My famous home made pumpkin soup and Brew Dog Nanny State Insanely Hopped Imperial Mild low ABV beer
Image by mrjorgen
This is how I usually make my pumpkin soup:
INGREDIENTS, amounts fairly ad-lib:
A whole medium size pumpkin, or half a huge, or two tiny ones, type hokkaido or similar
Stock, a couple of liters (of your preferred kind, I mix 50/50 vegetable and chicken stock)
Fresh ginger, I use about the length of my thumb
Cumin powder, a teaspoon or two
Chilies, dried, crushed, a teaspoon maybe
Salt, depending on the saltyness of your stock (you might not need any extra)
Cream, maybe 2-4 deciliters, depending on the size of your soup
Pumpkin seeds, a fistful or two (I buy them pre-peeled, unroasted, unsalted)
Fresh coriander herb leaves
Some chestnuts, roasted and peeled if you bother
PROCESS, also somewhat ad-lib, but usually in about this order:
Peel and de-seed the pumpkin, dice/chunk the flesh, put it in your largest cooking pot.
Boil the pumpkin in unsalted water for a few minutes until very tender. Pour water out.
Mash the tender pumpkin flesh with a potato masher or mixer. This is easy if you boiled it proper.
Make stock if you haven't already.
Grate the ginger, and add ginger to stock.
Add a little cumin and chili, but be careful not to overspice.
Reduce your soup until the texture gets somewhat thicker, add more water if it gets too thick. (You're making soup, not mash or porridge.)
When the thickness, spicyness and taste is how you like it, add your preferred amount of cream, and turn down the heat, as the soup shall not boil again.
Chop your coriander herb leaves.
Dry-roast your pre-peeled pumpkin seeds on medium heat in a frying pan until brownish, but not burned to coal. (This is fun, as they inflate and sometimes pop and jump in the pan.)
Serve soup in generous amounts in deep soup bowls.
Top each dish with a spoonful of warm, roasted pumpkin seeds straight from the pan, and a light sprinkling of coriander.
Serve with some fresh bread, water, and maybe a glass of dry/semi-dry white wine or a tasteful lager type beer, or maybe a wheat beer (weizen/weissbier/witbier).
Sometimes I also roast and peel some chestnuts, and add two-three of them to each bowl. If I do the chestnut part, the roasting and peeling of them is usually what I start out with, as the logistics of this might not fit into the soup cooking schedule otherwise.
(As for the beer in the photo: Check what Brew Dog say themselves.)
Day 204 - Inspired Soup
Image by Phil and Pam
The soup photo was inspired by Jim's picture of his Minestrone Soup. I prefer his. My bread is in the wrong place.
The soup is veg and bean and pulse and stuff. I'm not really sure, it was very good and bit spicy. Pam will fill you in on the details when she gets out of bed. I know what the bread is since I made that (oh ok I just stuffed the ingredents in a machine). It's a plain white loaf, done rapid stylee, so it a bit denser than normal. Just right for eating with your soup. Whilst it's still hot of course.
Phil.
Well, it's a bit of a hotch potch, but my ingredients are as follows - chickpeas; borlotti beans (any type really); puy lentils; dried mushrooms; carrots; celery; onion; garlic; brocolli; chilli flakes; lime leaves; lemon grass; coconut; stock cub.
Infact, it works well with any veg, beans or pulses, even a bit of pasta if you fancy it
Pam
WTF!? - First the Recall, Now THIS?
Image by Gregory Pleau
You may be wondering why I'm posting pictures of cat food. Well, I'll answer you.
After the Menu Foods recall went public, we stopped serving Mocha and Latte their favourite food - Fancy Feast Grilled Chicken and Turkey. It's not on the recall list, but she was throwing up after every meal (this stopped when the food stopped). Call me a skeptic, but there is wheat gluten in the Fancy Feast and Latte is keeping her food down now.
So the hunt began for an alternative food, and we thought we found it at the local SuperPet (Dundas Steet & 403 in Oakville for those of you keeping score). SuperPet was quite vocal on our local news stations about the heroic actions they took with their stock in the aftermath of the recall.
