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Pumpkin Ravioli with a Creamy Sauce

5 Dec

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I keep bumping into an acquaintance of mine at the Sunday farmer’s market. We happen to shop there at the same time, and we give each other recommendations—which vendor are you buying your eggs from this week, check out that heaping mound of Brussels sprouts, those mushrooms look amazing, have you tried the fresh pumpkin ravioli from Knoll Krest Farms?!

Dan Barber, executive chef and co-owner of Blue Hill restaurant, says that chefs (I will extend this to the greater population of home cooks/eaters) are “curators of what’s truly delicious; we’re driven by pleasure. The sustainable food movement is about hedonism…be greedy for great food when you know that it was grown in the right way” (“Dan Barber’s Culinary Crusade,” The Wall Street Journal, June 28, 2012). I get such a thrill exchanging recipe ideas and seeing what people buy at the market. This may sound silly, but even making small-talk with other shoppers and vendors makes my day brighter.

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I gave into my craving for pumpkin ravioli a la my friend’s recommendation, and tossed it with an almost vegan “cream” sauce and some spinach. Next to a pile of roasted parsnips and delicata squash, this was tonight’s idea of a perfect meal.

**Note that the ravioli is not vegan. You could substitute with another pasta type to make this dish vegan. Also, I used cow’s milk to make my creamy sauce. To make the sauce vegan, use a non-dairy milk (soy, almond, rice).

Pumpkin Ravioli With A Creamy Sauce

serves 4

sauce adapted from Chloe’s Kitchen (the sauce for the “straw and hay” pasta)

2-dozen (24 pieces) fresh ravioli (I used pumpkin ravioli)

a few handfuls of spinach

1 cup milk (I used low-fat milk)

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons cornstarch or arrowroot

1 tablespoon tahini

1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce

2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon of salt, plus more to taste

optional: roasted squash seeds

Boil water, add salt, and cook the ravioli. Add the spinach to the water after the ravioli has been cooking for about a minute. Note that fresh ravioli should only take 3-5 minutes to cook. Drain and toss with the sauce. Top with roasted seeds.

To make the sauce: Combine the milk, water, cornstarch, tahini, soy sauce, garlic, onion powder, and salt in the blender and puree until smooth. Transfer the mix to a medium saucepan and let it cook over medium heat, whisking or stirring with a rubber spatula. Stir frequently, until the sauce thickens (about 5 to 10 minutes).

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Spiced Pumpkin Ice Cream (Vegan)

6 Nov

Leave it to me to make ice cream in this nose-drippingly cold weather (my computer is telling me that it is 1 degree Celsius outside right now) .

This ice cream is crazy easy to prepare. You can make it for your Thanksgiving guests. You could be like me and eat it on a random Monday night. There are only 3 main ingredients–coconut milk, pumpkin, brown sugar–and a few spices. The best part is that almost everyone can enjoy it! Vegans, lactose and gluten intolerant folks, Kosher keepers…

There is a buzz about coconut milk used in vegan ice cream bases–and for a good reason. Coconut milk provides fat that helps maintain the creamy texture of the ice cream. You cannot taste the coconut unless you really look for it. If anything, the coconut brings out the flavor of the pumpkin and spices.

Let’s talk toppings…

To really spice things up, why not make  ice cream sandwiches? Molasses cookies, gingersnaps, graham crackers, shortbread…Or have everything in one! Break apart some cookies and mix them into the already churned ice cream a la Shutterbean. Toasted chopped nuts and crystallized ginger could also make for a crunchy topping. Or maybe a warm chocolate fudge or salty caramel sauce. Slurp.

Put on a warm coat. Eat ice cream. Repeat.

Spiced Pumpkin Ice Cream (Vegan)

recipe adapted from The Year In Food

makes about 3/4 of a quart of ice cream

**Optional: To help keep the ice cream from being rock hard after sitting in the freezer, you may want to add a tablespoon or two of alcohol to the base. This keeps the texture nice and smooth. I would recommend a bourbon.

1 15-oz can coconut milk

1 level cup of pumpkin puree

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

First, make sure to freeze your ice cream bowl for at least 24 hours.

In a medium pot over the low heat, combine the coconut milk and pumpkin puree with the brown sugar and spices. Stir just until the sugar has dissolved and the spices are thoroughly incorporated.

Pour the mixture into a bowl and chill in the refrigerator for about 2.5 hours. Stir once an hour if you can.

Remove the custard from the fridge.

