Spicy squash soup

You know that Halloween is just around the corner when pumpkin and squash start to appear in the shops. My husband plants different varieties of squash in our garden every year. Last year we had an abundance of the ‘carnival squash’ (one of my favourites). It is cream speckled with orange and dark green colours. The flesh tastes rather like a sweet potato and it is delicious in soups. 

This year he planted some ‘sweet dumpling squash’, which are pale skinned with green flecks. The flesh of this squash suits both sweet and savoury dishes. He also planted some good old butternut squash for us to savour.

As the autumn nights are starting to draw in, I decided to whizz up some warming soup for a family supper and use up some of the squash from our garden. You can make this soup using either squash or pumpkin. I personally prefer to use squash as it has a lower water content. Whatever you use, you can make this soup as spicy as you wish to suit your taste. It really is very good and very warming.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 6

1.5 kg/lbs 5oz squash or pumpkin

4 tbspns olive oil

1 onion, sliced

1 tbspn grated fresh ginger

1 400ml can coconut milk (reserve 4 tablespoons if you want to drizzle some on the plate for service)

2 lemongrass sticks

850ml/1 ½ pts vegetable or chicken stock

1 teaspoon hot red Thai curry paste (remember, you can always add more if you want a really spicy soup)

lime juice and sugar to season

1 red chilli, sliced for serving (optional as the soup may be hot enough)

2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt (or to taste)

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 200 C/gas 6.

2. Cut each squash/pumpkin into pieces, sprinkle with half the oil and season. Roast for about an hour or until the squash is tender throughout.

3. Meanwhile, put the remaining oil in a pan, put in the onion, ginger and lemongrass and cook for about 10 minutes until the onions are soft over a medium heat (take care not to let them take on colour).

4. Stir in the curry paste and cook for one minute. The add the roasted squash or pumpkin and the stock. Bring to a simmer and cook for five minutes. Take out the lemongrass and blitz the ingredients with a blender. Return the soup to the pan and season with salt, pepper, lime juice and sugar to taste.

5. To serve, you can drizzle some of the coconut milk if you have reserved some, and sprinkle with the chopped chilli if you want the dish really spicy. Serve with a hunk of bread.

Making sushi

Makizushi (rolled sushi)

My son and youngest daughter have this thing about sushi, they love the stuff. They will eat Sushi with all sorts of toppings and fillings, raw fish, salmon roe, sea urchin even.  Years ago I lived in Japan, so I also share their love for sushi and quite like making it for dinner. Our issue is that we can’t really source fish fresh enough to slice and make the full range of  traditional sushi. So instead we make rolled sushi called ‘makizushi’. Maki means ‘to roll’. Sometimes this type of sushi is also called ‘norimaki’, which means a dried seaweed (nori) roll.

Making makizushi only takes a few ingredients. Most of them can be found in good supermarkets, or from specialist Chinese or Thai shops. You will need some sushi rice, dried seaweed sheets, rice wine, some wasabi (a hot horseradish paste) and some good soya sauce. I think Kikoman is the best. I make my makizushi with some cooked salmon and cucumber strips flavoured with soya sauce and ginger. 

You can also make it with a whole range of other items:-

Smoked makerel, cut into thin strips

Smoked salmon – you can use sheets or scraps cut into srtips

Tuna mayonnaise

Avocado – cut into strips and use with crab stick or makeral strips

Crab stick

Takuan – pickled radish

Umeboshi = pickled plum (an aquired taste)

Shitake mushrooms

HOW TO MAKE YOUR MAKIZUSHI

It is important to use sushi rice when making any type of sushi. This is a short grain rice that cooks up into a wonderful sticky consistency. If you use an ordinary long grain rice it will end up being too dry.

Serves 4-6, or you can make smaller rolls to serve as canapes

10oz Japanese rice

3 tbspns  rice vinegar

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1. Wash the rice well to remove excess starch, cook it and let it steam. To do this, put the rice in a pot and cover the rice with water (double the amount of rice). Allow the rice to come to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Turn the heat off, cover with a lid and allow the rice to steam and cook for a further 15 minutes.

