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Homemade Pumpkin Puree Recipe

October 28, 2011 By
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Calling all Fairy Godmothers! (How to turn a pumpkin into pure golden goodness)

If Cinderella’s fairy Godmother could turn a pumpkin into a golden carriage, we decided we could certainly help save our soon-to-be left over Halloween pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns by turning them into a delicious pumpkin puree… (note: they should be char/mold free).

  • Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
  • The pumpkin should be seeded/cored and cut into smaller pieces that are more manageable. It is a purely personal preference whether one peels the skin before or after cooking:

Before cooking -

  • I find it easier to slice away the skins before baking; this allows me to clean up my “prep” station while the pumpkin is baking.
  • Also for me, there is little appeal to wanting to deal with the pumpkin skins after the pumpkin has baked in the oven — when the pumpkin pieces are far more pliable.
  • I cut the pumpkin into smaller pieces, roughly 1 – 2″ cubed.  This also helps to dry out the pumpkin during baking, as there is a fair amount of water in raw pumpkin.
  • Also, this technique allows me the flexibility of pureeing the pumpkin more quickly after taking the pumpkin out of the oven.

After cooking -

  • Definitely less of a struggle to peel away the skins.
  • This technique may require some cooling time before taking the skins off, especially if handling steamy vegetables/kitchen tongs is a new thing.
  • Cut the pumpkin into 4-6″ inch sized pieces.


* To make the pumpkin taste a little sweeter (i.e., jack-o-lantern types),  toss the pumpkin pieces in a little maple syrup (1 – 2 tablespoons) before baking.

  • Whichever way you decide to prepare the pumpkin, place the pumpkin pieces in a baking dish and place in the [450F] oven, uncovered for 30-45 minutes.
  • Use the knife test to determine baking time: when the knife cuts through the pumpkin like “butter” (or a soft baked potato), the pumpkin has finished cooking.  Remove from the oven. (Cool and peel.)

  • Place in food processor and puree.

Voila, it’s ready to use.  Golden, delicious, and low sodium (raw pumpkin = 1 mg/cup)!

 

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Roasted Pumpkin Recipe – Sweet & Delicious

October 25, 2011 By
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How do you save an orphan pumpkin? Roast it!

I always feel sorry for pumpkins that don’t get a home by Halloween. Of course, their destinies aren’t anything to cheer about – getting carved up into scary creatures instead of being enjoyed in a delicious meal. It seems that pumpkins are synonymous with Jack-o-lanterns in pop culture; and aside from pumpkin pie, desserts and soups, they aren’t used very often in the average kitchen…poor pumpkins.

To me, pumpkins ignite the good feeling of the holiday season. But, they’re also food, low in sodium and high in fiber to boot (sodium = 2mg/cup, fiber = 3g/cup, note: potassium = 564mg/cup). So this fall, I’m honoring the orange gourds and using them fresh, and when readily available – actually, in surplus.

Roasted pumpkin is simple and delicious. Tossing with maple syrup and lemon verbena enhances the pumpkin’s mellow flavor while the red onion caramelizes to sweetness. It’s great as a side dish, a vegetarian main, or as part of your grand holiday spread.

Yield: Serves 2

Ingredients

1 pumpkin (3 pounds), peeled, seeded and cut into 1 ½ – 2 inch pieces*

1 medium red onion, halved and sliced into ½ inch pieces

3 cloves garlic, whole

1/8 cup fresh lemon verbena leaves (loosely packed)

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon maple syrup

 

* Peel like a potato, or slice the skin off of the individual cubes.

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
  2. Combine all ingredients in a large salad bowl and toss until pieces are coated with oil and syrup.
  3. Place in a bake dish and bake uncovered for 30 minutes, pulling rack out and stirring half-way through baking. Remove and serve. Pumpkin should be tender when pierced with a fork.

Your roasted pumpkin will thank you for cooking it. And as a bonus, after Halloween, they’re usually on sale…and sometimes free for the taking! Save a pumpkin and enjoy!

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Halloween Harvest: Patching & Picking Pumpkins @ CSA

October 22, 2011 By
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Have a great time and head out to your local pumpkin patch to celebrate the fall harvest.

One of our local CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture) has a pumpkin patch and a farmer’s market/store area.  We were lucky enough to be able to catch pumpkins still growing on the vine and watch the harvesting process in action.  Whether you choose a small or large one, the farm pumpkin patch is a really fun family activity!  Today’s post is primarily pictorial.

Farm grown:

Small pumpkin growing on the vine:

Large pumpkin still on the vine:

Some of the pumpkins were bigger than our dog — she had a field day!
(P.S., our CSA allows well-controlled doggies on their property, it’s fun for the whole family).Almost ready for market

P.S. This CSA also has a petting zoo!

