Hollowing out your Pumpkins

The penultimate Saturday in October. The wind and rain buffeted the dog and I as we traversed the local fields near our house. We were caught in the back end of a storm called, rather non-threateningly one might add, Storm Brian. The first birds of winter drifted over our heads as we turned for home.

Later that day a very important and special guest was arriving at my home. Thoughts therefore turned naturally what I would make us. There were a  lot of Pumpkins in the local supermarket and Halloween was not too far away. That meant the two course meal I would prepare was distinctly Pumpkin- themed.

On the player was Van Morrison's underrated, and meditative album 1980 album "Common One". There are some albums that you can remember exactly where you were and exactly what things happened during that time. In this case I bought the album towards the end of the first semester of the final year of my Politics Degree. A degree that seems a lifetime ago now. Events from around this time in my world included getting punched in the mouth by a random passer by on a night out in my University Town. Another happening saw me attend a 21st birthday party in my hometown, which culminated in the Birthday Boy sucking whipped cream from a plastic phallus and winning us all free drinks in the process.

So the soup. The ingredients were as follows:

A tablespoon of  Dried Basil
A tablespoon of Dried Oregano
4 Chopped Tomatoes.
The cubed flesh of a medium-sized Pumpkin..
A diced Red Onion.
1 Small Clove of Garlic sliced finely.
Olive Oil to cover bottom of my Le Cresceut.
Half a pint of Vegetable Stock.

The soup was a variation on a Pumpkin and Tomato Casserole recipe that I had first road-tested in October 2009 during my reckless, and never to be repeated, "Fat Elvis" Years.

The method was as follows:

First I fried the vegetables and herbs in Olive Oil for 40 minutes. I did this on my Le Cresceut on a medium heat. I made sure to stir the food regularly to stop it sticking to the bottom of the Le Cresceut.

I then added the vegetable stock and simmered everything with the Le Cresceut lid on for another 35 minutes on a low heat.

I then left the ingredients to cool before blending them and serving the soup with toasted Brown Bread and Pumpkin seeds.

My dining partner for the soup summed up the taste better than I in that on paper she didn't expect the ingredients, particularly the Pumpkin to be tasteful but in fact it was a rich and flavoursome soup because of the herbs and seasoning. I would add that it was a soup that had an Italian feel and was a perfect tonic to the howling wind and lashings of rain that clattered against my house in the Autumn Evening.

Orange Skies- the soup sits on my table ready to eat with some freshly toasted bread just behind it. 

Glazed Parsnips for October

I remembered to say "White Rabbits" when I finally awoke on 1st of October. It's a family tradition to say it on the first day of the month before you speak to anyone as it is meant to bring you luck. Well I wonder?

More heavy had arrived to match that I had driven through to see some very good friends of mine for the first time in a quarter the night before. That said for second day in a row it was time for an early lunch in the hope that it would clear up in the afternoon for a walk with the beast.

I had obtained a Parsnip from my local greengrocer, which is regrettably to close soon, and decided to spice it up by frying it in some honey. I decided to serve it with a side of  White Fish from the freezer and some Garlic Butter Sauce.

On the player was Joni Mitchell's excellent and underrated debut album "Song to a Seagull". Even at this early stage in her career Mitchell's unique phrasing in her vocal delivery and complex guitar tuning techniques are well in evidence.

I peeled and topped and tailed the Parsnip before slicing it into narrow batons that were no more than five centimeters long.

Next I pre-heated the oven to Gas Mark 4 and when it was warmed up I added the White Fish to it on a foil-covered baking tray. I let the Fish cook for around twenty-five minutes.

While the Fish was cooking I fried the Parsnips on a medium heat in a frying pan in Olive Oil turning them occasionally. I also added some fresh Thyme and after fifteen minutes of cooking I added three tablespoons of Honey. I mixed the Honey thoroughly into the Parsnips and herbs. I kept cooking them on a medium heat for a total of twenty-five minutes.

In the meantime I melted four ounces of unsalted butter in a saucepan and once melted added two finely sliced cloves of Garlic together with two ounces of dried Rosemary and Thyme. Then I added two ounces of Plain Flour and took the saucepan off the heat to stir the flour into the Butter, Garlic and Herbs. This gave the sauce the appearance of a Honeycomb interspersed with Garlic Pieces. Then I added five tablespoons of unsweetened Soya Milk, put the saucepan back on a medium heat and stirred everything until I had a thick sauce. I kept the sauce on a low heat until the Fish and Parsnips were ready.

