I therefore set out to try to recreate the recipe and the tweaks I had made at the time.

thought about it for too long, mulling over different ideas, and then realised that she needed the recipes Anyway, this one came out very tasty, and is definitely a good recipe to have stick around!

As mentioned in Day 97 of The Challenge Happy Thanksgiving (a little belatedly)! Pumpkin pie is a staple Thanksgiving and Christmas food in my family, so even though we were unable to do a full Thanksgiving dinner on the day, we had a pie. This year though I decided to do it with a twist. For starters there is a discussion every year between my husband and I about whether we are making his family's pie or mine. They are both good. They both have definite merits, but we each favour the one we grew up with. So this year, I made a hybrid, not either properly speaking but somewhere between the two. Then, I decided that as pumpkin pie is always homogenous in texture and has quite a smooth, low note to it, I wanted to sharpen it a little with swirly of rosehip puree through it. Finally, my sister had suggested trying to change up the crust a little, using some juice or something to change the colour, so I made pomegranate and cinnamon crust. The pink colour was more striking in the raw dough, but it had a very nice flavour and played well with the rest of the flavours. Ingredients: For the crust: 1 1/2 - 2 c flour 3/4 c butter 1/3 - 1/2 c pomegranate juice 1/4 - 1/2 c milk 1 tbsp sugar 1/2 tsp cinnamon For the filling: 1 3/4 c pumpkin purée (I roasted a small pumpkin and mashed it up, skin and all - but no seeds or guts - to get the purée. Leaving the skin ultimately added some texture to the pie) 1 1/2 c evaporated milk 2 eggs 1/4 c brown sugar 1/2 c sugar 1 tsp (heaped) cinnamon 1 tsp ginger 1/4 tsp cloves A pinch of nutmeg 1 1/2 tsp orange peel 1/2 - 3/4 c rosehip purée 1) Place 1 1/2 c flour in a large bowl. Cut butter into it in small pieces and then rub the flour and butter together with finger tips until it forms a crumb like consistency. 2) Pour in the pomegranate juice and stir with a fork to form a dough. Add the sugar and cinnamon, and then as much milk as needed to bring the dough together. 3) Knead on a floured surface for a few minutes, using some of the remaining flour as necessary if the dough is too sticky. The dough should be elastic and not too heavy. Wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes, if not longer (it still works if you don't chill it, just not as well). 4) Place the pumpkin purée in a mixing bowl. Add all the other ingredients except the rosehip purée, and mix well. 5) Roll out the pie crust and line the bottom of a pie plate with it ( deeper would be better, but as seen in the pictures mine was shallow and it worked very nicely). 6) Pour pumpkin mix into the pie plate. Dollop a spoonful of the rosehips into the centre, and using the blade of a knife or a thin spatula, swirl the rosehip gradually out from the centre to form tendrils of rosehip through the pumpkin, yet with each remaining quite distinct. Repeat this several times until all the rosehip is swirled in, being careful not to scrape up the pie crust with the knife. 7) Bake at 220°C for 15 minutes the lower the oven temperature to 180°C and bake for a further 45-50 minutes. Cool well before serving. I loved this pie and thought it to be a huge success! My husband declared it to be his favourite iteration of pumpkin pie yet. This is the first pumpkin pie we have had that is better without whipped cream! The sweet pie with its deep note contrasted beautifully with the tart note of the rosehips and the sweet acidity of the orange peel against the spices. I liked this new trial crust as well, although I admit to spilling the sugar a bit so it was a bit sweet. The texture was a bit less homogenous due to the orange peel and the pumpkin peel, and to the veins of rosehip running through the pie at different levels. Love love love this pie! Please try it and let me know what you think! EDIT: I made this pie again for Thanksgiving this year. It was as big of a hit as last year, but this time I made it using cranberry juice in the crust instead, which works just as well!

Skip the parmesan to make this recipe vegan.