Where we went:

Underhill Family Farms
3370 Sunset Valley Road
Moorpark , CA 93021
(805) 529-3690

(PS – While admission to the store was free, we paid a [small] admission fee to enter into the you-pick area and their petting zoo. We thought this was well worth it, we all had a really great time.  Be sure to check the “what’s in season” calendar for their pick-your-own area.  Farm fresh and delicious — have fun!)

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October Unprocessed – The Low Sodium Way

October 18, 2011 By
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Are you drowning in an ocean of salt and over-processed foods? If so, grab a hold of a new lifeline and consider this fun challenge: October Unprocessed.

Throughout the month of October, Andrew Wilder’s blog, Eating Rules, is profiling over 40 different writers’ perspectives of eating off the ultra-processed food grid.  October Unprocessed rests on a simple set of “kitchen test” definitions, namely,

“Unprocessed food is any food that could be made by a person with reasonable skill in a home kitchen with readily available, whole-food ingredients.”

We’re honored to be part of Andrew’s grassroots initiative — so head on over to Eating Rules to read our low sodium, October Unprocessed guest post!

Whether you sign up for a short time or a long time, have the comfort of knowing that you’re in good company.  So far, over 2,900 people have taken the pledge — and the participant list keeps getting bigger and bigger.  Way to go everyone!

 

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How to Make Prickly Pear Cactus Juice (or Syrup/Recipe)

October 16, 2011 By
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Prickly pear cactus (opuntia) juice/syrup adds a delicious low sodium zing to favorite libations (iced tea, margarita), or as part of a dish.

No matter what the color (variety) making prickly pear juice is actually a very straightforward process, far less daunting than one would expect.  If you want to know more about prickly pears, we’ve been blogging about them all week: The Prickly Pear: Opuntia Ficus-Indica and Touring Tucson, Arizona: Saguaro National Park and the Sonoran Desert.

In keeping with Andrew Wilder’s October Unprocessed challenge, we’ve provided instructions on how to make a fresh completely unprocessed version, and one that can be used for longer term storage. Either way, it’s really yummy!

Ingredients List – Varies based on intended uses

Juice

  • A minimum of 10 good-sized prickly pear cactus fruit (opuntia) to make a usable yield of fresh nectar. We purchased ours from a local farmer already “de-thorned”.  If you intend to pick your own and are eying the cactus fruit that happen to grown on state owned land, you may need to obtain a special permit to do so (National Parks are off limits).
  • The easiest way to preserve the juice is to split up the batch and freeze in smaller quantities, eliminating the need for all of these extra ingredients.  I personally think this method is the best — keeping in mind that we rarely use added sweeteners (sugar, evaporated cane juice, agave, etc.)  when we cook.

Syrup
In addition to the above, to make a fresh syrup (intended for same day consumption): sugar.  We use the same ratio as a simple syrup, and it varies depending upon the desired thickness:

  • for a thin syrup: 3 parts water, 1 part evaporated cane juice (sugar)
  • for a medium syrup:  2 parts water to 1 part evaporated cane juice (sugar)
  • for a thick syrup:  equal parts water to evaporated cane juice (sugar)

For those occasions when we don’t intend to use the juice within a couple of weeks, we’ve added a combination of evaporated cane juice (sugar), lemon or lime juice (or in a more concentrated form, citric acid).   Our personal goal is to make sure that the overall pH of our syrup is lower than 4.2* (so we don’t accidentally give ourselves food poisoning).

*Note that the combination of evaporated cane juice (sugar), lemon/lime juice or citric acid may well vary from batch to batch:  the combination of food preservation aids are relative to both taste and the pH of the fruit on hand.  We sterilize small canning jars and “can” them in small proportions (this blog post does not go into the mechanics of canning safety, how to can or preserve or make a jelly.)

Instructions – How to make prickly pear cactus juice

  • Peel the prickly pears, being mindful of the prickles.  Cut both ends off the pear:
  • Score an incision across the length of the pear.  This provides a starting point. Carefully roll the fruit along the length of the rind, peeling back the entire skin. Scoop out the middle, flesh (this is the part we’ll be using).

