Spicy Tomato & Butternut Squash Soup

Recipe to serve around 8  portions

Ingredients

A medium sized Butternut Squash peeled, de-seeded & chopped into cubes
2 onions diced
2 cloves of garlic crushed
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
2 sticks of celery diced
2 carrots peeled & diced
1 tbsp olive oil
10 ripe tomatoes, skins removed and chopped or 1 regular tin of chopped tomatoes in juice
2 tbsp of tomato puree
2 vegetable stock cubes dissolved into 1- 1½ pints of  boiling water
1 tsp sugar 
1 tsp cumin seeds     toasted & ground
1 tsp coriander seeds   "              "
½ tsp grated nutmeg
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp hot chilli powder (optional) 
Salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
for the optional garnish:- a little chopped tomato, toasted pine nuts and chopped chives


Method:-

In a large pan, sweat the onions, garlic, ginger, carrots & celery in the oil until nearly soft with the lid on
Add the Squash and continue sweating for around 5 minutes.
Add everything else bring to the boil and simmer for around 15- 20 minutes or until the vegetables are pulpy.
Blitz in a food processor, check your seasoning.
If the soup is too thick add a little more stock.
Garnish & serve.

Sweet potato & red pepper pakoras with mango chutney dip

 

 I would love to hear your comments. It can be quite lonely writing a blog when you get lots of views but very few comments. 

 

I love to have canapés with drinks before a special meal. These little pakoras are just the perfect thing. They are simple to prepare and can be made in advance & reheated in the oven. They also freeze perfectly if stored in a zip bag. They can be served with minted yoghurt, sweet chilli sauce or as I have here with a mango chutney dip. You could make larger ones if you prefer and serve them as a delicious starter.

Now these are my own take on a Pakora and not a traditional recipe by any means. The end result I promise you is delicious.

The recipe below will make approximately 40 mini pakoras

1 large sweet potato peeled & grated
1 medium baking potato   peeled & grated
1 medium red pepper finely diced
1 large red onion finely chopped and sauteed in a little oil until soft
1 red or green chilli, seeds removed and finely diced
2 tsp of grated fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
2 tsp Garam Masala
2 tsp Madras Curry Powder
2 tsp Black onion seeds
1 tsp Turmeric
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 egg whites
around 4 tbsp Gram/Chickpea Flour
a frying pan and enough oil around 1" for shallow frying
Mango Chutney to serve

So simple,

Whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until frothy.
Simple add everything into the bowl and mix well together.
You should have a thick mixture with a good dropping consistency
If the mixture is a little thin add a little more gram flour  too thick then a little sparkling water will loosen it up.

Heat the oil gently on a medium flame.
Just test a little of the mixture, it should cook quite quickly, flip it over, drain and check to see if the seasoning is correct before continuing.
I used roughly a level dessert spoonful for each pakora
Fry these in batches of around 6 at a time, each side should only take a minute or so turn them over and when golden brown drain onto some kitchen towel.
Repeat until you've used all the batter.
Keep warm if you are using them straight away or cool and either refrigerate or freeze.

For the Mango Chutney Dip

Place around 2 or 3 tbsp of Mango Chutney into a little food processor
Add around 3 tbsp of boiling water and whizz until smooth
You could pass the chutney through a sieve if you don't want to process it.

Place the pakoras onto a serving dish along with a bowl of the mango chutney for dipping and serve.
 

Chocolate, Peanut Butter Cheesecake

This is a Nigella Lawson Recipe but tweaked a little in a Dor fashion.

Before I start, this cheesecake is not for the faint hearted or anyone watching their weight. It's rich, delicious and totally indulgent. Great for a special party or a Christmas dessert. Portion it carefully, you really won't need a huge slice for once.

I've not got a sweet tooth at all but I do love the odd bit of chocolate. Two of my favourite things however are cheese & nuts. So what could be better for me than this Chocolate, peanut butter Cheesecake. The base is made with Chocolate Digestives (Graham Crackers), dark chocolate drops and roasted peanuts.

The Cheesecake centre is made with eggs, Philly, peanut butter just a little sugar and sour cream.
The chocolate top is quite decadent, brown sugar, rich dark chocolate a a great dollop of sour cream.

