Pumpkin Soup – 2

  • When I came to file away my hard copy of my post for Pumpkin Soup – 1, I realised that I had made a pumpkin soup about  a year ago! 
  • It was a little different with the onions having been fried in butter.
  • *

  • This soup is a little richer than Pumpkin Soup – 1.

  • It has the addition of  soured cream.

  • However tomato purée is not used.

INGREDIENTS

  • 500g of pumpkin flesh (peeled and seeds removed).
  • 2 red peppers
  • 2 large onions
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 teaspoon of hot paprika powder
  • ¼ teaspoon of  salt.
  • 1.5 litres of vegetable stock
  • Large handful of flat leaved parsley – chopped
  • 125 – 250ml of soured cream
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • *
  • Small handful of flat leaved parsley – chopped – to serve

METHOD

  • Remove all the peel and the seeds from the pumpkin.
  • Chop the flesh into small chunks.
  • De-seed the peppers and cut the flesh into small pieces.
  • Chop the onions into small pieces.
  • Place all these chopped vegetables into a large saucepan and add the vegetable stock.
  • Add the lemon juice, salt and paprika powder.
  • Bring to the boil and then add a lid and allow to simmer.
  • Cook until the vegetables are soft.
  • Add the chopped parsley and simmer for another 5 minutes.
  • Take the pan off the heat.
  • Use a stick blender to liquidise the soup.
  • Season to taste.
  • *
  • Bring back to the boil and take off the heat again.
  • Slowly stir in the soured cream until it is well mixed in.
  • *
  • Sprinkle with the parsley to serve.

Royal Doulton Burgundy soup plate

Pumpkin Soup – 1

  • I have never cooked with pumpkins before – dynia in Polish.
  • This will be my first try with the first of two soups.
  • This one is the easiest.
  • Having said that, peeling the pumpkin can be difficult.

INGREDIENTS

  • 500g of pumpkin flesh (peeled and seeds removed).
  • 2 red peppers
  • 2 large onions
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 tablespoon of tomato purée 
  • 1 teaspoon of hot paprika powder
  • ¼ teaspoon of  salt.
  • 1.5 litres of vegetable stock
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • *
  • Small handful of flat leaved parsley – chopped – to serve

METHOD

  • Remove all the peel and the seed from the pumpkin.
  • Chop the flesh into small chunks.
  • De-seed the peppers and cut the flesh into small pieces.
  • Chop the onion into small pieces.
  • Place all these chopped vegetables into a large saucepan and add the vegetable stock.
  • Add the tomato purée, lemon juice, salt and paprika powder.
  • Bring to the boil and then add a lid and allow to simmer.
  • Cook until the vegetables are soft.
  • Take the pan off the heat.
  • Use a stick blender to purée the soup.
  • Season to taste.
  • *
  • Serve with a little chopped flat leaved parsley.

Royal Standard – Blossom Time soup plate

Eat Your Greens – 1

  • This is a lovely recipe for vegetables to eat with a roast dinner or breaded pork.
  • It is a recipe that you have to make at the last minute – unlike a lot of Polish recipes for vegetables or salads.
  • The amounts are fairly fluid – does not matter too much.

Ingredients

  • ½ a sweetheart cabbage or white cabbage
  • 1 large or 2 medium sized leek(s)
  • 120g of fresh spinach
  • 2 tablespoons of butter
  • 1 teaspoon of sea salt

Method

  • Shred the cabbage into fine pieces.
  • Cut the leek(s) into discs and then halve these.
  • Melt the butter in a large saucepan. (a wok style is good).
  • Stir fry the cabbage and leeks gently for around 5 – 8 minutes.
  • Stirring all the while – so they do not burn.
  • Add in the spinach and stir.
  • Cook for around 2 minutes.
  • Sprinkle with the salt and serve.

