Butternut Squash Soup with Gorgonzola Cream Serves 8 25g (1oz) butter 1 onion, peeled and diced 1kg (2lb 4oz) butternut squash, diced 600g (1lb 5oz) Bramley apples, peeled, cored and diced 750ml (1¼pt) chicken stock Salt and freshly ground black pepper For the gorgonzola cream 100g (3½oz) gorgonzola 100ml (3½fl oz) double cream A little milk Black pepper 8 sage leaves Heat the butter in a large pan and fry the onion until tender. Add the butternut squash and apple. Pour the stock over and season. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the squash is tender. Cool slightly, transfer to a blender and purée until smooth. In a bowl, mash the gorgonzola with the cream and milk. Reheat the soup and serve with 1tbsp of gorgonzola cream stirred through. Garnish with black pepper and a sage leaf.
The wine intervention: Dutch nuns appeal for help with booze glut Convent in Oosterhout has been left with surplus of more than 60,000 bottles after hot and dry year A Dutch convent is appealing to wine drinkers to support its endeavours as, thanks to an extremely hot and dry year, Sint-Catharinadal in Oosterhout has an excess of 64,000 bottles made from its vineyard. “We had a lovely summer last year, warm temperatures, and it promises to be an excellent harvest of more than 60,000 bottles,” said Sister Maria Magdalena, prioress, in a video appeal. With more knowledge of prayer than of online retail, they felt they had little hope of sharing this harvest. But with the help of local farmers groups, the nuns are now offering for sale online – or for pickup – cases of their 2022 white blend of auxerrois, pinot blanc and pinot gris, or a pinot noir/gamay rosé, at €14.50 (£12.80) a bottle. The convent in the southern Netherlands started its vineyard in 2014 to generate income for the maintenance of its buildings, recruiting about 130 volunteers. “We didn’t find beer in a convent so appropriate,” the sister explained to Dutch media. “Wine fits better, it is biblical and it points to Jesus.” Sister Maria Magdalena at the convent’s winery. Photograph: Niels Priem Thibaud van der Steen, joint founder of Breda Maakt Mij Blij – which helps producers, farmers and growers sell excess goods – said since the campaign launched jointly with No Waste Army and Boerschappen on Wednesday, almost 5,000 bottles have sold. “We started Breda Maakt Mij Blij in 2020 out of a need for positivity [during the Covid pandemic] as there was so much misery,” he said. “When there were problems with export bans, and people couldn’t export their flowers, we made a video and photos of a flower grower and suddenly sold 300,000. “In 2020, the nuns had wine that was intended for KLM, although there was no signature on the deal so it didn’t go through, and we helped. “They called a few weeks ago saying: ‘It sounds crazy but it has never been as sunny and dry as in the last year, we have so much wine we don’t know what to do with it, and we are having problems with the energy crisis in a badly insulated building.’ So we made a video and set up a campaign for them. “There’s a bit of a mistaken impression that Dutch wine isn’t tasty, but nowadays it is almost always good – and this is wine with a story.” Previous harvests from the Dutch nuns have inspired decent ratings on the wine site Vivino. Meanwhile, if the campaign does not succeed quite as planned, the zusters have confessed that they do not mind a glass or two of the holy grape themselves.
I'll try to post some actual, true south Louisiana recipes soon. So many misconceptions out there. Like "Cajun blackened fish". Here if it's blackened the dog gets it.
