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.....

...or: how to stuff up a dish!
OK, I should have waited.
Paper Chef time is about the only time that I get really creative (much to Paul's distress). This month's ingredients were selected by Ilva from Lucullian Delights who also happens to be the driving force behind Paper Chef.
Her selected ingredients were: Red Cabbage, Rosemary, & Tuna, with the fourth ingredient being a theme this time: New! New for a new Year, or ingredient or just something new!
Paul was making pizza for dinner, so I pinched some of his dough and decided to create a Caramelised Onion & Red Cabbage Pizza with Tuna. I was basing this on the traditional Pissaladiere. I was planning on using thin strips of fresh tuna that had been marinated in some olive oil & rosemary, but the markets did not have any fresh tuna that looked appealing! So I thought I'd just use tinned tuna - and this was THE mistake....
- Paul's pizza dough - beautiful
- Caramelised onion & red cabbage (I also added rosemary to it) - tasty
- Favourite brand of high quality tuna - usual standard


Combined:
- Looked good prepared before going in the oven
- Looked good out of the oven
- The aroma out of the oven - epic FAIL
The roasted tuna was not a nice aroma at all, quite gross actually. So while it dose look good, looks can be deceiving! In hindsight I could have waited for some fresh tuna & stuck with my first idea, draping the fresh marinated strips of tuna over the hot pizza - or created something else!
& the "new" ingredient/theme?? Rosemary flowers - the start of a new cycle of life :)

What to do........

Have you ever been in the situation where due to circumstances where all you had to cook with was in your pantry or in the fridge? I think most people have found themselves in that situation - working late, lack of funds, forgotten the shops are closed due to a public holiday?
And its happened to me recently. I was left looking in the cupboard and found a pack of dried porcini, a leek in the fridge, some dried pasta, onion, garlic. Fair enough I did have meat in the freezer, but that would take too long to defrost.
So here is a Porcini & Leek pasta creation.

Ingredients:
1 pack (20g) dried porcini
200ml boiling water
1 leek
1/2 onion, finely sliced
30g butter
olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
200g pasta (I used fusilli)
salt
Pepper
2-3 fresh sage leaves
1/2 tbls dried thyme
Grated Parmisan to serve

Method:
Soak the porcini in the water for about 20min.<
Strain the liquid through some kitchen paper to catch all the impurities & reserve the liquid.
Thoroughly clean the porcini under running water to remove any grit.
Finely chop the porcini.
Melt half the butter & 1 tbls of the olive oil in a pan over a low heat.
Add the garlic & gently fry for about 2 minutes.
Add the porchini & fresh sage leaves.
Add the porchini liquid a tbls at a time stirring & letting it evaporate before adding the next spoonful, until all the liquid is used.
Cook the pasta as directed.
Meantime slice the leek into 1cm disks.
Heat the remaining butter & a little oil in a seperate pan.
Add the leek & onion & fry for 2 minutes.
Add the dried thyme & 2 tbls of boiling water & cook until the leeks & onion are tender but not mushy.
Add the leek & onion mixture to the porchini & season to taste.
Toss in the pasta.
Serve with grated parmisan.