I’m so happy that I’ve had this week at home. I expected fall to be over by the time I got back from Portugal last Friday night, but instead, I woke up early Saturday to find a brilliant, glowing fall morning. I went for a walk at sunrise (jet lag problems) and reveled in the pink sky, the orange leaves tinged with sunlight, the blue-green frost on the grass, the smell of woodsmoke, even the cold, which is still exhilarating and festive feeling, and not yet the menacing cold of January and February. All week I’ve been marveling in the outdoors, as well as in the simple pleasure of being home. It’s weeks like this that make me think I will always end up back in New England, no matter how far afield my adventures take me.

This week was also a bit of a roller coaster, for many. In my circles at least, there was a lot of negative emotion being dumped into the world – shock and anger and frustration. No matter what your political opinions are, it’s difficult to be surrounded by people who are upset. We all absorb each other’s emotions – empathy is a critical component of being able to function in our society – but when that emotion is overwhelmingly negative sometimes I feel the need to withdraw. So this weekend I am taking things slow, taking care of myself, fighting off the beginnings of a cold before I get on a plane again tomorrow night. And part of that care is this soup, into which I crammed as many autumnal flavors as I could. The base of this soup is roasted pumpkin and carrots tossed with curry powder, then pureed into a light and creamy bisque and topped with fried prosciutto and sage. I’m glad to have gotten at least one pumpkin recipe up this fall before we transition into holiday flavors (is it possible that there are only 7 weeks left this year? How absurd). I hope you enjoy the soup and these last few days of autumn!

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Curried Pumpkin Bisque with Prosciutto and Sage

A Katie at the Kitchen Door original recipe. Serves 4-6.

• 1 medium (3 lb.) sugar pumpkin or acorn squash
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into one inch pieces
• 4 TBS olive oil, divided
• 1 1/2 tsp curry powder, divided
• sea salt
• 2 TBS butter
• 1 large onion, peeled, halved, and sliced into thin half moons
• 8 sage leaves, divided
• 1 TBS minced fresh ginger, from a 1 inch piece of ginger
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1/3 cup heavy cream, plus more for garnish
• 3 thin slices prosciutto, torn into pieces

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Cut the top off the pumpkin and set aside. Carefully slice the pumpkin in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and pulp and discard or save for roasting. Cut the pumpkin halves into thick wedges and place on a large rimmed baking sheet, along with the carrot pieces.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together 3 TBS of the olive oil, 1 tsp curry powder, and about 1/2 tsp sea salt. Drizzle over the pumpkin and carrot, using your hands to rub the oil onto both sides of the vegetables. Roast until the pumpkin and carrot are tender, about 30-40 minutes, flipping once halfway through. Use a spoon to scoop the soft roasted pumpkin flesh away from the skin, saving the flesh and discarding the skin.
3. In a large soup pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the sliced onion and saute until translucent and tender, about 5-7 minutes. Roll 4 of the sage leaves into a cylinder and thinly slice, then add the slices to the onions and butter. Add the minced ginger. the remaining 1/2 tsp curry powder and the cumin seeds to the pot as well and saute until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add the roasted carrots, roasted pumpkin flesh, and chicken stock to the pot and bring to a simmer. Simmer for for about 10 minutes, then remove from the heat and add the heavy cream. Transfer the soup to a blender (or use an immersion blender) and blend until very smooth and creamy. (Always be careful when blending hot liquids! If your blender is not designed to blend hot liquids, wait for the soup to cool to room temperature before blending). If necessary, thin out the soup with more cream or chicken stock until it reaches the desired consistency.
4. Before serving, heat the remaining 1 TBS of olive oil in a small frying pan. Roll the remaining 4 sage leaves into a cylinder and thinly slice, then add to the olive oil. Fry sage until crispy, about 3-4 minutes, then add the prosciutto pieces and fry until prosciutto is crispy, another 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat.
5. To serve, divide the soup between bowls. Drizzle with a little cream and top with the fried sage and prosciutto. Serve immediately.

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A few weeks back, on a chilly Saturday afternoon, I packed up big bags of food, table settings, and wine, and brought everything to my parents’ house for a little harvest dinner party. The theme of the dinner was Pumpkin + Chardonnay, and I worked with the people over at La Crema Wines to pick out the best chardonnay pairings for each of the three recipes we created. There was no particular reason for hosting this dinner other than a desire to create something lovely to look at, an excuse to drink too much wine, and a way to use up the squash from the garden that have been lingering on our windowsill.

The first course was a simple Grilled Pumpkin and Raw Kale Salad, dressed with lemon and olive oil and served with a big slice of creamy camembert. To pair with the salad, we served the La Crema Monterey Chardonnay, which is rich and buttery and played beautifully with the funkiness of the cheese and the bitterness of the greens. While grilled squash and chardonnay might sound like a summery pairing, everything about this course was pungent, savory, and rich, setting just the right tone for kicking off our harvest dinner.

Next, we moved on to the main course – Mini-Stuffed Pumpkins with Middle-Eastern Spiced Beef and Israeli Couscous, paired with La Crema’s Sonoma Coast Chardonnay, which is a bit brighter and fruitier than the Monterey. Rather than the more traditional cheese/sausage/bread filling used in many stuffed pumpkin recipes, I opted for stuffing them with a tagine-like mixture of sweetly spiced, stewed beef, dried fruit, nuts, and Israeli couscous. The beef itself is hands down the best beef I’ve ever made. After numerous almost-but-not-quite-delicious preparations of short ribs and other fatty cuts and roasts, I finally had the fall-apart-tender, deeply savory, saucy, non-greasy beef of my dreams. And now I want to make it over and over again, in different flavors and served over different starches until I’m tired of it.

We wrapped things up with individual servings of Pumpkin-Vanilla Pot de Creme, creamy, gently spiced little puddings served with a generous dollop of maple whipped cream. The last bottle to be opened was the La Crema Russian River Valley, a honeyed chardonnay with slight echos of the baking spices used in the pot de cremes. At this point we were all full and happy and a little bit tipsy, lingering over the last creamy spoonfuls of pudding and sips of wine.

I perhaps went overboard in styling the table, but it was so much fun to shoot. There’s inspiration to be found in making something beautiful just for the sake of beauty. I wanted to capture the lovely colors of the last burst of foliage as the backdrop, enhancing them with oranges and reds and creamy colors on the table. Truth be told, it was a little cold for sitting outside for long, so we quickly moved the set-up inside by the fire, but the atmosphere was just as lovely indoors. In New England the foliage is mostly past, now, but I hope to make this sort of outdoor harvest dinner a tradition to look forward to at the peak of each fall season.

