For dinner we couldn’t decide what to have. It was one of those days when you know what you do not want. So we ruled out pasta (had too much recently), rice, fish & chicken. I flicked through some books for inspiration and came across the LA Burger in Bill Granger’s – Every Day.

Easy and quick to make, but very nice…

Ingredients (for 4)

• 500g lean minced pork
• 1/2 onion, grated
• 1/2 teaspoon toasted fennel seeds, crushed
• 40g breadcrumbs
• 1 egg lightly beaten
• salt
• pepper

Method

1. Combined all ingredients together in a bowl.
2. Shape into 4 small burgers.
3. Cover & leave in fridge for 30minutes.
4. Heat non-stick frying pan & cook burgers for about 5 minutes on each side
5. Serve on a bun of your choice with a handful of rocket and thinly sliced red onion.

And we also made some crispy cakes for Easter!

To cheer us up I made the Pumpkin Soup from the November Sainsbury magazine – a recipe by Tana Ramsay. The recipe says that you can you use any squash so we picked up two butternut squashes – I think all the pumpkins must have gone to good homes in time for Halloween.

Ingredients (Serves 6)

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 10g butter
• 2kg (4lb 8oz) squash of your choice – diced
• 3 sprigs rosemary
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 litre chicken stock
• optional – 2 Parmesan rinds

How to Do It

Heat oil & butter in large pan

Add garlic & rosemary

Add the squash and let it cook for a few minutes until the squash starts to colour (If you are adding the Parmesan rind pop it in at this stage and let it melt a little bit)

Add stock & a pinch of salt

Let everything simmer for 25 minutes – the squash will be soft

Cool slightly then remove the stalks from the rosemary and the Parmesan rind

Using a liquidiser or hand held blender blend until smooth

Warm the soup back up & serve with crusty bread

I have to hold my hands up & say I ended up making half the quantity above, cutting a raw butternut squash is blumin’ hard work!

Now I need to find a recipe that calls for roasted squash – I think I’ve seen one with feta cheese lying around here somewhere…