Pumpkin Soup

This week I have been featuring a series of recipes using pumpkin on the blog. So far we have had Pumpkin Risotto and Pumpkin Pie, so to complete my pumpkin series, today I am featuring Pumpkin Soup.

I love it when food creates a memory, and I love when food evokes happy memories. This time last year we went to Berlin to visit our lovely friends. To combat the sub zero snowy temperatures outside, our friend Adam welcomed us by making some delicious Pumpkin Soup to warm us up. It tasted so delicious and I always remember that 'first meal' in Berlin. We had a fantastic time in one of our favourite cities spending time with our friends and visiting the wonderful Christmas markets. The kids loved the local playgrounds and loved playing with their friends too. We don't see our friends enough due to the distance between us and sadly we haven't managed to get over to Berlin to visit them this year, so eating Pumpkin Soup reminds me of our friends wonderful hospitality, the lovely time that we had there and how much I want to go back. I think I could easily live in Berlin and would love to one day.

Pumpkin Soup is a delicious Autumn and Winter warmer. It is a great way to use up pumpkin left over from Thanksgiving or Halloween, and makes a great starter for Christmas Day. You could also use half pumpkin and half butternut squash rather than just pumpkin to make this soup.

This recipe is based on a recipe by Barney Desmazery. I added the garlic, cumin and chilli powder to give the recipe extra flavour, and also added coconut milk to give it an extra kick.

Ingredients
4 tbsp Olive Oil
2 Onions, finely chopped
800g Pumpkin, chopped
700ml Vegetable Stock
2 cloves Garlic, peeled and crushed
1/2 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Chilli Powder
150 ml Coconut Milk
142ml pot Double Cream
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method

1. On a medium heat, gently cook the onions and crushed garlic in two tbsp of the olive oil until soft.
2. Add the pumpkin, cumin and chilli to the pan with an extra tbsp of oil, and cook for a further 8-10 mins, stirring occasionally until the pumpkin begins to soften. 
3. Add the vegetable stock to the pan and season the mixture with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 minutes until the pumpkin is soft. Pour the cream and coconut milk into the pan, bring back to the boil and cook for another 5 minutes. 
4. Allow to cook a little and then puree the mixture until smooth.
5. Serve immediately or cool and store to eat later.

This recipe can be refrigerated or frozen.

Pumpkin Pie

My Dad is a US Citizen, so I have spent quite a few Thanksgivings in the USA. I love Thanksgiving and the holiday season out in the states as they make a bigger deal of Thanksgiving than Christmas.

So as part of my Pumpkin series, today I am featuring Pumpkin Pie on my blog. Traditionally associated with Thanksgiving in the USA, it is not known whether Pumpkin Pie featured on the table of pilgrims at the first thanksgiving holiday... However, pumpkin has been traditionally celebrated and eaten during Autumn and Harvest time for over 400 years in the USA.

Although many now find it more convenient to buy their pumpkin from a can, I think that Pumpkin Pie tastes so much nicer made from scratch. However, if you are partial to pumpkin and want to throw a quick and easy pie together, I discovered that Amazon sell canned pumpkin exported from the states to the UK market. I never even knew that Amazon had a grocery section, but they sell lots of great international food, so definitely check their Grocery store out as I was really surprised at the products they had on offer, and the prices aren't too scandalous either.

The Pumpkin Pie recipe I am featuring is based on a Guardian recipe by Felicity Cloake. It tastes absolutely delicious and is so full of warming spices - perfect for an Autumnal evening. Be warned though: it takes 3 and a half hours to prepare, so definitely make sure you prepare it hours in advance of you wanting to eat it, or you could find yourself tapping your foot impatiently waiting for it to cook.

So I hope you enjoy my Pumpkin Pie recipe. HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all my American friends and family, I hope you all have a fab holiday season.

