Happy 2017 everyone. Now that the winter has started, nothing can beat a warm soup. Pumpkin is probably the most popular winter veggie and it is associated with Halloween and it is thought to keep sinister spirits and ghosts away. Leek belong to the “Allium ampeloprasum” family and contains the flavonoid kaempferol, which helps us in protecting our heart from cardiovascular diseases. Last but not least this recipe is dairy and fat free therefore if you are on a diet it’s just the perfect meal.

I hope you will enjoy it.

What you need:

• 1 leek
• 500 g pumpkin, peeled and roughly cut
• 0.5 l vegetable stock
• 1 garlic clove
• parsley to garnish
• salt and pepper

How to make it:

Bring stock to the boil, in the meanwhile halve the leek length ways and wash it to remove any dirt. Wash the pumpkin and add it to the stock together with the leek and the garlic. Cook the soup for 15 mins or until the pumpkin has softened. Add salt and pepper and let the soup cool down for few minutes. With a blender or food processor cream the soup.

Serve it piping hot and add some parsley to your dish before eating it.

With a bit of delay, here is the first Christmas recipe for 2017. This Christmas tree chocolate cake is very easy to bake and it is made to impress.

What you need:

• 100 g caster sugar
• 50 g self raising flour
• 4 eggs
• 75 g cocoa powder
• 15 g corn flour
• almond essence
• salt

How to make it:

In a bowl whisk together the egg yolks and the sugar until you have a creamy mixture. Sift in the flour, the corn flour, the cocoa powder and incorporate well until smooth. Add the almond essence and stir once more.

Beat the egg whites with the salt until peaks form and add them to the batter with smooth movements, mixing from the center of the bowl.

Add the batter to a Christmas tree shaped mold and bake in the oven at 190C for 35 mins.

When the cake is completely cooled down use your fantasy to decorate it. In this cake I just used sugar ribbons and snowflakes and icing sugar.