2. Prepare sushi vinegar (sushi-zu) by mixing rice vinegar, sugar, and salt in a cup. Stir well to dissolve the granules.

3. Spread the hot steamed rice into a large plate or a large bowl. Use a non-metallic bowl to prevent any interaction with rice vinegar. Sprinkle the vinegar mixture over the rice with a spoon or spatula quickly. Take care not to smash the rice.

4. Allow the rice to cool and use sushi rice right away. Use a bamboo rolling sheet to help roll up the sushi. 

6. Put the filling of your choice in the middle.

7. Roll it.

8. Then cut the roll into slices and serve with soya sauce and some wasabi.

Cooking with lavender

Lavender has been widely recognized over the centuries for its healing qualities. The Romans first called it lavender which may have come from the Latin verb “lavare” meaning “to wash”, or from the word “livendulo” which means “livid or bluish”. For me the flower immediately conjures up all sorts of images of soaps and oils. It also reminds me of the perfumes worn by my primary school dinner ladies who predominantly seemed to wear a blue rinse in their hair.

Traditionally it is not something that we Brits add to our food, although the French have several recipes where they use lavender in a dish or preserve. However, it is fair to say that lavender has undergone a revival in our kitchens over the past ten years. It is starting to be seen in British cuisine and it can now be found on menus in the more adventurous eateries across the UK. I think that using lavender in cooking adds a really interesting dimension to a dish, both savoury and sweet. It is perhaps an acquired taste and a bit like Marmite – you either love the taste, or you hate it - but it definitely is worth a try.

You can buy dried lavender for use in food direct or online from lavender farms across the UK. Be sure to ask for one specifically for use in food as it will not have all the pesticides sprayed on the flowers. I pick lavender from my own garden, dry it and store it in containers. You can store the flowers on their own in a jar, or if you wish to use the flowers for sweet dishes only, mix a handful with some sugar (about a quarter of the quantity of the total should be flowers the rest sugar).

I thoroughly recommend that you give lavender a whirl in your cooking. It tastes fantastic in ice-cream, in meringues, in biscuits (my children adore these) and cooked with lamb. Another delicious way to use lavender is to add a tablespoon of the dried flowers to some chopped strawberries, add a sprinkling of sugar and leave them to macerate for an hour. These strawberries will taste fantastic with a piece of chocolate cake! Go on, have a go, there are some delicious recipes for you to try out below.

Lavender meringues

INGREDIENTS

3-4 fresh unsprayed lavender stems, flowers only or 1 tablespoon of dried flowers

2 large free-range egg whites

100g/3½oz caster sugar

150ml/5fl oz double cream

½ tbsp icing sugar

METHOD

1.Preheat the oven to 130C/250F/Gas ½. Line a large baking tray with baking paper.

2.Grind the lavender flowers in a mortar and pestle for 1-2 minutes, or until fragrant.

3.In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites using an electric whisk until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed. 
Gradually whisk in the caster sugar, a tablespoonful at a time, until all of the caster sugar has been incorporated into the mixture and the mixture is thick and glossy.

4.Sprinkle one tablespoonful of the ground lavender flowers over the egg white mixture and whisk until combined.

5.Spoon the meringue mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large plain nozzle. Pipe 32 small swirls of the meringue mixture onto the prepared baking tray. 


6.Transfer the meringues to the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 100C/225F/Gas ¼. Bake the meringues for two hours, or until crisp but not coloured. Turn off the oven and leave the meringues inside until the oven is cool. When the meringues have cooled, store them in an airtight tin until needed.

7.No more than 30 minutes before serving, pour the cream into a mixing bowl and sift over the icing sugar. Whip using an electric whisk until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed.


8.Place a teaspoonful of the cream mixture onto the base of one of the lavender meringues, then sandwich the cream between a second meringue. Place onto a large serving plate. Repeat the process with the remaining meringues, then serve immediately.

Lavender biscuits

These biscuits are great on their own and delicious served with vanilla ice cream or vanilla creme brulee.


