On Sunday Mum, my two sisters and myself (plus the Minion) went to the annual Collector pumpkin festival! (Collector is the town). Came away with some beautiful fresh pumpkins and organic potatoes (so easy to clean! Shows you how un-fresh the supermarket ones really are o.0), so clearly pumpkin soup was in order. Also, I discovered in the making that Boyo actually likes pumpkin soup (he merely tolerates most other soups), which is exciting to know! Had cream that needed using and celery leaves that were otherwise going into the bin, and here is the result... :)
Ingredients
1 red onion, finely chopped
2t crushed garlic
splash of olive oil
1/2t cumin
1/4t nutmeg
1/4t harissa
1/2t garlic salt
4c stock
1.5c water
1/2 queensland blue pumpkin, cubed about 1/2 - 1 inch
1 sweet potato, cubed about 1/2 - 1 inch
2 med-lrg potatoes, cubed about 1/2 - 1 inch
1/2 bunch of celery leaves and trimmings, finely chopped
100mL cream (I used thickened, but any would work)
Recipe
Saute onion and garlic in oil. Add spices and stir over heat for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add stock and water and bring to boil. Add pumpkin, sweet potato and potato. Return to boil, then simmer for 10 minutes. Add celery leaves. Simmer 10 minutes or until vegies are soft. Puree, then stir through cream. Serve optionally with a little fresh black pepper and a dollop of sour cream, with hot buttered sourdough toast on the side.
This is one of the best pumpkin soups I've had (fresh ingredients make a difference, I suspect :D) and I'll definitely be making this one again. The recipe is going into my brown recipe journal that is home to all my standby favourites ;) Yay!
Showing posts with label sweet potato. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sweet potato. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Moroccan Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Stew
Full credit to Kerryn Boorman for gifting me with this recipe. I think by now we all know my love of orange vegetables, so this recipe is one of my hearty favourites. In fact, since I was just given some butternuts, I might make it for dinner!
Recipe
60 g butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 cinnamon stick (or equiv. ground cinnamon)
pinch of cayenne pepper, or ½ teaspoon harissa
500 ml (2 cups) vegetable or chicken stock
1/8 teaspoon ground saffron threads (this is in the official recipe, but given the price of it, I've always omitted it, and the end result seems just fine to me!)
600 g butternut pumpkin (squash) or other firm pumpkin, peeled and cubed
500 g orange sweet potato, peeled and cubed
60 g ( ½ cup) raisins or sultanas
1 tablespoon honey
coriander (cilantro) leaves, to serve
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Add the onion and cook gently, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon stick and the cayenne pepper or harissa. Stir over low heat for 1-2 minutes. Pour in the stock, add the saffron, then increase the heat to medium and bring to the boil.
Add the pumpkin, sweet potato, raisins and honey and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover and simmer for a further 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. Remove the cinnamon stick, transfer to a bowl and scatter with coriander leaves.
An amazing sweet-savoury that leaves me wanting seconds every time. Note, though, that it is a sweet-savoury; if you don't like your sweets and savouries combined (a la my husband), you may not like this so much.
Recipe
60 g butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 cinnamon stick (or equiv. ground cinnamon)
pinch of cayenne pepper, or ½ teaspoon harissa
500 ml (2 cups) vegetable or chicken stock
1/8 teaspoon ground saffron threads (this is in the official recipe, but given the price of it, I've always omitted it, and the end result seems just fine to me!)
600 g butternut pumpkin (squash) or other firm pumpkin, peeled and cubed
500 g orange sweet potato, peeled and cubed
60 g ( ½ cup) raisins or sultanas
1 tablespoon honey
coriander (cilantro) leaves, to serve
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Add the onion and cook gently, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon stick and the cayenne pepper or harissa. Stir over low heat for 1-2 minutes. Pour in the stock, add the saffron, then increase the heat to medium and bring to the boil.
Add the pumpkin, sweet potato, raisins and honey and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover and simmer for a further 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. Remove the cinnamon stick, transfer to a bowl and scatter with coriander leaves.
An amazing sweet-savoury that leaves me wanting seconds every time. Note, though, that it is a sweet-savoury; if you don't like your sweets and savouries combined (a la my husband), you may not like this so much.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Sweet Potato & Feta Fritata
350g sweet potato, sliced
1/4c water
2tb shredded basil leaves
200g feta
6 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3c thickened cream
Grease a ~20cm x 30cm rectangular slice pan. Line the base and two long sides with baking paper. Microwave sweet potato (with the water), covered, on high, for 3 mins or until almost tender. Drain.
Bake for about 25 mins or until set at 180C. Stand in pan for 10 minutes. Serve hot or cold.
The Results
This is one of my all-time favourite go-to foods. It doesn't come out quite like a quiche or a pie; it's more vegetable-y than that. But given sweet potato and feta are two of my favourite foods, this is something I could never, ever eat too much of. And, bonus, it's just as good cold, so you can take the left overs for lunch! That's if there are any left overs... :D
(Note for example the fact that I don't have a photo of the slice cooked O:))
Monday, November 17, 2008
Returning with Risotto...
So, yes, it's been - lots - of months since I've been here. I've been doing my masters degree this year, and it's all been rather insane.
However, I finished yesterday (woo hoo!!), so I am back! :D
To celebrate, I actually felt like cooking for the first time in ages last night, and despite the warmth of the days recently, the nights have been lovely and cool - so risotto it was :) This meal was especially exciting because it gave me an opportunity to use fresh herbs from my very own herb garden for the first time! Hoorah!
