I served my pumpkin soup to start with. Ever since Jackie wrote about making Nigella’s blue cheese and butternut squash, I’ve been longing to try it for myself. I made it, but removed the skin, following her comments. It is very easy. I halved the squash and peeled it, then cut it into roughly 1 inch pieces. These I put in a roasting tin with three tablespoons of olive oil, and roasted in a hot oven for about 35 minutes. I poured them into a dish and sprinkled blue cheese; there was no Roquefort so I used Danish blue. Then I added pecans, swirled it around, and sprinkled chopped parsley on top (she said thyme, but I had parsley). It looked brilliant and tasted wonderful. How cleverly the tang of the cheese offsets the sweetness of the squash, and the crunch of the pecans contrasts with the soft chewyness of it.
On a roll now, I made Nigella’s nectarine and blueberry galette to follow. I’d rolled the puff pastry into a rectangle I put on a greased baking dish. I scored a line about three-quarters of an inch in, but not going through the pastry. I pricked the inner rectangle with a fork. Then I mixed a tablespoon of cranberry jam with two of crème fraiche (instead of double cream), and spread the pink paste over the inner rectangle. Then came the sliced nectarines and blueberries. She did hers higgledy-piggledy, but mine were in straight rows to fit them all in (“only imperial storm-troopers are so precise.”) I sprinkled light brown muscovy sugar over it (she said demarara) and baked for 15 minutes. Wow! I served it with goat’s milk yoghurt. It was totally gorgeous.
This was a spectacular three course meal which took very little effort, in that I’d done the pumpkin soup in advance. It all looked most impressive and tasted heavenly…