Pumpkin Pasta, two ways

I love pumpkin.

Now you know, and I feel oh, so liberated. I especially love it savoury-style, and this week I experimented with putting into pasta. I didn't mix it and pour it over the pasta, but actually put it right in the noodles themselves. It was an interesting experience, although mine was a little sticky. I could've saved myself a bit of time and trouble by mixing a stiffer, dryer dough.

Pumpkin Pasta

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

1/4 cup canned pumpkin

Combine flour and salt in a food processor, and pulse few times. Add egg and pumpkin and mix in 10-second pulses until it's raggedly mixed. Add olive oil and/or water to get a good consistency of dough, generally it will clump up. Err on the dry side. Pour it out onto a floured surface and knead it until it comes together smoothly. Wrap tightly and refrigerate for an hour to let it rest. Roll out and cut as desired, then cook 3-4 minutes in boiling water.

Sauce 1

This one's hearty and full and really more autumnal than summery, but I like it anyway. It is inspired by my absolutely favourite winter soup. It would also be great over any other pasta, but the pumpkin is creamy and wonderful. I suspect it would also be quite nice with some chopped carrot in it as well.

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, finely diced

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can (about 2 cups) black beans, drained

1-14 oz. can crushed tomatoes

salt and pepper to taste

crème fraîche or sour cream and chopped cilantro, optional (to garnish)

Heat olive oil to shimmering, then add onion, red pepper flakes, cumin, and coriander. Stir and cook until onions soften. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute, then add black beans and tomatoes. stir to combine, add salt and pepper, reduce heat and let simmer while you cut and boil the pasta. Make sure about 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water ends up in the sauce, then combine sauce and pasta. Garnish with a heaping scoop of crème fraîche and cilantro, or pass at the table.

Sauce 2

Now this one's for summer. You just can't regret it.

Juice of 1 lime

1 tsp honey

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

olive oil

salt and pepper

crème fraîche or sour cream (optional)

Combine lime juice, honey, and cilantro, then pour over pasta. Drizzle olive oil over the pasta to moisten, then mix. Season with salt and pepper, then mix in crème fraîche or sour cream, if desired.

Mayonnaise

I'm one of those people that just loves home made food. I'm not talking about non-fast food meals, but making things at home that are 100% easier to just buy. Why bother? It's mostly about the taste, but there's also that idea that I know exactly what's in it, it's wholesome, and I did it myself. Yes, that means I like it because of pride. Deal with it. I've tried mayonnaise before, but I've found a fairly fool-proof version that I enjoy varying with my mood.

For example, lime instead of lemon yields a tangy mayo that is great as a base for dips and dressings. Adding garlic or red pepper flakes (even in conjunction with the lime!) make for a kick that begs to be paired with roasted chicken on a toasted sandwich. Wants herbs? Yeah, so do I, just add them at the end. Adding good olive oil in small quantities (I rarely use more than 1/4 total volume) give an earthy, savoury depth. Much more than that, and it can grow bitter. Or maybe I'm using crappy olive oil. Who knows? Right now I'm loving peanut oil for its clean, rich flavour, but vegetable or canola oils work too. I tell you, the recipe is just an outline!

My favourite, and likely most dangerous, thing about this mayonnaise is that I make it with farm fresh eggs. So sue me. Disclaimer: use wisdom with raw eggs if you're pregnant, young, or paranoid. Yes, paranoia really does lead to a compromised immune system.*

I generally make a double batch and it lasts us about a week and a half, and stays nice and stable the whole time. We never get sick from it, and we love it, love it, love it. There's a good bit of science behind how and why mayonnaise works, and with a food processor, the whole egg thing is especially important. You could do yolk only, but you might want to work by hand. Personally, using a food processor is totally worth the whole egg. A blender would also work, although my processor has a handy little drip hole that makes this a practically foolproof endeavour.