INGREDIENTS
Makes 20 biscuits
50g caster sugar
130g butter
200g self raising flour
1tbsp lavender flowers


Cream the butter and sugar, add the flour and lavender flowers and work until it comes together. Wrap and chill for 20 minutes, then roll out to about 5mm thick. Stamp out with a cutter, bake for 7-8 minutes at 180C

Lavender creme brulee

This lavender scented creme brulee is delicious served with some chopped strawberries and if you are feeling particularly indulgent add a pieces of shortbread on the side.


INGREDIENTS

Serves 4

2 vanilla pods

300ml double cream

200ml whole milk

8 large free-range or organic egg yolks

75g sugar

a bunch of lavender, flowers picked

4 tablespoons caster sugar

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 140°C/275°F/gas 1. Score the vanilla pods lengthways and scrape out the vanilla seeds with a knife or a teaspoon.

2. Place the seeds into a saucepan, add the pods, cream and milk and slowly bring to the boil. Remove from the heat.

3. Meanwhile, get yourself a large bowl that will fit over your pan and beat together the egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy. Remove the vanilla pods from the pan and, little by little, add the milk and cream to the egg mixture in the bowl, whisking continuously. Add 2.5cm of hot water to your dirty pan, bring to a simmer and put the bowl on top of the pan. Cook the mixture for 5 minutes over the simmering water, stirring often, until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Stir in a small handful of lavender flowers, but the trick is to be delicate – you only need a hint of its distinctive, strong flavour.

4. Remove any bubbles or froth from the mixture before dividing it between your ramekins. Stand these in a high-sided roasting tray, and fill the tray with water halfway up the ramekins. Place carefully in the preheated oven and cook for around 30 to 45 minutes or until the mixture has set but is still slightly wobbly in the centre. Allow to cool at room temperature then place in the fridge until ready.

6. To serve, sprinkle each crème brûlée with a tablespoon of caster sugar and some more of the lavender flowers and caramelize under a very hot grill or using the chef’s torch.

Lavender & Honey Lamb

Lamb is a meat that lavender (like rosemary) works so well with. This recipe is simple and can be adapted easily. The honey also works well, providing a balance to the flavours of lamb.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 4-6

1kg lamb steaks –

1 heaped dessert spoon dried culinary lavender

1 dessert spoon fresh Rosemary leaves coarsely chopped

1 clove of garlic – chopped finely

1½ tablespoons runny honey

2 tablespoons Olive Oil

Sea Salt & Pepper

Place the steaks in a shallow dish, season with a good grind of salt and pepper, sprinkle over the lavender, rosemary, garlic, olive oil and honey. The messy bit that I love is to use your hands to mix everything up, ensuring that all the lamb is well covered in the herby, sweet mixture. Leave for a few hours (preferably more) covered in foil for the meat to absorb all the flavours.

The resulting steaks can be barbequed, baked or grilled. My preference is to lay them in a shallow roasting tray and put them into a hot (220°C) preheated oven until cooked to your liking, turning once halfway through.

Serve with new potatoes and fresh seasonal vegetables. 

Smoked haddock and spring onion tart

This tart is well worth baking. The tart tastes creamy and is wonderfully aromatic. It works well served with a range of salads. You can make your own shortcrust pastry, or if you are pushed for time buy some ready made pastry.

INGREDIENTS

       2500g shortcrust pastry and flour for rolling

       2 fillets smoked haddock with skin on (about 500g/1lb 2oz)

       1 tbsp butter

       2 bunches spring onions, finely sliced

       3 eggs

       300g crème fraîche (or a 300ml pot double cream)

       1 tsp Dijon mustard

handful chives , finely chopped 

85g mature cheddar or Gruyère, grated

METHOD

1. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Roll the pastry out on a floured surface to fit a 23cm fluted tart tin. Line the case with pastry, leaving plenty of overhang. Line the pastry with baking parchment, fill with baking beans and sit it on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 mins, until the pastry looks pale and feels a little sandy. Remove the paper and beans, then return to the oven for 10 mins more, until just golden.

2. Meanwhile, bring a pan of water to a simmer. Drop in the haddock, skin-side down, and poach for 5 mins or until the flesh turns white. Drain, then cool a little. Peel away and discard the skin, then flake the flesh into the pastry case. Look out for any bones as you go.

