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Posts Tagged ‘Pumpkin’

Sticky Miso Chicken on Sesame Pumpkin

Posted in Chicken, Food, tagged , , , , , , , , , on 28 January 2023| Leave a Comment »

We love pretty much anything with miso. This miso chicken roasted on a bed of sesame pumpkin is an excellent combination.

Wine Suggestion: We’re on a sherry so for this dish we pulled La Gitana Manzanilla out to find if it worked and were delighted to find it really does. If you have a Manzanilla/Fino to hand give it a go, otherwise find a textural Chardonnay which balances the flavours with an extra stalkiness and more time in bottle.

Sticky miso chicken on sesame pumpkin – serves 3

  • 1.5kg pumpkin, thinly sliced (we used crown prince)
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tbsp sesame seeds, plus extra to garnish
  • 1 scallion, thinly sliced, to serve
  • coriander leaves, to serve

FOR THE STICKY MISO CHICKEN:

  • 95g white miso paste
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 60ml mirin
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp brown rice vinegar
  • 6 skinless and boneless chicken thigh fillets

Heat the oven to 240C/fan 220C/gas 9 and line a large baking tray with baking paper.

Toss the pumpkin slices in a large bowl with the olive oil, sesame seeds and a good pinch of salt. Spread the pumpkin out over the baking tray and bake in the hot oven for 20 minutes.

To make the chicken, put the miso, sesame oil, soy sauce, mirin, brown sugar and brown rice vinegar into a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add the chicken and toss to coat, then set aside.

After 20 minutes, top the pumpkin with the chicken fillets and pour over any remaining marinade. Roast for another 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

Sprinkle over sliced scallions, coriander leaves and sesame seeds to serve.

(Original recipe by Donna Hay in Olive Magazine, Christmas 2020.)

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Chestnut, Bacon, Bean and Pumpkin Soup

Posted in Food, Gluten-free, Soup, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 26 January 2023| Leave a Comment »

This is a delicious soup recipe from Cooking by Jeremy Lee. Make it on a cold day when you don’t have very much else to do, it takes an age but tastes amazing. You need to soak the beans the night before.

Chestnut, bacon, bean and pumpkin soup – serves 6

  • 2 small onions
  • 3 sticks of celery
  • 3 large carrots
  • 1 smoked ham hock or diced smoked pancetta
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • a small stick of rosemary
  • a small handful of thyme
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
  • a big pinch of dried chilli flakes
  • 250g dried borlotti beans, soaked overnight in lots of cold water
  • 1 small pumpkin or a wedge of pumkin, roughly 1kg
  • 250g vac-packed chesnuts
  • Parmesan and good extra virgin olive oil, to serve

Peel and cut the onions, celery and carrot into chunky pieces. If using a smoked ham hock cut it into small cubes.

Warm the olive oil in a wide, heavy saucepan and add the pork, herbs, garlic, chilli flakes and vegetables. Stir well, cover with a lid and cook over a gentle heat, stirring occaionally, for roughly 1½ – 2 hours. If your ring is hot they may take a bit less time than this to become soft and caramelised. The idea is to cook them as slowly as possible until you achieve this then proceed with the recipe.

Drain the beans and rinse under cold water until it runs clear. Put the beans into a saucepan with lots of cold water and bring the boil over a high heat. Drain well and lightly rinse, then tip them on to the vegetables and cover with 4-5cm of water. Bring to the boil, then lower to a simmer and cook for at least an hour or until the beans are tender. Don’t be tempted to stir the soup while the beans are cooking, you want them to hold together.

Heat the oven to 180C and roast the pumpkin whole for 40 minutes to 1 hour or until soft and fudgy. Remove from the oven and leave to cool, then remove the seeds and skin. Purée the cooked pumpkin and add to the cooked beans.

Chop the chestnuts coarsely and add them to the soup, then gently reheat. Take care when stirring to keep the beans as intact as possible. Season well with salt and black pepper.

