Happy Halloween

Spiced Pumpkin & Apple Soup

It’s that time of year again. With things being so very different this year, treat yourselves to some homemade healthy soup.

As well as providing you with some of your seven a day it is also very economical to make, using the flesh from all that pumpkin carving and windfall apples.

For the adults I highly recommend using cider to make this soup, however, for the children vegetable stock is a better option.

To finish the soup, toast some bread, using a cookie cutter, stamp out to ghostly shapes, Sprinkle with grated cheese or a vegan alternative, float on tp of individual bowls of soup.

Dairy free, gluten free, Vegetarian, vegan. Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• 1kg Pumpkin flesh
• 1 Large Potato, peeled & diced
• 2 Large Bramley Apple., peeled & chopped
• 1 large onion, peeled & diced
• 1 Large Carrot. Chopped
• 2 Sticks Celery. Chopped
• 2 Sage leaves
• 1 Tbspn Smoked Paprika
• 1 Tbspn Curry powder
• 1/2 tspn grated nutmeg.
• 1.5 Ltrs Vegetable Stock or for the adults. 1/2 veg stock & 1/2 Cider.
• 3tbspns Rapeseed Oil.
• Seasoning

METHOD.

• Heat the oil in a large saucepan, over a medium heat.
• Add the vegetables & fruit. Fry for 5mins.
• Sprinkle in the spices & fry for a further 3mins, stirring regularly.
• Add the liquid(s). Bring to the boil, turn down the heat, simmer for 45mins.
• Remove from heat, blend in a liquidiser or with a stick until smooth.
• Season to taste and serve.

Should the soup be to thick for your liking, thin down with extra veg stock.

Enjoy

Happy Halloween

Fish is the dish

Daily recipe 27 March 2020

Hey all, how are you doing? Hope you are all keeping positive and ready for today’s recipe. How much fish do you eat each week? Fish, especially oily fish is a very important addition to our diets and a good source of Omega three and vitamn B12. To keep your immune system healthy you need to eat a well balance diet, including fresh or frozen fruit and veg. Sorry to be a spoil sport, but you also need to remember, while self isolating and lazing in front of the TV, you need to reduce your calorie intake. Less activity means less food. Simples.

Today is not so much a recipe, but suggestions for you to create tasty dishes using fish. Fish is a great brain food, so no excuses. Use you imagination.

Cook some brown rice or quinoa in vegetable stock, add chopped apple, walnuts and celery. Stir in some flaked smoked Mackerel , dress with olive mixed with crushed garlic, lemon juice and a teaspoon of horseradish. Sprinkle with chopped parley or dill. Serve with a light lunch or supper.

Cooked brown rice – leftover, perhaps – can be mixed with lightly fried, chopped onions, celery and grated carrot. Mix in tinned tuna fish, olives and a tin of chopped tomatoes. Spoon into halved, de-seeded pepper shells, sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake in the oven until the peppers are just tender. approx 40mins.

In a food processor add two tins of sardines in olive oil, drained. Add half a grated onion, half a teaspoon of curry powder, two chopped hard boiled eggs and two skinned, chopped tomatoes. Process until smooth. Spread on toast and grill or serve with crackers.

Process two skinned smoked mackerel fillets, with 250ml greek yoghurt, chopped parsley and a teaspoon of grated lemon rind. When smooth, turn into a bowl, serve as a dip with cucumber, celery and carrot sticks.

Dip fresh Mackerel fillets in beaten egg mixed with a teaspoon of English Mustard and coat in rolled porridge oats. Lightly fry in 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Serve with baked potatoes and grated carrot and orange salad.

There’s a few ideas to keep you going You can use different fish and vegetables, the choice is yours. Post your fishy photographs to twitter or Instagram, using the #northdevondoesfish. We will share them in next weeks blog. Stay safe. Eat healthy.

Stay safe, eat healthy

Summer Salads

Healthy Eating

We all love eating al fresco, whether it be a formal meal, in the garden or seated on the sun drenched terrace of that little Greek Taverna. Out door eating, brings out the best – or worst – in us all. It takes just a few golden rays pushing through the grey English gloom and POW! we go into lunatic mode and out comes the Barbeque. Of course, that means a frenzied rush to the Supermarket to gather the lurid red, synthetic coated, chicken wings, pork chops and gristly burgers, made from more animal derivatives than you would find in your average tin of dog food. In the bread aisle we grab a couple of packs of cotton wool textured baps – I can’t even call them bread. – Next you head for the chiller cabinets to pick up some salads? Why? OK, I can hear you crying “I don’t have the time”. Of course you do, with a little bit of organisation and less time on Social Media, you can make the time.

Home made and healthy

Recently, through the media, we have been made aware of the dangers of obesity and various medical conditions, emanating from our consumption of unhealthy foods. Processed, fast food is all about flavour enhancing sugar, salt, fats, chemical additives and preservatives. The craving for these foods, have little to do with the food itself, but more to the added synthetic textures & flavours, giving you a sensory overload, to get you hooked. – Think nicotine. – Why do we want to eat these and feed them to our children, encouraging them to develop a taste for over sweet, salty, synthetic foods. Give them a taste of real homemade food & they won’t like it. You, have fed them these unnatural foodstuffs and denied them the fresh natural taste of homemade, unadulterated food. Processed foods and ready prepared, chopped fruits and veg, apart from being more expensive, have less nutritional value than their home made, freshly prepared counterparts. Pre-packed fruits and veg, once chopped quickly leak their Vitamin content and many have sugar, salt & preservatives added to them to preserve there colour. How long does it take to chop carrots or shred a lettuce?

