Pumpkin and bacon soup

You may already know about my crazy allergic reaction to pumpkin. (I've written about it before, but in a nutshell, pumpkin flesh causes my skin to peel off. Gross, right? Needless to say, my house was jack-o-lantern-less this year). And you may be asking why would I attempt this recipe?

Well first, the title is a bit of a misnomer, because what's actually called for is squash, and not pumpkin. Second, it requires slab bacon, which is something I've never before bought, but have always been curious about. I was able to source some from a woman who sells organic and heritage pork products at the Ottawa Lansdowne Farmers Market. Slab bacon is not cured, meaning it won't keep like traditinal bacon. Apparently you can slice it thinly, sprinkle it with salt, and cook in a frying pan to make your own crispy bacon. I didn't try that technique, but I still have half my slab in the freezer, so a future experiment might be called for. Plus, when I was buying this, there were many other customers at the stand who said they have sworn off regular style bacon because this method is so much better.

Here's what the slad (or side) bacon looks like. As you can see, it's pretty fatty, as I suppose all bacon is. I froze it briefly so that it was pretty easy to slice thickly and cut into lardons. By the way, this bacon came from a heritage Tamworth piggy.

And this is what it looks like after it has been cooked with the veggies. I won't lie, it is basically just a bunch of fatty bits. You'll probably be pretty scared at this point -- I know I was -- but try to think of that bacon as flavour. And it all gets blended in the end anyway, so you won't actually end up chewing one of those nuggets.

So while the bacon's cooking away, you get started on the pumpkin/squash. This one's a hubbard, and it was a beast to chop. You need your biggest chef's knife and a lot of strength. I opted for the fantastically safe method of stabbing it with my knife, and then flinging it against the counter until it broke in half. Hey, I still have both eyes, and all my fingers, so it worked out okay.

See? All chopped up and nary a fingertip in sight. (That's because all my flesh had worn away by this point.)

And this is the soup avec stock and simmering squash. Those white bits are still bacon (yep, may look like gnocchi, but it's not).

And here's the final product, all blended up. I have to say that I was skeptical about the outcome, but it turned out all right. The soup has a pretty rich, creamy flavour, mostly from the bacon. Because the slab bacon wasn't smoked, you don't get that smoky, bacony flavour in the soup, but instead there's a kind of earthy layer that offsets the sweetness of the squash.

I'm not sure if I would heartily recommend this recipe, but if you're looking for a bit of a twist on a traditional squash soup concoction, you might give this a try. Plus, a pork farmer will thank you!

Pumpkin and Bacon Soup
(Published in the Ottawa Citizen, but orginally from Fat by Jennifer McLagan)

Makes 3L

8 ounces (225g) side (slab) bacon
1 large onion, sliced
1 stalk celery, sliced
1 large sprig fresh sage
1 hubbard squash, or other firm, dry pumpkin or winter squash, about 3 1/3 pounds (1.5 kg)
8 cups water
Coarse sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1.Remove rind and any hard, dry skin from the bacon. Cut the bacon into ¼ inch dice.
2.Place a large saucepan over low head. Add bacon pieces and cook gently so they render their fat. When most of the fat is rendered, add onion, celery, sage, stirring to coat with the fat. Cook until vegetables soften slightly, about 7 minutes.
3.Cut squash into quarters and remove seeds. Peel squash and coarsely chop into smaller, even-sized pieces. Set aside.
4.Pour 1 cup of the water into the pan with vegetables, increase heat to high and using a wooden spoon, deglaze the pan, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom. Add the remaining water, squash, 1 tbsp of salt and pepper to taste. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered until squash is very soft, 30 to 45 minutes. Remove sage and let soup cool slightly.
5.Puree soup in batches, in a blender or food processor and pour into a clean saucepan. Taste and adjust seasoning, then reheat to serve.

Carrot cake with walnuts and marscapone icing

Have you ever had a craving for cake, and desperately want to give in, but talk yourself out of it because there are healthier things to eat, and all that sugar's not good for your teeth? And then there's the bother of finding the right cake pans at the back of the cupboard, and they'll likely need a wash, and you'll have to let the butter soften first, and bring the eggs to room temperature...and oh, it's all a lot of bother isn't it?

