Minestrone di zucca aka Pumpkin Soup

Well, I think it sounds better in Italian than a plain old pumpkin soup…If you’re freezing your butt in your part of the world as well, then I think this is the best recipe to salvation. Apparently !!!! this freezing weather has sort of motivated us to hit the gym more frequently than ever, simply because piles of warm clothing can’t act as a ruse forever..winters act as a catalyst to pile on the pounds as well.. which is why I came under a lot of pressure to cook something tasty and healthy.. we all know if it’s healthy it ain’t gonna be very tasty.. come on admit it.. So anyways.. I was going through all my recipe’s, my cook books and the internet looking for all the healthy/tasty recipe’s, which is when I stumbled on this recipe for ‘pumpkin soup’ by Ritu Dalmia. It’s in her cook book ‘Italian Khana’ and well, I gave it a try…… to a roaring success.. My husband couldn’t get enough of it, and since that day I’ve made this more than a dozen times.. You have to make this to believe it..

bwahaha..okay let’s be serious..

Ingredients

adapted from Minestrone di zucca | Pumpkin soup |Verona | – Ritu Dalmia’s Italian Khana

500 gms pumpkin peeled and cubed

1 large onion chopped

1 clove garlic minced

1 lt chicken stock/vegetable stock or just plain ol’ water

1 tbsp olive oil (the original recipe calls for 75 gms butter, but I adapted this to make a healthier version)

300 mls low-fat milk (use whole milk if you like)

1 pinch grated nutmeg

grated parmesan (optional)

salt & pepper to season

1/2 tsp paprika & 1/4 tsp chilly flakes (my addition. leave them out if you want)

Season the pumpkin cubes with salt, drizzle a bit of olive oil, place in a baking tray and roast in preheated oven at 200℃ for 20-25 minutes.

In a large saucepan, heat the oil and cook the onions till pink and add the garlic. and cook for another minute. Add the roasted pumpkin and stock or water and cook for another 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let the mixture cool a little.

In a blender puree the soup till it’s all reached a smooth consistency.

Pout back into the pan with the milk and heat again, seasoning with salt pepper, nutmeg and chillies if you’re using..

Ennjjjooyyy !!!!!

Okay, here’s another picture..

Apple Cobbler Crumble

What what? a cobbler and a crumble together? Yes indeed.. for why just have a cobbler when you can also have a crumble and vice versa.

This idea happened not because I was feeling very inventive, well maybe I was.. I was greedy and the fat juicy apples sitting in front of me asked me how they’d like to be cooked.. now I’m just hallucinating. Actually I initially wanted to make a crumble but midway I started making a cobbler and then came back to crumble.. I’m confused that ways. But seriously, once you’ve had this divinity, you’d probably end up making this all the time.

Out of habit I always make a lot of crumble topping and freeze it for instant crumbles, so of course I had the crumble ready.. you never know there might be a surplus of fruits and you’d want to top them with crumble.. Be prepared in life I say.

Okay, so this is how I went with it..

I know, I know.. I couldn’t resist another picture of the gorgeousness that was this crumble cobbler or vice versa.. yes it’s an ice cream atop that.. Yes it’s winters, and yes its French vanilla ice cream.. thank you.

These are 3 apples. Peeled, cored and sliced. Use whichever ones you want. In your baking dish try to pile them evenly.. I did say TRY !!

Sprinkle some sugar. I used about 3 tablespoons of granulated white sugar

Sprinkle some cinnamon.. you can be a bit more generous.. I couldn’t because le huzbend don’t like no cinnamon very much (cry a little)

Set the apples aside and start with the crumble topping. I have flour and salt (mixed), sugar, baking powder, butter, egg and vanilla.

Sift together the dry ingredients and in a separate bowl melt the butter, add the vanilla, and bet in the egg.. so basically a bowl of dry ingredients and a bowl of wet ingredients.

Mix in the dry ingredients into the wet one or vice versa. and mix till all’s well mixed. It’ll be a thickish batter. If your batter doesn’t get to a dropping consistency then add 1 tablespoon of milk.

Spoon the batter over the apples.

I spooned over the batter in 9 uneven albeit somewhat pretty dollops. Don’t laugh.

Here’s another close up..

Here’s the crumble part. I added a bit of rolled oats to the crumble. As I said I had this crumble ready in the freezer for any passing fruit might need it..