I am linking to a few American blogs that I read to celebrate these lovely American bloggers:

Kat at Three Bedroom Bungalow - An American living in the UK.
Amy at The Bitchin Wives Club - An American who has decamped back to the other side of the pond.
Erica Whiteman at Cupcakes and Other Stuff - Another American living in the UK

Ingredients

For the Pastry:

170g plain flour

Pinch of salt

100g cold butter

2 tbsp caster sugar

1 egg yolk

For the Pie filling:

700g pumpkin pieces

150g maple syrup

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground cloves

2 large eggs, beaten

150ml evaporated milk

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees. Place the pumpkin pieces in a roasting dish, add a couple of tablespoons of water and roast for about half an hour.
2. Leave the oven on, remove the pumpkin from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Next, whizz in the food processor until smooth. You may need to add a bit of water at this point to get the mixture into a puree. Once you have a pumpkin puree, place a fine sieve or piece of muslin over a bowl , suspended and drain for at least an hour. 
3. Meanwhile, make the pastry. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl, then grate in the butter. Rub in butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Next stir in the sugar. Combine the egg yolk with 2 tbsp iced water, mix and then pour half over the mixture. Stir together with a knife until the mixture forms a paste – add a little more liquid if necessary.
4. Work the mixture together using your  fingertips, then roll out on a floured surface to the thickness of a one pound coin. Line the baking tin with the pastry, cover with clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.
5. Once the pastry has cooled, remove from the fridge and line the case with greaseproof paper and  baking beans. Bake blind for 15 minutes, then remove the paper and beans, and bake for another 5-10 minutes until the base is golden. Remove from the oven. Turn the oven down to 180C.
6. Meanwhile, place 250g of the pumpkin puree in a bowl and discard the excess liquid. Add the maple syrup, and spices and stir. Taste for sweetness, then mix in the eggs. Slowly stir in the evaporated milk until a thick, creamy consistency  forms– you may not need it all. Pour into the pastry case.
7. Bake for around 40 minutes, checking from half an hour onwards, until the filling is set, but still slightly wobbly in the centre. Allow to cool on a wire rack for at least an hour before serving.

I am entering this recipe into the "Simple and in Season" Linkup over at Fabulicious Food

Pumpkin Risotto- "Risotto di Zucca"

As Thanksgiving is almost upon my American Counterparts, I thought that it was time to crack open our pumpkin which we were given over Halloween. Not being one to celebrate Halloween, I tend to associate pumpkin more with Thanksgiving and cooking than with a Jack O'Lantern.

Pumpkin is a versatile cooking ingredient and is very low in fat. It is also very economical. Cutting the pumpkin took me over an hour as it was so big. I will easily have enough pumpkin pieces to cook three different dishes, so stay tuned for more pumpkin recipes this week.

I thought I would kick off my pumpkin recipe series with Pumpkin Risotto. I went to a friend's wedding in Scotland this year and the hotel served the most amazing pumpkin risotto as part of the vegetarian choice for the wedding breakfast and so whenever I eat pumpkin risotto, it remind me of our friends lovely wedding. 

This Pumpkin Risotto is based on a recipe by Antonio Carluccio. The original recipe calls for parmesan, which is not strictly vegetarian as I am well aware, so I substituted it for Italian Hard Cheese in this dish.

Ingredients
600g Pumkin, chopped into small chunks
2tbsp Olive Oil
90g Butter
4 sprigs of fresh Rosemary or dried if you don't have fresh to hand
1 Garlic Clove
1 Onion, finely chopped
300g Arborio Rice
1 Litre Vegetable Stock
100g Italian Vegetarian Hard Cheese, freshly grated
Salt and pepper to taste.

Method

1. Heat the oil, plus a third of the butter, and then add the pumpkin, rosemary and garlic clove to the pan. Heat for about 20 minutes or until the pumpkin softens and dissolves. Remove the garlic and rosemary sprigs. (I used dried so left the rosemary in).
2. In a different pan, heat another third of the butter and gently fry the onion until softened. Next, add the rice and fry gently again for a few minutes, stirring continuously.
3. Gradually add the pumpkin mix and then a little of the vegetable stock. Add more stock a little at a time and let the stock be absorbed by the rice before adding more. Stir to avoid the mixture sticking to the pan.
4. Once the rice is cooked, remove from the heat, add the remaining butter and two thirds of the Italian hard cheese and stir. Sprinkle more cheese over the top and serve immediately.

