Month: November 2019

This is an updated version of a previous post. Working through my store cupboard of less well used ingredients.

Everyone (well every American cook) is likely to have a can of pumpkin rattling around in the cupboard and god only knows how old it might be. If you don’t have canned or tinned then you can make this recipe with just about any squash except courgette (zucchini to los Americanos).

Oven bake the squash – split, remove seeds, brush surfaces with vegetable oil and roast until soft. Then scrape the inside out and weigh. One butternut squash should make about the right amount. Or peel, seed, cut into chunks and boil until soft. Drain and mash. You don’t need exactly the ‘right’ amount. If you’re within 20% plus or minus you should still be okay.

Don’t have the ‘right’ ingredients in your cupboard? Here are some flex suggestions and there’s a vegan version also.

Flour: any old plain wheat flour will do. Not self rising but white or whole wheat and any mixture of those. I also mixed in 10% by weight of potato flour.

Sugar: any brown sugar will do, even those dried up lumps you’ve found in the cupboard. You can reduce the sugar by 25% and still get a great result.

Spices: use what you have, spices add to the complexity of the flavour but not the basic taste or structure.

Nuts, raisins, chocolate: any or all can be omitted. Any dried fruit can be used, cut into raisin sized chunks. I didn’t use any chocolate in the version pictured here.

Vegan version:
– use 1/2 mashed ripe banana per egg,
– use vegetable shortening (trex or crisco) in same quantity
– reduce sugar by 20%

This is a straightforward ‘quick’ bread designed to use one can of pumpkin adapted from a King Arthur recipe. Depending on what pans you have:

• 3 x one pound loaves (small loaf pan, 400gms).
• 1 x two pound loaf (large loaf pan) and 1 x one pound loaf
• 2 x one pound loaves and 6 to 9 muffins.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 340 grams whole wheat flour (I used 60 grams of potato flour and 280 gram of mixed quality whole wheat flour)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 170 grams unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 320 grams brown sugar (light or dark)
• 70 grams caster sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 can of pumpkin puree (Not pumpkin pie filling) or (400 grams of cooked pureed squash of your choice)
• 115 grams of chopped nuts (walnut or pecan)
• 170 grams of ‘mix in’ I used raisins but any dried fruit chopped to the right size will do. Substitute a portion for chocolate chips for a decadent effect.

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 170C (350f) if making smaller loaves or muffins. 180C if making larger loaves. Prep your loaf pans or muffin tins – I use paper liners for my loaf pans as well as muffin tins.
2. Chop the nuts and fruit. Combine with the chocolate chips if using. Put to one side.
3. Combine the butter and the sugars. This can be done by hand but easier in the mixer. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl to ensure everything is combined. Then beat in the vanilla and the pumpkin or squash.
4. Whisk the dry ingredients together: flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg.
5. Stir your fruit, nuts and chocolate chips into the dry ingredients. Coating them with flour seems to distribute them more evenly throughout the batter.
6. Add the dry ingredients in three batches to the butter/sugar mix. Don’t over beat, but make sure all the dry ingredients are moistened.
7. Put the batter in your prepared pans. I like to use a trigger ice cream scoop, this batter does not pour well.
8. A large loaf will need an hour in the oven. Small loaves about 45 minutes and a muffin tin 35 minutes. Check the temperature – should be above 90C. The bread or muffins should look ‘dry’ across the top.
9. Take the bread out of the oven and place the pan or pans on the rack to cool for 15 minutes. Then remove from the pans and allow to cool completely.

And then enjoy. We like to eat this for breakfast with cream cheese. Please let me know if you’re baking the recipes. Thanks for reading, following, sharing. Happy baking.

It’s that time of year – the clocks have gone back, it’s cold, damp and dark. We need comfort food. I hope the baking followers are not too disappointed with a blog or two on great autumn and winter food. I’m also on a mission to eat more vegetables – not that easy for someone who doesn’t really like salad.

This roasted cauliflower soup ticks all the boxes. And it is suitable for those on a keto or low carb diet. Easy to make a vegan version – omit the bacon and swap in some grated vegan cheese at the end. If you’re trying for a vegan version be careful about stock cubes – even vegetable stock cubes may not be vegan.

The cauliflower is oven roasted before being included in the soup. This gives another layer of flavour to the soup, making it even more satisfying. If you’ve never had roasted cauliflower before you may find yourself just eating the roasted cauliflower and abandoning the soup. At least the first time.

My soup comes out with a dark tint because of the rich vegetable stock I use, my tendency towards lots of black pepper and very caramelised cauliflower. You could use a lighter chicken stock and less pepper if you wanted a whiter soup.

The Davinator has suggested an explanatory note. I made the soup, garnished it and then we ate it. Forgetting to take a photo. So the next day when we ate the leftovers I said ‘where is the leftover bacon?’. Apparently ‘someone’ had eaten the rest of the bacon. So we tore some lovely prosciutto into shreds and had that on our soup.

Makes four generous servings of soup.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 large cauliflower head
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Sea salt
• Black pepper
• 200 grams unsmoked bacon lardons
• 3 additional tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 large leek, chopped small
• 2 celery stalks, chopped small
• 1 large carrot, chopped small
• 2 garlic cloves, diced
• 30 mls cooking brandy
• 2 vegetable stock cubes
• Approximately one litre of boiling water
• 50 grams of cheddar cheese
• Fresh chopped chives or parsley to garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 220C (450f).
2. Put 2 tablespoons of olive oil, with sea salt and pepper in a roasting tin and then in the oven.
3. Chop the cauliflower into florets. Don’t need to be elegant, you’re going to blend the soup at the end. However, you want smaller florets for more even caramelisation and quicker cooking.
4. Carefully remove the hot roasting tin, tip the cauliflower in and stir to coat the florets in the hot oil and spices. Put the tin back in the oven and roast for 15 minutes. Meanwhile work on the other vegetables and soup base.
5. Use a deep heavy bottomed stock pot – coat the bottom with additional olive oil then add the bacon lardons. Cook until crisp. Remove from the stock pot with a slotted spoon and drain on some paper towel.
6. Add the vegetables and the garlic to the pot. Cook over medium heat until well wilted. Add the cooking brandy, turn the heat to high and burn off the alcohol.
7. Turn back to medium heat. Drop the stock cubes in, add the hot water and bring to a boil, dissolving the stock cubes.
8. Add the cauliflower and bring to a simmer. Cook for 5 minutes.
9. Puree your soup using a stick blender or your actual blender.
10. Grate the cheese and chop the herbs.
11. Serve in bowls topped with cheese, bacon and herbs.

Thank you for reading, following, commenting and cooking along. Please send requests, comments and questions.