How to Roast a Whole Butternut Squash ♥ You Know, WHOLE

Today's vegetable recipe: The easiest way in the world to roast a butternut squash. No knife, no cutting, no lost fingers. Whole. Roast it whole. Really.

So, um, this is awkward. But how did I miss this easy-easy-EASY way to roast a butternut squash? For six years now, I've been writing about easy ways to cook vegetables and somehow, some-crazy-how, I missed this.

Except – I didn't. I actually roasted a whole squash, whole, almost exactly five years ago when making Rutabaga & Butternut Squash Purée. I even remarked upon it. But then, days, weeks, months and even years passed. When I remade the purée last week, there was the recipe. (Ha! As if something this simple can even be called a recipe. Let's call it a "technique".)

So I didn't miss the recipe aka technique, I plain forgot. Blame it being the end of the season and the summer's excitement about green beans, I think it was in 2006, some vegetable anyhow. But now, now, NOW I remember though I'm worried, really, because it's kinda late in the season again. So I'm going to count on you guys, YOU, to remember and try this really soon so none of us, ever, forget, again. (And just so there's no forgetting, here's how to cook a whole spaghetti squash too. And How to Cut, Peel & Cube a Butternut Squash and Keep All Ten Fingers.)

'kay? 'kay.
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How to Make Pudding from Tofu: Tofu Pudding Recipe ♥

Today's easy, flexible, adaptable (yes, and healthy) dessert recipe: Start with tofu, then add fruit and a touch of sweetness. Whiz in the blender. That's it: You've got pudding!

Not just vegan, "Vegan Done Real". Weight Watchers, 1 or 2 Old Points and 2 to 3 PointsPlus.

As January draws to a close, the self-imposed privation begins to take its toll: the hunger for something sweet grabs tight and won't let go.

Other years, this has meant that I start baking cookies and quick breads again. This year, however, January has been a month of experimentation with what I've come to call 'Tofu Pudding' because of its smooth-smooth texture and the creamy mouth-feel when it's cold. I've been playing around and have four recipes to share. It's got just enough sweetness to satisfy -- and most of the sugar is coming from fruit, so comes from a natural, not a processed, form.

So this year, as January nears its end (how CAN that be???), I'm not fighting off a sugar fix. This is a good thing! And if you've ever wondered how to make a creamy pudding without, you know, cream and all its calories, how to make a low-calorie pudding, how to make pudding without dairy, how to make vegan pudding, well, this is your recipe.

Like so many of my recipes, Tofu Pudding is more 'inspiration' and 'good idea' and 'quideline', more suggestion than prescription -- yes, one more "concept recipe"! So I've included my tips and those of you who make Tofu Pudding, please do add your own tips and variations in the comments so that others may benefit!
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Apple Chutney

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Poached Plums

Thursday 20th Jan

Poaching syrup:

1 1/2 cups white sugar (I guesstimated)

1 1/2 cups white wine (can use red wine, or orange juice too)

1 1/2 cups water (the recipe calls for a total of 3 cups hot water, but says you can replace up to 1 cup with orange juice or red or white wine - I did 1 1/2 cups white wine and it was yum)

Flavouring - vanilla bean, lemon verbena or scented gernaium leaf, citrus peel, cardamom pops, cinnamon stick or star anise. I chose cinnamon stick this time.

Plums from our small, but fruit laden tree - don't know what kind they are, they are mostly about 4-5cm in diameter.

To make the poaching syrup
Put sugar, hot water (and juice/wine) and your choice of flavouring (cinnamon stick for me) in a heavy-based saucepan and heat over medium heat to dissolve sugar, stirring. Once all sugar has dissolved, simmer syrup for 3-4 minutes.

Preparing the poaching liquid:

When your syrup is ready, pop in the fruit. Poach til soft.

The recipe is from Stephanie Alexander's Kitchen Garden Companion - and has some other fussy options, including covering with a piece of baking paper to stop evaporation, but I just did it in my favourite 28cm Chasseur pot and it worked really well.


Poached!

I now have them waiting patiently in the freezer, for their turn to make an appearance at the breakfast table!

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Beetroot Icecream

On Thursday night I attempted home grown beetroot icecream (recipe below). We grew a bunch of different heirloom beet varieties and harvested on Thursday. Some were bright red outside, but very pale inside (just a different variety to what you buy in the supermarket).  Boiled them (we took the skin off first, next time we'll leave it on and remove after they are cooked). Once cooked, we decided to only use the really ruby ones, as the joy of beetroot icecream has to be the colour...doesn't it? Puree beet once cooked and squishy.

12 home grown egg yolks beaten together with 150g caster sugar, scalded the milk, let it cool, then beat into the eggy mix.

Then into a fresh pan to turn into custard:

Poured into a large flat tray, covered with greaseproof paper to stop a skin forming on top, then bung in the fridge until chilled. Mix in the cream and beet puree, then push it through a sieve.

 

How's that colour!!?? Bung it in the icecream machine and churn til frozen. The finished mix was too large for my icecream machine which has a 1.5L capacity.

 

 

Beetroot Icecream - (for those playing at home)

Ingredients

• 12 x organic egg yolks
• 150g unrefined caster sugar
• 500ml whole milk
• 500ml double cream
• 5-6 medium beetroots, cooked until al dente, peeled and pureed

1. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together until smooth. Put the milk in a pan and bring to just below boiling, then remove from the heat. Leave to cool slightly, then pour the milk on to the egg and sugar mixture, whisking all the time.

2. Pour the mixture in to a clean pan and heat gently, stirring all the time, until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Don't let it get too hot or it will split. Remove from the heat. Strain through a sieve and leave to cool, then chill, covered with a circle of greaseproof paper to prevent a skin forming.
3. When cold, stir in the cream and beetroot puree. Pass through a fine sieve. Churn the mixture in an ice cream maker until frozen.
4. Depending on the capacity of your ice cream maker, you may need to churn the mixture in batches, or you could simply halve the quantities.

(Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall!)

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Weight Watchers Fresh Vegetable Soup ♥

Today's new Weight Watchers recipe: The latest vegetable soup recipe, one point for PointsPlus people, a half point for those still counting points with the old point system. Best made a day ahead of time, perfect for those of us who cook a big pot of soup for eating during the week.

"You sure made the produce department happy." So assessed the checkout person at the grocery store the day after New Years while ringing up one vegetable after another. I couldn't help but grin, because yes, I'm on a first-name basis with all the produce people. Sure enough, there were no fewer than a dozen different vegetables, enough unusual vegetables to send the typical checkout person scurrying for the break room.

Like millions of others, after the holidays, I was ready to lighten up, ready for the end of rich food, ready to quit the fixation on eating. And like so many who follow Weight Watchers, I wanted nothing more than the cleansing of one of the famous vegetable soups from Weight Watchers, this time using a new recipe that seemed especially targeted to fresh vegetables.

Chop, chop, cook, cook. The aroma in the kitchen was intoxicating.

The first taste, however, was disappointing. The soup was blah – nothing that a few drops of Tabasco or a splash of yogurt couldn't fix but nonetheless, disappointing. I shrugged and went on. A day or so later, I cleaned out the fridge and decided to warm up a bowl of the leftover soup. This time? Fabulous! Light and fresh, the vegetables still intact (not mushy at all) but much more flavorful.

Now this IS a mild soup, know that, you might still want to apply a little Tabasco or my own favorite, a squirt of ketchup. But it's good and a nice change from the original Weight Watchers Zero-Point Garden Vegetable Soup recipe. Score -- another winner!

PLEASE KNOW A Veggie Venture is not affiliated with Weight Watchers International, please see more information. As always, I recommend visiting your local office, especially to learn the in's and out's of the new PointsPlus method of counting points.

