#28 - More miso, soup stylee

So having a large jar of brown rice miso knocking around I thought I should try a miso soup.

I had the following ingredients:

1 teaspoon of the miso will do a cup of soup (not a cuppa soup!), so I used a large heaped teaspoon for a bowl of soup.

I made up 500ml of chicken stock, mixed in the miso paste and the sea vegetables, heating gently (boiling will kill the live miso) for 5 minutes, until the sea vegetables are completely re-hydrated.

et volia:

All that's missing is perhaps some tofu for a light lunch.

The Camden Road Cook

#27 - Jamie style Japanese and satisfying the miso aubergine urge

So the other day I read in the Waitrose 'Weekend' about an unusual ingredient - brown rice miso paste and this reminded me of one of my favourite Japanese dishes of the moment, grilled miso aubergine.

So having eaten this loads out I haven't ever seen a recipe - except the one in the Weekend (which I misplaced!) I made it up....

I took one aubergine, cut in half lengthways and scored it in a diamond pattern.

I then mixed up one tbsp of miso paste with some sake, dark soy sauce and sushi rice seasoning.

This was then spread liberally over the aubergine and grill under a medium to low grill for 10-15 minutes until the aubergine is soft.

Not a great picture, but you get the idea :)

So having decided to cook the aubergine I was delighted when PP announced he was cooking a Japanese inspired Jamie Oliver recipe for beef carpaccio:

http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/tv-show-recipes/jamies-christmas-lock-in-recipes/posh-japanese-inspired-beef-carpaccio-recipe

And this is what our one looked like - with sea vegetables and pea shoots instead of the dried seaweed and 'interesting cress' (what the hell is that btw?!)

The Camden Road Cook

#26 - Stuffed squash aka several ways with squash

Feta and sundried tomato stuffed squash

So this stuffed squash recipe comes from one in Stylist magazine:

http://www.stylist.co.uk/life/recipes/feta-stuffed-butternut-squash

and its really very easy - I halved the amount, so taking one butternut squash, cut in half and remove the seeds, season and roast for 20 mins:

Meanwhile heat oil in a frying pan, add onions (or my variation leeks) and cook until soft, then add the garlic and cook over a low heat for 5 mins.

Mix the sundried tomatoes, pumpkin seeds, crumbled feta and cooked onions in a bowl.

Remove the squash from the oven and scoop out most of the flesh to make space for the filling - I added some of the squash to the sundried and feta mix before filling up the squash and roasting for another 10 mins:

Now I had chosen a rather large squash, so I ate this on its own, the Stylist recommends serving with green beans for a healthy lunch:

Roast squash, blue cheese and sage tart

So this little number comes from a recipe in Olive magazine and requires you to make the pastry so I thought I'd give it a go..

You can make any shape of tart - it doesn't have to be square, but you need to make it 3cm bigger than you need and then fold the edges over to form the shell. Goats cheese would also be good with the squash and sage.

You'll need the following ingredients:

plain flour 200g

butter 100g

parmesan 100g

1 egg

butternut squash 500g, peeled and cubed

olive oil

roquefort 100g

sage leaves - a handful, shredded

- Heat the oven to 180 degrees (for fan assisted). Rub the flour and butter together to make breadcrumbs, add half the parmesan, seasoning and egg and mix to a dough (you can do all this with a food processor if you have one). Wrap and chill while you make the filling.

- Toss the squash with a tbsp of oil and lots of seasoning. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast for 20 mins. Cool while you roll out the pastry (nb must buy a rolling pin - sometimes a wine bottle just doesn't cut it!)

- Use a little flour to dust the work surface and then roll out the pastry to a rough 30x 20 cm rectangle. Put on a clean baking tray and arrange the squash on the pastry leaving a 3cm border. Dot over the cheese and scatter the sage and the rest of the parmesan.

- Bring up the edges of the tart to make a freeform shell. Glaze with milk or egg then cook for 30 mins until crisp and light golden - serve warm.

Ta da -the finished product, with green salad, ideal for a Saturday lunch!

The Camden Road Cook