I needed to make a vegetarian main course for my birthday dinner, so I adapted a recipe I found in a Lakeland cookbook.
Butternut squash with spinach and ricotta ravioli - serves 10-12
Five packets (1.5 kg) spinach and ricotta ravioli
1 large or 2 medium butternut squash
Olive oil
300ml cream
150ml crème fraiche
1 large or 2 medium leeks
Peel the butternut squash, halve and remove the seeds. Cut each half into two lengthways, and slice the pieces in slices about 0.5 cm thick.
Slice the leeks finely.
Heat some olive oil in a large saucepan, and fry the butternut squash in batches until just browned and tender. If a fork pushes in with little resistance, it is ready. Keep it warm while you prepare the rest of the meal.
Fry the leeks in the same frying pan for 5-10 minutes until soft. Add the cream and crème fraiche and a splash of water to the pan. Bring to the boil and then cook for 4-5 minutes until reduced. Season with salt and pepper.
Cook the ravioli according to the packet instructions.
To serve, spoon a layer of ravioli into a large serving dish, followed by a layer of butternut squash. Repeat, then top with the cream sauce.
I really enjoyed the autumnal flavours. The cream and leek sauce complemented the butternut squash beautifully. And, it was so quick and easy to make!
Friday 30 September 2011
Tuesday 27 September 2011
Birthday dinner - summer meets autumn
On Friday, I hosted a girls-only (belated) birthday dinner. Eight of my lovely friends came and celebrated with me - it was a great evening.
I planned a menu contrasting the seasons - an autumnal appetizer (onion marmalade tarts - recipe below) and main course (butternut squash with ricotta ravioli), and a dessert to bid farewell to summer (individual pavlovas with strawberries and raspberries).
Onion marmalade tarts
The onion marmalade tarts were wonderfully quick and easy to make, thanks to my mother-in-law's recipes. The recipe below is enough for 12 mini tarts.
For the pastry, heat 6 tbsp water and 6 tbsp oil together, mix with 250g plain flour and a pinch of salt, and use immediately.
For the marmalade:
2 tbsp oil
500g red onions, thinly sliced
200ml red wine
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
Salt and pepper
Heat the oil in a large saucepan, then cook the onions, stirring regularly, until soft.
Add the remaining ingredients. Cook on a moderate heat for 40 minutes, until the mixture is reduced and sticky.
Transfer to an airtight container for storage. It freezes well.
I planned a menu contrasting the seasons - an autumnal appetizer (onion marmalade tarts - recipe below) and main course (butternut squash with ricotta ravioli), and a dessert to bid farewell to summer (individual pavlovas with strawberries and raspberries).
Onion marmalade tarts
The onion marmalade tarts were wonderfully quick and easy to make, thanks to my mother-in-law's recipes. The recipe below is enough for 12 mini tarts.
For the pastry, heat 6 tbsp water and 6 tbsp oil together, mix with 250g plain flour and a pinch of salt, and use immediately.
For the marmalade:
2 tbsp oil
500g red onions, thinly sliced
200ml red wine
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
Salt and pepper
Heat the oil in a large saucepan, then cook the onions, stirring regularly, until soft.
Add the remaining ingredients. Cook on a moderate heat for 40 minutes, until the mixture is reduced and sticky.
Transfer to an airtight container for storage. It freezes well.
To assemble, roll out the pastry quite thinly, and use a pastry cutter to cut 12 small rounds. Fit them in a cupcake tin. Fill them with a teaspoonful or two of the marmalade. Bake at 200C for 20 minutes. Serve warm.
Friday 23 September 2011
Things we grew this year
It seems that the summer is over. Autumn is upon us, with its deliciously crisp days and kaleidoscope of colours, making me want to eat nothing but pumpkin soup and roasted tomatoes.
Tomorrow my parents and I will be clearing my little back garden of its summer blooms, ready for the winter. I've had such a lot of fun in the garden this year, and have been rewarded by quite a lot of produce from it.
My successes have included mixed salad leaves, raspberries (I'm anticipating a second crop later in a couple of weeks), spinach, chard, lettuce, potatoes, carrots, runner beans, and blueberries. I have three butternut squash vines still growing, and I think at least one of them is going to fruit!
Failures: purple sprouting broccoli (never got going), dianthus (pinks - not sure why they didn't grow), tomatoes (blown over by the wind), rhubarb (two of the three crowns lost all their leaves, but I'm hoping they'll grow back next year). My strawberry plants are still in the ground, nearly all of them have survived so hopefully I'll get some fruit from them next year.
Next year I hope to be a little bit more organised and plant a lot more pots of different vegetables. I like climbing ones the best, as they take up so little room for the size of crop you get. So perhaps green beans or peas instead of or as well as runner beans? As well as my trusty salads which are super-easy to grow, and totally fresh when you eat them.
All in all, it was another fun gardening year!
Tomorrow my parents and I will be clearing my little back garden of its summer blooms, ready for the winter. I've had such a lot of fun in the garden this year, and have been rewarded by quite a lot of produce from it.
My successes have included mixed salad leaves, raspberries (I'm anticipating a second crop later in a couple of weeks), spinach, chard, lettuce, potatoes, carrots, runner beans, and blueberries. I have three butternut squash vines still growing, and I think at least one of them is going to fruit!
Failures: purple sprouting broccoli (never got going), dianthus (pinks - not sure why they didn't grow), tomatoes (blown over by the wind), rhubarb (two of the three crowns lost all their leaves, but I'm hoping they'll grow back next year). My strawberry plants are still in the ground, nearly all of them have survived so hopefully I'll get some fruit from them next year.
Next year I hope to be a little bit more organised and plant a lot more pots of different vegetables. I like climbing ones the best, as they take up so little room for the size of crop you get. So perhaps green beans or peas instead of or as well as runner beans? As well as my trusty salads which are super-easy to grow, and totally fresh when you eat them.
All in all, it was another fun gardening year!
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