Pumpkin Bread and Pumpkin Lasagna

January 12, 2012 Leave a Comment

My mother is a pumpkin fiend. Many years ago, an acupuncturist uncle of mine diagnosed that her kidneys were in poor shape and recommended that she eat lots of pumpkin along with the acupuncture treatments. She usually just chops it up and boils it then eats the pumpkin and drinks the water it was boiled in. I think it’s generally pretty gross except when the pumpkin is really sweet, it tastes like sweet potato. Anyway, because of her condition, there is a whole pumpkin cohabiting with my mother, father and I at any given time.

Look at the size of this thing!

Last week, I noticed that this particularly ginormous pumpkin had been hanging out in the corner of our kitchen for way too long. I was sure it had been at least a month. A month! Just sitting there. I asked my Mom about it and apparently, pumpkins have an extraordinary shelf life. She did seem concerned though since she will have to hack into the thing at some point and then the rest will have to be chopped up and refrigerated. This wasn’t the most ideal storage method. Freezing would be better but there’s only so much space in the freezer. She was sure she won’t be able to eat all of it in time. Did I want to make something with it?

I looked online for pumpkin recipes and settled on two that I really wanted to try.

Pumpkin Bread

Alton Brown has a very popular pumpkin bread recipe. I read through some of the comments and decided to leave out the pumpkin seeds because nobody seemed to have anything nice to say about them. I used a mix of pecans and walnuts instead. I made some other adjustments as well, mostly to make it a little healthier.

For the pumpkin bread, you’ll need:

2 cups whole wheat/spelt/all-purpose flour (or a mix of all 3 to make 2 cups)

2 t cinnamon

1 t baking soda

1/4 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

1 cup Muscovado sugar

3/4 cup applesauce

3 eggs

1 t vanilla extract

3 cups freshly shredded pumpkin

1 cup walnuts/pecans (or a mix)

1. Toast the nuts (on a dry pan or in a toaster oven) and set aside. Shred the pumpkin and set aside.

2. Put the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl and mix thoroughly with a fork or whisk. Sifting dry ingredients is such a draaaaag. This has the same effect as sifting. A neat trick I learned on the set of True Confections.

3. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, applesauce and vanilla extract. Transfer the dry ingredients into this bowl and whisk some more until you don’t see flecks of flour in the mixture anymore.

4. Switch to a wooden spoon/spatula and fold in freshly shredded pumpkin.

5. Crush walnuts and pecans with your fingers straight into the bowl. Fold in with spatula/wooden spoon.

6. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake in an oven preheated to 190 C for an hour and 15 minutes if you’re using a 9 x 5 x 3 inch pan. Mine was a smaller loaf pan (I don’t know the measurements exactly) so I baked mine for about an hour. You can test for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the loaf. If it comes out dry, it should be done. I had some of the mixture left over so I made them into muffins. Muffins will bake in 30 minutes.

The Muscovado and shredded pumpkin in this recipe make this a very moist bread, almost like a fruitcake with the cinnamon and all. I was gonna have it with some lemon cream cheese frosting I had in the freezer (What? Don’t you?) but I decided it was unnecessary. It’s sweet enough with less of the guilt.

Pumpkin Lasagna

Making this was like revisiting a painful memory. I’ve only ever made lasagna once in my life, maybe 3 years ago? There was a group of people coming over, people who worked for a magazine that wanted to feature my kitchen, and I wanted to feed them something homemade and I decided on lasagna. Why I decided on a dish I had never made in my life I don’t know. What a disaster that turned out to be! There weren’t enough noodles and what little I had of it was dried out even though there was way too much sauce, sauce that wasn’t all that good either. They were all very sweet about it but this incident has morphed into an awful memory that comes back to haunt me at the most random times like when I’m shampooing my hair.

Making this made me nervous. But the pumpkin!

There are lots of recipes online for pumpkin lasagna so I read a handful of them and put together the things I liked in each recipe to make this one. I didn’t work with a recipe and I’m not gonna try to make one up but I will try to approximate as much as I can.