 

 You will need to line a 23cm /10" loose bottomed tin with baking parchment. Or alternatively use a silicone mould of the same size

The Base

• 200g/7oz  chocolate digestives /Graham crackers
• 50g/2oz salted roasted peanuts
• 100g/3½oz dark chocolate
• 50g/2oz softened salted butter
•  

The Cheesecake centre

• 500g/1lb 1oz Philly or a good quality cream cheese
• 3 whole eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• 200g/7oz caster sugar
• 125ml/4¼fl oz sour cream
• 250g/9oz smooth peanut butter
• a tbsp of brandy if for adults only
•  

The Chocolate top

• 250ml/9fl oz sour cream
• 100g/3½oz 70% good quality dark chocolate
• 30g/1¼oz light muscavado

 

Method:-

 

Set your oven to 170c/325f/Gas 3 

1. For the base, process the biscuits, peanuts, dark chocolate chips and butter in a food processor. Once the mixture comes together, turn it out into a 23cm/9in spring form tin and press it into the bottom of the tin and up the sides, using your fingers, to make a crunchy crust. Chill in the fridge while you make the filling.
2. For the filling, process the cream cheese, eggs and egg yolks, sugar, soured cream and peanut butter & the optional brandy in a food processor, whizzing to a smooth mixture.
3. Pour and scrape the filling mixture into the cheesecake base in the chilled spring form tin and cook for 1 hour, checking after 50 minutes. The top – only – should feel set and dry. When cooked, take the cheesecake out of the oven while you make the topping.
4. For the topping, warm the soured cream and chocolate chips with the brown sugar gently in a small saucepan over a low heat, whisking to blend in the chocolate as it melts. Once the mixture is melted and well combined, take off the heat.
5. Pour over and spread the topping very gently over the top of the cheesecake, Pop it back in the oven for a final 10 minutes.
6. Once out of the oven, let the cheesecake cool completely in its tin, then cover and put into the fridge overnight. When you are ready to eat the cheesecake, take it out and bring it  for around 30 minutes before serving. 
7. this freezes surprisingly well. Make sure you defrost in the fridge overnight before serving. 

 

Lemon, Mascarpone Drizzle Cake with Blueberries

This is my wonderful friend Anneliese from Rising to the Berry's recipe. You can find her fabulous blog at http://risingtotheberry.blogspot.com/ The recipe was recently posted in Good to Know Magazine.

         225g Stork (you can use the same quantity of softened unsalted butter if preferred)

• 225g caster sugar
• 225g self-raising flour
• 4 large eggs
• 2 level tsp baking powder
• 1tbsp milk
• Finely grated zest of one large lemon (I used two as I like mine very lemony)
• For the drizzle:
• 100g granulated sugar
• Juice of one large lemon

For the filling:

• 250g mascarpone
• 125g lemon curd
• I added a box of blueberries and made a little extra filling so I could pipe the lemon curd flavoured cheese on the top

1. Set your oven to 180°C/360°F/Gas Mark 4.
2. Now move your attention to greasing two 8 inch sandwich tins, then line the base of each tin with greaseproof paper. This has to be the most tedious part of baking (after washing up of course) but it needs to be done! To save time, I fold a large piece of greaseproof paper in half, draw around a tin, grab scissors and cut around the outline. This will give two circles for your effort! Now we can move on to the fun part of making the actual cake – yay!
3. We are using the easy peasy all in one method; I rarely use the creaming in method for fear of the dreaded curdle! Simply measure the Stork, sugar, flour, eggs, baking powder, milk and lemon zest into your awaiting mixing bowl. A word of advice would be to take care when measuring in the baking powder. A rounded teaspoonful instead of a level one could result in a sunken cake which would, of course, be a bit disappointing.
4. When all of the cake ingredients are within the safety of your bowl, whisk until you have created a smooth mixture. This should take around one to two minutes if using an electric whisk. If you are using your own muscle power, then it will of course take a little longer!
5. Divide the suitably smooth mixture equally between your pre-prepared tins and level out. Place the tins straight into the warmth of the oven. The cakes should take between 25 and 30 minutes to cook, but check after 20 minutes. Don't open the oven door any earlier as this is another way to get a sunken cake. The sponges are ready once they are springy to the touch and the edges are coming away from the tins.
6. Leave the cakes to cool in the tins whilst you get on with making the zingy lemon drizzle. First of all, juice your lemon into a small bowl. Try warming the lemon in the microwave for a few seconds first; this helps to get as much juice out as possible. Tip the granulated sugar into the bowl to join the lemon juice and give it a good stir. Next you can spoon this delicious mixture over the two cakes (which are still sitting patiently in their tins) and leave to cool completely.
7. Once the cakes are finally cold you can extract them from the tins. Now all that is left to do is make the simple filling. Fold the lemon curd into the mascarpone. The joy of using mascarpone is that it is already at a beautifully thick spreading consistency - no whisking required! Sandwich the two cakes together with the ever so tasty lemony filling, then stand back to admire your work. Not for too long though – dive in, cut yourself a large slice and congratulate yourself on a job well done. Enjoy - you deserve it!

