Top four pumpkin recipes

We all like to carve pumpkins with our kids, but how many of us use the flesh and seeds too?
Here are the top four pumpkin recipes for all your family to enjoy, our boys particularly loved the pizza!

1. Pumpkin and Swiss chard risotto
Roast the pumpkin at 200C for 40 minutes after tossing it with olive oil, sea salt and cracked pepper. Soften the onion and garlic with oil
over a low heat. Add rice and stir. Add stock and stir until absorbed, repeat until rice is cooked. Stir in pumpkin and Parmesan. Serve with extra Parmesan - enjoy!

2. Roast pumpkin and rocket salad, with macadamia nuts and a balsamic glaze
Roast the pumpkin as before. Toss the salad leaves in lemon juice and olive oil, and season lightly. Stir the roast pumpkin through, scatter light roasted macadamia nuts over. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

3. Roast pumpkin and chorizo pitta pizza
The kids will love them!
Heat the oven to 200C and put a baking tray inside to heat up. Spread each pitta with tomato purée, fresh tomatoes, chorizo and diced pumpkin. The possibilities are endless here - add whatever you like! We topped ours with mozzarella,but you can use any cheese. Bake for 10 minutes, scatter with basil, and serve.

4. Chill and lime pumpkin seeds.
Our household favourite, these go down a treat at pretty much every occasion, I guarantee that you will have none left!
Seperate the seeds from the flesh and pat dry with kitchen towel.
Mix with oil, paprika, chilli powder, cayenne and salt, the proportions are up to you! Mix the seeds through to coat and roast in very hot oven for about 10 minutes, stirring midway through. Tip into a bowl and squeeze over fresh lime juice. Mix and get stuck in!

Salted trout

After a successful fishing trip with my eldest son (see my previous blog) we had 2 rather large trout to deal with. Here's one of the recipes that we used to enjoy these fantastic fresh water fish.
Before refrigerators salt was commonly used to extend the life of fresh produce, salting fish was widely used in northern Europe. In Sweden they came up with the idea of salting fish and burring it underground. The salmon version of this is known as Gravadlax, the lax part literary translated means salmon and the gravad  means 'buried'. I have been reliably informed by a Swedish friend of mine that the trout version is called 'gravadoring'. So here goes...

Ingredients:
2 trout fillets pin boned (all little bones removed)
Sea salt crystals
1 lemon zested
Dijon mustard
Chopped chives (or dill)
Bread to serve (I made sun dried tomato and Parmesan bread-blog to follow)
Wedge of lemon to serve

Method:
Pat dry both fillets with kitchen paper and lay one of them on a large rectangle of cling film. In a bowl mix together the salt and lemon zest and spread liberally over one fillet.

Top this fillet with the other..

Then wrap them very tightly in cling film..

At this point if we didn't have a fridge we would bury it under the cold European earth, but we do so into the fridge it goes for 12 hours to 'cure'. After it's done it's thing in the fridge unwrap it from the cling film and lightly wash the salt off. Pat it dry with kitchen paper an spread Dijon mustard over both fillets. Finely chop the chives/dill and sprinkle over the fillets.

Using a sharp knife slice the trout at around 45 degrees, serve with bread and a slice of lemon and enjoy!

Photo courtesy of my wife  

  

Fillet of Haddock with cauliflower puree, dauphinoise potatoes and an oyster and chive cream

This recipe is a bit more hands on, but well worth the effort. Make sure your fish and oysters are nice and fresh.

Ingredients:

(serves 2)

2 fillets of haddock

4 live oysters

1 red onion diced

8 florets of cauliflower

500ml double cream

2 garlic cloves crushed

250g butter

200ml white wine

2 spring onions sliced

Salt and pepper

Flat parsley leaves

Method

Firstly trim your haddock into nice sized fillets. Place the trimmings in a pan with water, skin of the onion and any other bits you may have lying around that would be good for the fish stock. General rule for stocks are vegetables that grow under ground are good. Simmer the stock VERY gently otherwise it will become cloudy. Simmer for no more than an hour then strain through a fine sieve.

Slice the potatoes quite thin, put them into a sauce pan, cover with cream add 1/2 the onion and some garlic. Season and simmer gently for 10 mins (this gives the dauphinoise a head start before you put them in the oven). Pre heat your oven to 220c and put the potatoes in (make sure your sauce pan is oven proof!)

Bring the cauliflower to the boil in some salted water and continue to boil till tender. Drain then put them in a blender with a nob of butter and a splash of cream, season then blend till fine. Pass through a fine sieve and return them to the sauce pan.

In another sauce pan melt a knob of butter and add the other half of diced onion. Fry for a minute then add the garlic and shucked oysters. Fry for 30 seconds then add the white wine, simmer the wine until the alcohol burns off (about a minute) . Add the double cream, season and leave to simmer very gently.

Now would be a good time to check the potatoes, if a knife sinks through them then they're done. Cover with foil and leave them on the side, they will retain their heat.

Heat a frying pan with a splash of oil and a knob of butter. Season the haddock and fry skin side down for 30 seconds, carefully turn over fry for another 30 seconds then into the oven for 5 minutes.

While you're waiting heat up the cauliflower, check the sauce for seasoning and get your garnishes ready (sliced spring onion and parsley leaves). Arrange as per the photo, serve and enjoy!