Have your ice cream machine ready. Take the freezer bowl out last. Pour the custard into the ice cream bowl, and churn until the consistency of a soft serve ice cream, about ten minutes. It doesn’t need very much time at all!

You can serve it this way, or let it firm up a little more in the freezer. It will get rock hard if left in for too long, probably because of the water content in the pumpkin puree. Just let it sit out at room temperature for 10 minutes or so before eating so it softens.

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Guest Post: Natasha’s Nutty Pumpkin Granola

25 Jan

Today’s guest post is by my witty friend, Natasha. Natasha is a baked goods fanatic! From muffins and scones to a big, chewy cookie or a dense chocolate brownie, this girl knows what’s up. About 3 years ago, Natasha and I lived together in a big house with 60 people (we called it a “co-op,” short for cooperative living). We would cook together once a week for the whole house. What an chaotic, challenging, but most of all tasty experience it was to cook for a large group of college students. Aside from our dinners, Natasha was known for making amazing late-night snacks for everyone. I will forever remember her popping corn kernels on the stove top so that we could all feast on a giant bowl of popcorn. Below Natasha shares with us a recipe for Pumpkin Granola. Mmm, I can smell the warm wintry pumpkin spices already!

If I were a food, I think I would be a pumpkin. Although it’s not the most glamorous of foods, pumpkin is hearty, delicious, and orange (like me! sort of.) It’s also a wonderful fall food which is my very favorite season.

I always have a can of pumpkin on hand, usually for pumpkin bread, but when my work was having a holiday breakfast party, I decided granola would be a great addition. But what’s a holiday breakfast with out some pumpkin? So I frantically googled pumpkin granola and found this delicious recipe, which I adapted with my own flair.

Granola is a creative food. This means, throw in whatever speaks to your mood/ inner subconscious. If you’re feeling nutty, walnuts, pecans, and almonds will add crunch and nutrition. Add some dried fruit if you’re feeling like something sweet, and coconut flakes for those really rebellious days. It’s fun to experiment, but don’t forget to add that pumpkin!

Side note: add the dried fruit when you think there’s 10 minutes left in the oven. This gives a nice toasted flavor without that burnt taste (unless you’re into that).

Also, don’t forget to stir! My batch came out a little bit crunchier than normal, although still totally delicious.

Nutty Pumpkin Granola

adadpted from Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients

1 can Pumpkin Puree
6 Tablespoons Virgin Coconut Oil (or Canola Oil)
¾ cups Brown Sugar (lightly packed)
1-¼ teaspoon Cinnamon
½ teaspoons Nutmeg
¼ teaspoons Ginger
⅛ teaspoons Cloves
¼ teaspoons Salt (slightly heaping)
2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
5 cups Rolled Oats
Almonds and Sunflower Seeds (or any raw, unsalted seeds or nuts)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F.
Combine pumpkin, coconut oil, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat; bring to a simmer, whisking occasionally to break up any clumps of brown sugar, then turn off heat and add vanilla. Stir together the pumpkin mixture with the oats and sunflower seeds in a large bowl.
Spread the mixture in an even layer on a large baking sheet and bake for about 40 to 50 minutes or until the moisture is gone and the granola is golden, toasted, and slightly crunchy, stirring every 10 minutes. Cool completely, and then store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 months.

Kitchen Madness: Maple Bourbon Cider, Beef Stroganoff made Healthy, Pumpkin Millet Bread, and Sausage Pesto Ravioli

13 Dec

I’ve been feeling the back-and-forth bounce. I’ve been trying to cook comfort foods but with a healthy twist. Sometimes it totally works (millet pumpkin bread=phenomenal), sometimes it totally flops (made a coconut kale salad but added way to much large flake unsweetened coconut). And sometimes it just makes you crave a cocktail.

Maple Bourbon Cider. Got this recipe from Shutterbean and it is absolutely perfect. She also has a recipe for homemade amaretto which I look forward to making soon!

There’s apple cider, maple syrup, lemon juice, and bourbon. Lately I’ve been diggin’ Bulleit Bourbon. Good stuff. Oh, and I do not have a cocktail shaker, so I used my water bottle. Worked like a gem AND its portable 😉

This was a pre- (and post!) dinner cocktail. Yes, I made it twice in the same night, but don’t worry, I shared. Dinner was Mustard Green Beans with Beef Stroganoff made with 0% Greek yogurt instead of 21302983% sour cream. Definitely not as rich and creamy as the traditional, but still tasted great and saved on calories and fat (I needed the cals for my second cocktail). Thanks, Ellie!

