Butternut and Nut Butter Soup

I am a fan of soup ... almost as much as I am a fan of clever puns so this soup is already on to a winner purely by its name. I even make my own soup very occasionally. I have made a butternut squash soup before but it was a garlicy one that was also made with carrots, which was tasty but sweeter than I like. I saw this one on the TV this evening that I absolutely plan to be making soon because I think the addition of peanut butter to anything has got to be an improvement!

Fry off two onions in a knob of butter. Add some grated ginger, crushed garlic and chopped red chilli. Peel you squash, cut in half, scoop out the seeds and chop into cubes. Put in the pan with the onion mix, season and cook for five minutes. Add chicken stock and cook for around 25 minutes until the squash is softened, then transfer to a blender and blitz until smooth. Take a ladle of the soup and mix in a tablespoon  or two of crunchy peanut butter until it has combined, then return the soup/peanut butter mix to the rest of the soup in the pan and stir through. Finish the soup with the juice of half a lime. Sprinkle with chopped coriander and a swirl of natural yoghurt.

From River Cottage Every Day, Channel 4, 28th October 2010. Original recipe can be found here: http://www.rivercottage.net/recipes/butternut-nut-butter-soup/

One Pot Sausages and Lentils

Nigella Lawson makes a tasty looking version of this ... but this recipe from BBC Good Food Website is pretty much the same in terms of ingredients however the whole thing is simplified by getting things done in just one pot. Less washing up = happy me :) I cooked this for the first time tonight and the recipe is really simple, and the flavours were fantastic BUT the green lentils i bought took ages to cook and and absorbed about four times the water in the recipe. I've never cooked lentils before so it may have been me. I didn't soak them, but the packet specifically said not too.

Ingredients

Olive Oil
400g Pack of Sausages
1 Onion, Chopped
1 Garlic Clove, Crushed
1 Red Pepper, Sliced
250g Puy/Green Lentils
150ml Veg Stock (I needed MUCH more than this)
125ml Red Wine or extra stock

Fry the sausages for five minutes until brown then put them aside.

In the same pan add onions, peppers and garlic and soften for five minutes adding extra oil if necessary

Return the sausages to the pan with the lentils, wine and stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes until the sausages are cooked and the lentils are soft. (I found i needed to add loads more water/stock and cook it for much longer to get the lentils soft enough ... I suppose it depends on your lentils so use the packet as a guide).

Serve with crusty bread. Serves 4 (apparently ... but many 400g packs of sausage contain 6 sausages which is problematic so really it probably serves 3 at best. If my experience is anything to go by you could half the amount of lentils and triple the amount of water and cooking time you've probably got a great meal for two without any need for bread.)

At the time of writing this recipe can be found on the following link :  http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2233/sausage-and-lentil-onepot

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

I have great memories of eating this cake swimming in a bowl full of custard ... I think it may be one of my all time favourites, although I am quite fickle when it comes to cake and my favourite tends to vary depending on what happens to be around at the time. I can't remember the last time I ate it and I have never baked it. However, this weekend that is set to change. Hubby and I have a roast pork dinner planned for Sunday afternoon and this cake is on the menu for sure.

I had to google for the recipe and found this promising looking one on the BBC Good Food website.

INGREDIENTS

• 50g softened butter
• 50g light soft brown sugar
• 7 pineapples rings in syrup, drained and syrup
• glacé cherry

FOR THE CAKE

• 100g softened butter
• 100g golden caster sugar
• 100g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs

METHOD

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. For the topping, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy. Spread over the base and a quarter of the way up the sides of a 20-21cm round cake tin. Arrange pineapple rings on top, then place cherries in the centres of the rings.
2. Place the cake ingredients in a bowl along with 2 tbsp of the pineapple syrup and, using an electric whisk, beat to a soft consistency. Spoon into the tin on top of the pineapple and smooth it out so it's level. Bake for 35 mins. Leave to stand for 5 mins, then turn out onto a plate. Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream.