Recipe: Lillies Pumpkin soup

On the last night of my holiday myself and my daughter Lillie decided we had to have a night in the garden.

By 4pm the log burner was up to temperature and we were ready to go.

Lillie and i spent the evening carving Pumpkins and catching up about what she had been upto over the week she has been off school, She does make me Smile as her stories and opinions are great.

Once Lillie had finished she decided that Pumpkin soup was going to be made from the trimmings for her Mam, this recipe was what she came up with and the results turned out well.

Ingredients

1 small pumpkin

550ml Chicken or vegetable stock

1 large onion

4 cloves garlic

Sea Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Peel the pumpkin and dice

Peal the onions and roughly chop

Peal the garlic and leave whole

In a bowl coat the pumpkin, onion and garlic in enough olive oil to glaze and season

Place the mix onto a baking tray and put it in the oven, bake it until the pumpkin becomes soft

Once soft add the mix to the stock and boil for 5 minutes

Blend the mix, if it’s too thick add more stock until you achieve the consistency you require

Check for seasoning and serve

Recipe: Duck liver salad

Ingredients

500g Duck livers
500ml Whole milk
200g Belly bacon, diced
20g Butter
20g Lard
125ml Sherry
60ml Olive oil
1 Frisee lettuce picked
2 tbsp chopped chives
1/2 Loaf sourdough croutons

Method

Soak the livers for 30 minutes in the milk, drain and dry

Heat a non-stick frying pan and fry the bacon, once cooked remove from pan and set to one side

Add the lard and butter to the pan and fry the livers, ensure these are cooked medium rare,
remove from pan and rest

Deglaze the pan with the sherry and 2 tbsp of sherry vinegar, reduce by half

Pour the reduction into a bowl and add the olive oil to make the dressing

Build the salad with the lettuce, bacon and chives

Slice the liver on top and finish with the croutons and dressing