Spicy Butternut Squash Soup topped with Toasted Pumpkin seeds

This Soup is a great winter warmer its also low in fat.

Butternut Squash is sweet in flavour which is quite good to eat when dieting as it can help prevent sugar cravings.

I don't peel the squash as it can be a nightmare sometimes instead I roast it cut in to wedges then peel it when its cooked.

Serves 4 

Ingredients:

1 Large Butternut Squash cut in to wedges skin left on take out the seed though 

1 teaspoon ground Coriander 

1 tablespoon olive oil 

1 Leek or onion thinly sliced ( I used leek because I didn't have onions so don't be afraid to change recipes if you have similar ingredients)

1/2 Red chilli de-seeded

Thumb sized piece of ginger grated 

Zest 1 Orange 

1+1/2 litres Chicken Stock or Vegetable stock

Salt and Pepper 

Handful of Pumpkin Seeds 

Spoon of yoghurt 

Method:

Pre-Heat 180 oC

Toss the squash, coriander, olive oil and pinch of salt together.

Place on a baking tray and cook  for 45 minutes or until soft.

When cooked leave them to cool a little then peel off then skin and chop in to chunks.

While the Squash is cooking slice up the leek and Saute it in a little oil,butter or spray oil until soft.

Add in the chilli, ginger and chopped squash and stock.

Boil up and simmer for a few minutes just to let the flavours marry. 

Blend the soup if its a bit thick add a little more stock,water or milk to thin it out.

The add the zest of orange and taste to check seasoning.

Heat a dry frying pan and add the seeds toss them in the pan until well toasted.

Pour the soup in to warm bowls and top with a blob of yoghurt and seeds.

"Saturday Night Take Away" chicken parcels

This recipe low fat and for the weekend.
 There little bit of chopping for this recipe but if you have a food processor it'll do all the work for you.
Use won ton wrappers if you want and deep fry them.

Warning this recipe contains no MSG  :)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

The Parcels;

1large head of Savoy Cabbage
Salt

Cut off the core and outer leaves from the cabbage and separate the leaves.
Blanch the leaves in salted boiling water for 1-2 minutes and cool down in either a bowl of cold water and ice or run a cold tap over them to stop them cooking too much and going soggy.
the reason why we blanch them first is that they become pliable for the parcels.

Use won ton wrappers instead of cabbage for the parcels if you want and deep fry them.

The Filling;

50 g fresh ginger or galangal
2 cloves garlic
1 large bunch coriander
1 Small bunch mint
2 chillies
4 scallions or 1 banana shallot \
1 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce
Juice 3 limes
1 tablespoon fish sauce
400 g chicken, prawns or any white firm fish such as cod,hake,haddock.
tiny pinch salt
(If worried about seasoning fry off a tiny piece of the mix and taste then adjust where necessary remember the fish sauce is salty so be careful with adding salt)


Method:

Pulse all the ingredients in a food processor except chicken, when they are nicely chopped add chicken and pulse again until it looks like mince meat rather than a paste.

Have the cabbage leaves stacked up on a plate ready to use one by one.

Place a heaped spoon of the chicken mix on the end of the cabbage leaf and roll it up and tuck under the sides and repeat, if they wont close just take out a little of the filling.

Have a steamer ready, place each parcel next to each other with no space as this will keep them closed while cooking.Pop the lid on and steam them for 8 minutes.
If your not sure if they are cooked take one out and cut it in half if its piping hot they are ready.

(the last time I made these my cabbage was far too small and had the filling left over, so I froze it for the next time ).

 Serve with soy sauce ,chilli sauce etc.

Enjoy!

Know Your Flours

If your taking up baking as a new hobby for the new year this little guide to flour may help you along the way.

Plain Flour: Multi purpose mostly used for pastries, scones and cupcakes

Cream Flour: Also Multi purpose but contains a a low level of raising agents which I don't think many people know and use it in baking products that don't require any raising agents such as pastry and when baking blind a pastry tart it'll puff up too much and probably break.The manufacturers made this flour for the home cook to lend a hand in consistency, personally I don't like cream flour and never use it.

Strong Flour: Strong flour is made with harder wheat's to add strength to a bake,
perfect for use in Breads, Choux Pastry, Pizza Dough, Pasta, flat breads and Scones if you want them extra tall and uniform.

Whole Wheat: Whole Wheat flour is the whole wheat ground either fine or course or extra course its a natural flour and contains a lot of fibre.
Uses are, Irish Brown Soda bread, Digestive biscuits, Cheese crackers Whole wheat pasta and Whole wheat pastry.