This is a dish that was inspired by something similar-ish we had on our trip to Ticino in the autumn. It was creamy and sweet yet savoury. I wanted to recreate that and so made it up as I went along and am very happy with how it came out! I had whey left over from making ricotta (that I used in the White Lasagne) so I used that as the cooking liquid. Whey itself is salted and a little acidic while also still being dairy, so it brought some of all of that to the dish. It was less creamy and rich than making risotto with milk (which was desirable, given the caramel chestnuts), and less acidic than using white wine, and less salty than store bought stock. Instead it brought a lovely balance of all these flavours. If you don't happen to have extra whey on hand, I would use some milk and maybe a dash of lemon juice at the end. Given the season, the chestnuts were frozen, but they worked well nonetheless. Ingredients: 300g Arborio rice 2 onions, chopped 1/2 head of garlic, chopped 2 tbsp olive oil 1 l whey 0,5 - 1 l water 1 tsp sumac 1 tbsp butter 1 c parmesan pepper 250g chestnuts 2 tbsp butter 1/3 c ground almonds 1/3 - 1/2 c sugar 2 tsp molasses 1 c water 1 c milk 1/4 tsp cloves 1/2 tsp ginger 1) Heat oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan and sauté onions and garlic for 3-4 minutes, then add rice. Stir until rice begins to go translucent as well. Add whey. Stir almost constantly (this is what allows the rice to release its starches, and keeps it from burning). 2) In a separate saucepan, melt the butter and stir in chestnuts, allowing them to cook through slowly for about 2 minutes, add the almonds, sugar, molasses, spices and water and cook, stirring regularly. Add milk when the caramel has started to form, and taste test for sugar. Remove from heat and cover 3) Once all the liquid is absorbed by the rice, add the water gradually, not adding more than necessary. Add sumac and pepper and stir. Once the rice is cooked and has thickened, add the butter and cheese. Stir. 4) At this point, either add the chestnuts into the risotto and stir it in, mixing thoroughly before dishing, or serve the rice and spoon chestnuts and caramel over the top. Depending on how vigorously you stir, the chestnuts might start to fall apart, but this is ok. The consensus on this from my sister, hubby, Little Bit and myself is that it was a success. I thought that the caramel chestnut concentration could be higher, and that the proportion of those could be increased by half. My sister and hubby didn't think so. Beyond this though, it was well balanced, creamy and very very tasty! I highly recommend this to anyone who can be bothered stirring a risotto and is in the mood for comfort food.

As mentioned in Day 93 of The Challenge I saw a recipe title for pomegranate and chestnut chicken stew , but we're in lock down and I don't have pomegranates, and lost the recipe so couldn't really follow

After a morning of playing in the snow with Little Bit, we decided to have bacon and eggs for lunch, and for good measure (hiking in the cold takes energy!) I decided to throw in some pancakes. Getting the milk from the fridge, I noticed the last of a tub of cottage cheese that needed using, and decided to use that instead. I also used a tin of peaches (it is winter, so no fresh ones), including the juice. Some spicing later and we got to try it out. The batter on its own came out very tasty and I will definitely be making these again, and the added bonus of the peaches was great! Note: If you don't have cottage cheese, use about 1/2c milk and 1/4 c of peach juice instead and you should get a similar result (without the creamy melted pockets from the curds). Ingredients: 1 1/2c flour 3 tbsp sugar 3 tbsp melted butter 3 tsp baking powder 2 eggs 3/4c cottage cheese 1/2 - 3/4c peach juice (from the tin) 1 tsp ginger 1/4 tsp cloves 1 tin of peaches, sliced 1) Mix the dry ingredients together, then one by one add the liquids, stirring well after every addition. Add the amount of peach juice to get the pancakes to the right consistency (wet enough to dollop, but not runny). 2) Heat a griddle pan or frying pan and melt butter. Add 1 large spoon of batter per pancake and cook on medium heat. 3) When small bubbles start appearing and the pancake is able to lift gently from the pan with a spatula, lay out a couple of slices of peach (or a peach half if you so choose) in the wet batter, then flip the pancake and cook until done. The inner consistency around the peach slices was slightly wetter than pancakes normally are inside, but they didn't suffer for it. The juicy peach slices worked well with the spiced batter, especially alongside a poached egg and some bacon. I wasn't sure how the cottage cheese would do in the pancakes, but it mostly melted away, just adding creaminess to the batter. I found that a small drizzle of maple syrup worked particularly well over the top, but they stand up equally well without any dressing up whatsoever! And Little Bit loved them too...