Now sprinkle the crumble over the exposed apple parts. Honestly I didn’t mean for it to sound dirty. Sprinkle the crumble over the non cobbler parts and bake @ 180℃ for 20-25 minutes.

the baked result.. Let it cool a bit. Cut a generous slice, top with vanilla ice cream and please eat it already..

Le another picture.. ok no more.. Enjoy !!!

Ingredients & Recipe

3 Apples

2 tbsp granulated sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon powder

For the cobbler

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp butter melted

1 egg

1/2 tbsp vanilla

For the crumble

1 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup almond flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup cold butter cut into cubes

2 tbsp rolled oats.

Recipe

Peel core and slice the apples and line into your baking tray. Try to make them even.

Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon and set aside.

For the cobbler, mix all the dry ingredients into a bowl. In a separate bowl mix the melted cooled butter with the vanilla and egg and mix.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and form a batter. If the batter is too thick add in 1 tbsp of milk. Spoon the batter over the apples.

For the crumble sift together the flour,sugar, almond flour and baking powder. Cut the cold cubes of butter. You can either use a food processor, pastry cutter or simply your fingers. Once your mixture reaches a porridge like consistency add in the oats. Let there be clumps of butter since these will brown and give your crumble a burnished look.

Sprinkle this crumble mixture over the apples which do not have any cobbler on them. Make sure your apples are mostly covered with either cobbler batter or crumble mixture.

Freeze the remaining crumble mixture and use them as and when needed..

Bake 180℃ for 20-25 minutes.

Cheddar & cream cheese crackers

Yes these are crackers full of cheese and yes they are fattening, which is why you don’t make too many of these and eat them all at once. I made that mistake, you don’t have to.. but if you don’t then you’ve not lived.

These are crackery, as in crispy and have faint hits of paprika and cheesy.. yes cheesy. The worst part is that they’re all too easy to make and sinfully addictive.

Ingredients

1 cup flour

4 tbsp cold butter

150 gms grated cheddar cheese

75 gms cold cream cheese

1 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

1/2 tsp baking powder

3-4 tbsp cold water.

In a processor mix all these ingredients until they’re just about to clump. In case you don’t have a processor just cut the cheeses and the butter into the flour mixture much like you do while making a pastry, you can use a pastry cutter, fork or your finger tips. Once the flour mixture resembles a coarse oat meal mixture, combine using water forming into a rough ball.

Wrap in plastic and chill in the fridge for about 25 minutes.

Once its slightly cooler roll it out to about 1/8th of an inch and cut into any shapes you want.

I was lazy, so I just took a knife and scale and made 2cm X 4cm rectangles.

Make a hole in the middle of your crackers before baking.

Bake at 180℃ for 12-15 minutes.

Let cool before popping one in your mouth..

You can eat these just as they are, or with your favorite dips, drinks.. etc etc..

Feast ye eyes on another picture..

Enjoy !!!!

Cold Coffee

Yes.. please go ahead and ask.. what is this? please.. Or ask, what exactly are you supposed to look at? those oranges at the back? the half empty red wine bottle, or the curious black contents of this beautiful lady like bottle? for starters, those oranges are pretty amazing, I know, I’m eating one. The half empty red wine bottle is half empty only because I cook with it (ahem!!) and the curious dark contents of the bottle senora is nothing but my never fail, fabulous, fantastic, ‘oh my god blessed thee’ coffee concentrate for the iced cold coffee I tuck into during my anxiety laden days which are many..

I know creating a concentrate for something as basic as cold coffee or iced coffee is weird to many. Since cold coffee for almost everyone (including my husband) is spoonful of instant coffee, lots of sugar, ice ream and milk blended together in a mixer. That’s dessert really, and nothing wrong with that, and that’s how so many like it. But if you really want the real deal and the lovely coffee taste in every whiff, in every sip and in every ounce of its existence, then really this is the go to coffee.. At least this is how I like it and once you’ve had this baby you’ll be a complete convert.

Another thing.. an iced coffee recipe in these harsh winters.. I know, but honestly do you care?

In a big jug, jar, vessel of your choice put in your coffee.. it has to be fresh coffee please.. not instant not decaf.. but nice ground coffee..

Pour in water.. cold water, not hot, not warm, but cold water. .. Side note:- I love this glass bottle.

This is the result of pouring in the water. stir in to break the lumps. I know it doesn’t look fancy.. but please just trust me… mkay?

Secure tight and forget about it for the next 10 hours… more if you’re very patient. Leave it overnight on the counter to steep..

After it’s steeping time is done, strain it through a kitchen towel or a fine mesh…

Pour into a bottle and knock yourself out. This concentrate is perfect. strong, balanced and very coffee.