I am entering this recipe into the "Simple and in Season" Linkup over at Fabulicious Food

Lemon, Asparagus & Parmesan Pasta

Last week, I had a huge craving for a lemon based pasta dish. Typically more synonymous with summer than winter, I enjoy making this Lemon, Asparagus and Parmesan Pasta which is based on a Jamie Oliver recipe lots during the spring and summer time, especially during the Asparagus season.

This is a dish I would typically cook for just hubby and myself as the kids don't tend to like to lemon flavouring of the pasta. We love it however and so hubby was suitably excited when I presented this on the table last week. 

Sometimes it's fun to make dishes out of season don't you think!!

Ingredients
500g Fresh Tagliatelle
150g Fresh Asparagus, chopped
2 Lemons, Zest and Juice
2 Egg Yolks
150g Parmesan
A Bunch of Fresh Basil
3 tbsp Olive Oil
Salt and pepper

Method

1. Boil a kettle and pour the contents into a large saucepan and a smaller saucepan, both heated over a medium heat
2. Separate the eggs and place the egg yolks in a bowl. Add the Olive Oil and salt and pepper and mix.
3. Grate the parmesan and add 100g to the egg mixture, along with the lemon zest and juice. Mix together well.
4. Split the bunch of basil in two and reserve one for later. Next, take a few leaves from one bunch and save for later then pound the rest of the bunch in a pestle and mortar to make a green paste, then roughly chop the other half. Add both types of the basil to the bowl and mix all of the ingredients together well.
5. Place the asparagus into the smaller saucepan, season well and cook for around 5 minutes until softened.
6. Add the tagliatelle to the larger saucepan and add a splash of olive oil and a dash of salt. Stir and then cover with a lid and cook for between 3 and 5 minutes until cooked.
7. Drain the Asparagus and add to the lemon sauce.
8. Once the pasta is cooked, reserve a cup of the cooking water and then drain the pasta.  Place the egg mixture in a large serving bowl, add the pasta and then toss the sauce and pasta together. Add the cooking water a tablespoon at a time to bind the ingredients together and make the mixture slightly more velvety. You will typically need 2 to 3 tbsp of water. 
9. Taste the mixture and if needed, add more salt or parmesan to balance the lemon juice. Once happy, sprinkle the remaining parmesan and Basil over the top to decorate and serve immediately.

                                    

Note: If you are staunch vegetarian you could substitute the Parmesan for a vegetarian cheese alternative.

Vegetarian Children's Story Book Recommendations

As a Vegetarian parent, I am always on the look out for books and resources which I can use to teach my kids about being Vegetarian. Although my kids aren't completely 100% Vegetarian, I still want them to understand what it means to be Vegetarian, why I choose not to eat Meat or Fish, and why we eat Vegetarian at home.

Lately, my 4 year old has shown more of an interest in becoming a Vegetarian. She often proudly comes home and tells me that she chose the Vegetarian option for school lunch. Last week, she informed me that she told everyone on her dinner table that her Mummy is a Vegetarian and doesn't eat meat or fish - Do I sense a little activism starting?

Anyway, as my kids do eat mainly Vegetarian at home, I think it's good for them to have books to read which teach them about being Vegetarian and to understand Vegetarianism and following a Vegetarian diet. 

There are some lovely Vegetarian story books on the market which cater for all ages. I thought I would share with you my top 5 which are suitable for little ones through to about 7 or 8 years old. 

