Roast Pork & Pumpkin Soup

Things being what they are out there, you can't go past a good leftovers meal. One of the things I set out to do when I started this blog was focus not only on good tasty food but also economical meals, and making the most of your supplies.

I might have done something like this last winter, but what the hey. Learning by repetition is the best way, right?

Or was it learning by doing?

Anyway, not to worry.

This soup requires that you have the following leftovers:
Roast Pork;
Roast Pumpkin;
Roast Veges;
Chicken stock, made from leftover chicken and vege scraps.

This is good, because it gives you good reason to cook:
A Roast Pork;
Roast Pumpkin;
Roast Veges;
And a Roast Chicken, at some stage (although the stock can be frozen, of course).

Making the soup is dead simple.
Take your roast pumpkin and other veges, and chop them up into chunks.
Drop them into a bowl and add the chicken stock. Blend up to a nice, thick consistency. Try to get it ... soupy. Add water if further thinning down is required.
Add your leftover pork, chopped into nice little bites. Heat thoroughly, without boiling.
Serve with fresh rolls, sour cream, and freshly ground pepper.

Report from the Front Line: The Food Show, Wellington

Since today was Mother's Day, I took Dessert Chef to the fabulous Food Show at the Stadium in Wellington.
OK, it was her idea, and I ate and drank a whole heap more than her, so really, she took me. In fact, since I tasted countless wines and she drove home, it really was her taking me out than the other way around.

Not to worry. Here's the up-to-the-minute review of New Zealand's biggest gastronomic event, as experienced by Yours Truly this very day. Yes, for once, my blog post won't be months out of date. It's good to be on the cutting edge.

Speaking of cutting edges, the highlight of the show for me was not actually any particular food or wine; it was the knives. Not just any knives, but ceramic knives. I have some great knives (a wedding present from my Mum, and still going strong), but these blades just blew me away.

I had just listened to an audiobook in which one of the characters has ceramic knives, which are worlds beyond any steel blade. So sharp that they don't blunt, lighter than steel - and of course never picked up by metal detectors, which is very helpful - I hardly believed it. Then I got to hold one, and cut with one.

*gapes*

They're great. I could slice a tomato literally paper-thin. At $110 on special for a small one, however, they're beyond this humble food critic's reach. but if anyone out there has that sort of money to spend on knives, I'd seriously recommend checking them out.

The other highlight was the Freedom Farms Bacon, purely on the basis of ethics and taste. I've talked often enough about getting more humanely farmed meat products into the mainstream, and as well as tasting delicious, this seems to be a step in that direction.

I learned a lot about different rice bran oils, and olive oils, and avocado oils, and tried probably three dozen or more (*gurgle gurgle* - quiet, tummy!) and disliked as many as I liked. I was surprised to learn that rice bran oil, which we think of as a terribly healthy option, is in fact a hydrolised product that is run through a chemical process before it gets to us. That's a shame, but we'll still use it - for now. I also discovered that avocado oil, which I've never eaten because of its hefty pricetag, tends to taste like overripe avocado. Yuk. I love avocado, but not once it's turned. There were some good ones, but they were really expensive. So hard to strike a balance.

I also tried numerous wines from several different regions and vineyards, and was surprisingly not blown away by any of them. That was also a shame. I wanted to buy wine, it's something I like to do because it means I get to drink wine. Oh well. Thinking about it now, though, I did drink wine, so that's probably OK. I didn't discover my next favourite Pinot Gris, though. Darn.

I've talked before about celebrity chefs, and while I err on the side of appreciating their passion for food even while I dislike the reality TV they have succumbed to, I have to admit a proclivity for snapping up their cookbooks if they cross my path at the right price. Dymocks Booksellers had a stand at the Food Show, and I grabbed a copy of Gordon Ramsay's Cooking for Friends for the bargain price of $20 (NZD). This book is not a "look at this great food that you'll never be able to cook" sort of a book. This is GR's family recipes, the stuff his kids make. And to celebrate this find, I dove straight in and cooked a recipe out of it tonight.

I know, it's unheard of. I'll be posting a meal that I've cooked on the same day as we ate it. I don't think that's happened since Day 1. But there you have it.

So, summing up the Food Show: Good. Yeah, lots of nice free stuff to eat and drink, as you'd hope (barring the $20 entry fee, of course, but I'm pretty sure we both ate and drank more than $20 worth of food). There was plenty of variety, and I even learned a few new things. It seems that nothing has made me sick, although my tum was telling me that I might have had just one too many lugs of olive oil by the time we left. Next year, I'll forgo breakfast to make even more of the delicacies on offer. Gordon Ramsay's Pasta with Baked Pumpkin and Rosemary
(With minor adjustments, just because I can)

Serves 3Pumpkin courtesy of our garden, no less.