To see more pictures and notes from this dinner, check out the three companion posts and recipes over on the La Crema Blog!

Course #1: Grilled Pumpkin and Raw Kale Salad
Course #2: Mini-Stuffed Pumpkins with Middle-Eastern Spiced Beef and Israeli Couscous
Course #3: Pumpkin-Vanilla Pot de Cremes

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of La Crema. The opinions and text are all mine.

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If halloween were a more elegant holiday than it is, this is what I would serve at halloween parties – smooth, silky creme brulee with a hint of roasted pumpkin and fall spices, topped with spicy garam masala pumpkin seeds. As it is, we’ll save this for fancier events and stick to the garish chocolate and peanut butter combinations tonight. I’m a creme brulee fiend – I can never resist ordering it for dessert when we’re out for dinner – so when Trevor made this amazing version at home he won me over all over again. This recipe is all him, so I’ll let him tell you its story…

A couple of months ago, when we started cutting into our very first home-grown Sugar Pie pumpkins, I decided I really wanted to do something besides endless pies with them. My first thought was ‘Oh! pumpkin creme brulee!’ The pumpkins we grew have a lot of natural sweetness, and would be perfect for a light creme brulee. A quick google, however, revealed that I wasn’t the first, or even the fifth person to think of it. The internet is full of pretty well-established pumpkin creme brulee recipes.

Demoralized, I decided to play with the flavors of roasted pumpkin seeds. Rather than salt and oil, I settled on the sweet, caramel-y flavors of Indian spices with a little kick. Cumin, masala, and chili powder paired nicely with the sweetness of the ginger and the nutty seed flavor. So I made these once, and they were gone in about a day, (mostly my fault).

I figured that the crunchy, crystallized seeds would be the perfect garnish for a bruleed crust, and would add a little something different to the pumpkin creme brulee recipes that were already out there. So with the seeds as a starting point, I threw some darker, intense spices into the milk while making the custard. Adding too much pumpkin to a creme brulee recipe is problematic for the final set of the custard, so the autumn flavor really has to come from the spices. The amounts aren’t enough to hit you over the head, but it’s definitely more than your classic vanilla bean dessert. It turned into a classy dessert with a little something extra, and I think it made Katie pretty happy. So it’s all good.

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Garam Masala Pumpkin Seeds

Makes 1 cup of seeds.

• 1 cup pumpkin seeds
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ⅛ tsp cumin
• 1 tsp garam masala
• ⅛ tsp ginger
• ½ tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 ½ tbsp canola oil

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine sugar, salt and spices.
2. Combine pumpkin seeds and oil in a separate bowl, stirring to coat seeds completely. Add half of the sugar mixture to the seeds and stir to coat.
3. Spread the seeds evenly over  a baking sheet and bake for 30 min, stirring every 8-10 minutes, until the seeds just begin to brown, and become crunchy.
4. Before the seeds begin to cool, add the remaining sugar mixture, and stir to coat.

Pumpkin Creme Brulee

Serves 4. Adapted from The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts.

• 1 ½ cups heavy cream
• ½ cup whole milk
• ⅛ tsp ground ginger
• 3 whole cloves
• ⅛ tsp ground cardamom
• ⅛ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• ¼ cup pumpkin puree
• 4 cups boiling water
• ⅓ cup white sugar (for sprinkling)
• ⅓ cup turbinado sugar (for sprinkling)

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Combine milk and cream along with the spices in a small sauce pan and heat over medium heat until the mixture begins to steam heavily and give off a nutty aroma. Do not let the mixture come to a boil.
2. Remove from heat and allow the milk to steep for 15 minutes. In a small bowl, combine the granulated sugar and egg yolks and whisk until smooth.
3. Strain the whole spices and any skin that formed from the milk mixture. Add the strained milk to the egg yolks and sugar, stirring constantly. Once combined, add the pumpkin puree and mix until smooth.
4. Divide the mixture between four creme brulee dishes, and set in a large baking dish. Fill the baking dish with boiling water so that the water reaches to just below the lip of the creme brulee dishes. Bake in the oven for 30-40min, checking after 30 minutes for done-ness. The custards should be firm, but jiggly. Refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight, covering with plastic wrap, but ensuring the wrap does not touch the surface of the custard.
5. Combine the two sprinkling sugars in a small bowl, and remove the dishes from the refrigerator, uncovering them carefully. Spread the sugars evenly in an ⅛” layer over the top of the custard, taking care not to disturb the surface.
6. Move a lit pastry torch over the surface of the creme brulee such that the tip of the blue flame is about 1 ½” away from the surface of the sugar. Keep the torch moving over the sugar until it begins to bubble slightly and turn a light brown.
7. Allow the sugar to cool. Sprinkle masala pumpkin seeds over the top and serve immediately.

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It’s your favorite guest poster! Trevor is here with his latest creation, pumpkin butter and cream cheese danishes, made from our very own home-grown pumpkins. These danishes are incredibly delicious, and I think they’re multiplying while I’m at work, as we seem to have an infinite supply that gets replenished every time I think I’ve polished off the last one. Raise your hand if you want one! Just kidding, I’m keeping these (and their baker!) all to myself. But you can definitely have the recipe.

Last summer, my greatest garden wish was to have a super wild, super productive squash patch in our garden. This year, we got exactly that, and we learned there is a lot of value in order. We spent a solid chunk of the summer in our new patch tracing out vines from the winter squash and melons as they wound around and underneath our mounds of summer squash and zucchini plants. Half the trick was trying to find all the zucchini before they became giant inedible monsters. We definitely owe Katie’s dad for sacrificing his wildflower field, which will hopefully regrow in it’s new location, and for tilling the whole 30’ x 50’ patch for us and our pumpkin dreams.

Despite the disorder, we ended up with a ton more squash than we’ve had in past years, and a huge jumble of vines of questionable origin. Somehow our New England Sugar Pie pumpkins managed to grow vines about 20 feet long extending in every direction, and setting fruit in literally every corner of the patch. After two big, promising, just-turning-orange pumpkins were completely demolished by our friendly neighborhood deer, we put up a hasty fence and secured a harvest of about 8 nice-sized pumpkins, with more still ripening on the vines. Now the only challenge that remains is figuring out what to do with it all.

So far, I’ve made some apple-wood smoked pumpkin that we used in a risotto, Katie’s done that beautiful vegetable curry, and I made some pumpkin butter to go in these danishes. I’m a huge fan of raspberry cream cheese danishes, so that’s the route I chose to go with for the pumpkin ones. I make the pumpkin butter a little lemony to get some tartness to go with the cream cheese, and I think they came out really well. The dough recipe I used makes about twice as much dough as I needed for the first batch, so more pastries are definitely in order.

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Pumpkin Butter and Cream Cheese Danishes

Pastry dough recipe adapted from Food.com. Makes 16 danishes.

For the pumpkin butter filling:

• 4 c. pumpkin puree
• ¾ c. water
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• ¼ tsp powdered ginger
• 1 Tbsp honey
• ¾ c. brown sugar

For the Cream Cheese Filling:

• 8 oz. package of cream cheese
• ½ c. Greek yogurt
• ¼ tsp vanilla
• ¼ c. sugar

For the Danish Pastry Dough:

• 2 c. milk
• 1 ½ tsp dry yeast
• 2 large eggs
• ½ tsp vanilla
• 7 c. all-purpose flour
• ⅓ c. granulated sugar
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 1 lb unsalted butter
• ½ tsp cardamom

For the pumpkin butter:

1. If you are using whole pumpkins to begin with, follow these instructions to make your puree. If you are using canned pumpkin, skip to step two.
   1. Preheat oven to 300°F.
   2. Cut the pumpkin in half, and scoop out the seeds and fibers, discarding or reserving for another use.
   3. Place  pumpkins, cut side down, in a pyrex baking dish and fill the dish with ½ inch of water.
   4. Steam pumpkin in oven for about 45 minutes, until flesh is fork-tender all the way to the skin. Remove the pumpkins from the oven and let cool.
   5. Once the pumpkins are cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh and blend until smooth
2. Combine all pumpkin butter ingredients in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the ingredients are evenly blended and the mixture holds it’s shape.

For the cream cheese filling:

1. Whip together all ingredients until the mixture is smooth and completely combined.

For the Danish dough:

1. Warm milk to 110°F (in a small saucepan over low heat or in the microwave), then sprinkle yeast over the top of the warm milk without mixing. Allow to sit for five minutes, then beat in eggs and vanilla. Whisk until ingredients are thoroughly combined.
2. Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl until just combined. Cut in 3 Tbsp of butter, cut into small cubes, and use a pastry cutter to loosely combine.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and knead until combined. Refrigerate dough for 1 hour. Leave remaining butter to soften while dough chills. The butter should be stiff, but spreadable.
4. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a 2’ x 1’ rectangle. Spread remaining butter over the bottom two thirds of the dough. Fold the top third of the dough down into the middle, then fold the bottom third up onto the top, and roll into a 2’ x 1’ rectangle again. Repeat the folds, and refrigerate for another hour.
5. Repeat the folding and rolling process two more times to create layers of butter in the dough. This is what makes the final product light and flaky.

To assemble and bake:

1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
2. Roll out chilled dough to approximately ¼ inch thickness. Cut into 6”x8” squares.
3. Orienting rectangles such that the long edge is horizontal, make seven 1 ½ inch slits on either side.
4. Spread a line of cream cheese filling and a line of pumpkin butter vertically down the center of the rectangle, keeping approximately ½ inch away from the inner end of the slits on either side.
5. Fold the top and bottom slits on either side vertically down, to create a cup shape at either end.
6. Fold the remainder of the strips over the filling diagonally, starting from the top and alternating sides to create a crosshatch pattern. Pat down the ends of the strips as you go.
7. Place danishes on a parchment-paper lined baking sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the pastry is golden all over.

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Lately we’ve been making meals where almost every ingredient has come out of our garden, and it’s incredibly satisfying. With the cooler weather, we’ve been able to turn on our oven and stovetop again, saving us from daunting tasks like eating 20 gorgeous heirloom tomatoes raw before they start to mold (a 3 day window) and finding ways to use up pumpkin without the help of a long, slow, caramelizing roast. The first meal where nearly everything was homegrown was a Mediterranean Shepherd’s Pie – we had grown the garlic, the onion, the tomatoes, the eggplant, the zucchini, and the potatoes. Really the only ingredients that we hadn’t grown or made were the cheese and the ground beef. And now, we have this gorgeous yellow curry, packed full of vegetables taken straight from the ground – we even grew the cayenne chilies that give it its kick!

This yellow curry is relatively quick, easy, and deeply nourishing. It’s made from only vegetables, spices, and water, and I was skeptical about how much flavor I’d be able to coax out of such a limited number of ingredients. No rich and creamy coconut milk? No savory chunks of lamb? But the carrot and pumpkin deliver sweetness, the tomatoes acidity, and the potatoes break down into a thick, rich sauce that soaks up all the flavor of the toasted spices. It’s a lovely curry. Of course, I can’t take much credit for it, beyond, perhaps, the addition of the tomatoes, as it’s adapted from Mangoes and Curry Leaves, my Indian cooking bible. I love Indian food and have been attempting it at home since I first started cooking,  but it wasn’t until I took a step back and took time to learn the fundamentals that I started to turn out satisfying Indian dishes. Now my repertoire is slowly building – I love these potato and pea parathas and this chickea pulao, and now I can add this adaptable vegetarian curry to the list as well.

Bangladeshi Yellow Pumpkin Curry

Adapted from Mangoes and Curry Leaves. Serves 4.

• 3 TBS vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/4 tsp fennel seeds
• 1/4 tsp fenugreek
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch dice
• 2 c. cubed (1/4 inch dice) Yukon gold potatoes
• 2 c. cubed (1/2 inch dice) pumpkin
• 1 large yellow tomato, cored and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
• large handful of green beans, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch lengths
• 1 fresh cayenne chile, sliced into thin rings
• 1 1/2 c. water
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• juice from 1/2 fresh lime

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add all of the spices and bay leaves at once, and stir-fry in the hot oil until the mustard seeds start to pop and sizzle. Add the vegetables in order listed, stir-frying for 1-2 minutes between each addition. If the vegetables begin to stick to the pan as you are cooking, add a few tablespoons of water to the bottom to deglaze any sticky parts of the pan. Add the fresh cayenne chile and cook for 1-2 minutes longer.
2. Once you have added all the vegetables, pour the water into the pan and bring to a rapid simmer. Simmer until all vegetables are tender, potatoes and tomato have broken down, and the sauce is thick and spoonable. This should take about 15 minutes-20 minutes. Add the salt, sugar, and lime juice and taste for seasoning, adjusting as necessary. Remove from the heat and serve over rice.

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I’ve been thinking about this recipe for over a year now. The phrase “pumpkin ice cream sundae” popped into my head one day, and since then, I’ve been considering how to get this just right. I knew it had to have all of the components of a brownie sundae, but tweaked for fall. Some sort of gingerbready brownie. Super creamy pumpkin ice cream. Caramel sauce and whipped cream. I tinkered with the brownie base last year, but never hit on the right combination of brownie consistency and gingerbread taste, so I put it to rest until this fall. And now, I think I have it.

The key to getting the gingerbread base right was making the mental switch from “brownie” to “blondie.” A quick google search revealed that someone else had already perfected the recipe for me, so I made Pink Parsley’s White Chocolate and Gingerbread Blondies pretty much as written. For the ice cream, I used the Pumpkin-Maple Ice Cream from the new book Jenny McCoy’s Desserts for Every Season (I just reviewed it a few weeks ago, if you want to know more). It has 7 egg yolks in it, so I knew there wasn’t going to be a problem with creaminess. Topped off with a caramel sauce runny enough to drizzle and some fresh whipped cream, it was just what I was imagining – spicy, chewy blondie, sweet pumpkin ice cream, and rich and salty caramel sauce blending together in every bite.

But, as I was finally assembling this perfect fall dessert, I knocked my camera off the chair. Total klutz. Several minutes of panic ensued as I tried to get my relatively new, fairly expensive camera to turn back on while simultaneously wanting to smack myself repeatedly in the forehead. Thankfully, I switched out the lenses and realized that the camera works fine but the front of the lens had popped apart on impact. I still feel like an idiot, but it’s one of my cheaper lenses, so if I can’t get it repaired it won’t devastate my bank account to replace it. Speaking of, does anyone know of any good camera repair shops in Boston? Or should I just send it straight to Canon? Anyway, if this sundae looks a little melty/panic-tinged, that’s the reason. On the other hand, I really needed an ice cream sundae after all that camera-stress, and a perfect one was sitting right in front of me.

Pumpkin and Gingerbread Ice Cream Sundaes

Serves 1.

• 1 gingerbread blondie, recipe below
• 2 scoops pumpkin-maple ice cream, recipe below
• 3 TBS caramel sauce, recipe below
• 1/4 c. heavy cream, beat into soft peaks, OR canned whipped cream
• chopped nuts for topping

1. Assemble, serve, be happy.

White Chocolate Gingerbread Blondies

Recipe adapted slightly from Pink Parsley. Makes one 9×13 inch pan.

• cooking spray
• 2 3/4 c. flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 2 sticks salted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 c. packed brown sugar
• 1/2 c. white sugar
• 2 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 c. molasses
• 12 oz. (1 bag) high-quality white chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves, until evenly mixed. In a separate, large bowl, beat the softened butter until light and creamy. Add the sugars and beat to incorporate fully. Add the eggs/egg yolk one at a time, beating well between each addition. Beat in the molasses and vanilla, then add the flour mixture 1/3 at a time, incorporating fully between additions.
3. The batter will be very thick at this point. Stir the white chocolate chips in to the batter to distribute evenly throughout. Spoon the batter into the prepared baking pan, and smooth the top with the back of a wooden spoon. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick poked into the center of the pan comes out clean. Let cool completely in the pan before cutting and serving.

Pumpkin-Maple Ice Cream

Recipe from Jenny McCoy’s Desserts for Every Season. Makes 1 quart.

• 7 large egg yolks
• 1 cup grade B maple syrup
• 1 1/2 c. whole milk
• 1 1/2 c. heavy cream
• 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• generous pinch ground ginger
• generous pinch ground nutmeg
• 3/4 c. roasted sugar pumpkin and kabocha squash

1. Prepare a large bowl of ice water and set aside. In a separate, large bowl, whisk the egg yolks together, then set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan, simmer the maple syrup over medium heat until the volume is reduced by half. Add the milk, cream, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and pumpkin puree, and bring to a boil. Slowly pour the hot cream over the egg yolks, whisking the eggs vigorously as you do so, until the mixture is fully combined.
3. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a large, heatproof bowl. Place this bowl over the ice water and stir until cool. Refrigerate the ice cream base until thoroughly chilled, then churn according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. It will have a soft-serve like consistency when done – freeze for 4 hours to set before serving.

Caramel Sauce

Makes about 1 1/4 cups.

• 1 c. sugar
• 4 TBS butter
• 1 c. heavy cream

1. Pour the sugar into the bottom of a heavy-bottomed saucepan in an even layer. Place over medium heat, and melt sugar, whisking frequently. As you whisk, the sugar will clump up, but once melted, all the clumps should dissolve. As soon as all the sugar is melted, stop whisking but swirl slightly. Watch the sugar closely as it begins to darken. As soon as it reaches a golden caramel color, add the butter all at once. Be careful, the caramel will bubble violently when you do this. Whisk the butter in until melted.
2. Once the butter is melted, add the heavy cream. Again, be careful. The caramel may seize up in the middle, but keep whisking it and it will dissolve into the heavy cream eventually. Once dissolved, let bubble gently, still whisking, for about 2-3 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool slightly. Serve warm.

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The Book: If you’re looking to update your go-to dessert recipes to something more elegant, modern, and seasonal, you are going to want to pick up a copy of Jenny McCoy’s Desserts for Every Season. There’s nothing run of the mill here – the recipes are unique and impressive but still uncomplicated. I love the emphasis on produce and seasonality – every recipe is firmly anchored to a time of year, which is something I’m glad to see, given that there seems to have been less emphasis on this in pastry than in main courses during the whole farm-to-table/seasonal/local movement. Although, I will say that Jenny’s “spring” recipes are definitely more like late July recipes for New England, given the inclusion of blueberries and lavender. As far as design goes, the whole book has a classy, subdued aesthetic that I very much like, with muted tones, botanical prints, and sedate, full-page pictures for most recipes. This will definitely be a book that I turn to for every future dinner party I plan.

The Food: The fact that some of the pages are already stuck together with sugar spills is a good sign, right? I tested this book out by making two pumpkin desserts  to celebrate October – a Pumpkin-Maple Ice Cream, and this Pumpkin Pie with a Gingersnap Crust and Milk Chocolate Ganache. I actually haven’t tried the ice cream yet (I made it right before I left on this trip and stuck it straight in the freezer as a treat for when I get back), but the base tasted delicious. This pie, however, I did taste, and it’s quite good. The pumpkin custard is a fairly typical pumpkin pie filling, although I love that it’s made with fresh pumpkin puree. But the two twists – a spicy, buttery gingersnap crust and a rich chocolate ganache – make this pie something special. If my mom gives up her pie-making rights, maybe I’ll bring it to Thanksgiving this year.