Next time you visit the Supermarket, take a look at the labels on the foods you are purchasing. Out of interest, I looked at a pack of pre-cooked chicken breasts. You will be aware that foods have to be labeled with the ingredients in decreasing order. These chicken breasts contained, chicken, sugar, salt and various preservatives! Why do cooked chicken breasts need sugar?? I will leave it for you to work out.

Chop yourself some chillis

Prepacked, processed, convenience foods are not in the shops to provide you with healthy options, despite what the labeling might say. They are convenience foods which have been designed by marketing agencies. With their smart packaging and snappy slogans they fool you into believing you are providing yourself and family with fresh, healthy, natural food. In reality they are convenience foods, placed on the shelves to play on your insecurities. Forget it. These products are there to make money for the Supermarket and food manufacturing companies, they have no thought for your health.

Don’t give in, make the time, to prepare your own food from scratch. What have you got to loose? you will save money, eat healthier and once you become aware of the taste of real food, probably lose weight and certainly not expose yourself to the plethora of illness associated with unhealthy eating. Go on, you owe it to yourself and your family.

In my blog next week, I will be giving you some simple recipes, for salad dressings and salads. All will take you under 30 mins to prepare. If you make up a large amount of the basic dressing recipe, you can use you imagination to add different ingredients to create other dressings and salads of your choice. You can find some of my previous recipes by following the links below: https://truffleicious.blog/2018/02/10/warm-butternut-squash-black-kale-salad/ https://truffleicious.blog/2019/03/22/harissa-chutney/

Until next week. Happy healthy eating.

Merry Christmas

Christmas Countdown 22 Recipes for a Merry Christmas

If you have been. Thank you for reading. This concludes the 22 recipe Christmas Countdown. All thats left for me to say is “I hope you have found these recipes useful & you have enjoyed, reading these blogs.

Click the photos below to take you to the individual recipes. OR the blue link below will take you to all the recipes, mentioned below in the drop down menu of Christmas Countdown.

WISHING YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HEALTHY & HAPPY NEW YEAR

• 

  Lemon Mincemeat

• 

  Perfect Pastry

• 

  Late cake recipe

• 

  Chocolate & Coconut Vegan Truffles

• 

  Mascapone Pastry

• 

  Marzipan or Sugar Pan

• 

  Top those pies with Veg

• 

  The Christmas Starter

• 

  Do real men eat Quiche?

• 

  The icing on the cake

• 

  About Christmas Countdown

• 

  A Cooks Life

• 

  Chocolate Please

• 

  Vegetables & leftovers

• 

  A change from Sage & onion

• 

  Veggies, look away now

• 

  Roasted Mediterranean Veg

• 

  A little knowledge

• 

  Christmas Stollen Pudding

• 

  Easy Turkey thigh bake

• 

  The Social

The Christmas Starter

Smoked Trout & Avocado recipe

There’s a touch of vintage to day ten of the Christmas Countdown. 

If you want a nod to the 70’s you could fill the centre of this ring -when you have turned it out-. with good old Prawn Cocktail. This would make a substantial starter, or a fishy addition to the Boxing day Buffet. You could even serve Melba toast as an accompaniment.

For myself, I would fill the centre with some fresh leafy shoots & herbs, in a light lemon dressing.

This recipe can be make a couple of days ahead & kept, covered in the fridge. When the time comes to serve,  dip the mould in hot watet for a few seconds, place a plate on the mould & quickly turn over, to release. Place back in the fridge, until ready to decorate & serve.

Smoked Trout & Avocado

Smoked Trout & Avocado ring.

Serves 6.  G/F, V.  Allergens:  Dairy, Fish      Equipment: 800ml ring mould

Time taken:  45 mins + chilling time 

INGREDIENTS 

200g Pack Smoked Trout         

2. Ready to eat Avocado’s  Peeled & chopped 

Fresh Dill to decorate

225g Mascapone Cheese

225g Greek Yoghurt

1/2 level tspn salt

White pepper

1 Tbspn Creamed Horseradish

150ml Cold Water

15g powdered gelatine (Vegetarian)

METHOD

Measure the cold water into a small saucepan, add the salt & sprinkle over the gelatine. Allow to soak for 5mins, & heat gently, stiring, until the gelatine has dissolved. DO NOT ALLOW TO BOIL Remove from the heat & allow to cool.

Rinse out the rind mould with cold water & line,  with the smoked trout slices.

Place the Mascapone, 1/2 the yoghurt, horseradish & pepper to taste into a bowl & mix well to blend.

Stir in the cold gelatine & chopped avocado & gently fold in the remaining yoghurt.

Spoon the mixture into the fish lined mould. Cover with cling film & place in the fridge until set.

When ready to serve, turn out, see above. Decorate & serve.

Variations: 

Substitute the trout, for thinly sliced parma ham, & the avocado for diced sundried tomatoes & olives.  Fill the centre with rocket leaves, dressed in olive oil & shaved parmesan.

For a vegan option. Line the mould with thinly sliced cucumber. Replace the cheese & yoghurt with vegan substitutes.

I am sure you can all get your creative caps on & experiment with many different variations on the above recipe.

That all for today. As always, if you have any questions about your festive cookery. Please ask, by leaving a comment in the box below. I will answer tomorrow.

Have a great evening.