Serve in warm bowls with lots of grated Parmesan cheese and drizzled with your best olive oil.

(Original recipe from Cooking by Jeremy Lee, 4th Estate, 2022.)

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Guisado de Pollo

Posted in Chicken, Food, Gluten-free, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 4 December 2022| Leave a Comment »

A Diana Henry recipe inspired by but not quite the same as the Dominican dish. This is perfect for a weeknight despite the long list of ingredients. Most will be in your cupboard and it’s really easy to put together. Lovely bright colours and flavours. This works on it’s own or with some crusty bread or rice.

Wine Suggestion: despite the inclination to go for a richer white, we felt in the mood for a red instead so chose Domaine Gayda’s Cepage Grenache. A brambly, dark red fruited wine with a juicy core and gentle, ripe tannins. We served it slightly cool to great effect and it made a delightful counterpoint to the chipotles (ours were very hot!).

Guisado de Pollo – serves 6

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 800g boneless, skinless chicken thighs
  • 75g pumpkin, peeled and cut into 2.5cm chunks
  • 400g waxy potatoes, cut into 1cm chunks – you can peel them if you like, we didn’t bother
  • 1 onion, roughly chopped
  • 1 red pepper, chopped
  • 6 cloves of garlic, finely grated
  • 4 tsp ground cumin
  • a small tin of pineapple in natural juice, drained and cut into small chunks
  • 400g tin plum tomatoes
  • 1 tsp soft dark brown sugar
  • 2 tinned chipotles in adobo sauce, finely chopped, or 3 tbsp chipotle paste (reduce if your chipotles are very hot)
  • 3 sprigs of thyme
  • 500ml chicken stock
  • 1 jalapeño chilli, halved lengthways and deseeded
  • 2 tbsp capers, rinsed
  • juice of 1 lime
  • a small bunch of coriander, chopped, to serve

Season the chicken well with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large casserole and fry the chicken in batches until browned on both sides. It doesn’t need to be cooked through at this stage. Remove to a plate and set aside.

Add the chopped pumpkin and potato to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes or until starting to colour. Remove and set aside.

Add the onion and pepper to the pan and cook until soft and golden, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic cand cumin and cook for another 2 minutes.

Stir in the pineapple, tomatoes, sugar, chipotles, thyme, chicken stock. Season and bring slowly to a simmer.

Cut the chicken into thick strips, then add to the casserole along with any juices from the plate. Add the potatoes, pumpkin and the jalapeño. Stir gently then leave to simmer for 25 minutes without a lid. Give it a stir now and again. It’s ready when the vegetables are soft and the sauce thickened.

Add the capers and lime juice and season to taste. Stir in the coriander and serve.

(Original recipe from A Bird in the Hand by Diana Henry, Mitchell Beazley, 2015.)

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Baked Pumpkin with Roasted Garlic Chickpea Purée

Posted in Food, Gluten-free, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on 12 February 2022| 3 Comments »

We had this for a main course but you could also have it as a side. Plus it tastes fab at room temperature for lunch the next day.

Wine Suggestion: Perfect with a youthful, oaked Chardonnay like the one we had to hand from Rustenberg in Stellenbosch, South Africa.

Baked pumpkin with roasted garlic chickpea purée – serves 6

  • 1kg pumpkin (our favourite is crown prince), remove the seeds and cut into 6 wedges, leave the skin on
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 10 sprigs of rosemary
  • 8 bushy sprigs of thyme
  • 75g butter
  • 10g flatleaf parsley leaves
  • 1 tsp pink peppercorns

FOR THE CHICKPEA PURÉE:

  • 2 x 400g tins chickpeas
  • 1 small lemon, juiced
  • 150ml olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Lightly oil a baking tray and lay the pumpkin wedges in a single layer. Tuck in the cloves of garlic. Season with salt and black pepper and add the sprigs of rosemary and thyme. Drizzle with olive oil and dot the butter over, then roast for 45 minutes or until golden-brown and soft.

