Notes From The (Witch's) Kitchen- Spooky Butternut Sqaush Soup And Roasted Seeds

 

Hey Ho.

 

xXx

 

Happy Halloween!!!

 

*Cackle cackle!* Who goes there? Ah it be my beloved friends from beyond the grave! Come in, do come in and taste the fiendish delights on offer tonight :)

 

So I spent Halloween evening with my parents and I decided to cook up a little surprise for them. I remember my  mum making pumpkin soup one year and, it being really lovely and quite an easy thing to do, I settled on that.

When I got to the shop there were only butternut squashes left in the pumpkin section, but let me tell you, it was still, if not more, yummy and it made a brilliant Jack'o Lantern too!

 

xXx

 

Spooky Butternut Squash Soup and Roasted Seeds

Serves two to three

 

Ingredients

1 small/medium squash

salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon single cream

 

Method

Peel and dice the squash (unless you want to lake a Jack O' Lantern too,

 in which case cut his 'lid' off and hollow him out).

 

With about two cups (here I mean drinking cups, like you'd have tea in!) 

of water, add the squash to a saucepan and simmer until softened.

This may take around 30 minutes, and you may need to add a little more water.

 

Season during the cooking and when done, blend to a smooth consistency.

Add the cream and serve :)

 

So easy!

 

And for the seeds...

 

Pumpkin/squash seeds can be eaten too. Boil them up in salted water and simmer for 10 minutes, then roast on a baking tray with a shallow covering of olive oil, until golden- delish!

 

xXx

 

I hope you like my quickly thrown together costume, and if you're wondering about my nail varnish, it's the shade Sunday Funday by Essie.

 

 

And don't forget to enter My First Giveaway, for your chance to win some lovely eyeshadow from Kiko Cosmetics, you have until Monday ladies!

 

 

 

Notes From The Kitchen: Accidental Rainbow Cake

Hello There.

xXx

This was a really fun evening in :) My Beloved and I decided to bake a cake, and my Beloved being involved, it was inevitably going to be 'Rainbow' cake (the cake I won his heart with you might say... )

I call it 'accidental' because it wasn't exactly supposed to turn out how it did, but I'm so glad it ended up in these beautiful pastel shades, rather than the bold, nursery colours we anticipated- it looked so pretty!

The food colourings we bought, we all organic and so didn't contain any artificial colours (which you kind of want!) but because they were so pale the end effect was a really lovely, fairytale-esque affair.

xXx

Accidental Rainbow Cake

serves eight

Ingredients

4 ounces (I'm sorry I'm very old fashioned) self-raising flour

4 ounces caster sugar

4 ounces butter or margarine (plus a little extra for greasing the baking tins)

4 medium eggs

4 food colourings off your choice
a few drops of vanilla extract

strawberry jam

vanilla frosting*

pink glacee icing**

* we gave in to the temptation that is the Betty Crocker's ready made variety but you can find out how to make you own at Simply Scratch.

** Also ready made, but here's how to make your own, courtesy of Yellow Saffron

Method

Make four separate 1 ounce sponge cake mixes:

cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy, whisk in the egg and then sieve in the flour.

Add a few drops of the vanilla extract and of the colouring to each mix, colouring each one different, or however you fancy, and mix it in well.

Grease four, 7 inch (again, terribly and unforgivably old-fashioned!) sponge tins, line with grease-proof paper and pour the mixtures into each separate tin.

Bake at 180 degrees C for 15-20 minutes, or until slightly golden on top.

Leave to cool a little then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely. Then sandwich the separate layers together with the jam to create the whole cake.

Cover in frosting and decorate with glacee icing.

Yum!

xXx

Have you ever had an accidental runaway culinary success?

Also, some exciting news- I've decided to go ahead and offer you girlies a giveaway! It will be my first one, so bear with me, but I'm very excited about it. So watch this space!

Notes From The Kitchen: Quick And Easy Potato Röschti

Hello.

xXx

(I DO NOT OWN THIS IMAGE- IMAGE SOURCE: tofufortwo.net VIA GOOGLE)

So, try as I might I couldn't take a decent picture of my potato röschti, for love nor money- hence the one above is the truest representation of my own culinary marvel I could find on the internet, the wonderful internet, courtesy of good old Google Images ;)

My recipe is however:

an original recipe from

xXx

Potato Röschti With Honey And Herbs

serves three

Ingredients

6 medium potatoes, grated*

half a small onion, finely chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon runny honey

2 teaspoons mixed herbs

salt and pepper to taste

*If you have a blender with the right sort of blades you can use this. Chop or slice the potatoes- skins included for extra goodness- before blending. The desired effect is to have the potato in short, thin strips.

Method

Heat most of the olive oil (saving a little for later) in a frying pan until you begin to smell its aroma, then add the onion, frying until translucent.

Now add the herbs and seasoning, give them a quick stir with the onions to bring out their flavour.

Next add the potato, turning it over well to incorporate all the tastiness!

Leave to sizzle for a minute, stir in the honey, sizzle a minute more and leave to cool.

When the mixture is cool, shape it into round 'cakes' with large pastry cutters, then fry on both sides in the remaining oil, until golden.

Et voila! Serve as an accompaniment or gobble up as a quick snack :)

Bon Apetit!

xXx 

Notes From The Kitchen : Best Ever Pasta Bake

Hey :)

xXx

Here's a home cooked recipe from our most recent escapades in the kitchen. It turned out so well, I thought I'd share it with you. 

Disclaimer: we recognise that your mum's pasta bake is probably, in your opinion, the 'best ever'... But still ;)

An original recipe from

Chicken And Two Cheese Pasta Bake, 

serves five. 

Ingredients

Two large chicken breasts

Cheddar cheese

Hard goats cheese

Half a large onion, or one medium

Garlic- one clove, finely chopped/ one teaspoon powdered

Mixed spice, to taste

Herbs- basil and oregano to taste

Creme fraiche, one tablespoon

Tinned tomatoes , one tin

Fusilli pasta, seven handfuls

One orange pepper

One oyster mushroom

Sugar, three teaspoons

Olive oil, two tablespoons

Salt and pepper 

Method

Prepare the chicken breasts. If they are frozen,  defrost them in the microwave whist you begin the sauce. When defrosted (or If they are fresh), slice or dice them roughly and put to one side.

Put the pasta on to cook,  in a large saucepan of water. Add a little oil to the water, this will help stop the pasta from sticking together. Boil for around 12-15 minutes, checking now and again, until al dente.

Chop the onion and fry in the olive oil until it begins to brown, then add the garlic and the chicken. Fry gently until the chicken is no longer pink in the middle.

When the pasta is done, drain it, rince a little to remove any excess starch, and put to one side. Don't leave it standing in water, it will go soft and mushy.

Chop one orange pepper and one large oyster mushroom and add these to the chicken and onions. Fry for two to three minutes then add one tin of chopped, tinned tomatoes, a cup of water and  three teaspoons of sugar. Add a little mixed spice and a sprinkling of oregano and basil, then a handful each of grated chedder, and grated goats cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer for ten minutes.

When the sauce has combined and reduced a little, turn of the heat and stir in a tablespoon of Creme fraiche. 

Add the pasta to the sauce, combine so that the pasta is covered and transfer to an oven proof dish. Sprinkle generously with more of both grated cheeses and bake at a high temperature for 20 minutes.

Et voila!

We found it really delicious and it was duly enjoyed whilst watching an Attenbourough documentary on giant squid.

Bon appetit :)