I served the dish by pouring the sauce all over the White Fish and putting the Parsnips next to them.

The White Fish had its usual delicious taste which was enhanced by the deceptively simple sauce. The Parsnips meanwhile tasted sweet and rich but still had plenty of goodness bearing in mind they came from a local Greengrocer.

Golden days- the Parsnips sit near the sauce-covered fish. 

Jamaica Jerk

The treetops in the field shone like faded gold. It had been a good weekend. There had been late night adventures on Friday and a meal to celebrate my mum's 65th birthday in a top drawer public house on Saturday Night. Plus I was feeling a way I had not for a very long time. As I wandered through the woods memories came flooding back of the times I'd come there as an A-Level Student and a university graduate to find inspiration. I encountered ragged man with a white beard who was ubiquitous in the wood in my youth. His dog wore a strange bell that jingled as it walked.

A few hours after the dog and I had drifted home, two of my oldest friends arrived and their surprise visit was a very enjoyable way of rounding off the weekend.

Then thoughts turned to a recipe for tea. I had long been an admirer of Jamaican Jerk Chicken Recipes. I sampled a splendid one near Stratford in London back in May 2010. However I am not a massive fan of Chicken. That said I decided to make a Jerk Recipe that utilized Quorn Chicken Pieces in place of  "real" Chicken.

On the player was Paul Simon's 1986 masterpiece "Graceland". I had vague memory of the record on its release. I also remember that my Dad, a science teacher at the school I attended, found a cassette of the album stuffed behind a fume cupboard in a room in which he used to teach. This discovery happened at start of the new millennium and I remember thinking that perhaps, years previously, some callous child had taken their classmate's beloved cassette and stuffed it behind the cupboard as a cheap joke. The album passed me by at the time as a close friend told me Paul Simon was uncool. I took him at his word and avoided the record.

A listen of the record today reveals I was wrong to overlook it, as there is not a weak track on the album and it remains innovative and wonderful. Opening track "The Boy in the Bubble" cracks and pops with gusto. Its lyrics about looking at a  distant constellation in a far off corner of the universe reminded me of many post-pub, semi-inebriated and insightful talks I have had over the years with with one of my friends who had  popped round that afternoon.

The Ingredients of the dish were as follows:

1 teaspoon of All Spice.
1 teaspoon of  Jerk Seasoning.
1 teaspoon of Nutmeg.
1 teaspoon of Cinnamon.
1 heaped teaspoon of Brown Sugar.

1 diced clove of Garlic.
2 diced and de-seeded Red Chili
1 diced and de-seeded Green Chili
10 ounces of Root Ginger peeled and sliced finely.
1 diced White Onion.

Juice of 2 Limes.
Juice of 1 White Grapefruit.

First I put some olive oil into the bottom of my Le Cresceut dish and added, the Garlic, Chillies, Root Ginger and White Onion. Then I added the Lime Juice and the Grapefruit Juice. I warmed all this through for five minutes and then added all the Spices and the Brown Sugar. After stirring these together I simmered them all in the Le Cresceut dish on a medium heat with the lid on for twenty minutes.

Then I added 10 ounces of Quorn Chicken Pieces and simmered in the Le Cresceut, with the lid off this time, the food for another thirty minutes.

During the last spell of the cooking of the dish I boiled up some White Rice for fifteen minutes. I then drained it and returned it to the saucepan I'd boiled it in. I took the opportunity to add a can of Red Kidney Beans and heated them through on a medium heat for about 2-3 minutes.

I put the Rice and Kidney Beans on the plate and used them as a bed to lay the Quorn Jerk on top. I'm a bloke who likes my spicy food and this recipe certainly was, despite the presence of the Brown Sugar. The spices gave it the taste of a strong Rum and it was a dish that was tasty and flavoursome. It was also a dish that was spicy enough to mean I needed to drink two pints of water to get through it. It has certainly inspired me to seek out more Jamaican Recipes for future blog posts.

Mountain of Fire- a pile of the Quorn and Jerk sits atop of the bed of Rice and Kidney Beans. 

Courgettes for Soup and Oregano

The last day of September. The dog barked in my face to wake me up at 7am. Sleep had been limited as I was still buzzing from an epic evening in a nearby Spa town. Familiar locations had been visited but they were given a new and exciting twist.

