Two ways with pumpkin with a hint of purple carrots!

Even though we are sisters, we have a very different approach to food and photography. Each fortnight we are going to choose the same ingredient or theme and post the result. These are results of our fifth food fight.

Pumpkin facts

• It's  a member of the Cucurbita family which includes squash and cucumbers.
• Antarctica is the only continent pumpkins won't grow in.
• Pumpkin flowers are edible.
• Pumpkins are 90 percent water.
• They were once recommended as a cure for freckles.
  

Sweet tasting buttercups

Ingrids dish: Roasted Buttercup on couscous with spiced yoghurt dressing

I love pumpkins, I love them cooked in everyway, and every other kiwi seems to agree with me. Every cafe and restaurant in Auckland seems to have pumpkin on their menu - pumpkin soup, cannelloni, rissoto . . .

I've been so into pumpkins in the past I actually managed to turn my wee man (Rhys 19 months) orange when he was 6 months old. I thought he just had 'olive skin' passed down from my Italian dad, but a visit to Plunket produced quite a different diagnosis - an overdose of carotene! 

This last week, its been feeling quite autumal, the heater is on low just to take the chill out of the air. Pumpkins, buttercups and butternuts are in season so should be on your shopping lists, eat in season, eat well and save money - Enjoy! 

Stack them up high on the plate and drizzle with creamy dressing

Roasted Buttercup on couscous with spiced yoghurt dressing

Serves 4

What you need

1 small buttercup (cut into thin slices with the skin on or off)

1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup (100g) couscous

1/2 cup boiling water
2 Tbsp lemon juice

Seasalt/ pepper to taste

4 wedges of feta (optional)

Coriander (chopped) 

Spiced yoghurt dressing

1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 cup greek style yoghurt
1 Tbsp water

1 Tbsp finely grated lemon rind

How to make

Set oven tempurature to 180C.  Lay slices of buttercup on a baking tray, and drizzle with oil. Bake in oven for 30 mins (turning buttercup slices mid way through) or until golden. Place couscous in a bowl, add boiling water and lemon juice, seasalt and pepper and cover and let stand for 5 mins.

Spiced yoghurt Dressing

Combine all ingredients in a bowl ready to drizzle.

Fluff up couscous and place on each plate. Stack roasted buttercup slices on top, add a wedge of feta. drizzle with cumin yoghurt dressing and add chopped coriander. Enjoy

Vanessa's dish  - Roasted pumpkin and purple carrot soup

Grey green and grey skinned pumpkins

 I love pumpkins too, roasted, in soup, in salads and in pasta like ravioli or gnocchi - they just have that wintry and comforting feel about them. Ingrid mentioned the Italian connection and our love of pumpkins definitely didn't come from our father - he believes things cooked with their skins on are for the pigs! Funny, this sounds like he may have grown up on a Tuscan farm feeding pigs but no, more like a city "Trieste" northern Italy, so I am not sure where the piggy analogy came from.

Pumpkins are cheap, economical and have a beautiful vibrant colour. I decided to do the quintessential winter soup but rather than just pumpkin I thought I would throw in a few other winter treats I discovered at my local "posh" supermarket. Introducing purple carrots...

The famous purple carrot - stains your hands and teeth and is a little bit bitter raw!



Roasted pumpkin and winter vegetable soup with purple carrots!

You will need
Any veges that work well roasted. I used pumpkin, kumara, carrots orange and purple, onion and garlic.
Vegetable or chicken Stock (I used stock cubes keeping with the economical nature of pumpkins) 
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Perhaps curry powder if you want a spiced pumpkin
Cream - if you want a richer and more decant soup 

How to make
Roast in a pan all the vegetables smothered with olive oil, salt and pepper. Keep the skin on the garlic as it roasts it beautifully.
In a pan heat up the stock (about 1-2 litres) and add your vegetables and curry powder. This is the stage you need to squeeze the garlic pulp out of the skins and into your soup. Pop a couple of cloves in your mouth - they taste delicious and they keep away colds and the flu! 
Simmer until the stock is reduces and the soup is looking thicker. (30 mins to one hour)
Blend in a blender of processor and if desired add cream and re heat.
Season to taste

WARNING - Purple carrots make your soup go a dark brown colour!!! Its not that I wouldn't recommend them, however it just doesn't have the same feel as "orange" pumpkin soup!    

