Butternut squash soup with blue cheese and toasted pumpkin seeds
SERVES
4-6
INGREDIENTS
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 75g butter
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp dried mushrooms
- 1 large butternut squash (you will need about 500g squash flesh), peeled, deseeded and cut into 3cm dice
- 1 litre chicken stock
- 100ml double cream
- 6 tbsp pumpkin seeds
- 150g Stilton or other good quality blue cheese
- 4 tsp pumpkin oil
METHOD
- Heat a little of the oil in a large heavy-bottomed pan and melt 25g of the butter. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and sweat until soft. Then add the dried mushrooms and cook for a further five minutes until the mushrooms have softened and have released some flavour.
- Add the squash and pour on the chicken stock. Bring to the boil then turn the heat down to a gentle simmer and cook until the squash is soft. This will take about 40 minutes.
- Pour in the double cream and bring to the boil. Remove the pan from the heat and place the solids in a blender. Blitz until smooth, adding as much of the stock mixture as you need to reach the right consistency.
- When blended, pass the soup through a fine sieve, season and keep until needed.
- Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4.
- Scatter the pumpkin seeds on a baking sheet and toast for five to eight minutes until they are a little tinged. Season with salt.
- Ladle the soup into bowls and crumble over the blue cheese. Sprinkle with the toasted pumpkin seeds and drizzle on the pumpkin oil. Serve with crusty bread.
Aromatic beetroot soup with green chilli and caper dressing
Serves 8 - 10
INGREDIENTS
- 2kg beetroot, washed
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 4 star anise
- 4 cloves
- Rapeseed oil, for cooking
- 1 bunch of thyme
- 1kg onions, sliced
- 2 tbsp mustard seeds
- 300ml red wine vinegar
- 150g caster sugar
- 1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
- 150ml double cream
- ½ green chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
- 10 mint leaves, chopped, plus some whole to serve
- 1½ tbsp capers, rinsed and drained
- 4 tbsp crème fraîche
- 1 lemon
METHOD
- Preheat the oven to 190C/Gas 5.
- Lay out a large sheet of tin foil on a large baking tray. Place the beetroot on the foil. Tie the cinnamon, star anise and cloves in a J-cloth or piece of muslin so that nothing can escape. Set the bag among the beetroot. Drizzle them with a good glug of rapeseed oil and scatter with the thyme sprigs. Place another piece of tin foil over the top and seal the edges by crimping them together to make a bag. Place the baking tray in the oven and cook for 1½ hours until the beetroot is tender. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
- Heat a little rapeseed oil in a large heavy-bottomed pan and cook the onion until soft. Add the mustard seeds, red wine vinegar and caster sugar and bring up to the boil. Cook over a high heat to reduce the mixture until the liquid has evaporated – careful not to burn it. Set aside.
- Open the foil bag and remove the skin from the beetroot – if cooked properly, these should just rub off. Chop the beetroot into even-sized chunks. Add to the onion pan and cover with the stock.
- Add the spice bag to the pan and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for 25 minutes until the stock has reduced by a quarter. Add the double cream and bring back to the boil. Remove from the heat.
- Stir the chilli, chopped mint and capers into the crème fraîche. Zest the lemon and stir this in.
- Juice the lemon and add it to the beetroot then blend the soup until smooth. Pass through a fine sieve and season.
- Reheat the strained soup and serve with a dollop of the crème fraîche mixture and a few sprigs of mint.
Turnip and horseradish soup with chilli crispy lamb
SERVES
4-6
INGREDIENTS
- Vegetable oil for cooking
- 1 onion, sliced
- 700g peeled and diced turnips
- 800ml chicken stock
- 200ml double cream
- 3 tbsp fresh horseradish, grated
- 75ml white wine vinegar
- 50g caster sugar
- 250g lamb breast
- 70g cornflour
- 2 green chillies, deseeded and finely sliced
- Cayenne pepper, to season
METHOD
- Heat a little oil in a large pan and cook the onion until soft. Add the turnips and cover with the chicken stock.
- Bring to the boil then turn down to a simmer, and cook until the turnips are soft, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Add the double cream and bring back to the boil then take off the heat and stir in the freshly grated horseradish.
- Transfer to a blender (holding back some of the liquid) and blitz until smooth. Add the liquid as needed – you might not need all of it.
- Place the vinegar and sugar in a pan and bring up to the boil, heating until the sugar has dissolved, then remove from the heat. Stir this gradually into the blended soup, tasting as you go, to give it a sweet acidity – you may not need it all. Season.
- Finely slice the lamb breast into little strips and toss them in cornflour for a light dusting. Heat enough vegetable oil to shallow fry the strips, cooking them until very crispy. Drain on kitchen paper.
- Scatter the chilli over the lamb and season with salt and cayenne pepper.
- Pour the soup into bowls and serve sprinkled with the crispy lamb and chilli mix.
