Warm pumpkin and chickpea salad with tahini

Ingredients

• 500g pumpkin or squash, peeled, seeded and cut into cubes
• ½ clove garlic, crushed
• pinch ground allspice
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 125g cooked chickpeas, or 1 x 200g/7oz tin chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• ½ small red onion, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp roughly chopped fresh coriander
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
  
  For the tahini sauce
• ½ clove garlic, crushed to a paste with salt
• 1½ tbsp lemon juice
• 1½ tbsp tahini paste
• 1 tbsp water, to taste
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
2. Toss the pumpkin with the garlic, allspice, olive oil and some salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place on a tray in the oven for about 15-25 minutes or until soft. Remove and cool.
3. While the pumpkin is cooking, make the tahini sauce. Mix the crushed garlic with the lemon juice and add the tahini. Thin with water and olive oil and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. You should taste a balance between the nutty tahini and lemon.
4. To assemble the salad, place the pumpkin, chickpeas, red onion and coriander in a mixing bowl. Pour on the tahini sauce and toss carefully. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and serve.

This recipe originated on the BBC Food site

Roasted Butternut Squash and Brown Rice Risotto

Loosley based on a recipe from a book long since returned to the library, but with just about every ingredient substituted anyway to what I normally have in the cupboards. This is scribbled down from memory as I made it last night. I don't see any reason why pumpkin couldn't be used instead of butternut squash.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, chopped, or 1 leek, sliced into 1/2" rounds
• 1 clove garlic
• 2oz mushrooms
• 1/2 tbsp butter
• olive oil
• 120g brown Basmati rice
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into 1" cubes
• 1 small courgette, sliced
• 1 coarsely grated carrot
• 70ml vegetable or chicken stock
• 25g Parmesan, grated
• 1/2 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley

Methodology:

1. Soak the brown rice in water for 20 mins beforehand, then drain and cook in fresh water until just done, approx 20 mins.
2. Preheat oven to gas mark 5. Heat half the olive oil in an roasting tin, add the squash and half the thyme, season with black pepper and salt. Roll the squash around to get it oiled all over, and roast for 20-30 mins until soft and just starting to brown.
3. Heat half the butter and the rest of the oil in a large pan, fry the onions and garlic until soft, add the mushrooms and courgettes and cook until just going brown.
4. Add the grated carrot, stir through and cook for 2 mins.
5. Add the rice, the rest of the thyme, the parsley and the stock and cook half-covered for 5 mins.
6. Add half the Parmesan and the roasted squash and stir through. Season to taste.
7. Serve straight away with the rest of the Parmesan sprinkled on top.

Mushroom Rice

Quick, simple, reliable, and can be either a light meal or a side dish. What more can anyone want?

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Basmati rice
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 pound mushrooms (you can use any combination including field, button, shiitake, oyster, and portabello mushrooms)
• 2 scallions or shallots, or half an onion diced very fine
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• Fresh flat-leaf parsley

Method:

1. In a large heavy saucepan, bring rice and water with salt to a boil. Stir rice once and cook, covered, over moderately low heat for 6 minutes.
2. Remove pan from heat, drain off the water, and let rice stand, covered with a towel-wrapped lid, for 5 minutes (it's fine to leave it longer until you're ready to use it!)
3. Cut mushrooms into 1/4-inch-thick slices and chop the scallions/shallots/onion.
4. In a skillet heat butter over moderately high heat until the foam subsides and sauté the mushrooms with salt to taste until golden and any liquid given off is evaporated. If you're using shallots or an onion, brown those along with the mushrooms.
5. Add the wine and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the wine is evaporated.
6. Fluff the rice up with a fork, stir in the mushrooms and scallions and sprinkle over the parsley before serving.

Tip: To make this a main meal for non-veggies, you can add stir in shredded cooked chicken at the end and heat through thoroughly.

Chicken and Mushroom Risotto

This one is a great recipe if, like me, you have a vegetarian and a meat-eater in the house and don't want to be arsing about making two seperate meals. You can just make this (using vegetarian stock) up to stage 3, then add the peas in and set aside a portion to keep meat-free before adding the chicken to the rest.

