Tag: Halloween

Pumpkin gnocchi and sage butter

I have been thinking about Halloween recipes this weekend – this is likely to be the last one I post this year. I adore gnocchi but I do find it very filling. It is a dish for a day where you need something satisfying and tasty. The day has been nothing but grey sky and drizzle so it is very apt to make a starchy dish and pumpkin is a seasonal alternative to potato. Enjoy!

Ingredients

  • 1 Medium pumpkin – mine gave 600g flesh
  • Spray oil
  • 300g maize or cornflour
  • 1 Egg
  • Seasoning
  • 25g butter
  • 10-12 sage leaves
  • 30g Grated parmesan

Method

  • Slice the pumpkin and spray with oil and roast in the oven till soft.
  • Leave the slices till cooled.
  • Remove the skin from the flesh, season.
  • Add to a blender with the egg and enough flour to bind the mix.
  • The mix is slightly soft but can be weighed into 10g portions and rolled, then flattened with a fork.
  • Heat a large pan with boiling water add seasoning and drop in the gnocchi – don’t add to many at once – they will float (Halloween reference to IT here) when ready.
  • You might have to change the water if it becomes too starchy.
  • Dry well on kitchen paper.
  • Chop the sage, melt the butter in a pan and add the gnocchi.
  • Serve and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
  • Serves 6.

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Vegan ‘chicken’ and pumpkin couscous – low fodmap

An autumn favourite is pumpkin and numerous varieties can be found. When I was young pumpkin in the UK was unheard of – in fact we used to make Halloween lanterns with a swede! That certainly was a recipe for injury – although the pumpkin isn’t always easy to carve.

I have also decided to venture into a vegan recipe using vegan ‘chicken’ low FODMAP suitable products are based on soya protein or alternatively you could use Quorn ‘chicken’ pieces.

This was a fairly easy recipe to make and was lightly spiced – if you want a heavier spice then you can add more Ras El Hanout. Do check your spice mix has no high fodmap ingredients such as onion or garlic. Enjoy!

Ingredients

  • 200g Pumpkin
  • 30g Pumpkin seeds
  • 30g Pine nuts
  • 20g Sunflower seeds
  • 30g Course peanut butter
  • 200ml Water
  • 1 teaspoon of Ras El Hanout Spice
  • 200g Soya protein based chicken pieces
  • 250g Corn couscous
  • Spray oil
  • 30g mint leaves
  • Seasoning (salt and pepper) to taste

Method

  • Chop the pumpkin and boil in water till soft.
  • Spray oil into a frying pan and add the Ras El Hanout and fry gently with minimal oil to release the flavours, add the chopped mint leaves.
  • Add the peanut butter, seeds and water to the frying pan and cook till thickened
  • Add the ‘chicken’ pieces and cooked pumpkin
  • Weight the couscous and pour over the same amount of boiling water (250 ml) and leave to cook – run a fork through the mix to give texture to the couscous
  • You can either serve the ‘chicken’ sauce and couscous separately or mix the ‘chicken’ sauce through the couscous, as I have done.
  • Serves 5-6 enjoy!

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Hot roasted vegetables

I adore roasted vegetables – I have said this before but I can’t get enough of them at the moment. These choices are low fodmap and packed with fibre, really filling and comforting. The spice mix I chose to use was a Japanese mix called Togarashi- a seven spice mix. It is really fiery so if you have IBS and are sensitive to chilli, I would probably give this recipe a miss. Although the mix is suitable for a low fodmap diet. The spices are mixed chilli powder, black & white sesame seed, orange zest, ginger, sichuan pepper and seaweed. Sichuan pepper is contained in Chinese five spice mix which Monash have stated is suitable for the low fodmap diet. Monash is based on the Australian diet and in the UK if you wish to try Chinese five spice check the ingredients – some manufacturers add onion and garlic to their mixes. The manufacturer of this mix is Taste Gourmet Spice Company some of their mixes are gluten free. The website mentions Paleo and ‘clean’, which I don’t endorse for IBS – but I will forgive them that indiscretion for the fact that some of these mixes are onion and garlic free (I have not had time to check them all so it is worth a further look.) I purchased this mix and I might be tempted to buy more to test for you. I used a flat teaspoon of the mix and it was as hot as I could take – so you could use less if you wish.

Ingredients

Half a small pumpkin

1 carrot

1 Parsnip

200g swede

1 Aubergine

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

1 tablespoon of pinenuts

1 tablespoon of oil

1 flat teaspoon of Togarashi

Method

Peel and chop the vegetables

Add the spice to the oil and mix then rub on to all the surfaces of the vegetables.

Roast in a hot oven for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.

Roast the sesame seeds and pinenuts for a one to two minutes till golden – watch them closely as they can burn easily.

Add the vegetables to a plate and sprinkle with sesame seeds and pinenuts.

A great Halloween treat and posted just in time for you to make for meatless Monday!

Serves 2-3

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Thai green chicken curry – scarily low fodmap!

