Pumpkin soup

Last year I blogged about pumpkins and I normally hate duplication, but this recipe was so good I thought that I should share. It came from a book I have, up until now, not really rated - The Able and Cole Cookbook.






The irony is that I was inspired to cook this after attending a fabulous Pumpkin Day with Riverford Farms, from whom we now get our rather better veg box.







Preheat the oven to 220'c, 425'F.

Toss 3 peeled and diced apples and 1 pealed and diced small pumpkin in olive oil and drizzle with a little honey then bake for about half an hour, turning every 10 mins. Take out from the oven when the pumpkin is tender.

Meanwhile you can toast the pumpkin seeds, but I always find this a terrible faff and is ultimately very unrewarding.

Scoop out the roasting tin, making sure not to leave behind any of the lovely caramelised bits or juices. Add a mug or two of vegetable or chicken stock and simmer for about 15 mins. Then blitz until smooth, adding liquid until it is the consistency you like - I like mine THICK!

Season with salt and pepper. The recipe calls for chilli flakes to be added during the roasting, but as the Dino boy can't cope with spice so I garnish it with mild chilli at this stage.

So here are my special ingredient hacks. As recommended by Yotam Ottolenghi, Aleppo chilli, a lovely fragrant but very mild chilli and Chinese clear broth as discovered when shopping with my lovely Chinese friend in San Fransisco. I pick up the clear broth when I pop to the Oriental supermarket, they really pack a punch - I had used most of the carton when trialling a Mushroom and egg custard for a new Chinese book (click on this link to get your own trial recipe http://www.mcsweeneys.net/books/allunderheaven ) Normally I use Marigold Swiss Brouillon.

Bedding down for the winter

I have joined the wonderful Manneskjur's 'how does your garden grown?' twice before and it the most friendly linky I have ever enjoyed. Last time, alas, it coincided with my first ever pre-launch event for my new creative venture (which is treading water until my Dino boy goes to school) so I could not lavish the comment love as I wanted, to due to trying to avoid a nervous breakdown, something I plan to put right this time!



This time of year in the garden I am picking the last of the veg and tidying up; recovering lost socks from the potting shed (how does a little boy manage to scatter his socks so liberally I can never be sure) and picking errant toys from potential leafy graves.


Last weekend we picked the past of the Pickle's potatoes from her personal veg area and planted 75 tulip bulbs. I love my Jan Reus tulips and albums along the fence line, but there were additional bulbs positioned in the veg patch. Yes, I have come over Sarah Raven and planted a mini cuttings garden with the hope of cheery bouquets come eat spring.





I really recommend I visit to the home of my inspiration.

Croque Ms muffins

Is it proof that I am an irredeemable domesticated wannabe yummy mummy? I am prepared to own up to watching cookery programmes on Iplayer while making hats and beading. It started with catching up with TGBBO but I have graduated onto Nigel Slater and Rachel Khoo. While indulging in this unsavoury pastime I came across this recipe, thanks to Ms Khoo. There is nothing like a good french croque so I was very tempted by the idea. The next day one of my fave cafes in Reading, Picnic, were serving their own version (but attributed to Ottolengi) having replaced the Gruyere with Camembert. Having completed the trial I can't say that the muffins replace the need for a conventional croque but you certainly get more generous filling to bread ratio, and you can get away Mother's Pride rather than mortgaging your soul for a decent pain Poilaine besides as left overs they are a very indulgent treat in a hurry.

Béchamel sauce
1 tbsp butter or rape seed oil (why I use oil when this still a cholesterol fiesta I am not sure)
1 tbsp plain flour
About 200ml milk
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
A large handful of cheese - I use the traditional Gruyere - about 75g (leaving some to sprinkle on top)

6 - 8 slices of white bread
6 - 8 small eggs
melted butter or oil

Base layer* - ham / spinach / red pepper

Make a cheese sauce: whisk the flour into the melted butter or oil and cook it over a medium heat (ensuring that you don't brown it). Let it cool just a few mins before you start adding a little milk. Keep adding milk little by little whisking away as you go. At some point add the nutmeg and mustard. You are aiming for a lovely smooth gloop! The invention of silicone whisks and non stick pans made life sooo much easier for me.








Next cut of the crusts from the bread and roll them flat before brushing them with the melted butter or oil. It is a little tricky getting them into the muffin tray but a small glass or jar will squish them flat against the sides

Add the bad layer* if you are using one, then add the eggs. If you add the eggs carefully you can see if the bread cup is getting too full and save the last bit of egg white.








Dollop on the cheese sauce, a couple of spoons on each then season and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Bake for around 20 mins. The bigger the egg the more time you need, but check to make sure that they are done to your liking. You may want to take half out at just before 20 mins to eat immediately with lovely runny yokes and then leave the others in the oven for about 5 mins longer so that the yolks firm to a mild quiver and they will be perfect for a indulgent breakfast in a hurry.

I served mine with loads of salad. The score card read Hubster 4 (and a coronary warning), me 2 and the munchkins one each.









*base layer - traditionally a croque Monsieur has a layer of ham, but I try to minimise my meat consumption but red peppers would add crunch and spinach would make it more of a croque Signora (well a bit florentine) or you could do without.



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Meet Kerry and other flowers

About ten years ago Kerry sought sanctuary with us at Christmas time. Never hampered by convention Kerry was full of surprises, including my present: a muddy bag of soil and bulbs. Many years later and this autumn they brighten my life again. Kerry has long since succumbed to cancer; she is gone but never forgotten.

One memory segues into another, and this time it is my Grandmother. I would be escorted around her garden; 'meet Vera' she would say, or 'this one is Alice'. Granny would have put Miss Marple to shame, the contrast between the amiably batty exterior and the scalpel sharp brain. Her garden was receptacle for memories, each plant given to her by a friend was a lasting memorial to happier times and ideas. So, in her honour, having introduced you to Kerry meet a few more friends.











Don't you love a friend who turns up weeks after you have moved into a new home with gifts? In Nikki's case it was a sack of horse dung, a Handel rose and a chicken house complete with chooks. The chicken house has long ago been rebuilt, but the rose goes from strength to strength.











finally, for today, here is Sarah. One morning she turned up at the gallery where we worked with a gift: a tip of a sedum plant, liberated from a random garden somewhere in North London. That cutting has been the Daddy (or Mummy) of many more.

These photos are some of the first steps with my new, old camera. I hope to explain why soon. first I must complete my first collection of beautiful things...

Inspired by the amazing Annie at Manneskjur - I recommend you take a peek
http://www.manneskjur.com/gardens/73-how-does-your-garden-grow
Xx

Creative

We found this potters wheel in a charity shop for £1. The Hubster rewired it, i reconstituted the dried out clay so the Pickle could get really creative. She did not finish a pot, but she had loads of fun and had some practice.





Now as this is part of a photography linky, I was decided to compare my new camera (above) with my old (below). Notice a difference?


I can't think creativity without mentioning my own. I am having the time of my life, but burning at both ends as I have my first show/sale next Monday and o am racing to get a collection together.


Click on the icon to the right to see all the other lovely posts. Thanks Tara for kicking my butt, I love a linky to force me to revisit my blog.
Xx

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad