Thursday, October 9, 2008

Yersterday and Today

Today we go for our training for the polling booth. I don't think it will amount to very much or take very long, but I don't really know. However, this won't be a long blog. Yesterday, I worked for CDA (Diabetes) having been told I wasn't needed on Tuesday, they decided they did need me on Wednesday. The girl who should have been volunteering couldn't make it for some reason. I had a busy afternoon. Last night I heard a brief report of a hurricane heading to the Mexican Baja Peninsular which they said was a Category 4. That is not a funny storm my friends, in fact its bloody dangerous. Only report I can find is 11 hours old, but it is apparently called Norbert. I apologise for the problem with the Pumpkin Soup recipe and will give my usual recipe. I still think the one I published sounded pretty good and maybe will try it and see how it works. The trouble with the recipe I use is that it takes a whole pumpkin (I have actually been know to use two) so that I can have plenty of soup to freeze. One time I made soup for a party, served it in a pumpkin with the flesh left in and then used the remainder, plus all the flesh to make more soup out of. I have trouble convincing my North American friends that this is a very good way of using pumpkin. For what its worth, here it is: Pumpkin Soup Adapted from Time Life World Cookery 1 pumpkin (24 to 28 cups) 5 chicken bouillon cubes 10 C water 1 stick (4 Tbs) butter 3 lge finely chopped onions 1 1/2 tsp ground cloves 2 Tbs sugar 4 Tbs lemon juice 3 Tbs salt 1 tsp Tabasco 2 pts. skim milk (UK pints, 40 fl. oz.) Note: instead of stock cubes and water you can, of course, use stock either home made or bought. Having cleaned the pumpkin of all seeds and stringy stuff. I then cut up the flesh (or Matt does) and cook it in a large pan of bouillon. In a separate pan I sauté the onions in the melted butter. When the pumpkin is soft enough to blend I add the onions and all the other ingredients except the mil. Cook for a few more minutes until all well blended. Allow to cool for a while and process through a blender. Finally add the milk. Do not boil once the milk has been added. Once it is again cool enough to handle, I split it up into freezer sized containers and it keeps well for up to a year. Have a great day.

3 comments:

  1. Jo --

    You've already heard of how the farmers down in South Africa used to ripen the pumpkins on their roofs ...

    Unfortunately, the pumpkin is a little known and liked vegetable here in France.

    I must admit that I've never had any luck cooking it. I always end up with something that looks like mashed potatoes, only it's orange! And yet pumpkin was on the menu several times a week in SA when I was a child. I don't know how my mum cooked it, but the end product on the plate was delicious. We used to eat it with pot-roasted meat and oven-roasted potatoes.

    Marilyn

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  2. You're right, 24 cups sounds like it's headed for a lot of soup! Then again, sounds like a great idea for a Halloween party in our chilly clime. :)

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  3. Ru - Especially if you serve it in another pumpkin. Makes a great centrepiece.

    Marilyn - Considering the first time I ever had pumpkin soup was in Malta, I am surprised that the French don't have a recipe too. Most of the countries around the Med have similar recipes. I've only ever cooked it for soup, not sure how you would serve it for a vegetable. Maybe similar to Swede or Rutabaga? Of course the classic here is Pumpkin Pie. A lot of people use canned pumpkin for this.

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