Ingredients:
1 500g Pumpkin, deseeded and sliced into thin wedges
3 Rosemary Sprigs, chopped into 2cm lengths
4 Garlic cloves, peeled and halved
Lots of Olive Oil
50g Grated Parmesan
Drizzle a roasting tray with olive oil and sprinkle with freshly ground pepper and salt. Scatter the rosemary and garlic around, and drizzle with more olive oil and seasoning. Place into a preheated oven at 210C. Turn after 12 mins, then again after another 12 mins, until soft on the inside and lightly caramelised on the outside.
Set aside to cool. Discard the garlic and rosemary but reserve the oil. When cool enough to handle, remove the skin.
Place the pumpkin flesh and oil in a pot. Add a little more olive oil (I think I used a lot less to cook this than GR intended, as I had very little to reserve) and some water or vege stock to loosen it up. Blend with a hand blender or run through a food processor.
The pureed pumpkin should be more of a sauce than a soup, thick enough to coat the pasta but not runny. I think that I'd make mine a bit wetter next time. I wonder if UK pumpkins have more moisture content that the ones I grow out the back.

Keep the sauce warm while you cook a pot of pasta, steam some veges, and cook up your sausages or whatever, if this isn't your main course.
Drain the pasta and mix in the pumpkin sauce and the parmesan. Dish up hot, with freshly ground pepper, a grating of fresh parmesan, and perhaps a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Autumn Harvest

The time has come to dig up the garden, and see if all that neglect that I poured upon it resulted in any rewards worth reaping.

That's the good thing about potatoes; so long as you keep them watered, but not too watered, it's pretty hard to get it wrong.

Of course, a bit of care and attention can mean that you get it really right, and you find yourself almost drowning in the things, but if you just give it a go, like I did, and you get a lovely haul like this, then you'd have to be happy. I was.One big bowl of potatoes that we didn't have to buy. Woo!Boiled up with fresh mint straight from the garden... ...and tossed with butter. Delicious, and satisfying, in so many ways.
And we got our first pumpkins. The week I picked these, and dug the potatoes, we didn't have to get potatoes, pumpkin or tomatoes from the market. Ka-Ching!
We're still eating the tomatoes we grew on the front deck, and still picking the wild ones from the back garden. Gotta love this pretending-to-be-a-gardener thing.

Pumpkin Soup

I went and took photos for this, only to discover that I've already posted the recipe. There are a few differences from the original post in June, for example I peeled the pumpkin before roasting it. So here's a nice shot of some lovely roasted pumpkin.
And this is what happens to the skin left lying on the bench near the muffin trays, when 2-year-old is "helping" make the soup.

Another Pumpkin Risotto

I've come a long way down the Risotto highway since I first had a crack at making one back in June. Since then I've learned that as long as you have patience, anything goes. Also, once you know the steps in your head, you can prep as you go, so you don't lose all that time getting everything ready beforehand. After all, once you put the rice in, you're pretty much committed for the coming 30 minutes or so anyway.

This one was, by unanimous agreement, my best ever. Better than the Bacon and Leek effort, and even better than the other Pumpkin and Ham one. Isaac wanted more, and more, and more, so it must have been good!

Pumpkin & Ham Risotto (MKII)

(Serves 4)

Finely chop 1 onion and 3 cloves of NZ garlic. Grate up 1/4 of a grey pumpkin. Add the veges to heated oil in a large pan and stir as the moisture evaporates. When the veges become a bit sticky add 3/4 Cup of Arborio Rice. Keep everything moving until the rice starts to turn translucent. Tip in a mixture of 2T Balsamic Vinegar and 1/2C Warm water. Keep stirring.
As the liquid is absorbed, start adding heated chicken or vege stock by the ladel, probably about 2 1/2 Cups in 1/4 Cup increments. Add another ladel of stock as each is absorbed and before the rice starts sticking to the pan.

During this time, chop up a whole tomato, 125g of deli ham, and grate 1/4 Cup of Parmesan cheese.

When the rice is so nearly done you can tell it only needs a couple more minutes, add the tomato and ham and stir through. Check the rice, and when done, remove from the heat and stir through the Parmesan and 3T of cream. Mix in and allow to stand for just a minute before dishing. Drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil, freshly ground pepper and salt, and a wee grating of Parmesan.

What's the best thing about this meal?

Only one dirty pan.

Excellent.

Sweet Mash

Following on from yesterday's steak post, I wanted to push the veggie side too. I also posted an edit regarding the gravy, noting the Tomato Paste that I add to the pan during deglazing to give the gravy its body and colour.

