Pumpkin Bread (with yogurt)

Whole pumpkins keep for a very long time, it seems. I harvested two sugar pumpkins from my yard in October and only just now hacked one open for this recipe. The pumpkin yielded 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin meat and a ton of seeds that I'll be using to trade for other seeds at neighborhood seed exchange later this month. These pumpkins are the second generation from the same pumpkin source. Two years ago I purchased sugar pumpkins from Trader Joe's, cooked the pumpkins and saved the seeds. Last year I planted some of those seeds down and of the surviving plants with my inept ability to gauge when pumpkins should be planted into the ground, I managed to only harvest two sugar pumpkins. Each pumpkin yields a lot of seeds. I suppose these could be also eaten raw or toasted. I don't know how the original sugar pumpkins were raised, but mine were raised by organic farming methods.. y'know.. water, sunlight, dirt, mulch, pruning, etc. No fertilizers and certainly no growth enhancers like Miracle Gro.

While I have another pumpkin bread recipe on this blog, that one is made with tofu. This one has plain yogurt in it since my tofu seems to be a bit frozen in the freezer. This loaf didn't rise as much as I had hoped, but it smells delicious and tastes great.

Ingredients

1 c. all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 stick of unsalted butter, melted
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. fresh sugar pumpkin, cooked
1/4 c. plain, organic whole milk yogurt
1 egg
3 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp each: sea salt, ground ginger, ground allspice

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

1. Use unsalted butter to grease a loaf pan and set aside.

2. Whisk together egg and vanilla extract. Gradually whisk in brown sugar, melted butter, plain yogurt, honey, pumpkin puree, baking powder, spices, and flour.

3. Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for 40 minutes, until the top has a golden brown color and a tester comes out clean.

Squid with Bacon

I was trying to think of fancier names for this dish, like ones you'd find on a pretentious restaurant menu. Here's what I came up with:

Fried calamari with roasted garlic and bacon
Herb roasted calamari with apple-smoked bacon

And then I got to thinking that a lot of recipes have delicious-sounding descriptors, but may not actually be true to how the dish is prepared. Fresh herbs, for example, are almost always added after the dish has finished cooking...otherwise they'd lose their fresh green look and be all wilted. Calamari is the Italian plural word for squid (it's "calamaro" when referring to one squid). When people imagine what squid looks like, they are usually imagining a slimy, angry, beady-eyed multi-tentacled creature wrapping its giant arms around a ship at sea. No? Ok, well, maybe that's just me.

Frying is the fastest way that I know to cook it up. But, it can also be steamed, boiled, stir fried, salted, roasted, etc. Preparation of the squid itself is the hardest part of the dish because there are so many steps to cleaning it before the body gets sliced up. And, if you don't wear gloves, your hands end up all very squid-smelling.

The original recipe ratio comes from Bobby Flay. I have never watched that particular episode, so I had to surmise what he meant by lardon bacon. I'm assuming it's diced, fried bacon, until someone informs me otherwise. Flay's recipe calls for an additional two tablespoons of olive oil after the bacon has fried, but the bacon already yields roughly two tablespoons of lard, so if I do add the olive oil, it would only be to make the finished squid look shiny. Also, since I don't live near the coast, I have never seen fresh squid at the grocery store or specialty asian market; so this recipe uses frozen squid that has been thawed to room temperature.

Squid with Bacon and Thyme

Ingredients

1 lb squid, cleaned and sliced into rings
2 slices of bacon, diced
2 tbsp parsley leaves (optional, for garnish)
1 tbsp thyme leaves
3 garlic cloves, minced
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Prepare the squid.

2. Fry bacon in a medium pan until it is lightly golden brown and most of the fat has rendered out.

2. Add garlic and squid, seasoning lightly with salt and pepper. Cook squid for 2-3 minutes or until just cooked through. The squid rings curl backwards and the flesh turns to an opaque white color.

3. Remove from heat and stir in parsley (optional) and thyme before serving.

Canned Tomato Soup

A pretty funny recipe title, but true. Most of my canned tomato products (sauce, paste, whole, diced) go into other things, like beef stew, pizza sauce, or spaghetti sauce. This is a really easy recipe for making a quick tomato soup when it is 25 degrees F outside. Celery is among the dirtiest of all the vegetables, so you should probably use organic celery.

