Broccoli Soup

I must admit, I'm a big Gordon Ramsay fan. I discovered him in the UK Nightmare Kitchen series during my marathon nursing sessions with A. I watched him make this soup on youtube and couldn't believe how easy it is. It is a great summer soup full of flavour.

Who knew broccoli soup could be so simple and delicious!

Ingredients:
Head of Broccoli
2 liters water
salt and pepper to taste.

Chop one head of broccoli into florets.
Bring pot of water to boil.
Place in rapidly boiling water. Add salt, close lid. Let it cook for 4:00-4:30min.
Place florets in blender, add salt and pepper to taste.
Add about 2 ladles (about a cup) of the water the broccoli was boiled in.
Blend until smooth.

See Ramsay make the recipe here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvc8Au4YO60

Savoury Chickpea Salad

This is a tweaked recipe from the Home, December 2010 magazine. A great vegetarian salad.

Ingredients
1 red onion finely chopped
2 tbl olive oil
2 cans chickpeas
200g baby tomatoes, halved
1/2 cucumber, cut into cubes
large handful of Italian parsley chopped

Vinaigrette
120ml olive oil
50ml white wine vinegar
1 tsp mustard
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tsp honey

1. Drain and rinse the chickpeas under cold water.
2. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and saute the onion until soft and glossy. Add the chickpeas and stir through. Set aside to cool.
3. Prepare the vinaigrette by mixing all the ingredients.
4. Place the chickpeas, tomatoes, cucumber and parsley in a salad bowl.
5. Pour the vinaigrette over the salad. Mix through, cover the salad and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.