Pumpkin Cream Soup with Coconut and Orange

Members of the household commented "very tasty, completely different, unusual", nobody expected such a taste. Pumpkin the main ingredient, wasn't playing the lead role, orange juice and milk was. Although the recipe calls for adding chilly paper, you may omit it or minimize, spicy dishes are not always liked by everyone.

Ingredients for approx. 3 - 3.5 liter of cream soup:

2 kg pumpkin Hokkaido 

1.5 liter of vegetable stock 

500 ml of orange juice "clean" 

400 ml coconut milk, organic 

3 tbsp rapeseed oil / coconut oil, organic 

3 - 4 shallots 

1 - 2 tsp curry powder 

1 chili pepper or replacement in the form of the ground one (1 tsp) 

Sea salt and color pepper to taste

In addition: 

Roasted pumpkin seeds 

Coconut flakes

Directions: 

Wash pumpkin and cut into cubes. Peel and chop shallots, chop chill and both add to a large pot with a hot oil in a bottom and fry for a few minutes. Add broth and pumpkin. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook 15 -20 minutes. Then add milk and juice and cook for another 15 minutes - until pumpkin is tender. Pour the soup in a blender until creamy. Serve sprinkled with pumpkin seeds and coconut flakes. 

The recipe was found in the newspaper.

Pumpkin - Coconut Cake from a Slow Cooker

Perfect pumpkin cake. Moist. Has an excellent taste, but topped with delicious caramel powers the taste 
and changes to an extra ordinary. I heartily recommend it.

Ingredients for a cake cooked in 3.5 liter slow cooker:

250 g mashed pumpkin,I used Hokkaido* 
120 g spelt flour 
100 g coconut butter 
60 g of brown sugar unrefined
 3 eggs, organic 
1 tsp cinnamon or pumpkin spice 
1/2 tsp baking powder, organic
 1/2 tsp baking soda, organic 
1/2 tsp sea salt

Caramel:

250 ml coconut milk 
2 tbsp maple syrup, real
 1 tsp vanilla extract
 Pinch of sea salt 

Directions:

Grease the slow cooker with coconut butter and set on the highest temperature. Combine the dry ingredients. Beat sugar, butter (3 minutes), add the eggs and little later, pumpkin puree. At the end, slowly add the flour and beat until all is smooth. Pour into slow cooker, cover, and cook for two hours. After this time, remove lid and allow the slow cooker be open for 10 minutes. Then, turn upside down to put the cake on the plate. From my experience I can add that is easier to remove the cake when is completely cooled. 
Usually I make it in the morning or even a night before.
Serve the cake with warm caramel poured over. 
Caramel prepare shortly before the cake is served. Place all ingredients in a saucepan and heat on medium heat until boiling. From time to time stirring occasionally so long until it thickens and turns darker (20 - 30 minutes). After this time, remove from the gas, allow to cool slightly use it. You can also pour the caramel into a glass container and store in the refrigerator up to one week.

* Fresh pumpkin (approx. 600 - 700 g), cut into quarters and cook steamed until tender, approx. 20 minutes.  
Allow to cool and blend to puree.

The recipe is inspiration by pilcookbooks.

Slovene Tagliatelle with Pumpkin

The original name is "Rezanci z Bučo". I found the recipe in a culinary guide about Slovenia, by Heike Milhench. The author analyzes and presents dishes of specific region of the country and tells their genesis. When I rolled another page I read the ingredients for tagliatelle with pumpkin, I immediately knew that I will prepare the dish. Except the fact that this pasta dish sounded delicious it perfectly fits into the current season.
(Pictures first appeared on my old blog, over two years ago, that's why different logo)

Ingredients for 4 people:

500g tagliatelle (I used spelt wholemeal)

Pumpkin sauce:

1 kg pumpkin, peeled and cut into small pieces
500 ml vegetable broth
250 ml of white wine, dry
4 shallots
4 tbsp butter
1 tsp nutmeg
Sea salt and color pepper to taste

In addition:

100 g Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions:

In a large, deep skillet melt the butter over medium heat, add sliced shallots and fry until they turn translucent (approx. 8 minutes). Then add the pumpkin and broth. 
Cook over low heat until pumpkin is tender, approx. 30 minutes. In the meantime, cook the pasta according to the package's directions. Soft pumpkin can be mashed in a blender, or you may leave it in pieces as I did. When the sauce is ready, spices it. Serve Tagliatelle with the sauce and sprinkle with cheese.

