Easy Pumpkin Soup
(serves 4-6)

1 lg white onion
2 cloves garlic
1 T oil
2 lb pumpkin
1 lg potato
4 c broth (chicken tastes better than veggie for this soup)
1 t curry
salt and pepper to taste
Sour cream and chives for garnish

Slice the pumpkin and remove the guts and skin before chopping. Chop the potato too (skin on or off), and slice the onion. Mince the garlic while you're at it.

Heat the oil in a large pot. Add onion and cook until transparent before adding the garlic. Cook for 2-5 minutes, stirring often so you don't burn the garlic. Add the chopped veggies, broth, and spices. Simmer until the veggies are soft, stirring occasionally. Puree in batches until you have baby food consistency or something a little chunkier.

Takes about 45 minutes, including knife work.

Serve with garnish if you like.

German Mulled Wine

If you don't happen to have a box of spices that your dad brought you from Germany, here's a simple recipe that is delicious on cold nights:

1 lg bottle of dry red wine (burgundy, zinfandel, sauvignon)
15 whole cloves
1-2 lg cinnamon sticks, broken into pieces
1-2 star anise
1/2 whole nutmeg
1 orange, remove peel in one piece and slice fruit
1/2 c sugar, or to taste
1 bag ceylon black tea

Heat wine over medium-high heat. Do not boil. Add all other ingredients once wine is warm. Cook for 15-20 minutes until steam rises off the top. Do not let it boil. Remove tea bag and orange peel. Strain, and drink warm.

MUSHROOM AND GRUYERE BREAD PUDDING


Nonstick vegetable oil spray
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound assorted fresh mushrooms (such as crimini, button, and stemmed shiitake), thinly sliced
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms,* broken into pieces
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup Madeira
2 cups whole milk
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

12 slices white bread, crusts trimmed
3/4 cup grated Gruyère cheese
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese


Spray 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish with nonstick spray. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add fresh mushrooms and onion; sauté 3 minutes. Add dried porcini; sauté until mushrooms are brown, about 8 minutes. Mix in tarragon and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Transfer to medium bowl.

Add Madeira to same skillet; boil until reduced by half, stirring, about 1 minute. Whisk milk and eggs in large bowl to blend. Whisk in Madeira, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

Arrange 6 bread slices over bottom of prepared dish. Top with mushroom mixture, half of Gruyère, and half of Parmesan cheese. Cover with remaining 6 bread slices. Drizzle egg mixture over; press gently to submerge bread. Cover; chill at least 1 hour and up to 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Sprinkle remaining Gruyère and Parmesan cheese over bread pudding. Bake uncovered until bread pudding puffs and top is golden brown, about 40 minutes.

***Ok, so this recipe is taken from epicurious.com which has yet to disappoint me with a recipe. They also let you keep recipe boxes and have an awesome advanced search engine so you can take out meat from the criteria. I didn't have Madeira so I used Merlot instead. Tarragon is an herb that kind of tastes like anise or licorice.

Voiture Brulee
(burned car)

This tastelessly conceived Arab/French fusion dessert is heavily based on creme brulee, but with pears, almonds, nutmeg, and cayenne pepper to give it a spicy, middle eastern twist. Eat it after the dusk curfew to give it that special state-of-emergency flair.

8 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 pear, sliced into seedless cross-sections, 1/6" thick
Thinly sliced almonds

Caramelized top mixture:
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 300F. In a big bowl, mix yolks and sugar with a whisk until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has assumed a thick, palish yellow. Add the vanilla and cream, and keep whisking until nicely blended. Strain to skim off any foam.

Pour mixture into 6 ramekins/custard cups. Slice a cross-section of pear (without seeds), and let float on top of each ramekin. Place ramekin in a lukewarm water bath and bake until set around the edges, but still jiggly in the center (about 60 minutes). Remove from oven and leave in the water bath until cooled to room temperature. Remove cups from water bath and chill for at least 2 hours, or up to 2 days.

When ready to serve, sprinkle well-mixed combination of sugar, nutmeg, and cayenne over each custard (2 teaspoons per ramekin, change spice proportions to taste beforehand). Use a small torch to melt sugar (or place under the oven broiler until sugar melts). This can take a long time, and if you get impatient with the torch, the sugar WILL BURN. Sprinkle almonds into uncooled caramel after torching. Re-chill custards for 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 6, but invariably someone will think it's too spicy/cloying. After eating their unfinished ramekin, tell that person to do dishes.

Pre-emptive recipe posting, bitchas. - Soup!

