Red lentil and pumpkin pottage

Pottage is a nice word, isn't it? It evokes thick, lovely, stick-to-your-ribs warmth. Which is exactly what this is. This is from my New Covent Garden Soup Company book. I am not sure I ever made before, perhaps I had dismissed it for its apparent simplicity. It is simple, but it is good. And simple can be wonderful on chilly winter nights.

Also, I just came back from Italy struck by how good simple food can be. Basically every pizza or pasta dish we ate there comprised just one main ingredient besides the pasta or dough, often something cheap and hearty: pasta and spinach; pasta and chickpeas; pizza with aubergine, pizza with zucchini... All so good. I remember the first time I realized what Italian food really is, when I first visited Italy: I ate a dish of spaghetti with oil and garlic expecting to be underwhelmed but instead I got it for the first time after a life of boring non-Italian Italian food.

This little kabocha squash was loitering around from our last vegetable bag before Christmas, and we returned from Italy to a cold, busy day of unpacking and sorting things out, and simple soup from good ingredients, all of which we happened to have at home, was exactly what fitted into the day.

For the soup:
2 oz / 50 g butter
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
1 medium kabocha squash (or butternut... 1 1/2 lb / 675 g), peeled and diced
1 bay leaf
red lentils
1 3/4 pints / 1 litre vegetable stock
salt and pepper

To serve:
yogurt or creme fraiche
chopped fresh coriander
toasted pumpkin seeds

Melt butter in a lidded saucepan and fry the onion, squash and bay leaf with the lid on until slightly tender but not coloured. Add the lentils and stock, bring to the boil and simmer for about 30 min until the vegetables and lentils are soft. Taste for seasoning, let cool a bit and blend until smooth. Reheat gently and serve in bowls with yoghurt swirled on top and sprinkling of coriander and pumpkin seeds. Those New Covent Garden Soup Company soups are endlessly great.

Veg onion soup

It's been a busy few weeks. We got our new place, we moved, got furniture, all of that. Then three weeks after moving in, there was a big storm with lots of heavy wet snow. It snowed all night and when we went out in the morning we found several huge (approx 80 cm diameter) branches broken off a tree in our yard. One was blocking the small road beside our place. So then we have been busy clearing that up and sorting it out - finding a tree surgeon, then dealing with all the fallen wood - we've been chopping it for next year's firewood.

Yesterday we finished tidying up (stashing needly bits in the bushes), then started stacking the wood and chopping it. S with an axe, me with a saw. It got dark but we carried on chopping in the garage. At some point he suggested I go in and make french onion soup instead. We'd bought a whole lot of onions at the best and biggest Turkish supermarket in town (Istanbul in København NV), and that had given him an idea... I went in and got going, using the recipe from trusty Delia's veg collection. What we hadn't realized before was that it takes about 3 hours to cook. So it was about 21:00 by the time we got to eat. But it was good.

1 lb 8 oz / 700 g onions, thinly sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
2 oz / 50 g butter
2 cloves garlic, crushed
½ tsp sugar
2 pints / 1.2 l veg stock
10 fl oz / 275 ml dry white wine
salt and pepper

for the croutons:
6-8 1 inch / 2.5 cm diagonal slices of French bread (used bits of pumpkin seed bread as that's what we had)
1 tbsp olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
8 oz / 225 g Gruyère, grated (used blue cheese instead as that's what we had)

Heat the oven to gas mark 4 / 350F / 180C. Prep the onions.

Place a large heavy-based saucepan on a high heat and melt the oil and butter together. When this is very hot, add the onions, garlic and sugar, and stir occasionally until the edges of the onions turn dark – about 6 min. Reduce the heat to low and leave the onions to cook slowly for about 30 min, until the base of the pan is covered with a rich, nut brown, caramelised film (bake croutons during this time - see below). After that, pour in the stock and white wine, season and stir with a wooden spoon, scraping the base of the pan well. When it comes to a simmer, turn the heat to low and leave to cook gently without a lid for about 1 hour.

To make the croutons drizzle the olive oil on to a baking sheet, add the crushed garlic and spread the oil and garlic all over. Place the bread slices on top of the oil and turn over each one so that both sides are coated with oil. Bake for 20-25 min till crisp and crunchy.
 
Sprinkle the grated cheese thickly over the croutons and grill until the cheese is golden brown and bubbling. Put soup in bowls to serve, with a crouton or two on top of each.