* The method of peeling the pumpkin. 
Cut the pumpkin in half and hollow out the seeds, then cut into the shape of "moons". Peel "moons", preferably using a scraper. One kilo of pumpkin gives approx. 650 g edible pumpkin.

Recipe inspired by Heike Milhench.

Pumpkin - Coconut Pancakes

Season for low caloric pumpkin is opened. Pumpkins are not heroes of upcoming holiday which some celebrate, but most of all, it's a very valuable vegetable, rich in vitamin A, B1 B2, C and PP. Contains magnesium, iron, calcium and phosphorus, and is an excellent source of protein and fiber. The most nourishment pumpkins are the ones in deep, orange color (such as Hokkaido), because they have the most beta-carotene. Other crucial information is that cooked pumpkin does not lose its value, and the puree can be frozen and stored for several months.

Ingredients for approx. 60 pancakes:

500 ml coconut milk
200 g coconut flour
100 g spelt flour
300 g pumpkin puree*
3 eggs, organic
1.5 tsp baking powder, organic
1/8 tsp Bourbon vanilla, powdered
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 pinch of sea salt

Additional:

100 ml maple syrup, organic
50 g toasted coconut flakes
Oil for frying, I used the coconut oil

Directions:

All ingredients place in mixing bowl and mix well. Heat the pan, reduce heat, add a little oil and fry pancakes on both sides until golden brown. Serve topped with maple syrup and sprinkled with coconut flakes.

* I make my own puree form a Hokkaido pumpkin

Recipe was created in my head and comes from my heart 

Sugarless Pumpkin Cheesecake with an Orange Juice

Autumn. Time for another "pumpkin" recipe. What would you say for a cheesecake with pumpkin? The cheesecake (after many tries, the recipe is finally mastered) is light and delicate, despite its intense yellow color, which may indicate otherwise. The juice squeezed from fresh orange gives a pleasant sweet - sour flavor and breaks a little bland pumpkin. I serve the cheesecake with pomegranate, which in my opinion, perfectly fits into this dessert.

Ingredients for 24 cm/10 in cheesecake:

500 g homogenized cheese, like "Quark" *
 400 g pumpkin puree*
4 eggs, organic 
3 tbsp honey 
3 tbsp tapioca* 
1 tsp cinnamon
 Juice of one orange

Crust: 
200 g of almonds*, minced 
3 tablespoons butter

Ganache: 
75 grams of dark chocolate (85%+) 
1 - 2 tablespoons honey
Juice of one orange

In addition: 
1 pomegranate (optional)

Directions:

Lightly grease a springform. Mix almonds and butter until well combined. Place the mass (forming a crust) on the bottom of the springform. Set aside. Eggs, beat with an electric mixer until they are almost white. Add honey. Reduce speed, add cheese/quark, pumpkin puree, tapioca, cinnamon, and juice. Pour the mixture on the crust. Preheat oven to 160°C. Place the springform and bake for 35 - 40 minutes. Remove and cool down. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate. Place it in a small oven proof bowl. Bake in the heated to 150°C oven for 5 minutes. Remove, add honey and orange juice, mix well. Remove the cake from the springform, place on a serving plate. Top it with a ganache and sprinkle with fruit grant.

* The quark can be substituted with any cheese suitable for a cheesecake
* The best pumpkin puree is form Hokkaido pumpkin, you don't have to peel it off, just halved it, pick the seeds and cook until soft (about 20 minutes)
* I used unpeeled almonds 
* If you have no tapioca use potato flour

 Recipe was created in my head and comes from my heart

Pumpkin - Vegetable Cream Soup

First, apologies to those who were waiting for new recipes. Very delicate, personal issues stopped me from posting, but now, there is a green light in a tunnel, so I hope, I will able to be present here more often.

Gorgeous, braided by all possible shades of gold, yellow, green, red and orange - Fall - began. Many associates Fall with pumpkin and pumpkin (mostly) with Halloween. Not me! I like pumpkin but only as a very nourishment and tasty, seasonal food, nothing else. Today, will share a recipe for very easy and very little time consuming cream - soup. Depending on your desire, the soup may be more spicy or more sweet. 

I chose the second version, by adding less hot pepper and more cinnamon.

