That's what I did, and came up with:
Half a butternut squash
Half a pack of passata
Two separate (it's a long story) halves of red onions but any colour would do
A third of a pack of puff pastry
Half a beaten egg
A knob of Parmesan
and this is the result:
All I needed to add was:
A drizzle of sunflower oil
A pinch of chilli flakes
1 vegetable stock cube
Seasoning
Water
to end up with a warming and satisfying meal for two.
For the soup:
Peel, seed and chop the squash. Peel and chop the onion. Heat a drizzle of oil in a saucepan and gently fry the squash and onion until softened and starting to brown. Add the chilli flakes to taste and the stock cube (optional). Mix the passata with water to give a total of 600ml and add to the pan. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently for about 30 minutes until the squash is completely soft. Allow to cool slightly then blend in a blender or with a whizzy stick until completely smooth. Taste and season. Reheat gently for serving.
While the soup is cooking, make the cheese puffs. Heat the oven to 200C, 180C fan, 400F, gas mark 6. Line a baking sheet with non stick paper.
Roll out the pastry on a floured surface to a rectangle approx. 25 x 15 cm. Brush the surface with beaten egg and finely grate some Parmesan over it then sprinkle with pepper. Fold the short ends of the pastry over to fold the piece into thirds, give it a quarter turn and roll out again, then repeat the egg/cheese/seasoning process. Keep repeating until you are just about to run out of egg or cheese or patience: I managed about 6 turns. The more you do, the lighter your puffs will be. After the final folding, roll into a slightly smaller rectangle, about 15 x 10 cm. Brush the last of the egg on top, sprinkle with cheese and this time instead of pepper, sprinkle with salt. Coarse crystal salt is best if you have it.
Cut into 8 pieces, place on the baking sheet and place in the pre-heated oven. Bake for approx. 15 minutes until well risen, puffy and browned.
Cool slightly on a rack then serve with the soup.
This is a last minute entry to #KitchenClearout at Madhouse Family Reviews.
This is just the kind of food that I'm craving right now, after all the festive overindulgence. Perfect for warming up after wandering around in the bitter cold too. Thanks for linking up :)
ReplyDeleteWhat is a half a pack of passata? I googled what it was but not sure of your measurement. Would it be the same as crushed tomatoes?? Does your soup taste like tomato or does it taste like butternut squash, I've never used a tomato base with squash soup. so many questions but I love making soup.
ReplyDeleteOh Barbara, I had no idea that what we call passata isn't the same all over the world and doesn't come in standard sized packs - It's a smooth blended tomato "thing" - thinner than purée, you might call it tomato sauce but over here tomato sauce has other things added. It comes in packs of 500ml (about a pint). Since It's going to be blended, chopped tomatoes would be perfect, you'd still end up with a smooth soup.
DeleteI'll email you a copy of this reply too in case you don't check back.
Jane
I know what you mean about one minute the fridge is full, and then next there's nothing in there - how does that happen? Great save here, and I'm intrigued about the two half onions, lol! Thank you for sharing with the No Waste Food Challenge, and all the best for 2017!
ReplyDelete