oven roasted pumpkin soup

oven roasted pumpkin soup

21 Jul 2021

I don't know about you, but I've been spending a lot of time at home lately. So instead of my usual meat and salad roll for lunch I've decided to slow down and prepare my lunch. I've been making soup for lunch which I then serve with home made bread and this week, I also made a cauliflower cake.

This roast pumpkin soup is so delicious, I thought I'd share the recipe with you. Normally I top the soup with just a swirl of yoghurt but this week I fancied up the bowl with some fried eggplant a la Julia Nishimura and instead of yoghurt, I did a swirl of tahini. If you make the soup with oil and vegetable stock and top it with a tahini swirl, the soup becomes vegan.

 

Here's the recipe for you which serves 4. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon.

Roast pumpkin soup

1½ tbsp olive oil

3 cloves garlic, unpeeled

750g butternut or Jap pumpkin, halved and skin on

Salt, black pepper and chilli flakes

1 tbs butter or oil 

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped 

1 medium carrot, peeled and coarsely chopped 

1 medium potato, peeled, chopped

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 cup water

 

To serve

Plain yoghurt or tahini

coriander leaves

toasted flaked almonds

fried eggplant (optional) 

 

Fried eggplant (optional)

2 tbs plain flour

1 tsp ground cumin

pinch of sea salt 

1 small eggplant (about 200 g), cut into 1.5 cm cubes

vegetable oil, for shallow-frying

 

Method 

Preheat oven to 200°C /180°C fan-forced. Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Place pumpkin and garlic in a bowl. Add oil then season with salt, pepper and chilli flakes and toss to coat. Arrange pumpkin mixture, in a single layer, on prepared tray. Bake for 1 hour or until pumpkin is golden and fork tender. Leave to cool in the turned off oven.

 

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and carrot and cook stirring for 5 minutes or until the onion has softened. Squeeze garlic cloves from skin and add the garlic to the pan. Add potato, stock and 1 cup cold water. Cover then bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes or until potato is tender. Scrape the pumpkin from the skin and add to the saucepan. Cook for 10 minutes, or until heated through. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly then using a stick blender, blend pumpkin mixture until smooth. Return to pan over low heat while you prepare the eggplant.

 

Fried eggplant

Combine the flour, cumin and salt in a small bowl. Toss the eggplant in the seasoned flour and shake off any excess. Heat 2 cm of oil in a small saucepan or frying pan over a medium heat and fry the eggplant in batches until golden and soft on the inside. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel.

 

Ladle the soup into bowls, top soup with some yoghurt or tahini, fried eggplant cubes and some coriander and slivered almonds. Sprinkle with a few salt flakes just before serving.

 

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen. 

Bye for now,

Jillian

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icelandic meat soup

icelandic meat soup

8 Aug 2016

Hi every-one,

I'm still busily working on my photos from Iceland so I thought I'd share an Icelandic recipe with you. Iceland is a bit like New Zealand in one way. There are many more sheep than people so it was no surprise to find Icelandic lamb on the menu just about every night. One really popular item was the ubiquitous meat soup, made of course with lamb.



Food is really expensive in Iceland so for lunch I'd either have a sandwich or a bowl of soup. The soup always came with bread and butter and best of all, a refill. Now as it happens I didn't actually try meat soup when I was in Iceland. I mainly had the vegetable soup and on one occasion, a very disappointing bowl of fish soup.



Last Thursday when I returned to Sydney, I found a recipe for meat soup on the SBS website and went to the shops for the ingredients. I figured even with jet lag I could manage to put together a pot of soup and that pot of soup lasted the week.



The recipe called for lamb on the bone but all l I could find in the shops were lamb shanks. I had to extend the cooking time by a few hours, close to 4 hours in the end. In return - a very large pot of meaty soup loaded with chunks of vegetables.



Here's the recipe for you which adds kale to the soup just before serving. I didn't see kale in any of the supermarkets I visited in Iceland so I get the feeling cabbage would be used. The kale does add  nice touch of green to the soup though.

Icelandic Lamb Soup – serves 6

Ingredients
1 kg lamb chops, or 1 kg lamb shoulder, bone in, cut into 4 cm pieces across the bone (ask your butcher to do this for you)
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 large turnip, cut into 2 cm cubes
3 waxy potatoes (such as desiree), cut into 2 cm cubes
3 carrots, cut into 2 cm cubes
2 leeks, sliced
5 thyme sprigs
2 fresh bay leaves
30g (⅓ cup) rolled oats
1½ cups shredded kale

Place lamb, onion and 2.5 litres of water in a large saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer, skimming impurities from surface. Season with salt and pepper, then reduce heat to low and cook for 1 hour to allow flavours to develop.