Ingredients for about 2 liters of cream - soup:

2 kg Hokkaido pumpkin

1 l veggie broth
4 carrots

2 potatoes
2 garlic cloves 
1 - 2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, large

1 tsp hot/cayenne pepper

1 tsp sweet pepper
Sea/Himalayan salt and color pepper to taste

In addition:

Cinnamon, minced

Spelt pasta 

Directions:

Wash pumpkin well, cut into quarters, extract seeds (save them!) and cube. Heat oil olive in a large cookware. Add peeled and sliced onion and garlic, saute. Next, add cubed (don't peel to keep more nourishments) potatoes and peeled, cubed carrots, at the end add pumpkin. Saute everything together for about 5 minutes. Pour broth over veggies, add spices and let it cook for about 30 minutes. When veggies are soft, the soup is ready. Blend it until well combined. Ready. Server with pumpkin seeds, brown rice or spelt pasta. 

 
Recipe inspired by one founded in a food magazine.

Chłodnik, the Polish Cold Soup

Today, I would like to introduce traditional, Polish cold soup 
- very appropriate to the weather outside (40+C°/100+ F°) - called "Chłodnik".

Originally Chłodnik is cooked on a veal broth whitened with a sour milk or butter milk and served with either veal or crayfish. I prefer vegetarian version and cook Chłodnik on a veggie broth. No matter how you cook the cold soup you should serve it with hard boiled eggs, cucumber, radish and garnish with herbs, e.g. dill, chives, parsley. Additionally you can add avocado and cooked potatoes. Such a rich soup makes a whole meal (lunch or dinner).

Ingredients for about 3 liters of soup:

1500 l of broth

1000 l kefir or with sour or butter milk

1 bunch of chard (with about 3 beets)

1 kg beets

Colored pepper fresh grounded

2 tbsp vinegar (fruit, rice)

1 - 2 long cucumbers

1 - 2 bunches radishes

1 - 2 avocado

Juice from one lemon

Hard boiled eggs (1 -2 per person)

Directions:

Wash chard and beets. Peel beats and cut into cubes, chard stems with leaves slice very finely. Cook beets in a broth for about 7 minutes, after add chard and cook another 4 minutes. Turn the heat off, add lemon juice and vinegar. Let it completely cool down. Pour kefir into the cold soup and mix. Ready. Serve with chopped cucumber, radish, eggs avocado and garnish with herbs.

Recipe inspired by "Kwestai Smaku".

Red Salad with Grilled Salmon

A beautiful salmon color inspired me to create a "red salad". Sweet, juicy and slightly acidic fruits, mixed with grilled salmon are giving a different, unusual taste and the whole salad makes the taste buds 
asking for more, over and over.

Ingredients for 4 people:

400 g salmon fillet

Fish Marinade:

1 clove garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground color pepper
A few sprigs of lemon thyme

All the ingredients mix in a small blender.

Fruits:

200 g strawberries
200 g cherries
200 g currants, red
1/4 watermelon

Dressing:

50 g sun-dried cranberries
4 tbsp plain yogurt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Juice from half of a lemon

All the ingredients mix in a small blender.

Directions:

Wash the salmon, smear the marinade over it, and refrigerate for few hours. After this time, put the fish on a hot grill (mine gas) and grill each side until golden brown. Remove, and let it cool.
In the meantime. Wash fruits. Quarter strawberries, from cherries remove the seeds and cut in half, currants slide from the twigs, and watermelon cut into small cubes. Cut cold salmon into small pieces. Fish and fruits place in a large bowl and gently, but well mix together. Imposition the salad in the glass bowls and pour the dressing over. Ready.

 Recipe was created in my head and comes from my heart

Pepper - Tomato Cream Soup with Chilli

Without a doubt this is the best tasting tomato cream I ate and I myself am surprised that it is so tasty. 

Although the chili is in, but it only gives only a hint of sharpness. I expected much more, 

but if you like really spicy soup, use more chilli.

Ingredients for 3 liters of cream:

1.5 liters tomato puree, organic 

1.2 liters vegetable broth 

5 tbsp olive oil 

4 garlic cloves 

2 - 3 carrots (approx. 300 g) 

2 onions 

2 peppers (used the Hungarian ones) 

1 parsley root, large 

1 chilli, red, the size of a big toe 

1 tsp brown sugar 

A bunch of basil 

Sea salt and colorful pepper to taste

In addition: 

500g mozzarella cheese, organic

Directions:

In a large pot heat the olive oil. Finely peel onions and garlic, toss into the pot and fry until vitrification. Then, add chopped peppers, sliced carrots and parsley. Fry until tender approx. 15 minutes. Next, add the tomato puree, stir and bring to a boil. Finally, add the broth and basil, bring to the boil again. Reduce the heat and let it simmier 10 more minutes. Remove from heat and blend the soup to the cream. Pour into the plates, and add a spoonful of diced, cubed mozzarella.

The recipe was inspired "The Question of Taste".