Pumpkin soup with orange and ginger

Fall is over. The first snow fall of the season has arrived and it got pretty cold outside. If you want to warm yourself up, you should try this recipe for pumpkin soup with orange and ginger, especially when there are so many pumpkins around :) A perfect treat for such cold days.

To make the soup, you will need:
600 g of pumpkin cut into big pieces
1 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon of fresh grated ginger
half of an orange
100 g almond flakes
salt and freshly grind pepper

First place the butter and ginger in a pot. Add the cut pieces of pumpkin (I left the skin on). Squeeze out the juice from the orange half and pour it into the pot, you can put the orange skin as well, as it will give more flavor. Keep it on medium heat for about 20 minutes until the pumpkin is soft.
In the meantime brown the almond flakes on a pan.
When the pumpkin is soft, take it out and let it cool then pill the skin off. Blend everything and add salt to taste. Finally, pour the soup in a bowl, sprinkle with browned almond flakes and freshly grind pepper.

Canada here I come!

I arrived safely in Canada but also a little bit sick. Feeling a lot better right now though.

It has been a while since my last post but it's because I have been quite busy recently.

I am focused on my job searching, having a temporary part time job, and also being engaged in Fashion Calgary project, Portrait Campaign 2012 (http://www.fashioncalgary.ca/). So very busy!!!

Despite all this work, I also had moments of pleasure. I went to Lake Louise, where I could see a stunning landscape of the National Park. I did a 6 km hike (I made it, barely but I did :D ), cannoed on the lake and had a wonderful tea break with a glass of ice wine, lots of different cookies and scones with amazing view of the lake.

September was really warm in Calgary. Fall revealed different kinds of beautiful colours and sun was giving lots of positive energy.

I celebrated my first Thanksgiving, with amazing turkey baked by a friend. And now waiting for Haloween. The event that we don’t really celebrate in Poland. But here it is a quite big thing. People dress up, carve pumpkins, decorate their houses.

And speaking about pumpkins...wherever you go, there are pumpkins everywhere. And because it became bit colder in Calgary I thought that delicious pumpkin soup with ginger and almond flakes would be a great idea. Recipe coming soon :) !!!

Spelt apple pie

I like to involve spelt flour in my recipes. Here is a simple recipe for apple pie made from that flour. It doesn't take much time to make it as I used ready apple mousse but if you prefer you can make the mousse by yourself.

300g spelt flour
100g flour
200g potato flour
250g chilled butter
150g brown sugar
1 small egg and 1 yolk
1 jar apple mousse (about 400g)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
icing sugar
Mix all the flours and sugar, cut chilled butter into small pieces and add to it, use your fingers to knead a dough, add small egg and the yolk, keep kneading. Form a ball from the dough and devide into two parts, one smaller and one larger. The smaller put in the freezer and the larger in the fridge, both for about an hour. The larger part from the fridge lay on the bottom of the baking form, poke it with a fork and put it in the oven for about 20 minutes at 180 Celsius degrees. Take it out and spread the apple mousse, sprinkle with cinnamon and at the top grate on the large holes grater the dough from the freezer. Put back in the oven for about 45 minutes untill it is golden. When the pie is cold, sprinkle with icing sugar. Enjoy!

Coconut swirls

When you need to make something sweet but quick for your unexpected guests, here is a great simple idea.

1 package puff pastry (25 x 42 cm)
1 yolk
half tablespoon icing sugar
coconut flakes

Cut the pastry into 2 cm stripes. Whisk yolk with icing sugar and brush it on the puff pastry, sprinke with coconut flakes. Roll each stripe shaping a swirl. Bake at 200 degrees Celsius for about 15-20 mins.

Deep fried bites

These ingredients are enough to make quite a large plate of bites, and everyone will love them. They will be gone almost instantly. I promise ;)
around 10 small plums
20 g fresh yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
100 ml milk
2 eggs
pinch of salt
200 g flour
And also: oil and icing sugar

Cut plums into quarters. In a bowl, grind the yeast with 1 teaspoon sugar, mix with warm milk (warm the milk on the stove, can't be too hot, check with your finger), eggs, salt and flour until the dough is smooth. Put the bowl away, cover with a cloth and let it rise for around 20 minutes. Take off the cloth and put in the quarters of plums, gently mix it. Scoop up a portion with a tablespoon, making sure there is also a plum in the scoop. Fry it in a small pot filled with oil for 2 cm, turn each bite and keep until both sides become golden. Poke it with a toothpick and if the toothpick is dry, take the bites out. Let it dry on a paper cloth, and then sprinkle with icing sugar.

Good breakfast. Good start of the day!

Mini tarts with red currant

Before my trip to the Baltic Sea I made mini tarts and as promised here is the recipe.
We have tons of red currants in the garden, so it was a must to bake something using those fruits.

Recipe for 8 mini tarts.
270 g flour
140 g butter
140 g sugar
20 g icing sugar
2 small eggs
pinch of salt
half glass of grated almonds
around 250 g red currant

Mix together 250g flour, 100g chilled butter, 100 g sugar, 1 egg, 1 yolk and a pinch of salt into a bowl until it turns to a dough form. Place on a flat surface and knead until the dough is smooth. Form a ball, cover with foil and put it in the fridge for an hour or two to cool. Melt 40g butter and mix with grated almonds, 40g of sugar and also 20g of flour. Grease the baking trays with the butter. Divide the dough into two parts, one larger portion and one smaller. The smaller one you would put in the freezer. Lay out the dough and shape onto the bottom and sides of the trays. Poke it with a fork and then put a mixture of almonds in each of the trays. Finally, place a layer of red currants over it. Whip the egg whites until it turns into a rigid foam. Add the icing sugar and keep whipping. Put a little bit on each mini tart, directly on top of the red currant. Grab the dough from the freezer. You will then need to grate the dough with a grater over the top of the foam. Bake for around 20-25 minutes at 180 Celsius degrees. Turn off the oven but leave it half open. Keep inside for another 5 minutes to let it cool. Enjoy!