1.  Herb the Vegetarian Dragon  priced £2.81 from Play.com

Herb, the Vegetarian dragon is a story of learning tolerance and living in peace with others. Vegetarian dragon Herb lives in the forest of Nogard where everyone except him eats meat. Herb prefers tending to his vegetable patch than feasting on knights and princesses like the other dragons he lives with. When captured by the king's knights, Herb's principles are challenged but he stands steadfast and  he is ultimately freed and convinces the other dragon to stop eating people. This is a great book for 7 to 10 year olds, but beware, although it contains cartoons, they do depict quite violent scenes of dragons eating people and an executioner with axe mid swing.  http://www.dragonherb.com

That's why we don't eat animals, a story of Vegans, Vegetarians and all living things by Ruby Roth, is a Vegetarian version of the nursery rhyme 'to market to market, to buy a fat pig' . It takes a look at how animals are treated on factory farms and introduces the concept of factory farming to young readers. The beautiful artwork featured in the book shows animals in their natural state exhibiting natural behaviours, and also in the factory farm sad and living in poor conditions. It also introduces the concept of how eating animals affects the environment, rain forests and endangered species. The book ends with all of the animals going home to eat some delicious vegetable soup. Again, I would say that this is aimed at the 5 to 10 age group, although younger children will love the story and the pictures, but might not tap into the message of the book. 

3. Hubert the Pudge priced £10.62 from Amazon.co.uk

Hubert is a pudge. Instead of growing up, they are taken to the meat factory when still young and made into TV dinners, microwave dinners, sausage links, and other greasy food products. However, Hubert succeeds in escaping to the wild, where he feasts on luscious grass, exotic orchids, and skunk cabbage. As he eats more, he grows bigger and bigger. Soon Hubert is the biggest pudge since ancient times. He is giant! He is humongous! And he must fulfill his destiny. From the singular Henrik Drescher comes a quirky fable about the responsibilities that come from being larger than life.

4. Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving priced £4.36 from Amazon.co.uk

Twas the night before Thanksgiving is from the US and a parody of the Clement Moore poem 'Night before Christmas' . Eight boys and girls from all races visit a turkey field the night before thanksgiving. There, they meet eight baby turkeys and upon seeing the farmer with his axe, discover that the turkeys are to killed for thanksgiving Dinners. The children, with feathers peeking out from under their clothes, smuggle the turkeys home on the bus  and join their families for eight Vegetarian dinners. This is a great book for younger children up to around 8 years old.

5. Cows are Vegetarians priced £2.19 from Play.com

Cows are Vegetarians by Siobhan Parkinson is a tale about farm life. Michelle, who lives in the town, goes to visit her country cousin Siobhan and finds out that there are no shops nearby, she is surrounded by sheep poo, the cows she thinks will bite her are actually Vegetarians and life on the farm is not so boring after all

And one more bonus book: 

Saving the Bacon  Priced £12.99 from Amazon.com

Eco-worriers, Evie and Lola, are very concerned about food and have become Vegetarian. They are also trying to encourage everyone to eat healthy, locally sourced, organic produce and throw away as little as possible. So they're delighted that their friend, Meltonio, feeds all his leftovers to his pig, Samson. But then the girls discover that Meltonio is fattening Samson up for his Christmas dinner table! What can they do to save the bacon?

So if you are Vegetarian and looking for some Vegetarian story books to share with your children, I can highly recommend the books above.

Additionally, here is a more comprehensive list of Vegetarian and Vegan friendly books for kids:
http://www.vrg.org/family/Vegetarian-friendly_Kids_Booklist.pdf

Visit to "La Cuisine Imaginaire" (St Albans Food Festival)

As part of the St Albans Food & Drink Festival, on the 6th of October I attended a 'Watch and Taste' Vegetarian Cookery demonstration run by Roselyne Masselin. Roselyne is the author of  the BBC Vegetarian Cookery Book 'Cuisine Imaginaire' and creator of La Cuisine Imaginaire.

As someone who cooks, but doesn't get to watch other people cooking, I was really excited to have the chance to watch vegetarian food being prepared. Joined by four other ladies, we all settled into Roselyne's kitchen for a night of meat-free food. Roselyne had two dishes to showcase in the two hours that we were there and so whilst lots of chat ensued, Roselyne set about preparing our first dish "Ginger braised Tofu and Vegetable Brochettes with Lime and Sesame Sauce and fragrant Lemon Rice Timbale".