Drain and rinse the chickpeas, then bring to the boil in plenty of water. Simmer for 8-10 minutes or until heated through.

Squeeze the roasted garlic out of the skins into the bowl of a food processor. Drain and add the hot chickpeas and the lemon juice. Whizz, while gradually pouring in the olive oil, until you have a soft creamy texture.

Chop the parsley, then mix with the pink peppercorns and 1 tbsp of olive oil.

Spoon the purée onto a serving dish, arrange the pumpkin on top, then scatter over the parsley and peppercorns.

(Original recipe from A Cook’s Book by Nigel Slater, 4th Estate, 2021.)

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Vegan Pumpkin & Coconut Curry

Posted in Asian, Food, Gluten-free, Vegan, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on 18 January 2022| 4 Comments »

We were very pleased to find a late season crown prince pumpkin at our farm shop last week, which is our favourite variety. You could easily use a butternut squash instead if pumpkin is not available. This is a mild and creamy curry from Sri Lanka.

This is not an attempt at veganuary, we love to eat vegetables just as much as meat and fish. After the excess of Christmas we find a variety of dishes very welcome.

Wine Suggestion: Look to complement the rich, creaminess with a richer, creamy white, like an oaky Chardonnay, or similar. We went a bit left field with an older bottle or Jean-Michel Gerin’s le Champine Viognier which had in our cellar. With a heady apricot, pineapple and mango exoticism and a rich, very textural palate it was an unexpected treat.

Vegan pumpkin & coconut curry – serves 4

  • 1kg pumpkin or butternut squash, peel, deseed and cut into 1 ½ cm cubes (you want about 900g of cubed pumpkin)
  • 2 tsp curry powder, not too hot
  • 1½ tbsp rapeseed oil
  • fine sea salt
  • 1 onion, finely diced
  • 5 long green chillies, finely sliced, we took the seeds out but you can leave them in if you want more heat
  • 12-15 curry leaves
  • ¾ tsp ground turmeric
  • ½ tsp fenugreek seeds
  • 5 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
  • 150g cherry tomatoes
  • 1 x 10cm cinnamon stick, snapped in two
  • 2 x 400ml tins coconut milk
  • juice of 1 lime
  • rice, to serve

Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/Gas 6.

Line a baking tray with baking parchment.

Put the pumpkin pieces into a large bowl with the curry powder, rapeseed oil and ¾ tsp of fine sea salt, then toss together to coat. Tip the pumpkin out onto the lined tray and spread it out evenly. Bake in the oven for 35 minutes, then set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, put the onion, chillies, curry leaves, turmeric, fenugreek, garlic, cherry tomatoes, cinnamon stick and 1½ tsp of salt into a saucepan with 200ml of cold water. Bring to the boil over a medium-high heat and cook for about 12 minutes or until the onions and tomatoes are soft and the liquid almost evaporated.

Add the coconut milk and roasted pumpkin, then bring back to a gentle simmer, then remove from the heat and add the lime juice. Taste and add more lime or salt if needed.

(Original recipe by Meera Sodha in The Guardian, 1st January 2022.)

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Pumpkin Soup with Maple-toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Posted in Food, Gluten-free, Soup, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on 29 December 2020| Leave a Comment »

Pure pumpkin flavour is what you get in this soup from Marcus Wareing. The maple-toasted seeds on top definitely make it a bit special. Our favourite pumpkin variety is Crown Prince. 

Pumpkin soup with maple-toasted seeds – serves 8

  • 1 pumpkin, approximately 2kg
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 sprig of rosemary
  • 125g butter
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 250ml milk

FOR THE MAPLE-TOASTED SEEDS:

  • 60 pumpkin seeds
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • ½ tbsp olive oil, plus extra to serve
  • ¼ tsp sea salt

Peel and quarter the pumpkin and reserve the skin and seeds. 