Take a closer look at the food, see if you notice what we noticed once we got home.
Go on, I'll wait.
That's right. There are STICKERS with new expiry dates covering up the older expiry dates on the food. I don't know if this was SuperPet, or the people that produced this "Active Life" brand food - but I am so angered that I can't express myself in polite terms.
I am more cynical than ever of the corporations that shape our lifestyles.
@UPDATE - APRIL 17: My sister in law contacted the manufacturer and sent a link to this photo page. They responded, indicating that there was nothing more malicious here than a printing error on the tins, hence the stickers. The manufacturer also apologized for the confusion, and the fact that the stickers don't adhere very well. Call me a cynic, but I still don't trust this food.
chooken_pie
Image by wiccked
The Gravy
Ingredients:
Puff pastry (frozen is ok)
Chicken (left over from a roast is fine)
Mushrooms
Vegetables
Chicken stock (and the jelly, if you have it!)
cornflour
cream
(there are no quantities since you should know how much you need to fill your own pie dish!)
Method:
Dice the chicken, and put into your pie dish.
cook the vegables - I use about a cup of fozen mixed veggies for this, add them to the chicken and stir through.
Slice your mushrooms, and soften in a little butter and a little of the stock (or the jelly), then remove them and add to the pie dish.
Put the rest of the stock in the pan, and heat until simmering, then add a little cornflour to make it as thick as you like your sauce. When it’s ready add a dollop of cream or sour cream, and add sufficent to the pie to ensure that it’s nice and moist, saving the remainder to serve as a sauce with the meal.
Put your pie bird in the centre of the filling, if you have one, and then top your pie with puff pastry - I use a whole square, and fold the corners in to the centre, so they puff right up and make a gloriously puffed pie lid. Brush the pastry with milk (or beaten egg if you prefer).
Bake in a hot oven until the pastry is cooked.
Serve with cheesy potatos and garlicky beans. Recipes to come.
Unagi Sushi - Yama-ya
Image by avlxyz
Unagi Sushi - Yama-ya
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We were recommended this place by one of Julia's colleague's friend who is a Gold Coast local. Sure enough, the food was good, and the diners were almost all Japanese-speaking. Apart from us, there was a couple from Hongkong and a Caucasian Aussie.
As mentioned in the review, the house specialty is a Baked Egg Slice that we passed on, but when we saw the table next to us order something off the daily specials which was unfortunately only in Japanese, we motioned to our waitress to get us a serve.
Our helpful Japanese waitress had a crib sheet full of notes and English translations. She helpfully explained to us that it was a "Yellowtail kingfish simmered in soy sauce". We didn't really care. It looked good! And it was good! The sweet soy stock was a good match for the fatty belly of the kingfish, and if it got to cloying, you could balance it out with some of the silky tofu simmered in the same stock but without the richness of the fish.
The Sake Chazuke (grilled salmon and rice in light fish stock) was a nice starter to warm us up. Typically, this is how Japanese end the meal, but it was a rather chilly night outside and we needed warming up. It was when we first encountered freshly grated wasabi that we knew we were in the hands of an expert.
The Agedashi Tofu was deep fried such that a skin has formed but still silky smooth inside. It was doused in a very light dashi stock and delicious!
Our Tako-su (octopus with vinegar dressing) was not so good. The octopus was quite fresh, but otherwise unremarkable.
The sushi and sashimi were very fresh, but the unagi sushi that we ordered was quite spectacular. A rare find of such well prepared eel in Australia.
Our only regret is not being able to order off the specials menu, otherwise, we would have been there every day! :)
Yamaya
38 Orchid Avenue, Surfers Paradise, Queensland
07-5592-4778
Closed on Sundays
Reviews:
- atrestaurant.info/restaurant/restaurant_detail.aspx?resti... - Yamaya - translated by Babelfish - Yamaya - Google Translate
Photos:
- Sake Chazuke
- Agedashi Tofu
- Tako Su
- Sushi Sashimi Platter
- Unagi sushi
- Waitress
- Sushi Chef
- Yellowtail Kingfish and tofu simmered in soy sauce
- Green tea ice-cream with sweetened red beans
- Yama-ya sign
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