Pumpkin lasagne

Last week I had lunch at Kiasma and they had a wonderful pumpkin lasagne, leaving both me and my lunch companion yearning for more. After some browsing online, I picked this recipe, minus the proscuitto. It took a while to make (about 2.5-3 hours from start to finish) because of all the oven roasting. You can cut a lot of the time by not making your own white sauce, though. Unlike the one at Kiasma, this one was super cheesy, filled with pecorino and taleggio (and yes, that thick white layer in the middle of the photo is indeed the taleggio). In fact this is probably the most cheesy lasagne I've ever eaten. It was delicious, but I'm not sure whether it beats the Kiasma version. I garnished my portion with thyme sprigs, which accentuated the sweetness of the pumpkin nicely.

Baked apple and oats with honey

I got this recipe from Noora Shingler's Marjoja ja maskaraa book on healthy living and have made it countless times in the last few months. Completely free of white sugar, it uses honey as a sweetener, and very little butter. Then it's just oats, apple, cinnamon, optional raisons and you're done. It's very easy and quick to make. Freshen it up with some ice cream on the side. By now my friends and colleagues know that I am a little obsessed with Aino's chocolate ice cream. I thought it went well with this too (of course...).

Spicy red lentil soup

Made a staple dinner tonight: red lentil soup with a whole host of gorgeous spices. It takes about 10 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to cook, so very quick and easy, as well as healthy and delicious!

Breakfast: Eggs Benedict

This one speaks for itself.

Plenty: Leek fritters

I've been glancing longingly at the recipe for these Turkish-inspired leek fritters for a while. Leek pancakes - how could anyone say no? This takes a while to prepare, mainly because it entails chopping and frying a few things like leeks and shallots, plus there's a host of others things to measure out for the rest of the batter, like spices including cumin, coriander and cinnamon (!). I had a couple of unnecessary casualties too owing to my carelessness: I rubbed my eye with fingers after chopping chili (eyeball was on fire) and at some point i burned the tips of my thumbs (don't know when, but now they are a little sore and red). It was well worth all the physical pain though. These shot straight to at least my top 5 Ottolenghi recipes. The cinnamon in particular threw off the cumin, coriander and tumeric in a wonderful way. I don't think I'll make the sauce (greek yogurt, parsley, coriander, garlic, lemon juice) next time though. It was nice, but I think just a drizzle of lemon juice on top is a more refreshing way of enjoying these guys and their interesting flavours.

Plenty: Roasted parsnips and sweet potatoes with caper vinaigrette

To not have cooked properly for a week has been a sad deprivation. It's already November 10th and this is my first blog entry for the month. Sinful. I've been busy meeting friends, attending plays and other events lately, and diverting as they were, I've missed my glorious long evenings at home cooking, reading and listening to music. Tonight, though, I got back on track and made Roasted parsnips and sweet potatoes with caper vinaigrette from Plenty. Do I need to mention what a great success this was? It was heavenly. Again the photo doesn't do any credit to the flavours of this meal. Parsnips, sweet potatoes, red onions, garlic and cherry tomatoes are roasted with olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme. After about two hours when they're ready the vegetables are covered with the dressing, made with lemon juice, dijon mustard, olive oil, maple syrup (!), capers, salt, and topped with sesame seeds. It's a feast.