Journal

Rhubarb, carrot and ginger soup

This recipe uses rhubarb to cut through the sweetness of root vegetables. - This is my take on them - a soup which went down well at a family lunch yesterday - eaten by octogenarians and teens alike!

It is an unusual soup - really savoury, sharp and light.

Rhubarb, carrot and ginger soup.

Ingredients

2 tblsp olive oil

3 onions - chopped

2 cloves garlic - crushed

3-4 sticks of rhubarb - diced

10 carrots - diced

1 inch ginger

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground coriander

1 litre stock (chicken or vegetable)

1 tin coconut milk

2 tblsp fish sauce.

 

Fry the onions and garlic gently in the oil until soft.

Add in rhubarb, carrots, ginger, cumin and coriander and cook for 5 minutes - do not allow them to colour.

Add stock and simmer for 15 minutes until vegetables are soft.

Add coconut milk and whizz it all to a puree either in a blender or with a whizzy wand.

Stir in the fish sauce - this gives it a really rounded out flavour, stopping the rhubarb being too astringent.

When you want to serve heat it up gently and top with chopped coriander (or chives/basil/mint)

I love to hear from you - why not leave a comment or email me direct at jane@snapdragononline.co.uk

The nature table windowsill.

 

Over the years the way I arrange flowers has changed - I used to create elaborate mixes of flowers, with lots of greenery and different types of flowers, designed to be displayed in a beautiful vase on a side table.

Now things are much simpler, my time is more valuable and I am usually looking for something quick and effective. I find my arrangements have almost become deconstructed - the finished effect owing a lot to the nature table.

My favourite is on my bedroom windowsill - shells, fossils and stones gathered on family holidays are interspersed with old glass bottles, each with a single flower or stem in it.

Each morning, as I sit in bed and drink my morning coffee, I wonder at how they change from day to day.

My top 5 spring flowers for cutting

Leucojum Gravetye Giant

My favourite cut flowers are ones that change - that open and sway, that grow and bloom, that catch at your attention each time you pass.

I love to watch flowers - which is why I love garden flowers and would always choose a sprig of spring blooms over a fancy foreign grown bouquet.

My 5 top spring flowers are ones you can snip from your garden - pop into a jar or a bottle and watch.

Leucojum Gravetye Giant - a damp loving bulb - also known as the summer snow flake, this naturalises here in our damp heavy soil - a couple of stems look ethereal for a week in a botle or you can pick sheaves of it to arrange in a stone jar.

Viola - by this time of year I find that tulips and narcissi have crowded out the winter flowering violas - and they respond by growing long stems to try and reach the light - pick them and you can spend time looking into those open freckly faces.

Cow parsley “Ravenswing” - where regular cow parsley can have a musty smell this earlier, more delicate variety is more refined - bring it into the house and you can really appreciate the tiny perfect flowers set off against the burgundy stems.

Erythronium “Pagoda” - I love these citrus yellow woodlanders - they have long stems and you can pick them in bud, hanging downwards - then overnight they open, kick back their petals and turn into the Pagodas. As glamorous as any lily.

Hellebores - I love the bruised plummy colours of Ballard hellebores but, if I’m honest, they aren’t shown off that well in the garden - inside, in different heights of bottles with light shining through the petals . . . heaven!