Pumpkin Cheesecake

Okay, hear me out. I like pumpkin pie. I like it even better made with pumpkin puree from a roasted pumpkin. But what if it was ALSO a cheesecake? This year, cheesecake seemed to me the best possible variation on this Thanksgiving tradition, so I made one for our practice dinner last week. The addition of pumpkin makes it less sweet overall than regular cheesecake. I'm liking it a lot.

For the crust:
1 box store brand ginger snaps, minus 12 cookies
6 tablespoons melted butter
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Pulse the ginger snaps in a food processor until they are reduced to crumbs. Combine with butter and press into the bottom and about 1/2 inch up the sides of a springform pan. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove.

For the filling: 

3 8-oz packages cream cheese
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups pumpkin puree
1/4 cup honey
4 eggs
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Blend the cream cheese and the brown sugar until completely mixed and very light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, mix the remaining ingredients until well blended. Mix both parts together and blend well. Pour the filling into the partially baked crust and bake for one hour. After one hour, turn off the oven and prop the door a little bit open by inserting a wooden spoon. Let slowly cool for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature. Then refrigerate for several hours, or over night. Serve cold with whipped cream, maybe.

Apple Cranberry Pie

 

This is a beautiful pie that I first tried last year, but I felt it was too thick. This year's version is more to my liking. It is colorful and tart, and sets up well without being heavy. This might become a new favorite!

For the crust:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 cup butter

50g coconut oil

1/4 cup ice cold water

Pulse flour, sugar, butter, and coconut oil in a food processor until it's crumbly. Add the water all at once and then mix, pulsing now and then, until is starts to come together in a ball. Turn out on a piece of wax paper, gather into a ball, and let rest 10 minutes in the fridge. Repeat. (The second one is for the lattice top.)

For the filling:

6 cups apples, peeled and sliced

4 cups fresh cranberries

juice of 1/2 lemon

zest of a small orange

1 1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

2 tablespoons butter, diced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Stir the fruit with the lemon juice and orange zest. Mix sugar, cornstarch, and spices thoroughly and then stir into the fruit. Let it macerate while you roll out the bottom crust and line a deep dish pie pan. Dip your finger into some cold water and run it all the way around the crust dough on the rim of the pie. This will help the lattice pieces stick to it. Pour the fruit mixture into the bottom crust, dot with the diced butter, and then roll out the second crust. Cut the second crust into ten to fourteen strips and weave into the top...

My technique is to lay down half the strips evenly across the pie. Then fold back every other strip half way and lay the longest cross strip across the middle. Replace the folded strips and fold back the other ones and lay down a new strip. Repeat to the edge of the pan and do the other side. Fold up the bottom crust to enclose all the ends of the lattice strips and then pinch all around the edge to seal.

Beat one egg in a small bowl and use a BBQ basting brush to paint the egg wash all over the top crust. Sprinkle the whole thing with cinnamon sugar. Use strips of foil or a pie crust shield to cover the edge of the crust to keep it from burning. Bake for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, remove the foil or pie shield and turn down the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake for another 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for about 2 hours.

This pie is delicious with Breyer's Natural Vanilla (the one true ice-cream for pie). We also thought its flavors paired well with homemade fresh ginger ice-cream.

Fettuccini Alfredo

I feel like several people have asked about this recipe, and I made it again recently and have a picture of the result so I thought I'd post it here. This is a very basic recipe that I first learned on a camping trip with friends, on an island in Boston Harbor in 1991. Someone made it for one of our evening meals, and I said "PLEASE, teach me how to make this!" I think you will like it too.

I'll tell you how I made the dish in the picture, and then in the notes I'll talk about some other variations I've tried. This recipe is made for playing with it and creating your own dishes. Have fun!

First thing to do is prepare to cook 8 oz of pasta, in this example I used fusilli, but anything works. Fill a pot with water and generously salt the water. Bring to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to package instructions.

For the sauce:

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

several shakes each of salt, pepper, and nutmeg

While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter on low-medium heat with the cream. When the butter is melted, add the cheese and stir until the cheese is completely melted. Season to taste.