Recipe Shortlist: Honey-Roasted Pear Sorbet; Chestnut-Chocolate Layer Cake; Butterscotch Budino with Creme Fraiche; Cocoa-Lavender Cream Puffs; Peach and Sweet Corn Ice Cream Cake; Plum-Poppy Seed Kolache

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of Jenny McCoy’s Desserts for Every Season free of charge from Rizzoli, but was not otherwise compensated for writing this review.

Pumpkin Milk Chocolate Pie with a Gingersnap Crust

Recipe from Jenny McCoy’s Desserts for Every Season. Serves 8-10.

• nonstick cooking spray
• 1 1/2 c. (about 6 oz.) gingersnap cookie crumbs
• 2 TBS plus 1/2 cup light brown sugar, divided
• 3/4 tsp fine sea salt, divided
• 5 TBS unsalted butter, melted
• 1 1/2 c. Roasted Sugar Pumpkin and Kabocha Squash (recipe below)
• 4 large eggs
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3/4 c. plus 3 TBS heavy cream, divided
• 1 TBS molasses
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 c. (3 oz.) milk chocolate chips
• 1 TBS light corn syrup

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray a 9-inch pie plate with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2. Stir together the gingersnap crumbs, 2 TBS of the brown sugar, 1/4 tsp of the sea salt, and the melted butter. (If you are using whole gingersnaps, you can crush them and combine with the other ingredients by blending everything in a food processor.) Stir until the mixture has the consistency of wet sand, then pour into the pie plate and pack very firmly and evenly against the bottom and sides of the pan. Bake for about 8 minutes, or until the crust is slightly puffed and a bit darker in color. Let cool at room temperature for 5 minutes, then freeze until ready to use.
3. Change the oven temperature to 325°F. In a large bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/2 c. brown sugar, the remaining 1/2 tsp salt, the roasted pumpkin, the whole eggs, the egg yolk, 3/4 c. of the heavy cream, molasses, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg until completely smooth. Pour the custard into the pre-baked pie crust. Carefully transfer to oven, and bake until custard is set in the center when the pie is slightly jiggled, about 50 to 60 minutes. Let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to set.
4. About 25 minutes before you are ready to serve the pie, prepare the milk chocolate ganache. Place the chocolate chips in a large heatproof bowl and set aside. Place the remaining 3 TBS of heavy cream and the corn syrup in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour over the chocolate, let stand for 2 minutes, then gently whisk the ganache until smooth. Spread the ganache over the center of the pie, leaving a slight gap between the crust and the chocolate. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to set the ganache. Serve chilled, with whipped cream.

Roasted Sugar Pumpkin and Kabocha Squash

Recipe from Jenny McCoy’s Desserts for Every Season. Makes 8 cups of puree.

• One 4-lb sugar pumpkin
• One 4-lb kabocha squash

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cut the pumpkin and squash into eighths, then remove and discard the seeds. Place the pumpkin and squash pieces in a large baking dish, fill with about 1/4 inch of water, and cover with aluminum foil. Roast for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the flesh is fork tender.
2. When the pumpkin and squash pieces are cool enough to handle, use a large spoon to scrape the flesh out of the skins, discarding the skins. Puree the pumpkin and squash flesh in a food processor or blender until totally smooth (don’t skip this! It makes a big difference in the consistency of your baked goods). Let cool to room temperature before using in a recipe. You can freeze any leftover puree for up to 3 months.

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Does it feel like pumpkin has been all the rage a little bit more than usual this fall?  It does to me – I’ve even seen complaints about the internet overdose of pumpkin: “Find a new darling ingredient!” and “What about cranberries, guys??”  So, yes, I know some of you are over pumpkin.  And frankly, it’s not my favorite ingredient of all time (although who doesn’t love the occasional pumpkin muffin?).  But when I saw this recipe for Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Moussaka, I knew I had to try it out anyway.  It’s so… different.  In the best sort of way.

The first time I had moussaka I was in Budapest.  While I was studying abroad in Prague, we had a 10 day fall break during which we could travel independently.  Most people in the program took off on a city-hopping tour of Europe, trying to hit as many major cities as possible in the short time.  My roommates and I took the opposite approach, visiting only two cities, both accessible by train – Vienna, and Budapest.

I have never felt more out of place than I did in Budapest.  Don’t get me wrong – I loved the city.  Beautiful, old-world, twisty-turny, and a little bit hipster.  But I could not say a single word in the language – not even “thank you.”  I’ve never had that experience before, and I felt completely helpless.  We managed to get by for the most part, but it was embarrassing!  The next time I’m there I’ll be prepared.

Anyway, one night we decided to go out to a Greek restaurant near our apartment (we’d already had plenty of chicken paprikash).  It was like being transported – whitewashed walls with bright blue murals, two brightly lit lofts with stone arches, waiters with Greek accents, etc.  It was one of the stranger dining experiences I’ve ever had – they actually used a dust-buster to vacuum off the table between courses!  But the food was delicious, and moussaka will always remind me of that little place in Budapest, and of the whole lovey trip, for that matter.

Originally, this post was meant to double as a review of The Country Cooking of Greece.  But as I began writing my grocery list and assembling ingredients, I made too many changes to the original recipe to really make it a fair “review” recipe.  You can’t judge a cookbook on a recipe you’ve changed!  The original recipe was vegetarian, but I couldn’t imagine having moussaka without ground beef – the salty, meatiness of it is the perfect counterpoint to the creamy bechamel and the sweetness of the roasted veggies.  Then, the grocery store didn’t have any eating pumpkins, so I used sweet potatoes and butternut squash instead of all three orange veggies.  I also had to play with the ratios a bit – I had way too much squash/sweet potato for the amount of bechamel I had made.  By the end, it wasn’t really a fair representation of the original recipe – but it was super delicious.  So you’ll have to hold out for the cookbook review, but you should try this adapted recipe in the meantime.

Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Moussaka

Adapted from The Country Cooking of Greece.  Serves 6-8.

