Market Inspiration - Heritage Carrots, Good Sausages and a Squash soup

Once a month Norwich Market is supplemented by the Norwich farmers market.  Today the farmers market was small but one stall had a fantastic display of seasonal veg.  Norfolk Marsh Pig were there and I bought a couple of packeds of their fantastic chilli beef jerky- you can really taste the spices (and the chilli!).

Chilli Beef Jerky from Norfolk Marsh Pig

However, it was the fantastic array of different squashes, heritage carrots and cavolo nero that really inspired me this week (and it's quite unusual for me to be inspired by veg).

It was a wet, chilly day so comfort food was needed to go with the veg. Sausages.  Pickerings meat stall on the market sells the best sausages and bacon.  So dinner was the carrots (which Mr Vitty didn't like) and the brassica with pork, onion and cheddar sausages, mash, and beery onion gravy (made with Leffe because that's what we had in the fridge).

The squash was the base for a warming, subtly spiced, soup. As a rule Mr Vitty doesn't like squash soup - but even he liked this :)

Ingredients: 1 medium squash 1 tablespoon olive oil  1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon coriander seeds  4 cardamon pods 2 onions chopped 3 cloves of garlic crushed A thumb sized knob of ginger finely chopped or grated 1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes (or to taste) 500 ml stock or water 1 star anise Juice of half a lime  Salt Pepper Creme fraiche or soured cream Fresh coriander chopped

Method: Put the oven on at 200 C to warm up. Break your way into the squash, remove the seeds and chop into large pieces.  Drizzle with olive oil and a little salt and pepper and roast in the oven for about 30 minutes or until soft. Scoop the flesh from the skin - needless to say this is easier if the squash has had a chance to cool. If you are using whole spices put them in a dry pan and place over a medium heat to dry roast.  Crush the spices in a spice grinder or pestle and mortar.  If you're using ground spices a teaspoon of each should be enough. Heat some olive oil in a pan and fry the onion. Add the spice mix, garlic, ginger and chilli and fry for a few seconds. Add the soft flesh of the squash and mix to combine it with the onions and spices. Cook for a minute or so and then add the stock or water and the star anise. Bring to simmering point pressing the squash into the stock. Simmer covered for 20 minutes and remove the star anise before blitzing with a blender or passing through a sieve.  Adjust the consistency of the soup by adding water to thin it or boiling uncovered to thicken.  When the soup is the texture you like add the lime juice and check the seasoning. Bring back to simmering point and serve with a swirl of creme fraiche or soured cream and a sprinkling of chopped fresh coriander (if you have any).

We ate this with some ciabatta made using Richard Bertinet's recipe from his book, Crust.