Pumpkin Couscous

I mentioned yesterday the purchase of a pumpkin at our farmer's market this weekend. Well, here's why. I was craving my Roasted Pumpkin Couscous. You need to take a little time to clean the sucker up.

The first thing I did was cut a slice off the bottom of the pumpkin, so I had a flat surface to work with. Then sliced in half, then quarters. From there I scooped the goop, and continued to cut the pumpkin into slices. I was able to easily remove the outer shell at this point and scrap out all the stringy bits from inside.

Dice the pumpkin. About 1/4 inch pieces.

Toss with dried oregano, ground cumin, salt, pepper and olive oil.

Roast in the oven on a parchment lined sheet.

Meanwhile...make some chicken! I seasoned some chicken thighs with salt, pepper and a mish mash of other herbs and spices. Then dipped the chicken in some flour and into a hot pan with olive oil. Get a good solid sear on the skin, get it nice and crispy. Flip the chicken over and add some onion, dry white wine and some chicken broth. Cover and put in the oven for about 15 minutes.

When the pumpkin is done from the oven, toss with some couscous and serve with the chicken, with the reduced sauce on top! Enjoy.

Pumpkin Curry Soup

I bought a small pumpkin for cooking this weekend. Even the smallest pumpkin available at our market was still bigger than I needed. So after I got what I needed (another post coming soon!), I had just over 4 cups of cleaned, diced pumpkin waiting for something delicious to happen to it. I could do pie, but I'm probably considered a foodie heathen, but I prefer Libby's canned pumpkin for pies! So that generally means something savory. So soup it was gonna be. But I didn't want straight up pumpkin soup, I wanted something more. Pumpkin Curry Soup! With only a quick search of my books, I didn't find anything adequate, so I just started with my own recipe. Shall we?

Pumpkin Curry Soup

I started with 2 TB of butter, 4 chopped shallots and 2 carrots, peeled and chopped. Saute until the shallots start to turn golden.

Add 1 1/2 TB of mild curry powder, 1 TB garam masala, 1/8 tsp of cayenne pepper, 1/4 tsp tumeric, salt & pepper. Add 1 TB grated ginger. Stir and let the spices bloom in the butter! Mmm, blooming in butter!

Add about 4 cups of diced pumpkin, 1/2 can of diced tomatoes and about 3 cups of broth. Chicken or veggie. Stir to incorporate. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, until pumpkin is tender. Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender or food processor until smooth. Return to the pot, taste and adjust spices. Optional, but OMG so good, add about 1 cup of coconut milk. Stir to incorporate. Taste and adjust seasoning again. Serve hot!

I had some left over toasted pumpkin seeds. I garnished with those. The texture was nice, but these were spiced and the flavors conflicted. If you have some plain roasted seeds, they might be nice. Or some fresh herbs. Enjoy!

Delicious Quick Bread

The Duchess brought pumpkin bread for her visit to Parkway Manor this holiday weekend. Very delicious. Perhaps she will share the recipe with us!!!

UPDATED 2/15/10
Thanks for the recipe Duchess!

Here is the pumpkin bread recipe:

1 2/3 c. flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. oil
1/3 c. buttermilk
1 c. canned pumpkin

Mix ingredients together. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour.


This is the original recipe that I found on Recipes.com. It is perfectly good as is, but you can make adjustments, such as:

- substitute plain yogurt for buttermilk (no change in measurement)
- reduce sugar if you want it to be more like a bread and less like a cake
- mix all the dry ingredients together and the wet ingredients separately, then combine
- sift the flour

I did all of the above in the loaf you guys had. One other thing I've done in the past is melt a few squares of unsweetened dark chocolate and swirl that into the batter. Makes for a subtle chocolate flavor and a cool look.

Also, the original recipe doesn't specify what kind of oil. I use canola.

Sopa Sopa Sopa

Tonight's adventures in 1080 Recipes continues with:

Sopa de Calabaza
Pumpkin Soup

I had one pumpkin left from the fall. I chopped into it and, well, it wasn't really fresh. So say hello to trash. But I did have 2 cups of diced pumpkin in the freezer...only one third of what the recipe called for. So, to bring it up closer to half the recipe, I added a chopped carrot. It's orange and veggie, so hey!

When all was done, the soup was great. I found it filling and full of great flavor--which I added, as the recipe didn't have any herbs or spices.

And for a soup it's simple. I urge anyone who hasn't made a pureed veggie soup to give it a try with your blender, food processor or immersion blender.