Ingredients:

• Knob of butter
• 1/2 onion , finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove , finely chopped
• 150g risotto rice
• 1 glass white wine
• 500ml chicken or vegetable stock, heated to simmering
• Handful peas, cooked
• Cooked or leftover roast chicken, torn into strips, no skin
• 25g Parmesan, grated
• 100g fresh mushrooms cleaned and sliced
• A little salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper
• Flat leaved parsley, chopped
• Lemon juice

Methodology:

1. Melt a knob of butter in a large pan, add the mushrooms, onion and garlic and cook until onions are soft and translucent. Stir in the rice until coated with butter.
2. Add half the wine and stir until evaporated. Add the stock a ladle at a time until the rice is cooked but still with a little bite, adding in the rest of the wine with the last of the stock. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Add the peas and chicken in the last 5 minutes of cooking to heat through.
4. When the rice is tender and the risotto is thick and creamy remove from the heat, stir in the Parmesan and a squirt of lemon juice and leave to rest for about 30 seconds, before garnishing with the parsley and some shavings of Parmesan cheese.

Serves two people

Apple-Honey Scones

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 2/3 cup wheat germ
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup butter, chilled
• 1 1/4 cups finely chopped apple
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1/3 cup honey

For the topping:

• 1 tablespoon wheat germ
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Lightly grease a large baking sheet.
2. Combine the first seven ingredients; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Combine the apple, milk and honey, and mix into the dry ingredients until they are just moistened.
4. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface - knead gently 5-6 times. Pat into 9-inch circle.
5. Combine remaining ingredients - sprinkle over dough.
6. Cut into 10 wedges; place 1/2 inch apart on prepared cookie sheet. Bake 16-18 minutes.

Phoenician Honey Cakes (Melomakarona or Finikia)

These small honey cakes offered to callers at a Greek home at Christmas and New Year. The recipe for these cakes is said to have been brought to Greece by the Phoenicians. I don't make them often, as they are far too indulgent for an everyday kind of snack - they are a special treat! Best served with a Turkish coffee.

Ingredients

• 375 ml olive oil (use one of the light varieties)
• 375 ml unsalted butter, softened
• 125ml sugar
• 375 ml orange juice (or half retsina or dry white wine)
• 10 ml baking powder
• 125 ml brandy
• Grated orange rind
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
• 1.3 kilos of all purpose flour
• Chopped walnuts or almonds
• Cinnamon
• A syrup made by boiling together 375 ml honey, 375 ml sugar and 375 ml water and the juice of 1 lemon for 5 minutes.

Methodology

• Preheat the oven to 180 C and lightly oil several baking sheets.
• Beat together the olive oil, butter and sugar.
• Dissolve the baking powder in the orange juice and combine in a jug with the brandy and orange rind. Beat the liquid into the oil and sugar mixture and then gradually add the flour until a soft dough is formed.
• Knead the dough lightly and form little balls the size and shape of an egg; flatten balls lightly on an oiled baking sheet.
• Bake in a moderate oven (190 C) for 15-25 minutes until they are browned. When the cakes are cooked, take them from the oven and while they are still warm, lower each one into the hot syrup for 2/3 minutes.
• Place them on greaseproof paper to cool. Sprinkle them with chopped walnuts or almonds and cinnamon.

Blackberry Muffins

At this time of year I go mad and bring home buckets of blackberries (and we don't have a freezer) and everyone ends up groaning, "Oh no, not blackberry and apple pie again!". So this is a nice alternative way of using them, and I have to say these are damned good consumed with a cup of hot chocolate in front of the wood-burning stove.

Ingredients

• 200g/7oz plain wholemeal flour
• 85g/3oz caster sugar (I usually only use 2 oz as I don't like muffins too sweet)
• 1/2 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 142ml/5fl oz buttermilk* or sour cream or yoghurt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 42g/1 1/2oz butter, melted
• 125g/5oz blackberries (be generous, I normally throw in a few more for good luck)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 5. Grease a 6-hole muffin tin (you'll probably have more batter than just for 6 muffins, I normally get about 8 or 9)
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix in the sugar.
3. In a separate bowl, beat the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla essence and melted butter together.
4. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until the ingredients are just combined and the mixture is quite stiff, but be careful not to overmix - it should be lumpy!
5. Lightly fold in the blackberries, then spoon the mixture into the tins to fill the holes generously.
6. Bake for 15-18 minutes until risen and pale golden on top. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes, before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Like all muffins these don't keep well and are best eaten the same day. You were going to do that anyway right?

Buttermilk Substitute

Yeah, I never have any on hand either, and my local supermarkets only sporadically keep it. So, here's a good way to 'sour' milk to use in the place of buttermilk.

To each cup of milk, add 1 1/2 tbsp of fresh lemon juice or 1 1/3 tbsp of cider vinegar. For best results warm the milk through slightly first. Let the soured milk stand for at least five mins before using it to give it time to thicken.

Soured milk will keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days in a tightly covered container.