When the pasta is cooked, drain off all the water and add the drained pasta to the sauce. Stir to coat. For this dish I had a deli chicken in the fridge, so I chopped up about 1 1/2 cups of the meat and stirred it up in a pan with some butter and crushed garlic. I steamed a bunch of broccolini over the pasta for the last three minutes of cooking and put that on top as well.

NOTES:

Another thing different about this particular batch is that I did not have enough parmesan cheese on hand. I grated up some of my manchego to make up the difference. It was delicious!

I have made this sauce with cheddar cheese for homemade mac & cheese. When I use cheddar, I usually use sharp, and I substitute dry mustard for the nutmeg. The cheddar version is excellent poured over a head of steamed cauliflower.

This sauce also works with swiss cheese, (or Ementaler or Gruyere if you're fancy) which I particularly like with spaetzle.

Berry Ribbon Ice-cream

 

Last week, while waiting for my food cart order from King Burrito on N. Mississippi Ave, I noticed these dusty blue berries growing at the edge of the neighboring parking lot. My co-worker told me they were Oregon grapes, which I confirmed with my handy-dandy plant app, Seek. I tried one, and it is very sour, with three seeds in that one little berry. I couldn't help thinking there is probably something I could make with these that would be delicious. Since is had been a hot August, I have been making a lot of ice-cream. I happened to have some paper in my purse, so I quickly made myself a to-go box, and picked a large handful of those Oregon grapes to take home to my test kitchen.

What seemed like a treasure trove at the food cart, turned out to be about 4 tablespoons of Oregon grapes. I was thinking I would need about a 1/2 cup of jam for an ice-cream ribbon, so I would need more berries! I don't actually know any other place where I could get Oregon grapes, so I turned for help to my trusty backyard. Turns out I still had about 4 tablespoons of blueberries on my scraggly bush. It was getting dark, but using my phone's flashlight I was able to also pick about 3 tablespoons of huckleberries. This recipe is what I did from there.

For the jelly:

4 Tablespoons Oregon grapes

4 Tablespoons blueberries

3 Tablespoons huckleberries

4-5 drops fresh lemon juice

3 g pectin 

     (I used pink box Sure Jell)

3 1/2 Tablespoons sugar

2 Tablespoons water

Crush the berries in a small saucepan with 1/3 cup of water. Bring to a boil. Simmer one minute. Strain the mixture through a cheesecloth. Squeeze to get as much juice as possible. Makes about 1/4 cup of juice. Stir in the drops of lemon juice.

In the same pan (I didn't even wash it out, but you can if you want), combine the pectin, sugar, and water. Bring to a boil and boil one minute, stirring constantly. Stir in the prepared juice, and stir until smooth and thick. transfer to a clean small jar or dish, and refrigerate until cold. (I left it over night, and made the ice-cream in the morning.)

For the ice-cream:

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 Tablespoons dry milk powder

1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

2 Tablespoons light corn syrup

1 1/3 cups whole milk

1 1/3 cups heavy cream

Combine the sugar, dry milk, and xanthan gum in  a small bowl and stir well. Pour the corn syrup into a medium pot and stir in the whole milk. Add the sugar mixture and immediately whisk vigorously until smooth. Set the pot over medium heat and cook, stirring often and adjusting the heat if necessary to prevent a simmer, until the sugar has fully dissolve, about 3 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat. Add the cream and whisk until fully combined. Transfer the mixture to an airtight container and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 6 hours, or for even better texture and flavor, 24 hours. Stir the base back together if it separates during resting time. The base can be further stored in the fridge for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 3 months. (Just be sure to fully thaw the frozen base before using it.)

In the morning, I added 1 teaspoon vanilla and churned the mixture in my ice-cream maker for about a half and hour, until it was well expanded and very thick. I spooned half of this into an airtight container, spread the jam all over the top of it to make a ribbon layer, and spooned the remaining ice-cream on top. When it's all frozen, you can scoop it out and there will be a ribbon of berry deliciousness running right through it!