Ingredients in my version of 1080 Recipe's Pumpkin Soup:
1 TB butter
1 TB olive oil
3 leeks, cleaned and diced (white and light green parts only)
a few pinches of cayenne pepper, curry powder and dried rosemary
2 cups diced pumpkin
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
1/2 large potato, peeled and chopped
2 cups water or chicken broth
1/4 cup cream
salt & pepper

Heat the oil and butter in a soup pot over medium high heat. Add the leeks, saute until they glisten and release their aroma. Add the spices and herbs. Sizzle for a minute, add the pumpkin, carrot and potatoes. Add the water. Simmer for about 20 minutes until tender.

Puree the sopa in your blender, food processor or immersion blender until smooth. Return to the pot and simmer over the lowest heat possible. Stir in the cream. Taste for seasoning, adjust as needed. Serve hot. Garnish with cilantro or extra cream if you like. Or some crushed hazelnuts...or creme fraiche...whatever you like.

Pumpkin Cous Cous

So the other night I made Sauteed Cous cous with Roasted Pumpkin and I loved it. Here's the best I can give for the recipe so far.

2 cups of diced pumpkin tossed in 1 TB olive oil, 1 tsp of ground cumin, 1 tsp dried oregano, hefty pinch of salt and a few grinds of fresh black pepper. Place in a 350 degree oven for 30-45 minutes, until tender.

Roasted pumpkin bites. As the pumpkin roasts, the pieces shrink up and the flavors concentrate. Wonderful.

While the pumpkin is roasting, cook your Israeli cous cous until it's nearly al dente--five minutes maybe? You want to be a moment away from fully tender pasta. It will cook a minute longer later.

Here's where I don't have a photo. Saute half a medium onion that has been finely diced in 1 TB of olive oil. Let the onion carmelize and get some brown color. Add 1 garlic clove, sliced. Stir into the onion and give a minute to start to cook and release it's garlic aroma. Then, add your cooked cous cous. Stir to incorporate with the onions and to pick up some of the olive oil. Have you heat on high. Everything will be sizzling and making great noise. Keep stirring. As the pan starts to dry out, add 2-3 TB of a dry white wine. This last addition will pick up any bits of flavor left in the pan and finish the cooking of the cous cous. When the wine is absorbed, add the roasted pumpkin.

Fold the pumpkin into the couscous until well incorporated. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt & pepper.

I served my cous cous with a roasted chicken thigh, seasoned with a French blend of spices--containing cinnamon. I expected the flavors to go really well together, but in this case, the cinnamon didn't supplement or enhance the pumpkin flavors. It was fine chicken, but nothing to write about.

The cous cous was wonderful and I loved it almost as much as I love my Bazaar Cous cous. This was a great new side dish. Look forward to having this again.

Using my gourd

Round about Halloween, I bought a few pumpkins. I planned on cooking with them right away, but I didn't. They sat around. They decorated the house for Thanksgiving. And the first week of December. So...it's time to start to use the pumpkin for its intended purpose...DINNER!

On Sunday I cleaned up one of the pumpkins; peeled, seeded, diced. My medium sized eatin' pumpkin, not the Jack O' Lantern pumpkins. These smaller pumpkins have more flavor and are farmed for the purpose of consumption. Sometimes they are called "Sugar Pumpkins." After cleaning the pumpkin, I had about 6 cups of diced pumpkin. I divided my bounty into three. One batch for tonight. One for later this week. And one into the freezer. This leaves me one more pumpkin for cookin' later this winter.

My diced pumpkin, after a short bath in boiling veggie stock...until tender. That's some sage sitting there waiting.

Tonight I needed some stock for dinner. I used this brand at Thanksgiving so more foods could be veggie friendly. This isn't a bad brand. It does need some salt...make sure to taste and season appropriately.

And dinner...pumpkin risotto garnished with fresh sage leaves and roasted pumpkin seeds. And a broiled pork chop on the side. Risotto was mild and light today; mostly due to the unsalted broth. But very good!

Dessert...more of this goodness...and boy was it good!

Puddin's been made

The pumpkin puddin' is done and ready for Thanksgiving!

So Pumpkin-y and Puddin'y

Seasonal Ice Cream

Heaven.
I'm in Heaven!
And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak.
And I seem to find the happiness I seek,
When we're out together dancing cheek to cheek.

OK, so I didn't really dance with my ice cream, but I want to...

Spiced Pumpkin Ice Cream!

1/3 cup sugar
1 cup 1/2 & 1/2
1 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2-3/4 cup pumpkin puree
2 tsp pumpkin pie spices
1 tsp vanilla extract

Blend together and freeze in your ice cream maker. Enjoy. It's pumpkin pie in ice cream form and I'm in love.