1. To make the pumpkin puree, peel and slice pumpkin into strips. Toss them in olive oil and season with salt, freshly ground pepper and chili flakes (optional). Cover and bake in an oven preheated to 190 C for about 25 minutes or until they are fork-tender. While the pumpkin is roasting, you can cook your lasagna noodles. I ended up using about 8 sheets. Cook them only for half the time you’re supposed to. When done, toss them in some olive oil and set aside.

Before

After

2. I was gonna blitz this in the blender but it was too dry. In the process of transferring it to a bowl, I realized that it was soft enough for me to mash it with a spatula so save yourself the hassle and just do that. I wanted my pumpkin puree to be a bit runnier than it turned out so I added a tablespoon of olive oil and about 1/4 cup of water. To complete the pumpkin sauce, add 1/4 cup of cream and 1/4 cup of milk and season with salt and pepper to taste. I also added some chopped fresh basil in the end.

3. Chop a medium onion and sautee it in some olive oil. Add 2 cloves of garlic and about 4 cups of spinach. Cook until spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

4. Take the casing off of one Hungarian sausage by gently running your knife down one side of it and peeling away. Chop roughly and set aside.

5. Preheat your oven to 190 C. We can start layering now! Grease your baking dish with olive oil and start with a layer of the pumpkin sauce. Put a layer of lasagna noodles on top of that and top them with another layer of the pumpkin sauce. Add a layer of the sauteed spinach. Hungarian sausage goes on top of that and then the ricotta cheese. I could only find the spreadable kind so I just dropped dollops of the stuff. Add a layer of mozzarella and then a layer of parmesan. Repeat and finish with a layer of noodles and pumpkin sauce.

6. Cover and bake for 35 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle parmesan cheese on top. Bake some more until it melts.

This turned out so much better than I could hope for! The pumpkin sauce is subtly sweet and it’s really delicious with the spicy Hungarian sausage. The spinach was completely unnecessary – I actually almost forgot about them. Unless I’m making a pumpkin and spinach lasagna with lots more spinach, I wouldn’t bother anymore.

I’m not so afraid of lasagna anymore but I will still cringe in the shower.

Fun Food Fact: When buying pumpkins, choose ones that are heavy for their size with even yellow skin.  - My mother.

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Diego’s Pad Thai

January 8, 2012 Leave a Comment

When we first started dating, Diego invited me to his place one night for dinner. I showed up with a bottle of wine and there he was in his cramped kitchen, sweating like a (very cute) farm animal surrounded by a flurry of ingredients and kitchenware. He was behind on his prep plus I’m sure it was pretty nerve-wracking, cooking for a date. He announced he was making Pad Thai.

When he was finally done, he presented to me the entire wok. I was very hungry and considered eating off of it but caught myself in the last minute figuring it was too early for such unladylike behavior. I also had another concern. While everything looked beautiful – a bed of white noodles dotted with orange shrimps, yellow tofu and dark green cilantro – it looked so…white. All the Pad Thais I’d had so far were coated in a sweet brownish sauce but this looked it was coated in nothing. The hunger in my stomach started turning into something like dread. What if it doesn’t taste like anything? Should I tell him or should I just suck it up and pretend like it’s the best Pad Thai ever? What if he insists I have seconds or gasp, offers to make it again? I should just break it to him now, right? Do I really wanna be in a relationship full of bad Pad Thai? Oh, but he worked so hard!

He was watching. I was gonna have to take my first bite now. I carefully brought a forkful to my mouth, making sure I had a bit of everything. I started chewing. A shower of relief. This was very flavorful stuff! It was so well-seasoned and quite acidic with a lot of heat every time you bit into a sliver of labuyo. It was delicious and I was so glad I didn’t have to smile politely while telling him so.

Diego’s Pad Thai has become one of my favorite dishes. He made it for lunch yesterday and I was there to excitedly watch. I much prefer his salty-sour take to the usual sweet preparation. Actually, I don’t like it any other way now. I’ve also developed a taste for cilantro, something I couldn’t stand before. Some people think cilantro is a hate-it-or-love-it kind of thing but I beg to differ.