But then, if you're like me, your mind goes to carrot cake, because that's quite healthy, isn't it? I mean, it's bloody well got vegetables right inside it, so that's like eating a cake that's full of all kinds of goodness, not to mention being a boon for your eyesight. And it's chock full of walnuts too, and aren't they like cancer fighting nuts or something? I mean how could I not make this cake for the sake of my future well -being and ocular soundess!

Actually, the real impetus for making this cake is because I read about it in another food blog, written by the wife of Giles Coren. He's a well-known restaurant critic in the UK, but I like him best for his work on a show called Supersizers, which looks at cuisine in different eras of history. If you can find it on the Food Netwwork or online, I urge you to give it a look. It's really one of the cleverest shows ever, thanks to the witty banter between the two hosts. (And not to take away any credit from Coren's wife, who herself is a very good, and quite funny, writer as well.)

So the blog find spurred me into action, not only because it was cleverly written, but because I also adore Nigel Slater, the cake's creator, his writing and his recipes. This recipe is from his book Tender, which is full of mouth-watering vegetable-based treats. I think I would like for Nigel to live in my house and turn my backyard into a lovely vegetable garden like the one he cooks from year round in England. Er, I suppose that might be a bit of a challenge living in Ottawa, but he could try.

Anyway, on to the cake.....

Start by separating out three eggs.

I had to buy some sunflower oil especially for this recipe. I've never bought it before and had to seek it out at a Birkenstock-wearing-hippy-frequented-incense-smelling natural food store.

Grate your carrots and weigh them. British recipes are fun because you have to use kitchen scales and do math (okay, so the math bit's not that much fun).

Measure the walnuts too. You can see my measurements aren't exact, but I don't think a gram or two difference matters all that much.

Beat everything together until it turns this appetizing brown-ish barf colour.

And fold in the egg whites.

Place in a pan. The recipe calls for two 8-inch cake pans, but I couldnt' find/don't have any, so I made do with one 9-inch springform pan.

I ended up cutting my 9-inch cake in half to form layers, between which I spread the cream cheese/marscapone icing. This was my first time ever making cream cheese icing and I have to say it is a dangerous thing. I could eat marscapone straight from the tub. But I didn't. Well maybe just a spoonful, but that's it. I swear.

And this is the cake's top view. I omitted the orange zest from the icing, and it was still very tasty.

Overall, this cake wasn't quite as moist as I'd hoped it would be, but it is quite good. I'm sure you'll like it, especially if you're a fan of walnuts, as they make a plentiful appearance in this cake.

A carrot cake with a frosting of mascarpone and orange by Nigel Slater

For the cake

3 eggs
250g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch salt
200 ml sunflower oil
25og light muscovado sugar
150g carrots
juice of half a lemon
150g walnuts, roughly chopped

For the frosting

250g mascarpone cheese
200g Philadelphia
150g icing sugar
grated zest of half an orange
some whole walnut halves

1 Set the oven to 180C. Butter 2 x 22cm cake tins and line each bottom with a disc of baking parchment

2 Separate the eggs. Sift together the flour, bicarb of soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

3 Beat the oil and sugar in a food mixer until well-creamed then introduce the egg yolks one by one. Grate the carrots into the mixture, add the lemon juice and walnuts and stir. At this point, the sunflower oil will float to the top of the mixture and look gross. Don't worry, this is normal.

4 Fold the flour into this mixture. I did this by hand, but Nige says do it in the mixer.

5 Beat the egg whites until stiff and then fold into the mixture with a metal spoon.

6 Divide the mixture between your tins and bake for 45 mins, or until a skewer comes out clean-ish ... because this is supposed to be quite a sticky cake, except it didn't turn out that way for me.

7 To make the frosting, beat the mascarpone, Philly and icing sugar together in a mixer until smooth and creamy. You stand a better chance of this happening if the cheeses are at room temperature when you start. Stir in the orange zest. Splash some in between your cakes to sandwich together and the rest on the top and on the sides. Decorate with walnut halves.

