At home with Jamie

Last Christmas I bought a present for myself (actually the money I used was a Christmas gift from my parents-in-law), a book, and trust me, I don't do that often, a recipe book, Jamie Oliver's Jamie at home. Why haven't I talked about it until now, you might be wondering. Well, mostly because I've been reading it, yes, reading. It's so beautifully written and so interesting as well. Of course, I don't have a vegetable garden like his, and it's no use crying over that fact, but I do enjoy reading about different vegetables, how to grow them and how to use them, in a basicly very simple and tasty way, along with some basic nutritional facts. He talks not only about vegetables, but meat, eggs, etc., and what's interesting about the book is that the recipes aren't divided by cathegory, but by season, or better seasonal produce and then other food that goes well with that. The book starts with Spring, and the first produce described and used in recipes is, you're guessing, asparagus, followed by eggs (there's also lamb, but I'm not much into that part, sorry). So, yes, I had to wait for spring to start cooking from this book :))))

Although asparagus are in season now, their price is too high in my opinion (5 euros for a kilo), but I just can't resist them. Every time I go grocery shopping I get myself a bunch. I've been eating them at least twice or three times a week, in soup, risotto, grilled, boiled, with pasta, eggs. I simply love them.
Asparagus are just wonderful if you ask me, a nutritional cocktail of vitamins and minerals, they also help purify your liver, so don't ask more, just eat them, the more the better.

I don't know about the weather in your part of the world, but here, we've been having really whimsical, spring weather, last week was so nice, and warm, we started putting on short sleeves, and this week, rain and cold. It may sound like an excuse to prepare some smooth, velvety soup, but it's not, I would have made it just the same. Because I find soups comforting all year long, hot, warm or cold, they make me feel better inside and in peace with myself. Really, I had this soup two days ago, and I made the Creamy Leek Soup yesterday. I suppose that explains it all.

I have only halved the recipe, as the original was for 8 servings, although the idea to freeze the leftovers is not bad at all, it's just that I have such a small freezer and it's always full.

I want to thank Jasmine for letting me know about THIS VIDEO in her comment, watch it, please!!!!!!!




Creamy Asparagus Soup with Poached Eggs
(by Jamie Oliver)

for 4 servings:
400 g asparagus
1 leek
1 medium sized onion
1 celery stalk
1 liter of chicken or vegetable stock
Salt, pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

4 eggs
4 slices of ciabatta bread

Chop the onion, the celery and the leek and add them to a pot with a few tablespoons of olive oil. Cook them on low heat for about 10 minutes until soft, but make sure they don’t get burnt.
Wash the asparagus, remove and discard the lower hard part. Cut off the tips and put aside, roughly chop the rest and add to the pot with onion, celery and leek, and add the hot stock as well. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Puree the soup in a blender (or with a stick blender) and then put back into the pot adding the asparagus tips as well. Add the salt and pepper to your taste, bring to a boil and simmer again until the tips are soft (about 5 minutes).
When the soup is almost ready, prepare the poached eggs and toast the bread slices.
For the eggs, bring a wide pan (casserole) of water to boil (8-10 cm) and then crack the eggs in. Don’t worry if they aren’t perfect. Cook them shortly, a couple of minutes, ‘cause you want the yolks to be runny. Take the eggs out with a slotted spoon and place them on a plate, season them with salt and freshly cracked pepper (actually, he says to season them with a little butter, but I forgot it).

When the soup is ready, distribute it into soup bowl, add a slice of toasted bread and an egg to each, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and enjoy.



Crema di asparagi con le uova in camicia
(di Jamie Oliver)

per 4 persone:
400 g di asparagi
1 porro
1 cipolla media
1 gambo di sedano
1 l di brodo di pollo o vegetale
sale,pepe
olio EVO

4 uova
4 fette di pane tipo ciabatta

Staccate le punte agli asparagi e mettetele da parte. Tagliate il resto dei gambi a pezzi piuttosto grossi.
Tritate la cipolla, il sedano e il porro e fateli soffriggere in una pentola a fuoco dolce per circa 10 minuti.
Aggiungete gli asparagi e il brodo. Lasciate cuocere coperto per 20 minuti.
Togliete dal fuoco e passate tutto nel frullatore. Aggiustate di sale e pepe.
Rimettetela sul fuoco aggiungendo anche le punte e cuocetela di nuovo finché le punte diventino tenere.
Poco prima che la crema sia pronta, fatte bollire 8-10 cm d’acqua in una casseruola larga. Rompete le uova nell’acqua, un paio di minuti dovrebbero bastare. Il tuorlo deve rimanere un po’ liquido. Usando una schiumarola, trasferite le uova su un piatto e conditele con il sale e pepe macinato fresco.
Tostate il pane.
Dividete la zuppa in 4 piatti o fondine, e sistemate su ognuna una fetta di pane tostato. Appoggiate un uovo sulla fetta di pane e aggiungete un filo di olio extra vergine d’oliva.



Krem juha od šparoga s poširanim jajima
(by Jamie Oliver)

za 4 osobe:
400 g šparoga
1 poriluk
1 manja glavica crvenog luka
1 stapka celera
1 l pilece juhe (ili od povrća)
sol, papar
maslinovo ulje
za prilog
4 jaja
4 kriške prepečenog kruha

Narežite sitno luk, celer i poriluk, i popržite na maslinovom ulju na sasvim laganoj vatri. Trebaju omekšati, ali ne izgorjeti, oko 10 minuta.
Šparogama otkinite i odbacite donji tvrdi dio. Otkinite vrhove i ostavite ih za kasnije, a ostatak nasjeckajte na veće komadiće pa dodajte omekšalom povrću i zalijte juhom.
Kuhajte sve poklopljeno 20 minuta, a zatim izmiksajte u blenderu.
Vratite juhu opet na vatru, posolite i popaprite po ukusu, dodajte vrhove šparoga pa kuhajte dok vrhovi ne odmeknu.
U međuvremenu prepecite kruh u tosteru ili pod grilom u pećnici.
Za poširana jaja, stavite kuhati 8-10 cm vode u široj posudi. Kad voda provrije, razbijte jaja izravno u vodu i kuhajte oko 2 minute, žumanjak treba ostati tekuć. Izvadite jaja rupičastom žlicom na tanjur, posolite ih i popaprite.
Kad je juha kuhana, raspodijelite je u tanjure ili zdjelice, dodajte u svaki tanjur krišku kruha i jedno jaje, pospite s malo maslinovog ulja.