Food bloggers in cook-off for new supermarket rainforest soup

A big food brand name has turned to bloggers to represent the tastebuds of the nation and invent a new rainforest soup, in support of the charity Cool Earth.

GLORIOUS! brought together some of the most prolific and dedicated food bloggers in the UK, put them in a professional kitchen and gave them the challenge of creating a new rainforest inspired soup.

Not yet available on the supermarket shelves, the winning recipe will be announced later this month (March 2011). In the meantime watch the heated Masterchef style cook off to see the competitors in action.

The food bloggers recipes were tasted by a panel of judges including Tim Hayward from the Guardian, Matthew Owen from Cool Earth, Le Pont de la Tour's Chef, Lee Bennet and Matthew Stephenson from Glorious.

Glorious is still voting, testing and tasting to determine the winning rainforest soup but we will be sure to keep you updated.

Mother's Day Recipes with a low carbon twist.

In the meantime try out some of the following Mother's Day recipes, suggested by the competing food bloggers. All include a selection of in season vegetables to help cut those food miles. 

Sarah Kemp, Foodforthink,
Pan Fried Sea Bass with Spinach and Tenderstem Broccoli 

Ingredients (serves 2)

2 Sea Bass fillets
Pack of Tenderstem Broccoli
Pack of ready washed spinach
1 Chilli, finely chopped
2 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
Juice of 1 lemon
Olive Oil
Black Pepper and Salt to season

Method

1. Place spinach in a frying pan, season with salt and pepper and wilt. Once soft, add chilli and garlic and fry for 2 minutes. Take off the heat
2. Preheat a large frying pan. Rub fish fillets with Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper
3. Add fish fillets to the pre-heated frying pan skin side down and cook until the fish becomes white rather than translucent
4. Steam Brocolli
5. When the fish fillets are nearly white, flip over for a further minute
6. Serve and enjoy!

Danny Kingston, Foodurchin
Old English, Ham and Spinach Soup

Ingredients (serves 4)
1 ham hock (not cured), about 250g
1 onion, finely sliced
1 celery stick, finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic
1 bay leaf
1 small bunch of mint
1 small bunch of chervil
1 large bunch of spinach
500g fresh or frozen garden peas
1 litre of chicken stock
25g unsalted butter
black pepper and cornish sea salt

Method
Melt the butter in a large, heavy saucepan, add the onion and celery and gently cook until soft. Then add the garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes or so.
Then add the ham hock, roughly two thirds of the peas, bay leaf and chicken stock. Simmer for 1 and half hours until the meat is just starting to come off the bone from the ham hock.
Take out the ham hock and bay leaf and then liquidise the stock in a blender until smooth. Pour the soup back into the pan and add the remaining peas, mint, chervil and spinach. Place back on the heat and bring to a light simmer, cook for a further 5 mins.
Meanwhile, flake the ham hock into fine pieces and put back into the soup when it's ready. Season to taste and serve straight away.

Charlie Nelson, Eatmynels
Chipotle, Carrot and Coriander Soup (Serves 4)

Ingredients (serves 4)

Large white onion (diced)
1/2 kilo carrots (diced)
4 chipotle chillis (soaked in boiling water for 15mins and blitzed into a red gunk)
1.5 ltr rich chicken stock
2 sticks of celery (diced)
3 cloves of garlic (pureed)
1 cup of pinto beans (soaked overnight and boiled)
Bunch of chopped coriander
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
Juice of 1 lemon
Agave nectar (or honey)
salt and pepper to season

Method:
Fry the diced onion in a heavy-bottomed saucepan until translucent. Add the garlic, chipotle gunk and oregano, combine. Add the carrots and the celery and on medium heat cook for 10 minutes until softened, adding a drop of water if the ingredients start to stick. Add the chicken stock and 1/4 of the pinto beans then simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Add a dollop of the agave nectar (or honey) and the lemon juice. Blend to desired consistency. Finally, add the rest of the pinto beans and the chopped coriander, season to taste. Serve immediately and garnish with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of chopped coriander.

Tips on energy efficient cooking

1. Use your oven wisely
Many newer ovens come to temperature very quickly so pre-heating isn't necessary in all case. Also you can turn of the oven early and let dishes finish cooking in the residual heat. 

2. Making good use of the oven by cooking more than one thing at once.

3. If you're cooking on the stove used the correct sized pot for each ring.

4. Make sure all of your pots and pans have close-fitting lids and use them when bringing water to the boil.

5. Try and incorporate in season and locally bought grown produce into your recipes. The fewer miles from farm to table, the better.

7. Bulk Up
Buy in bulk and cook in bulk; just make sure you can consume what you purchase and produce! Purchasing in bulk mean less packaging, and fewer trips to the store, and can also mean financial savings. Bulk cooking is a more efficient use of appliance energy and your time.

8. Waste Not, Want Not
On average, the kitchen generates the most waste of any room in your house, with huge amounts of unwanted packaging being generated with each trip to the supermarket. But cutting back needn't be too daunting. Take your own bags, buy fresh, unwrapped produce, and think carefully about how the purchases you're making are wrapped up.

9. Avoid over-sized portions; if you are regularly throwing food away then you are buying, and cooking, too much. 

10. Reuse what you can, like old glass jars or bottles, grocery bags, and packaging you can't avoid.
Step four: compost any uncooked organic waste (including cardboard and paper).

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