The days are getting colder.........{Stuffed Pumpkins and Baked Cod)

I swear it hasn't stopped raining in London/ Kent the last few days. I'm kind of over grey skies and drizzle, and I'm a self confessed rain lover. I don't know it's all a bit melancholy. Still December is just around the corner and then the dark nights become more magical and there's the end in sight to the exhaustion of work as we have the Christmas holiday to look forward to.  On these dark and cold autumn nights we need food that will nourish and warm us. These pumpkins are a great side dish although we sometimes have them on their own. I did them with cod this time as I like cod and chorizo - they go well together. If you are vegetarian feel free to omit the chorizo the stuffing will work just as well without it

Stuffed Pumpkins and Baked Cod

1 medium pumpkin, cut in half and de-seeded
1/2 aubergine, diced finely
1 small onion, diced finely
1/4 orange pepper, diced finely
50g chorizo, diced finely
3 tbsp. breadcrumbs, I used panko
50g blue cheese, gorgonzola works well here
sprinkling of grated parmesan or cheddar
2 pieces of fresh cod
couple of lemon slices

take the two halves of pumpkin rub them all over with olive oil and bake for about 30mins. in a pan cook the onion and pepper with chorizo, remove from the pan and add a couple of glugs of olive oil and then cook the aubergine. once the aubergine is cooked then add the bread crumbs and the other already cooked ingredients. take the pumpkin from the oven and scoop out the flesh so there is a cm left(this will help you pumpkin remain sturdy) add the flesh chopped up a bit into your stuffing mix and crumble in the blue cheese. give the stuffing a good mix and then stuff the pumpkins, top with grated cheese and cook on a medium to high oven for approx. 45mins until lightly brown on top. I cooked the cod in a bag made from greaseproof paper (as I did in this recipe here) I just seasoned the fish well and laid it on a couple of slices of fresh lemon, wrapped it in its parcel and cooked for around 25mins.

Baking for Builders.........{Snickerdoodle Cookies}

H recently got a promotion and on his last day I sent him off with a batch of snickerdoodle cookies. Snickerdoodles are a wonderful sugar and cinnamon cookie that whenever H takes these into work they are always a hit! We love their cinnamon delicate taste. I always have the ingredients in the cupboard and they are very simple to make. When I first made these and was looking at various recipes I noticed there is a bit of a debate whether they should be soft, dense, thick, chewy, crisp.... mine are how I like them crisp with a slight chew, I am by no means saying that they are traditional but I like them just the way they are! 

Snickerdoodle Cookies 

140g caster sugar
120g light brown sugar
120g salted butter, make sure it is at room temperature
1 egg, beaten

200g flour
pinch salt

1 TBSP cinnamon

1 TSP bicarbonate of soda

about 4 TBSP of granulated sugar and 1 TBSP cinnamon for coating the biscuits

preheat oven to 180oC and line a couple of baking trays with greaseproof paper. cream together the butter with the two types of sugar. add in beaten egg and mix well. in a separate bowl mix together the flour, salt, cinnamon and soda - you could sieve this if you want but I rarely bother sieving these days as flour is so processed. Add the two mixes together so it is a firmish dough. put the granulated sugar and cinnamon in a bowl, take a small piece of the dough (about the size of a walnut) and roll it in the sugar. place on baking sheet,. make sure the cookies are spaced out as they spread a lot. bake in oven for 8-10 minute until they are lightly brown.