Winter warmers - Minestrone soup & herb scones

Finally it rained last night! It has been dry across Western Australia throughout March-April-May, causing grave concerns particularly among farmers, but finally the drought has broken and winter has arrived. Though we need much more rain, so keep it coming! rain let it rain!

And it has certainly been cold, perfect soup weather. Last weekend I made Minestrone soup, so I thought I'd share the recipe with you here. 

MINESTRONE SOUP

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 clove garlic

1 large onion

60g ham or bacon

2 sticks celery

1 or 2 large carrots, diced

1 potato cubed

1 x 410g can kidney beans, drained

6 ½ cups beef stock (made with beef stock cubes) - see note

1 x 140g can Tomato paste

½ small cabbage heart, shredded

½ teaspoon rosemary, oregano and basil

1 teaspoon chopped parsley

few handfuls small size shell noodles

Crush garlic, chop onion, and ham and fry gently in hot oil.  Dice celery, and carrot, drain kidney beans, and drop them into the pot and toss the lot around.  Add stock, tomato paste, rosemary and parsley.  Cover and simmer for 1 hour.  Then add shredded cabbage and shell noodles, and cook another 20 minutes.

Serve, sprinkled with grated or Parmesan cheese. 

Note: Usually during summer if I have an abundance of tomatoes I make tomato soup and freeze it in tubs, and then use this for the base for my minestrone soup, instead of using the beef stock and tomato paste. Although I still do add a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste to the minestrone soup. 

And herb scones

1 egg

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1 dessertspoon sugar (if making sweet scones)

¾ cup milk

2 cups SR flour

½ teaspoons salt

For savoury scones – chopped herbs – parsley, oregano, sage, rosemary, chives,

and ½ cup grated cheese

You can also add some finely chopped sun dried tomatoes

                             

Beat egg and sugar (if using) together.  Add melted butter to milk.  Sift flour and salt together. 

NOTE - If making savoury scones, add chopped herbs and ½ cup grated cheese to flour mixture now. 

Make well in the centre of the flour mixture, and stir in egg mixture and milk.  Mix to soft dough.  Turn onto floured board and knead very lightly, only till all combined.  Pat or roll out to about 2cm thickness.  Cut with scone cutter.  Place on lightly greased tray.  Brush with cold milk.  Cook at 230C for 10-12 minutes.

Update -  Maggie from Normandy as just asked me about the plates. They are a special find in an antique shop a few years ago. I love them.  These old French plates - Sarreguemines. were tucked away along the back wall. The proprietor said they were from the 1850s, but my research tells me more likely early 1900s - but do I care? not a bit! I love them!
I have 4 plates and all 4 have a different designs - perfect! 

 And finally, what can be better in winter than curling up in front of the fire with a rug, a mug of soup, and a good book. Oh, and don't forget the ugg boots!

What is your favourite winter soup? Perhaps you'd like to share in the comments. 
Thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 

You might also like: 

It's winter in Western Australia

Winter soup warmers in my winter garden

Pumpkin soup autumn warmer

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!
 

Mosaic Monday
Our World Tuesday
Through My Lens 
Image-in-ing
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global
Travel Photo Thursday 
The Lovin' Life Team over at Lifestyle Fifty
Sky Watch Friday

Making Scones with Yoda

A slightly different post for you this week....

For my writing homework for yesterday's meeting of my writing group, the South Side Quills, we had to write instructions for something in the voice of a well known person, writer, poet, personality.  An example we were given was writing in the voice of Shakespeare, but failing in my ability to write something of that caliber I chose Yoda, Jedi Master from Star Wars.  There was much laughter in the group as I read it. I thought I'd share it here for your amusement. Those that "know" Yoda will know that he says many things backwards. The words in "apostrophes" are his actual quotes from Star Wars. 

Enjoy you will I hope.

 Please click here to learn how to make scones with Yoda....

Winter warmers - It's winter in Western Australia

It's mid winter in Australia, and I woke up this morning to the sound of the rain pouring down on our roof. So how about a bowl of hot home made winter soup to warm us up? I love making a big pot of hearty home made soup - there is nothing better on a cold wet winter's day. The delicious smell of the cooking soup seeps through my house - it is a welcoming smell - that says come in and have some!

I have some recipes of soups that my mother used to make - ie the Vegetable, Lamb Shank & Barley soup was always a standard in our house when I was growing up -  but now I like finding new recipes that reflect our multicultural Australia - ie Mulligatawny Soup and Minestrone Soup. During the summer when there are plenty of tomatoes, I make big batches of tomato soup, and freeze it in containers, then in the winter use it as the basis of the Minestrone Soup. It is wonderful on a cold Sunday night to have a bowl of Minestrone served with Italian Roll-up rolls, in front of the fire for tea.

I like a thick soup with lots of flavour. What is your favourite soup?

What sort would you choose? From top left clockwise - Pea & Ham, Moroccan, Minestrone, Vegetable & Barley, Pumpkin, and in the centre Mulligatawny  -

And we better have something to go with it - scones, Italian roll ups, and fresh crusty bread -

My sister reminded me today about making damper - I haven't made it for years - I will have to make some soon to go with our next pot of soup. For those who don't know what damper is - it really is a traditional Australian bread which was a staple food in colonial days, and now favored by people out camping, cooked in the camp fire - here is a link to find out more - Australian Damper

The sky is amazing in winter - What a glorious palette of colour it can be - these images in my collage were taken between lunch time one day and 5pm the next day a couple of weeks ago. In the first image - lunch time - the sky was blue, then in the evening there was beautiful pink colours in the late afternoon sky, threatening clouds next morning, rain at lunch time (the lighthouse pic), and then driving home that afternoon - a glorious sunset. What an ever changing colourful pallet the sky has!
These images are all totally straight out of camera.

Yesterday we went walking in the bush along the Timberline Trail in St John's Brook Conservation Park in Nannup - below is a pic. I love bush walking during winter or spring. We walked through some misty rain but it didn't bother us. There were a few wildflowers starting to open, hinting of the spring to come. We took a picnic and had lunch at the overnight hut along the trail. I hope to bring you the story later this week.

Until then take care, by happy, and have a wonderful week. I look forward to hearing from you and your comments which I always appreciate. I am linking up with Mary and the other wonderful contributors at Mosaic Monday at Little Red House - click here to see their work - Mosaic Monday at Little Red House

Interested in seeing what I was doing this time last year? - go here - The Oceans Edge - Yallingup Western Australia - The Oceans Edge