Crown prince squash soup

 

The soup season is starting to be upon us here in Europe, and I have indeed made quite a few soups lately. They are so warming and comforting and convenient to make also on busy weekdays.

I had some crown prince squash left (see also my yesterday’s recipe for Spicy pumpkin tacos, if you are after squash and pumpkin recipes for the season), so I decided to use it in this soup. I usually add lentils to this kind of vegetable soups, as they give a lot of body and of course protein to the soup. I also added homegrown chilli for some additional heat. Otherwise the soup is quite basic. Have a look at the easy recipe below.

Crown prince squash soup

Ingredients

¼ crown prince squash

3 carrots

2 shallots

2 garlic cloves

1 red chilli

2 tbsp vegetable oil

½ cup yellow lentils

1 vegetable stock cube

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

Fresh chives

Method

Peel the crown prince squash and carrots and cut them to cubes or slices.

Heat vegetable oil in a saucepan and cook the shallots, garlic and chilli until they are soft. Then add the carrots and squash to the pan and cook for a while. Rinse the lentils and add them to the mix.

Season with vegetable stock cube, salt and pepper and cover with water. Simmer the soup until the vegetables are soft and then purée it. Taste it, and add any additional seasoning, if needed and enjoy!

 

Your VegHog

 

Spicy pumpkin tacos

 

An autumnal weekend has started. Yesterday it was quite rainy, and it could rain today too, but the morning was sunny. I’m looking forward to an opening of a new vegetable shop today, where we will stop by. Then we will probably attend an event with British beers in one local bar, wearing masks of course.

I bought plenty of pumpkins and squashes already and will get more, so I’ve tried to cook different kinds of dishes with them. These spicy pumpkin tacos are one of them. I didn’t use an actual pumpkin in this recipe, but a beautiful pale green skinned crown prince squash. You can use any squash or pumpkin you have. The tacos are fully vegan, spicy and the contrast with the spicy sauce and sweet roasted squash is nice. I also served some of the quirky finger limes with this dish. If you want to try them, here comes the recipe.

 

Spicy pumpkin tacos

Ingredients

¼ crown prince squash

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 onion

3 garlic cloves

1 red chilli

230 g butterbeans

4-6 tbsp tomato purée

Smoked paprika to taste

Ground cumin to taste

Ground coriander to taste

Salt to taste

1 tbsp soy sauce

8 tortilla taco wraps

Fresh coriander leaves

Finger limes

 

Method

Peel and chop the crown prince squash into small cubes. Roast the cubes brushed with oil in the oven.

Chop the onion, garlic and chilli and cook them in oil until soft.

Add the butterbeans, tomato purée and seasoning and let cook until the flavours have blended nicely. I like to crush the butterbeans a little bit so that they are smaller.

Heat some tortilla taco wraps and fill them with the butterbean mix and roasted pumpkin. Decorate with fresh coriander leaves and serve with lime. Enjoy!

 

Have a nice weekend!

Your VegHog

In My Kitchen in October

 

I proudly present my new logo to you! It was designed and made by my lovely partner. I think that he captured the essence of the VegHog very well here. What do you think?

Other things in my kitchen in October are a lot of pumpkins and squashes. I will post further squash and pumpkin recipes throughout the month. We have a new local vegetable market and I just love their organic produce. It’s all so clean and flavourful sold directly by the farmers themselves.

I also bought some finger limes for the first time. They look cute, don’t they? They taste pretty much the same as regular limes, but they have a bit different texture inside. It’s like small pearls when you squeeze them.

Apart from that, I’m still getting a little bit of own produce from the balcony, tomatoes, peppers, chilli and cape gooseberries, which are a nice addition to have. Even my sweet peas are still flowering and it’s October!

I got myself a new toaster, as I haven’t owned a toaster for 3+ years since I left the UK. It’s very handy to have one now. And if you remember my wooden box, I got many nice tips from you how to line it so that the oil bottles won't stain it too much. For now I used cling film, as I didn't have any foil, but I think I'll try both. It looks nice there in any case.