 

Simple Chocolate Tort

  • I have called this simple as it is very easy to make.
  • Rubbing in the butter into the flour and then just mixing.
  • I adapted the recipe from an English BeRo cook book.
  • You can adapt it with lots of different fillings and glazes.
  • Here I used a milk chocolate icing using hot milk.
  • You could double the ingredients and make a 4 layer torte
  • or use a larger diameter tin – not tested.
  • *
  • The cake recipe is one I used for Chocolate Babka and for Chocolate Orange Tort

Chocolate Cake – Ingredients

  • 200g plain flour
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 225g caster sugar
  • ½ teaspoon of salt
  • 25g cocoa powder
  • 100g butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 5 tablespoons of evaporated milk
  • 5 tablespoons of water

Method

  • Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C.
  • Grease and line the base of 2 x 20cm tins.
  • Rub the butter into the flour.
  • Add the baking powder, salt, cocoa and sugar
  • Mix well together.
  • Mix the eggs, milk and water together.
  • Mix the liquid into the dry ingredients.
  • Beat well.
  • Divide the mixture between the 2 tins.
  • Smooth the tops level.
  • Bake for 25-30 minutes.
  • Allow to cool completely before assembling. 

Milk Chocolate Icing – Ingredients

  • 60g butter
  • 3 tablespoons cocoa
  • 3 tablespoons of hot milk*
  • 2 -3 drops vanilla essence 
  • Around 250g icing sugar**

Milk Chocolate Icing – Method

  • Melt the butter gently in a saucepan.
  • Blend in the cocoa.
  • Add the vanilla essence.
  • Add the icing sugar and hot milk bit by bit.
  • Use a small hand whisk to beat the icing until it is smooth and thick.
  • *
  • * Heat a little more milk and then measure out the amount of milk you need.
  • ** You need to adjust the milk and icing sugar to get the required thickness you need.

Assembling the Cake

  • Place one round of cake onto a serving plate or stand.
  • Spread half the icing over the cake.
  • Place the second round of the cake on top.
  • Press down a little.
  • Spread the rest of the icing on the top of the cake.
  • Smooth or make a pattern with a fork or small spatula.

One of my many glass cake stands.

Placek with Dried Fruits

  • Placek is a thin flat cake.
  • Dried fruits are called bakalie in Polish – fruit from the Balkans.
  • If this were a loaf shaped fruit cake it would be called a “keks” – however it works better in this thin version.
  • Dried apricots are used, which is a bit different.
  • The apricots are soaked overnight in brandy – so you have to start the cake the night before.

INGREDIENTS

  • 175 dried apricots – chopped
  • 3 tablespoons of brandy
  • 175g butter
  • 175g granulated sugar
  • 4 eggs beaten
  • 175g plain flour
  • 225g raisins
  • 225g currants
  • 225g cherries*
  • *
  • *Or a mixture of cherries and mixed peel if you are short of cherries

METHOD

  • Put the apricots and brandy in a small bowl.
  • Cover and leave overnight.
  • *
  • Pre the oven to GM3 – 160°C
  • Line 3 sides of a 32 x 22 baking tin.
  • Mix the apricots with the other dried fruit.
  • Cream the sugar and the butter.
  • Add the eggs and beat together.
  • Mix in all the dried fruit.
  • Fold in the flour.
  • Spread the cake mixture into the tin.
  • *
  • Bake for 50  –  60 minutes.

“Pepper Pie”

  • I got this recipe from my sister who lives in Manchester.
  • Her daughter, who visits her, often usually makes this for lunch as it is so easy.
  • It is a tinned tuna & pepper tart, rather like a quiche but without any cheese.
  • They have named it “pepper pie”.

INGREDIENTS

  • Shortcrust pastry
  • 1 tin of tuna drained – forked apart
  • ½ a red pepper chopped
  • 150 ml of Greek style yogurt (like 1 small carton)
  • 1 egg
  • Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

  • Per-heat the oven to GM 5 GM 190°C.
  • Grease a loose bottom tart tin – 18/19cm in diameter.
  • Roll out the pastry thinly and line the tin.
  • Put the pepper on the base of the tart tin.
  • Add the tinned tuna.
  • Mix the yoghurt and the egg.
  • Pour this over the tuna and pepper.
  • Season to taste.
  • Bake in the oven for around 30 minutes.
  • *
  • Lovely hot or cold.

Option – blanche and dry the pepper first.

Apple Cake

  • It must be said that I think my mama’s recipe for jabłecznik (apple cake) is the best but I keep on trying other recipes just to give them a try.
  • This one is a more sponge like cake and you only need 2 largish baking apples.
  • NOTE – you need more baking powder than usual.

