at the moment i’m on a mission to use up all the food in our freezer. this includes the many bags of broad beans and peas (the frozen version of both are fantastic, try them if you haven’t already) which i’ve stashed in there, with thoughts of summer risottos in mind.

sadly the weather is not playing ball so i’ve been forced to consider more robust and warming meals. hurrah for robust and warming - this pea and rocket soup is truly fabulous and definitely worth trying!

the best bit is that i now have a new favourite food. okay, it’s true, i do change my mind about what qualifies as my favourite food several times a week, but it’s still quite exciting. or maybe the best bit is that this involves a vegetable which i rarely eat. and a cheap storecupboard vegetable at that.

or maybe, and actually i think this might be the clincher, the best bit is that it tastes delicious topped with crispy pancetta or, to ring the changes when you eat it two days in a row (guilty as charged m’lud!), a gruyere-topped crouton or two.

you should make this soup.

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growing up, dumplings were always the best thing about some of the soups that my mum used to make. chicken and vegetable soup with fluffy dumplings was a comforting dream of a dish. i still occasionally indulge myself but all too often chicken stock and leftovers get turned into a healthier miso broth which is served with noodles.

however, i have a new plan – chinese dumplings! in honour of the recent chinese new year celebrations i have been looking east for inspiration and i made up a couple of batches of jiaozi. both were scented with ginger and spring onion but half were a combination of pork mince and prawn while the others were prawn and wood ear mushroom. both were served in broth made from good homemade prawn stock and both were delicious.

i’m now planning an afternoon making up several batches of dumplings which can be frozen and then quickly served in broth, steamed or shallow-fried. my cooking mojo is back, with a bang, and it’s all thanks to dumplings!

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the miso soup which i have posted about recently fulfils a very specific need. it’s light, delicious and obviously healthy.

this lentil and savoy cabbage soup is similar except it screams healthiness and worthiness given its star ingredients are cabbage and lentils. this isn’t always a good thing – to make a huge generalisation, boys often need persuading of the virtues of this kind of food!

however, there are definitely days when i need to eat something that is going to make me feel a little bit saintly. whether it’s because i’ve been overindulging, need to be frugal or i just feel that my body needs a dose of healthiness.

the recipe is deceptively simple but tastes fabulous and ticks the saintly box. unless of course you grate over mounds of parmesan and eat it with fresh bread slathered in delicious french bridel butter. but even then it manages to retain an aura of austerity. deluded? moi? surely not…

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finally! i have finally managed to take a photo of miso soup that looks vaguely appealing.

miso soup is something we eat often, in various guises, and i’ve been wanting to write about it for quite a while. however, steaming bowls of soup are tricky to photograph so it’s taken a while to get a photo i was happy with.

delicious and nourishing, it is the perfect healthy comfort food. as a result, this is my contribution to meeta’s monthly mingle which has comfort foods as its theme. meeta, i hope you like it!

miso soup is also very quick and easy to make and can easily be adapted to what you have in. this recipe has prawns as the star of the show but we also make it using chicken or, for a veggie version, a mixture of interesting mushrooms. give it a try or, if you’re already a fan, let me know which combination is your favourite.

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as the weather gets colder my thoughts are turning to warming dishes with gentle flavours. this smoked haddock chowder is a particularly good example of the sort of thing i want to eat and would be ideal for supper on a chilly day. i also think it would be really nice as a christmas eve meal.

the flavours in the chowder are perhaps all rather predictable, but what really lifts it and makes it so lovely, is the addition of freshly grated lemon zest, sprinkled over just before serving.

somehow the contrast of the rich creamy fish soup and the zingy tangy lemon really lifts the dish, emphasising the gentle wintry flavours while reminding us of the freshness of spring that will arrive in due course.

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