For the bechamel:

• 4 TBS salted butter
• 1/4 c. flour
• 4 c. milk, slightly warmed (on the stove or in the microwave)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 c. crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
• pepper to taste
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

For the filling:

• olive oil
• 3 large red onions, peeled and diced
• 1 1/2 lbs ground beef
• 2 large sweet potatoes (about 2 lbs), peeled and sliced lengthwise into 1/4 inch thick slices
• 1 medium winter squash or pumpkin (about 2 lbs), peeled and sliced lengthwise into 1/4 inch thick slices
• flour, for dusting
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh mint
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh parsley
• salt and pepper, to taste

1. Make the bechamel: Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the flour and whisk to combine so there are no lumps.  Cook for 1 minute, until lightly browned.  Slowly pour in warm milk, whisking continuously.  Whisk the mixture non-stop until it thickens, about 10-12 minutes.  (Note, to save a bechamel that’s not thickening, melt a little extra butter (2 TBS) in the microwave and mix with an equal amount of flour – add to the bechamel to restart the thickening process).  Once thickened, pour a ladleful of the hot mixture over the beaten eggs, whisking the eggs vigorously, to temper the eggs.  Pour the egg mixture back into the bechamel, whisking the whole time, and remove from the heat.  Stir in the cheeses, and season with pepper and the nutmeg.  Set aside.
2. Prepare the filling: heat 2 TBS of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat and cook diced onions in it for 10 minutes, until soft.  Add ground beef and brown thoroughly.  Remove from heat, and use a slotted spoon to scoop beef and onion mixture into a bowl.  Season with salt and pepper, and set aside.
3. Heat enough olive oil to rise a 1/4 inch up the side of the pan in a large frying pan.  Use medium heat, and let oil heat fully before beginning frying.  Test the temperature by dipping a piece of squash in the oil – if it sizzles immediately, the oil is ready.  Dredge the squash slices lightly in flour, then fry in the oil until lightly browned on both sides.  Remove to a paper-towel lined sheet pan to drain.  You will need to do this in batches.  Once the squash is done, lightly fry the sweet potato slices (you do not need to flour these) until golden brown.
4. Preheat the oven to 350°F and assemble the moussaka: In a 9×13 roasting pan, place a single layer of sweet potatoes along the bottom such that they overlap slightly.  Sprinkle with half the mint and half the parsley, then top with half of the beef and onion mixture and half of the bechamel.  Cover these layers with a layer of the squash, then sprinkle remaining mint and parsley on top, as well as remaining beef and onion mixture.  Spread the rest of the bechamel on top, spreading out to the edges of the pan if possible.
5. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until bechamel is puffed and golden.  If the top is not browning, broil it on low for 2-3 minutes and then remove.  Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.  Serve warm.

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September has gotten off to a really busy start.  (Is it OK to say “start” when you’re two thirds of the way through the month??)  Busy in a good way – two trips back down to Durham for recruiting – and for snagging a quick lunch with Marco; a quick weekend in Chicago to run my first ever half marathon and see Steph; a visit from the lovely Phoebe; celebrating the arrival of my friends Dave and Noah in Boston with not one, not two, but three different parties; a tequila-pairing dinner at Lolita with out-of-this-world-good food; visits to Andover to work on the “farm” (more on that soon!); and all the other regular things that make life busy.  I’m not at all complaining, but I am glad that the next few weeks will be a little bit quieter and give me time to enjoy the beginning of my favorite season.

One thing that I’ve been meaning to do since the beginning of the month is make these muffins.  As soon as that crisp note filled the air and pumpkin beers started to line the shelves of every liquor store, I thought about them.  Sweet and savory at the same time, with just the slightest hint of heat from the cayenne, these might just be my favorite muffins ever.  (Well, maybe not better than my mom’s pumpkin muffins… I don’t think I’ve ever eaten less than four of those in a sitting.  Hey, they’re small.  I should get the recipe for you guys.)  These are great either for breakfast – I’ve even used them as the “sandwich” around a fried egg – or for a mid-afternoon snack, with a hot cup of coffee.  The recipe is adapted from Baked Explorations, and makes me think that Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito might just be geniuses.  In fact, now that it is decidedly baking season again (my coworkers are gonna be so excited), I’m hoping to try a few new recipes from this gem of a book.  Caramel apple cake, anyone?

Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins

Adapted slightly from Baked Explorations.  Makes 12 muffins.

• 1 c. canned pumpkin puree
• 3 TBS sour cream
• 2 eggs
• 1 stick butter, melted, then cooled slightly
• 2 c. flour
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 5 oz. extra sharp or raw milk cheddar cheese, grated

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.  Line muffin tin with paper muffin liners and set aside.
2. Mix together pumpkin and sour cream until evenly combined.  Whisk in eggs and butter until mixture is smooth, and set aside.
3. Whisk together flour, pepper, baking powder and cayenne until evenly combined.  Whisk in brown sugar, then pour wet ingredients into dry and stir to combine.  Batter will be fairly thick, not runny.  Stir in 3/4 of the grated cheese.
4. Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling to the top.  Sprinkle each muffin with some of the remaining cheese.  Bake for 17-20 minutes, until golden-brown on top and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean of any batter (it may have melty cheese on it, but you don’t want still wet batter).  Let cool for 5 minutes, then remove from pan.  Serve warm!

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Just because Thanksgiving has passed, Halloween is a distant memory, and I’ve already started posting about Christmas does not mean the season for canned pumpkin has ended.  But does it mean that it’s too late to share pictures of this year’s pumpkin carving?  Probably, but I’m ignoring that, because our pumpkin (and I’m using the word “our” loosely, as it was carved 100% by Trevor – how talented is he?) is too awesome not to share.  3D dragon?  Hell yeah.

Now that that bit of semi-irrelevant bragging is taken care of, let’s talk about some ways to use the 17 cans of pumpkin you (and by you I mean I) hoarded in your cabinet when you thought that there was going to be a pumpkin shortage.  Seriously, at the end of September, things were looking dire – I hadn’t seen a single can of pumpkin in any of the (four) grocery stores that I frequent.  So when I saw four measly cans at Pemberton Farms, I bought three (leaving one for someone else in my pumpkin-less situation out of empathy).  That same morning, Trevor brought over a supply of cans from his house.  Pumpkin shortage avoided.  Since then, I’ve used 1 and a half cans of pumpkin.  Turns out a little pumpkin goes a long way when you’re just one person.  I made these pumpkin scones, which didn’t have a great scone texture or a great pumpkin flavor, pumpkin oatmeal cookies, which were OK but mine came out too soft for my liking, this pumpkin ale bread, which was super fantastic, and I’m planning on trying this smoothie this week, but the recipe I’m choosing to share with you is much more decadent: pumpkin-cinnamon-pecan breakfast rolls with cream cheese frosting.  Um, yum.

