Pea and Ham Hock Soup with Potato and Leek

As the seasons settle into their new rhythm there are the occasional days where we feel the winter chill creep back into spring. On these cooler days I pull long socks over my tights and wear a long sleeve knitted shirt dress. Byron and I spend most of our time in our kitchen, which is open plan to join our downstairs dining and living areas. I scrub and peel, chop and dice as he heats swirling oil and sautés the onion as it bubbles and hisses in a heavy bottom pan on the stove.

We haven't always cooked well together, to be honest I used to feel a little anxious when we shared a bench top, with playful digs at each other such as, 'You're in my section' as if we were in a busy restaurant. With time and a patience, we gradually fell into our own rhythm together, much like Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart in the romantic comedy-drama you may have seen No Reservations, a remake of the German film that you may not have seen, Mostly Martha (both beautiful films to watch when it's raining).

An inexpensive and fabulous pea and smokey ham hock soup with tender potato and leek

Pea and Ham Hock Soup with Potato and Leek
Serves 4

Olive oil
1 large brown onion, diced
1 leek, sliced
2-3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 cup white wine, reduced
2 potatoes, chopped
500mL chicken stock
750mL water
3 bay leaves
1 Smoked Ham Hock, approx 700g
1 cup Baby frozen peas
sea salt and cracked pepper to season

Heat a generous amount (1 to 2 tablespoons) of olive oil in a large heavy based pot over medium heat. Sauté the onion, leek and garlic for 5 minutes or until the onion and leek softens. Season with salt and pepper.

Reduce the white wine over medium heat to cook off the alcohol. Pour the reduced wine, stock, water into the large pot and stir to combine. Add the bay leaves and smoked ham hock, cover the pot and bring to a low simmer.

Cook for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chunky potato pieces and frozen peas (fresh peas are perfect if you have them), stir and cook for a further 15 minutes or until the ham hock and vegetables are tender and the peas are soft.

When the soup is ready, remove the ham hock to a large plate, allow to cool slightly at room temperature, then pull the skin and meat from the bone and shred into bite-size pieces. Discard the bone, skin and any excess fat (don't worry if there are little pieces remaining, it enhances the flavour and texture). Return the meat to the soup, stir and taste. Season as required, or add additional water or stock to thin the liquid.

Remove the bay leaves, then divide the soup, ham hock and vegetables between 4 bowls and serve with fresh, crusty hot bread to dunk into your hot soup. Serve immediately, kiss your husband sous chef passionately and enjoy the salty, smoked flavours of this delicious hearty soup.

Have you ever combined two of your favourite soups before (pea and ham vs potato and leek)? Sometimes the flavour gamble pays off!

Bella xx

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Autumn Whispers

On a recent trip to our local green grocer, I discovered a crate of beautiful Kent Pumpkins on sale. The days have been cooling considerably in the late afternoons as we transition from Summer to Autumn and so I decided on the spot that I would prepare a quick pumpkin soup for dinner. I squeezed a whole pumpkin into my red shopping basket and proceeded to the checkout, feeling the pleasing warmth that comes from the early whispers of a new season.

Pumpkin Soup

Serves 4

500g kent pumpkin (peeled, deseeded and chopped roughly)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 cups (approx 500ml) vegetable or chicken stock
nutmeg seed (1/8 to 1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg)
sea salt and cracked black pepper to season
parsley to garnish

Place the chopped pumpkin, garlic, finely grated nutmeg and stock into a large saucepan and boil for 15 to 20 minutes. Once pumpkin is soft (test with a fork), blend the soup until thick and smooth, season to taste. Serve immediately with a dollop of cream or natural yoghurt and a sprig of fresh parsley, sprinkle with freshly cracked black pepper.

I've previously added a small brown onion to this recipe and it tasted warm, savoury and delicious, however it is not necessary and cuts down on preparation time. I also used a ThermoChef, instead of a saucepan. All I did was place the pumpkin, garlic and enough stock to cover the pumpkin (approximately 3 cups) into the ThermoChef, set the temperature to 100 degrees Celsius (210 degrees Fahrenheit) and set the timer to 20 minutes. I then went for a jog on the beach with the puppy in the late afternoon.

When I returned, the soup was cooked so I showered, then poured off some of the excess stock into a bowl and blended the soup in the ThermoChef (less washing up equals more time to relax). You can always add more of the hot liquid stock to the soup later to make it less viscous, this is how I achieve the consistency that I want. I add the excess stock sparingly as I love my soup thick!

I poured the soup directly into a large soup mug and in my pictures I have dolloped natural yoghurt on the top and garnished the soup with Italian parsley from my herb garden. I then toasted two slices of gluten free bread and slathered a tiny amount of unsalted butter onto each hot, crunchy piece to plunge into my soup.