Cleaning up - and there weren't even any guests!  

Leftovers Risotto

Even though we are sisters, we have a very different approach to food and photography. Each fortnight we are going to choose the same ingredient or theme and post the result.

Rice

A kitchen staple with many uses both sweet and savoury. Rice is cheap, lasts for ages and can be glamorous or really simple.  

Rice facts

Rice is a symbol of life and fertility, which is why rice was traditionally throw at weddings.

Japanese people believe it is important to not waste rice, so it you leave rice in your bowl it is considered to be rude.

There are more than 40,000 varieties of rice that grow on every continent except on Antarctica

Leftovers Risotto

What you need

Arborio rice 250 grams

Olive oil

1-2 liters chicken stock or water and stock cubes (some wine also works well here)

2-4 garlic cloves

2 onions

1 cup Parmesan cheese

Leftovers such as meat or chicken from a roast, vegetables, tomatoes, mushrooms, anchovies, capers, herbs - anything that is good cooked! 

Salt and pepper to taste 

How to make

Saute the onions and garlic in olive oil until soft and add the rice. People often say saute until rice is clear but I have never managed to achieve this.

Just saute for 5 minutes or so making sure the rice is coated with the oil.  

Add about a cup of stock and stir, keep adding stock in portions, stirring and adding until the rice is cooked. This will take a minimum of 30 minutes. If you run out of stock water or even wine is fine to use.  

Towards the end of the cooking process, add your meat and vegetables i.e leftovers. Stir through Parmesan, season with salt and pepper and serve. 

Really easy, takes a bit of time but uses up your leftovers and turns them into a rustic and homely meal.    

Chicken and Rice balls

What you need

500grams minced chicken or blitz chicken thighs/breasts in the food processor until like mince.

left over cooked rice - 1-2 cups

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

Frozen vegetables - I used a pea, broccoli and cauliflower mix.

Salt and pepper to taste   

Breadcrumbs to coat balls with  

How to make

This is super easy! basically you blitz everything except the rice in the food processor. Add this to the rice and mix so its thick and comes together as a ball. Coat with breadcrumbs and place onto an oiled baking tray. DONT use baking paper as a bit of water comes out of the balls and it just doesn't work! 

Bake at 180 degrees for about  20-30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. 

Serve with a chutney or tomato sauce and crispy green salad. 

Great for kids, in lunch boxes or at parties.    

  

   

    

Easter Eggs...

Happy Easter to you all and have a wonderful 4 day weekend...

What a busy last few weeks we have had. We have been shooting foodie images for a possibility of a magazine purchasing some of our shots.Raw has overtaken JPEG and I have been experimenting with my sisters F1.8 lens. Both of us have been hanging around Mitre 10 and Bunnings as well as scouring the inorganic collections on the side of the road for interesting stuff to use in our images. The men in our lives must be wondering...

Easter has come out of nowhere.

Being a teacher in my other life, the school holidays are a BIG bonus. Easter has fallen in the middle this year so as far as hols its same same.

For the Easter season, my family always get together on the Sunday to have a BBQ brunch. Mum gets delicious sausages from a secret butchers, Dad usually hits the seafood markets and its a casual family affair. Coffee is more important than chocolate!

Now we have a couple of kids in tow, this year we are planning an Easter Egg hunt in the garden. I remember doing this once, wandering around with a wicker basket collecting eggs. (Well maybe its a photo memory but never the less its etched in my mind). 

Easter food at the parents will probably be as described but when I though of this post I thought of nostalgia...

Soft boiled eggs with soldiers and Mums "Egg mashed up in a cup". Come to think of it she did "Banana mashed up in a cup" too. 

Unfortunately my soft boiled eggs were hard so plan B is documented! 

Enjoy and have a safe and relaxing Easter. 

These amazing wee sleeves were free in the egg packet - cute Easter shrinkies 

In an ideal world this image would be oozing with rich runny egg yolks

Mums "Egg mashed up in a cup" - with a twist.
All it is is boiled eggs, Greek yoghurt, salt, pepper and a touch of curry powder.   

Mum (now Nana) and her "Eggs mashed up in a cup" creation - perfect!

Homely and tasty, Perfect for an Autumn Easter at home - Eggs on toast 

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