Pumpkin & Ginger soup.

So my mum had this big pumpkin sitting on her kitchen table. She wasn't sure what the best way to cut it up.

"Throw it on the concrete & shatter it" she said.

"Messy" I thought.

"Use the log splitter" she said.

"Not very hygienic" I thought. "I'll just cut it" I said.

"You'll loose a finger if it slips" she said.

"Typical mother" I thought....

A bit of rummaging in her kitchen drawers produced a Chinese cleaver, heavy, strong, & sharp.

Setting the big Queensland Blue pumpkin (about 20kg) on the concrete outside, for stability, I then pushed the cleaver through the pumpkin, required a bit of effort & weight on the cleaver to force it through, but eventually I ended up with 4 pieces, & no lost fingers. Now what to do with this hunk of pumpkin that I've acquired (thanks mum).

Well it was the first cold spell of the season therefore a nice soup was in order, in this case pumpkin & ginger. I'm not going to give exact quantities for all the ingredients & the quantities listed here a a guide only, as its too variable & taste dependant.

Pumpkin & Ginger soup.

Ingredients:
Pumpkin (roughly diced)

Ginger (a decent large thumb sized knob, sliced or diced)

1 onion (diced)

1 tbls butter

2 small or 1 medium floury potato (roughly diced)

1 tbls ground cumin

1 tbls dried oregano

Stock

Salt

Pepper

Fresh coriander to finish

Method:
Gently fry the onions & half the ginger over a low heat until golden & soft.

Add the cumin & oregano & cook until fragrant

Add the pumpkin & potato & toss to coat in the onion/spice mix

Add enough stock to cover & add the remaining ginger

Bring to the boil & then reduce to a simmer.  Cook until the pumpkin & potatoes are soft & tender.

Use a blender or stick mixer to blend all the ingredients to a smooth consistency

If the soup seems a bit watery, let it simmer a bit longer till it has reached the consistency that appeals.
Season to taste & serve with a sprinkling of roughly chopped coriander.
Serves as many or as few as you wish...

Paper Chef #44

"So many choices!!!!"
That was my first reaction to reading the ingredients for this months paper chef. The first three ingredients as selected by Deeba from Passionate about Baking were Ricotta, Ginger, and Chocolate. Pretty easy so far, but the fourth ingredient was actually a theme: Autumn. Hmmm might be Autumn on the wrong side of the world but we're heading into spring here, so its a bit hard to cook out of season but I tried.
The ingredients lend themselves to a dessert type dish. I did briefly think of doing something savoury with them, possibly ginger ricotta fritters with a chili chocolate sauce. Chili & chocolate go well together, try it sometime if you haven't already.
But I scuttled that idea and went with a sweet instead.
Ricotta fritters with a ginger chocolate sauce? Non!
Chocolate cannoli filled with ginger ricotta? Hmm maybe next time.
With time running out I settled for a Ginger Cheesecake with a Chocolate base.
The ginger I used was Baby Stem Ginger in syrup from an Australian company Budrim Ginger.

Ginger Cheesecake with a Chocolate base
Ingredients
Base
150g chocolate biscuits, crushed
40g dark chocolate, grated
80g melted butter
Filling
600g ricotta
150g castor sugar
40g preserved ginger, chopped
Ginger, shaved chocolate & mint leaves for decoration.

Method
Mix the crushed biscuits, chocolate & butter and press into the bottom of the dish. I used individual dishes, but the choice is yours.
Place in the fridge to set.
Beat the ricotta and sugar with a mixer until smooth. You can pass the ricotta through a tamis for a really smooth mixture if you wanted to.
Add the chopped ginger, more or less depending on taste and stir through the mixture.
Spoon into your prepared dish, smooth off the top, cover & refrigerate until ready to serve.
Decorate with shaved chocolate, ginger & mint leaves.

And the Autumn theme? The shaved chocolate represents the dried twigs & crushed fallen leaves, with a little sprout to celebrate Spring..........

Ginger

Fresh ginger anyone?


One of the stalls at the Victoria Markets had an abundance of fresh ginger....

Paper Chef - October

The start of a new month brings with it joys, hopes, a new season (sometimes) and always a daring instalment of The Paper Chef.
I'm excited by the concept of Paper Chef. My partner Paul, on the other hand, is not looking forward to the “science experiment” that I will invetibly come up with. My creations haven't been that bad! Seriously... But this month, upon learning the ingredients Paul announced he was cooking. How weird could I get using this months ingredients: Beetroot, Apple, Ginger & Rice??
So I am proud to present Paul's entry for the paper chef: Green Apple Risotto with Beetroot and Ginger “agrodolce” and Walnuts.

Ingredients

Risotto:

1 small brown onion, finely chopped

1 stick celery, finely chopped
A splash olive oil

200g aborio rice

50ml dry white wine

Chicken stock, heated

Fresh black pepper

Sea salt

Cheddar cheese
Parmesan cheese

Unsalted butter

200g Granny Smith apple

Freshly roasted walnuts, chopped
Agrodolce:

6 beetroot (golf ball size)
Ginger, microplaned (to taste)
10ml balsamic vinegar
10ml vincotto
pinch sugar
30ml extra virgin olive oil
Parsley leaves

Method
Wrap the beetroots & apple in foil and bake in a 180c oven until tender.
Puree the apple.
Peel & neatly chop the beetroot into 1cm cubes.
Combine the vinegar, vincotto, ginger, sugar and oil. Season with salt and pepper. Add the beetroot and allow to marinate at room temperature.
Over a low heat sweat the olive oil, onion, celery for 10 minutes- do not allow to colour.
Add the rice and cook gently for a few minutes.
Add the wine, turn the heat to medium and allow the wine to absorb and reduce. Now begin to add the hot stock, ladle by ladle. Allow each ladle of stock to be fully absorbed before adding the next ladleful. Give the rice a stir with every ladleful of stock.
Once the rice is al dente, add the apple puree and heat through.

Turn off the heat.
Add a generous knob of butter, parmesan and cheddar.

Season with salt and pepper.
Arrange the risotto on a plate with the beetroot and ginger “agrodolce” and sprinkle with the roasted walnuts. Garnish with parsley leaves.