Cherry Pie and Butternut Soup, St Patrick's Day

Happy St Patrick's Day to all my Irish followers.

Beannachtai na Feile Padraig

I still have quite a few cherries, picked last year from our tree in France, pitted and kept in the freezer.  I have been making a lot of Cherry Clafoutis, but I am not using up the cherries up fast enough!  It will not be long before we will be picking again.  For the Cherry Clafoutis recipe that I have been using, see Susan's recipe found here. it is most delicious and the best recipe that I have used to date.

To use up more cherries, I have made a couple of cherry pies and they really are  very tasty!

Ingredients:

About 5 cups fresh or frozen cherries, pitted.  I freeze my cherries with a sprinkling of sugar,  so I do not add extra, but if there is no sugar already in the cherries, then  use 1/2 cup granulated sugar to this quantity of cherries.
If they are really sharp cherries then I would add some sweetener as well, to taste. Ours are eating cherries and need no extra sweetening.
2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
1/8 teaspoon pure almond extract, or if using almond flavouring then use at least 1/2  teaspoon
Pastry for a 2-crust 9-inch pie

Directions:
Combine cherries, (sugar, sugar substitutes if using), tapioca, and almond extract in a large bowl; mix well. Let stand for 30 minutes. It is not necessary to thaw the frozen cherries before using. 

Line a 9-inch pie plate with half of the pastry. Fill with cherry mixture. Adjust top crust over filling, and cut slits for steam to escape. Or as I do, put in a pie funnel and pierce a hole in the centre of the pastry.
Bake in a preheated oven 190C (375F) for 55-60 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. I cover the edges of the pastry with aluminium foil to prevent over-browning.

Butternut Soup

I thought that I had posted this recipe before, but as I cannot find it, I will post it again regardless!  This is a South African recipe and we think it is the very best soup ever.

Ingredients
2 medium butternuts
1 apple
2 medium onions
50g butter/margarine
7 ml medium curry powder
40 g cake flour
zest from one orange plus the juice (I prefer navel oranges but...)
2 chicken stock cubes
750 ml boiling water
500 ml milk
5 ml salt

To Prepare:
Peel, seed and dice the butternuts. Peel, core and chop the apple. Peel the onions and chop. In a large saucepan, sauté the chopped onions in the butter/margarine. Add the curry powder and fry the mixture lightly. Add the butternut and apple and sauté the mixture for a while. Add the flour and stir-fry lightly.
Dissolve the chicken stock cubes in the boiling water. Add the stock, together with the milk, and salt, to the butternut mixture. Boil, with the lid on, over moderate heat until the butternut pieces are soft. Stir the mixture occasionally.
Add the orange zest and juice and purée or blend until smooth. The colour of the soup should be a deep orange-yellow and the texture creamy. Serve the soup hot.
Each bowl of soup may be garnished with a teaspoon of cream, a little finely chopped parsley or a little zest from an orange.
Makes approx 2 litres of soup.

Enjoy