These rolls are the perfect treat for a lazy weekend morning.  You can prep the dough and the frosting the night before, let them rest in the fridge overnight, and then in the morning all you’ve got to do is roll out the buns, slather with cinnamon-sugar butter, and pop them in the oven.  Twenty minutes later, as the house fills up with the smells of pumpkin and cinnamon and people start coming downstairs to sniff around, you officially become the worlds’ best mother/girlfriend/wife/daughter/male-versions-of-these-terms.  They taste like a really good, really soft cinnamon roll, but with the added punch of pumpkin, ginger, and nutmeg.  The toasted pecans in the filling and the lemon-cream-cheese frosting take them over the top.  I can almost guarantee you that a steaming pan of these and a hot pot of coffee could make any sunny December morning complete.

Overnight Cinnamon-Pumpkin Rolls

Roll recipe adapted from TheKitchn.  Frosting recipe from Good Life Eats.  Makes 8 large rolls.

For the dough:

• 2 TBS warm water
• 1/2 TBS instant yeast
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1/2 stick (1/4 c.) butter
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/2 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 c. AP flour

For the filling:

• 6 TBS butter
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 c. pecans, chopped finely and toasted

For the frosting:

• 2 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 stick butter, softened
• 1 c. powdered sugar
• 1-2 tsp lemon juice

1. Proof the yeast: In a small bowl, add the yeast to 1/8 c. warm (not hot) water and let sit for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, heat the milk and the 1/2 stick butter over low heat until the butter is melted.  Mix in the sugar until fully dissolved, then let cool slightly so that it is warm to the touch, but not hot.  Stir the proofed yeast and the canned pumpkin into the milk mixture until evenly mixed, then add the salt and all the flour at once.  Stir to incorporate fully – dough should come together into a slightly sticky but workable mass.  Add another 1/4 c. of flour if dough is too sticky to work with.  Cover dough with a towel and let rise for 1-2 hours (until doubled in volume) in a warm place.  Punch down and place in fridge overnight.  (You can make the rolls directly from this point without the overnight refrigeration as well, but the extra resting time will result in a better flavor.)
2. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll out into a large rectangle of dough 1/2 inch thick, about 14 inches by 8 inches in size.  Melt the 1/2 stick of butter for the filling in the microwave, then mix in the brown sugar and spices, and spread on top of the dough, leaving an inch at the top (the long way – you’re going to roll it into a long tube and need a space to pinch the dough together).  Sprinkle toasted, chopped pecans on top.  Roll the dough into a long (14 inch tube) and pinch the ends together.  Use a sharp knife to slice the tube horizontally into 8 rolls.  Place these rolls in a buttered 9 inch cake pan with about 1/2 inch of room between them.  Cover and let rise for 40 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 375°F and bake risen rolls for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown on edges and no longer doughy in center.  While they bake, prepare the frosting: mix together cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Add powdered sugar and lemon juice and beat until they form a thin frosting.  Test for flavor and consistency, and adjust with more sugar or more lemon juice as needed.  Let rolls cool slightly then drizzle with cream cheese frosting.  Serve warm.

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And no, I don’t mean to your waistline.

The other day I cut myself on a piece of brown sugar.  As in, the sugar itself caused me to bleed.  I mean, I expect to occasionally slice through my finger with my terrible $3 knives, or burn my hands when I try to eat bacon straight from the pan.  But sugar?  Total surprise.  I guess I’m going to have to reconsider all of my assumptions about life.

Anyway, this soup uses molasses, the safer, liquid alternative to brown sugar.  So I feel comfortable making it.  You probably will too, unless you were in Boston for the Great Molasses Flood of 1919, in which case you might want to avoid all sugar products.  But I hope you weren’t, because this soup is delicious.  Although, I might only feel like that because it is a vehicle for blue cheese and bacon.  I’m not sure how I would feel about it if it didn’t have those two components.  So let me rephrase that: this soup is a delicious vehicle for blue cheese and bacon.  And if you’ve had a leftover can of pumpkin in your cupboard since the great iron chef duke pumpkin challenge, and you also have 15 minutes to spare, why not make it?

Pumpkin Soup with Bacon and Blue Cheese

Adapted from allrecipes via Framed Cooks.  Serves 2.

• 1 can 100% pumpkin puree
• 2 c. chicken stock
• 1/2 c. half and half
• 3 TBS molasses
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. allspice
• 1/4 tsp. ginger
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
• salt to taste
• 2 slices bacon, diced
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1/3 c. blue cheese crumbles

1. In a medium pot, heat pumpkin, chicken stock, half and half, molasses, and spices until simmering gently.  Allow to cook for around 10 minutes.  Season with salt to taste.
2. In a large frying pan, fry bacon pieces until beginning to brown.  Add minced shallot and cook until both bacon and shallot are browned.
3. Serve soup hot, topped with the bacon shallot mixture and blue cheese crumbles.

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When Becky forwarded me an email announcing that Duke would be hosting its own version of Iron Chef this fall, I was too excited for words.  I’ve never really participated in any events at Duke, and this was clearly going to be my shining moment.  The competition announcement stated that competitors would need to work in teams of two, and that they would have one hour to create and serve two dishes, one sweet and one savory, that incorporated the “secret” ingredient of the year: pumpkin.  I immediately ran through all of the people that I would want to work with and pretty quickly concluded that Justin was my first choice sous-chef.  When I asked him he agreed but questioned my choice, reminding me that he doesn’t really cook.  Yes, I explained, I know, but you have discerning taste when it comes to food, you’ve eaten at a lot of excellent restaurants, and you’re passionate about perfection. (I don’t think I stated these things this eloquently in real life, but it’s what I meant.  Really.  And as a side-note Margie was my second choice because she was an extremely reliable onion chopper throughout our Prague rooming experience and she’s really good at doing what I tell her to.)  So it was settled:  Justin and I were going to enter.

Although the competition wasn’t until October 29th, we were required to submit our recipes for consideration by October 6th, giving us only one weekend from when we decided to compete until the deadline.  Despite having 2 midterms and 4 problem sets due the next week, I dedicated that Sunday to playing with pumpkin.  As we only had one hour to complete two dishes, and no access to an oven, roasting our own pumpkin was out of the question.  With a little help from Trevor, Justin’s sister-in-law, and The Flavor Bible (which, serendipitously enough, we both happened to own, so we could discuss flavor combinations at length over the phone), we decided that our starring flavor combination was going to be that of pumpkin and ginger.  I already knew what I wanted to do for the dessert – a version of these Pumpkin Cheesecake Pots with gingersnaps and ginger-infused whipped cream – but was less sure about the savory dish.  A soup felt too boring, a classic sage-pumpkin-gorgonzola take too, well, classic.  Then Justin came through with the idea of a curry, but not in the traditional way.  Rather, he wanted a pumpkin ravioli in a curry sauce, but not too Indian of a curry sauce.  More like a Thai curry sauce.  I was sold.  I knew I picked him for a reason.

