Pumpkin Curry Soup

Soup equals comfort.  We nurse it when we're sick and take it it's hearty warmth when the temperature starts to dip down in the fall.  I'm pretty sure it actually carries curative properties.   

It's usually pretty easy to throw together and is perfect as a main course or a side dish.

This particular soup - Pumpkin Curry - blends together the mild sweet of pumpkin and the robust kick of curry powder.  I got the recipe from a midwife, Susan, that I worked with for about 2 years.  She used to make it for her kids when they were younger.

I've served it with Thanksgiving dinner two years in a row with rave reviews and J and I enjoy it a few times each fall.  It's excellent next to a grilled cheese sandwich (think Chipotle Cheddar on Sourdough) but great on it's own as well.

The pumpkin can be fresh pumpkin puree or from a can (just make sure its canned pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling).  I prefer using fresh pumpkin puree.  There are several ways to accomplish this but I roast a sugar pumpkin (halved, removing seeds and pulp) in the oven at 350F for 45 min-1 hr until soft.  Then you scoop out the flesh and puree in blender.  You'll have enough for this recipe and maybe one or two other pumpkin delicacies (pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin pancakes).  For alternative ways to cook a pumpkin go here

Pumpkin Curry Soup

1 cup yellow onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/4 cup butter (can be cut it down to a tablespoon or so, and olive oil if needed)
1 tsp curry (more to taste)
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 to 1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper
3 cups vegetable broth or stock (Both work)
2 cups (16 oz) pumpkin puree (see above note)
1 cup light cream
 
Saute onion and garlic in butter until soft.  Add seasonings, cook 1 minute. Add broth, boil gently 15-20 minutes.  Add pumpkin and cream, stir in, blend in blender, then heat for serving.

Note--it is fine served right away, but better prepared a day in advance. You can blend at whatever stage is easiest.

Beer and Bake Sales

Banging Chocolate Gingerbread Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

Whew  - last week was crazy, and now I'm still recovering.  We had A LOT of babies last week, maybe because of the Nor'easter that came in Friday.  I have still been cooking and baking, just have not had the time to write about said cooking and baking.

I do have a confession  - I have another obsession.  It's roller derby.  I'm completely in love with this sport and have played for about a year now.  One thing we've started doing at our games to make some extra money is hold a bake sale, which I organize and always bake for.

So this past weekend was the last bouting weekend of the season and we had 3 games to put together.  It was all amazing and I was psyched because our bake sale pulled in double what we normally make.  After helping organize bake sales at maybe 5 events in the past 10 months, I'm beginning to catch on to what people like to buy.

So I've compiled a list of how to hold a successful bake sale for an adult crowd (although there are inevitably kids at a roller derby bout, and they flock to the bake table).

1)  Have a lot of cupcakes for sale - these babies sell out like crazy.  And for some reason, having something on top like a gummy eyeball or a candy heart, makes them even more appealing.  So go crazy with the decoration.

2)  Sell lots of stuff with frosting - this always goes - no explanation needed.

Copious amounts of Cream Cheese Frosting

3)  Do not wrap your items in individual bags - they will be ignored and you will end up eating bite size vegan muffins (that are very delectable by the way) for breakfast all week.  My feeling about this is that people want homemade items and even if the individually wrapped goods are homemade, people subconsciously think that it isn't.

4)  If at all possible, serve beer or sell baked goods in the general vicinity of beer drinking.

5)  Brownies and chocolate chip cookies always sell.

6)  So do Black and White Cookies (frosting + unity = world peace)

World Peace on a tray

The Baking Midwife made Smitten Kitchen's Black and White Cookies and Gingerbread Bagel's Chocolate Gingerbread Bars 

Both frosted and both sold well.  The best compliment of the night was when this guy said my Chocolate Gingerbread Bars were banging (well there was an expletive on the front of that, but I think my mom reads this...).

Flourless Apple and Almond Cake

I, like many other aspiring cooks, have been thinking a lot about apples lately.  Apples are bountiful in the fall, as are the things you can do with them. 