I must admit that I have never really cooked with fresh tofu before, and so I was intrigued to see how the dish would turn out. I had never really dabbled with a lot of the flavours Roselyne was using either, and so was definitely eager to find out how to add more flavour to my dishes.

Roselyne started by cutting the tofu into 36 pieces and then making the ginger marinade. Did you know that you can squeeze juice out of ginger? I didn't, but will definitely be trying this from now on! The tofu was left to marinade in the ginger whilst she then made the anise, lime and sesame sauce. 

The aroma of all of the different ingredients being used soon filled the kitchen. The liqorice flavour of the anise combined really well with the lime, ginger, chillies and tamari. Once the tofu had marinated and had been cooked, us eager onlookers got a taste of the action as we got to prepare our own brochettes by adding the lime, vegetables and the tofu to some skewers. These were then covered in more marinade and were returned to the oven to bake.

  

Whilst this was cooking, Roselyne prepared the rice timbale. This looked very impressive. It consisted of a pudding mould with a slice of lemon packed into the bottom and rice in the rest of the mould. This was then left to bake.

Once cooked, we had to turn out the rice timbale onto our plates. The pressure was immense to get it right. Luckily I did and my timbale remained in tact. We then added the brochettes to our plates and poured the anise, lime and sesame seed dressing over the top of them.

Here are a few tips I picked up from on the night:

1. Tamari or soy sauce adds a lot of flavour to a dish
2. Before juicing fruit, roll it around and the juice will come out more easily
3. When purchasing Ginger, use the 'scratch and sniff' test to see if it is fresh. 
4. Ginger is also great for medicinal purposes. 
5. The seeds are the hottest part of a chilli, so make sure it is deseeded well before use.
6. You can make a chilli open up like a flower by placing it in water.

The next dish Roselyne prepared was a Wild Mushroom Strudel. I love mushrooms, but the little ones in my family don't seem to be so keen and so I have to chop them up really small to sneak their flavour into the meals I cook. I was pleased to see that Roselyne was using some lovely portobello mushrooms and chopped them up into generous sizes so that they really added some texture and flavour to the strudel. I have always considered strudel quite difficult to make, but watching someone else do it seemed to make it not such a scary prospect. This dish also used leeks, which are another of my favourite foods, and walnuts for a bit of extra 'crunch' to the dish - delicious! Once the filling had been prepared, Roselyne brushed the filo pastry sheets with butter, added the filling and expertly rolled the pastry into a swiss roll or 'strudel' like shape. This was then cooked until golden and crispy. 

                               

The strudel was amazing, so full of flavour and really filling. This was actually my favourite dish of the night and I think I would be much more likely to make it as a meal. Although the Brochettes and Timbale contained amazing flavours and was definitely a 'wow' dish which I might try for a dinner party, this Wild Mushroom Strudel is more of a family favourite. I think I am going to experiment with the flavours too, although the leeks, mushrooms and walnuts all worked really well together.

I really enjoyed my visit to La Cuisine Imaginaire. It was wonderful to watch Roselyne cooking and wonderful to meet some new people and share delicious food. There are lots of vegetarian cookery course available at La Cusisine Imaginaire. so do visit the website if you would like to find out more.

Lemon & Lime Cheesecakes

This weekend, the kids and I made Lemon & Lime Cheesecakes from the Katy I Can Cook recipe book. The kids love making this dish and enjoy bashing the biscuits and stirring the ingredients together. It doesn't require too many ingredients or too much skill, so I can let them do it, and the finished product tastes delicious. 

We used Lemon and Lime as the recipe suggests to make our Cheesecakes, but you could use different kinds of fruit, and either juice or whizz the fruit in a mixer to pulp it, then mix with the marscarpone cheese and icing sugar. We really like making strawberry, raspberry or banana cheesecake.