Aztec Chicken Soup with Avocado Salsa

I found this recipe whilst searching through an old Rachel Allen Cookbook. It's wonderful just a basic chicken soup with a little added umphh from a hot chilli and a wonderful salsa .
This is such a easy versatile and healthy soup as you add a raw salsa with avocados, tomatoes and spring onions to add as it's eaten. It's truly delicious inspite of the fact that the photo cannot possibly do the soup the credit it deserves

The Soup Ingredients to serve 4 good portions

• 1 onion, diced
• 1tbsp olive oil 
• 1 small leek sliced finely
• 1/2 red pepper, diced
• 1 red chillies, seeded finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• salt and pepper
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 2  cooked chicken breasts cubed
• zest and juice of 1 lime

For the Salsa

1 packet cherry vine tomatoes, diced

an ripe avocado diced into medium chunks

1 clove garlic, minced

a red chilli finely sliced

2 green onions,finely chopped

Juice of 1 lime maybe 2 if it's not juicy

1 tbsp of chopped fresh coriander/cilantro

Salt and pepper

Just mix all these ingredients together and place into a serving bowl

To make the Soup

• In a large pan, heat the olive oil over low-to-medium heat, add the onions, leek, red pepper and chilli and slowly cook until soft. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or so, season , add the stock and chicken, and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer to combine for around 10 mins. Check the seasoning then add the zest and juice of the lime just before you serve it. Place the salsa on the table for everyone to help themselves.

Egg & Mushroom Florentine

What a great brunch or lunch recipe. Once you get the ingredients together it can be made in 10 minutes

To Serve 4 you will need

4 large free-range eggs lightly poached so they are not quite done
400 g packet of spinach, washed and quickly wilted in a hot pan, all water squeezed out & kept warm
4 large portobello mushrooms, sprinkled with a little olive oil and grilled gill side up. & kept warm
4 toasted English muffin halves
half a pint or so of cheese sauce  http://ladifferencecatering.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/basic-cheese-sauce.html
Seasoning

Once you've got all of this in place then:-

Easy peasey, heat the grill to medium/ hot

Place the toasted muffin halves on the plates
Top with a mushroom gill side up
Place a quarter of the spinach on each mushroom
season
Add the lightly poached egg
Spoon over a couple of tbsp of cheese sauce on each
Pop under the grill for 2 or 3 minutes or until the sauce begins to bubble
Serve immediately
Just delicious !!!!!!

Basic Cheese Sauce

• 2 oz/ 55g butter
• 2 oz/ 55g all purpose/plain flour
• 1 level tsp mustard powder (optional)
• Large pinch salt
• 1 pint / 460 ml milk
• 3 oz/ 75g cheddar cheese or similar, grated plus extra for sprinkling on top
• Freshly ground pepper

Preparation:

• Place the butter and flour into a large saucepan. Over a low heat stir the butter and flour until the butter has melted and the flour is incorporated. Add the salt and mustard powder and continue stirring for 2 minutes.This is to cook out the floury taste and to soften the starch grains in the flour ready to make the sauce.
• Turn the heat up to medium and add the milk in one go and whisk furiously until all a smooth sauce is formed. Continue stirring until the sauce is thickened and glossy (about 5 minutes) If the sauce is very thick add a little more milk, the sauce should be thick but still runny. Add the grated cheese and stir until melted. Remove from the heat.