For Diego’s Pad Thai, you’ll need:

250 g flat rice noodles

6 T soybean oil

6  cloves garlic

5  labuyo (bird’s eye) chili peppers or to taste

12 shrimps, head removed and deveined

4 chicken thigh fillets or 2 chicken breast fillets cut into strips

1 block firm tofu

70 mL patis (fish sauce)

70 mL fresh lime juice

2 t sugar

4 cups bean sprouts

1 1/2 cups cilantro (leave some for garnish)

Crushed peanuts

Lime wedges (for garnish)

1. Soak the noodles in hot water for about 2o minutes. They should be softened but not entirely since they’ll be cooked in the wok later with the rest of the ingredients. Set aside.

2. Slice the tofu crosswise into medium-thin squares. To cut them into roughly equal squares, cut the block in half and then cut those halves in half and so on instead of starting from one end going to the other. Heat half the soybean oil in a pan and fry the tofu squares until sturdy and browned. If you’re not using a non-stick pan, wait until the oil gets hot or else the tofu will stick and tear.

3. Slice the browned tofu squares into strips and set aside. If you want to skip this process, you can pick up a pack of fried tofu squares at the supermarket.

4. Prepare the Pad Thai dressing. In a small bowl or measuring cup, mix 70 mL of patis with 70 mL fresh-squeezed lime juice and 2 teaspoons of sugar. You should end up with a little over 1/3 cup of this mixture. You can adjust patis and lime flavors to your liking later.

5. Chop the garlic and labuyo. Cut the chicken into strips. Heat the soybean oil in a wok and swirl it around. Add in all three ingredients and sautee until chicken is cooked through.

6. Throw in the shrimps and cook until they start to change color.

7. Add tofu and softened noodles.

8. Pour in the dressing and mix well.

9. Add the bean sprouts and cilantro. Use the stems too, they’re packed with flavor! Mix and cook until the bean sprouts are softened, about 2 minutes. Also make sure the noodles are not overcooked. When done, taste and adjust patis and lime to taste. Set aside.

10. Place peanuts in a plastic bag and crush them using a rolling pin, mallet or in this case a hammer. How manly. We just transferred what we didn’t need into a container and used the bag they came in.

11. Plating time! Garnish with crushed peanuts and cilantro. Serve with a lime wedge.

 I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Fun Food Fact: Cilantro and coriander are different parts of the same plant. Cilantro refers to the leaf and coriander to the seed.

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Jamie Oliver’s Beef And Guinness Pie

January 5, 2012 4 Comments

I’ve never tried making any of Jamie Oliver’s dishes at home. Although I really admire his beautiful rustic no-fuss style, he cooks with things like purple carrots or boar or whatever that while fascinating seem so foreign to me. Then I saw Jamie Oliver whip up three different pies on TV one time and they looked so delicious and easy (he always makes everything look so easy). I sat there salivating and entranced, his lisp disappearing into the background. One of those pies was this savory one with beef chunks stewed in Guinness and finished with cheddar cheese. I’d never made a savory pie before. It seemed doable and then and there I made a pact with the universe that one day, one day, I shall brave Jamie Oliver’s beef and Guinness pie. I finally did yesterday. It was a fantastic way to break in Diego’s newly renovated kitchen. The four-burner gas stove is pure love.

For Jamie Oliver’s beef and Guinness pie, you’ll need:

1 kg beef brisket

About 4 T olive oil

3 red onions

2 carrots

4 stalks celery (The local ones. If using imported ones that look like they’re on steroids, use 2.)

3 cloves garlic

A 200g pack of baby/portobello mushrooms

Roughly 1 pint Guinness (I say roughly because the tall can is neither quite a US nor a UK pint. But that’s according to my atrocious math skills.)

