Pumpkin , Sausage and Sage Casserole

My halloween always involves carving a pumpkin. Cutting a lid &  scooping out some of the flesh and seeds , and carving a rough approxiamation of a scary face   and setting it in the window lit by a single tealight.

However being a food-obsessive my favorite thing finding new things to do with the leftover pumpkin in fact one of my first ever blog posts is about the Death of a Pumpkin
which features Pumpkin Risotto, Roast and a Laksa.

On Halloween  I made some Roasted Pumpkin Seeds . This is very simple just ensure you remove any strands of pumpkin from the seeds, spread them out on baking sheet sprinkle with just a little sea salt and smoked paprika . After just 15 minutes in  hot oven ( 190degC) they are delicious.

The next days the pumpkin lid was a little scorched so I discarded it but the rest of the pumpkin  was perfect for trying a  Saturday Kitchen there was a nice recipe for Sausage, Pumpkin and Sage Casserole . This is think would work with any squash , most of the ingredients we keep in the storecupboard and my sage plant is still clinging to life.

The only change I made to the recipe  adding  a dash of sherry which works well with pumpkin. I am cooking a lot with sherry sweeter than wine is seems to give a instant slow cooking taste to quicker dishes

After cooking the pumpkin and beans produce a thick stew they will definitely be a regular ,  think it would work well with chicken thighs too.

Spicy Green Tomato Chutney

A couple of weekends ago I had to accept that Summer was over & that last of the tomatoes were never going to ripen. Green Tomatoes seem very popular in the US not so much here in the UK , however I ead  few recipes and since the chillis did ripen and I had some foraged apples , I decided to play around with a spicy green tomato chutney.

I would reccomend playing around with quantities of sugar and vinegar though this can effect how the chutney keeps . We started eating this straight away and I can reccomend it with  cheese and homemade oatcakes



Spicy Green Tomato Chutney

Makes one 500ml jar

2 tbsp of root ginger
2 cardamon pods – seeds only
2 large fresh red chillies
200g green tomatoes, chopped
100g of apples
50g of dates (finely chopped) or raisins
100g of onion chopped
Pinch of salt salt
25g of brown sugar
75ml  of malt vinegar

1. Put all the ingredients in a saucepan
2. Bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved, and simmer until the desired consistency is reached, I like mine quite chunky
3. Pour into warmed sterilised jars,

Beef and Pumpkin Chilli

I adore squash not only do they taste amazing they are beautiful to look at  grow brilliantly even in the British climate but .Watching our little pumpkin grow has been heaven as it stretched it’s little tendrils across the vegepatch.

The plant came from LBF’s parents who always grow a lot of squash . That being said this was the only little Pumpkin that grew well this year,  lots of squashes rotted on the vine.

Pumpkin loves spice so looking around the internet quite a few chillis came up with mostly pork and beef .  Fortunately we had a rolled Brisket of Lincolnshire Red Beef from the East Midlands Food Festival.  One of the oldest of the UK’s native beef breeds with a deep cherry-red coat, it is  fine marbled meat renowned for its texture and quality.

I kept the meat and the pumpkin large for a slow cook,  it smelt exquisite sweet and spicy definitely one of those dishes you could cook the night before and re-heat. The meat was falling  apart tasty and the pumpkin had just held its shape but still  melt in the mouth.  I might have to go beg a few squash from those with a glut to make this again

This recipe is an adaptation of a few I found around the internet

Beef and Pumpkin Chilli

300g of beef brisket cut into 1inch chunks
4 dried red chillis
300g of tinned tomatoes
500g of pumpkin/butternut squash , remove the skin and cut into 1inch chunks
1 bottle of lager ( 500ml )
100ml of beef stock
1 medium onion finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of ground coriander
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp of hot chilli powder
2 tbsp of sunflower oil

Method

1. Heat the oven to 175 deg C.
2. Rub the beef in the spices .
3. Heat the oil in a large cast iron dish , fry the onions  garlic and chilli.
4. Add the beef and fry until brown.
5. Add the tomatoes, pumpkin , stock and  lager.
6. Cover and place in the oven for at least two hours.

Serve with rice or bread

Slow Roasted Pork Belly with Celeriac and Potato Mash & Cobnut Gremolata

I am feeling happily autumnal it has started to get cold and so I am happy to have the oven on for a few hours in the evening.

Pork Belly it seems to have become a national obsession and in our house LBF claims at least once a week that  we havn’t had pork belly for ages , luckily usaully have the dated photographic evidence to the contrary but it being summer the last  time it was at my mums on the BBQ a few months ago.

Its officially autumn now though with the launch of Autumnwatch and that means delicious slow roasted pork belly . After a little trip to the butchers and Nick was bag with an almost 1kg piece with the ribs still attached.

