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Halloween Recipes

October 26, 2016 By Rachel Leave a Comment

Halloween  is next week and for many the appearance of the bright orange pumpkin in the shops usually means it’s time to get carving the lantern.

Pumpkin recipes

Halloween Food

However, the pumpkin is a great fruit, yes it is a fruit, not a vegetable and an extremely versatile one at that. For me it  signals that not only is Halloween around the corner but that Autumn has arrived and it’s  time for a change of flavours in the kitchen. Different seasons bring new colours, new aromas, and the pumpkin denotes warm, spicy earthy tones that add comfort to food as we move away from salads and the lightness and freshness of summer food. One thing to bear in mind is that the large pumpkins are usually grown with Halloween in mind and can be a bit bland. Flavour can be added with herbs and spices and rather than waste the flesh and seeds from a carved pumpkin, it can be cooked up into some delicous treats.

Pumpkin works well in casseroles and curries, as a soup, in risotto and as a stuffing for certain pasta, a roasted veg and even in a cake or a dessert. When I mentioned that I was making a selection of cakes and desserts with my pumpkin haul, there were a few raised eyebrows in the house,  not surprising as my boys would never eat it as a savoury dish, preferring to carve it in to a lantern to go trick or treating or to adorn the doorstep on Halloween. However, like other fruit or vegetable cakes it makes a lovely addition as it lends a nice subtle sweetness and moistness to a sponge cake and it’s also a nice change for a cheesecake or pie. Warm spices such as cinnamon, ginger and chilli compliment the flavour of pumpkin as do sweet flavours such as orange and surprisingly for some chocolate. These recipes make a nice change from the soups and savoury dishes and where possible I have reduced the calorie content by using oil or ‘lighter’ ingredients.

Baked Pumpkin Cheesecake with Chocolate Ginger Sauce

Pumpkin recipes

 

Ingredients

225g digestive biscuits

60g butter

Juice and zest of 1 orange

340g cooked pumpkin. Either roast or steam

25g fresh ginger grated

225g golden caster sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

4 eggs

Sauce

175g Plain chocolate

50g butter

1 tbsp ginger wine or a tbsp of the syrup from the preserved ginger.

2 pieces of preserved ginger (from a jar) chopped

Place the chocolate,  butter and milk in a heatproof bowl and place over a pan of simmering water, stir until melted and creamy. Stir in the ginger and set aside until needed.

Cheesecake

Heat the oven to 170oc /. Fan Gas 3

Grease and line a 10 in/25cm loose bottomed cake tin.

Crush the digestive biscuits into fine crumbs.

Melt the butter over a low heat, stir in the biscuit crumbs along with the orange zest Press the biscuit crumb mix into the base of the tin and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, pumpkin, grated ginger, sugar, and cinnamon until the mixture is smooth. A food mixer will make this much easier.

Beat the eggs and fold into the pumpkin mixture. Pour into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for approximately 90 mins until set and a skewer comes out clean. Once cool,turn onto a serving plate, cover and chill overnight. To serve, dust lightly with icing sugar and drizzle with chocolate sauce.

Pumpkin recipes

Pumpkin and apple samosas

Makes 12

1 packet of Filo pastry

Filling Ingredients

225g pumpkin chopped into a small dice

110g apples chopped into a small dice

25g sultanas

25g grated ginger

1 tbsp plain flour

Light muscovada sugar   Combine the filling ingredients together. Unroll the Filo, and cover with a damp tea towel.

Take one sheet of pastry and brush with melted butter or oil, fold one third, brush again and fold I the final third to make one long strip of pastry.

Place a spoonful of the filling at one corner end of the Filo and fold diagonally to make a triangle. Continue folding until you reach the end of the pastry strip and have formed a triangle parcel. Brush with melted butter or oil, place on a baking sheet and bake, 200C/ 180c fan Gas 6 for 20 – 30 mins until crisp and golden.

Allow to cool slightly,  dust lightly with icing sugar and serve with low fat creme fraiche or Greek yoghurt.

My next healthier Halloween offering is my Chocolate & Orange Pumpkin cake and although it contains sugar , there’s no artificial colourings.

Pumpkin recipes

 

This is a recipe I have adapted from my Mother in laws chocolate cake and the various carrot cakes I have made over the years. It’s made with fresh pumpkin and rapeseed oil as I find using oil makes for a more moist cake and much lower in saturated fat than butter.

The frosting is made with light cream cheese, icing sugar and grated orange rind,  although a lighter option is an orange drizzle icing.