I've recently discovered a wild apple tree near our home but I've been nervous to try the apples (crab apples) which may or not be to my liking.  Last year I saw a whole bunch of apples scattered in a bunch in a different area, several with large messy bites taken out of them.  My hypothesis at the time was that the bear that was rumored to be around the neighborhood was the culprit.  I've had a crab apple once, in North Carolina, and I remember distinctly not being impressed.  Maybe the bear was not impressed either. 

                                               

I am not brave enough or tall enough to try these apples however, and this cake came from apples I picked at a local orchard.  Macs and Gravensteins.  Although you could use basically any apple that is good for baking.  I always like a mix of sweet and slightly tart.

I got the idea to make a flourless Almond Cake when I saw a post on Honey Almond Cake from Anja's Food 4 Thought.  But I wanted to do something slightly different and definitely with apples, so I did some searching and came across Citrus and Candy's Flourless Apple and Almond Teacake.

I made several adaptations, the first was to cut the sugar significantly.  I've used almond flour before and really love the taste.  I also was hoping that the sweetness of the apples would carry the cake.

And it did.  I used 1/2 cup raw sugar with 1/3 cup honey.  I think it would be delicious with just honey too although you could increase the amount slightly.  I also reduced it to 3 eggs and added 1/2 cup plain low fat yogurt mostly to keep that almond flour nice and moist.

This was one of those recipes where you've changed so much that you put it in the oven and send a little prayer up to the baking goddesses that everything is gonna be alright.  I had a moment of panic where I thought, this looks awfully watery, should I add some all purpose flour?  I decided against it and am glad I held out.

The resulting cake was delicious, with crisp apples on top, the ones on the edges sunk into the flaky almond pastry, and moist, almondy apples inside peppered with cloves.

Flourless Apple and Almond Cake

Adapted from Citrus and Candy

Ingredients

5-6 apples (mixture of sweet and tart)

1/4 tsp ground cloves

Cinnamon

4 Tbsp butter

2 c Almond Meal

2 tsp baking powder

2 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 c raw sugar, plus more to sprinkle on top of cake

3 eggs

1/3 c honey

1/2 c plain yogurt (low fat or whole milk)

Preheat oven to 325 F.  Butter 9 inch springform pan and set aside.  

Cut 3 of the apples (unpeeled) into small wedges.  In a skillet over medium heat, melt 2 Tbsp butter, then add apples.  Add ground cloves and 2 dashes cinnamon and cook apples for about 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Cook apples until they are soft and just starting to change color.  Remove from heat and set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk together almond flour, baking powder, ground ginger, and salt.  

In a separate medium bowl, beat together eggs, sugar, and honey until the mixture becomes pale and thickens.  This may take about 4-5 minutes.  Now add yogurt and beat together for another minute or so.  Add almond mixture and stir together gently.

Fold in sauteed apples and pour mixture into greased springform pan.  Take remaining apples and slice thinly (start with 2 but have the third handy in case you need it.)  If you have a stand-up mixer, you can slice the apples while the egg mixture is mixing.  

With remaining 2 Tbsp of butter, melt in microwave (5 second intervals) or on the stove, then let cool slightly.  Place sliced apples on top of cake batter in concentric circles.  Apple slices may sink in slightly.  Drizzle melted butter on top and then sprinkle on small amount of raw sugar and cinnamon.

Bake in the oven 60-70 minutes at 325F, until knife comes out clean.  Let cool before serving.

Baked Eggs Over Goat Cheese, Spinach, Red Pepper and Cherry Tomatoes

 
I love breakfast, but am not a morning person.  This is not really a dilemma on days off or if you have a job that doesn't require your presence at any particular time.  Unfortunately the latter is not the case for me.  Most days I need to be at work at 8 or 9 am.  Which I know, is not particularly trying, but for a non-morning person, you don't get up at the same time everyday to make breakfast on the late days.  You sleep in and then continue to press snooze until you just have enough time to shower, dress, and pick up an iced coffee at the local liquor/bagel/ice cream shop (I have no idea how they came up with this particular combo, but it works).