Mayonnaise

adapted from almost everywhere

1 whole egg

1/2 tsp dry mustard

1/2 tsp salt (more to taste, if desired)

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 cup oil

Place egg, mustard, salt, and lemon juice in the bowl of a food processor, and pulse a few times to combine. Turn the machine on, and add oil, just a drop at a time, until the mixture emulsifies (gets mayonnaise-y) and you've used a few Tablespoons of oil. [I just use my machine's dripper, and it's perfect.] Once it seems stable, add the remaining oil in a slow, but steady stream until all combined. Transfer to a screw top jar and refrigerate.

Other homemade things I love that are easier to buy in the store:

• Créme Fraîche
• Chicken Stock
• Spaghetti Sauce
• Nutella

*That might be the biggest lie/truth on the whole page.

Radish Relish

Have you ever had spring time and too many radishes? Yeah, it's never happened to me before, either.

We actually ate all the lovely French breakfast radishes form our garden, but the Community garden we work has so many radishes that they've now either gone to seed or become so big that they're really just spicy potatoes. They also didn't get thinned, so they all worked their giant selves up into their air so they're vulnerable to bugs and drying and such. So, yesterday we picked about 10 pounds of radishes—that's the weight of the roots, not the leaves—and today I set to do something useful with them.

Enter Radish Relish. Now, I don't know how it will be after spending a few weeks/months in the cupboard, but today it's a little spicy, a little tangy, a little sweet, and would be excellent on a hamburger. Or roast beef. It's like pickle relish (well, duh . . .) but a little more exciting, to my mind, like a cross between relish and horseradish. When you come visit, I'll let you try it.

Radish Relish

makes 2-3 pints, but I made, um, SIX batches, so I have 8 quarts.

1 pound radishes

1/2 pound celery stalks

1/2 large sweet onion (about 1 cup)

1/2 jalapeño pepper, seeds and all

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon mustard seed

2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons dill seed

White Vinegar to cover

Grate radishes, celery, onion, and jalapeño in your food processor, and mix them all together. Combine with remaining ingredients in a large pan, cover with vinegar (you may want to weigh down the vegetables to keep them from floating up) and let stand on the counter for 3 hours. After sitting time, bring to boil, and cook for 10 minutes. Ladle into jars and store in the refrigerator, or follow good health canning guidelines to preserve on the shelf.

Things I love

I'm on a gratitude kick. It seems to be working for me, but it's always better if I share. Enter Culinary Gratitude:

• Gardens. I might be working multiples right now, and I can't seem to get the dirt out of my hands. Ever.
• Chocolate. Right now I'm enjoying some Callebaut I picked up in bulk, but Valrhona is my one true love.
• Fresh herbs. I finally got my cilantro planted and I couldn't be more pleased. Until it comes in, I'll have to enjoy my basils, rosemary, oregano, thyme, chives, mint, and this year's real star, tarragon.
• Creamy radishes. Maybe i'll throw that recipe on here.
• Mashed, roasted, seasoned eggplant.
• Grilled sirloin that's still pink in the middle.
• Crème Fraîche.
• Homemade mayonnaise made with fresh eggs and a touch of olive oil.
• New silicone spatulas from Williams-Sonoma.
• Cookbooks. It's been suggested that I purchased 8 of them in the last three weeks. I refuse to either confirm or deny that allegation.
• Cooling racks.
• Tart pans. I'm ready for a rectangle.
• Sourdough bread.
• Vintage bread pans
• Brownies
• Ice Cream
• Cooking for friends and family.

Crème Fraîche

I've made this before, but I made it again this week, and it's just one vat of amazing that needs to be shared. Plus, I seriously needed an update.

Homemade Crème Fraîche (Sour Cream)

multiplies with no known issues

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 Tbsp buttermilk

[Optional step 1: pour cream into a saucepan and heat to 105˚F. I generally don't do it.]

Combine cream and buttermilk in a jar, screw on the lid, and shake it around for about a minute. Leave it on the counter, in a warm place and undisturbed, for 24 hours. It should thicken and become tangy. If you leave it longer, it will get thicker and tangier. Put it in the refrigerator for 12-24 more hours. My last batch turned out as thick as store bought sour cream, but the one before that only hit sloppy dollop stage. Heat+patience=better crème fraîche.

