Spicy Squash Soup

I'm experimenting with making a picture diary for this recipe. Let's see how it goes.

Spicy Squash Soup


1 large butternut squash
1 sweet potato
1 large or 2 small onions
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 tsp chilli flakes
1-2 tsp mixed spice
1 litre chicken stock

To begin, a photo 0f our main ingredients:


Not necessary, but I like the composition of the whole thing, so there you go.

Finely dice the onion and seat in the olive oil until soft.


Peel and chop the veg, then throw in the pot along with the spices and seasoning until evenly coated. Cover with the chicken stock.


Leave to simmer for about 30 min until all the veg is soft. If you like smooth soup you can put this in the blender now, but I think that this really works as a thick and hearty chunky soup. This is insanely easy to do.

Take an ordinary potato masher, and brandish like it is the Sword of Justice.


Mash.


Done.


I make this soup all the time, it's really quick and easy to do. Great for cold evenings, and surprisingly filling, especially with a bit of bread on the side.

Garlic Press, Mr Grindy, and the World's Sharpest Knife

It occurred to me as I was writing up my first ever recipe (you can't miss it, it's the only other post on this blog so far) that I don't just want to write about the ingredients I cook with, but also all the lovely bits of equipment I use to do it. I am quite sentimentally attached to a lot of these, in a way that's a little difficult to describe. It's like having a favourite T-shirt. It's a fairly utilitarian piece, it serves a purpose and no more. But you still find yourself drawn to one in particular that just seems better than the others. It fits better, the colour goes with everything, and even when you've worn it down to the last threads you find you can't get rid of it because you love it so.

Now imagine that the T-shirt also helps you cook stuff. Is it any wonder I get all choked up about these things? There's no good reason I should like them any more than something else that does exactly the same job. And yet I do.

Garlic Press
Do you have any idea how hard it is to find an old fashioned garlic press this days? The old garlic clove in the hollow, squeeze and done job? I didn't know either, until I tried to find one. The one I had was a cheap Tesco affair, with some sort of devilish removable box and a press that was attached to a moving hinge. I don't know why. I'm aware that what I'm describing sounds nothing like a garlic press, but you'll have to take it on faith. So I decided enough was enough and set out to buy a proper one. One where you squeeze it and it's done. Can't be too difficult, right?

Well, it wasn't. Not if I was happy to spend £20 +. For those of you who know me, and what may generously described as a 'thrifty and practical' nature (also known as being 'tight'), you may have already assumed that I decided not to take this course of action. The only presses I could find for a reasonable price were in the aforementioned devilish style. I was not happy.

I had pretty much given up on my quest and resolved to make do with garlic paste from a tube, when I stopped, as I so frequently do, at a charity shop. The Salvation Army, since you ask. Right next to the doorway was this gorgeous little beast for the grand old price of 30p.

It's nothing fancy, nothing removable. The holes are just the right size to crush the garlic finely without getting the whole thing clogged up, plus it's all little and firetruck red. I have not yet decided on a name, but I think Terry suits him quite well.


The World's Sharpest Knife



I was browsing through the House of Fraser in Leamington just before Christmas when there was an announcement that if you went to some meeting point in the homewares section you could get a free vegetable slicer. I had nothing to do, and I like free stuff, so off I went.

Obviously it wasn't that simple. I had to sit through some sales pitch for the World's Sharpest Knife (TM). Well, I was ok with that. The salesman had that forced joviality that is always so grating and tends to make me feel a little bit sorry for his sad inner life. Tears of clown, man. Anyway, he was jabbering on about how awesome this knife is - previously only available through QVC, and to celebrate it coming to Britain they're practically giving it away! Yeah, thanks but no thanks. But then he starts talking about the stuff you get with it as part of the deal. Two extra knives to give to friends as Christmas presents, two paring knives, a filleting knife, a funny little orange juicer thing and the vegetable slicer I was lured in with. Now, I'm a fairly cynical person. I don't want to be tha sort of girl who falls for a sales pitch from a loud-mouthed jeb end like this guy. But, I could do with a knife, and this would sort out a fair few Christmas presents. I struggled with my pride, but decided to go for it.

While I certainly don't intend to become a spokesperson for the company, I'm still pretty happy for the knife. It is definitely not, as they claim, 'the last knife you'll ever need to buy'; it's too long for fancy work and too light for heavy duty chopping, but for most other stuff it's pretty cool. It saws through veg which is usually so soft the knife squashes rather than cuts it, and it'll break up food that's still frozen a treat. The paring knife works fine too. I can't tell you about the filleting knife because I managed to lose it down the back of the oven as soon as I got home.