As mentioned in Day 86 of The Challenge When I was little I didn't like tapioca because it looked like (and sort of had the texture of) frogs eggs. As an adult I don't necessarily think that comparison untrue, but I have come to appreciate other aspects of it. It was a comfort food my dad made for me. It is creamy and rich and comforting. I had only ever had it plain, but had been wanting to make it, and happened to have a tub of quince slices in the syrup produced from boiling them, so I decided to combine the two and it came out quite delightfully. Ingredients: 3/4c tapioca 1 1/2 -2 c quince syrup (no added sugar, but just from cooking the quince in water) 1-1/2 c milk 1 1/2 tsp vanilla 1/2 tsp almond extract A handful of golden raisins 6-8 slices of quince 1/2 tbsp butter 2 tbsp cinnamon sugar 2 tsp ground almonds To serve: cream, brown sugar, cinnamon sugar, whatever takes your fancy. 1) Cook the tapioca and golden raisins in the quince syrup and milk, vanilla and almond extracts, stirring almost constantly, especially as it thickens, 15-20 minutes until the liquid is absorbed and the grain is cooked and tender. 2) In a small frying pan, melt the butter. Add the cinnamon sugar and cook until it melds with the butter and starts to caramelise. Add the quince slices and the almonds, stirring to coat the quince evenly in the cinnamon caramel and the almonds. 3) Spoon tapioca into small bowls and top with the quince slices. Serve with cream, brown or cinnamon sugar, cocoa spice or plain. This was exactly what I needed, traditional comfort food, but with something else to it too. The only drawback was the almond extract, which was perfect when hot, but then was a little overpowering when it cooled. If you plan to eat this cold, I would cut the almond extract in half or skip it all together.

I've been doing a challenge on Instagram where there is a different ingredient each week around which a dish needs to be built. This week's ingredient is lemongrass. "Easy. I'll do a Thai curry," I thought. "But how about something new, too? How about something sweet with lemongrass. Maybe a lemongrass coconut panna cotta. No, it's Lent and I won't get a chance to try it. How about a savoury lemongrass panna cotta then? Hmmm. That's an idea. With what?" So in the end it turned into still crunchy stir fried veg with the warm spices from a curry, the panna cotta sitting on top of the veg with the cool flavours, and a chilli sauce drizzled over the top with the heat. I was not sure how any of this would work, starting with the panna cotta. Would it gel without a lot of sugar? And then how would it all come together. I wasn't sure until I made it exactly what I was going to put in the hot drizzle. In the end though it came out nicely. Ingredients: For the warm base: 1-2 sweet potatoes, cut into fat matches 3-4 carrots, cut into fat matches 1 -2 red peppers, cut into fat matches (1 onion thinly sliced if you have one, which I did not unfortunately) 4-5 cloves of garlic, sliced 1 tbsp peanut oil 1 tbsp mustard seeds 1 tsp coriander seeds 1/2 tbsp cumin seeds 2 tsp cumin 1 tbsp cooking sake juice of half a lime For the panna cotta: 1 l of coconut milk 2 stalks of lemongrass, chopped 1 small chunk of ginger, finely grated 2 packets or 70 g gelatine 6 drops of fish sauce 1 tbsp cane sugar Juice of 1 lime For the chilli sauce: 1 red chilli, chopped fine 1 tsp rice wine vinegar Juice of half a lime 1 tsp honey Topping: Coriander leaves Sesame oil Crispy millet (I soaked some millet grains in a little whey then put it in a cooling oven) 1) Prep the Panna Cotta in advance. Pour the coconut milk into a saucepan and warm gently. Add ginger and lemongrass and leave to infuse for at least an hour. 2) Bring the panna cotta back up to a gently simmer and add other ingredients except for the gelatine. Taste test then you have a choice. Either strain the bits out of the cream or, as I did, leave them in. I liked crunching on bits of lemongrass later. Add gelatine and simmer gently, stirring for about 5 minutes, then pour into small individual serving containers (eg ramequin pots) and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or overnight. 3) Heat oil in a wok. When the oil is hot, add the mustard, coriander and cumin seeds. When they start to pop, add the garlic. Fry briefly then add the vegetables and other ingredients. Cook at high temperature for a few minutes then reduce the heat. Cook until the sweet potato and carrot are cooked but still crunchy. 4) In a small simmer all ingredients for the chilli drizzle. Partially blitz and set aside. 5) Plate it all. Place the veg on the plate, tip a panna cotta out on top (I placed my ramequins in hot water for a few minutes to loosen the edges. I did it a little too long though and some of them were a little softer than I wanted.) Drizzle chilli sauce over it, then place coriander leaves around and millet crisp over the top of the panna cotta. This was a hit! I would do a few things differently next time though. I had hesitated about whether to do the veg in a wok or the oven. I did it in the wok in the end but I think another time I would do them in the oven to have crispiness to them rather than crunch. Also, I don't know that I would try to loosen the panna cotta in the cups first. Maybe just run a hot knife around the edge instead. As it was, the panna cotta melted a little fast, producing a (re)constructed Thai curry. The panna cotta was good on it's own and I would like to try it again with different pairings. It could also work as a dessert but would need a tangy coulis because it is quite rich.