INGREDIENTS

  • 225 flour
  • 3 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 225 granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • ¼ teaspoon vanilla essence
  • 150g butter – melted
  • 2 medium/large cooking apples – peeled and cored
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • *
  • Icing sugar to serve

METHOD

  • Cut the apples into thin slices and mix with the ground cinnamon.
  • Lightly butter a deep 20cm lose-bottomed cake tin.
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM3 160°C.
  • Melt the butter and leave to cool.
  • In a large bowl mix the flour, baking powder, sugar.
  • Lightly beat the eggs and vanilla essence.
  • Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture.
  • Beat in the cooled, melted butter.
  • Spread half the mixture on the base of the tin.
  • Put the apples on top with most in the centre.
  • Put the rest of the cake mixture over the apples making sure the middle is covered as the mixture will spread out when baking.
  • Bake for 55 to 60 minutes.
  • Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Leeks & Apples

  • This recipe comes after a slight error when I was making leek & apple soup for the first time.
  • I left the kitchen whilst cooling the leeks and the apples in the apple juice.
  • These cooked so that most of the liquid evaporated (good that I did not burn the leeks).
  • I knew that I could not rescue the soup at this stage and would have to start again so I could have good instructions.
  • I tasted what I had and it was delicious.
  • It tasted great, hot with hot roast meats and also cold with cold meats and Polish sausage.
  • You could ask your “testers” what this is? – they might reply “rhubarb”!

INGREDIENTS

  • 3 leeks – the white part
  • 2 eating apples – peeled and cored
  • 2 – 3 tablespoons of butter
  • 1 teaspoon of dried marjoram
  • 1 litre of apple juice – this can be from a carton of concentrate
  • Pinch of salt and pepper

METHOD

  • Chop the leeks into circles and then halve these.
  • Melt the butter in a pan and lightly cook the leeks – do not brown.
  • Cube the apples into small pieces and add these to the leeks and cook for a few minutes.
  • Add the marjoram.
  • Add the apple juice and simmer until the leeks are soft and you have evaporated the majority of the liquid.
  • Season with the salt and pepper.
  • *
  • Serve either hot or cold.

Bavarian china

Leek & Apple Soup

  • I saw this recipe in this book and wondered how it would come out.
  • I adapted the recipe slightly including adding extra apples to the base of the soup – not just the serving part.
  • It was delicious – a sweet warm soup – lovely.

INGREDIENTS

  • 3 leeks – the white part
  • 2 eating apples – peeled and cored
  • 2 – 3 tablespoons of butter
  • 1 teaspoon of dried marjoram
  • 1 litre of apple juice – this can be from a carton of concentrate
  • Pinch of salt and pepper
  • *
  • To serve
  • 2 eating apples with red skins – cored and cut into thin slices.
  • 1 tablespoon of pumpkin seeds – toasted (optional)

METHOD

  • Chop the leeks into circles and then halve these.
  • Melt the butter in a pan and lightly cook the leeks – do not brown.
  • Cube the apple into small pieces and add these to the leeks and cook for a few minutes.
  • Add the marjoram.
  • Add the apple juice and simmer for around 15 minutes until the leeks are soft.
  • Season with the salt and pepper.
  • *
  • Toast the pumpkin seeds in a hot frying pan.
  • *
  • Serve with the apple slices on top and then the pumpkin seeds.

Here in a Meakin vintage serving dish.

Fish Soup with Leek & Potato

INGREDIENTS

  • 300 – 350g of white fish (cod, haddock or pollock)
  • 1 medium onion
  • 2 leeks – the white part
  • 3 medium potatoes (floury type are best)
  • 2 tablespoons of butter  – to fry the onions
  • 1½ litres of vegetable stock
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 4 grains of allspice
  • 4 grains of black pepper
  • 125ml soured cream
  • Salt & Pepper to taste – if needed.
  • *
  • Large handful of chopped flat leaved parsley to serve.

Method

  • Chop the onion into small pieces.
  • Lightly fry in the butter but do not brown.
  • Chop the leek into small rings and add to the onions and butter.
  • Stir and lightly fry – again do not brown.
  • Add the stock, bay leaves, allspice and black pepper.
  • Bring to the boil and then lower the heat.
  • Start to simmer gently.
  • Chop the potatoes into small pieces and add to the soup.
  • Boil gently for around 15 minutes until the potatoes are nearly cooked.
  • Add the fish and cook for about 10 minutes.
  • Break up the fish into small pieces.
  • Season if needed.
  • Stir in the soured cream.
  • Add chopped parsley leaves to serve.

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Royal Doulton Burgundy soup plate

One of my testers thought this was the best ever!