Cut the pumpkin flesh into 2cm chunks, and set aside. 

Put the skin, seeds and trimmings into a large saucepan with the bay leaf, rosemary and 2.5 litres of water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 1 hour, then strain and reserve the stock. 

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. 

Mix the pumpkin seeds with the maple syrup, olive oil and salt. Scatter over a baking tray and bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes, until golden. Remove and allow to cool, then roughly chop. 

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat, then add the pumpkin chunks and 1 tsp of salt. Cook for about 5 minutes or until starting to soften. 

Pour in about half the pumpkin stock and bring to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes, until the pumpkin is completely soft and starting to break down. Stir in the milk, remove the rosemary sprig and bay leaf. Blend with a stick blender or processor until completely smooth, adding more stock if needed. Season to taste. 

Serve the soup scattered with the pumpkin seeds and drizzled with some good olive oil. 

(Original recipe from Marcus at Home by Marcus Wareing, HarperCollins Publishers, 2016.)

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Pumpkin, Mustard & Gruyère Gratin

Posted in Food, Gluten-free, Side dish, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , , , , on 27 November 2020| 2 Comments »

We made a vat of this last night, which is fine because it is really nice. Still, we’re looking forward to sharing dishes with other people again. Our preferred pumpkin is a Crown Prince but you can use butternut squash if that is what’s available. We served this with a cabbage dish and some roast potatoes but it would be super with sausages or chicken or any roast really.

Pumpkin, mustard & Gruyère gratin – serves 4 to 6

  • a small knob of butter
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 onions, halved and thinly sliced
  • 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and squashed
  • 8 sage leaves
  • 300ml pot double cream
  • 200ml milk
  • 2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
  • pumpkin, about 1kg prepared weight
  • 100g Gruyère, grated

Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan. Add the onions and cook gently for 10-15 minutes or until soft and golden.

Meanwhile, put the garlic and half the sage into a saucepan, add the cream and milk and heat gently for 5 minutes but don’t let it boil. Remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes, then throw away the sage and garlic, stir in the mustard and add plenty of seasoning.

Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.

Layer the pumpkin slices, onions, most of the cheese and the cream in a very large baking dish or roasting tray, finishing with a layer of cream and some cheese scattered on top. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes.

Uncover and increase the heat to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Cook for another 20-30 minutes or until golden brown and completely tender. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

(Original recipe from BBC Good Food)

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Oxtail Stew with Pumpkin & Cinnamon

Posted in Beef, Food, Gluten-free, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on 20 November 2020| 1 Comment »

We cooked this for dinner on Halloween, you need a good eating pumpkin, like Crown Prince, rather than a carving pumpkin. The oxtail is a bit of a fiddle but it’s worth it and you can do all the fiddly bits well in advance. The result is fabulously rich and tasty.

Wine Suggestion: to cut through the richness you need a red with both a bit of acidity and tannins and a favourite of ours for this purpose is Chianti. Tonight the Pian del Ciampolo from Montevertine in the Chianti Classico region who have stepped outside the system but still use the classic grapes for the appellation. Young and joyful but with a serious backbone and a good match for the dish.

Oxtail stew with pumpkin and cinnamon – serves 6

  • 2kg oxtail pieces
  • 200g shallots, roughly chopped
  • 3 large carrots, roughly chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 400ml red wine
  • 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
  • 10 sprigs of thyme
  • 5 sprigs of rosemary
  • zest of ½ an orange, peeled into long strips
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 2 star anise
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper
  • 500g pumpkin, cut into 2.5 cm cubes (you could use butternut squash but try and get pumpkin if you can)
  • 300ml water

FOR THE GREMOLATA

  • 2 tbsp roughly chopped parsley
  • grated zest of 1 large lemon
  • 2 cloves of garlic, crushed

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4.