The other winner on the plate was the Sweet Mash, which will go brilliantly with just about anything, and is another way of getting more veggies on your plate.

Sweet Mash

(Serves 4)

Peel and cube 2 Potatoes, 1 Kumera and either 1/8 of a large grey Pumpkin or a whole Butternut Pumpkin. Boil rapidly in salted water until soft. Mash up with a fork, adding a little milk and butter to make the mash creamy and frothy. Beautiful stuff.

Pumpkin and Ham Risotto

Back to the quick and easy. My journey into RisottoLand is branching out gradually, and this is a minor variation on the Ham and Tomato Risotto I posted a couple of weeks ago. The thing about Risottos is that they're a great way to use up food that really needs to be finished off, and you can throw almost anything in them. I had a pumpkin turning a bit ripe in the cupboard, so into the Risotto it goes. I also blanched a handful of the usual greens - carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower - in the water that I used to boil the pumpkin, and added them in just at the end.

Pumpkin and Ham Risotto


Cut up 1/4 of a big grey pumpkin. Slice off the skin and cube into 1cm pieces. Boil in salted water until tender but not quite cooked and put aside in a colander. Reserve the cooking water.

Heat some olive oil in a large pan, and add 1 chopped onion and 3 finely sliced or crushed cloves of garlic. When the onion starts to go translucent, add about 200g of chopped ham and allow to brown lightly. Mix in 1 cup of Arborio Rice. This will snap and crackle a bit, so keep it all moving to prevent it from burning to the bottom of the pan. Give it about 3 minutes, then add 1/4 of a cup of Vegetable Stock. If this is prewarmed, it will speed the cooking process. As the rice starts to absorb the liquid, add the pumpkin and mix in gently. The pumpkin will give the Risotto a lovely orange colour and a slightly gooey texture.

Blanch a small colander of fresh veges in the pumpkin water and stand aside.

Continue to add the stock in 1/4 Cups, letting it cook the rice gently, and add a bit of the pumpkin water if you run out of stock (allow 1 - 1 1/2 Cups). When the rice is nearly done, add the veges to the pan and mix through. When the rice is cooked, mix through 1/4 cup of sour cream and heat for a couple of minutes longer.

Serve with a scoop of sour cream, freshly ground pepper, and a drizzle of EV Olive Oil.


Our other exciting news on the food front is that, after several weeks of watching the mailer advertising for bargains and specials, we picked up a Slow Cooker for a mere $50.00. Our first foray into the Slow Cooking world was a Whole Chicken, which I'll post soon. Divine! Right at this minute we have Lamb Chops simmering away too. Watch this space for more!

Roast Pumpkin Soup

This meal is all about economy, and rides on the back of the Roast Chicken Amazing Multiple Meal Deal. Since the oven's already going, there's no point wasting all that good energy on just one meal. This recipe tends to make two big lunch servings, which I usually take to work with a bit of toast bread. I also reserve the breasts for a second meal, which makes a chicken go an awfully long way. It also makes an extra half-litre of stock that you can put aside for something else in the future, instead of resorting to powdered ingredients.

Since I stuck with a regular cordon bleu treatment for the chook (salt and pepper on the outside, one skewered lemon and 4 peeled garlic cloves stuffed in the cavity), I could spend some time seasoning the veges nicely. I went with freshly ground salt & pepper, lemon zest, paprika, finely chopped rosemary and grated garlic. This adds something special to both the roast and the soup.

Roast Pumpkin Soup

Chop up and roast a whole pumpkin as part of a roast dinner. I know that I will only need to serve about a quarter of it for dinner, which leaves the rest for soup. Boil up a stock from the chicken back and neck after it has roasted, along with all the scraps from prepping the veges, plus an extra onion and maybe a potato. Generally there's enough in the way of peelings and stuff to make about a litre of stock.

Simmer this away on the back of the stove while watching Sunday night TV, then strain it into a bowl and pop it in the fridge for 1/2 an hour to allow some of the fat to separate off the liquid.

Scrape the pumpkin off its skin and chop up whatever leftover veges you have - usually some potato, kumera, and onion, and place them all in another bowl. Add about 400ml of stock and puree up with a hand blender, until it reaches a thick and smooth consistency with some chunky bits.


Today I was home on "looking-after-the-sick-family-sick-leave", and had some for lunch, with a big dollop of sour cream. Delicious, and just what I felt like on a cold and rainy day.

Tonight I'll be Making the Most of the Roast again, using the breasts from last night's chook to make a coconut and banana curry. I'll let you know how it turns out!