Squashes and pumpkins are in season now and are famous for making sweet pie fillings. This is very tasty savoury version of a pumpkin pie which is much easier to make than it looks. It is full of nutritious ingredients like spinach, pine nuts and olive oil. Filo pastry can be brushed with olive oil or melted butter to make it crisp and golden.
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Panpepato
Panpepato is also known as peppered bread. Based on a very old Italian recipe it is predecessor of Tuscan Panforte. It is not really a bread at all. The ingredients: a mix of nuts, home made candied peel, Muscat raisins, bitter cocoa powder and spices, including pepper and coriander, are bound together with acacia honey and shaped with wet hands. I am not sure how many takers I would get if I served this but I love the bitter notes of chocolate, the crunch of nuts and a little sweetness from the honey. My recipe is from Antonio and Priscilla Carluccio’s ‘Baking’. It’s a gem.
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Beetroot and cumin soup
This is my favourite beetroot soup. The original recipe is from the Moro Cookbook (Ebury Press 2001) but I have have tweaked it slightly. It is easy and inexpensive to make, tastes delicious and is warm and comforting on a cold winter’s day. I love to eat mine with my rye and seed sourdough.
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Chocolate, hazelnut & orange bundt with honey & ginger pears in brandy
These two recipes are perfect for Christmas celebrations. The cake is delicately flavoured with orange and chocolate, and has a hint of vanilla. The pears are poached in a ginger and honey syrup flavoured with rosemary and bay.
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Rye and seed sourdough
Making sourdough bread
First steps……
Good bread is made from three ingredients: flour, salt and water. What distinguished good bread from bad is the method used to make it.
Making sourdough is all about perfecting the method. In most sourdough recipes the ingredients list is short – flour, salt and water - but the method is long and nuanced.
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