Heat a large heavy-based pan over a high heat, it needs to be big enough to hold the whole stew later, and add 2 tbsp of olive oil. When the oil is smoking hot add some oxtail pieces and fry until well browned on all sides. You will need to do this in batches and don’t put too many in at once or they will start to stew rather than fry. Transfer the browned pieces to a colander so the excess fat can drain off.

If there is a lot of fat in the pan, tip some of it off, then add the shallots, carrots and garlic. Cook these over a medium-high heat for about 10 minutes, until golden brown.

Add the wine to the pan and scrape the base with a wooden spoon to get any crusty tasty bits off the bottom. Bring to the boil and simmer until almost evaporated, then add the tomatoes. Tie the thyme and rosemary sprigs together and add to the sauce, then add the orange zest, bay leaves, cinnamon, star anise, black pepper and some salt. Transfer the sauce to a deep baking dish or roasting tray big enough to take the oxtail in a single layer. Set the oxtail pieces on top. Put a sheet of baking parchment directly over the oxtail, then cover with a tight-fitting lid or a couple of layers of tinfoil, then bake for 2-3 hours or until the meat comes away easily from the bone.

Lift the oxtail out of the sauce and into a large bowl, then leave to cool slightly. When it’s cool enough to handle, pick all the meat from the bones and put into the heavy-based pan that you used to brown it in, discard the fatty bits and the bones. Add the sauce from the baking tray to the meat along with the pumpkin cubes and the 300ml of water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until the pumpkin is soft. Season to taste.

To make the gremolata, mix the parsley, lemon zest and garlic together. Transfer the stew to a serving bowl and sprinkle the gremolata on top.

(Original recipe from Ottolenghi the Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, Ebury Press, 2008.)

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Pumpkin with Mustard & Cream

Posted in Food, Side dish, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on 8 November 2020| Leave a Comment »

Sometimes on Sundays we do a sort of a roast dinner but without the roast. It usually consists of a few different vegetable dishes, something green and something creamy, and roast potatoes are essential. We really loved this recipe by Nigel Slater as it gives the pumpkin a super soft, almost fudgy texture, and the creamy sauce is delicious.

Wine Suggestion: This meal goes great with richer reds or whites. Jerome Coursodon’s Etincelle Blanc, a blend of Roussanne and Viognier from the St Joseph vineyards in the Northern Rhone, was super expressive and had a wonderful balance of being rich and powerful while at the same time being crisp and taught.

Pumpkin with mustard & cream – serves 4

  • 2kg of pumpkin, leave the skin on – our favourite variety is Crown Prince
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 litre of hot chicken or vegetable stock
  • 200ml double cream
  • 1 tbsp grainy mustard
  • 1 tbsp Dijon mustard

Heat the oven to 200C/180 fan/Gas 6.

Cut the pumpkin in half and cut the halves into large wedges. Scoop out the seeds.

Heat the olive oil in a large, deep, roasting tin over a medium heat. Lightly brown the pumpkin on the cut sides.

Pour the hot stock over the over the pumpkin, then cover with tin foil and seal tightly. Bake for 45 minutes, then remove the foil, turn the pumpkin wedges and baste well with the stock. Return to the oven and cook for another 45 minutes.

Lift the pumpkin from the stock and keep warm. Put the tin with the stock over a high heat and let it reduce to about 200ml. Pour in the cream, stir in the mustards and season. Spoon the sauce over the pumpkin wedges to serve.

(Original recipe from Greenfeast by Nigel Slater, 4th Estate, 2019.)

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Curried Squash, Lentil & Coconut Soup

Posted in Food, Gluten-free, Soup, Vegan, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , on 10 March 2020| Leave a Comment »

Curried Squash, Lentil & Coconut Soup

It seems like there’s a storm every weekend in Ireland at the minute. Stuck indoors again it’s an opportunity to make some soup. This is the soup we made for Storm Jorge.