Eat a large slice and your optometrist will thank you.

Flashback....

..... to the summer. This is a recipe I made on a hot day in August when zucchinis were plentiful and the humidty was high. I forgot all about it until I found the pictures on my camera. Kinda tells you what an impression the recipe had, huh?

I won't lie and say this recipe will be a knockout, but if you're looking for something to do with a fridge full of zucchini (or heck, even two) then this is one suggestion. Unfortunately, they didn't turn out to be the crisp, crunchy bites I was hoping for, but maybe I'm used to the ones served in restaurants that are basically deep fried and full of oil. These babies will be healthier for you, no doubt, but you still might crave the fuller-fat version. Each to her own, right?

Anyway, now that I've done a stellar sales job, keen to see how it all comes together? Let's go!



Start with two zucchinis and gets to gratin'.

Next you need to drain the grated zucchini in order to extract the water. I place it all in a colander lined with cheesecloth and wrung it out. It's amazing how much liquid comes out.

Once everything is as dry as possible, add to a bowl, along with a grated carrot, some chopped mint, corriander seed, a bit of onion, a clove of chopped garlic, and some lemon zest. Toss in few spoonfuls of flour too, and season with salt and pepper.

Beat two eggs lightly and mix into the batter.

Fry them up in a shallow bit of olive oil until crispy and brown on both sides.

And then they'll look like this. Chop some more mint and mix with some yoghurt to make a dipping sauce. Best eaten hot, but I had several cold the next day and they were pretty passable.

Recipe confession time: I originally thought I used a Nigel Slater recipe for these, but I've just tried to find something online and came up empty. So, could be Nigel Slater, or some other source, but really, the basics are listed above, and you can substitute to your likes and tastes (I think a bit of aged cheddar would go nicely!).

*serves me right for posting this three months after I made it :(

Blue cheese pizza with pears and arugula

Who says pizza has to include tomato sauce and mozzarella? Not me. Besides, if you go that route, you're stuck with the leftover can of pizza sauce that will just grow mould as it sits in your fridge. Much better to stock up on some pears and blue cheese and get at it!

This recipe comes from Chatelaine which has undergone a bit of a makeover of late (or should I say the latest makeover in the past five years). Now it resembles the old Wish magazine -- which I loved -- and which isn't a coincidence, as the former Wish editor is now at the helm of Chatelaine. Anyway, if you haven't picked up a copy in a while, it's worth a look.

But back to the pizza....

Start with your pears and slice 'em up. Actually, you start a few hours earlier by making the crust, which will have suitably risen by this point...

...until it looks like this. At which point you spread with olive oil and sprinkle with cayenne.

Then comes the assembly. A layer of arugula, followed by the pears and blue cheese. More olive oil to make it shiny.

And into the oven it goes until it looks like this. This is really tasty, and while the crust is a bit of a bother compared to my usual recipe, it was really good.

Blue cheese pizza with pears and arugula
From Chatelaine, October 2010 edition

Ingredients

3 tbsp whipping cream (35%)
4 tsp grainy Dijon mustard
2 tsp regular Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp honey
2 firm but ripe Bosc pears
extra virgin olive oil
1 recipe pizza dough
1 pinch cayenne pepper
3 cups argula, plus more for garnish
114 g blue cheese, crumbled

1.Preheat oven to 500F. Place a large baking sheet in the oven and heat for 45 min.

2.Whisk cream with mustards, lemon juice and honey in a medium bowl. Reserve. Cut pears into 1/4-in. slices and toss with 1 tsp olive oil to coat.

3.Cut dough into 2 portions. Roll 1 out into an oval and place on a sheet of parchment paper. Trim parchment so it’s just wider than dough. Brush dough with olive oil. Sprinkle with cayenne. Top with half of arugula and drizzle with more olive oil. Top with half of pear slices and half of blue cheese.

4.Remove hot baking sheet from oven and quickly transfer pizza and parchment paper onto it. Bake until edges are golden and crisp, 12 to 15 min. Transfer to a platter and garnish with additional arugula if you wish. Repeat with remaining pizza. Serve with mustard sauce.