3. Melt the butter in a frying pan, then gently cook the spring onions for about 3 mins or until softened but still a vibrant green. Beat the eggs, crème fraîche or cream and mustard together in a jug, then add the chives and season with salt and pepper.

4. Turn oven down to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Scatter the cheese and spring onions over the fish, then pour the egg mix over. Bake for about 50 mins, or until pale golden and just set in the middle. Let the tart cool completely before trimming the pastry around the edges.  The tart is also very good hot or warm.

              

Autumn chillies

Now that it is starting to turn chilly (pardon the pun), we have decided to reap our harvest of chillies. From as little as a pack and a half of seeds we have had a crop of an amazing amount of hot peppers (approximately 1.5 kilos). Pickling chillies is a good way of preserving a crop of this size. They will keep for 18 months in a sealed jar. You can then add the chillies to anything you are making from spicy curries to a simple toasted cheese and chilly sandwich throughout your culinary year.

Another great way to use chillies is to make a chilly sauce or to make some chilly jam. Any of these recipes can be made in small or large batches. They are great to have as a cupboard store item and they also make wonderfully colourful gifts for friends and family.

Pickled chillies

INGREDIENTS

500g chillies


80g/3oz coarse salt


750ml cold water


750ml bottle white vinegar


Extra 1 tablespoon coarse salt


1 tablespoons black peppercorns



1. Wash chillies thoroughly. Use rubber gloves to protect hands from burns when cutting chillies. Cut away any bruised or marked parts of chillies, do not remove seeds. 



2. Place chillies, salt and water in a bowl, stir until salt is dissolved. Cover, stand 24 hours. Drain and rinse chillies. 



3. Pack chillies into hot sterilised jars.

4. Combine vinegar, extra salt and peppercorns in a pan. Simmer gently for five minutes. Remove from heat and stand for five minutes. Pour over chillies, seal while hot. Store in a cool, dark place for six weeks before using.

TIP: Pierce the chillies before you put them into the jar. This will help to stop them floating in the jar.

Now that it is starting to turn chilly (pardon the pun), we have decided to reap our harvest of chillies. From as little as a pack and a half of seeds we have had a crop of an amazing amount of hot peppers (approximately 1.5 kilos). Pickling chillies is a good way of preserving a crop of this size. You can then add the chillies to anything you are making from spicy curries to a toasted cheese and chilly sandwich.

Another great way to use chillies is in a chilly sauce or to make a chilly jam. Any of these recipes can be made in small or large batches. They are great to have as a cupboard store item and they also make wonderfully coloured gifts.

Chilli jam

Another great way to use chillies is in a chilly sauce or to make a chilly jam. Any of these recipes can be made in small or large batches. They are great to have as a cupboard store item and they also make wonderfully coloured gifts.


INGREDIENTS

150gms/5oz long fresh red chillies de seeded and cut into four pieces each (or you can leave the seeds in for a hotter version).

150gms/5oz sweet red peppers cored de seeded and cut into chunks

1kg/2.2lbs Jam sugar

600mls cider vinegar or white wine vinegar

6 x 8oz sterilized sealable jars

METHOD

1. Put the cut up chillies into the food processsor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the chunks of sweet pepper and pulse again until you have a vibrantly red-flecked processor bowl

2. Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar in a wide, medium-sized pan over a low heat without stirring.

3. Scrape the pepper mixture out of the bowl and add to the pan. Bring to the boil and leave it at a rollicking boil for 10 minutes

4. Take the pan off the heat and allow the mixture to cool. The liquid will become more syrupy, then from syrup to viscous and from viscous to jelly like as it cools.

5. After about 40 minutes, or once the red flecks are more or less evenly distributed in the jelly (as the liquid firms up, the bits of chilli and pepper start being suspended in it rather than floating in it), ladle it into your jars. Then seal tightly.

Make the jam up to one month before using or giving.

Store in a cool dark place for up to a year.

Once opened store in the fridge and use within a month

Sweet chilli sauce

This sweet chilli sauce is delicious used as a dipping sauce, on a burger or just to dunk your chips/potato wedges in.