Curried squash, lentil & coconut soup – serves 6

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced
  • 200g carrots, diced
  • 1 tbsp curry powder
  • 100g red lentils
  • 700ml veg stock
  • a tin of reduced-fat coconut milk
  • coriander and naan bread, to serve

Heat the oil in a large pot, then add the squash and carrots and toss around for a minute before stirring in the curry powder and cooking for a minute more. Add the lentils, the vegetable stock, coconut milk and some seasoning, then bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15-18 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.

Blitz the soup with a hand blender or food processor. Check the seasoning and serve with the coriander over the top and some naan bread on the side.

(Original recipe by BBC Good Food).

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Pork, Roast Squash, Apple & Chestnut Salad

Posted in Food, Pork, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 11 November 2019| Leave a Comment »

Pork, Roast Squash, Apple & Chestnut Salad

Could there be a more autumnal dish? We went completely overboard with a roast pork last weekend and have been searching for great recipes to use it all up. Love your leftovers!

Wine Suggestion: Pork and apples are a happy match for a good Chenin Blanc. Tonight we had Bernard Fouquet’s, Domaine des Aubuisieres Vouvray Silex. Fresh and appley to complement the salad with a lovely clean, dry finish; a soft and friendly wine with good persistence and layers of texture.

Pork, roast squash, apple and chestnut salad – serves 4

For the salad:

  • 50g butter
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp ground ginger
  • 1kg squash or pumpkin, peeled and cut into slim wedges
  • 2 tsp caster sugar
  • 2 apples, halved, cored and cut into wedges
  • 100g cooked chestnuts (vacuum-packed work fine)
  • 100g spicy pork sausage, cut into chunks
  • 200g leftover cooked pork, cut into chunks
  • 25g hazelnuts, toasted (roast for 20 minutes or so until they smell toasty, the skins will rub off easily with a clean tea towel)
  • 150g watercress or baby spinach

For the dressing:

  • 1½ tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • a tiny bit of Dijon mustard
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 3 tbsp hazelnut oil (we didn’t have any hazelnut oil so used extra virgin olive oil instead)

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5.

Melt 25g of the butter in a saucepan. Add 3 tbsp of the olive oil, the cinnamon and ginger. Put the squash into a roasting tin and drizzle over the spicy mixture, tossing to coat. Season the squash, then sprinkle over half of the sugar. Roast for 25 minutes, or until tender and slightly caramelised.

Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a bowl, seasoning with salt and pepper.

Melt the rest of the butter in a large frying pan and sauté the apples until golden. Add the chestnuts and heat through, then set aside. Add the rest of the oil to the same pan and sauté the sausage until cooked and nicely browned, then add the pork and heat through – a few toasty brown bits on the pork will taste good too. Season.

Toss the warm squash with all the salad ingredients and the dressing.

(Original recipe from Food by Plenty by Diana Henry, Mitchell Beazley, 2011.)

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Roast Pumpkin & Fennel with Mushrooms

Posted in Food, Gluten-free, Side dish, tagged , , , , , , , , , on 8 October 2018| Leave a Comment »

Roast pumpkin & fennel with mushrooms

Such a beautiful autumnal side dish. We served this with some grilled pork but it would be nice with roasts or with some potatoes and greens if meat’s not your thing.

Roast pumpkin and fennel with mushrooms – serves 6

  • 2 fennel bulbs, cut into thin slices
  • 1 small pumpkin/squash, peeled and diced
  • 1 clove of garlic, crushed
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 300g portobello or field mushrooms, diced into big chunks
  • butter
  • a few sprigs of tarragon
  • 100ml double cream
  • 1 tsp Dijon

Heat the oven to 200C/Fan 180C/Gas 6.

Toss the fennel and pumpkin/squash with the garlic, bay leaf and some olive oil and plenty of seasoning. Roast for 20-30 minutes or until completely tender.

Meanwhile, fry the mushrooms in butter until any liquid they have released has evaporated.

To serve, heat the cream in a small pot, then stir in the mustard and tarragon. Spoon the squash and fennel mixture onto a platter, toss through the mushrooms, then drizzle with the creamy sauce.

