g)

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

+ Preheat the oven to 200°C, (fan 180°C), 400°F, Gas Mark 6.

+ Roughly chop the tomatoes, halve and deseed the peppers, snapping them into a few pieces, and peel the garlic. Pick the leaves from the basil stalks, reserve a small handful for garnish and put the rest in a blender or food processor with the tomatoes, peppers and garlic. Then add the oil, sherry vinegar, Tabasco, sugar and some salt and pepper and blitz until as smooth as possible.

+ Taste, adding a little more Tabasco or seasoning if you think it needs it. Pour into a large jug, cover with cling film and put in the freezer for 30 minutes (or the fridge for 1 hour) to cool right down.

+ Cut the ciabatta up into bite-sized cubes, scatter them on a baking tray, drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for about 6 minutes.

+ Meanwhile, cut the cucumber into little cubes and set these aside.

+ Remove the croutons from the oven once they are crisp and golden and set aside until ready to serve.

+ When ready to serve, divide the soup between the serving bowls. Sprinkle the cucumber over, pop a few ice cubes in each one, scatter the croutons and reserved basil on top and drizzle with a little oil.

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Broccoli & blue cheese soup with chive mascarpone & warm garlic bread (#ulink_324f71a5-c6d2-5458-8363-2931338906b6)

Roquefort is the cheese to go for if you like this super-strong, or you can keep it British with some good old Stilton. Either way, I really like the combination of a blue cheese with some broccoli – definitely one of my top 10 favourite flavour combos. A lovely filling winter soup.

Time from start to finish: 30 minutes

Serves: 6

Equipment: Large pan with lid, 2 small bowls, baking tray, blender

Soup

Vegetable oil

1 large leek

1 large potato

900ml good-quality chicken stock (fresh is best to use here)

1 whole head of broccoli

150g strong blue cheese, such as

Stilton or Roquefort

Accompaniments

3 garlic cloves

Small handful of fresh chives

50g softened butter

1 French baguette

6 tbsp mascarpone

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

+ Put a drizzle of oil into a large pan over a medium heat and while this heats up, top and tail the leek, discarding most of the dark green bit. Then slit it lengthways, discard the hard outer leaves and wash under the cold tap. Finely slice and add to the pan, then give them a stir and leave to cook for about 10 minutes.

+ Meanwhile, prepare the garlic butter. Peel and finely chop the garlic and finely chop the chives. Put all of the garlic and half of the chives into a small bowl with the softened butter and some salt and pepper. Mix and set aside.

+ Returning to the soup, peel and chop the potato into 1cm cubes and add to the softened leeks, along with the chicken stock. Turn up the heat and put the lid on to help bring it up to the boil quickly.

+ Once this is boiling remove the lid, reduce the heat a little and leave to simmer away for 10 minutes or so.

+ Preheat the oven to 180°C, (fan 160°C), 350°F, Gas Mark 4 for the garlic bread.

+ Roughly chop the broccoli (including the stalk) and add to the soup for the last 5 minutes or so.

+ Now, divide the baguette into three even-sized pieces and split each one in half as if you were making a sandwich. Pop the bread, cut side up, on a baking tray and put in the oven for 5 minutes. (I have to really keep an eye on it as I sometimes don’t remember that it is in there!)

+ Meanwhile, put the remaining chives in a small bowl with the mascarpone. Season with salt and pepper and stir together once (otherwise it might go grainy), then set aside.