WINTER WARMER - FIERY PUMPKIN SOUP

We are having a mini halloween/firework feast this year, and because we are doing it on a Friday I have been planning a menu that I can cook the night before, ready to heat through when I get home from work on the Friday. I definitely want to serve a soup, that everyone can help themselves to and bring outside to watch the firework display. I have tried a few different flavour combinations but this was the best, and it includes pumpkin, so I can use up the flesh carved out from our ghoulish pumpkins!

This soup is cooked for 4 hours, so be aware of this if you're thinking of just knocking it up for dinner after work - it's best made when you have some time to wait for it to cook - make lots and freeze the rest in batches. You can also do this in a slow cooker, but cook it for 6 hours on the slow setting.

Makes enough for about 8 people, or 4 batches for 2.

FOR THE SOUP
2 large, white onions
800g pumpkin flesh
1 celeriac
500g carrots
1 bunch of celery
1 head of garlic
3 red chillies
2 litres of chicken stock
4 bay leaves
Salt and pepper

TO ADD
1 slice of bresola per bowl of soup
Creme fraiche
Chives, parsley or mint
Red chilli

Preheat the oven to the lowest gas mark (around 130-140 degrees C), or if you are using a slow cooker, turn it on and set it to it's lowest temperature. Get a large casserole dish or saucepan with a lid ready.

Peel, and chop the onions, pumpkin, celeriac and carrots into large chunky pieces. Pop them all in your pan. Wash and chop the celery and add to the pan, with the peeled garlic cloves and chopped red chillies. Add the bay leaves and stock, and season. If you are using stock cubes, then do not add salt at this point. Wait until it is cooked, then taste and add salt if required.

Place the pan on the hob and heat until the stock starts to boil. Put the lid on the pan, and place the whole thing in the oven, or slow cooker. Leave to cook for 4 hours.

After 4 hours, remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Once cooled, spoon the mixture into the blender and blend in batches. Return all blended soup to one bowl and mix. Taste the soup and adjust seasoning if needed.

Spoon the soup into bowls, and top each bowl with some bresola, chopped into cm slices, a dollop of creme fraiche, some chopped fresh herbs of your choice and a few rings of sliced red chilli (or some chilli sauce).

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PICANTE MEXICAN GRILL - A HIDDEN GEM

I do love a good Mexican, and there are several restaurants and street food venues in Soho that I used to frequent for a lunchtime burrito, but I recently stumbled across somewhere that tops them all. This little gem seats about 12 people (they serve many more with take away which can be pre ordered to pick up on arrival), and is hidden away somewhere between Victoria and Westminster Cathedral.

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PALE ALE ONION GRAVY

It's a pretty easy one, but onion gravy lifts a simple supper to a new level. If you've got some nice sausages and some onions and potatoes, then this meal is great way to end a long day.

This recipe really is very easy, it just takes some time to allow it to be as delicious as it should! This makes enough for about 6 people (or 4 hungry people).

3 large onions
3 cloves of garlic
Butter
Olive oil
1 500ml bottle of pale ale
Worcester sauce
1 bay leaf
150ml vegetable stock
1 tsp dijon mustard

Chop (or slice in the magimix) the onions. They need to be as thin as possible, which is why I slice them in the magimix. This also reduces eye pain whilst onion chopping! If you don't have a magimix you can slice them with a knife or use a mandoline. Crush the cloves of garlic. Heat a large, deep frying pan over a very low heat. Add a knob of butter and a small drizzle of olive oil, then all the sliced onions and crushed garlic. The onions need to cook like this for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. This may seem like a ridiculously long time, but the onions need to cook really slowly, and by doing so, they will become soft, golden and sweet.

Once the onions have turned the colour of toasted white bread, add the bottle of pale ale, a splash of Worcester sauce (I couldn't find this last time so used Mushroom ketchup which was equally as yummy) and a bay leaf to the pan. Turn the heat up to medium, and bubble the ale away so that all the alcohol burns off. Once the sauce has reduced by half, add 150ml of meat or vegetable stock, a teaspoon of dijon mustard and salt and pepper. Cook for a further 5-10 minutes until the sauce has thickened.

If the sauce has not thickened as much as you'd like, scoop out a small amount of the juice from the pan in a mug, and add a spoonful of flour to the juice in the mug. Stir until there are no lumps, and pour back into the sauce.

Serve with sausages, greens and buttery mashed potato.

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COOKING WITH JAMES MARTIN

Last week I received a very exciting invitation for a cooking event with Saturday Kitchen's very own James Martin. I'm used to my interactions with James Martin being via a TV screen whilst I am still in pyjama mode, so it was a real treat to get dressed and head over to the wonderful cooking school, Food at 52, just off Old Street in East London to meet the man himself and hopefully pick up a few tricks of the trade.

The day was arranged by the lovely people at Thomas Cook, whose in-flights meals James Martin has recently designed. The day was split into two parts, with the morning spent cooking our 3 course lunch under James' watchful eye, and the afternoon being a 6 course cooking demonstration given by James, which I unfortunately had to miss.