(Original recipe by Matt Tebbutt in BBC Olive Magazine, December 2010.)

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Thai Pumpkin & Chickpea Curry

Posted in Asian, Food, Gluten-free, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 5 October 2016| Leave a Comment »

Thai pumpkin & chickpea curry

Thai pumpkin & chickpea curry

A really good veggie curry and yet another use for the never-ending tub of Thai red curry paste. We’re very excited for pumpkin season and not because we want to make lanterns.

Pumpkin & chickpea curry – serves 4

  • 1 tbsp sunflower oil
  • 3 tbsp Thai red or yellow curry paste
  • 2 onions, finely chopped
  • 3 stalks lemongrass, bashed with the back of a knife
  • 6 cardamom pods
  • 1 tbsp mustard seeds
  • 1 piece pumpkin or a small squash (about 1kg)
  • 250ml vegetable stock
  • 400ml can reduced-fat coconut milk
  • 400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 2 limes
  • large handful mint leaves
  • steamed rice and/or naan bread, to serve

Heat the oil in a sauté pan and gently fry the curry paste with the onions, lemongrass, cardamom and mustard seeds for a few minutes or until fragrant. Stir the pumpkin or squash into the pan and stir to coat in the paste, then pour in the stock and coconut milk. Bring to a simmer, add the chickpeas, then cook for about 10 mins until the pumpkin is tender.

Squeeze the juice of one lime into the curry, then cut the other lime into wedges to serve on the side. Tear over mint leaves to garnish and serve with steamed rice or warm naan bread.

(Original recipe from BBC Good Food)

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Pumpkin & Sage Soup

Posted in Food, Healthy, Soup, Uncategorized, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , , on 1 January 2014| 1 Comment »

Sage brings an unexpected element to this soup that really works. Super warming and homely.

Pumpkin and sage soup – to serve 8

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 3 onions, chopped
  • 2 tbsp chopped sage
  • 1.4kg of pumpkin or squash flesh
  • 1 tbsp clear honey
  • 1.5 litres vegetable stock

Melt the oil and butter in a large pot. Add the onions and sage and cook gently for about 15 minutes or until really soft. Add the squash and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the honey and stock. Bring to a simmer and cook until the squash is soft.

Cook before processing until smooth. Season and add a bit more stock if its too thick. Reheat to serve.

(Original recipe from BBC Good Food)

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Roasted Pumpkin and Thyme Soup with Gruyère Cheese

Posted in Food, Soup, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , on 12 November 2012| 3 Comments »

Try and find a tasty pumpkin (i.e. not one of the huge varieties grown to make lanterns) or failing that a butternut squash will do. This makes an absolutely delicious starter or  lunch served with some crusty bread.

Roasted pumpkin and thyme soup – to serve 4

  • 1.5kg unpeeled pumpkin, or butternut squash
  • sunflower oil
  • 40g butter
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • leaves from 4 small sprigs of thyme, plus a few extra to garnish
  • 1.2 litres vegetable stock
  • 150ml single cream
  • 75g Gruyère cheese, coarsely grated

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/Gas Mark 6.

Cut the pumpkin into chunky wedges and scoop out the fibres and seeds. Rub with oil, season well with salt and pepper and put into a small roasting tin, skin-side down. Roast for 30 minutes or until tender.

When the pumpkin has cooled down a bit, slice away and discard the skin and cut the flesh into small chunks.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the onion and half the thyme leaves and cook gently for about 10 minutes or until very soft but not browned. Add the roasted pumpkin, any pumpkin juice from the plate, the stock and ½tsp of salt. Cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes.

Leave the soup to cool slightly, then blend with the rest of the thyme leaves until smooth. Return to a clean pan and bring back to a gentle simmer. Stir in the cream and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Serve in warm bowls with a pile of grated cheese and a few thyme leaves in the centre.

(Original recipe from Rick Stein’s French Odyssey, BBC Books, 2005.)

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