Ingredients

One 14.5 oz can of organic diced tomatos, no salt added
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 c. celery, diced
1 1/2 tsp unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp organic granulated sugar
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp dried oregano, crushed
1/4 tsp dried basil, crushed

Directions

1. In a medium pan over low-medium heat, melt butter and add celery. Cook until tender. Add flour and stir to make a roux.

2. Using a food prep or stick blender, briefly pulse the diced tomato then add it to the pan and bring it to a boil.

3. Add sugar, salt, pepper, oregano and basil and cook until the soup thickens. Remove from heat and serve.

Can use fresh basil leaves as a garnish, if available.

Serves 2.

Panna Cotta with Vanilla and Honey

Since the first version didn't quite come out as expected, I am attempting this recipe again with the hopes of creating a more delicate texture to a dessert that is supposed to not make you pass out after dinner from caloric overload. If you are going to pair a wine with this, I suggest a sweet dessert wine like moscato, port, or a dry Riesling. This particular ingredient ratio comes from Martha Stewart's recipe site. I figure, if she can cater this, it is probably a good one to make.

I buy my raw honey locally, either from the farmer's market or directly from a farm. Prices here range from $10-15/quart, the latter pricing is typically during peak summer season at the farmer's market.

If you're still looking to count calories with this one, you may be able to shave off a few by using low fat yogurt instead of whole milk yogurt. I don't recommend mucking up this recipe using fat-free yogurt.

Ingredients

2 c. organic heavy cream
2 tbsp unbleached, organic granulated sugar
1 tbsp raw honey
1 vanilla bean
1 envelope unflavored gelatin (1/4 oz; 1 tbsp) + 1/2 c. water
1 c. plain organic whole milk yogurt
pinch of sea salt
1/4 c. raw honey, warmed

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, add cream, sugar, 1 tbsp honey, and a vanilla bean (split lengthwise with its seeds scraped out and added to the cream as well as the pod). Boil until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and cover with a lid. Let the vanilla bean infuse the cream for about 10 minutes.

2. In a small bowl, add unflavored gelatin powder to half a cup of water. Let gelatin soften for a few minutes.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together yogurt and salt.

4. Bring cream to a boil and remove from heat. Stir in gelatin. Use a strainer when pouring the cream into the yogurt to remove the vanilla bean fragments. Mix until well combined.

5. Pour combined liquid into ramekins, depending on whatever sizes you have on hand. This batch made it evenly into eight 4oz ramekins. Chill for 2 hours, up to 2 days.

6. Warm 1/4 c. raw honey in a heat-proof bowl in the oven on its lowest setting for 15 minutes. In my oven this heat setting is 170 degrees F. This will allow you to pour the honey easily on and around the plated panna cotta.

7. To serve: unmold each panna cotta by running a straight paring knife around the inner edge of the ramekin. Set the ramekin in a bowl of boiling hot water for a few seconds, then invert the ramekin onto a serving plate. Hold these two together, firmly shake to release the panna cotta. Drizzle with honey before eating.

Kitchen Note: Portland Supply Shops

I visited the eastside of downtown Portland (east of the Morrison bridge) and was mildly amused by the shops I browsed. I chose these in particular because of their proximity to each other.


Rose's Equipment & Supply
207 Southeast Clay Street
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 233-7450

Tram: SW River Pkwy & Moody

This is definitely one of the few supply shops in Portland for both the gourmet foodie and restaurant chef. It's one of two notable places for the more intermediate food aficionado. The other place that I haven't visited yet is Bowers NW. You can get all sorts of utensils, serving things, and commercial grade cookware from here. They even have a decent collection of woks to choose from; though, even with the raised edge you can buy, it won't fit onto most conventional/residential gas stoves. I didn't find the pâtisserie moulds that I was looking for. 


Mirador Community Store
2106 Southeast Division Street
Portland, OR 97202
(503) 231-5175

Bus: SE Division & 20th

A very nice store that carries organic fiber products, some interesting cookware, and all supports the macrobiotic/vegan lifestyle. There is quite a lot to see here and I was able to find a suribachi (Japanese mortar and pestle) set for a decent price. I already own one, but I seemed to have left it behind in California. It is the best tool for grinding high moisture content tiny seeds, like sesame seeds. When shopping for one, the pestle should be made from a hard wood so that it doesn't grind down the clay as you pulverize herbs/seeds in it.