Ingredients

Cake

300g self raising flour

300g light muscovada sugar

1tbsp ginger

2.5 tsp cinnamon

60g cocoa powder (Green and Blacks gives the best flavour)

1/2 tsp salt

4 eggs beaten

140 ml rapeseed oil

30 ml natural yoghurt

Zest of 1 orange

650g pumpkin grated.

Frosting

200g light cream cheese

85g butter

100g icing sugar

Zest of 1 orange

Approx 2 tbsp orange juice.

Oven Temp 180oc/ fan 160oc gas 4

30×20 cm loose bottomed cake tin – greased and lined with baking parchment

Put the dry ingredients, flour,sugar, spice, bicarbonate of soda, cocoa powder and salt in to a large mixing bowl.

Beat the eggs, add the oil and yoghurt and orange zest and mix well. Fold in to the dry ingredients and then stir in the grated pumpkin ensuring that it is mixed well.

Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 35 – 40 mins or until springy to touch.

Frosting

Beat the cream cheese, butter, icing sugar together until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the orange zest / juice until you achieve the desired flavour.

I find too much zest and juice makes the finished flavour to orangey and can be overpowering for the flavour of the cake. Using a palette knife to spread and swirl the frosting over the cake. Decorate as required.

Notes. Once frosted the cake keep well for a few days in the fridge. Lower the calorie count by using an orange drizzle icing.

Orange Drizzle Icing

Juice of 1 orange and zest of 1/2. 100g granulated sugar Mix ingredients together and drizzle over cake.

 

 

My thanks to Debra at Gardens Inspired Blogspot  for the pumpkin garden pictures.

 

Filed Under: Dessert, Family friendly, Seasonal

Let the Christmas cooking begin. Christmas Pudding

November 23, 2014 By Rachel Leave a Comment

image

If there’s one part of the Christmas preparations I love, it’s all the cooking in the run up to the big day and of course the dinner on Christmas Day. Already the supermarket shelves are groaning with with puddings, cakes and mince pies, regardless of whether you buy the luxury, the finest, or even the value, nothing tastes quite as good as the homemade versions.

The cooking always starts with the Christmas pudding and stir up Sunday, the Sunday before the start of advent, when traditionally everyone in the household  gave the mixture a stir and made a wish. Our family Christmas Eve and day is always a traditional celebration and as I always make several puddings, stirring up the pudding signals the start of getting ready for Christmas.

The recipe I use has changed over the years, sometimes even on stir up Sunday when I’ve realised that I’ve got rum and no brandy or too many raisins and not enough currants. This year, as well as making my own recipe, I’m trying this new recipe from Chef Neil Forbes from Edinburgh’s Cafe St Honore. I tasted the pudding last year when I attended one of Neil’s Slow Food master classes so I know it is a recipe worth using.

Neil has kindly shared the recipe for us all to have go, so get stirring up and make your Christmas pudding now.

Chef Neil Forbe's delicious homemade Christmas pudding.

Chef Neil Forbes delicious homemade Christmas pudding.

 

Recipe.  Serves 4 (1 pudding)

Ingredients

125g sultanas
125g currants
125g raisins
20g glacé cherries, chopped
20g mixed peel
½ bramley apple, grated
20g carrot, grated
2 tsp finely grated orange zest
40g prunes, stoned and chopped
50g plain flour
20g ground almonds
60g bread crumbs
1tbsp milk
50g soft dark brown sugar
75g proper beef suet
1 tbsp golden syrup
1 egg
Pinch each of salt, mixed spice and cinnamon
Glug each of brandy, sherry and rum
4 tbsp stout

Method
· Place the sultanas, currants and raisins in a large bowl. Add the alcohol and leave to soak overnight.
· Line a 2 pint pudding basin with muslin, leaving enough spare to tie at the top.
· Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl of soaked fruit and mix well.
· Fill the lined pudding basin with the mix and tie up the muslin with a piece of string.
· Gently steam the pudding for 2 hours in a lidded pot (water covering half the pudding basin). Don’t allow to boil dry.
· Before serving, check that the centre of the pudding is piping hot.
· Serve with brandy sauce or pouring cream.

The pudding maker, Chef Neil Forbes.

The pudding maker, Chef Neil Forbes.

And a final word from Neil, “Nothing gives me greater pleasure at this time of year than making our Christmas puddings. They are simply stunning, stuffed with plump brandy soaked Californian raisins and organic ingredients. We make them all by hand at Cafe St Honore“.

If making your own Christmas pudding doesn’t appeal then Neil’s puddings are available from Cafe St Honore, Edinburgh, priced £12.50 including the lovely ceramic bowl they come in. You can pick one up from the restaurant or email eat@cafesthonore.com or call 0131 226 2211.

 

Images: Paul Johnston, Copper Mango

 

 

 

Filed Under: Dessert, Seasonal

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