Roasted pumpkin wedges with dill sour cream

Posted: September 29, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tags: , , , | 3 Comments

The good thing is that this is a delicious pumpkin dish. The bad one, that Autumn is here. I somehow feel I didn’t had enough of Summer. From here to Christmas is only a small leap. Thank God for the produce of the season to help me cross this bridge…

Roasted pumpkin wedges with sour cream (adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty)

Ingredients 

  • For the wedges
  • 1 pumpkin (about 700g), desseeded  pumpkin, and cut 1 about 2cm slices, skin on
  • 50g grated Parmesan
  • 3 table spoons of  finely chopped thyme
  • 6  table spoons of parsley
  • the grated zest of 2 lemons
  • 2  crushed garlic cloves
  • Enough olive oil to brush the pumpkin wedges

For the dill sour cream

  • 12o mL of sour cream
  • 1 tablespoon of chopped dill
  • salt and withe pepper

Method

Pre heat the oven to 190 oC.

Slice the pumpkin, keeping the skin. The wedges should be about 2 cm thick .

Lay the pumpkin wedges on a tray lined with baking parchment  and brush them with olive oil

For the crust, by mix  in a small bowl the Parmesan, the chopped parsley and thyme, the lemon zest, the garlic and some pepper (check for salt. Normally you won’t need to add it as the Parmesan is salty enough).

Sprinkle generously the wedges, with the crust mix.They should all be covered with a few millimeter layer of crust. If the

Put in the oven and roast for 30min or until the wedges are soft and tender. If the topping starts to get too dark, cover the tray with  foil

In the meanwhile, start the dill sour cream. Mix all the ingredients (sour cream dill, salt and pepper).

You can serve it warm or cold (better warm…)

Grilled lettuce hearts with a mint vinaigrette

Posted: September 16, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Salad, Vegetarian | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Grilling lettuces hearts might sound like a cardinal sin. However, if you are bored of eating lettuce with a traditional dressing, this is a very, very, very easy  to do dish with surprising results. Serve either as an appetizer or a side dish.

Grilled lettuce hearts with a mint vinaigrette  (adapted from Ferran Adrià’s The Family Meal)

Ingredients 

  • the leaves of 8 springs of fresh mint
  • 1 tablespoon of   mustard 
  • 1 tablespoon of cherry vinegar
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 6 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 2 lettuce hearts, cut in half lengthways and seasoned with salt and pepper

Method

To make the vinaigrette, put the mints leaves  in a tall beaker. Then, drop in the mustard, the vinegar, the egg yolk and one portion of the olive oil. Start mixing with a hand held blender. Add the olive oil bit by bit, without stopping the blender. It is done when the mint looks chopped, right before it starts to convert into a mayonnaise (be careful not to over do it). Season with salt and pepper.

Cover the surface of a large frying pain (or a grilling one) with olive oil, and heat it. Drop in the lettuce heart and let them fry over medium heat until they are golden on both sides (it will take about 5 minutes). Once out  of the pan, cut them half lengthways again.

Put the 4 wedges on a plate and poor the vinaigrette on top it. Serve while warm.

Cooking classes with the Laughing Lemon: cauliflower soup

Posted: September 1, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Cooking class, Soup, Vegetarian | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

“Mum, guess what?” I said on the phone , “I am taking a cooking class about soups!”.  A big silence followed. A few seconds latter, a very distressed sister came to the phone. “Who are you, what have you done with Burntsugar and why are you torturing my Mother?”. Err… I probably was not tactful enough to break up the news that indeed I now like soup and even take the time to cook it. Everyone in the family vividly remember epic fights about plates of soup not being promptly finished, if eaten at all. So, enrolling in a soup class could only the result of something one very wrong – but very very wrong.

Recipe books have fantastic recipes of soups, packed with flavors and textures to go with the kilometric list of ingredients,  but… where is my basic recipe? And what happened to my broths? And my stocks? As soon as I saw the basic soup techniques on the Laughing Lemon, I knew I had to do it… My Mother wouldn’t obviously start teaching me know and pass all the family secrets, and if  I wanted to know more, Jack would be probably the one to answer to all my metaphysical soup dilemmas.  Indeed he did – when we left the class we had tried puree, creams, broth, stocks,  chunky soups…. And, we got to taste them all.

As soon as the occasion presented,  I made this lovely cauliflower cream  Jack taught us. It cannot be easier: just steam cauliflower and yellow onion. Once it is soft, put in a glass of milk and plenty of water and let simmer. When the cauliflower is soft, blend and sieve. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and is ready to go. Seriously, it is all it takes. Very filling, very healthy and with a reasonable calorie count – I mean, what else can you ask from a soup?

For more information about the Laughing Lemon cooking classes can be found here.