Carrot and coriander soup

Since we got here we are eating a lot of simple, warming food: rye bread, butter, yoghurt, honey, tahini, muesli, sunflower seeds, carrots, chickpeas/lentils, celeriac (cheap and easy to find), parsley root sometimes; salad, curry, soup.

I made a chunky soup the other day. This time I wanted to make a blended soup. I'd just bought a big bag of carrots so that was part of the motivation. Aside from that, it's a chilly February day so what do you expect?

It's not quite a classic carrot and coriander. It has both fresh coriander leaves and toasty coriander seed. Ginger, garlic, and a little bit of celeriac add some more depth and warmth. A spot of honey magnifies the carrots' sweetness. And I experimented with using tahini to thicken the soup, and was pleased with the results - I just used a little, but it gives a smooth, subtle nuttiness that I like.

(makes approx 5 servings)

~1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 in piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp coriander seeds, ground
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
~6 medium carrots, peeled and chopped into chunks
~3 in piece of celeriac, peeled and chopped into chunks
1 stock cube made up with ~3 cups of water
1/2 tsp honey
lemon juice
salt+pepper
1 tbsp tahini
~2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

Heat the oil in a large, lidded saucepan. Add the onion and cook for ~10 min, until softened and starting to brown. Add the garlic and ginger about halfway through that. Next add the ground spices and cook until fragrant (~1 min). Add the carrots and celeriac and saute for a few minutes before adding the stock, covering and simmering gently for ~15 min, until the carrots and celeriac are tender. Add honey (be restrained), lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Remove a few tbsp of the liquid into a bowl and mix in the tahini. Return this liquid to the pan along with the fresh coriander. Let cool for 10-20 min, then blend until smooth. Taste again to check acidity and seasoning. I've been eating it with a swirl of natural yoghurt on top and a grinding of salt and pepper.


This is so simple I almost wasn't going to bother writing it out. But it was good, and is improving every time I eat it (over a couple of days of keeping it in the fridge). So here we are.

New Year's Hygge Soup (chunky spiced red lentil and root veg)

We live in Denmark now. Since last Sunday. Crikey: nearly a week. After a rush of moving and flying and packing and cases and goodbyes and Christmas and birthday and everything, there we were. It snowed. Amy arrived from Berlin for New Year's Eve - hurrah. We explored a bit. Walking: the Mermaid and the busbies in Amalienborg. 360 degrees of Round Tower. Half-electric bikes to look at the Carlsberg elephant gate. Looks like we can swim and sauna at the harbour baths, but we didn't know in time to achieve it on New Year's Day. Sooo many fireworks.

Discovering supermarkets. Nearest is Rema 1000 (seems to be mid-range), also Aldi; Irma (seems to be more fancy / økologisk). After some foggy outdoor explorations on New Year's Day it felt like enough activity and we went home to create some hygge. With a bag full of red lentils and root vegetables. Soup.

(this served 3 good appetites, with bread, for dinner)

~2 tbsp olive oil (olivenolie)
3 cloves garlic (hvidløg), peeled and chopped
2 medium leeks (porre), sliced
4 medium persillerod (aka petersilienwurzel aka parsley root aka my new favourite thing - seems quite easy to get here; alternatively use parsnips, pastinak), peeled and diced fairly small
6 medium carrots (gulerod), peeled and diced fairly small
1/4 celeriac (knoldselleri), peeled and diced fairly small
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin (kommen)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (kanel)
1/4 tsp turmeric (gurkemeje)
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 tsp ground thyme (timien)
1 cup red lentils (røde linser)
1 veg stock cube dissolved in boiling water
more boiling water
6 baby pattypan squash, chopped
6 mushrooms (champignon), chopped
splashes of balsamic vinegar (eddike)
splashes of soy sauce (sojasovs)
salt+pepper (salt og peber)

Heat oil in a large lidded saucepan. Add garlic and leeks, cover and cook for a few minutes. Add the chopped root vegetables, cover and cook for a few minutes more until everything is slightly tender and just starting to soften. Add the spices and thyme and stir for a few minutes until you can smell them. Add the lentils and stir, then add the stock and enough water to achieve a consistency a bit runnier than you'd like to end up with (the lentils will absorb some). Turn down low, and simmer for 10-15 min, until the lentils and vegetables are almost tender. Add the squash and mushrooms and cook another 5-10 min, until everything is done. Taste, and add vinegar, soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Eat warm with bread (brød). Would be good (perhaps better) reheated the next day, if there is any left.