  • Cut the flesh into smaller pieces and place into a pot.  Fill the pot with water, allowing the water to cover the flesh (I usually leave an extra inch, or a little less, of water at the top).
  • Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat and let simmer for 5 minutes, being mindful that there is enough water in the pan to allow it to boil.  Once the flesh has become soft, I use a potato masher to help loosen the flesh from the seeds during the cooking process:  I think this yields a better flavor.  If the water has evaporated and is no longer covering the fruit, add a little more water.
  • Continue to simmer for another 5-10 minutes.
  • Once we’ve felt that we’ve achieved the desired flavor, we place a bowl under a strainer and strain the seeds through a sieve (the seeds will be discarded), saving the juice or honey.
  • At this point, if we want to make a syrup, put the liquid back into the pan, and add the evaporated cane juice (sugar), citric acid/lemon or lime juice, and pectin and heat until the liquid has thickened.

  • If we’re are not planning to add anything extra, we quickly cool the liquid by using ice bath , or some kind of immersion cooling method.  Once the liquid has cooled down, place in clean storage containers, and refrigerate immediately.
  • Remember, we used the ice bath method in our “rice cream” social post to make lavender r-ice cream:

and voilà, our fresh juice to enjoy!   (Note:  we used more than 10 prickly pears).

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The Prickly Pear: Opuntia Ficus-Indica

October 14, 2011 By
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“Prickly pears” are the fruit of the nopales (paddle cactus known as Opuntia).  Ripe fruit started appearing in our Southern California farmer’s market stands in mid July, usually lasting through October.  Keep a close lookout, these jewels that snugly fit inside the palm of your hand might be hiding under a sign labeled “tuna” or “nopal” and are commonly available in three colors: red, white, and yellow (flesh).

Harvesting prickly pears out in nature can get tricky: like most plants, the sharp cactus spikes help to protect its’ precious fruit from the desert’s predators, so beware and be cautious.  Here are some photos that we snapped of various “in the wild” states of the opuntia, in the Sonoran Desert.

The fruit:

starting bloom:

in full bloom:

Whether we’ve braved the elements and harvested them ourselves, or bought them from a local farmer already de-thorned (as we did), prickly pears are low-sodium and relatively easy to peel (as easy as a kiwi fruit, less difficult than a pomegranate).  Our farmer friend tipped us off that the thorns can be “easily burned off using a lighter”, though we didn’t test this ourselves.

The pear flesh contains a significant number of seeds: eating (digesting) the seeds are the traditional way of eating the flesh.

In honesty, we’re not the biggest fan of eating the seeds, though we do love making prickly pear juice (for use in prickly pear iced tea, margarita) or thickened and made into a syrup, jelly or jam.  Once peeled, the prickly pear flesh is sweet, I think with a flavor reminiscent to that of a pear (more so than watermelon, especially once we’ve gotten past all of those seeds).

Regardless of culinary use, the nectar is sweet and delicious.  Stay tuned to see what we’ve done with ours!

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Touring Tucson, Arizona: Saguaro National Park and the Sonoran Desert

October 11, 2011 By
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Today’s post is a pictorial one of the Sonoran Desert & Saguro National Park, Tucson Arizona.

 

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Branzino on a bed of roasted tomatoes, topped with garlic “aioli”

October 7, 2011 By
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Simply Delicious! Serve Branzino on top a warm bed of freshly roasted tomatoes.  Drizzle with a delicious garlic aioli to compliment the flavors.  We suggest cooking Branzino whole to keep the flavors sealed in during cooking.

Read more about Branzino here and reasons to cook Branzino whole and fish storage tips here!

Note: if you’re participating in October Unprocessed, you’ll want to make your own aioli/mayo from scratch (because the store bought mayo won’t cut the unprocessed “grade”) and simply rest your branzino on a bed of roasted tomatoes (sans the tomato paste). Either way, it’s all delicious!

(Pictured above: Served with mashed potatoes. Garnished with chives)

Yield: 2 people.

Ingredients

“Whole” Branzino, gutted, scaled, and trimmed.  Roughly estimate a single (whole) 2lb fish for 2 people.  Rinse the entire fish with water, and blot dry.

1 lemon, sliced

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup fresh parsley, washed

1/8 cup cooking oil (grape seed, olive)

1/2 teaspoon pureed garlic

1/4 teaspoon black pepper, ground

tomatoes, quantity to your liking (for roasting)

3/4 cup heated low sodium tomato sauce

4 tablespoons Garlic Aioli

Optional:  banana (or grape) leaves — or some kind of vegetables to protect the skin from being destroyed from the rack (during cooking).  Elevating the fish also prevents the fish from being poached (instead of being roasted).

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to  450°F.
  2. Place a cooking rack inside of the oven pan. We placed a banana leaf over the rack to keep the skin intact. If you don’t have a rack, you could use vegetables to prop up the fish – this achieve a similar result of elevating the fish above the juices (roasting). Spray the banana leaf with a very light mist of cooking oil.
  3. Mix the lemon juice, garlic, pepper and cooking oil together.  Coat the inside of the cleaned fish with half of the mixture.
  4. Place the lemon slices and parsley inside the cavity of the fish.