The soup was warm and inviting, the perfect pick-me-up after a gentle run across the wet sand. As the sun dipped low in the sky, I slowly savoured each spoonful whilst the puppy lay at my feet, sleeping soundly.

I would have to say that kent pumpkins are my favourite to use in pumpkin soup, unless I'm roasting the pumpkin beforehand, in which case I sometimes like to use the sweet, nutty flesh of butternut squash. If you choose to roast your vegetables beforehand, preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius and on a baking tray, coat the chopped pumpkin, crushed whole garlic cloves and roughly chopped brown onion in one tablespoon of olive oil. Roast the vegetables until golden, approximately 15 minutes, then combine in a heavy based pot with enough vegetable stock to cover the pumpkin. Finely grate 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon of fresh nutmeg into the pot and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to a simmer until the vegetables are tender, then blend the vegetables and half of the stock until smooth. Pour in the remaining stock sparingly to achieve the consistency you desire. I prefer a thick soup, as pictured. Season with sea salt and cracked pepper to serve.

No matter what kind of pumpkin you decide to use, the end result will be healthy and filling and if you're lucky, you'll have enough pumpkin infused stock left over to flavour a lovely pumpkin risotto. The options are only as limited as your imagination.

Sitting in an old favourite chair on a broad verandah opposite the sea, my pumpkin soup in a large mug warming my fingers. Simplicity in all it's beauty.

You may have noticed that the soup mug I used is the same as the one featured in our giveaway. When I stood in a brightly lit store all those weeks ago searching for the ideal gifts to include in my giveaway, it was pumpkin soup that I imagined ladling into the teal coloured mug. I purchased an extra one for myself because I love the deep blue-green colour, especially when partnered with the glossy orange of this soup.

A gentle reminder that the giveaway will finish at the end of February. To enter, visit here and follow the instructions. Entry is free and you can enter up to seven times. Good luck dear fiends!

In other giveaway news, the lovely Jodi over at Che and Fidel is sharing details for yet another giveaway on her blog. The handmade items for the home and nursery have been generously donated by Melbourne based artist Madeleine Sargent of Made by Mosey and the link for that giveaway can be found by visiting here.

Let the sharing continue in our wonderful online community!

Thanks for popping in for dinner, as always I love to share it with you.

Bella xx

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Dinner and Dessert Rush-A-Thon...

Perhaps the worst Sunday at work one could possibly imagine was followed by a major rush-a-thon to get home in time to help B prepare dinner for five.

Considering I was meant to finish work at 4pm and didn't leave work until 6:30pm, dinner could have been doomed, if it weren't for some careful planning, and a little less tiramisu chilling time than what I had originally hoped for.
Unfortunately I had to sacrifice taking pictures with my camera, so the phone images below will have to suffice.

Dinner was (thankfully) wonderful, so much so that I didn't hand in a letter of resignation first thing Monday morning (tempted as I was).

We dined on twin birds: Poached chicken in clear broth, and a roasted chook in Mum's round-a-round oven (the electric benchtop oven I've mentioned previously). Accompanying the chicken was a lovely plate of blanched green choy sum stems and leaves with a delicious sauce and of course, an Italian dessert that in no way suited the Malaysian main course- A delicate, soft and creamy tiramisu I whipped up (in a frenzy) with my Kangaroo coffee, a dash of Marsala, and dusted with a bittersweet organic cocoa. Alas, who cares if the dessert did not suit the main? It satisifed the sweet-tooths present (Lydia and myself), and that's all that matters...

The chicken was so moist and tender that we plan to cook it again (and again, and again...), once we return from our trip. You can also bet on the fact that a tiramisu recipe will appear shortly too!

Bella xx

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Homemade Asian Seafood Supper

One of the best ways to enjoy a quiet night in is to sit down to a home cooked meal by soft lamp light.

Byron baked this delicious whole red snapper in an oven bag with asian mushrooms, and a deliciously savoury sauce consisting of tamari light soy sauce, white wine and coriander. The meat was fall-off-the-bone tender, cooked to perfection.

He also served a Tom Yum seafood curry with lemon grass, coriander roots, fresh ginger and pumpkin.

We dined and chatted away for a long time, savouring every mouthful,even a curious Maxi jumped up to see what all the fuss was about. We promptly removed him from the chair and gave him a boneless piece of snapper, which he ate very quickly!

I love dinner dates at home, especially when you can watch a movie in the comfort of your loungeroom and it doesn't cost $20 per movie ticket.

You can eat your $6 snapper, finish a decent bottle of Riesling for under $10 and the best part about all of this? You don't have to drive home...

What are your favourite dinner date stories?

