Autumn's Not Just For Kids - Pumpkin Soup

Here’s some trivia:

Is pumpkin a gourd?

Yes.

Is pumpkin a vegetable?

Yes

Is pumpkin a squash?

Starting to get the idea?

Pumpkin is also a harbinger of autumn, and the favorite of Halloween ghouls and goblins.   But, Halloween’s kid stuff.  Want to go trick-or-treating when you’re graying and short of breath?  Throw in fear of arrest and you'll know you need another way to celebrate.

Pumpkin season is eating-season and I’m not talking about pumpkin pie, usually made with canned this and overly sweetened that.  Let’s have some gourmet thoughts about this most popular of the gourd-squash family.  By the way, pumpkins aren’t always referred to as pumpkins, even in the English-speaking world (and that includes parts of California).  In Australia, they’re known as winter squash.

Pumpkins are also chock full of vitamins and minerals.

Biggest pumpkin producers in the world?  China, India, Russia, U.S. and Egypt.  (http://www.top5ofanything.com/)    In the U.S., which state produces the most?  Illinois.

But, let’s forget the trivia and bar bets for a moment and get back to eating.  As soon as you stop looking at pumpkins as big orange jack-o-lanterns and start wrapping your mind around pumpkins as delicious squash….you ready for this pseudo-psycho speak???…. your paradigm will shift and you’re on your way to some tongue-wagging goodness.

Pumpkin Soup

Serves 6

5 cups of cooked pumpkin (a five pound pumpkin ought to do it)

3 1/2 Cups vegetable or chicken broth

2 Cups heavy cream, plus a half cup more for whipping

1/2 medium onion, minced

2 Tablespoons butter

Pumpkin oil

Pumpkin seeds, toasted

1) Cut out the stem of the pumpkin, leaving a hole large enough to scrape out the seeds

2) Put the pumpkin in a 350ºF ª (180ºC) oven.  Bake for one hour.  Let cool.

3) Cut the cooked pumpkin into a few pieces. Scrape the pumpkin flesh off the shell and discard the shell

4) Put the butter in a pan and add the onion.  Careful to let the minced onion wilt, not brown 

5) Put broth, wilted onions, cream, and pumpkin flesh in a food processor and blend well.   If it’s too thick, add a little more broth

6) Put the soup in a sauce pan and cook on medium/low until it is well heated.  Do not boil.

7) Serve the soup in individual bowls.  Drizzle half a teaspoon of pumpkin oil into each bowl of soup and use a spoon to give it a swirl.

8) Top each serving with a dollop of whipped cream and some toasted pumpkin seeds

About toasting pumpkin seeds:  Put the seeds in a pan, without oil or butter.  Turn the heat to medium and watch the seeds like a hawk after a mouse!  The seeds will go from raw to toasted in a hurry.  Give 'em a stir. When you start to see them bulge and pop, give them another quick stir or two.  Most will get a little brown, some will not.  Careful not to let them blacken.

Sweetest soup you’ll ever eat, without even a speck of sugar added.  No salt either.  By the way, it’s also one of the BEST soups you’ll ever eat.  Just another reason, after football, snuggling under a blanket, leaves changing colors, and weinfests,  that I love autumn.

Couscous Salad – a ‘Go-To’ Dish

Plumping the raisins

Whenever my spouse starts off, “Sweetie, I forgot to tell you,..”  I know I'm going to be doing some fast-enough-to-stop-your-heart cooking.  It’s seven in the morning and the brunch is at ten, or it’s five in the afternoon and she needs a dish for the seven p.m. church supper.  I’m Pavlov trained.  I race for the pantry when I hear ‘Sweeetie.’

Like any good fielder, ya gotta be ready when the ball is smacked in your direction.  No excuses about ‘I wasn’t ready!’ or ‘That ball took a bad bounce.’  You’re either a cook or you’re not.  You either pull something out of the oven/off the stove, or you’re just another wannabe cook and full time whiner.

What’s fast and delicious and a crowd pleaser?  Man, I already gave you some biscuit choices:  plain, cheese, sugared, scones, and shortbread.  Those recipes only require you to keep a normal, well-stocked pantry.

Couscous salad is another addition to your ever-expanding repertoire of ‘got it covered’ recipes.  Check the recipe below.  Everything comes straight from the cupboard except for celery and spring onions, which everyone always has handy, and a bit of fresh cilantro, mint, or parsley.  I use cilantro, but your choice.  Mint grows like a weed.  Plant some now and it’ll last until the first frost and be back even stronger in the spring.

Couscous is one of those ubiquitous pasta-like dishes that stretches from shore to shore around the Mediterranean.  Serve it hot.  Serve it cold.  It’s everywhere, by itself and as part of elaborate stews.

Besides speed, why would I pick something like couscous salad to serve to unsuspecting diners?  It has the freshest of tastes and compliments any dish you’d care to name.  No weird or offensive ingredients. Vegetarian if you want it to be.  Versatile is the word I’m looking for. Spans cultures.  Spans ages.