You can fill your glass with this coffee a little more than half and some sugar and work with so many ideas

Add ice and pour some milk
pour some cream
pour some half & half
scoop in some ice cream
pour some Bailey for boozy coffee
blend it and make into desert cold coffee
add some condensed milk

I mean seriously.. hundreds of ways to enjoy it..

Ingredients

100 gms coffee (not instant/not decaf)

1.5 ltrs of water

Of course you can increase this recipe to suit you.. Into a big jar, or jug, mix in the coffee and water and let steep for at least 8-10 hours. overnight would be great. Strain through a fine mesh and store.

Refrigerate for best results.

here’s another picture.. have fun !!!

Pretzels with beer cheese sauce

Not exactly a revelation but a suggestion from my dear friend Aarti who replied to my desperate tweets on a Sunday afternoon, answering my “what should I eat today” question. She sent me this beautiful link from Curvy Carrot adding that If I was up for something elaborate then this is what I should make.

Looking at the blog’s beautiful pictures and totally mesmerized by the words ‘Pretzels’, ‘beer’ & ‘cheese’ in one sentence I knew this is what I would make.

I tweaked the recipe a bit to suit whatever ingredients I had handy that afternoon, but the results were nothing short of ecstatic. Once the pretzels were hot out of the oven and the beer cheese sauce gooey and warm, I nestled myself on the couch in front of the television, refusing to acknowledge this world or any other existence. For 20 minutes until there were but crumbs on my plate did I lift my head up to realize, the television was on, playing something absolutely unnecessary.. but did I care? No!!!.. this sauce is a fuzzy warm beery heaven, a grotto of pleasure worth visiting every time you can make any excuse for a dip.. at least I do..

I adapted my earlier Pretzels recipe already on this blog and instead of making miniatures, made two fat patties and continued with the recipe here

as for the beer cheese sauce…

Ingredients for the beer cheese sauce (adapted from curvy carrot)

6 tbsps butter (I used salted)

1 cup spring onion

1 bay leaf

4 tbsps flour

1.5 cups beer (any beer is fine)

3/4 cup cream (I used single cream)

1 tsp fresh ground pepper (not so fine pieces)

1/4 tsp allspice

nutmeg (a pinch)

1 cup cheddar cheese

1/2 cup cream cheese (room temperature)

Salt to taste

a dash of cayenne

Making this sauce wasn’t difficult at all. In fact I started making it once the pretzels were popped in the oven.. working fast I melted the butter on medium heat in a pan of choice.

Add the onions and salt and cook until translucent. Add in the bay leaf, pepper and mix for a couple of minutes.

Add the flour and mix for a bit, the roux will look all sorts of lumpy and dry but really it’s a good thing.

Slowly start adding in the beer, and keep mixing constantly to remove any lumps and, watch it all thicken.. apart from the beer facial you will get when you keep smelling it constantly. I did this for a couple of minutes .. kept smelling along with mixing.

Now add in the cream and stir as usual. add in the nutmeg, allspice and cayenne. Cook and stir and mix and let it lightly simmer. ensure that this mixture thickens as you’re cooking it on slow heat. Mine took about 15 minutes.

Just as it has thickened add in the cheese, turn off the flame and let it all melt and meld together.. of course keep whisking and stirring and mixing until all cheese has melted in it.

Serve warm ..

This is it.. beer cheese sauce. You can adapt, make changes to suit however you want your dip or a sauce to be. you can use all cheddar or any other cheese you fancy. I used whatever I had on me that time and it turned out fabulous.

The point is, when you have beer, cream and cheese all together you can’t really go wrong with it.

Enjoy !!!

Schezuan Rice

Leftovers !!! the most dreaded word in a house. Nothing good ever comes out of leftovers they say. My fridge is full of so much stale food they say. Actually leftovers are just some food already cooked for you, and all you’ve gotta do is change something about it and make it into another meal.

In my case I had a bowlful of leftover rice. To me, leftovers can result in some of the most versatile snacks, dinners, meals. Just tinkering around with some random pulled out food from a fridge raid can result in creative meals you never thought you’d otherwise have.

I made a fabulous bowl of fiery Schezuan rice with green peppers.

You can either use the Schezuan sauce that comes out of jars or make some of your own. Of-course life is easy if it comes out of a jar but since I didn’t have any, I opted to make some for myself, and its piece of cake.