It’s now October – time for the nights to draw in and Halloween is just around the corner. Have you time to cook some dark dishes for All Hallows’ Eve? Would you like a story before we begin out tasty treat? You would? Now I am not in the habit of believing in ghosts being a pragmatic scientist at heart, but I do love a good story and a recent visit to Wycoller Hall certainly stirred the senses and not in a good way. The Lancashire area is steeped in legend and tales of witchcraft and haunting and the ancient hamlet of Wycoller is no exception. The old dilapidated ruin of Wycoller Hall holds a story within it’s architecture to chill you to the core. This the tale of Wycoller Hall and the headless horseman that haunts it’s grounds.

Locals watch the weather forecast with trepidation – it is said that the horseman rides when the weather is stormy and wild, a night reportedly not to wander out, perchance you encounter the headless spectre and his steed.

Simon Cunliffe, Lord of Wycoller was said to have been short to temper and hearing of his wife’s reported indiscretions with another man, lost all sense of reason and drove his horse ferociously down the lane and over the cobbles back to the hall. On arrival he leaped from his mount and ran through the hall and up the stairs to his wife’s bedchamber.  Before death his wife allegedly cursed the family with downfall, a fate which later came to pass. Showing no mercy he murdered her and left, racing back up the lane on his horse, never to be seen again. The spectres dark fate on tempestuous nights is to repeat this event ad infinitum.

The story goes that when the weather is wild a rider is heard galloping down the lane, over the ancient pack-horse bridge. The dark horses hooves sparking cobbles, the whites of the steeds eyes blazing, nostrils flared and flaming, flanks sudoriferous. His mount, headless above Stuart ruff – literally losing his head to his outrage – is certainly a sight to behold leaping from his horse. Entering the ruin he is heard striding up long vanished stairs to the lady Cunliffes bedroom. A crack of a whip is heard then bloodcurdling screams echo around the remaining walls of the hall. He then returns to his mount and is heard dashing up the lane into the underworld – till the next time the weather is as stormy as his temperament.

Now looking at the image below tell me you can appreciate the atmosphere at this little hamlet? Even in the height of summer it can be very chilling. What is the story telling us? Well perhaps anger only ultimately hurts the angry person? I wonder?

The recipe above uses the second Fodify spice mix – Thai green curry

Ingredients

2 cooked chicken thighs

1 teaspoon of Fodify spice mix Thai green curry

1 Kaffir Lime leaf

400 ml of chicken stock

1 teaspoon of fish sauce

1.5 teaspoons of tamarind

200ml of light coconut milk

2 teaspoons of cornflour

1 aubergine

Small amount of oil to fry herbs and aubergine

Method

Add oil to the pan and fry the herbs for 2-3 minutes to release the flavour. Add the aubergine, finely chopped kaffir lime leaf and cook. Add the tamarind, stock (home made or perhaps Atkins & Potts classic chicken stock or Borough Broth Chicken Bone Broth – although this choice is very expensive.) and the rest of the ingredients and serve with rice noodles.

Serves 2

All ingredients for this recipe were purchased.

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Pumpkin chicken and pesto pasta

It is my favourite time of year and I do love roasted vegetables. Here is a dish that provides some comfort on cold nights and left overs can be warmed up the next day for lunch.

Ingredients

75g of garlic infused olive oil

1 inch slice of parmesan

15g of fresh basil

2 tablespoons of pine nuts

Salt to taste

1/2 small pumpkin

2 large chicken thighs

Basil leaves and toasted pine nuts to decorate.

150g gluten free pasta.

Method

Slice the pumpkin in half and then slice into eight even slices

Remove seeds

Add basil, oil, pine nuts, parmesan and salt to a blender and blend till smooth to make the pesto.

Place the slices into a roasting tin and place the chicken on the top (this will allow the fat to drain into the bottom of the tray – if you have a roasting tin drainer use this too.)

Spoon the pesto sauce on to the chicken and pumpkin.

Roast for 30 minutes (the chicken is ready when juices run clear.)

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water (use directions on the packet and don’t overcook it some makes of pasta will disintegrate if cooked for too long.)

Chop the pumpkin and chicken and mix with the cooked pasta, if desired use a small amount of the drained juices to flavour the pasta – but not too much as it will be high in fat.

Serves two

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Spooky Spaghetti – Halloween recipes for your scaredy guts!

It’s getting close to Halloween now, what are your plans? The following is a recipe for halloween night – not to upset your digestion! Although I can’t guarantee a scare free evening!

Ingredients

2 Salmon fillets

1 tablespoon of soy sauce*

*gluten free

salt

poaching water

150g Black rice noodles

Spray oil

2 carrots

2 tsps Garlic infused oil

1 Green Pepper

Radishes to garnish

Serves 2

Method

Place salmon fillets in an oven proof dish and cover in water and soy sauce, poach till cooked through.

Boil a large pan of water and add the noodles to the pan and heat till softened.

Peel carrots lengthways to produce carrot strips, chop up the green pepper and peel the radishes (to look like eyeballs, scary!!!)

Add oil to a wok and add the salmon (flaked) chopped vegetables and a little more soy sauce, if desired. Add a little of the poaching liquid. Cook on a high heat till cooked through.

If you are following a gluten free diet ensure your soy sauce is a gluten free variety. Suitable for Low FODMAP, gluten free, lactose free, egg free, wheat free.

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