Don’t be timid.  Charge right in.  First time is a charm.

Couscous Salad

3 T unsalted butter

1/8 t powdered turmeric (This is strictly for color)

1 1/2 Cups chicken stock  (one can is about 2 cups, so you can up the couscous to 2 cups)

1 1/2 Cups dry couscous

1 1/2 Cups diced celery

2/3 Cup currents or raisins, plumped in hot water

1/3 Cup thinly sliced scallions

1/3 Cup lightly toasted pine nuts (or almonds, or cashews)

1/4 Cup minced fresh cilantro

1/4 Cup fresh lemon juice (1 large lemon)

1/4 t ground cinnamon

1/2 Cup olive oil

In a large skillet with a lid, melt the butter at medium heat and add the turmeric.  Add the stock and bring to a boil.  Stir in the couscous, cover the skillet and remove it from the heat.  Let the mixture stand for 5 minutes, then uncover and transfer the contents to a ceramic or glass bowl, breaking up any lumps. 

Toast the nuts in a small, ungreased pan.  When they take on just a bit of color, they’re toasted. Add the celery, scallions, raisins, pine nuts and parsley to the couscous.  Toss the mixture.

In a small bowl, whisk (I use a blender) together the lemon juice and cinnamon.  Continue to whisk while adding the olive oil in a slow stream.  Whisk the dressing until it is emulsified.  When emulsified, the dressing will look creamy.  Drizzle the dressing over the salad.  Toss the salad and season it with salt and pepper.  The salad may be made a day ahead and kept covered and chilled.  Decorate with sprigs of greenery. Serves 6.

Whenever and wherever I serve it, this dish never fails to disappear.  It has one of those complex, yet satisfying flavors that make you want to have ‘just one more’ spoonful.

No longer will ‘Sweetie, I forgot to tell you…’ strike terror.  You’re no longer just a cook.  You’re a kitchen warrior!

No Stir, That's My Cobbler

Just pour the batter into the butter, then add the blueberries.

Cobblers, laced with fruit, and crusty with risen dough, are some of my favorite desserts. Among these, blueberry cobbler sits at the top.  Sweet and bursting with plump berries…, my taste buds are doing back flips just thinking about it.

A little bit about blueberries.  The blueberry bush is a native-American plant.  Didn’t reach Europe until the 1930’s.  But now it seems, blueberries are noted for desserts and jams all over the globe.  German grocery shelves are filled with a selection of blueberry jams.  Also, the health industry lauds blueberries for their dietary benefits.  I’ll leave more of that to you and Google.

Most U.S. commercially grown blueberries come from Maine, but even when I lived in the southern U.S., there were pick-your-own blueberry farms.  Great fun and far less expensive than buying them in a store.  Our family used to pick enough to freeze bags of them, which I found out, doesn’t hurt the color, flavor, or round plumpness.

Let’s get to the recipe, which is soooooo simple, you’re going to have to control your urge to do more.  Read the whole recipe, including the notes, to ensure you get the dessert that will have your loved ones, or even your family raving for more.

One note of caution:  Make substitutions at your own risk.  If you throw together a gluten-free, artificially sweetened, non-butter cobbler, you’re on your own in a nasty and brutish culinary wilderness.  And, no one, not even your now-disgusted friends, are going to save you.

Blueberry Cobbler

Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC)

1 stick butter (114 gm)

1 Cup flour  (128 gm)

1 Cup sugar (200 gm)

2 teaspoons baking powder  (approx 11 gm)

1/2 teaspoon salt (3 gm)

1 Cup milk (.25 liters)

2 1/2 Cups fresh blueberries, or one 12 oz package of frozen blueberries (see baking note below) mixed with 1/4 cup sugar

Melt the butter in a medium sized, deep-sided baking dish that holds at least 6-8 Cups.

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.  Add the milk  to the dry ingredients and mix well to make a mildly thick, but liquid batter.

Pour the batter into the baking dish containing the melted butter.  DO NOT STIR, just pour it in. 

Pour in the sugared blueberries on top of the batter.  DO NOT STIR.

Bake at 350ºF (180ºC) for 1 hour.  Crust will rise to the top as the cobbler bakes.

Voilà!

Baking Notes:  1) If you are using frozen blueberries, increase the baking time to 1 hour and 15 minutes.  2) This is a very sweet and juicy dessert.  If you want it less sweet, do not mix sugar with the berries.  If you want it more cake-like, mix the batter using 3/4 cup of milk.

Besides the taste, why is this one of my favorite desserts to serve to guests?  You can put it together in a flash (before you serve the main course) and go back to your guests while it bakes.  Using only two mixing bowls and one stirring spoon (only for the batter!) it’s a very quick cleanup.  I often serve it with vanilla ice cream, for a hot/cold combination that’s a wonderful dessert choice year around.