Butternut Squash Soup

There was a fish and chip party  on Wednesday evening last week. So, my friend and I thought we need to have a light lunch to balance it. Otherwise, it will be too much within a day. If you say a light lunch in the UK, it will be a sandwich, salad, or soup. It is cold here now so that drinking soup is better than eating cold sandwich and salad. HAHA… Though I have stayed in the UK over a year and I like to eat sandwich and salad, I still want to choose HOT food in the winter. More Taiwanese style. HOT food.

Recipe: Serve 2~3 people

Steps of Butternut Squash Soup

(1) Chop butternut squash into chunks. Place them on the baking tray. Drizzle some olive oil over the top of butternut squash with some salt and black pepper. Roast it for 45 minutes at 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6 until it turns tender. Then, set aside.

(2) Melt butter in the saucepan. Add finely chopped carrot and onion in the pan. Cover the lid. Cook for around 5~10 minute until it tender.

(3) Put cooked butternut squash, onion, and carrot in a bowl. Purée everything with a hand blender until it turns silky smooth.

(4) Pour all purée back into the pan. Add water and stock and simmer around 20 minutes after boiling. And then, mix cream into the soup. Simmer another 10 minutes. Add some salt if needed. Serve in HOT.

 

 
The taste is lovely. Butternut squash soup is so smooth. Just have one sip that you feel how amazing this soup is. I like this soup a lot, but I am not going to try light lunch anymore.
I was too hungry after my light lunch that I ate muesli, fruits, chocolate bar, and ice cream between my light lunch and fish and chips party. HEE… Anyway, enjoy the soup.

Pumpkin Bread

It has been a week after Halloween. Time flies, doesn’t it? Actually, all shops started to display their X’mas things on the day after Halloween. OH MY GOD…  X’mas is coming… AGAIN!! I need to start to prepare some X’Mas gifts for my friends. And, this will be the second X’Mas I will have in the UK.

After Halloween, we still left some pumpkin. But, it was too much pumpkin to eat after you ate pumpkin for all week. So, I left that little piece in the fridge. I don’t want to do any sweet thing with pumpkin so that I thought… Why not do a pumpkin bread as my breakfast?!

Oven Temperature Setting: 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6
Baking Time: 15~20 minutes
Recipe

 

 

Steps of Pumpkin Bread

(1) Add flour, salt and sugar into a big bowl. Mix a little.

(2) Add 130 ml milk with instant yeast, pumpkin puree, and egg into the bowl. Mix all ingredients well.
(*Selena’s Kitchen Talk: I leave ONE table spoon of egg for brushing.
**Selena’s Kitchen Talk: My instant yeast’s instruction is to add yeast in the water around 5 minutes. Check the instruction before using it.)

(3) Then, move the dough into a floured table. Fold olive oil into the dough.

(Selena’s Kitchen Talk: Because this dough is very wet and sticky, it is really hard to handle it. I fold it a little bit only.)

(4) Trying to shape the bread as a big rectangle on the greased baking tray. Let it grow around 3 hours at room temperature slowly.
(5) Brush some egg or water over the top
(6) Send it to the pre-heat oven at 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6 and bake around 15~20 minutes until the top turns golden and crispy.

 

LOOK… How beautiful air holes in my pumpkin bread. I didn’t knead the dough that it is too wet and sticky to manage it. Instead, I folded it after mix all ingredients well. I prolong the time of proving and skip the second grow-up process that makes bread very soft.
I love my pumpkin bread a lot. Try a different bread for your breakfast or tea time. Enjoy it.

Pumpkin Cake

It is another pumpkin dessert, a pumpkin cake. If I had time to do some decoration on the cake, I will put some scary face to celebrate Halloween. Halloween should be something scary, right?!

But, it is too sad not to have time to do those decorations. I’ll remember to save time next year. So, I just did some cream cheese icing.

 

Oven Temperature Setting: 170C/325F/Gas Mark 3

Baking Time: Around 25~30 minutes
Recipe: A 9” Pumpkin Cake

Steps of Pumpkin Cake

(1) Add egg and sunflower oil into a bowl. Whisk wet ingredients.

(2) Add sugar, baking powder, and spice into the egg mixture.
(3) Add grated pumpkin into the batter. Incorporate them well.