The Recipe
1 large sweet potato
1/4 of a butternut pumpkin
olive oil
salt
1 small onion
1t of crushed garlic
~7 medium mushrooms
1c arborio rice
3 stock cubes dissolved in 4c water
~1.5T sweet chilli sauce
3 smallish sprigs of fresh greek oregano
3 twigs of garden thyme
1/3c grated parmesan cheese
...My mouth is watering just typing out the ingredients! Hoorah that I have left overs for lunch :)
Roughly dice the pumpkin and sweet potato. You can make the cubes whatever size, but bear in mind that a) smaller cooks faster and b) they will shrink quite a bit upon baking. Mine were ~2cm cubed. Microwave on high or steam for 5 minutes. Spread onto olive-oiled tray, sprinkle liberally with salt, and place into a hot oven (200C).
Place stock in a covered saucepan and keep on a low heat constantly, to keep the liquid warm (it will cook quicker/easier when added to the rice if it doesn't have to heat up first).
Finely chop the onion. Fry in oil with the garlic until translucent. Slice mushrooms, saute with onion until cooked. Add the rice and 2 ladlefuls of stock. Stir well.
Add sweet chilli sauce.
Add a ladleful of stock periodically, whenever the mixture starts to look a little dry - if you can scrape the rice away and see the bottom of the pot for more than a second, it's ready for more liquid.
Once all the liquid is absorbed, add the (finely chopped) herbs and stir through. Remove from heat if it's starting to dry out. Stir through the baked pumpkin and sweet potato, then stir through the cheese.
Serve hot :)
The Results
Okay, so risotto is a fairly standard meal in our house over winter. That said, we didn't have much this year, as I've been pretty slack when it comes to cooking. But regardless, I've made squillions of varieties of this recipe: and this, officially, is the best. My husband, who is not free with compliments, said he'd gladly pay $40 in a restaurant for this risotto :)
I attribute the great success to two things:
Firstly, instead of taking the quicker cop-out method of just grilling (broiling) the vegies, I actually baked them with salt and olive oil and all. Much, much tastier.
Secondly, the difference that fresh, home-grown herbs make is absolutely INSANE. And Greek oregano is my new favourite: besides the amazing salty-savoury complex flavour it adds to the dish, it's purple and fuzzy! What's not to love?!
Hehe.
As I was making this, I lamented that I didn't have any feta cheese to add, being the feta-addict that I am; but it turns out that it really didn't need it. The flavours were beautifully subtle and complex, and husband was absolutely determined that I must have used more herbs than I had (I'm usually prone to throwing in at least 5 or 6).
So, an all-round fabulous success, and definitely one I'll make again, instead of my usual 'what do I have in the cupboard' approach :)
However, I finished yesterday (woo hoo!!), so I am back! :D
To celebrate, I actually felt like cooking for the first time in ages last night, and despite the warmth of the days recently, the nights have been lovely and cool - so risotto it was :) This meal was especially exciting because it gave me an opportunity to use fresh herbs from my very own herb garden for the first time! Hoorah!
The Recipe
1 large sweet potato
1/4 of a butternut pumpkin
olive oil
salt
1 small onion
1t of crushed garlic
~7 medium mushrooms
1c arborio rice
3 stock cubes dissolved in 4c water
~1.5T sweet chilli sauce
3 smallish sprigs of fresh greek oregano
3 twigs of garden thyme
1/3c grated parmesan cheese
...My mouth is watering just typing out the ingredients! Hoorah that I have left overs for lunch :)
Roughly dice the pumpkin and sweet potato. You can make the cubes whatever size, but bear in mind that a) smaller cooks faster and b) they will shrink quite a bit upon baking. Mine were ~2cm cubed. Microwave on high or steam for 5 minutes. Spread onto olive-oiled tray, sprinkle liberally with salt, and place into a hot oven (200C).
Place stock in a covered saucepan and keep on a low heat constantly, to keep the liquid warm (it will cook quicker/easier when added to the rice if it doesn't have to heat up first).
Finely chop the onion. Fry in oil with the garlic until translucent. Slice mushrooms, saute with onion until cooked. Add the rice and 2 ladlefuls of stock. Stir well.
Add sweet chilli sauce.
Add a ladleful of stock periodically, whenever the mixture starts to look a little dry - if you can scrape the rice away and see the bottom of the pot for more than a second, it's ready for more liquid.
Once all the liquid is absorbed, add the (finely chopped) herbs and stir through. Remove from heat if it's starting to dry out. Stir through the baked pumpkin and sweet potato, then stir through the cheese.
Serve hot :)
The Results
Okay, so risotto is a fairly standard meal in our house over winter. That said, we didn't have much this year, as I've been pretty slack when it comes to cooking. But regardless, I've made squillions of varieties of this recipe: and this, officially, is the best. My husband, who is not free with compliments, said he'd gladly pay $40 in a restaurant for this risotto :)
I attribute the great success to two things:
Firstly, instead of taking the quicker cop-out method of just grilling (broiling) the vegies, I actually baked them with salt and olive oil and all. Much, much tastier.
Secondly, the difference that fresh, home-grown herbs make is absolutely INSANE. And Greek oregano is my new favourite: besides the amazing salty-savoury complex flavour it adds to the dish, it's purple and fuzzy! What's not to love?!
Hehe.
As I was making this, I lamented that I didn't have any feta cheese to add, being the feta-addict that I am; but it turns out that it really didn't need it. The flavours were beautifully subtle and complex, and husband was absolutely determined that I must have used more herbs than I had (I'm usually prone to throwing in at least 5 or 6).
So, an all-round fabulous success, and definitely one I'll make again, instead of my usual 'what do I have in the cupboard' approach :)
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