Last week, I had a quiet night on call Monday, so ended up sleeping in my own bed.  I woke up early without the alarm, because I was still adjusting from my jet lag.  And I decided to take the opportunity to make breakfast.

Baked eggs had been on my mind for more than a month, and we still had a few things left from the garden.  I picked a pepper and some cherry tomatoes and set to work.

 

Baked eggs are cooked in individual ramekins, which Partner in Crime and I decided makes them even more appealing.  Now I had never done this before, but decided for construction I would place the sauteed veggies on the bottom of the ramekin (after buttering), place a round of goat cheese on top, and then break the egg on top of that.  This turned out to be perfect, and dipping in with some toast divine as you get to each layer.  One baked egg with toast would probably be sufficient for a breakfast serving, but we indulged and ate two each.

Baked Eggs Over Goat Cheese, Spinach, Red Pepper and Cherry Tomatoes

Ingredients

olive oil

butter (for the ramekins)

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 medium red bell pepper

15 cherry tomatoes, halved

2 large handfuls of baby spinach

crushed red pepper

salt

goat cheese, about 2 oz

4 eggs

3-4 Tbsp of cream, half and half or whole milk

Serves 2-4, depending on how hungry you are.

First grease 4 individual ramekins with butter and set aside.  Preheat oven to 350F

Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a medium sized frying pan over medium heat.  Add garlic and stir while it cooks.  Be careful not to burn the garlic.  Now add the red pepper, stirring occasionally, and cook until just tender.  Add cherry tomatoes and spinach and cook until spinach is wilted.  Add 1-2 dashes of crushed red pepper and 2 dashes of salt.  Remove mixture from heat.

Now divide vegetable mixture equally among the 4 ramekins.   Place a 1/4-1/2 inch round of goat cheese on top of the mixture in each ramekin.  Break an egg in each ramekin, taking care for the yolk to remain intact.   To keep the top moist, pour 1/2-1 Tbsp of half and half (or cream or whole milk) over the top of each egg.  Start with 1/2 Tbsp and add more as necessary to moisten to entire surface of the egg.

Bake at 350F for about 12-15 minutes until the white of the egg is completely cooked and the goat cheese is beginning to bubble up around the edges.  Serve warm with toast for dipping. 

Something about the Way the Wind Blows

This week has been a blur of work, jet lag, and not very much baking or cooking.  I did manage to squeeze a few homemade meals in between the naps and the trying not to nap so I can kick the jet lag.

As soon as I left the airport, I could feel autumn upon me.  Sure the nights had been cooler before I left for Thailand, but this was different.  The leaves had really started to change, and this week the trees have exploded into a gorgeous palate of color.  There's a different feel in the air too, something about the way the wind blows and the air smells.  I love it.

I am not a native New Englander, nor do I consider myself a New Englander (although I admit the place is growing on me).  I come from a place where the changes of season don't really happen reliably or at all - South Florida.  The first time that I recall seeing snow was when I was interviewing for grad schools.

Maybe I'm more attune to the change since it's relatively new to me.  Or maybe not.

I love the change in flavors too.  Pumpkin, apples, pears, sweet potatoes - yum!  I went apple picking with some friends before I left for Thailand, but was so busy I couldn't get around to using my peck of Gravenstein and McIntosh apples.  So I stored them in the fridge and dreamed of homemade applesauce, apple butter, and tarte tartin on the flight home.

One of my favorite desserts growing up was my mother's apple crisp, but I never tried my own until a few years ago.  I've since lost that recipe and decided last week to look for a new one.  I was preparing Roti with red curry sauce for dinner and thought that would be the flavor for my first blog post back from Thailand. 

Apparently it was not meant to be.  I have not yet mastered the art of Southern Thai/Malaysian cooking and actually ruined the Ghee I was trying to make.  Casualties included 3 Tbsp butter and a plastic measuring cup (can we just blame that on the jet lag?). 

In the midst of the cooking disaster I managed to prepare 4 delicious individual Apple Crisps based off of a recipe from Joy of Baking.