Ingredients for Schezuan sauce in case you’re not using it from a jar.

this might not be the authentic recipe (sorry Sichuan, China), but this is how I make… it’s ferociously hot and lip smacking tasty.

8-10 dried red chillies soaking in water for at least a couple of hours.

10 cloves of garlic minced

2 tsp minced ginger

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp chilli sauce

1 tsp pepper

2 tbsp vinegar

2 tbsp water

2 tsp sugar

1 tbsp oil

Drain the red chillies soaking in water and grind them into a fine paste. In a pan, add oil, mix in the garlic and saute until soft and golden, Now add the ginger and saute. Take a moment to die in the fragrance emitting from your pan and stir in the ground chilly paste.

add salt, pepper, sot sauce, chilli sauce, water and mix until bubbling and thick. finally add in the sugar and vinegar. Mix until fully incorporated and thickened. Allow to cool.

Ingredients for Schezuan Rice

Cooked rice – I had about a 1.5 cup

small onion diced

peppers sliced thinly. I had green, but you can use any colour you like.

2 tbsp Schezuan sauce (recipe above)

1 Tbsp oil.

1/2 tsp salt

The procedure is pretty straightforward. Heat oil in a pan, add in the onions and cook until softened. Add in the peppers and saute until the onions have caramelized a bit and taken on the peppery flavour. add the Schezuan sauce, and mix until the vegetables have turned red. Finally mix in the rice until coated with the sauce. Serve very hot..

Cheesy pizza.

Excuse these latest pictures, and feast ye eyes on this hunk of a cheesy pizza. Hot out of the oven and made from scratch. It’s fresh and it’s fast and it’s a feast.

This dainty little thing fed about 5 people. It’s not exactly thin crust, though you could make that if you wished. This was a fat, almost focaccia like base with tons of toppings and cheese.

Ingredients

for the dough base:

500 gms strong flour

1 packet active dry yeast.

230 mls lukewarm water

1 tbsp sugar

2 tsp salt

20 mls olive oil.(regular olive oil)

Toppings

300 gms of good mozzarella cheese

diced and chopped vegetables/meats of your choice.(billions of combinations, have fun with your food)

– I used peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic, chillies diced thin.

Pizza sauce- my recipe

4-5 medium-sized blanched tomatoes.

1 tsp oregano

1 small chopped onion

3-4 garlic cloves

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil (regular not extra virgin)

1 tbsp butter

1/2 cup red wine (any good red wine)it really brings in the flavours.

1/2 tsp crushed black pepper.

DOUGH BASE

Firstly dissolve the sugar in the lukewarm water and keep aside.

Sift the flour, salt and add in the yeast. mix well. gradually add in the warm water to the flour and knead well to make a smooth, stretchy dough. If you need a mixer for the this, go ahead and knock yourself out. I love a bit of intense labour work and made a dough simply using my hands.

Once the dough is nice and smooth, and I kneaded for a good 10-15 minutes, add in the oil and knead again. Once done, leave it to rise in a warm place, cover with a well oiled cling film or moist tea towel. This rising will take about an hour.

PIZZA SAUCE

in a food processor give the tomatoes a few pulses so that they size down a bit and are quicker to cook.

In a saucepan, heat oil and butter and add the minced garlic cloves and onions. add a pinch of salt and cook until translucent. Tip in the tomatoes and cook until softened and thickened about 10 minutes. Once the gloopy sauce has turned into a thicker paste and you see bits sticking into the saucepan add in the wine stirring continuously ensuring that all the caramelized pieces are deglazed and mixed into the sauce. Once the wine starts bubbling out and reducing, start adding in the oregano, salt and pepper. Let it all cook till it’s no longer watery and looks spreadable.

Leave it to cool, and check out your pizza dough. give it a couple of good punches, once you see it has doubled in size and let it deflate. Leave it to rise again for another 15 minutes and get on with the pan/tray you want to make your pizza in.

I used a jelly roll pan which was about 12X12X1 inch and generously oiled it.

Tip in the dough into the pan and start stretching it to fit completely. It might not look like it will fit, but yes it will. make sure that it’s not uneven. keep smoothening it out and make it fit well.

Once done spread the pizza sauce leaving at least 1/2 inch along the border of the pizza. sprinkle with half of the grated mozzarella cheese and adorn with toppings. Mound the remaining cheese on top and bake for 25 minutes in a hot 200℃ oven.

Slice it into the pan, don’t even bother taking it out. Feed as many or reserve for a delicious cold breakfast next day.

Buttery Vanilla Cake.

