pumpkin soup for autumn/winter

I'm loving all the comments coming through on the keepsakes post. It's a beautiful insight into your family cooking heirlooms, everything from breakfast to dinner, sweet & savoury. I thought it only fair that I share with you my favourite family recipes - starting today with my Mum's pumpkin soup. I've already made it about six times this autumn. It's easy, quick, economical, freezes well and, most importantly, is delicious, nourishing and wholesome. We usually enjoy a big bowl with some fresh sourdough or, if we have any in the freezer, some spinach and cheese pastries. Yum!

Pumpkin Soup (to warm your belly and your heart on cold days)

750grams pumpkin, no skin (I use organic jap or kent)

3 tomatoes peeled & chopped

1 large brown onion, sliced

1 teaspoon of raw sugar

4.5 cups of chicken or vegetable stock

salt & pepper

pinch of chilli powder

150mls cream

Peel the pumpkin and cut into chunks. Place in a deep pot with onion, tomatoes, sugar and salt & pepper. Cover with stock - don't use too much stock as the soup will end up too runny. Keep pot covered and cook until pumpkin is quite soft. Spoon into your blender and blend until smooth. If there is a lot of watery residue at the bottom of the pot I usually leave it out - creamy, thick soup is my preference. Finally add chilli & cream and stir. When and if you reheat make sure you don't boil it. Enjoy.

keepsakes: a giveaway

Occasionally a book is released that I just have to have! 'Keepsakes' by Frances Hansen is one of them. Part cook book, part art book and very much a personal scrapbook, it is a joy to devour. Between the recipes are sketches, stickers and miscellany that combine to represent a collection of memories - it is a celebration of DIY, home making and family life. The beauty of 'Keepsakes' is held in its history; Frances has collated a bunch of handwritten, old recipes and preserved them forever - what was once ephemera is now bound in a book with deckled edges.

I had the pleasure of asking Frances a few questions about her book. Enjoy the interview below.

The lovely people at Hardie Grant publishers are also offering one of my readers a copy of 'Keepsakes'. To make this fun, please leave a comment with the name of your favourite family recipe - I'm so interested to know what food has remained a favourite for generations in your family life. This giveaway is open to Australian and New Zealand residents only. I'll announce a winner next Thursday 5th May.

Jodi: Keepsakes began as a present for a loved one. When did it become a book?

Frances: I made the book over three months; Sept, Oct & Nov of last year. The original version was made three years ago, as a wedding gift for my youngest sister, Fleur Wood who is a fashion designer based in Sydney, I really wanted to give her something special and meaningful as a gift. She loves to cook and my sisters and I are often asking each if we remember a particular family recipe, I also thought it would be a great opportunity to compile all our family favourites, some of my own mostly vegetarian inventions as well as family photos, images of my artwork and other quirky images and inspiration for her.

Jodi: How do you think cooking and art are similar?

Frances: Good Question!

They are surprising similar.... my version of a good cook is someone who can create something out of nothing, substitute ingredients if they don't have something in their pantry or a cook who is inventive and creative when it comes to planning a meal.

My art making process is very similar, I recently had an exhibition at Sydneys' First Draft Gallery, the title of the show was Nothing but Something, the accompanying essay was a discussion around the idea of Gleaning, which is traditionally a food / left over crop gathering activity. Currently I am making large paintings of puddings, this is a direct response to publishing a book about food, I am having heaps of fun painting images of large milky puddings such as Blancmange and Junket, I am just planning a painting based on a 1950's dessert called Raspberry fool.

I don't normally make images of food! Although often my work is concerned with the domestic, my most recent exhibition at Snowwhite, a gallery here in Auckland , was entitled Home & Contents. The work included paintings, embroidery on face cloths, found headboards and a grid of stretched nets and aprons, probably a little difficult to visualise, but the work was a celebration of the DIY mentality, something Kiwis excell at.

Jodi: As a mum of two children, how important is cooking in your home?

Frances: Well, I cook dinner most nights!

I have a very productive vegetable garden so that is the challenge for me, whatever is happening in the garden determines what is on the table. We have a new crop of rhubarb, so I'm cooking with that right now, stewed with homemade muesli. Having younger children has been limiting in terms of cooking, not when it comes to creating birthday cakes, but more the typical dinner, as I work full time, I get lazy and make kid food, although I enjoy the challenge of ramping this up into more exciting adult type food with the addition of a few ingredients, secret herbs and spices....