This came out just as I wanted, and really hit the spot. A big pan of it went down real well.

Avenotto aka savoury porridge

Is it the Scottish childhood? Who knows, but ever since I was the only one out of three sisters who ate porridge along with mama and papa bear and chattered about Goldilocks while pouring on the golden syrup... I have been a lover of oats.

I've never used them like this before - like a risotto, but with oats instead of rice as the grain - avenotto (? - I made that up). Seemed like you can't go wrong with oats.

1-2 tbsp sunflower seeds
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 tiny onion, peeled and sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
4 mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 cup oats
1 cup veg stock
1 cup boiling water mixed with 1 tsp mushroom powder
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1-2 leaves kale, washed and chopped
1-2 tbsp chopped parsley
salt, pepper, vinegar

Heat a medium saucepan and toast the sunflower seeds until golden and fragrant. Tip into a bowl. In the same pan, heat the oil. Add the onion and garlic and cook until almost soft. Add the mushrooms and saute until starting to crisp around the edges. Tip the onion, garlic and mushrooms into the bowl with the sunflower seeds. Put the oats in the pan and toast until slightly coloured and fragrant. Add the stock and boiling water-mushroom powder mix. Bring to a boil and add the dried herbs. Simmer until the oats are almost tender and the mixture has thickened (as for regular porridge). Add the kale and then cook until kale and oats are done. Add back in the sunflower seeds and onion-mushroom mixture, along with the parsley. Mix together, add salt and pepper and a splash of vinegar if you like, taste and add more if it needs it. Eat straight away.


Quick and good and digestible. Ha, so far today I had muesli (mostly unadulterated oats mixed with almond milk) for breakfast, this for lunch, and oat yoghurt for after lunch. What was I saying about oat love?

Chestnut soup

I kept a few chestnuts back from my last chestnut-cooking foray. Then started brewing up this recipe for soup. I might have used celeriac (or maybe celery) instead of celery seed if I had it, but the celery seed was quite effective as an essence of celery.

6 medium-large chestnuts
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, fairly finely chopped
1/4 tsp celery seed
1/4 tsp anise seed
few grinds of white pepper
1/4 cup champagne (or white wine)
1/4 cup apple sauce (would have used fresh apple but had none)
1 bay leaf
~1/2 tbsp chopped parsley (and more for garnish)
1 cup veg stock
salt

Submerge the whole chestnuts in boiling water and leave for ~30 min. Cut each in half and remove the outer shell and as much of the inner shell as you can, then resubmerge in boiling water for another 10 min or so before removing the rest of the skin (which can be a right fiddle - don't do this in a hurry).

Once the chestnuts are peeled, heat the oil in a medium saucepan, add the onion and cook gently for a few minutes, until softened and transparent but not coloured. Grind the anise and celery seeds then then add to the pan, stirring until fragrant (~ 1 min). Add a little white pepper, the champagne, apple, bay, parsley, peeled chestnuts and stock, bring to the boil and then simmer gently for ~30 min, until the chestnuts are soft.

Remove the pan from the heat, transfer the contents to a blender and blend until very smooth. Taste for seasoning and add salt to taste. Reheat gently to serve, and sprinkle with a little chopped fresh parsley.


Very creamy and satisfyingly savoury. If I had more chestnuts perhaps I'd have added a few more and / or scaled up the recipe - this made just about enough for a taster for two, but not much, and it could have been a tad thicker / more chestnutty.

Curried parsnip soup

This is a Delia duvet for a cold, snowy day.

1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp refined coconut oil
2 onions, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 heaped tsp coriander seeds
1 heaped tsp cumin seeds
6 whole cardamom pods (seeds only)
1 heaped tsp turmeric
1 heaped tsp ground ginger
1½ lb / 700 g young parsnips, peeled, and chopped into ~1 inch dice
2 pints / 1.2 l  / ~ 5 cups veg stock
salt and pepper
1 small apple

For the parsnip crisps:
1 medium to large parsnip
4-6 tbsp high heat cooking oil (used safflower)
salt

Heat the oils in a large saucepan and add the onions, cooking gently for a few min before adding the garlic and cooking a bit longer til softened. Meanwhile heat a small frying pan and dry fry the cumin, coriander and cardamom until fragrant. Tip into a mortar and grind. Add to the onions, along with the turmeric and ground ginger. Mix and cook a little longer, until fragrant. Add the parsnips and stir well, then add to the stock and bring to a gentle simmer. Simmer at as low heat as possible, uncovered, for approx 1 hour. When the hour is up, liquidise the soup, taste for seasoning, then peel and grate in the apple.