Not the best picture, I know. This cake was made on a special request, fairly late in the evening, for my younger brother. His demands were simple. A very unpretentious, basic, spongy, no frill vanilla cake, which is easily wolfed down.

This is a recipe I have on my finger tips and it’s so buttery, so luscious and spongy that you don’t feel the need to slather any icing on it. Tea cake, breakfast cake, anytime cake- this will fit the bill.

My photographs have to be excused, I clicked them without any natural lights and edited them a bit on instagram.

Ingredients

Butter 150 gms

flour 250 gms

sugar 180 gms

2 large eggs

milk 200mls

1.5 tsp baking powder

2 tsp vanilla extract

It’s fairly simple as cakes go. Sift the flour and baking powder and keep aside.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. (I used a hand mixer for this). Crack in the first egg, beat until well incorporated, now crack in the second egg and mix well.

Add the vanilla extract, keep mixing all through. It’s this addition of air that makes this batter so light and spongy.

add the flour mixture and milk, in 3 alternating additions. Mix well, scraping the sides of the bowl. The batter is done.

Transfer into a well greased baking pan and smoothen the top. I also tap it a bit on the surface so there are no air bubbles and it doesn’t result in a dome shape.

bake at 170℃ for 35 minutes. Ovens may vary sometimes, so you need to check with a toothpick for doneness after 30 minutes.

This cake though easily eaten just as it and in fact tastes best that way can also be iced, filled, frosted to your liking.

Cheesy stuffed potato jackets

The pictures aren’t really great this time. I decided to make these one evening, when I was both hungry, bored and craved something EVIL. These fat beauties are so luscious and filling and cheesy that the guilt doesn’t stay too long.

The stuffing is actually entirely up to you and what you happen to have on you at that moment . I had some mozzarella leftover from a few days, and well that’s how I decided to use it. So here goes.

I had a few medium-sized potatoes, which I baked for 45 minutes at 220℃. Yes I inserted a very thin knife to check for doneness. You can see the surgery mark in the second potato.

oil the baking tray and the set these cut up potatoes, skin side down.

Scoop out their innards as much as you can without really tearing up their skins. You don’t have to be overly careful or scoop within an inch of their lives. The green tinge is from a tinted window, I know these aren’t the most fab pics. I have made peace with it.

here’s the filling. It has the scooped out potatoes, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, crushed garlic, mayonnaise, a dash of salt and a bit of crushed red chillies. These have to get a mixing and smoothed together until its come to a consistency where it somewhat resembles a thick paste of gloriousness.

The hollow potatoes are now stuffed. It took about a tablespoonful in each, and then topped off with more grated mozzarella. I also drizzled some olive oil on top to make them a bit more brown, burnt and oozy.

Bake them at 200℃ for 30 minutes, or until you can see the cheese swell up, and tan.

This came out smelling hot and so gorgeous. It was practically oozing all over the tray. A bit of mustard and you’re done. You might not fit into your pants the next day, but it’s totally worth it.

Ingredients

– 3-4 medium-sized potatoes

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

1 tablespoon mayonnaise

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp crushed red chillies

2-3 cloves garlic (crushed.)

2 tbsp olive oil (any regular oil will do)

You know the rest.. right.

Orange muffins

These plump beauties, with the right notes of orange are not only fresh tasting but also serve as such a delightful post meal dessert. In fact I ate them instead of a meal but that’s only because they don’t feel overly heavy or dense. Delicate flavours, that orangey tang and all in a form of cake. It doesn’t get better than this.

These muffins are actually a spin on Dorie Greenspan’s lemon and poppy-seed muffins. Since they called for fresh lemon and poppy seeds, both ingredients strangely absent from my local walmart (I live in China), I decided to play with oranges, and believe me, I wouldn’t have has it another way. This has tasted better than any orange related confectionery, dessert, cake I have ever had.

Ingredients

3 tbsp sugar

zest and juice of a small orange

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup yogurt

1 large egg

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

4 tbsp melted and cooled butter

In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and lemon zest with your finger tips, until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of orange is strong.

Whisk in the flour, baking powder, soda and salt.

Now, in another bowl whisk the yogurt, eggs, orange juice, vanilla, and melted butter together until well blended. It will smell heavenly.

Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir to blend. Do not over mix, just stir in until it all just comes together. Lumpy muffin batter makes for the lightest muffins.

Divide the batter in the muffin trays and bake for 18-20 mins @ 200℃

makes 6 muffins..

Another pic for the morale boost..

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