Lemon Drizzle Cake with Lemon Curd Icing

Some People dismiss Madeira cake as being quit plain and boring and they are probably right when it comes to shop bought Madeira. You can't deny that a freshly home baked Madeira cake is buttery, light and comforting.

So getting a plain one right is worth it as the possibilities for derivatives are endless and here's mine.

The recipe makes a 2lb loaf tin and 12 cupcakes half the recipe if you want to make less.

Pre-heat oven 160 oc

Here's a few tips when cooking a Madeira style cake: 

Make sure your butter and eggs are all at room temperature so it will all combine easily.

Add your eggs one by one if it looks like its going to split add a little of the weighed flour after each egg and this should fix the problem.

Always stir the end of your mixing bowl by hand as some of the cake batter may not be fully mixed at the bottom.

Line and grease the cake tin well and remember if it doesn't work out this time just start over its all the fun of learning.

Try not to open the oven door until the cake has a brownish skin on top as the cake might flop before this if the oven cools rapidly by opening the door.

With the cake batter that is left over, spoon in to a lined cupcake tin and freeze they will cook perfect from frozen.

Ingredients:

500 g soft butter 

500 g caster sugar 

8 eggs 

500 g plain flour 

2 tps baking powder 

Zest of  4 lemons (Keep juice for later )

Method:

Cream butter and caster sugar together in a mixing bowl, hand blender or with a wooden spoon by hand

When light and fluffy start adding the eggs one by one 

When eggs are all incorporated 

Sieve in the flour and baking powder stir well 

Finally add the the lemon zest 

Spoon in to a lined and greased tin 3/4 way up to give it room to rise and bake at 160 oc for about 40 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean.

Leave in the tin for a few minutes then turn out on to a wire rack until ready to slice and ice.

Lemon Curd 

So I suggest you make this while the cake is in the oven or even the day before and it needs to be cool before making the icing.

This recipe is for more than what you need for cake but if your going to spend the time making it you might as well make a jar. I love it on freshly baked scones with whipped cream.

Ingredients:

150 g butter  

6 eggs 

150 g sugar 

250 ml lemon juice use the juice left over from the cake but you may need to add more according to the size lemons and how juicy they are.

Method:

Melt butter in a sauce pan then add all the other ingredients.

Stir until it thickens on a low heat, don't be tempted to turn the heat up high to speed up the process or you might end up with lemon scrambled eggs. 

Cool before jarring will keep for a week in the fridge so if you don't have a jar just use a plastic sealed box. 

Lemon Curd Icing

Ingredients:

1 Tub of Philly Cream Cheese 

4 tablespoons lemon curd 

Method: 

Beat the 2 ingredients together until light and creamy.

Icing for the top of the cake 

200 g Icing sugar 

splash of water just to make a paste 

Zest of 1 lemon 

To assemble the Cake

Cut the cake with a sharp serrated knife across the width by placing one hand on top of the cake and the other hand moving the knife so you get nice even cuts.

When you have your 3 slices of cake.

Use the bottom one first add some of the curd icing spread across evenly with a palette knife then add the next layer and repeat.

when the lip is on top pour the white icing over the top and decorate with grated lemon zest.

Hope you enjoy making and eating the cake I did ! 

Don x

Spiced Apple and Mince Meat Puff Pie

Comforting, delicious and perfect for using up any left over mince meat.
I never use shop bought pastry unless its puff pastry. Lets face who has time to make that from scratch.
Obviously if you do by all means use it.

Ingredients:

4-5 bramley apples peeled and chopped
200-300g mince meat.
1tsp mixed spice
4 tablespoon caster sugar
1 packet of puff pastry fresh or frozen
1 beaten egg for glazing.
Apricot glaze to finish the pie when cooked.

Pre-heat oven to 170oc

Method:

Mix the apples, mince meat , spice and sugar in a bowl
On a flat surface roll out the pastry then cut in half down the middle.
Place one half on a flat baking tray and spoon the apple mix in to the middle and spread out.
Leave a border around the edge for the lid to go on.
Egg wash the border.
Place the other sheet of pastry in top
Crimp the edges together with your fingers or just use a fork.
Score the lid with the back of a knife to decorate.
Egg wash lid.
Cook in a medium hot oven until golden brown.
Serve with warm custard or semi whipped cream.
This tart will keep for 2-3 days perfectly