While the soup is simmering, make the parsnip crisps. Heat the oil in a frying pan until very hot (smoking). Lay the parsnip slices in and fry in batches until golden brown. Remove to a paper-lined plate, sprinkle with salt and let cool.


Notes: I quite like the idea of mixing turnip and parsnips instead of using just parsnips, as well. I am quite amazed: the apple I used for this was one of three I had left from last year's apple harvests.

Moghrabieh with turmeric, cumin and mustard oil

A quick starch to go with the lion's mane turned out good:

1 cup moghrabieh (massive lebanese couscous)
2 cups water
~2 tsp veg bouillon powder
1-2 tsp cumin seeds
~2 tsp mustard oil
1-2 tsp turmeric
1 bay leaf

Put all the ingredients in a pan together, cover and bring to the boil. Simmer until the moghrabieh is tender and all the liquid is absorbed.


The first time I cooked moghrabieh I wasn't sure about the texture / if I had cooked it right. Now I am into it - it is wonderfully stodgy, almost a little bit chewy - perfect filling warmth for cold days, especially when hotted up with cumin, turmeric and mustard oil.

Wild mushroom and lettuce 'risotto'

Chicken of the woods (above) has a tendency to be a little dry, especially when it has been sitting in the fridge for a week like the stuff I needed to use up last night. I also had some maitake that had dried out a bit. I'd been wanting to try some form of chicken of the woods risotto as I thought it might be a good way of counteracting the dryness. Both mushrooms have a substantial enough texture (and taste) to hold up to cooking in liquid without losing their shape or going slimy. The problem with real risotto is that it is not good as leftovers (unless it becomes arancini), so I decided to make a kind of pseudo risotto with a different kind of rice. Lettuce also needed eating. I enjoy cooked lettuce and thought its sweetness would go well with the earthy mushrooms and rice.

2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
~1/2 cup chopped chicken of the woods
~1/2 cup chopped maitake
1 cup rice mix (brown rice, black barley, daikon seeds - TJs)
2 cups hot veg stock
2 tbsp barley+chickpea aged miso
3/4 cup frozen sweetcorn
1 small lettuce, chopped
2-3 tbsp chopped parsley
soy sauce
salt+pepper
toasted sunflower seeds

Heat the oil in a medium, lidded saucepan. Add the garlic and cook for a minute or so til starting to soften. Add the chicken of the woods and maitake and cook for a few more minutes, cover and cook some more until lightly browned. If it started to dry out add a little of the stock. Add the rice mix and stir until the brown rice looks transparent. Add the stock, cover and cook for ~20 min, until all the liquid is absorbed. Add the miso halfway through and mix it through the liquid. Finally, add in the lettuce, parsley and sweetcorn and mix until the lettuce is wilted. Taste for seasoning and add black pepper and salt (and/or soy sauce) if needed. Sprinkle with toasted sunflower seeds to serve.


This is good. I like it.

St. Patrick's Day: Mushroom-stout shepherd's pie

Really, this is an effort to use up various odds and ends of things laying around - the fridge, freezer and pantry have all been feeling rather full lately. So, leftover mash and the stout from this, plus some carrots, mushrooms and parsley that needed eating, the last of a jar of tomato puree, stock I couldn't fit in the freezer, a couple of odd ends of packets of pulses... It all came together surprisingly well to make a pie packed with powerful, punchy flavours: a very St. Patrick's Day kind of a thing. About as close as I'm ever going to get to green beer and leprechaun hats, despite living in Boston.

For the topping:
~ 2 large potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
1 tbsp white miso
1 tbsp fake butter
2 tbsp olive oil
~1-2 tbsp fake milk
salt+pepper

For the insides:
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
~10 mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1-2 tbsp paprika
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes
3 tbsp mushroom powder (hedgehog+chanterelle)
1 cup crushed tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 cup stout
1 1/2 cups veg stock
1 tsp dark mushroom soy sauce
1 tbsp vinegary red wine
3/4 cup chana dal
3/4 cup brown lentils
salt+pepper


To make the filling, heat the oil in a large, lidded saucepan, then add the onions and fry, covered, until starting to soften (a few minutes). Add the garlic and the carrots, cook a few minutes more, then uncover, add the mushrooms and cook until they turn dark and give up their liquid. Add the spices and dried herbs and saute until fragrant. Add the remaining ingredients, taste for seasoning, then cover and simmer until the pulses are tender (about 40 min).