So we hit up Kroger, where we were almost defeated when they told us they didn’t carry pumpkin, only to have a nice lady chase us down the aisle waving cans of pumpkin at us a few minutes later.  Thank you, Kroger lady, you saved my shining moment.  We headed back to my kitchen, and made some cheesecake pots, and some curry sauce, and some ravioli filling, and realized that neither of us really likes pumpkin.  Oh well.  We tweaked here and there, cleaned up, snapped a couple pics, submitted the recipes, and called it a day.

A week and a half later we got an email saying that we were one of four teams accepted by the professional chef judges to compete – thrilling!  Our out-of-box-flavor-bible thinking had paid off.  Even more exciting – I now had a legitimate excuse to buy the pasta machine that’s been in my Amazon cart for 5 months.  I see many, many ravioli in this blog’s future.

The competition was a blast.  It was probably the fastest an hour of cooking ever went by in my life.  Tons of people came out to cheer, and we even had President Broadhead doing a fist pump in support of our team, the New Jersey Fist Pump-Kins.  No, I’m not from New Jersey.  Yeah, we kinda rule.  At first we were nervous about how our food was going to turn out – things weren’t coming out quite as well as they had when we practiced them.  But then we started getting positive feedback from the crowd, and people who were interviewed kept choosing our parfait as their favorite so far.  It was kind of really super exciting to have that many people trying and excited about our food.  We managed to get everything out on time and looking decent, and then we sat back, covered in pumpkin, and waited while the judges ate.  When it came time for the announcer to ask the judges what their favorite savory dish was, we were thrilled that 2 out of the 3 judges chose our ravioli, and all 3 chose our parfait as their favorite side/dessert dish!  Despite the positive feedback, we ended up taking 2nd place.  One of the judges came by afterward and said that if taste alone had been the judging criteria, our food would have won hands down, but that it didn’t do as well in the healthiness category.  A fair point – both our dishes were lacking in fresh produce compared to the other contestants’.  It was so nice to have people react so positively to our food though, and the crowd and atmosphere made the whole experience a blast.

Thank you SO much to everyone who came out and cheered for us, and to Duke Culinary Society for running such a great competition.  Also, thank you Justin for competing with me – you were definitely not a sous chef.  And thank you to Tim for coming up with a sweet name/theme for us even though you’re lame and didn’t come watch.  Finally, thanks to Carissa, Megan, and Alice for the photos.  Recipes for both our dishes are below, if you’re interested in checking them out!

Ginger-Pumpkin Cheesecake Parfaits

• 1  14 oz. can 100% pumpkin puree
• 8oz neufchatel cheese
• 1/3 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 lb. gingersnap cookies
• 2 TBS salted butter, melted
• 1/2 pint heavy cream
• 1 inch piece fresh ginger
• 1/8 tsp cream of tartar
• 3 TBS sugar

1. In a blender or large food processor, combine pumpkin, neufchatel, sugars, spices, and vanilla.  Pulse until smooth.
2. In a large plastic bag, crush gingersnap cookies into crumbs with a rolling pin.  Mix with melted butter.  Toast for 2-3 minutes over medium heat in a large saucepan.  Set aside.
3. Peel ginger.  Crush into a paste in a mortar and pestle, or pulse until smooth with a food processor.
4. In a large bowl, beat cold heavy cream with cream of tartar until stiff.  Whisk in sugar and ginger paste to taste.
5. Assemble parfaits by layering in the following order: pumpkin custard, gingersnap crumbs, pumpkin custard, whipped cream, ginger snap crumbs.  Serve cold.

Spiced-Pumpkin Ravioli in a Thai Curry Sauce

For the sauce:

• 2 tsp canola oil
• 1 inches fresh ginger, peeled
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 1/2 TBS Thai red curry paste (Thai Kitchen brand)
• 1 TBS lime juice
• 1 c. chicken broth
• kosher salt to taste

For the pasta dough:

• 2 c. flour
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 TBS extra virgin olive oil + extra for brushing

For the ravioli filling:

• 1 (14 oz.) can 100% pumpkin puree
• 1/4 c. light brown sugar
• 1/3 c. finely ground unsalted cashews
• salt and black pepper, to taste
• 1/4 tsp. cardamom

Ravioli Filling:

1. Mix all ingredients together, season to taste.

Ravioli dough:

1. Mix together flour and salt.  Mound flour on a large, clean surface.  Form a large well in the middle of the mound.  Add eggs and olive oil to well, and beat gently to break yolks.  Using a fork, pull flour from edge of mound into center of well.  Do your best not to break the well, but it’s kind of inevitable.  Continue to gently incorporate the flour into the eggs/oil until it begins to come together.  At this point it is easiest to knead the dough by hand.  Knead for at least 5 minutes, until the dough is uniform and beginning to develop some elasticity.  Wrap the dough in plastic wrap brushed with olive oil and let it relax for 30 minutes.
2. Roll the relaxed dough out into a square about 1/2 inch thick.  Cut this into rectangular sheets and feed through pasta machine as instructions direct.  If you are not going to form the ravioli immediately, cover pasta sheets with plastic wrap to keep them from drying out.
3. Fill a small bowl with water.  Take a sheet of pasta and place a tsp of pumpkin filling in the center of one side.  Brush the edges around the filling with water (I use my finger usually).  Fold the edge over (lengthwise) and press the edges together to seal.  Cut through the sealed edge on one end so that the rest of the pasta sheet length is free from the newly formed ravioli.  Continue to work your way down the pasta sheet.
4. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Cook the ravioli in batches, for about 2-3 minutes each.  If your boil is gentle, you will know your ravioli are done when they float to the top.  In a rapid boil they tend to float instantly.  Two minutes is generally a safe amount of time to cook them.  Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside, or in the sauce they will be served in.

Sauce:

1. Crush peeled ginger into a paste in mortar and pestle or blender.  Heat canola oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add garlic and ginger paste, sautee for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant and ginger begins to soften.  Add curry paste, sautee for an additional minute.
2. Add coconut milk, chicken broth, and lime juice.  Simmer gently to reduce to desired consistency.  Season to taste with salt.
3. Add cooked ravioli.  Simmer gently to heat through.  Serve hot, sprinkled with large crystal sea salt and cashew pieces.

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