And the smell of simmering mushrooms and onions with wine and beef broth is so Cozy. Winter. Night.

As if all of this cooking and eating wasn’t enough, I made Pumpkin Bread with millet, whole wheat pastry flour, coconut oil (no saturated fat), and honey instead of sugar. A moist cake with some crunch from the millet (adds fiber, iron, magnesium, potassium). I got the recipe from Cookie+Kate. Y to the UM. With an extra drizzle of honey on top.

It has been fun trying out your recipes, Tracy, Ellie, and Kate.

All of this experimenting in the kitchen makes a girl want to kick off her shoes and wake up with someone else cooking a meal for her. And this girl got exactly that. Ravioli, spinach, sausage, pesto, cream, black pepper. Ah, now this is bliss.

Happy Eating, everyone!

(Rustic) Kabocha Squash Pie

28 Nov

I have an extremely rustic and homemade pie for you. This is a Kabocha Pie. You can call it a Pumpkin Pie if you like. Same thing, really (sort of).

I pre-sliced my pie so that my Thanksgiving guests could easily take a piece without the fuss of cutting it themselves. And of course I did a sloppy slicing job and the pie cracked and crumbled a bit. Hence the rustic homemade look. This pie’s got love in it.

I made the crust for this pie at midnight. Midnight dough making. Can someone please get me out of the kitchen? The next day I roasted my Kabocha squash. Sliced in quarters, seeds scooped out, dabbed with oil, onto a parchment lined baking sheet, and into the oven until super soft.

NOTE: Kabocha squash can be very dry when roasted, much more dry than butternut or pumpkin. Just keep that in mind. Actually, I quite like the dryness for a pie filling because my moisture is coming from my eggs and cream.

I had a few pie crust mishaps. When I went to parbake my crust, I neglected to weigh it down enough (I used rice rather than dry beans or pie weights) and the middle of the crust poofed up like crazy. FAIL. Major fail. I then decided to use some heavy ramekins to weigh down the middle and it worked just enough to barely save my poofy crust.

So my advice is to go buy some dry beans and you can keep them forever for all of your parbaked pie crusts. Do it. Don’t be like me.

Ooo, and remember to try not to beat yourself up if you make a mistake in the kitchen. I do it way too often and then I realize that everything can be fixed and that there can be a lot of beauty in the imperfect.

Kabocha Squash Pie

I love the firm yet silky filling of the pie, the dry sweetness of the kabocha, and the slight tang from the sour cream.

recipe from the traveler’s lunchbox

1 1/2 cups (375 ml) pumpkin or winter squash puree (preferably homemade)

1 1/2 cups (375ml) creme fraiche or sour cream (I used sour cream)

3 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

pinch ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (100 g) brown sugar

1/2 cup (100 g) white sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 9-inch parbaked pie crust (I used the pate brisee recipe from Sherry Yard’s Desserts by the Yard, but you can use whatever crust you like…The Traveler’s Lunchbox has directions on how to parbake (the paragraph above the actual recipe); and you can use this crust recipe if you like, too)

TO PUREE YOUR OWN PUMPKIN/SQUASH:

I preheat the oven to about 375 degrees F. I simply slice my squash in half, scooped the seeds out, and cut each half again in two. I drizzle with some olive or canola oil or butter and a few pinches of salt. I place the cut sides down atop of a parchment lined baking sheet and into the oven for about 30-40 minutes, or until easily pierced with a fork/knife. Alternatively you could wrap your prepared squash in aluminum foil and bake.

For this particular pie, you can just let your squash cool, peel the insides away from the outer flesh, and mash roughly with a fork. Note that your squash does not have to be completely smooth because it will get blended with the rest of the ingredients later. Set aside 1 1/2 cups of puree for the recipe and leave the rest to use for pumpkin soup, pumpkin mac n’ cheese, pumpkin quinoa…!

FOR THE FILLING:

Place a baking sheet in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Place everything for the filling except for the sugars and cornstarch into a blender or food processor. In a small bowl, stir together brown and white sugars with the cornstarch until no lumps remain (I stirred with a fork). Add to the pumpkin mixture and blend until smooth and homogeneous.

Pour the filling into your parbaked crust. Place the pie onto your preheated baking sheet and bake for about 1 hour, until the filling is just set. NOTE: if your crust is starting to brown, you can cover it with a little bit of aluminum foil. Cool the pie and top with whipped cream!

Psst…here are a few snaps of the little pumpkin tartlettes that we made for the staff at work. CUTIES!:


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