Bella xx

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A Modest, Albeit Quirky Celebration of Chinese New Year

This is the culinary tale of three friends and a cat, named Max, as they celebrated the Chinese New Year

The three friends, Byron, Isaac and Bella embarked on a cross-cultural journey yesterday eve, filled with the finest Chinese cuisine, single-malt scotch and a mixed collection of vinyl gems (with a few rather bizarre songs, apparently a standard on Chinese New Year...some bad music, mixed in with some fine beats).

Byron poached a whole chicken in a traditional stock, containing ginger and bay leaves. Next, he braised Chinese cabbage with a special chicken stock, oyster sauce and soy sauce mixture. The handy chef also prepared the rice with the stock too.

Next, Byron neatly cut and served the chicken pieces with fresh chives and a soy sauce reduction.

We dined on the feast and drank clear soup and scotch, whilst the boys flipped vinyls between Prince, a strange karaoke-sounding Spanish artist, who calls himself Victor Victor (admittedly, not the greatest), Aretha Franklin, and the smooth, cool afro jazz beats of Budos Band.

Every mouthful was bursting with new flavours!

With our glow stick bracelet powers combined, we celebrated Chinese New Year with Maxi cat, fine Chinese food, finer company and the realisation (with satisfying relief) that our almost-abandoned January 1st New Years resolutions could begin anew as the Chinese herald the New Year, the Year of the Dragon.

My New Years resolutions include the following:

- Regular blog updates, with the aim of three posts per week (Yay for my four 'Followers' he he!)

- More home cooking

- Moving house at the end of the year (Did someone mention, 'Sea change'?! Oh Yeahhh!)

- More study of the French language

- More photos, including a photographic story of Sydney, and another of the small seaside township of my youth (perhaps next blog post!)

- More 'me' time... Which, let's face it, means more time to focus on the first two resolutions

I have many more ideas but the rest can wait, it's bed time.

Ahhh time to relax into the Year of the Dragon. May you find wealth, fortune and love with food.

So Gung Hei Fat Choy 恭喜发财 !!!

Bella xx

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Bella Goes Home

I had a thought that I have spent more time in the kitchen than what I have creating my art in recent months so it is with this late realisation that I have decided to turn this blog into my food blog. As I create more pieces, I may add them but for the time being I will harness my creative expression through cooking and happily share with you possibly my greatest passion in this world- cooking.

It has been a month since I left the golden Autumn hues of Armidale for a warmer climate to spend time with my mother. Upon my return I was surprised to see what was left of the leaves on the spiny trees had turned cool red. I never realised red could make the views seem colder but it that is quite fitting as Armidale has settled in for the icy Winter chill.


Officially it is Winter tomorrow, though Armidale got a racing start and I caught a cold early. Talk about typical.
Before returning home I bought two small pumpkins and two pineapples at the market stall near my mother's home. I had a wonderful fairy godmother moment when I turned the first pumpkin into a creamy pumpkin soup for Erin and a friend of hers from her hometown.


One thing that did please me was to see my flatmate, Erin again and of course Maxi and the budgies. Since my return we've been cooking together in the kitchen. Mostly crock pots as I am finally using the wonderful Christmas gift from my grandparents and can highly recommend this cookery method if you live in this chilly region or can relate. There is something almost magical about the aromas as you come inside the front door.

We had the monthly markets in town yesterday so Erin and I bought our usual honey (redgum this time) and vegetables from the man who drives up from Tamworth. It is funny he knows us by face and despite visiting him for many months, yesterday was the first day we introduced ourselves. Our fresh vegetable supplier's name is John.
He always greets everyone with a smile and packs our vegetables into a small box that quickly becomes heavy as we make our way back to Erin's car.

I did see a few familiar faces at the markets but we were in a hurry to return because we'd also just played and won a game of football (soccer) and I scored my first goal so I was on a bit of a buzz, despite the chesty cough and blocked nose. Armidale isn't a town you ought to roam around in soccer shorts and a hoody if it's Winter and take my word for it, we froze.

We came home, started the gas heater, showered, and began the second half of our Sunday in the kitchen (Read: Perfect Sunday with football win, markets and cooking).
One chicken and vegetable crock pot 5 hours later, a dessert* and some fresh orange juice to blitz this cold and I was feeling relaxed and happy to be home with great company. I've attached some pictures of the pudding below to show you how I used the banana and soaked mixed fruit. I soaked the fruit in fresh orange juice and the sherry for a bit over half and hour and result was juicy, plump fruit sprinkled over the top of our leftover breadstick-turned-mouth-watering-pudding. That's the beauty of this dish, you can use virtually any bread you have or cakes and brioche.


*I baked a bread and butter pudding with banana and cream sherry for dessert. The dates complimented the banana beautifully and I am thankful Erin had some ripe bananas to experiment with in this dish.


Cooked it a little longer and I was so chuffed that I had to post a picture of me about to eat it... I know you want to make one now...


It's good to be home.

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