Meanwhile, heat the oven to 400F. Make the topping: cover the potatoes with water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 15-20 min, until tender. Drain and mash with a fork until smooth, then add the remaining topping ingredients and continue mashing until a good, smooth consistency. Taste for mustard and seasoning.

When the filling is cooked, pour it into an ovenproof dish and level out. Splodge the mashed potato mixture on top and level it out, patterning it with a fork if you like. Put into the oven for about half an hour, until the potato is starting to brown and the filling is bubbling up. Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 min before eating.

Halloween pumpkin: from owl to curry (with banana)

I can never bring myself to choose between carving a pumpkin and eating it. Thus, last night after I biked home a long way round to pass through the trick or treating heaven (hell?) that is Brook St (featuring skeleton ship's captain at the wheel and circling red-eyed bats), in a fit of Halloween slasherdom, I butchered the owl I carved out of a tiny pumpkin last week at Mariah's, and it became curry.

The recipe I noted down from Meghan's pumpkin recipe book, which she brought in to inspire us ahead of our pumpkin-themed happy hour.

3 tbsp veg oil
1 small onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp ground coriander seed
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 small pumpkin (1 1/4 lb), seeds, peel and guts removed, cut into cubes
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes
2 dried red chillies
1 1/4 cups veg stock
1 3/4 cups cooked chickpeas
1 large, underripe banana
1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp tamarind paste

Heat 2 tbsp oil, add the onion, garlic and ginger and fry for ~5 min, until the onion is browned. Add the ground spices and stir-fry for a minute or two more, until fragrant. Add tomatoes, chillies and stock to the pan and simmer for 15 min.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan, add the cubed pumpkin and fry for 5 min, until lightly browned. Add the pumpkin to the tomato mixture with the chickpeas, cover and cook for 20 min.

Peel the banana, slice thickly and stir in to the pan 5 min before the end. Lastly, add salt, sugar and tamarind, taste for seasoning and add the fresh coriander before serving.


I followed the recipe loosely: I figured it was that kind of recipe.  I wasn't sure what type the pumpkin was, but in curry the taste of the pumpkin is not all that important so I figured it would be fine either way.  It came out very pretty and equally tasty: a good balance of sweet/spicy/savoury/hot.  It was slightly fierier than I intended, due to my new jar of 'red pepper flakes' in fact being chilli pepper, but it was just about on the good side still.  We ate it with cumin rice.  And E Nesbit's ghost stories on Radio 4.

Buttercup squash soup

We stopped at a few farmstands when we were out in the country with Karin - we bought loads of onions and potatoes, and also three different kinds of squash: butternut, buttercup and acorn. Butternut are always fine: soft, sweet and nutty. Acorn are perhaps my favourite so far: very smooth and sweet. Buttercup I've used less often: it is also sweet, perhaps a little drier than the other two.

1 medium buttercup squash
1 tbsp olive oil (plus more for oiling the roasting tray)
1 onion, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1/2 jalapeno chilli, deseeded and chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 cups vegetable stock
1-2 tbsp thyme leaves
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp soy sauce
salt+pepper

First prepare the squash: cut it in half through the stem, deseed and place cut side down on a lightly oiled baking tray and roast at 400F for ~45 min or until it gives when poked. Allow to cool then scrape the insides from the skin and discard the skin.

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan, then add the onion. Cover the pan and fry the onion over a medium heat until softened and starting to brown, adding the garlic and chilli along the way. Add the cumin seeds and fry for a few minutes while stirring. Add the squash and stir / fry for a minute or two, then add the thyme leaves and the stock and bring to the boil. Boil for 10 minutes or so, until everything is well combined.

Next, add the red wine vinegar, soy sauce and salt+pepper to taste. Allow to cool for a few minutes then liquidise.


This makes a rather thick (++incredibly silky) soup but that's what I felt like eating today - add more liquid (water or stock) to make a thinner texture. The squash is really quite sweet, so I think the vinegar and soy are really important for counteracting that. The cumin and thyme are both assertive tastes, but seem to play together well. All in all pretty good - very warm and earthy and moreish.