As mentioned in Day 100 of The Challenge My grandmother was a big lover of veal, and so ordered and bought an entire veal which went into the chest freezer. Her health then declined, she cooked less and then passed away, leaving a still significant amount of veal behind. We cooked stuffed veal breast while at my parents' this summer, and then we were sent away with the other one. I had been toying with what to do with it when I started my adventures into fenugreek exploration, and for the past couple of months had been sitting on this idea, of using orange, fenugreek seeds and fenugreek leaves. All in all it came out very well! Ingredients: 3-4 slices of bread, toasted 1 apple, chopped 2 onions, chopped 1/2 head of garlic, minced or sliced fine 1/2 tbsp olive oil A handful of dates, chopped A handful of raisins 2 tsp orange peel 1 tsp fenugreek seeds 1/4 -1/2 tsp tandoori powder 1 tsp thyme 1/2 tsp fenugreek leaves 1/3 c apple juice Salt and pepper Broth or apple juice (optional) for moistening if roasting separate from the meat 1) Sauté the onions and garlic in the olive oil until translucent. 2) Crumble the toasted slices of bread into a large bowl. Add the other ingredients and mix well. 3) Stuff your bird, or roll up in veal breast and roast. Alternatively add a little extra liquid (broth or apple juice) and roast in an oven proof dish for 30-40 minutes at 180°C. We have now had this stuffing on two occasions. The first time I rolled some up in the veal breast and placed the rest under the meat in the roasting pan. On this occasion the stuffing was perhaps the best part of the meal and we fell in love with it, bathed in the veal's roasting juices, and very moist. The tandoori came across a little too strongly though (although whether that was from the stuffing or the rosehip glaze on top of the veal I am not sure). The second time, we used this stuffing instead of our traditional cornbread stuffing to have with our Thanksgiving chicken for our much-delayed Thanksgiving dinner (I am afraid I forgot to take a picture of the roast). On this occasion I layered the roasting pan with sweet potatoes, then the stuffing which didn't fit in the bird, then the bird with chestnuts (parboiled and peeled) snuggled in around it. I did not use any tandoori powder this time, and the flavours played off of each other very nicely, with the exception of a little bitterness from the fenugreek leaves. This stuffing I think is better suited to a slightly more strongly flavoured meat, and if I were to do it with chicken again I would use less of the fenugreek leaves, and possibly a little less garlic. The third use of this stuffing has been in leftovers pies, made using the remaining sweet potato, stuffing and chestnuts from Thanksgiving dinner. I spread cranberry sauce on one side of the pastry, placed the roasting side mix in the middle and sealed the pies into half moons and brushed with a little milk. They were super tasty! No issues with the garlic or fenugreek in this little lunch dish. The sweeter notes of the sweet potato and chestnut played well with the more savoury tones from the stuffing. It also worked well with a slice or two of roast pumpkin stuffed in there, or a couple of pieces of persimmon in the pie. I highly recommend doing this if you don't know what to do with roast dinner left-overs any time, but this stuffing lent itself particularly well to this.