QUICK NOTE For those who don't follow Weight Watchers, you might wonder if this soup is 'any good'. It is! All the Weight Watchers soups are good. But for slightly more substance, you might want to try my long-time favorite recipe from Kitchen Parade, Low-Fat Vegetable Soup or my new favorite and master recipe, Master Recipe: How to Make Homemade Vegetable Soup, never the same twice.
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My pumpkin patch today...

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Beans Beans BEANS!!

Today's harvest, to accompany our pork rillons (so thankful my wonderful husband also loves cooking!)

The rillons were... sticky, crunchy, chewy, delicious and more-ish!

Heard a family secret this week, that plums frozen last year make great jam a year later!
Grandma - I'm looking forward to trying it, and will save you some apricot! xo

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Sweet Potato Soup with Quinoa & Coconut Milk ♥

A hearty vegan soup, one to warm a body from the inside out. It's slightly sweet from the orange tubers we call sweet potatoes, slightly nutty from the grain-like seed called quinoa, slightly spicy from cayenne and chili powder, slightly cool from the coconut milk stirred in near the end. Not just vegan, "Vegan Done Real".

Sweet potato soups can be, well, a little 'sweet potato-y', too heavy, too starchy, too dense.

So I loved the idea of a recipe for sweet potato soup lightened with the healthy and protein-dense quinoa [pronounced KEEN-wah]. I feared the color and little doubt, the color is akin to what Nana, my grandmother on my mother's side, used to call the 'dog's breakfast'. But thanks to the cayenne and chili powder, the soup has a welcome kick that's smoothed and cooled by the coconut milk.

This soup, it's a winner.

REVIEWS
"Just made this tonight, and it's really good!" ~ Anonymous
"We all (including the kids, 8 and 4) loved the balance of spicy with sweet coconut." ~ MamaGames
"I used Kabocha squash (big harvest, froze a lot) with good results." ~ Anonymous

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 This week's efforts:
Apricot jam... we have a glut, I have jammed them, poached, eaten straight from the tree, given away kilos and still have enough to have broken a branch on the tree!

Vanilla bean icecream... also did raspberry.

Recipe:

600ml double cream,
1 vanilla bean, split
120g caster sugar
180ml water
5 large egg yolks

Scald cream - heating til almost boiling, add vanilla bean, scraping out the seeds and set aside to cool.
Dissolve sugar in water on low heat, then increase heat and boil until you have syrup. Whisk egg yolks - easiest with an electric whisk while slowly pouring in the sugar syrup. Keep whisking until the mixture thickens, then whisk in the cream (which should be cool!). Pop it all into your icecream machine and churn away til frozen. Pop in the freezer for a few hours and it'll be rock hard and delicious!

Green tomato chutney (from the fruit that fell of when we staked the tomatoes)

Today's batch of apricot that were poached in equal parts water, white wine and sugar, with a vanilla bean. Yummo!

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Last post of 2010

(drafted this post on new years eve, got distracted)!

It has been months since my last post...
The bacon was AWESOME - we had to blanch it prior to frying though, as it was a little salty. It could have done with 1-2 less days of curing, but its a great start.  We are thinking about getting a couple of pigs in 2011 to raise our own bacon... might be dreaming, but we'll see. Lots of research to do yet. Hugh Fearnley Whittinstall has been good inspiration and teacher!


Home grown beets - planning to make beetroot chocolate brownies!

We have grown a load of mixed heirloom variety carrots - supplied by A&B Trees (http://www.facebook.com/pages/A-B-Trees-Heathcote/161692683849244?ref=ts)

A few of them have branced into many 'legs', we think its because we didn't cultivate the soil properly (lesson for next time!) - but they still taste great.

Also grew purple beans, they are yummy raw, and turn green when cooked - so much more fun to eat straight from the plant.

Capsicums - first harvest from our new veg patch in the paddock (future home of the pigs)

Latest addition to the front garden orchard... a bay tree. I pinched one leaf off it a few days ago and it didn't mind at all - nicer to cook with than the dried kind.

Our apricots - new years eve.

There's a few of our spring/summer veg!

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