Jodi: Keepsakes has pride of place on my kitchen table at the moment and it seems to easily attract the eyes of neighbours and visitors. How does it feel to have such a personal scrapbook of history and creativity on the kitchen tables of strangers?

Frances: The original version was way more scrappy, rough and personal, particularly with family photographs, so a certain amount of editing went on when I made the new version. Having said that my publisher made the decision to not edit the pages at all so the book has all these spelling mistakes and other grammatical errors, which would be present in the average persons scrapbook of recipes, (at least I like to think this is the case). My favourite mistake is where have written Golden Sydney instead of Golden Syrup, I think I was about 17 when I wrote that one out and had just moved there.

Overall I feel really happy with Keepsakes, my family and friends who contributed are all delighted to be part of it, it was a pleasure to make, one of those moments where everything works out effortlessly. I actually felt sad when I realised I had completed the last page. It is a little strange to see your personal keepsakes published, but I do think many people have similar family keepsakes of their own and can relate to the material easily.

Jodi: What are your hopes for Keepsakes?

That it inspires others to make their own. I inhertited my godmother's recipe book and it is much more than just a recipe book to me, it speaks so strongly of her personality, and brings back fond memories of her. It was so special to make pages centred around her and her recipes.

Jodi: Any plans for another book?

Frances: Absolutely

kumquats & chilli

but not together. Home-grown flavour and colour to add a little bright around the house. It's so blustery today, the perfect weather for staying in and cuddling under a blanket.

Ché's knitted blanket is coming along. I'm such a perfectionist with things like that though -I've already unravelled it twice because of a dropped stitch or two. Daniel said he's finding this knitting thing to be quite stressful. Hilarious really considering it's supposed to be an enjoyable past-time. I'm just really particular with the things in my home. I like everything to be just so. And if I finished the blanket and there were mistakes I know I would get slightly annoyed every time I looked at it. I'm not bothered by the unravelling and have quite enjoyed the beginning again of it all.

Because it's Friday I'm cooking soup and pizza for dinner. Again, not together, but one-after-the-other. I thought it the perfect opportunity to ask you what your favourite recipe is for pizza dough? And go on, share with me your favourite topping.

I'll share mine tomorrow.

rhythm

Saturday night. Cooking dinner for friends. Wearing my Nana's apron for the first time. I found it in my Mum's wardrobe and brought it home with me. She was the best cook, my Nana. Perhaps that is why I always think of baking when I think of New Zealand. Shortbread, pikelets and ginger gems. Tins and tins full of buttery, sugary treats. I'm hoping her secrets are stitched into the apron. A nice thought.

I've been wanting to bake lately, so desperately feeling the urge to knead some dough and bake some sweet treats. But an inquisitive, curious 13-month-old and baking don't mix well. He's at one of those in-between stages and I am really aware of staying present with him and not wishing for him to reach that next phase. But in doing so I'm finding it a little difficult to create a rhythm in our days. Or to even notice a rhythm. And because I'm one of those ether types I tend to float along all day until I realise that it's almost dinnertime. I work better with routine, with rhythm.

So I'm going to spend the next few days creating some routine. Writing it down. Being a bit more aware, more grounded.

And just as I have been pondering all these thoughts I find out that my street is in fact blessed. There are four churches so you could call it holy land. But apart from that it seems to continually offer me things I ask for. Cherry blossoms - tick. Roadside blooms - tick. A footpath - tick. Village markets - tick.

A Steiner playgroup - tick. Today I discover that the house at the end of the street does in fact hold a Steiner playgroup every Friday morning. With bread baking, story time and lots of like-minded mumas and their little ones. Oh my goodness gracious me I am a lucky girl.

edible...

...his cheeks. I kiss them at least 100 times a day. Scrumptious.


Little hands trying to find the petals amongst the grass. The concentration required is immense.
(note:: baby yogi in preparation for janu sirasana A - head to knee pose)


Freshly baked cookies (oatmeal and raisin) with a glass of milk.


Today I obviously put too much love in the cookies and not enough in the pasta. Because this is the little one eating vegemite toast for dinner.


and this is the pasta:

tea

Tea cannisters found at a garage sale down the street. The perfect accompaniment to my teacups and teapots. Yes, I love tea. Picked up an Indian kaftan too. It smells like chai.

orange

Different shades of orange coloured my day...this rainy winters day. Mandarins from the local farm, vintage linen from the op shop, pumpkin soup for lunch and a cute little munchkin caught in a strange light.