Mr Grindy

Before I start I need to confess. I love Mr Grindy. I love him more than I thought a woman could love an old fashioned coffee grinder. But even though you laugh, I know our love is pure.


Mr Grindy is another charity shop purchase, and possibly the best £2 I ever spent. He's a pretty old fashioned design, you put the coffee beans in the bronze dish at the top, turn the handle, and freshly ground coffee comes out the drawer at the bottom.

Now, I like coffee, but I don't feel the need for freshly ground beans every day. What I do like is freshly ground spices to put in curries, stews, stir fries, etc. And Mr Grindy has always been up the challenge. I like the old fashioned feel, I like the look of the thing, I like being able to control my spice blend, I like everything about him. I love Mr Grindy.

Lamb Moussaka

For my first entry I intend to begin as I mean to go on; by telling you what I had for dinner.

Moussaka

I had intended to take a picture of the whole thing on my plate, but I got distracted and ate it instead. Here’s a picture of what’s left over.

You can see there’s a lot of it here as I tend to make big batches of food and have the leftovers for lunch over the following days. The system works well, especially if you are going out with a chap with a substantial appetite.

Moussaka is an old Greek dish consisting of lamb mince, aubergine and tomatoes baked with a béchamel sauce on top. It’s one of those dishes where you will never find two recipes the same as everyone cooks it their own way. They are, of course, all wrong. Only my way is the best way.

This will serve 6 small – medium portions or 4 large portions.

For the filling:
500g lamb mince
2 cans chopped tomatoes
2 onions
1 large or 2 small aubergines
1 clove garlic
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp chilli flakes
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp ground coriander
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

For the sauce:
25g butter
2-3 heaped tablespoons plain flour
½ pint milk
ground pepper
2 bay leaves
Handful of grated parmesan.

As with most recipes, the spices here are purely optional depending on your tastes and what you have in the cupboard. The only thing I would insist on is the cinnamon – it goes beautifully with lamb and has a sweet and aromatic earthiness that really makes this meal one of my favourites.

Fry the onions and crushed garlic in a little olive oil until soft. Add the minced lamb and the spices, and stir until nicely browned. Add the chopped tomatoes and leave to simmer.

Slice the aubergines into rounds about the thickness of a pound coin. Liberally grease a baking tray with olive oil and arrange the slices on this. Drizzle a generous amount of oil on the top, and pop under the grill on a low heat. I do this as a quicker alternative to frying, but both work well. A lot of recipes using aubergine tell you to salt and drain the flesh first, but I have never found this necessary. It does soften them a little, but I think any change to the flavour is negligible.

Make a roux by melting the butter in a saucepan, and frying the flour in this. Stir it constantly for a couple of minutes. It will now look like a golden, crumby ball. Remove from the heat and add the milk, a little bit at a time, whilst stirring constantly. Pass through a sieve if you need to get rid of lumps, but as long as you don’t add the milk too quickly this shouldn’t be necessary. Add the bay leaves and pepper, and leave to infuse.

Get a large sized casserole dish and spoon about half of the lamb mince over the bottom. Cover this with half the fried / grilled aubergine. Spoon the rest of the meat of the top, and finish with the final layer of aubergine. Cover the whole thing with the béchamel sauce (after you remove the bay leaves), then sprinkle with parmesan. Stick under the grill or a hot oven for about 10 minutes, and you’re good to go.

I had this with a very tasty blood orange salad, which I dutifully failed to take a photo of, but I will endeavour to post one in the future.

Why Cooking is Awesome

Cooking is just about the best hobby in the world. You play around with ingredients, try out new things, see what happens, and when you’re done with your hobby you get to eat delicious food. And the more you play, the better the food gets.

There are some people in the world who just don’t ‘get’ food. They eat whatever doesn’t take too long to prepare, and stops them from being hungry. This completely freaks out my square mind. How can you not enjoy eating? We are biologically designed to find it in the top three activities that humans can participate in (the first one is obvious. The second I have left open as a wild card – you can make your own choice for that one. I have chosen ‘the films of Arnold Schwarzenegger’. But that is beside the point).

The point is, eating is awesome. Eating really good food that you’ve cooked yourself is even better. You should do that. I know I do.

This is my blog for me to show off when I’ve made something I’m particularly proud, review a restaurant I enjoy, and philosophise about food in general.

*A short note about the title of this blog. Firstly, it is an injunction to get on with trying new things, to think about what you eat and enjoy it. Secondly, it refers to an urban legend in which a celebrity chef (who shall remain nameless) is discovered in a secluded area of a television production studio using the words ‘Eat It!’ to instruct a young (male) TV assistant as to how to perform a certain act upon his person. You do not have to pick one interpretation over another, but I won’t blame you if you do.