There were 12 of us at the event, an equal split of enthusiastic food bloggers, and Thomas Cook marketing staff. We got aproned up and took our places around a long table, with James at one end, instructing and helping us. We prepped all the ingredients for the three course lunch, which was Thai Crab Risotto, followed by smoked haddock Rarebit, and a chocolate pudding for desert. It was really good fun to get involved with all the food prep and pick up some cooking tips from James (for example, I learnt that when using tomato puree in a recipe, it should always be added at the start of cooking to give it time to cook through and reduce any bitter taste). He also talked us through how to get all the meat out of a crab for his delicious risotto.

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GOD SAVE THE CLAM

River pageants, concerts and tourists will fill London's streets, rivers and parks this weekend. But you'll find me at God Save The Clam. A rooftop pop-up event in East London hosting a very British spin-off of the traditionally American Clam Bake - bringing together two of London's most in demand food pop-ups: barbecue wonders, Pitt Cue Co, and seafood masters Rock Lobsta.

A £40 ticket, purchased in advance, will get you: a couple of drinks, a starter of Pitt Cue Links, followed by Clams, cockles, mussels, devilled crayfish & crab claws, sea beets & samphire - steamed over seaweed & charcoal, Cornish Early Potatoes in Smoked Dripping, House Sausage, BBQ leeks, BBQ Corn & Grilled Sour Sough (OH MY GOSH!), and a choice of sundaes for pudding - if you have any room left!

Tickets for the £40 meal (lunch and supper sittings running from Thursday evening until Sunday evening) are running out fast, so get yours at www.godsavetheclam.co.uk. 

And if you don't want to come for a sit down meal, it's free entry to the rooftop Shack Snack Bar, open all day from Friday, where they'll be serving cocktails, beer and wine, as well as lobster corn dogs, Po Boy sandwiches and lobster popcorn.

Follow God Save The Clam on Twitter @godsavetheclam and find them on the Rooftop of The Emigre Studios, 274 Richmond Road, E8 3QW this weekend!

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PIZZA PILGRIMS

Street food is more popular now than it's ever been. Night food street market, Street Feast, which I have yet to visit, leads the way with it's Friday night feasts off Brick Lane. But not far behind is Berwick Street, Soho, whose offerings seem to increase by the week. I'm lucky enough to work close by and have long been a fan of Freebird Burritos, who get it spot on with steak, carnitas (pulled pork), chicken and veggie burritos, however, they have now got some serious competition. Not only is there fresh Vietnamese rolls, there's a falafel stand, Mediterranean salad stall, Thai and Moroccan.

But my newest favorite lunch from Berwick Street is the pizza from Pizza Pilgrims - fresh pizzas cooked in the back of a tiny van, that I'm sure must have to be towed to the site! It's so small, it's amazing it can produce pizzas, let alone ones of such quality - it definitely cannot be roadworthy! 

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THE LAUGHING STOCK

Underbelly festival has returned to London again recently for 2 months of spectacular shows. I hadn't been before but eventually made it down there a couple of weeks ago to watch Shlomo's incredible Vocal Orchestra - an hour of aural entertainment from 7 very talented vocalist beatboxers.

Situated in an area of Jubilee Gardens, an inflatable purple cow hosts the majority of the performances, while surrounding benches, stools and mini marquees make up the Magners mushroom areas. 

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BEETROOT HORSERADISH MASH

This magic mash is fantastic. I first tried it when my boyfriend's sister in law cooked it for us when we went round for roast lunch. It tasted so good, I couldn't wait to try it again. It is so simple to make, and works wonderfully with roast chicken or beef, but equally as well cold, with oily fish, such as mackerel, for lunch.

This makes enough for 6-8 people.

5 beetroots
1 swede
1 litre of chicken or vegetable stock
2 tbsp creamed horseradish
Handful parsley

Wash and halve the beetroots. Peel the swede and chop into large chunks. Add the beetroot halves and the swede chunks to a pan of boiling vegetable stock and cook for 45-60 mins, until both the beetroot and swede feel soft when cut with a knife. Drain the vegetables, and carefully peel the beetroot. The skin should come off very easily.

Return the beetroot to the pan with the swede and stir in the creamed horseradish. Mash all of it together, add salt and pepper to taste, sprinkle with parsley, and eat with whatever you have available! It is such a vibrant colour, looks stunning on the plate, and tastes even better.

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BLUE CHEESE BURGERS with ROAST PEPPER SALSA

After a recent visit to Ealing Farmers Market, I came home laden with meat! Most of it went in the freezer, including some great steak mince from Boarstall Meats in Buckinghamshire. Ealing Farmers Market runs from 9am - 1pm every Saturday, and I like my lazy weekend mornings, so if I do make it, I pretty much always get there for the last half hour - the best time for deals - 300g of steak mince only cost £2!