    5. Optionally, score the outside of the fish along the body of the fish (3-5 times on each side).  This creates an easy litmus test for determining when the fish has completed cooking: when you see the inside flesh (via the score marks) turn an opaque color (consistent, even at the thickest part of the fish), indicating that the fish is fully cooked.

  5. Pour the remaining olive oil/lemon juice/garlic/pepper mixture over the fish.  You may decide to place additional lemon slices on top of the fish.
  6. [Place the tomatoes on the same rack as the fish]

  7. Place in the oven, and reduce the heat to 425F. Cooking time will vary depending upon the size of the fish. Our general rule of thumb is roughly 10 minutes per inch of thickness (@ the thickest part of the fish), however the best method of determining when the fish is done is to check the fish periodically during cooking and examine the texture (i.e., the scoring method noted above) — look for a consistently opaque texture within the scores.  Remove from oven when the fish has completed cooking.
  8. Debone (and/or de-skin) the fish.
  9. Heat the tomato sauce in a saucepan.  Cut the roasted tomatoes in pieces, and toss in the tomato sauce.
  10. To serve: place 1/2 cup of roasted tomatoes/tomato sauce on the plate. Place the fish on top of the roasted tomatoes. To add an extra zing of flavor, drizzle the garlic aioli sauce on top of the whole dish.

 

 

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Head to Flavor: Cooking a “Whole” Fish & Fresh Fish Storage Tips

October 5, 2011 By
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Growing up in a multi-generational Canadian born-ethnically Chinese family meant that on occasion, our large extended family would meet up and eat “authentic” Chinese food.  Deliciously flavored dishes like [whole] steamed fish and roasted chicken should be courses in a meal that everyone looks forward to — and as a child, I simply dreaded them.

To me, watching exotic steaming dishes float out of the kitchen was my warning signal to excuse myself from the table; seeing the chicken or fish head on the platter was extremely unsettling — eyes, teeth, and all.  Just boys being boys, my male cousins thought nothing of it and mounted the heads on top of chopsticks, waving them around in the air like cake pops, and chasing us (screaming) around the restaurant.  These food on a stick images haunted me well into early adulthood.

I feel that I’ve come a long way from extracting myself from the meal when I see the warning steam rise from the kitchen. I’ve learned that cooking a whole fish has its benefits: flavor, flavor and more flavor; and while eating the less traditional parts of the fish are still a little too exotic for me, I’ve gleaned a few good flavor tips and enough of an understanding to get me beyond the fillet.

  • Cooking a fish whole (cleaned, gutted, and scaled with the backbone in and skin on) keeps the flavor “sealed in”:  essentially we are cooking the fish in its’ own flavors, using the very same ingredients we use to make a fresh broth or stock.
  • The cheeks and collarbone are deliciously flavorful, secret spots that we often vie for…
  • Fish is much easier to “skin” once cooked, the skin just slides right off when I use a spatula to “scoop up” the fillet portion, and lastly,
  • Cooking a whole fish does not necessarily mean plating the whole fish.  When the fish is properly cooked, the backbone is relatively easy to “lift up and away” from the flesh.  We can still eat the fish “compartmentalized” (i.e., fillet, steak, etc) should we choose, but the overall taste is generally superior.

Fresh “Whole” Fish Handling Tips

  •  All of the “dirty work” of cleaning, scaling, and gutting fish can be effectively “outsourced” to the fishmonger. In this day and age, its’ not necessary for me to to be a “do it all” kind of girl — especially when doing the dirty work means that I create a huge mess that I’ve got to later clean up.   There is no need for extra complication, especially when a simple solution exists (I smile, say please, tag on praise and a big thank you!).
  • Keep the fish packed in ice as long as possible (in the fridge) from the point of purchase until it is ready to be cooked. The smaller the ice chunks, the more “cold surface contact”, and the better then chance of the fish remaining “fresh” (you might notice the smaller ice size when you shop for fish at the market).  Change the ice when necessary. I think of it this way:  most of the fish that we source lives in colder climates – and while it seems to be intuitive to put the fish in the fridge, if we don’t store it at the usual and customary temperature of the habitat (i.e., colder than refrigerator temperatures), they, we may inadvertently reduce the useful shelf life.
  • Since our “fresh” fish arrive cleaned, gutted, and scaled, we still keep the fish packed in ice in the refrigerator.  We wrap the fish up, so that the inherent flavor is not diluted and washed away (from direct contact) with the melting ice/water.

 

 

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