Chris Cornell ~ Like A Stone
Maroon 5 ~ How
Stevie Ray Vaughan ~ Say What!
Bowie ~ Loving the Alien
Xtina ~ Candy Man
Foo Fighters ~ Everlong
Louis Armstrong ~ What A Wonderful World
Metallica ~ Whisky In The Jar
Hutch ~ Just One Of Those Things
Prince ~ Sexy M.F
Manic Street Preachers ~ Your Love Alone Is Not Enough
Shakira ~ Good Stuff
The Union ~ You Can Share My Dreams
Sarah McLachlan ~ Ice
I am sat here writing this post watching the dark grey clouds looming outside and the rain that's been coming down for the last few days...listening to my iPod...smiling at the selections of my shuffle function. I'm reminded how beautiful the world is by Louis...(I'm a dark weather rain loving freak remember?! lol)..how, no matter how I am feeling physically, my mind and body can react to a great rock tune by Metallica..not to take life so seriously by Hutch...and that sharing your dreams with the one you love is a beautiful thing by The Union. Yep...I love music.
I also love cooking and I was able to do some yesterday..well in a fashion. With the help of my trusty assistant Noo. My little niece is the coolest kid and when ML & I started to gather the ingredients together for this recipe, she was glued to my side asking if she could help and ...."Auntie Red can I do that bit? Can I? Can I? Show me how?.." To be honest its one of my greatest joys showing the little ones their way around my kitchen..(actually I was sat my dining table prepping with ML being my legs..lol Thanks ML)..I taught Noos Mum and our brothers kitchen skills when they were all little ones too. (Major age difference between me and my sibs)..and my brother stills remembers making Mushroom Risotto with me. Noo and I had a great time as we worked our way through the recipe and she listened carefully despite being a little over eager sometimes but for a four year old (nearly 5 Auntie Red! lol) she responded well to her first Knife Skills lesson and was confidently slicing veggies to her little hearts content. lol. Proud Auntie moment for sure. Anyway....lol
This recipe is from the kitchen of Ms Sophie Dahl and from her cookbook From Season to Season. I originally found this book in my local library and booked it out and kept it out for a year! lol. Ms Dahl has a great mix of veggie (easily veganised) and naturally vegan recipes but also has meat & fish dishes. I believe Ms Dahl was once a vegan herself so she still incorporates those recipes in her work. I fell for this cookbook back then and reluctantly took it back to the library. And then recently I found a used copy for £2!!!! It was meant to be...
I had a small Harvest Squash sat in my kitchen which I had purchased for stuffing but when my copy of Ms Dahls cookbook arrived I knew exactly what it was going to be used for. So once it had been scrubbed and dried I set about slicing it with Noo carefully removing all the seeds to take home and dry out and plant...she's quite the keen gardener, don't ya know. Plus she believes that pumpkins are magic...and shes going to grow them for me so I can eat them and get better. Gotta love the little ones, eh?
Now I adapted the recipe somewhat...in as much as I used a regular white onion instead of red for no other reason than its what I had to hand. I used a rubbed sprinkling of a little dried sage as I didn't have any fresh sage. I also changed the dressing slightly from using either ground cumin or cumin seeds to using a little of both and leaving out the creme fresh/sour cream. I also used a beautiful savoy cabbage as the green instead of swiss chard and kale...once again..because its what I had. And I left out the oil in the greens as I felt there was enough oil in the dish already in the baking of the pumpkin and dressing. But I shall write the recipe up as Ms Dahl intended.
It's a beautiful dish with many layers of flavour and very filling. And as with all the other recipes of Ms Dahls I've tried...it will be a regular meal in this kitchen.
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| Ms Dahl's Baked Pumpkin with lemon, sauteed greens and toasted cumin dressing |
Baked Pumpkin with lemon, sauteed greens and toasted cumin dressing
(Recipe from From Season to Season/Dahl)
2lb pumpkin, deseeded and chopped or sliced
1 large red onion, peeled and chopped
a few fresh sage leaves, roughly torn
salt and pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds or ground cumin
juice of half a lemon
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp of creme fraiche or sour cream (obviously vegan options, eh?)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 handful of swiss chard
1 handful of curly kale
Preheat the oven to 220'C/200'cfan/GasMark7. Put the pumpkin into a roasting tray with the onion and sage, season, and pour over the olive oil. Cook for around 30 minutes or until the pumpkin is tender.
While the pumpkin is cooking, make your dressing. In a small pan on a medium heat toast the cumin seeds. This should only take a minute, and you will know its ready when the dusk of the cumin is roaming around your kitchen. Cool for a minute, then squeeze the lemon juice into the pan, followed by the olive oil. Put this into a jug or something and leave to the side, stirring the creme fraiche in just before serving.
Now, the greens. In a big frying pan heat the olive oil and garlic. Throw in the greens and cook until tender, about 5-10 minutes.
Take the pumpkin out of the oven, put the greens on a plate with the pumpkin on top and cover with the dressing.
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| Gratuitous foodie shot...lol |
Enjoy!
Thanks for stopping by and I hope your Sunday has been a great one....
~Red~ & Noo