French Onion Soup for 6, courtesy of Mom

a stick of butter (recipe called for a lot less, like 4T)
5C thinly sliced onions
1 1/3 T sugar
1 2/3T flour
salt/pepper
5 sliced toasted french bread
Cheese. I used about 1/2 C grated Parmesan & Manchego (split between the bowls) & 1 slice of Provolone per bowl

Melt butter in large pan, add the onions, cook over low heat with the lid on, stirring often. Cook until they are brown. Approx 30 min
Stire in flour & sugar cook for about 3 min. Add 4C water and simmer, partially covered, for about 30 min. Add salt & pepper to taste.

Before serving, add bread slices to each bowl and generously sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake in hot oven until cheese is melted and brown.

Beet and Arugula Salad

4 med. beets
1/2 red onion - sliced thin
2 T olive oil
2 T balsamic vinegar
2 T sugar
2 T capers
1 t cumin
s+p to taste
2 c arugula (aka Garden Rocket!)
2 T chopped chives
4 oz. chevre

Cut off tops of beets and add to boiling water. Simmer on med. heat for about 30 minutes until tender. Drain and cool before removing tail and slipping off skins. Cut to bite-size pieces.

While beets are stewing, combine onion, oil, vinegar, sugar, capers, cumin, and s+p. Add beets, and toss mixture with arugula before serving.

Garnish with chives and chevre.

COOKING NIGHT 10.20.05: Tropical Night, i.e. Austin Has No Seasons and It's October

(THE WICKED GOOD) LIGHT SANGRIA

1 750-ml bottle of wine (3 cups)
1 1/2 cups lemon-lime soda
1 1/2 cups orange juice
1/2 cup brandy
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup fruit (apple, pear, melon, pretty much any fleshy fruit) cubed
2 tablespoons orange liqueur
2 tablespoons grenadine
juice of 1 large lemon
juice of 2 limes
1 lime thinly sliced
1 lemon thinly sliced
1 orange thinly sliced
ice cubes

Stir wine, soda, orange juice, brandy, sugar, orange liqueur, grenadine, lemon juice, lime juice, cubed fruit and half of the lime slices, lemon slices, and orange slices in large pitcher to combine. Let stand 30 minutes.

Fill 8 large wine glasses with ice cubes. Divide sangria among glasses. Garnish each glass with remaining lime and lemon slices and serve.

Remember, that the better the ingredients, the better the sangria. ;-)

Hey, I dig on food, not vibrators. But hearing you she-bops talk about them is always fun.

Sean

COOKING NIGHT 10.27.05: Fall Root Extravaganza

Parsnips Julienne
Mediterranean Bread

Parsnips Julienne
(adapted from The New Basics Cookbook)

1 1/2 lbs parsnips, peeled, julienned
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup vegetable broth
2 teaspoons chopped fresh Italian parsley (flat leaf)

• Preheat oven to 350F
• Arrange the parsnips in a shallow baking dish and dot with butter. Sprinkle with the brown sugar, nutmeg, and pepper. Pour vegetable broth into dish and cover with foil.
• Bake for 45min, shaking dish halfway through baking.
• Stir well and adjust seasonings if necessary. Sprinkle with parsley before serving.
• Makes 4-6 servings, but you'll probably eat them all yourself, you pig.
  

Mediterranean Bread
(made by Randy from 1000 Vegetarian Recipes book)

3 1/2 c. all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
1 envelope dry yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp coriander seeds, lightly crushed
2 tsp dried oregano
scant 1 c. lukewarm water
3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing
5 1/2 oz/150 g sun dried tomatoes in oil, drained and patted dry and chopped
3 oz/85 g feta cheese, drained, patted dry and cubed
1 c. black olives, patted dry, pitted and sliced

• Combine flour, yeast, salt, coriander and oregano and make a well in th ecenter. Gradually add most of the water and the oil to make a dough. Gradually add the remaining water, if needed, drawing in all the flour.
• Turn out onto a lightly floured counter and knead for 10 minutes, kneading in tomatoes, cheese and olives. Wash the bowl and lightly coat with oil.
• Shape the dough into a ball, put it in the bowl, and turn the dough over. Cover the dough and set aside until it doubles in volume.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter. Knead lightly, then shape into a ball. Place on a lightly floured cookie sheet. Cover and let rise until it doubles in volume again.
• Lightly sprinkle the top of the loaf with flour. Cut 3 shallow slashes in the top. Bake 450 F for 20 minutes. Lower temp to 400 F and bake another 20 minutes or until done.
  
• Start this before normal cooking night time because it takes forever.