Dessert saved the day!

Individual Apple Crisps
adapted from Joy of Baking Apple Crisp
Serves 4

Ingredients
1/4 c all purpose flour
1/8 c white sugar
1/8 c light brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
3 Tbsp salted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 1/2 heaping Tbsp rolled oats
2 1/2 Tbsp chopped walnuts
3 cups of sweet and tart apples (I used Gravenstein and McIntosh and like to always use a combination when baking with apples), cored and cut into 1 inch chunks.  Peel if you wish, I prefer unpeeled.
1/4 fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 Tbsp white sugar
Garam Masala to sprinkle on top

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Butter 4 individual ramekins.

For the topping, combine flour, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, butter, rolled oats, and walnuts in a food processor or blender.  Blend until the mixture is crumbly.

In a medium to large bowl combine apples, lemon juice and white sugar.  Divide apple mixture equally among 4 ramekins.  Spoon crumble topping over apples and spread so it is mostly covering apples.  Add 2-3 dashes of Garam Masala to each ramekin.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the crumble top is golden brown and the apple mixture is sizzling.  Let cool slightly before serving.

J's No-Pants Mac n' Cheese

Hello everybody.  As you all know the Baking Midwife is off galavanting around Thailand this week.  After much prodding, she graciously consented to me doing a guest post while she was away, and by "consented" I mean I just kept bugging her about it until she was too exhausted to resist.

So this week we will be revisiting one of my old college standbys, mac n' cheese!  I briefly considered trying something more adventurous for this blog post, but I'm a practical man.  I know my role pretty well.  There are things in life that I excel at and then there's cooking (also sports, singing, and most things involving science).  But that's the joy of being in a couple!  You meet someone who compliments your faults so they can cover for you in all the areas in which you suck.  So, needless to say, I lack some of the culinary prowess of my better half and usually defer to her around dinner time.  When the need arises for sarcastic commentary or an encyclopedic knowledge of 80's video games, I take the lead.  When it comes to cooking or delivering babies, I take on a support role (coincidentally, in both of those scenarios my responsibility is usually to boil water).

The Misses is away.  Not going to need these.

Now my love of mac n' cheese is a matter of public record.  This is not a lantern I hide under a bushel.  I let that light shine for all to see.  Along with tiramisu, it is one item on the menu I am compelled to sample at every restaurant I go to.  In my travels I've tasted the best and the worst of what is commercially available.  The Baking Midwife even made a homemade variety for me once that was both delicious and entirely too complicated for me to replicate.

You see, for me, the joy of mac n' cheese is the incredibly small amount of attention you have to give it while it's cooking.  Recipes that allow me to wander off for long periods of time appeal to me.  I like to tell people that it's because I'm a man of many interests and I just can't spare the time to focus exclusively on the mundane task of feeding myself.  In reality, however, I'm just easily distracted and entirely too enamored by the "Play Now" option on the Netflix website (did you know you can watch all seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer instantly?  ALL SEVEN SEASONS!!!).  So for me, box mac n' cheese is the way to go.

Poke me for Pasta!

I used to be a Kraft man, but that was when I hated my body and sought to destroy it.  These days I go with Annie's Homegrown.  It claims to be organic, but I take that claim with a grain of salt.  It's a box of mac n' cheese after all.  How natural can that be?  I'm not sure if Annie's is available everywhere, but it's pretty easy to find in New England.  You'll know it because it's the only brand that features a rabbit's butt on the "push to open" tab.  I'm not entirely sure what kind of statement Annie is trying to make with that, but I'm pretty sure it's inappropriate.

You'll start by boiling some water.  This is going to take some time, so wander off for a while and distract yourself.  I passed the time burninating things.

Once the water is boiling, go ahead and defile the bunny and then pour the macaroni into the pot.  The box says to let the noodles boil for 8-10 minutes, but you've got some wiggle room.  I prefer to to boil until just after Buffy wraps up the big action sequence and comes to a natural pausing point.

