Comfort Food

Right now we all have colds.  Therefore not only do I have a head full of cotton wool, I do not want to cook.  At all.  However I do want to eat comfort food, and that means a bit of cooking whether I like it or not.  Today I am feeling a bit better, so I made creamy potato leek soup with scones, and caramelized pineapple for dessert. 

Creamy Potato Leek Soup

Ingredients

• 8 potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 pound bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 3 leeks, sliced
• 1 cup heavy cream (I used milk)

Directions

1. In a large saucepan or stockpot, bring potatoes and chicken broth to a boil. Cook until potatoes are tender. Meanwhile, place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, reserving 3 tablespoons of grease and set aside. Sautee the leeks in the frying pan with the reserved bacon grease 8 to 10 minutes.
2. When the potatoes are tender, stir in the fried leeks, heavy cream and bacon. Stir to blend and remove from heat. Serve hot. 

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Creamy-Potato-Leek-Soup-II/Detail.aspx 

The only changes I made was to whiz up the potatos and broth with my stick blender before adding the rest of the ingredients.

To go with the soup I made bacon and cheese scones.  I know, bacon overload, but that IS comfort food to me.

Cheese and Bacon Scones

Ingredients

250g self raising flour

pinch of salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder (optional)

55g butter

25g shredded cheese, I use cheddar

2 slices bacon, chopped and sautéed

150ml milk

Directions

Because I am a lazy cook, I use my Cuisinart mixer to blend everything.  First, sauté the bacon until cooked.  Then add the flour and butter to the Cuisinart and whiz that up, then add the rest of the ingredients and blend until dough forms.  On a floured board kneed the scone dough a bit, and then shape into a circle about 1 inch thick.  Cut into 8 triangles and then bake in a 220C oven for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown.  Lovely!

 

Carmelized Pineapple with Vanilla Ice Cream 

I should probably be ashamed to admit I've never bought a fresh pineapple before.  Before last week that is.  They were on sale, and looked so good, I couldn't resist.  Then I spent about a week trying to figure out what to do with it.  I found the answer here

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001911318

So I cleaned the pineapple and cut it into chunks.  Then in a frying pan I heated 4 tbs butter.  When the butter melted I added 1/4 cup packed brown sugar and the pineapple.  Cook for a few minutes until well coated.

Remove from heat, I placed them directly into bowls.  Let cool for a bit and then add vanilla ice cream.  Delicious!  I had extra caramel sauce so I poured a bit of it over the ice cream.