Pantry hacks: Cinnamon

Pumpkin soup with cinnamon croutons

Serves: 4

Time: 1 hr

In a medium pot, heat a glug of olive oil over low heat. Add 1 peeled and diced onion, 2 peeled and minced garlic cloves and a small handful fresh rosemary leaves. When the onion is soft and translucent, add 1kg diced pumpkin. Add vegetable/chicken stock to just cover the pumpkin and simmer until the pumpkin is tender, 50 minutes. Once tender, blitz the soup with a hand blender or standing blender and season to taste. Stir in 250ml (1 cup) fresh cream, 15ml (1 tbsp) cinnamon and add a little more stock, if necessary, to create a soup consistency. While the soup cooks, make the croutons by tearing ½ ciabatta loaf into bite-size chunks. Heat a glug of olive oil and a knob butter in a pan over medium-high heat and fry the croutons in batches until golden brown. Sprinkle with cinnamon and salt and serve alongside the soup.

Cinnamon-rosemary popcorn

Serves: Makes 1 medium bowl

Time: 15 mins

Using a pestle and mortar, grind together 15ml (1 tbsp) each of ground cinnamon and finely chopped fresh rosemary. Sprinkle over a medium-sized bowl of freshly popped, buttery popcorn and season well to taste with salt.

Pan-fried sage pork chops with cinnamon apples

Serves: 4

Time: 30 mins

Heat a large glug of olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add 3 peeled, cored and wedged apples and sauté until tender, about 10 minutes. Add a large knob butter, 15ml (1 tbsp) chopped fresh sage and 10ml (2 tsp) cinnamon and cook for a further 3 minutes over high heat. Season the apples well to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then remove from the pan and set aside. Reduce the heat to medium and add a little more sage and olive oil, if necessary, to the same pan. Fry 4 – 6 pork chops in batches until golden on the outside and just cooked through, 3 – 4 minutes on each side, adding a knob butter before turning the chops over. Season well to taste and serve warm with the cinnamon apples.