Winter warmer....

It must be cold.....I felt compelled to make soup. Well it is cold, -15 C last night.......so I dug out the pumpkin from the freezer my neighbour gave me back in the autumn before south west France became an arctic wasteland.......and made this:

Obviously it wasn't complicated. Chop an onion, fry it in lovely sinful butter for a bit, then add a pint or so of veg or chicken stock (oxo, naturally), a couple of chopped carrots (had to defrost them from the horses' supply in the barn) and some chopped pumpkin. Then leave it to simmer til the veggies are soft, add seasoning of your choice, I used ginger and chilli but nutmeg or cinammon go just as well, bit of salt and pepper and whizz it up til it's smoothish. Naturally I have one of those hand held things you stick straight in the pan to blend it, less washing up afterwards!

Really nice with a bit of fresh baguette.......

Thai inspired stir fry

Just got back from a fabulous holiday in Thailand. The food was incredible, cheap and everywhere, day and night.....

....the ultimate destination for the lazy cook!!
But sadly, I live in France, where they don't really do takeaway except for Macdo....so I have to try and make it myself. Have a fabulous book full of Thai recipes, trouble is they're very faffy so not suitable for inclusion here.

But here's something Thai-ish that I made up for my dinner earlier:

Chop some shallots and lemongrass, fry. Add some chopped chicken. Then add chillies (of course!), fish sauce, ginger, lime juice, bit of sugar, chopped mushrooms. Stir fry til cooked, serve with rice or noodles, add coriander to taste.

I didn't go mad with the chillies and even the kids ate some!