Note: I have been doing a lot of Salt & Straw ice-cream recipes since I got the book for my birthday. So I had the ice-cream base already in my fridge. I only needed to add the vanilla and churn! You can make any kind of ice-cream for this. You could even use store bought ice cream and make a ripple by layering with jam in a container and re-freezing.

Salsa! Salsa! Salsa!

Last summer I had a bumper crop of peppers of all kinds and needed to use them up quickly. I ended

up having to buy tomatoes in order to have enough to go with all my peppers. On my first attempt at salsa, I used this recipe. I roasted all 40 pounds of roma tomatoes on cookie sheets in the oven, and peeled them myself. The salsa was great, but it was a lot of work! We ran out quickly, and I wanted to make more, but all that peeling seemed daunting. So I bought a giant can of diced tomatoes at the restaurant supply store. Guess what? It worked great! Since then I have used several cans of petite diced tomatoes that were on clearance to make it again. My family loves this salsa. Each time, I also make a no-onion version, for one family member who can't eat onions. The latest innovation was using a whole fresh pineapple instead of most of the tomatoes. All three versions are delicious, and keep well after processing. Enjoy!

Delicious Salsa
10 cups peeled, diced tomatoes
3 cups onions, chopped
1 3/4 cups green pepper, chopped
5  jalapeños, chopped (keep seeds for heat, remove for mild)
7 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped (optional)
6 oz tomato paste
16 oz tomato sauce
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
2 1/2 Tablespoons kosher salt (or sea salt)
1/3 cup sugar (or as needed)
1 1/4 cup cider vinegar (can sub lemon or lime juice for all or part of this)

   Combine all ingredients in a large heavy-bottom pot and bring slowly to a boil. Simmer 10 minutes. Ladle into clean, prepared jars. Seal with new lids and process 15 minutes.
   Try it again with either of these other versions:

No-onion Salsa
10 cups peeled, diced tomatoes
3 cups celery, chopped (or you could use corn and beans)
1 3/4 cups green pepper, chopped
5  jalapeños, chopped (keep seeds for heat, remove for mild)
7 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped (optional)
6 oz tomato paste
16 oz tomato sauce
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
2 1/2 Tablespoons kosher salt (or sea salt)
1/3 cup sugar (or as needed)
1 1/4 cup cider vinegar (can sub lemon or lime juice for all or part of this)

Pineapple Salsa
1 whole fresh pineapple, peeled & chopped
1 can (20 oz) crushed pineapple
2 cans (14.5 oz) petite diced tomatoes
3 cups celery, chopped (or you could use bok choy, or zucchini)
1 3/4 cup green pepper, chopped
5  jalapeños, chopped (keep seeds for heat, remove for mild)
7 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped (optional)
2-3 Tablespoons fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
2 1/2 Tablespoons kosher salt (or sea salt)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar (or as needed)
1 1/4 cup juice from limes and lemons

Rhubarb-Chipotle BBQ Sauce

Sometimes you just make something on a whim and it turns out to be great! I had a little extra rhubarb, so last week I made some BBQ sauce out of it. This sauce garnered rave reviews from husband, son, and brother-in-law, who tried it with smoked meat to die for from The People's Pig. The photo is from a few days after Memorial Day, with the red sauce at 6 o'clock on the plate.

Ingredients
1 T. olive oil
1/2 a small onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic, crushed
1 cup rhubarb, chopped
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup agave syrup
juice of 1 lime
3 T. ketchup
2 t. dijon mustard
1/3 t. chipotle chile
2 chopped thai peppers w/seeds
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 T. Mezcal

   Saute the onion and garlic in oil for  a few minutes. Add the rhubarb and stir another minute. Add the remaining ingredients through the salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer until it is getting thick. Stir in the Mezcal at the end.
   This sauce is hot, but not overwhelming. You could reduce the heat by removing one or both of the thai peppers, but we think this would lead to an inferior result.