Stores in the refrigerator, tightly covered for 3-4 weeks.

Ginger Lemon Birthday Cupcakes

Jacob turned five today and asked, ever so sweetly, for lemon cupcakes for his celebration. I have a strict policy to never make a cake from a box, but it's not a snooty, foodie, I'm so good sort of thing. It's just that homemade tastes so much better and is less effort than running to the store for a cake mix. It really is. Like, I had this ready to bake before the oven heated up. I could not have run to the store in that amount of time.

These turned out dense and moist, bordering on the crumb you'd get from a rich cornbread, but would be lighter, fluffier, and altogether cakier if you skipped the whole wheat flour in favour of another scoop of all-purpose. These were decidedly muffin-esque rather than cupcake-y. They were also quite satisfying, and would be as great for breakfast as for dessert, methinks.

Lemon Ginger Muffincakes

Based, ever-so-loosely, on another spicy, delicious muffin from Dorie Greenspan

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour [mine is oh-so-finely ground]

1/2 cup sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

1-2 Tbsp ground fresh ginger, or 1/2 tsp dried

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 stick butter, melted, but not hot

2 large eggs

3/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

Grated zest of 2 lemons

Put your oven rack in the center, and preheat to 375˚F. Butter or spray a 12 cup muffin tin, or use paper liners. Put the muffin tin on a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, ginger, and baking powder. Stir in brown sugar, making sure there are no lumps. In another bowl, stir together butter, eggs, milk, and vanilla. Add wet ingredients into dry, and stir quickly, but gently, until the flour just disappears and the batter is lumpy. Gently stir in the lemon zest. Plop them into the muffin cups, and bake 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.

Thinking that the lemon of these would be rather subtle for a five year old, I shot homemade lemon curd into them, topped them with candied lemon slices, and frosted them with this to really up the lemon ante:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 tsp vanilla

juice of 2 lemons

3-3 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

1/4 cup lemon curd (optional)

Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until it's soft and fluffy, several minutes. Add vanilla and beat until combined. Add lemon juice and 2 cups of the confectioner's sugar. Beat until light and fluffy, adding more sugar, as needed, to obtain the desired consistency. Add lemon curd, if using, and add sugar, as necessary, to get it just the right thickness. This would also be nice with just a hint of ginger in it to keep the adult-level spice right where it should be, but I left it out this time.

Easy Curry Soup

I've been alone all week, so I've been having fun with delicious recipes for one. I'm not going to pretend that I'm eating like a king, because most of my meals are just some iteration of roasted brussels sprouts. I'm greedily consuming as many as I can and enjoying the combination of late winter cruciferous goodness and early spring asparagus. Tonight, however, I decided on something different, and used some of our delicious homemade stock to work a little 10 minute magic. Aside from the shrimp, this is a leftover soup, and I loved it.

Actually, in the spirit of full disclosure, I'm loving it at this very moment.

Easy Shrimp Curry Soup

1 tbsp butter

4-6 mushrooms, sliced

1/2 pound raw shrimp, shelled and deveined

1 tsp red curry paste (adjust for preference)

1-6" stalk lemon grass, pounded so it burst/shreds

1 quart chicken stock or broth

salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in a pot, then add mushrooms. Cook 2-3 minutes, or until soft, then add shelled shrimp and cook until done. Add curry paste, and stir to distribute and coat the meat and veggies. Add stock and lemongrass, bring to a boil, and simmer for about 8 minutes. Remove the hunk of lemongrass, season to taste, and serve.

**Notes:

• Adjust curry paste to taste. I used 1 tsp, and it was just the right amount of spicy for today's mood. I might feel differently tomorrow.
• No lemongrass? Squeeze fresh lemon over the finished product.
• Not into shrimp? Use diced chicken breast or thigh, or go veggie with broccoli.
• Like noodles? Go for it.