Stop! Pumpkin Times 2

As promised here is a recipe for pumpkin cakes. I'm not sure if the cake mix should be classed as a cupcake or a muffin. When I wrote the original recipe it was a cross between a muffin and a carrot cake and this is just that recipe re-worked with pumpkin. I called those Carrot Cake Muffins..... I think these can just be Pumpkin Cakes, as they are pumpkin in every way! Make sure you get an eating pumpkin for these (and I guess if you make any other pumpkin recipes) since the ones for carving tend to have softer watery flesh (easier for carving, see?) and are all seeds and fibers, so you're essentially paying for air!

*Please note that no Pumpkin Cakes were harmed during the photo shoot for this blog! All cakes were safely placed onto glasses or ramekins and at no point did any actually come into contact with the earth at all, though a blade of grass did touch one and a leaf stuck into Dracula briefly.

Pumpkin Cakes

200g self-raising flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

150ml vegetable oil

juice and zest 1 orange

200g soft light brown sugar

3 medium eggs

200g edible pumpkin (or squash), de-seeded, peeled and grated

Pre-heat the oven to 200C, 180C in a fan oven, gas 6. Place cupcake cases in a 12 hole muffin tin. In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients. Measure the oil into a jug then beat in the orange zest and juice, sugar and eggs, to combine completely. Pour the oil mixture into the dry ingredients with the grated pumpkin. Stir together to combine and divide between the cases. Place in the middle of the oven and bake for 15 - 20 minutes until well risen and brown. Allow to cool before icing, or leave out the icing and devour as a breakfast muffin.

Icing

I'd like to say that this icing was made with a proper recipe, but alas, it wasn't. I beat together 125g softened butter with about 200g icing sugar (all that I had in the house, or else I'd have used 250g) and 2 tsp orange juice. I then added a large pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg and proceeded to colour the icing in a rather haphazzard manner.... I don't have an orange colour, so used yellow, red and brown. Eventually I hit upon the colour I was after, which was lucky! The faces are done with black writing icing and the stalks with white marzipan coloured green.

Stop! Pumpkin Time

I'm not really into the whole Halloween trick or treat thing, but I do like a nice project and tend to carve a pumpkin every year. Some years are better then others, but I think this year was reasonably successful! So, Martha Stewart eat your heart out. I've carved a delightful pumpkin and though that one wasn't for eating I did have half a squash to use up so I also made this rather tasty soup. All I need now to be the next Martha is a pumpkin cake (which I may do later this week if I can be bothered) and some kind of sewing project!

This soup is another of frugality; I'd already used the other half of the squash for a risotto, the chicken thighs were accidentally removed from the freezer and needed to be used and the coconut milk was left over from heaven knows what. DW loves soup too, so I made this because I thought he'd like it, and he did.

Red Curry Squash Soup with Chicken

1 tsp groundnut oil

5 thai shallots (or use half a red onion), finely chopped

3 skinless and boneless chicken thighs, cut into small dice

2 tbsp red curry paste

1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger

300ml coconut milk

600ml chicken stock

1/2 a butternut squash, deseeded, peeled and cut into small dice

handful green beans, cut into 2cm pieces

dash fish sauce

juice 1/2 a lime

pinch sugar

handful coriander leaves to garnish

In a large pan, heat the oil over a low heat and cook the shallots for a few minutes until softened then add the chicken and brown lightly. Stir in the curry paste and ginger and cook very briefly before adding the coconut milk and stock, stir everything together and then tip in the squash. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes, until the squash is softened.

When the squash is soft, with a slotted spoon scoop out a little more then half of the squash, place it in a processor and blend it with some of the soup liquid. Now this is a bit fiddly and if you don't mind blending the chicken as well you could just scoop out half of the soup and puree it, but I didn't find it too much of a bother getting just the squash out and I liked the deep orange colour it created. Return the blended soup to the pan and heat for 5 minutes, then stir in the beans, fish sauce, lime juice and sugar and heat for another few minutes until the beans are done to your liking.

My soup didn't need any more seasoning, but if you feel your soup does then add a grind of salt and pepper. Spoon into bowls and scatter over coriander leaves to serve. Serves 2 very greedy people with a bowl leftover for the next day, or 4 normal people!

Maple Pecan Apple Crumble

I still have apples left from our apple picking fest in East Grinstead and as the weather seems to be becoming increasingly chilly I thought it a good idea to cheer us up with a crumble.

Can't think of why I decided on maple pecan as a flavour choice, other than that I love maple syrup and DW loves pecans. We have a bag of them on top of the fridge that he is slowly (and he thinks secretly) devouring! The maple syrup does make the whole thing very sweet, but it also gives a lovely sticky toffee consistency to the apples that I really liked. I made these just for 2, and after a roast dinner they were rather large portions, luckily for me DW was on hand to finish mine off.

Maple Pecan Apple Crumble

4 smallish bramley apples. peeled, cored and cut into chunks

1 tsp lemon juice

1 heaped tbsp caster sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp maple syrup

handful broken pecan nuts

For the crumble

100g plain flour

60g cold butter, cut into small pieces

25g caster sugar

pinch cinnamon

Pre-heat your oven to 200C (180C fan oven), gas mark 5. Place apple pieces, lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, 1 tbsp maple syrup and nuts in a pan. Cook over a medium heat for 5 - 10 minutes until the apple is softened and the mixture sticky. If you would prefer your nuts to be at their optimum crunchyness then stir them into the apple mixture at the end. Spoon into a baking dish or dishes and drizzle over the remaining maple syrup.

To make the crumble, put the flour in a bowl and rub in the cold chunks of butter until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and cinnamon and layer over the apple mixture. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. At this point have a look and see if your crumble is crisped and bubbling to you liking, if not return to the oven for another 5 - 10 minutes, then devour with cream or ice cream!

Frugal Food: Hariraish Soup

So this is the third day in a row that we're eating lamb.

On Sunday I cooked a gorgeous roast shoulder of lamb, yesterday I made some lovely bubble and squeak cakes to serve with the majority of the left-over lamb and gravy (not home made I must confess, but an Oxo packet gravy, that was actually very nice!) and today the last few little bits of lamb have become a lovely warming soup. I feel very proud of my frugality!

This is loosely based on Harira, a Moroccan soup made with lamb, spices, lentils and chickpeas, that is traditionally eaten to end the fast of Ramadan. I used a red and a green chilli because I like the combination of the 2, but two red or two green would work just as well. We ate this with my filled focaccia, but it would be great with flat bread or lovely soft pitta (particularly the ones from Damas Gate on Uxbridge Road).

Hariraish Soup

1tbsp olive oil

2 medium onions, chopped quite small, but not too finely

1 clove garlic, crushed to a paste

1 red and 1 green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

large pinch each ground cumin, ground ginger and ground cinnamon

1tbsp tomato puree

Left-over roast lamb and gravy (I had about 2 handfulls of lamb, but the more the better!)

1.25 litres stock

1/2 can chopped tomatoes

2 handfuls red lentils

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

To serve

lemon juice

handful roughly chopped fresh mint and coriander leaves

Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat then add the onion, garlic, and chopped chillis and cook, stirring for about 5 minutes until the onions are softened, but not browned. Stir in the ground spices and cook for another minute, then stir in the tomato puree, the left-over meat and gravy, stock, tomatoes and lentils. Bring to the boil then simmer for about 45 minutes, after which add the chickpeas and simmer for another 15 minutes.

Before serving stir the lemon juice (about 1/2 a lemon should do, but add as much or a little as you feel) into the soup and season to taste. Spoon into bowls and top with the fresh herbs.