INGREDIENTS
6 fresh tomatoes, diced

2 medium onions, chopped

4 whole jalapeño peppers, chopped

190mls red wine vinegar

2oz sugar sugar

1/3 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoons red chilli flakes

METHOD:

1.Simply throw everything into a stockpot or heavy skillet and bring it to the boil whilst stirring. Boil for around 15-20 minutes.

2. Allow the mixture to cool then process it in a blender. Return to the heat and gently simmer for another 30 minutes or until it reaches the desired consistency.

Easy Chilli Sauce Tip: if you have the time, peel the tomatoes first by soaking them in boiling water for a minute.

Foraging for cobnuts

The cobnut was used centuries ago by children to play out an early version of 'conkers', the game was called cobnut or cobblenut, and the winning nut "the cob".

There are several country walks that you we can take where we live in Somerset, we are extraordinarily lucky. We can walk through fields, along country paths and take in some wonderful views on skyline walks. Our walks inevitably take us passed several hedgerows and trees bursting with things to pick in September, many of which are edible.

One of things that is prevalent and good to gather on our expeditions at the moment is the cobnut, we discovered a hoard of them on one of our walks when we heard them crunching under our feet. A cobnut is a type of hazelnut and they taste fantastic eaten straight from the shell, roasted, or in cakes and bakes. They are can be found predominantly in Somerset and Kent. Apparently they are also sometimes called filberts – which makes me think that Leicester City’s football ground (my home town), Filbert Street, must have been covered in cobnut trees at some stage in the past. Cobs take their name from the Old English 'cop' which meant head or 'cobbe' which meant any round object. The same descriptive word was also used for the cob loaf (a type of bread).

They are a fantastic little nut! We pick up bags of the nuts on our walks. They are definitely worth the forage. They can be used in the recipes below or just substituted for any hazelnuts in recipes that you might have.

Cobnut apple syrup cake with blackberries and cream

INGREDIENTS

200g shelled cobnuts, or hazelnuts

175g softened butter

175g golden caster sugar

3 large eggs

55g self-raising flour

1 grated apple

120g golden caster sugar

150ml pressed apple juice

300ml double cream

1 tbsp golden icing sugar, sifted

500g blackberries, rinsed and left on a kitchen towel to drain

METHOD 

Preheat the oven to 175C/gas mark 4; butter two 18cm sandwich tins, then dust with flour. Put the nuts in a pan and toast over a medium heat until the thin membranes begin to loosen and flake.

Put the nuts in a towel and rub off as much of the skin as possible. Discard the skins, grind the toasted nuts to a rough powder and set aside 120g for the cake and 80g for the filling. Put the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat until pale and creamy. Add the eggs one by one, with a teaspoon of flour, then stir in any remaining flour, the ground nuts (120g) and grated apple. Divide between the two tins and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Turn out the cakes on a rack to cool before transferring them to a plate. Prick each sponge with a fork six times.

To make the apple syrup, put the sugar in a pan and pour over the apple juice. Bring to the boil and simmer for about two minutes. Allow to cool a little then pour over the cakes. Whip the cream, fold in the icing sugar and the remaining 80g of nuts then sandwich the cakes together using about three tablespoons of the cream mix. Spread the rest of the cream on top of the cake and dot with blackberries. If you wish, you can serve each cake separately, drenched with the syrup and with the blackberries and cream on the side.

Cobnut cake

To roast cobnuts, shell them and place them in an oven at 150°C/Gas Mark 2 for up to an hour, depending on their size and freshness, until they are hard and browned. About 100g (4 oz) nuts in their shells will produce 40g (1½ oz) of roasted kernels, but be generous:- they are so delicious some may never reach the dish.

INGREDIENTS

225g self-raising flour

1 rounded teaspoon of ginger

110g butter (at room temperature)

110g brown sugar

50g Kentish cobnuts, roasted and chopped

1 large egg, beaten

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

2. Grease a baking tin of approx. 9" by 4" (or you could use a standard loaf tin).

3. Sift flour into a bowl with the ginger.

4. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

5. Add the sugar and the nut and mix well.

6. Stir in the beaten egg. The mixture will remain fairly dry and crumbly.

7. Put the mixture into the prepared tin and pat down gently with a fork.

8. Bake for 20 - 30 minutes, or until the cake is cooked when tested with a skewer.