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LA MASCOTTE - MONMARTE, PARIS

Left to our own devices for a day in Paris and without having any particular plans, we jumped on the metro to Saint Germain, but ended up not quite IN Saint Germain, and not entirely sure where 'St Germain' was. So rather than wander round and try to work it out, we decided to walk to Monmarte. 

What looked like a couple of miles on the map - an easy walk - ended up taking us through busy tourist filled streets and then up winding hills, past kebab houses and launderettes, and eventually into Monmarte. Towards the end of our walk we passed lots of restaurants serving Moules and had been tempted to stop, but none of them seemed to be quite what I was hoping for. But within minutes of arriving at the cobbled streets of Monmarte we found La Mascotte, an innocent looking place, that looked more like a bar tacked onto the side of an amazing fishmonger than a really good restaurant.

La Mascotte turned out to be the best restaurant I ate at in Paris. We sat outside on the pavement, with the sun on our faces. The menu offered every different edible thing from the sea you could imagine, including 8 different types of oyster. We had the second cheapest variety of oyster to start, and served with an excellently sharp and sweet red wine shallot vinegar, they were perfect. Full, flavorsome oysters, tasting like they'd been plucked straight from the sea.

We also had oysters two days later from a lovely French lady in a Saturday food market, who shucked the oysters for us to eat then and there.

We followed the oysters with Moules Mariniere - served by the litre. Delicious. Absolutely delicious. The photo I took of them doesn't even do the mussels justice (so I'm not going to put it on here), they were some of the best I've tried. And they just kept on going, I've never seen so many mussels. Or eaten so many!

La Mascotte was perfect sunny France. I will definitely eat there again.

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CAFE HUGO - PARIS

I spent a long weekend in Paris recently, and having not been there since I was 14, I asked friends who'd been there more recently for suggestions of where to eat. A very good friend of mine, Hugo, said that I should go to Cafe Hugo, on Place des Vosges. I wasn't sure how much this had to do with it being a good place to eat, or with it sharing his name. Anyhow, we ended up here on a lazy Sunday afternoon, and I'm so glad we did! In fact, it turns out that when I was in Paris with my family all those years ago, we stayed about 300m away from Cafe Hugo.

We got there at about 2.30pm and the place was heaving. We got a table though, outside on the pavement, covered with a see-through marquee. It was such a (naughty) treat to be able to sit at my table, in the warmth, and smoke a cigarette!!

But the best thing about Cafe Hugo was the food. Bowls of onion soup, smelling sweet and thick with melted cheese, were carried past us to many of the other diners. I couldn't manage the onion soup and a main course (after a long weekend of many meals) so opted for just a main course - a beautiful rib of beef I shared with my boyfriend. It was cooked to perfection - 'a pointe' as they call it there. And on point it was. Served with a rustic looking dauphinoise, a few grilled spring onions and half a Parmesan crusted baked tomato - not quite the seasonal vegetables I'd imagined from the description of the dish, but all the same, it was really tasty. After 4 days in Paris, eating in amazing restaurants, I had by now learnt that fresh, simple vegetables simply don't exist as part of main courses!

The service at Cafe Hugo was brilliant. We were very well attended to, and felt relaxed and really comfortable, despite the fact there must've been at least 100 people seated for food there. After conquering our main courses and some good red wine, a quick espresso got me on my feet for a stroll around the stunning square that is Place de Vosges, before heading to the station and back to London.  

A perfect way to spend our last sunny afternoon of a wonderful weekend in Paris.

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A VERY SUSTAINABLE DINNER - COLEY

Coley has been called 'the fish that could save cod'. We all know that cod is overfished, but as it is still present in EVERY supermarket, frozen, fresh and from the fish counter, it is easy to still pick it up without thinking. However, my new found love of coley has diverted my attentions, and I hope it can change your minds too. The longer we carry on eating overfished fish, the quicker it is going to run out.

This is a great recipe for cooking Coley, but you can choose any of your favorite cod recipes and replace it with coley. Coley is also particularly cheap.

1 small bag of baby new potatoes
3 leeks
1 onion
4 cloves of garlic
4 fillets of coley
4 pieces of parma ham
4 sprigs of thyme
1 lemon

Put a pan of salted water on to boil. Add some cleaned baby new potatoes once boiling.

Wash the leeks and chop into cm long slices. Chop the onion finely and add to an oiled pan with the leeks. Fry gently for 5-7 minutes until everything is starting to soften. Place the softened leek and onion in a pile in a roasting tin, and tuck the crushed cloves of garlic into the pile. Now take your coley fillets. Wrap each fillet with a piece of parma ham, and tuck a spring of thyme and a slice of lemon in between the fish and the ham. Pop the wrapped Coley fillets on top of the leek pile. Grill the fish and leeks for 20 minutes under a medium grill.

Drain the potatoes, and crush gently with a fork. Serve alongside a wrapped fillet of coley and some leeks, with a wedge of lemon.

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