Add vegetables, thyme and bay leaves, and cook, topping up with 400 ml extra water if necessary, for a further 1½ hours or until meat is meltingly tender and starting to fall off the bone. Remove lamb from soup and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, add oats and cook for 15 minutes or until cooked through. Once lamb is cool enough to handle, shred meat from bones, discarding bones, and return to soup. Stir through kale and season.




See you all again with more travel photos from Iceland.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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marcella hazan's potato soup with split green peas.

marcella hazan's potato soup with split green peas.

15 Jun 2015

Last week was one of those weeks. I spent the Queen's Birthday Long Weekend in Brisbane and flew back to Sydney with a cold and no energy to cook or go shopping. The cupboard was pretty bare. I knew I wanted soup and I'd planned to make some lentil soup when I spied this recipe for potato soup with split green peas in 'The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking' by Marcella Hazan. I checked the cupboard and the fridge and found I had all the ingredients I needed, so set to work making the soup.

When you read the recipe, the soup has hardly any ingredients and very few processes. 

You know how I love to change things up, well I didn't with this recipe at all. I just added a garnish of fresh oregano and some green peas.



Here's the recipe for you.

Potato Soup with Split Green Peas - from Marcella Hazan's The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

Ingredients

2 medium potatoes

250 g (8 oz) dried split green peas

1.25 litres (5 cups) homemade meat broth or 1 cup canned beef broth and 4 cups water

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, chopped

freshly grated parmesan cheese

salt and pepper

Peel the potatoes and cut them up into chunks. Rinse them under cold water and drain. Rinse the split peas under cold water and drain.

Put the potatoes and peas in a soup pot with 750 mls of broth, then cover and cook over medium heat, at a gentle boil, until the potatoes and peas are both tender (about 30 - 45 minutes). Turn off the heat. Purée the potatoes and peas with a stick blender or put through a food mill.

Warm the butter and oil in a small skillet, then cook the onions and until the onions are golden. Pour the contents of the skillet into the pot with the potatoes and peas, add the remaining broth, cover, and turn on the heat to medium. Adjust the heat so that the soup boils at a steady but slow boil. Cook until all of the butter and oil has become evenly distributed into the broth.

Before turning off the heat, swirl in the grated parmesan, then taste and correct for salt.

A steaming bowl of hot soup, served with bread and lashings of butter. Just what the doctor ordered!

See you all again next week,

Jillian

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ottolenghi's sweetcorn slaw

ottolenghi's sweetcorn slaw

16 Mar 2015

As I'm sure you know by now, I'm an unabashed Ottolenghi fan. When Juliana and I were trying to choose a recipe for our last Plate 2 Plate column, Juliana suggested this recipe for sweetcorn slaw from Ottolenghi's book, Plenty More.

I'd already decided to make some oven fried chicken and faux chips for my dinner and thought this would be the perfect accompaniment. I picked up some corn and cabbage and a few herbs and put this together.

I don't eat mayonnaise so I used Greek yoghurt in the dressing instead. As with all Ottolenghi recipes, this one was bursting with flavour but I found pickling the vegetables made them a tad soggy and I'm not keen on soggy.

I've made this recipe a second time but this time I didn't brine the vegetables. I'm not sure which version I prefer.

Here's the original recipe for you, which serves six.

Sweetcorn Slaw
100ml white wine vinegar
200ml water
Salt and black pepper
¼ white cabbage, shredded: 300g net
3 carrots, julienned
1 small red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
4 corn cobs, lightly brushed with olive oil
2 red chillies, finely chopped
20g picked coriander leaves
20g picked mint leaves
Olive oil

For the dressing
50g mayonnaise
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1½ tsp sunflower oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, crushed 

For the dressing
Put the vinegar, water and a tablespoon of salt into a small saucepan, bring up to a boil and remove from the heat.

Put the cabbage and carrot in a bowl, pour over two-thirds of the salty liquid and set aside to soften for 20 minutes. Pour the remaining liquid over the onion and, again, set aside for 20 minutes. Rinse the vegetables and onion, pat dry, put in a large bowl and set aside.

Put a ridged chargrill pan on a high heat and, when it starts to smoke, lay the corn on it. Chargrill for 10-12 minutes, turning so that all sides get some colour (this will create quite a lot of smoke). Remove from the heat and, when cool enough to handle, use a large knife to shave off the corn in clumps and add to the salad bowl.

