Halloween Treats - I BAKED A PIE!

Halloween is here!
But before you grab your witches hat, fake blood or morph suit....invite your friends over, light up a toasty fire and crack open a bottle (or two) of red vino?

HONEY & GINGER PUMPKIN PIE

Ingredients

1 pack of ginger snaps, crushed

100g butter

2 eggs

Roasted pumpkin

Ginger

Double cream

Honey

 

Cut the pumpkin up and roast in the oven for 30 minutes, until they are nice and crispy.

While the pumpkin is roasting, greaseproof a flan tin and melt the butter in a saucepan.  Add the crushed biscuits to the melted butter and mix together.  

Line the base of the flan tin with the butter/biscuit mixture.....

Mix together the eggs, pumpkin, ginger, cream and lots of honey with a whisk to create a thicker mixture.  Pour the mixture over the biscuit base and bake for about 30 minutes - watching to not burn the top.

Cover the top with honey in the shape of a spider web and sprinkle some grated chocolate over the honey....

 

PUMPKIN AND CHILLI CHUTNEY

Ingredients
Pumpkin chunks
2 apples, peeled and cubed
1/2 Onion, chopped
4 Garlic cloves
2 fresh chillies
70g currants
Ginger
1 medium bottle white wine vinegar
1 medium packet of dark brown sugar
Salt






















This recipe is easy peasy and to make and is a great addition to any cheese board this autumn and winter.

Put the pumpkin, apples, chillies, onion, garlic, ginger, currants and two-thirds of the bottle of vinegar into a saucepan and bring to boil.  Leave to simmer for 45 minutes until everything softens....





















Add the sugar and a sprinkle of salt to the mixture and you will instantly see a colour change and it will all thicken.  Add in the rest of the vinegar and a sprinkle of currants to create some texture.  For those wanting some extra spice, add some chilli powder.


Bring to boil and simmer for another 30 minutes.  After this time, leave the mixture to cool and your chutney is ready....

 

PUMPKIN SOUP WITH A KICK

Pumpkin soup is a favourite winter warmer every year.....so spice it up by adding some chilli powder or indian spices such as garam masala or even paprika - experiment!



......and, don't forget, pumpkin seeds are a fab snack.  Roast them in honey for about 30 minutes.

 HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Pimientos de Padron are back!

A popular Spanish tapas dish, Piminetos de Padron look simple but these little fellas are jam-packed with flavour and are HIGHLY addictive.  The majority of the peppers are mild and easy to eat but the odd extra spicy one does slip into the packet....

They are now in high season in Spain which means they are finally available to buy over here as well and are stocked in most Waitrose stores.

Nice and easy to prepare, they only take about ten minutes to fry and are then ready to be served right away.

After washing the peppers, add them to a frying pan at a medium temperature and cover them in plenty of oil.  Sprinkle over a coating of ground salt as they are frying.  Be careful as the fat will start spitting.

As the peppers begin to cook they will form blisters on the skin.  Once they have all blistered they are ready to serve!

Place on some tissue of grease paper to get rid of the excess oil, sprinkle over some rock salt (Mallorca is a famous producer of rock salt that goes perfectly with Piminetos) and, voila, they are ready to enjoy with a bottle of cava!