I don’t consider myself a big fan of soups, but somehow I end up cooking soup at least once a week. This week, as I am still in holidays mode, I made this wonderful pumpkin soup. We are spending the holidays at my mom’s house, in a small village in North Greece. Peanut loves it here but for Almond was his first trip. I am very happy to see them getting along that good. They both love my mom’s old burner stove and they spend all day sleeping or playing in front of the fire. I can talk about these two for hours.
my adorable kitties enjoying the heat
Anyway, my mom’s garden is still full of huge pumpkins so the first thing I did once we got here was of course to pick and cut one. It’s been a crazy pumpkin week. Except this creamy and flavorful pumpkin soup, I also make Greek style pumpkin pie, a pumpkin new year’s cake and many many cookies. Will post all the recipes in the next few days, but let’s start with this one first!
Pumpkin Velouté
Ingredients
1 kg/2 pounds fresh pumpkin cubes
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
2 carrots, cut in small pieces
8 cups vegetable broth
2 cups soy milk
1 cup chestnuts cut in small pieces
salt to taste
Pumpkin Velouté
In a big pot heat the olive oil over medium heat and saute the onion and the spices. Add the carrots and the pumpkin and saute for a minute. Add the vegetable broth, bring to a boil, lower the heat to medium-low and cook for about 40 minutes, until the pumpkin is fully cooked and soft. Add the soy milk and season with salt to taste. Blend the soup using an immersion blender adding more vegetable broth or soy milk depending on how thick or think you want your soup to be. Serve topped with the crumbled chestnuts. Enjoy!
peanut warming his butt
almond posing as Mr. T
Vasilopita (St. Basil’s Bread) or New Year’s Cake is a tradition for the Orthodox Church here in Greece. It can be a loaf of sweet bread, cake or a pie. A coin is baked in the dough. On New Year’s Day, after the family dinner, the cake is traditionally cut by the senior male member of the family, and the person who receives the portion of the Cake which contains the coin is considered blessed for the New Year.
Happy New Year!
Each portion of the Cake is distributed as follows: The first portion is cut for Jesus Christ. The second is for The Virgin Mary. The third is for St. Basil the Great and the forth for the house. The other portions are cut for the members of the family beginning with the eldest.
If you are interested, you can read more about the Vasilopita and its history here.
Since I went vegan 5 years ago, it became a tradition for me to bake the Vasilopita every year. Not just for our house, but pretty much for everyone in the family. For my mom, my aunts, friends etc. This is a really tasty cake and you can make it any time during the year – just don’t write the year on it. It’s great with a morning coffee or a cup of tea.
New Year's Cakes
Ingredients
1/2 cup vegan margarine (1oo grams)
1 cup sugar
2 cups coconut milk
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp ground flax seed whisked with 1/4 cup of water
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups of flour
2 Tbsp corn flour
1 ts baking powder
1 ts baking soda
1 cup ground walnuts
Mix the coconut milk with the apple cider vinegar and set aside to curdle. Mix the ground flax seeds with the water and set aside until it forms a gel. In a mixing bowl sift the flour, corn flour, baking soda and baking powder and mix with a fork. In a big mixing bowl place the margarine and the sugar and use a hand mixer to mix them until the margarine becomes fluffy (about 5 minutes). Add the vanilla extract, flax seeds mixture and a little bit of the coconut milk and blend. Start adding the flour mixture and the coconut milk, 1/2 cup at the time and mix with the hand mixer in low/medium. Once you have added all the milk and flour add the ground walnuts. Use a fork to distribute the walnuts all over the dough. Do not forget at this stage to slip a coin (covered in tinfoil) in the cake dough. Grease and flour a baking pan, pour the dough in it and bake in preheated oven at 180 for about 40 minutes, until the cake is ready. Let it cool before removing from the pan. Dust the cake with powdered sugar and write the year on it.