Whisk together all the ingredients for the dressing, pour over the salad and stir gently. Add the chilli, coriander and mint, along with a grind of black pepper, give it another gentle stir and serve.



The char grilled corn is very yummy so I guess I've just added another recipe to my Ottolenghi repertoire.

Did I mention that I'll be doing Passover week again this year? I still have 2 more things to bake so at the moment I'm knee deep in superfine matzo meal, potato flour, nuts, chocolate, coconut and eggs. All will be revealed soon!

See you all again next week,

Jillian

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plate 2 plate - ottolenghi's lentils, radicchio and walnuts with manuka honey

plate 2 plate - ottolenghi's lentils, radicchio and walnuts with manuka honey

16 Feb 2015

Hi every-one and welcome to the first Plate 2 Plate post for 2015. Juliana and I both thought it was high time to make a salad so we turned to Ottolenghi's new book, Plenty More, for inspiration. As you know, I'm a bit of an Ottolenghi fan girl so I was keen to try out his new book. We mulled over a few recipes before coming across this lentil dish topped with radicchio, spicy walnuts and a tumble of herbs. The lentil image is by Juliana.




As Juliana lives in Switzerland and I live in Sydney it can be quite difficult finding ingredients that are in season in both places. Thankfully fresh herbs and lentils are always available. Herb photo by Juliana.




Here's my take.



I had most of the ingredients in my cupboard and when I found that radicchio was available in my local fruit shop we both knew we had our recipe.


I've made this dish twice so far mainly because I burnt the walnuts the first time round. The second time I made the dish, I lowered the oven temperature to 160°C and watched the walnuts like a hawk.




Once cooled, these walnuts are so yummy I think only half made their way into the salad. Here's my version of the finished dish.



I don't tolerate cheese all that well so I left it out of the dish. Instead I served it as a side dish with some lamb. Here's Juliana's version of the dish.





Here's another image of the finished dish from Juliana.



The lentils and walnuts can be made well ahead of time and the dish put together in just a few minutes topped with loads of fresh herbs. Apart from the dill, all the herbs I used in the dish were grown on my window ledge.




Here's the recipe for you from Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi. As this is a UK recipe, remember to use a 15 ml tablespoon. Image by Juliana.




Lentils, Radicchio and Walnuts with Manuka Honey

200g puy lentils
2 bay leaves
100g manuka honey
¼ tsp flaked chilli
½ tsp ground turmeric
Salt and black pepper
About 1 tsp water
3 tbsp red-wine vinegar
90ml olive oil
100g walnuts
½ medium-size radicchio
60g pecorino fiore sardo, or other mature ewe's or goat's cheese
20g each roughly chopped basil, dill and parsley

Heat the oven to 170°C/325°F. Put the lentils in a medium saucepan, cover with plenty of water, add the bay leaves and simmer for 15 minutes, or until tender.

While the lentils cook, prepare the walnuts. In a bowl, combine half the honey, the chilli, turmeric and a quarter-teaspoon of salt, and add enough water to create a thick paste.

Drain the lentils and return to the pan. Whisk together the vinegar, half the oil, the remaining honey, half a teaspoon of salt and some black pepper until the honey dissolves. Stir into the lentils while they're still hot and then leave to cool a little. Discard the bay leaves.

Add the walnuts to the honey/chilli paste and stir to coat. Spread on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and roast for 15-20 minutes, stirring once, until crunchy and dry, but still sticky.

Pour the remaining oil into a medium frying pan and place on high heat. Cut the radicchio into eight wedges and place these in the hot oil, sprinkling them with a little salt. Cook for a minute on each side and then transfer into a large bowl.

Add the lentils, walnuts, sliced pecorino and herbs. Stir gently, taste and season accordingly. Serve warmish or at room temperature.




As you expect from an Ottolenghi recipe, the dish zings with flavours - sweetness from the honey; bitterness from the radicchio; crunch from the walnuts; zing from the chilli and sour from the vinegar in the dressing. Just about perfect really. You can read Juliana's thoughts about the salad here.

See you all again next week with something sweet.

Jillian

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split pea and israeli couscous soup

split pea and israeli couscous soup

18 Aug 2014

I've just flown back to Sydney from Brisbane and the weather here in Sydney is absolutely revolting - cold, gray, wet and windy. I'm in the process of sprucing up my place and should be looking at furniture shops but instead I came home to put on some warm clothes and to make a pot of warming soup.



