White lentil & roast squash soup

It’s squash season again and alongside just eating big wedges of roast squash soup is my favourite way to use them up. I still roast them to get that lovely herby and roast garlic flavour and roasting them with their skins on makes it easy to scoop out the soft flesh into the soup keeping prep time to a minimum. White lentils are a new store cupboard staple of mine too, a bit pearl barleyish when cooked they give the soup a nice thick and creamy consistency. Make a big pot and enjoy it for dinner with crusty bread and some good cheese then chuck the rest into a tupperware and take it to work for lunch the next day, I do. (Recipe below)

White lentil and roast squash soup
Makes 4 big bowls

Oven 150°C
Large roasting tin and large pan

100g white lentils
3 fresh bay leaves or 2 dried bay leaves
500g squash, I used Australian Blue but it would also work well with Butternut, Kuri, Onion squash or Pumpkin
4 cloves of garlic
A couple of sprigs of fresh thyme & rosemary
1 large onion
1 large carrot
2 sticks of celery
1 litre of chicken stock (or vegetable if you prefer)

Firstly wash the lentils in several changes of fresh water giving them a good rinse each time. Place them in a pan with a litre of fresh water and the bay leaves, bring to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes until cooked. Strain and set aside the lentils and also keep the bay leaves.

In the meantime cut the squash into evenly sized wedges and remove the seeds and stringy bits from inside, an ice cream scoop is perfect for this job! Place in a large baking dish and scatter the rosemary and thyme, whole cloves of garlic and a good glug of olive oil. Mix it all up well to ensure the wedges all have a coating of oil, season and cook in the oven for 30 minutes or until soft. Once cooked scoop out the flesh into a bowl discarding the skins and squeeze out the roast garlic from each clove into the bowl too.

Finely chop the onion, carrot and celery and place in a large pan with a little olive oil. Cook on a low heat for 10 minutes or until the vegetables begin to soften. Add the cooked lentils, bay leaves, roast squash and garlic and stock before bringing to the boil then turning down to a simmer. Cook for a further 10 minutes before removing from the heat and removing the bay leaves. Once cooled a little use a hand blender to blend to a smooth soup, add a little more water if the consistency is too thick.

The cooked and cooled soup will keep in the fridge for several days.

Russet apple & walnut salad with blue cheese dressing

We’ve been lucky to enjoy such a temperate Autumn so far. Work has finally quietened down a little so I’ve had the opportunity to enjoy some lovely long weekends getting out and about as much as possible enjoying the bright blustery days and Autumn colours before the beckoning winter inevitably starts to draw in.

I haven’t really started craving the soups and stews usual for this time of year, and as its still so mild I’ve been trying out a few new salads with some of the lovely seasonal produce around.

Apples have had an excellent year as anyone with a tree in their garden can testify and I’m lucky enough to have several varieties to choose from in Mr & Mrs B’s garden. The traditional English Russet is definitely my favourite and its slightly dry and nutty flavour works really well in this salad with the salty blue cheese dressing. Enjoy!

Russet apple & walnut salad with blue cheese dressing
Serves 2

For the blue cheese dressing:
1 tbsp crumbled blue cheese
4 tbsp natural yoghurt
1 tbsp water
Squeeze of lemon to taste

For the salad:
2 Russet apples, sliced and tossed in a little lemon juice
4 radish, sliced
2 spring onions, sliced
Handful of shelled walnut pieces
Mixed leaves, I used wild rocket and torn Cos lettuce leaves

To make the dressing combine the first three ingredients and blend to a smooth sauce either in a food processor or in a small bowl using a blender. If doing this by hand combine the cheese with a little of the yoghurt in a bowl and use a whisk or fork to blend to a smooth paste. Add the rest of the yoghurt and water and mix, add a little more water if the dressing is too thick. Finally add a little lemon juice to taste.

Arrange the salad leaves on individual plates before scattering the sliced apple and other ingredients on top and drizzling the dressing around.

Cheddar cheese and onion pie

This is a really quick post about a recipe I have cooked a few times in the last few weeks and absolutely love! It's a straight forward Cheddar cheese and onion pie from the recipe book Tarts with Tops On by Tamasin Day-Lewis. Nothing special you might think, but it gets the balance of ingredients just right and is as yummy hot as cold. Don't let the pastry making put you off as the filling is pretty easy to throw together. Hopefully no one will mind me reproducing it as it's already featured on the web here and here.

Tamasin Day-Lewis's Cheddar cheese and onion pie
Serves 6

For the shortcrust pastry:
340g plain flour
170g butter

Sift the flour and a pinch of salt into a food processor, then cut the cold butter into small pieces on top of it. I process it for 20-30 seconds, then add ice-cold water through the top, a tablespoon at a time, 2-21/2 should do it, with the machine running. If the paste is still in crumbly little bits after a minute or two, add a tablespoon more water. The moment the pastry has cohered into a single ball, stop it, remove it, wrap it in clingfilm and put it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7.

For the filling:
30g butter
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
285g good strong Cheddar, coarsely grated
110g potatoes, peeled, steamed and diced
2 large eggs
4 tbsp double cream
a sprig of thyme or a bunch of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
pinch of cayenne pepper
sea salt and black pepper
beaten egg for glaze

Divide the pastry into two balls, keeping one a little larger than the other. Melt the butter in a pan and gently fry the onion until translucent, then leave to cool. Throw the onions into a bowl with the grated cheese, potato, eggs, cream, thyme or parsley and the seasoning, and mix thoroughly with the seasoning.

Roll out the large ball of pastry and line a shallow, greased 23cm tart tin. Tip the cheese and onion mixture into the pastry shell. Moisten the edges of the pastry and cover with the rolled-out top piece, crimping the edges together carefully. Brush the beaten eggs over the top and bake for 30 minutes until crisp and golden brown.