As I'm an avid cricket fan I often use cricket phrases in my everyday conversation. Therefore as there was heavy rain I decided to take an early lunch as no play outdoors, in this case walking my Terrier, was possible during the morning. I also had guests on powerful motorbikes to entertain for a brief spell in the afternoon before I headed out for a catch up with some of my oldest friends.

All things considered as well as having an early lunch I decided to make some soup using four locally sourced Courgettes. These ones were quite small and the experts tell me that this means they taste sweeter. I am not the biggest fan of cooked Courgettes but they are good in soup I must admit. Otherwise I prefer them raw with salad.

On the player was Deep Purple's controversial 1969 classical crossover "Concerto for Group and Orchestra". When my dad was a student in the early seventies he shared a house with, among others, a chap who owned this record. My Dad was not impressed with it. However once you pierce the fairly unadventurous classical compositions you find that the raw power of the nascent second incarnation of the band is well in evidence. Also, outside of the concerto piece there is an early version of the classic "Child in Time" and a powerful  rendition of the original band's "Wring that Neck". Both these songs are worth the price of the album alone.

The ingredients of the soup were as follows:

4 topped, tailed and sliced Courgettes.
1 topped, tailed and thinly sliced White Onion
1 tablespoon of Black Pepper
1 tablespoon of dried Basil
1 tablespoon of dried Oregano.
Quarter of a Pint of Black Tower White Wine.
Half a pint of Vegetable Stock.
Olive Oil.

I sweated the Courgettes, Onions and the Herbs in my trusty Le Cresceut Dish with some Olive Oil for twenty minutes on a medium heat on the hob. I kept the lid on during this process to ensure the ingredients cooked more quickly.

I then added all the White Wine and simmered everything for another 30 minutes keeping the lid on.

After that I added the Vegetable Stock simmered the ingredients for another 20 minutes, this time with the lid off the Le Cresceut.

I then left the food to cool for two hours and blended it before serving it.

The Black Tower White Wine has a strong and rich taste that almost makes it as potent as Red Wine. In this case it served to make the soup rich while the Basil and Oregano enhanced the sweetness of the Courgettes.

Green grows the soup- ready to eat and bubbling brightly. 

Rhubarb, Apple and Orange Cake

The middle Saturday in September. It was time to recover from twelve straight days at work, albeit the middle two of those days had involved some excellent networking in leafy park next to a school where my parents first met.

I had recently acquired Rhubarb and Bramley Apples from an allotment in the County Town where I once practised my trade. I decided to turn this delicious fresh produce into a cake. The ingredients of this cake were as follows:

15 ounces of Self-Raising Flour.
9 ounces of Brown Sugar.
4 ounces of Unsalted Butter.
2 beaten Eggs.
1 teaspoon of Vanilla Essence.
Half a pint of unsweetened Soya Milk.
Juice of 1 Orange.
1 stalk of Rhubarb.
2 Bramley Apples.

On the player was Frank Zappa's excellent live effort "Fillmore East: June 1971" which features excellent live versions of three songs from his best known record "Hot Rats" as well as a cover of the cheesy 1960s hit by The Turtles "Happy Together". The cover is given credibility by the two lead singers of this band being a part of Zappa's band at the time.

I started by stirring together in my mixing bowl, using a wooden spoon, the Flour, Sugar and Butter. Once they were combined I added Rhubarb, after it had been sliced thinly, and the Bramley Apples, after I'd cubed them and removed the cores.

After fruit had been mixed into the dry ingredients the Eggs, Milk, Orange Juice and Vanilla Essence were added and stirred in until the mixture resembled a thick paste that was dominated by the fruit.

I had earlier greased with Unsalted Butter a twenty centimetre wide and ten centimetre deep cake tin and I proceeded to pour the mixture into it and spread it about evenly throughout the tin. Then I put it in the oven at Gas Mark 4 and cooked it for seventy minutes.

I knew the cake was cooked when I used the old trick of putting a sharp object through the top of it to see if any of the mixture stuck to it. As it didn't I realised that the cake was ready.

Rhubarb is more closely associated with crumble normally. However here it was perfectly appropriate and the flavour of contrasted well with the sweetness of the Orange Juice and Vanilla Essence. These two sweet ingredients helped to ensure that the normally sour taste of the Bramley Apples was enhanced and made to be flavoursome.

Taking a slice- a cross section of this cake with a piece removed.