Growing up I would never eat split pea soup. It was something about the grainy texture I didn't like so I felt pretty brave attempting this recipe for split pea and israeli couscous soup. The recipe comes from Colin Fassnidge's book, Recipes from Four Kitchens.





Living in Sydney I'm lucky enough to have eaten at both the Four in Hand and at Four Fourteen, two of Colin Fassnidge's restaurants and the food has always been delicious. I made this soup for the first time a few weeks ago and it's really tasty, though I did use chicken rather than vegetable stock. Best of all, I've managed to track down the recipe for you.

Split pea and israeli couscous soup - serves 8
Ingredients 
1 carrot, peeled and diced 

1 onion, peeled and diced 
1 celery stalk, sliced 
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped 
100ml white wine 
200g Israeli couscous 
300g green split peas
2 litres vegetable stock (plus more if you like) 
splash of olive oil 
thyme leaves, to serve

Method 

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over low heat. Add the vegetables and garlic, and sweat until soft but not coloured. 

Deglaze with white wine then add the couscous. Add the split peas and stock. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat slightly and cook uncovered for 30 minutes or until the vegetables, couscous and peas are tender. Add more stock as it cooks if you like, but it is supposed to be a thick and chunky soup.

Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and serve sprinkled with thyme leaves.

Don't stress if you can't track down the israeli couscous, any small pasta like risoni or ditalini will do.

I hope you enjoyed your weekends despite the rain. See you all again next week with a tropical cake which is presently languishing in the freezer waiting until the sun returns before it can be photographed.

The ironing needs to be done so I better go and get that done.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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spiced moroccan meatball soup - delicious magazine

spiced moroccan meatball soup - delicious magazine

12 Aug 2013

My friends know me very well. For my birthday they give me food styling products and subscriptions to food magazines. One of my favourite food magazines is Delicious magazine. Generally the recipes are easy to make and full of flavour.



I found this recipe for spiced moroccan meatball soup in the July 2013 issue and I've made it about 4 times since then. You can prepare the broth and the meatballs in advance, have the vegetables chopped and the whole meal can be put together in about 20 minutes. The recipe uses loads of herbs and spices, fresh coriander stems as well as the leaves and the piece de resistance, Israeli pearl couscous.



Israeli couscous is much larger than regular couscous and doubles it's size when cooked.



The original recipe used beef mince to make the meatballs but recently I've been using lamb mince. I haven't been to Morocco yet so I'm not sure which meat makes the more authentic version but either version is delicious.



I've not made any other changes to the recipe but I have changed the timing a little. I don't like mushy zucchini so I add it last. My couscous takes 10 minutes to cook so I add it in with the carrots. Also fry the meatballs just before you use them for the best texture. Otherwise they toughen so if you do make them in advance, rewarm the meatballs before you place them in the soup.

Here's the recipe for you.

Spiced Moroccan Meatball Soup
2½ tbs olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic coves, crushed 
1 teaspoon each ground cinnamon and ground ginger 
2 tsp ground cumin
½ bunch coriander, leaves picked and stems chopped 
½ tsp dried chilli flakes 
2 carrots and 2 zucchinis, cut into 1 cm pieces 
4 cups (1L) chicken or vegetable stock 
500 g beef or lamb mince 
1 egg, lightly beaten 
⅔ cup (50g) fresh breadcrumbs 
1 cup (200g) pearl (Israeli) couscous 
½ cup (40g) flaked almonds

Heat 1 tbs oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add half each of the onion and garlic, then cook stirring for 2-3 minutes until softened. Stir in cinnamon, ginger and 1 tsp cumin, then cook for a further 2 minutes or until fragrant. Transfer to a plate to cool.

Using your hands, combine the cooled onion mixture, mince, egg and crumbs in a bowl and season. Roll into walnut size balls then chill for 10 minutes.

Return pan to medium heat with 2 tsp oil. Add coriander stems and remaining onion and garlic, then cook stirring for 2-3 minutes or until softened. Add chilli flakes and remaining 1 tsp cumin, then cook for a further minute or until fragrant. Stir in the carrot, the couscous, stock and 1 cup (250 ml) water, bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes or until the carrot has softened.

While the soup is cooking, heat the remaining 1 tbs oil in a fry pan over medium-high heat. Cook meatballs in batches for 2-3 minutes or until browned. Add the meatballs to the soup and cook for a further 2-3 minutes before adding the zucchini. Cook for a further 3 minutes or until just tender. To serve, sprinkle with coriander leaves and almonds.



I hope you all enjoyed your weekends.

See you all again soon,

Jillian

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