Slow Roast Pork Belly & Gravy

4 cloves of garlic skin on
Few woody springs of rosemary
2 medium onions
100ml of cider

1. Score the pork belly rub with salt
2. Place rosemary sprigs , garlic into the bottom of the Into the oven at 150degC for about 2 hours
3. Remove the meat from the roasting dish
4. Degalze the roasting dish with the cider , then strain through a seive to remove the rosemary and garlic cloves
5. Thicken the sauce with 1 tsp of cornflour and season to taste

Some lovely seasonal ingredients to accompany the pork just appearing in markets now  ,celeriac the ugly vegetables combined with potatoes makes a delicious mash or dauphinoise.

Celariac and Potato Mash
I love celeriac but you do need to add potatoe to make dense mash

1. Equal amounts of potato and celeariac
2. Simmered til soft
3. Mash together , add butter a dash of milk
4. Season with Salt and Pepper

For super-seasonal ingredients I picked up a bag of cobnuts,a cultivated variety of hazelnut, , sometimes known as filberts, have been grown in gardens and orchards since at least the 16th century. Unique among nuts for  being sold and eaten fresh & green during September and October . Cobnuts taste creamy and sweet, I ate half the bag green the other half  I let dry out once toasted though they become even more sublime nutty, perfect with cheese or sweet desserts .

I decided to make a Gremolata with the cobuts traditionally a gremolata is  a mix of parlsey  lemon , and salt , perfect to add a light taste to a heavy stew or in this case fatty  pork and gravy . It added a lovely sour crunchy note to the dish.

Parsley , Lemon and Cobnuts
50g of cobnuts
4 tbsp of  finely chopped parsley
zest and juice of a lemon.

1. Toast the cobnuts until browned
2. Crush in a mortar & pestle
3. Mix with lemon juice, zest and parsley

Carrot and Poppyseed & Beetroot and Ginger Cake

I knew I was getting old when despite the warm weather at Green Man I abstained from my usual cider and developed an obsession   Tea and Cake stall- Cafe Dish who could resist tea in a proper up scones, ginger cake, & carrot cake since then I  have been wanting to get into some proper cake baking

Finally last weekend what finally got me off the sofa and weighing out ingredients was some furious tweetage from ,  Helen at Food Stories and Lizzie at Hollow Legs as they baked up a storm for their  MacMillan coffee morning a great idea where you host a coffee morning to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Relief, their site lets you find one close to you

Now we are not really allowed to cook anything anymore that doesn’t use something from the vegebox , so I opted to include some rood veggies , Beetroot and Carrot using recipes this  adapted from a BBC Good Food Recipe it’s unbelievably light and moist, but this time turned into those perfect for a coffee morning sandwich cakes.

If you leave the icing off these cakes will keep for longer and can be frozen.

I took the carrot cake into work to save my waistline , it looked slightly worse the wear for its train journey but was still demolished by our team not suprising given the 6 cups of tea each we drink .

Carrot Cake

175g light muscovado sugar
175ml sunflower oil
3 large eggs , lightly beaten
200g of grated carrots (about 4 medium)
3 tbsp of poppy seeds
Grated zest of 1 large orange
175g self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Icing
8 heaped tbsp of soft cheese
2 tbsp of icing sugar

1 tsp of poppy seeds to decorate

1. Preheat the oven to 180C , line two 8in round sandwich cake tin with baking paper
2. Beat together the sugar eggs and oil Stir in the grated carrots & poppy seeds
3. Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices, then sift into the bowl. Lightly mix all the ingredients together
4. Split the mixture into the prepared tins and bake for 40- 45 minutes, until it feels firm Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn it out, peel off the paper and cool on a wire rack.
5. Mix together the icing ingredients in a small bowl you don’t want to beat them two hard, layer the sandwich pieces together and ice the top.
6. Final sprinke with poppy seeds

Beetroot and Ginger Cake

As above but replace the carrot with grated beetroot and add 2 tsp of ground ginger . Leave out the poppy seeds. You can also mix a little ground ginger into the icing mix approx half a teaspoon.

Chard and Cheese Tart

I am home alone this weekend which means eating , sleeping and after a couple of glasses of wine manic cleaning which leads to clearing out the fridge.  I find tarts or quiches are a great way to use up food from the fridge you just need some eggs and a little pastry which I can whip in seconds.

The first use-up ingredient was a bag of chard , I have a terrible history with chard, once a month a huge bag arrives in the vegebox, Despite its beauty, I always picture eating it as a  cow chewing through cud, so terrible vegebox confession one in three packets turns to slime .

Also in the fridge a block of very smelly cheese , a Munster from Natoora parcel some months ago . I do not belive in sell-by or use by dates , I think they improve with age.