First Sunday in January

Using stuff up before going on holiday...

Made veg stock.

Also celeriac lentil salad:

Celeriac lentil salad @ Guardian

80g hazelnuts
200g puy lentils
700ml water
2 bay leaves
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 small celeriac, peeled and cut into 1cm chips
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper
4 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp hazelnut oil (didn't have - used more olive instead)
3 tbsp cider vinegar
6 tbsp fresh mint, leaves picked and washed (used some dried from fridge instead)
Preheat the oven to 140C/275F/ gas mark 1. Scatter the hazelnuts over a baking tray and roast in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, set aside to cool down, then chop roughly.
Put the lentils, water, bay leaves and thyme sprigs in a small saucepan. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the lentils are al dente, then drain into a sieve. Remove and discard the bay leaves and the woody sprigs.
Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, bring plenty of water to a boil, drop in the celeriac, along with the lemon juice and some salt, and simmer for 12 minutes, or until just tender. Drain.
In a large bowl, mix the hot lentils (make sure they don't cool down - lentils soak up flavours much better when they're piping hot) with the olive oil, two tablespoons of the hazelnut oil, the vinegar, a few grinds of black pepper and plenty of salt. Add the celeriac, stir, taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary.
If you're serving this straight away, stir in half the mint and the hazelnuts, then pile in a big heap on to a suitable serving dish. Drizzle the remaining hazelnut oil over the top, then garnish with the rest of the mint and nuts.
If you're planning on serving it cold, wait for the lentil and celeriac mixture to cool down, taste again, then make a final adjustment to the seasoning. Add the rest of the hazelnut oil, the mint and the nuts just as you do when serving it hot.

Was pretty tasty.  Liked the other one I made better (with the crisp celeriac and sweet apple), but this was good too, and quite different.

Then baked a turban squash whole as it was too tough to cut uncooked.  Stabbed it quite a lot as I thought it might explode.  Baked at 350F for about an hour.

Squash puree

With nutmeg, almond milk, fake butter and s+p.

Squash, sweetcorn and ginger soup

Fried an onion, garlic and ginger in olive oil.  Added baked squash (scraped out of shell) and 900ml of veg stock.  Cooked a little to defrost stock, then added couple of handfuls frozen sweetcorn.  Cooked 5 min or so, then allow to cool a little, seasoned, and liquidised.  Added some almond milk.  Taste to check seasoning.

Vegetable Stock

I never bothered with making veg stock before - always thought of it as a bit of unnecessary hassle / a waste of good veg - makes sense when you have the bones of a bird or so I guess - good using-up. And when you have a pot of Marigold bouillon powder to hand that will always do. But I can't find bouillon powder here. So I reconsidered stock. And realised that if I save bits of veg I don't need for anything else then I can make stock by recycling instead of wasting veg. So, outer parts of onions, green ends of spring onions, hard stems of herbs, tough ends of broccoli, outer leaves of brussels sprouts, leaves and fibrous parts of fennel and celery, dried-out herbs from the fridge, ends of or old floppy carrots. Usually add an onion chopped into eighths or quarters and a couple of carrots chopped into big chunks, some dried thyme and a bay leaf. In 2l of water, boil for 1 hour without disturbing, and strain through a fine colander without poking. Cool and freeze in measured amounts.

Tofu Scramble

Seb was out so I cooked simple food for myself.

Tofu scramble sounds gross, is much nicer than that.

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp coriander seed
1/2 tsp cumin seed
1/2 tsp mustard seed
1/2 tsp nigella seed
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1/2 red pepper, deseeded and chopped
1/2 large block firm tofu
1 plum tomato, chopped
1/2 cup cooked defrosted chickpeas
1 cup fresh spinach, roughly chopped
salt+pepper

Heat oil, add coriander seed, cumin seed, mustard seed, nigella seed and toasted til popped. Add some turmeric and pepper flakes then a chopped onion and fried a bit. Then add chopped red pepper and fry til nearly done. Add half a block of crumbled firm tofu and the plum tomato. Stirfry til liquid gone. Add cooked defrosted chickpeas and chopped spinach, stir til spinach wilted. Season to taste


The tofu scramble was OK. Ate with allspice rice and with lentils cooked in stock with a bayleaf - the lentils were really good.