Emma's homemade

The last couple of weeks have been a true rollercoaster; work has been really busy, I have had a couple of catering assignments (and some more coming up), family coming over from Switzerland and of course my trip to Paris.

In the meantime I have also started a pop-up time-share café together with six other women. We have this café at a shop called the HubShop. This is a shop which sells eco-friendly and handmade goodies from small entrepreneurs.

We (the ladies from the café) are all food-lovers who now get the chance to promote ourselves and, own a little restaurant once a week.

Tuesday is in general my day. This means everything is made with spelt flour, the sweets are all lactose-free and the savoury dishes are cow’s milk free. I try to use organic and fair-trade products where possible.

Tuesday’s menu consisted of:

- Roasted pumpkin soup with black peppercorn and pecorino biscotti

- Leeks and goat cheese tartlets with a green salad
- Lemon poppy seed and almond cakes
- Chocolate chip peanut butter cookies

I will try to share my recipes every week with you...the photos probably won’t be of the best quality, but I’ll do my best :)

If you are in Rotterdam and would like to visit me or one of the other women at the café, this is the address: HubShop, Nieuwe Binnenweg 195B

Hope to see you soon!

Roasted pumpkin soup

1 pumpkin or squash, seeded, cleaned and cubed

1 tsp cumin seeds

½ to ¼ tsp nutmeg

8 sage leafs, finely chopped

Olive oil

3 onions, finely diced

½ bulb of garlic

1 liter vegetable stock (homemade of with 2 tsp. Of Marigold Swiss powder)

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Scatter your pumpkin and garlic on a baking tray and sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Place in the preheated oven and bake for about 20 minutes until cooked.

Meanwhile; fry the onion, cumin seeds, sage and nutmeg in a little olive oil until softened.

Add the pumpkin and garlic (you can just squeeze it out of its papery skin) to the union mixture and fry for about 5 minutes on a low heat. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Leave to simmer for another 10 minutes.

Take the soup of the heat and puree with a hand-held blender until you end up with a silky smooth texture. Finish off with a little salt and pepper to taste.