(4) Add flour into the batter gradually. Well-incorporated everything before adding more flour in.

(5) Pour the batter into the round baking dish. Bake it at the pre-heat oven at 170C/325F/Gas Mark3 around 25~30 minutes.

 

Steps of Cream Cheese Icing

(1) Mix butter and soft cheese well

(2) Add icing sugar into the cheese batter. Well-incorporated all ingredients. Leave in the fridge that it will be easier to spread

 

Steps of Assembly

(1)When cake cools down, spread cream cheese icing over the top and edge. Then, leave in the fridge before enjoying it.

 

This kind of pumpkin cake is more dense and moisture. With cream cheese icing, sweet… Will it my last pumpkin dessert?! I am not sure. But, it is Halloween today. So, please don’t be too scary!! And enjoy the cake.

Pumpkin Bacon Quiche

BBC broadcasts that Halloween is the third festival in the UK. Every shops sell lots of things related to Halloween, from costume to food. Everything!!

For me, I’m too old to knock my neighbor’s door asking for some sweets. But, I still purchased some chocolate. Maybe, some kids will come and knock my door?! Maybe?!

 

Temperature Oven Setting: 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6
Baking Time: Around 20~25 minutes
Recipe: A 9” round baking dish

Shortcrust Pastry Link

 

 

 

Steps of Pumpkin Bacon Quiche

(1) Prepare a fried pan. Add some oil in and switch medium heat on. Add sliced pumpkin in. Flavor pumpkin with a little salt. Fry around 5 minutes until it turns soft. Then, place over the top of pastry

(2) Use same pan to fry chopped bacon until it is cooked.

(3) Prepare creamy sauce: Place egg, Crème Fraîche, milk, dry basil, and salt in a bowl. Whisk all ingredients all. Then, pour into the quiche.

(4) Place grazed cheese over the top. Send it into a pre-heat oven at 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6 around 20 ~ 25 minutes until it is set.

 

Another pumpkin feast! Or, I should say another Halloween feast?! Actually, pumpkin is full of nutrition so that eating lots of pumpkins!! Should We? Enjoy it!!

Pumpkin Cheese Pie

Halloween is coming!! Happy Halloween!! Traditionally, people don’t celebrate in the UK. But now, more and more people do it so that every shop sells lots of pumpkin. Giant pumpkin, monster pumpkin, carving pumpkin… Too many kinds of pumpkins are sold there.

Anyway, my friend and I purchased one. We are not going to do some carving. We plan to do lots of food and desserts. So, the first one we are doing is Pumpkin Mascarpone Pie.

Oven Temperature Setting: 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4

Baking Time: Around 30 minutes

Recipe : A 9” Pumpkin Cheese Pie

Shortcrust Pastry Link

 

 

Steps of Pumpkin Filling
(1) Boil chopped pumpkin around 15 minutes. Then, dry it. Use a masher to mash pumpkin.

(2) Then, add sugar, nutmeg, egg, butter, and milk with pumpkin. Mix all ingredients well.

(3) Pour the pumpkin batter over the top of the pastry. Send it into the pre-heat oven at 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Bake around 30 minutes.

 

Steps of Mascarpone Cheese Filling

(1) Separate egg white and egg yolk into different bowls. Whisk egg white. Egg white should be beaten until it is light and stiff enough. Then, set aside.
(Selena’s Kitchen Talk: The bowl with egg white needs to be clean and dried totally.  Otherwise, the egg white can’t be whisked to light and stiff.)

(2) Add egg yolks, Mascarpone Cheese ad sugar into a big bowl. Mix them well.

(3) Fold-in egg white into the cheese butter gradually and lightly.

 

Steps of Assembly

(1) Wait the pumpkin fill is cooled around 20 minutes.
(2) Pour the Mascarpone Cheese Filling over the top of pumpkin filling. Leave in the fridge at least 4 hours before servicing it.

 

Pumpkin and Mascarpone Cheese are a very good match. Smooth mascarpone cheese enriches spicy pumpkin flavor. Eating with crust pastry offers you different texture in your mouth. It is definitely the top choice to bake when purchasing pumpkin! Enjoy it!!