Yum! Dehydrated cheese product

Next, drain the noodles in a colander.  While they're sitting there, take the opportunity to prep the sauce.  I've always been fascinated by the chalky orange dust that puts the "cheese" in mac n' cheese.  Is it really cheese?  If so, what unholy process did they put it through to make if come out like this?  Of course, these are questions you should push far out of you mind while preparing this dish.  It's really best not to think about it.  If you do, you may end up so intrigued that you pour all of the powdered cheese into the measuring cup first so you can study it and take a picture.  Only then do you realize that you need that cup to measure out the 1/4 cup of milk you're supposed to add.  So then, really, you have no other recourse than to pour the powdered cheese out of the measuring cup into a dirty coffee mug that just happened to be lying around.  You then measure out the milk as quickly as possible, pour the cheese back in, and look furtively about to make sure no one saw what you just did.

Always think through your plan
ahead of time.

Once you're done mixing the sauce, take the noodles and return them to pot in which you boiled them.  Add the sauce and mix it in thoroughly with a big wooden spoon.  If you're a responsible human being who actually stirred the noodles while they were boiling, you probably already have one out.

At this point, you should have an entirely edible meal in front of you.  However, if you want to kick it up a notch (and who doesn't!), dig around in the fridge and find that bottle of ketchup you've had in there since the Bush administration.  You know the one.  Apply the ketchup liberally to the mac n' cheese and whip it in with the big wooden spoon.  You know you've added enough when the liquidy cheese substance turns a peculiar shade of fuchsia.

I think I might throw in my
old Half-Baked VHS.

You're now ready to enjoy your meal.  If you're fancy, you can go ahead and pour the mac n' cheese into a bowl.  I prefer to just eat it out of the pot I made it in with the big wooden spoon I stirred it with.  I mean, why add to the pile of dishes if you don't have to?  The trick here is to put a dish rag underneath the pot so you don't end up singeing the rug.  Also, if you're fully following my example and doing this without pants, you really want to be careful to keep that pot far out in front of you.  It was just on the stove, after all, and you don't have a lot of padding down there.

This meal should serve one shameless human being.  It's a perfect meal for any laid back evening when you're newly divorced, chronically depressed, or just plain lazy.  The Baking Midwife should be back next week with more delicious recipes (God knows I'm counting the days).  Until then, enjoy the mac n' cheese or, better yet, just go out and get something at the pub.

J's No-Pants Mac n' Cheese
Inspired by the recipe on the back of the box and a complete lack of motivation.

Boil Water over high heat.

Discard Pants and dick around for a while.  Suddenly remember you have water boiling and rush back into the kitchen.

Add noodles to water and wander off again.  Briefly enter a fugue state and lose all track of time.  Fret about whether the noodles have been boiling way too long or not long enough.  Remove from heat.

Mix 1/4 cup of milk with the dehydrated cheese product.  Avoid questioning where the substance came from or where it is about to go.  Under no circumstances make comparisons between the dried cheese and the burnt up dreams of your idealistic youth.  Whip until smooth.

Drain noodles and add the cheese sauce.  Stir in with wooden spoon.  Add ketchup to taste.  Do not experiment with mayonnaise.  You still have standards.

Check wooden spoon for splinters.  If none found, dig in.  You can move the pot to the rug in front of the television, or just eat it standing at the stove.  In either case, avoid all reflective surfaces while eating and try not to make direct eye contact with the dog.

Enjoy!

Epilogue

Probably shouldn't have left that there that long.

Busy Midwife

Things have been crazy lately. 

Busy calls, early morning births.  Friends and family in town, big dinners.

And now, tomorrow, I leave for 10 days to go to Thailand to visit my sister and her family.  I have big plans to play with my niece, relax, and eat good Thai food, among other things.

I have lots of things I'd like to blog about, recipes I'm dying to tweak, and an exciting new skill (canning!) to attempt.  I'll come back and this will be waiting for me along with my Partner in Crime.

By the way, I am letting Partner in Crime write a guest blog over this week away.  I'd like to tell those who don't already know that he is a writer by trade and much more witty than I.  Expect food related puns and cheese as well.  He's very excited.