Recipes

[Carinthia]

I like the sound of that, & the size of the squash isn’t off putting…

Carinthia. xx

[Gus]

And, if you use agave syrup rather than honey, it is vegan too!

[Gus]

As promised/threatened. A Gus Strange Seasonal Soup.

c 500g butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and diced into 2.5cm cubes
Unpeeled garlic cloves according to preference: mine is ‘lots’ so I used seven
250-300g onion, chopped
c 300g cooking apple, cored but not peeled, chopped
Medium curry powder, 1-2 tsps, to taste
1.5 beef stock cubes
3 good tbsps red split lentils

Season the diced squash (I used a pinch of pul biber too out of sheer force of habit) and bake with the unpeeled garlic at 180C until it has softened and started to colour. 40 mins ish. Make sure garlic doesn’t burn.
Fry onion in a little oil until soft but not coloured. Add the chopped apple and fry gently for a few minutes before adding the curry powder. I used 1.5 tsps). Fry gently for a couple of minutes more before adding the chopped roasted garlic pulp, the squash, and one beef stock cube made up in 0.75 l hot water. Bring to a simmer, add the rinsed lentils, and simmer gently for 20 mins or so until the lentils and squash are soft. Cool slightly then blend until very smooth (blender jug, not handheld stick hingmy) and return to the pan. Dissolve the remaining half stock cube in 250ml hot water, put it in the blender jug and whizz at max to get all the veg pulp off the sides, add to the pan and reheat gently. Check seasoning. Depending on tartness of the apple, you might want to add a squeeze of lemon.

A swirl of natural yoghurt, which I didn’t have to hand, would work well with this.

By using Marigold bouillon and a teaspoon of marmite for the stock, this could be made vegan.

[Fanta]

And instead of the lentils what might be a good plan?

[Gus]

Either slightly more squash or 2 good tbsps rice. Actually, the soup would be a lot sweeter then, as the lentils add an earthiness. About 75-100g cooked weight of brown rice might work well for that, though.

[3Wells]

Perhaps a few baby new potatoes with peel would work instead of lentils?

Spuds are good for not wrecking the flavour profile of soups I found when selling it by the mug full

[Gus]

They might; I agree that they don’t banjax flavour profiles as a rule, so depending on the spuds, they might not do much to take the edge off the sweetness. After my previous post, it struck me that a medium turnip (100-150g) diced and fried a bit before adding the apple could also work. Potage Baldrick…

[3Wells]

On finding that cheesies are not available here I found a recipe for puffed cheese snacks

I may have to experiment…

Would cellarati be interested in my comments on the result?

[Gus]

I knew about statements of the bleedin’ obvious; it is rarer to bump into the phenomenon in question form.
Yes. Yes, we would be interested. But you knew that;- )

[3Wells]

Well of course I knew that

The cheese needs drying out for 5 days so I will have a go at puffed cheese next week

[3Wells]

Right folks

I want Twiglets but cannot source theem here

Does anyone know how to make thin bread sticks flavoured with Marmite?

Please

[Gus]

No, sorry; there are lots of recipes for cheese & marmite straws online, though.

[3Wells]

Cheesie recipe a la hovel

Take bits of cheddar or red leicester the size of a mini babybel and set uncovered in the fridge for ten days to dry out

Grate in food processor and place teaspoonfuls of grated cheese at a good distance from each other on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment

Bake at 180C in a range oven swapping shelves at 5 minutes as the top shelf is a grill

Place the cheesies on a rack to cool

Enjoy

The crunched up cheesies are a good salad topping

[Gus]

Thanks, Twellers.

[3Wells]

Your task is to not eat them before they cool!

They are like tuilles as they are malleable when hot andd crisp when cool

[Carinthia]

Like Brandy Snap then…

Carinthia.xx

[3Wells]

That’s the ones

I rather like them

I wonder what parmesan would be like?

And powdered garlic in the cheese?

Black pepper in the grated cheese works well…

[3Wells]

Sort of a chunky chutney

Split a peeled cucumber in half length wise and scoop the seeds out then sprinkle the cavity with sea salt

Let it sit in a colander for half an hour then rinse and pat dry

Meanwhile put about half a bottle of white wine vinegar a rough chopped bunch of dill a good amount of black pepper a few spoons of sugar and about the volume of water as the vinegar and bring to the boil
Chop a salad onion and mix it with the cucumber
Pour the pickle liquor over the veg let it cool

Nice chunky cucumber…

[Carinthia]

What are you calling a salad onion, please, Twellsy?
I reckon that The Lad would love that pickle.

I had cucumber on 2 occasions last week, after a gap of 4 years, & it didn’t serve me too well.

Carinthia.xx