I bought another one of these excellent olive oils with the cute label and a salad dressing with orange and rosemary that is so flavourful and handy to have.

Hera are again some dishes that I’ve cooked lately, which didn’t make it to blog posts.

Tomato and bell pepper risotto with fried grill cheese topping

Fresh salad with cashew nuts and cape gooseberries

Golden Thai noodles with tofu and coconut sauce

I’m sharing this post with Sherry from Sherry's Pickings, who is hosting the In My Kitchen event.

 

Your VegHog

 

Mexican rice

 

We have a local street food festival this weekend! I’m excited to see what kind of food is on offer and hope that there are many veggie and vegan options. I’m definitely ready to eat. It’s a bit cloudy today, but it may not rain and it’s still quite warm. Yesterday it rained all day long.

Mexican rice is one of my go-to dishes. It’s nutritious, delicious and cheap and easy to make. I made this one with black eyed peas, sweetcorn, chilli, tomato purée and basmati rice. It was served with own tomatoes from the greenhouses and fresh coriander.

Have a nice weekend!

Your VegHog

Shallot focaccia

 

I’ve had a nice holiday week so far. It has been very relaxing, just as I intended. I started today with a swim in the harbour, which is so refreshing and really wakes you up. We’ve visited some museums and local marketplaces, had a few beers in beer gardens and just read books. I’ve also done some watercolour painting. I’m not a good painter, but I like it.

Here is yet another focaccia bread that I’ve made. It’s a simple focaccia with pink shallots. It goes well with those autumnal soups or even on its own.

 Have a nice rest of the week!

Your VegHog

 

Leek and potato soup

 

Soups are so good, don’t you think. I have made a few soups lately and this plant based leek, potato and lentil soup is one of them. It was so nice and easy to make so here is my basic recipe.

 

Leek and potato soup

Ingredients

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

2 leeks

6 potatoes

1tbsp vegetable oil

½ cup yellow lentils

1 vegetable stock cube

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

Fresh chives

 

Method

Chop the onion, garlic and leeks. Peel the potatoes and also cut them to cubes.

Sautée the onion and garlic in oil. Then add the leeks to the pan and soften them.

Add the potatoes, lentils and seasoning.

Cover with water and let simmer under lid until all components have cooked.

Blend the soup until smooth and enjoy! I added a drizzle of wild garlic oil on the top for serving.

 

Your VegHog

Roasted pumpkin risotto

 

Is anyone else excited for the pumpkin season? I just adore it, both for cooking and decorating. I do realise that Halloween is kind of cancelled this year, but we can still spend nice time in our homes.

So here comes another comforting autumn dish from the VegHog’s kitchen. Have a look at the easy, but tasty recipe for a roasted pumpkin risotto below.

This was an excellent risotto with roasted pumpkin, crispy sage butter and a hint of chilli. You can easily veganise this recipe by using vegan butter. I haven’t tried the sage butter with vegan butter yet, as I’m not sure if it will brown as nicely as dairy butter. Please let me know how it is, if you’ve tried.

 

Roasted pumpkin risotto

Ingredients

¼ - ½ of a medium pumpkin

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 onion

3 garlic cloves

½ small chilli

1 tbsp butter

1 cup arborio rice

1 cup white wine

1 l vegetable stock

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

Fresh sage leaves + 2tbsp butter

 

Method

Peel and cut the pumpkin to cubes. Brush them with vegetable oil and roast in the oven. You can save the pumpkin seeds and roast them. They are really healthy and tasty.

Heat the vegetable stock in a pan. In a separate pan start sauteeing the chopped onion, garlic and chilli. Once they are softened, add one tablespoon of butter and the rice. After a few moments, add the wine and let it absorb to the rice.

Add some vegetable stock to the rice, let it simmer under the lid and gradually keep adding more stock until the rice has cooked. Season with salt and pepper.

Once the pumpkin cubes are roasted, take about one half of them, mash them and add to the rice. Add the rest of the pumpkin on top just before serving.

While the rice is cooking, make the crispy browned sage butter in a separate pan. When you are ready to serve, pour it over the risotto.

Enjoy!

 Your VegHog