2 T butter plus extra for greasing your pie dish

a pinch salt

1 t freshly ground black pepper

2 sprigs fresh or about 1/2 t dried rosemary

1 T beef stock powder

2 heaping T flour

1 bag frozen green peas

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Ready rolled puff pastry (available in Santi’s)

1 egg

1. Chop onions, carrots, celery, mushrooms, garlic and brisket. I chopped my brisket into pretty big chunks (what to me looked like 3/4-inch cubes) but in hindsight, I should’ve chopped them smaller. Slightly larger than bite size, maybe? Anyway, heat the olive oil in a big pot on medium heat. Sautee the onions until they start to get translucent. Isn’t this wooden spoon the cutest thing ever? Diego gave that to me as a gift. :)

2. Add in carrots, celery, garlic and butter. Add in mushrooms. Turn up the heat and stir to mix well. I used baby portobello mushrooms because I really like how it’s so intensely earthy but they’re pricey! Feel free to try a mix of portobello, shitake and button mushrooms.

3. Add in the brisket, rosemary, salt and freshly ground black pepper. If you’re using fresh rosemary, separate the leaves from the stem and chop them up. You know what would have been really nice, too? A couple bay leaves and some thyme. As Jamie Oliver would say, mushroom and thyme are best friends! Anyway. Mix well and cook for about 3-4 minutes.

4. Pour in the Guinness. The liquid should be just enough to barely cover the beef and vegetables. If you’re short, you can add water to make up for it. I had some beef stock powder on hand so I added about a tablespoon of it here and then added the flour. Stir to mix everything together and bring to a simmer.

5. Once it simmers, the pot is to be covered and placed inside an oven preheated to 350 F. My pot is as big as my oven. I just continued cooking it on the stove on low heat until the liquid reduced to my liking. It took about 3 hours with occasional stirring and it perfumed the entire apartment with the most delicious aromas. If you’re gonna make this in the oven, cook for about 2 and a half hours, occasionally checking to make sure it doesn’t dry up or burn. If it’s still too wet, you can finish reducing on the stove. Also, it is suggested that this pie is served on a bed of cooked peas but I decided to throw mine into the pie filling about 5 minutes before it was done.

6. When the liquid is reduced to your liking, turn off the heat and stir in half of the cheddar cheese. Mix well until the cheesy streaks disappear. Taste the liquid and adjust salt and pepper. Note: the meat filling will be topped with more cheese later so don’t go too crazy. Set aside.

7. Preheat oven to 200 C. Grease your pie dish with butter. Whisk one egg into a small bowl with a tablespoon of water to make egg wash. Bust out the ready rolled puff pastry. Oh, how exciting!

I’ve worked with puff pastry once and it was when I did the show True Confections with Chefs Aileen and Jackie. I use the word “worked” very loosely – the chefs did their magic and I watched. I thought it was the most fabulous thing I’ve ever seen, just genius! Anyway, I learned that once the puff pastry starts to thaw (and it thaws very fast), you have to work very quickly because the more it thaws, the harder it is to handle. So. For an 8 x 8 baking dish, you’ll need 2 sheets. Separate them (with the sharp tip of a knife, peel rest of the way) while frozen and leave them for a couple minutes to thaw. If you’re using a puff pastry block, roll out according to package instructions.

8. When puff pastry is thawed just enough, take one sheet and place on the bottom of the pie dish. If there’s any excess, just let it hang over the pie dish. Spoon in the meat filling and distribute evenly. Sprinkle the leftover grated cheese on top. Brush egg wash on to the edges of puff pastry. This will act as a glue for the second sheet.

9. Lightly score the second sheet of puff pastry with a knife so as not to cut through. Use it to cover the pie, making sure the scored side is up. Lightly press down on the edges to seal. Brush the top with egg wash.

10. Bake in the oven until the puff pastry is golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Oh. My. Pie. Isn’t it gorgeous?

Frankly, by the second hour of reducing the pie filling, I was starting to wonder if this pie was gonna be worth it. It also didn’t help that I was watching Contagion while waiting for it to reduce and I was going back and forth to check on it (I missed Day 1). Well, it was. This pie is so delicious, Diego and I finished half the pie in one sitting! I find that this recipe makes more than enough filling for one pie. I made 3 more mini pies with the leftover filling this morning.

Thank you Jamie Oliver, I’m in savory pie heaven.

Fun Food Fact: Beer doesn’t tenderize meat. If meat is marinated in beer too long, it will turn gray. Read more on cooking with beer here.

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