Salads – Pofta de Dulce

Squash soup with Parmesan croutons

admin — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 21:02:33 +0000

This fantastic soup is best made with varieties of squash that have dense, orange flesh, such as butternut or onion squash. It’s important to use good chicken stock and season the soup well to bring out the nutty, sweet flavour of the squash. Once you’ve mastered this recipe, you can take the soup in different ways by adding pearl barley, dried pasta, or some chopped smoked bacon. Even the smallest amount of dried porcini. PS I made this in my pressure cooker the other day, with really great results – it’s so quick!

Put a very large saucepan on a medium heat and pour in a couple of lugs of olive oil. Add the sage leaves and fry for around 30 seconds or until dark green and crisp. Quickly remove them with a slotted spoon to a bowl lined with kitchen paper – you’ll use these for sprinkling over at the end. In the pan you’ll be left with a beautifully flavoured oil, so put it back on the heat and throw in your onion, celery, carrot, garlic, rosemary leaves, chilli and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Cook gently for about 10 minutes until the vegetables are sweet and soft. Add the squash and the stock to the pan, bring to the boil and simmer for around half an hour.

Green veggies with flavoured butter

admin — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 20:29:27 +0000

The beauty of this recipe is that you can vary the flavour combos; herbs work really well, or you can try things like olives, sun-dried tomatoes, chilli or lemon zest. You can make it up to a month in advance so it’s one less thing to do on the big day, and keep the leftovers in the freezer so you have an instant flavour injection at your fingertips. You can use it with anything from fish to chicken, roast lamb, roast potatoes or bread – delicious!

Add the garlic, chilli, rosemary and anchovies to a food processor and whiz until fairly fine. Dice and add the cold butter, then whiz again until well combined.

Get yourself a good-sized piece of greaseproof paper and place the butter into the centre. Fold the paper over and roll it around until you have an even-sized log. Twist up the ends to seal then pop in the fridge or freezer until needed.

New York vanilla cheesecake with blueberries

admin — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 21:19:14 +0000

Grease and line a 24cm springform cake tin and preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4.

Prepare the base. Mix the biscuits and butter in a bowl, press into the base of the tin and cook for 10 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Turn the oven to 200°C/400ºF/gas 6. Combine the sugar and cornflour in a bowl. Add the cream cheese and beat with an electric whisk until creamy. Add the eggs and beat well. Gradually add the cream, beating until smooth, then beat in the vanilla and zest.

Tip the mixture into the tin, level the surface and sit on a baking sheet and place in the centre of the oven. Bake for 40–45 minutes until the top is browned and the filling set around the edges. A piece of foil over the top will stop it browning too much. Let the cheesecake cool, then put in the fridge for 3 hours or overnight.

Put the blueberries in a pan, sprinkle over the sugar and add a splash of water. Put on a low-medium heat to simmer gently for 10 minutes. Cool and serve with the cheesecake.