Ingredients (Makes 2 Individual Cheese Cakes)
2 Digestive Biscuits
2 tbsp melted Butter
1 Lemon
1 Lime
125g Marscarpone Cheese
1 tbsp Icing Sugar

Method

1. Place the biscuits into a grease proof bag and use a rolling pin to bash them gently until they are crushed into crumbs
2. Place the crushed biscuits into a bowl, pour into the melted butter and mix well with a spoon. As the butter is soaked into the mixture, it will change colour.
3. Spoon the crumbs into the bottom of each of the glass pots and even out to make a biscuit base.
4. Take a lemon and Lime and roll on the table to loosen the juice. Cut the lemon and lime in half and squeeze the juice into a separate bowl.
5. Add the marscarpone cheese and the icing sugar to the juice and mix together
6. Spoon the mixture into the dishes to cover the biscuit bases.
7. Cover the pots and place in the fridge for 2 hours. Once set, remove from the fridge and decorate to serve.

More Tales from Goa - Arambol Beach

My friend Jo is currently living in Goa. She has previously blogged about Being a Vegetarian in Goa and is here to share more of her wonderful experiences as a guest poster today

   

Hi, just arrived back home in Candolim from spending four days in the North of Goa at Arambol beach.

Accommodation is cheap and ranges from bamboo beach huts to basic rooms. Most rooms having a fan, and lucky for us a hot water shower.  

The German bakery or backery as they call it not only offers a great value for money breakfast, but also an array of sandwiches, pizzas, and pastries. We are always glad when the German bakery starts up; this is the only bread we enjoy. Sliced bread in Goa is rather like Danish bread, no body to it what so ever, and usually has a sweet taste. The Goan bread roll is passable, but the white roll is very doughy and very sweet.

 

 Now this is proper bread:  

Cheese and mushroom toast, is always a must for me for breakfast with a cup of milk coffee. 60 rupees (less than one pound). Below is the simple breakfast menu, check out the spellings. Always a great joy reading a menu, I love the ‘bakes beaon toast’ or a favourite mushly for muesli.

Main Meals

On this stay I must say the best meals that we enjoyed the most was taken at the ‘Olive Garden.’ Great food and great service.

Organic Thali

Dal fry, a spicy lentil curry. Mixed veg that had a little kick to it, but had the consistency of a pickle. Fried vegetable rice, salad with two chapatti’s yogurt and a papad for 90 Rupees, (£1:10)

Ayurvedic Thali.

Paneer Palak (Spinach and cottage cheese curry.) saffron rice, mixed veg, Salad with 2 chapati’s and papad. Then the most amazing homemade rice pudding with sultanas. 100 Rupees. (£1.25)

Farfel.

 Chickpea spicy fritters, with hummus, pitta bread, and chips 130 Rupees (£1.60). John had already taken half my chips before I got the camera out!

Veggie burger

Homemade veg burger served with chips and salad 100 Rupees (£1.25)

Belly Buster Sandwich

Salad, two fried eggs topped with loads of mozzarella cheese, a side salad, and chips. 120 Rupees. (£1.50)

Paneer Tikka

Tandoori cottage cheese and vegetables, green and red peppers, mushroom, tomatoes, and onion. Chips, mixed salad and boiled rice. Far too much for one, we share with two roti. 130 rupees (£1.60) A VALUE MEAL.

Veg Jalfrazi and Veg Biryani rice.

A meal for two just under £2.00

 

So as you can see the choice of food is endless, cheap and we have the added knowledge that every meal is carefully presented, and pride is taken in all that they cook.

What we like about the Olive Garden is the fact that back in Himalayas, they have an Italian restaurant and hotel and so when the season starts in Goa, one of the managers and a team of his workers come and grace us with excellent food.

Looking forward to enlighting you more of the delights of vegetarian food during our stay in Goa.

Bye for now, Joanne Rawson.

Jo Rawson is a British ex pat currently living in Goa with her husband John, She is the author of "For Better, For Worse" 

Thanks Jo for sharing your experiences of food in Goa. I must say, the food looks wonderful and I am very jealous as it's much nicer than what's around for vegetarians over here!!