Spicy Tomato and Red Pepper Soup

As you know I love nifty kitchenware. I'm often found in the kitchen department of random shops just looking to see what I might be missing out on. Luckily, other people know I'm a sucker for this stuff and I sometimes get things as presents.

It was my birthday last week and I received these funky soup mugs from my brother as a gift. I'd seen them around Christmas time and had pined over them for a while. He'd tried to get some then but they were soon sold out. However, the boy triumphed and I now have 2 of the little beasts in my collection. I am happy.

So, I've had soup on the brain for a week or so even though the weather is toasty. So I wondered what kind of flavours would make a tasty soup for this summery weather. I ended up choosing tomato and red pepper. The flavours are sweet and bright and I added some chili to give it a warm heat to perk it up a little. This was a real throw together dish with ingredients I had kicking about but it was delicious!

Ingredients
1 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp oil
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1 roasted red pepper (from a jar - you can easily make your own!)
1 tin tomatoes
1/2 pint chicken or vegetable stock (fresh or from a cube)
Pinch of dried mixed herbs
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3/4 tsp Peri Peri spice
A few dashes of Smoked Tabasco
1 bay leaf (2 if they're small)

Method
Gently fry the onion, garlic and peppers in the oil until softened but not browned.
Add the tin of tomatoes and the hot stock and bring to a boil.
Add the herbs, spices, Tabasco and bay leaf. Lower the heat to a gentle simmer and allow to cook for 15-20 minutes.
Blend the soup with a stick blender or liquidiser until it reaches the desired consistency (add more water if it's too thick).
Serve with crusty bread.

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News

Wow, I can't believe how long it has been since I last updated! Things have been very busy around here for lots of good reasons. As I mentioned before I'm still settling into a new job which is going really well. I'm working as a support worker in a local hostel for homeless teenagers. It's very worthwhile but it's strange getting used to shift work again!

As I also mentioned (okay, glossed over) the fact that I'm starting a new business up too. I've teamed up with a friend to start Pixie Hall selling handmade gifts and wedding favours. I do the baking part of the deal and she (Victoria) makes the most gorgeous stained glass gift tags and decorations. We hope to be up and running soon!


As far as the blog goes, it will be back with regular updates soon. I'm also hoping to post PH related bits and pieces as they happen. Thanks for sticking around through the quiet, I'll be back up and running soon!

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Banana Bundt Cake with Rum Icing

This is the best banana cake I've ever made. It's seriously moist and delicious and will be making its way into my repertoire for whenever I have some over ripe bananas to use up. It's easy to make and looks stunning with very little effort. This is definitely my favourite of the two bundts I made this weekend.

The banana flavour is very pronounced (I did use 4 of them!) and, when combined with the sour cream, the cake becomes tender and moist with a soft crumb. I found the original recipe here on Cooks.com but as with the last recipe, there were some problems. The method neglects to mention some of the listed ingredients which is kind of unhelpful! Thankfully, I know how to make a cake and could work out what I needed to do.

I've typed the recipe here as I made it and have converted to metric as usual. I really recommend this cake even if you don't have a bundt pan, I think it would work well in a few loaf tins or maybe even a big batch of cupcakes! The rum icing was amazing. It was the perfect accompaniment to this cake and was so easy to make too.

Ingredients
115g butter
340g sugar
3 or 4 over ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs
220g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
120ml (a small pot) sour cream
For the icing
300g icing sugar
2-3 tbsp hot water
3 tsp rum (to taste)

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C and grease an 8 cup bundt pan.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.
Add the eggs and bananas and mix well.
Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda into a bowl.
Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and fold in. Finally, stir through the sour cream.
Pur the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes before turning the cake onto a wire rack to cool.
For the icing, combine the sugar, rum and water into a large bowl and blend until it's spreadable. Pour over the top of the cake and allow it to drip down the sides.

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