Reading Nigel Slaters recipes in this weekends Observer he includes hemp seeds in a recipe and I remembered we had a packet for making flapjacks , I figured they would make a delicious addition to pastry and they definitely added a nutty crunch.

The result was a light tart/quiche the strong cheese heated through deliciously with the chard without any bitter green taste , the pastry falling apart.

Chard and Cheese Tart

5 handfuls of chard ( I used rainbow) finely chopped
3 eggs
75g of flavoursome cheese ( mature cheddar, stilton)  roughly chopped
100ml of milk
Salt and Pepper

Wholemeal Pastry

100g of wholemeal flour
2 tbp of hemp seeds
50g of butter
20ml of water
Pinch of salt

1. Line an 8inch diamter tart case with greaseproof paper
2. Make the pastry , crumb together the wholemeal flour , hemp seeds salt , and butter
3. Add the water to form a dough
4. Roll out to a few millimeters thick and line the tart case

Filling

1. Beat together the eggs and milk
2. Add the finely chopped chard and cheese
3. Season with salt and pepper
4. Pour into the tart case
5. Bake at 180degC for 25 minutes until the filling is set

Tofu and Chinese Mushroom Stir Fry

I have been foraging properly picking  sloes and  rosehips but these require preperation, so  something quick and what is quicker than stir fry using  a little jelly ear fungi which grows on the elder trees around here.  I have a terrible habit of picking this fungi and leaving it in my pocket to dry out , it finds it into the washing machine pretty often

This made it into a lovely stir fry though , sliced and stir fried with a selection of vegetables and tofu . I love the bite of jelly fungus.

You can also dry the jelly fungus on string over a radiator once dry  it will keep for weeks , to rehydrate soak in cold water for a couple of hours .

A quick cheap meal using up lots of vegetables  with the jelly fungus , Broccoli , Onions , Green Beans and Courgettes all stir fried in a sauce of fresh Ginger ,  finely chopped Garlic a Soy Sauce

Beetroot and Goats Cheese Tart

There is lots of beetroot around at the moment it sweetness is lovely in salads but here I wanted to make it the star of the show in a lazy Sunday lunch.

Beetroot and Goats cheese love eachother and I was tempted to use thyme as the classic triad in the combination . However I decided to break with tradition and use a little sage and  fennel , the combination worked well the sage is earthy and works well with the beetroot and I love the hit of crunchy fennel seeds. The wholemeal pastry has a much nuttier texture than plain pastry adding a lovely note next time I would add a little walnut oil to the pastry.

Beetroot and Goats Cheese Tart

200g of beetroot cut into quarters
2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
50g of hard goats cheese ( or feta)
3 tbsp of fresh sage finely chopped
1 tbsp of fennel seeds

Wholemeal Pastry
100g of wholemeal flour
50g of butter
10ml of water
Pinch of salt

1. Crumb the butter into the flour & salt
2. Add the water and form a dough.
3. Leave in the fridge while you prepare the beetroot
4. Place the beetroot quarters in a roasting pan with the balsamic vinegar and drizzle of olive oil
5. Season with salt and pepper and roast at 180degC for 20 minutes
6. Roll out the pastry and line a 30cm diameter greased metal tart dish
7. Place in the the lined case in the oven for at least 10 minutes
8. Meanwhile crumble the goats cheese and mix with the sage , and fennel seeds season well with salt and pepper
9. Remove the beetroot and pastry case from the oven
10. Fill the case with the beetroot and goats cheese
11. Return to the oven a bake for a further 15 minutes

Roasted Field Mushrooms

These were made by my lovely boyfreind , salty garlicky goodness

4 large mushrooms
1 small white onion finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic grated
4 tinned anchovies finely chopped
Handful of grated parmesan
Herbs de provence
Pepper

1. Soften the onions and garlic in a pan with a little oil , mix with anchovies, herbs de provence & pepper.
2. Spoon the mixture over the mushrooms, cover with the parmesan and roast in the oven at 180degC for 15 minutes.

Salmon wrapped in Prosciutto with Broad Brean , Courgette and Fennel Salad.

Salmon wrapped in Prosciutto with Broad Brean , Courgette and Fennel Salad.

This was Friday nights dinner , broad beans from the vegebox are getting pretty large, once steamed for a few minutes and definitely need peeling , but I am proud some of the courgettes have survived a slug attack it is  worth squeezing them in a tea towel and they can make a dressing a little watery  . The dressing is slosh of olive oil and fresh lemon juice, a little salt pepper

Fennel goes really well with the lemon and the  salty meat and fish combination , while a lot of the herbs seem to be suffering in the rain the fennel goes from strength to strength it also delicious with another seasonal favorite beetroot

The salmon is wrapped in prociutto brushed with a little olive oil and roasted in the oven for 15 minutes at 180degC.