Moving food

No, not food that gets you exercising... I'm talking about food that you eat when you're moving house. This past weekend we moved about a mile up the road from London Fields to Clapton. My diet consisted of pastries and (decaf) coffee from a local deli, packaged sarnies and fish and chips from the pub. And although I'm as yet unpacked and will be for at least the next few days, I vow to do a bit better than that.

First stop - sort out an online delivery. Ocado's been tempting me with 20% vouchers for the past few weeks, so I've taken them up on their offer and have a delivery arranged for Thursday. I stuck mostly to ordering meat, fish, dairy and frozen stuff and plan on packing the freezer VERY full and doing the fruit and vegetable shopping more locally.

Second stop - figuring out what to eat until Thursday night. I'm in the mood for light springtime food, even though in May it still feels a bit like March. Asparagus would be good, and I really like the sound of Ottolenghi's recent recipe for asparagus with salsa and cheese . The addition of mint and dill to that salsa sounds TO. DIE. FOR.

For tonight (Tuesday), I'm thinking a soup - perhaps a nice light pea soup with the mint and dill I was just drooling over. With ridiculously hearty portions, of course.

And tomorrow night (Wednesday), I need something full of asparagusto - perhaps I will try out that recipe. (I will have the mint and the dill already). Though I'm not quite in the mood for cheese, so will probably drop the cheese and serve with salmon - with perhaps a drizzle of yogurt to make up for the lost cheese.

And I'll eat it all in my garden.

Come on in, the watercress is fine...

So Hugh FW has decided to go on about watercress this weekend. As well he should - it's coming into it's own this time of year, and - in contrast to just about everything else green and seasonal in March - it's got a striking flavour all its own.

I personally love a bit of peppery watercress, though I'm not a big fan of it in a salad on it's own. The bitterness can be just a bit too much. Where it's at it's yummiest is in a sandwich with fish (as Hugh FW mentions in the link above) or in a straightforward honest soup.

Two weeks ago for Mothering Sunday I served watercress soup as a first course and it went down a treat. There are many good versions out there (I quite like Delia's to use to get you thinking), and I've settled on these proportions, with the addition of silky natural yogurt at the end.

Watercress soup 

(serves 4 as a starter, serves 2 as a lunch)

2 bags of watercress, with stalks removed (use in a stock later ideally)
30 g reduced fat butter + 1 tbsp olive oil
2 large/3 medium leeks, chopped (with dark green/yellow parts removed)
500 g potato, peeled and chopped into cubes
2 tbsp bouillon powder + 1.25 l freshly boiled water (or 1.25 l of your own stock)
100 g natural low-fat yogurt 

a few reserved leaves for garnish
salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Do all the ingredient prep before you start cooking - time will then fly by. Heat the butter/oil in a large pot and add the watercress, potato and leeks. Season with pepper and allow to cook over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes.

Like in Delia's recipe, add the stock and bring to a simmer (a light simmer) and let continue like that for about 15 minutes. Use a hand-blender to puree the soup.

Now, you could eat the soup like this, but on special occasions, I like to strain the soup, and this one's an easy one to do. In batches, put the soup through a strainer (a fine metal colander will do) and use the back of a wooden spoon to get all of the liquid through.

Return it all to the pot (making sure it's off the heat) and mix through 3/4 of the natural yogurt and season well. Put the pot back on a very low heat and serve immediately. (If you aren't ready to serve immediately, do the yogurt at the last minute.)

Garnish with a last daub of yogurt, a few leaves of watercress, and a last grind of pepper.

Calories: I didn't add them up, but it's got to be pretty low. And if it's good enough for Liz Hurley and John Lydon, it's good enough for you.