Pumpkin soup

Well Katie here's the pumpkin soup you've been asking for. However I am sure you have made this already and your friends love you for this.

I  remember Katie taking this soup in the winter months to school and her friends would put a request in as they would steel most of her lunch . I would have to make this soup in bulk, just so katie could take it to school to share.

So here it is.

1 WHOLE large Pumpkin peeled and diced
100grams butter
5 gloves of garlic
2 large onions
2 teaspoons of nutmeg
12 cups of water
10 teaspoons of chicke stock powder.

In a large soup pot melt the butter and fry the onions and garlic . Add the nutmeg and cook until onions are soft. Add all the diced Pumpkin and coat the pumpkin with the melted butter and onions.  Add the water and chicken stock . Bring to boil then simmer until the pumpkin is well cooked. Let cool and then blend all the pumpkin and onions until smooth.

With this I sifted all the pumpkin and onions so the liquid is separate. I put the liquid in a jug and put it aside. I then add the blended pumpkin back to soup pot and add the liquid bit by bit until it the right thickness . You don't want the soup to thick or to thin.  

Before you serve it add a dash of cream.

You can freeze this.

If you try this you won't stop making it and of course eat it . 

Nutella Brownies

This weekend I had to try a quick and easy recipe that was posted on Facebook. I have so many things planned for today with friends coming to dinner and a crochet blanket to finish but still wanted to get some baking done. Not that this lasted long on the bench. But three ingredients is all I needed and that suited for today of baking.

1 cup of Nutella
2 eggs
10 tablespoons of plain flour

Mix all ingredients together well and spoon into cup cakes wrappers. Sprinkle with a little chopped up hazelnuts.

Bake in preheated oven at 180 c . Now here is the trick bit . It said for 30 minutes but I took them out after 20 minutes.  But I think 15 minutes . You should check.  Touch and if they spring back they are done.

Try them heated with a little ice cream .

See so easy and yum . Enjoy I did.

Good pud (Date Pudding with Caramel Sauce

GOOD PUDS- a rich caramel sauce highlights the delicious taste of these yummy Puddings. Nothing says winter more than a hot sticky pudding. This is one of my favourite's and my whole family Love's these puddings. The sauce is Divine and so evil and great with good old fashion vanilla ice cream.

One of my Sister in law's just can't get enough of this sauce and I found this recipe, in one of my many magazines just for her. I should change the name to Shelly's sticky date puddings.

spray oil

2 cups dates

1 cup water

1 teaspoon baking soda

120g butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

2 eggs

1/4 teaspoon salt

1-1/4 cups self flour

Caramel Sauce

3/4 cup each: cream, brown sugar

150 butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

• Preheat the oven to 170c. Spray a 6 hole Texan muffin pan with spray oil.
• Place the dates and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for about 4 minutes, or until there is about 1 tablespoon of water left.
• Remove from the heat and leave to cool for about 2 minutes. Add the baking soda to the dates and stir until combined.
• Meanwhile, cream the butter and sugar with an electric beater until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla essence and add the eggs, one by one, beating well after each addition. Beat in the salt.
• Fold in the flour and the date mixture. Spoon the batter into the muffin pans until they are half the three-quarters full.
• Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of a pudding comes out clean.
• To make the caramel sauce, place the cream, sugar, butter and vanilla essence into a saucepan. Stir over a low heat until the butter has melted. Bring to the boil then turn down the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened slightly.

Serve the pudding with either whipped cream or ice cream and a good drizzle of caramel sauce.



Rack of Lamb

 

This is the best Rack of Lamb dish I have come across. Lamb is my husband favourite meat and I made this one day, since then we have not been able to find another recipe to match this one. Michael's all time favourite dish and i think this is what made him fall in love with me. My mother said to me one day just before I started dating him, that a way to a mans heart is through his stomach . Well I think this dish was it. When ever we have people for the first time to dinner this is what I make and its a great pleasure to see them eat and leave with a feeling of satisfaction and comments like, this is better than restaurant food and I would pay for this dish makes me feel like I have accomplished great food.

1 rack of lamb divide this in to for a 2 person meal.

Double this if you have 2 racks

2 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/4 cup ground hazelnuts

2 tablespoon fine breadcrumbs

1 to 2 tablespoons of dried tarragon leaves

1 to 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese.

• Preheat oven to 200c (400F)
• Trim all the fat. Trim the meat from top and in between each rib bone. Crack the bones at the joints.
• Spread the mustard over the meat
• Mix the hazelnuts, breadcrumbs,tarragon leaves and cheese together. Sprinkle over the mustard, covering completely.
• Sprinkle with melted butter and Roast in oven for 30 minutes.
• Serve with your choice of Bearnaise Sauce or mint jelly preserves.

I found that this recipe was better with Bearnaise Sauce . So I have put a recipe on for you to try. You can buy a already pre made Bearnaise's sauce however I found that this wasn't as good as home made.

Bearnaise Sauce

3 tablespoon white wine

1 tablespoon dried tarragon leaves

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 cup butter (125mls)

3 egg yolks

• Combine wine, tarragon and lemon juice in a small saucepan
• Over high heat. reduce the 2 tablespoons
• In another small saucepan, melt butter and heat almost to boiling
• In a blender or food processor, process egg yolks until blended
• With machine running, add butter in a slow, thin stream.
• With machine off, add reduced wine mixture.
• Process just until blended.



Lucy's baking

 

Made By Lucy Williams aged 11

Maroccan Lamb Plait

I was sitting around for three days as I was sick . Even when I am sick I can't sit still. But in this case I wasn't able to move much and I sat and watched Sky Food channel. 

Bless Dean Brettschneider cotton socks. He showed how to make a sausage roll that was little bit more up market and taste beautiful. When it comes to sausage rolls, I am a sucker for them . I love my pastry.

 More to come . I haven't finished with this one yet.

Retro kiwifruit Cheesecake

 

 

 

 

You can use different fruits and matching jelly toppings with this recipe. For example, orange zest in a cheesecake with orange jelly and mandarins, or strawberry puree and strawberry slices with red jelly, or berries with blackberry jelly.

 

 

 

 

 250grams crushed biscuits plain or gingernuts.
1/2 tsp cinnamon
100grams melted butter
500grams cream cheese, softened
3/4 icing sugar
3 tsp gelatin,  plus 3 tbsp water
1 cup cream, softly whipped
1/2 cup kiwifruit,  mashed into a puree (approx 2 ripe kiwifruit)
2-3 kiwifruit, peeled and sliced
3 tbsps lime jelly crystals,  plus 1 cup hot water

 

Combine the biscuits crumbs, cinnamon and melted butter and press into the base of a spring form tin. Chill.

 

Beat together the cream cheese and icing sugar in a bowl until smooth, (about 3-5 minutes).

Sprinkle the gelatin over the water in a bowl and leave it to swell for 5 minutes. 

 

Warm over hot water, or on medium power in the microwave for 15 seconds. Stir until the gelatin has dissolved.

 

Beat the gelatin into the cream cheese mixture and quickly fold in the whipped cream and kiwifruit puree.

 

Pour the cream cheese mixture over the chilled base and return the tin to the fridge. Leave to chill for 2-3 hours, or until the mixture has set.

 

To serve,  dissolve the lime jelly crystals in hot water and let the jelly cool but not set. Arrange the sliced kiwifruit decoratively on top of the chilled cheesecake and spoon over the lime jelly.

 

 Allow to chill for at least 30 minutes until the topping has set before cutting the cheesecake and serve.