Orange Is the Color of…

Autumn! Duh. If you haven’t noticed yet, I’m sort of in love with autumn: the crisp air, the leaves, the PUMPKIN! Surprise. Needless to say, I’m presenting you with yet another pumpkin recipe today: Crusted Roasted Pumpkin. You’ll also get the added bonus of an amazing butternut squash risotto recipe. It’s been a little modified from it’s original form, so you’ll get my slightly-drunk risotto. The risotto was drunk, not I.

I should explain a little something about the pumpkin recipe. Unlike most of the things that appear on this site, it wasn’t concocted with nearly-spoiled ingredients. Y’know, all those things you have that you need to finish off so you don’t feel guilty about wasting them? Yeah, that’s the usual. But this? This is something completely different.

A long time ago (anything more than one year counts as a long time ago, right?), I found out about a cook book called Plenty. The photos were amazing. The cover of the book itself is soft, almost velvety. The paper is wonderful. Have you noticed that I’m a book and paper person yet? Anyway. Two weeks ago was my friend’s birthday. We work together. Another friend brought her birthday presents to work, and brought me a little something, too. Neatly wrapped in lovely plain brown paper, something slightly soft and rectangular… A book. Oh, I know what a book feels like… Holy cow. HOLY MOLY. OH MY GOSH! Plenty. It is from this book that I yanked the pumpkin recipe below, and you’ll get plenty more where that came from (Hah, see what I did there?).

The butternut squash risotto, however, is another story.  A more typical story. The type of story where inspiration came from a handful of mismatched recipes, and yet another moment of intense procrastination. Thesis? Editing? I’m gonna make me some food! 

And so I found myself picking through chunks of half-spent squash, shuffling through my pantry for some barley I could swear I didn’t have… but thank goodness, did! Someday I really have to label those glass jars full of grains. About an hour later, a lovely steaming pot of vegetables and grains and cheese stared up at me from the stovetop. Of course, by the time I finished making it, I wasn’t hungry anymore, so it went into tupperware and perches in the fridge for lunches later this week and a couple of hungry friends!

Crusted Roasted Pumpkin

1 small sugar pumpkin

2 tbsp olive oil

3/4 c shredded parmesan cheese

1/4 c panko bread crumbs

1 large lemon’s worth of grated zest (My lemon was weird, so I cut long strips of the rind. Just means I had to pick them off later, but the flavor still worked its way out!)

2 minced or pressed garlic cloves

2 tbsp fresh thyme

1/4 c parsley

Salt and pepper (white, if you have it) to taste

Ingredients for Dip:

1/2 c sour cream

1 tbsp fresh dill (or a little more if you use the dried stuff)

Preheat the oven to 400.

Slice open and de-seed the pumpkin. Set the seeds and guts aside for roasting later. Cut the halves into 1 to 1 1/2 inch slices and lay them out on a baking sheet.

Brush the pumpkin with the olive oil.

Mix together the remaining ingredients and sprinkle on top of the pumpkin slices. Press down lightly with your fingers so they stick to the pumpkin!  Pop those babies into the oven for 30-45 minutes. I cut my slices thinly, so it only took 20 minutes or so for mine to finish. 

While the pumpkin is in the oven, mix the sour cream and dill if you’re making the dip. It definitely complements the lemon and parmesan.

Butternut Squash and Barley Risotto

1 lb butternut squash, cut into chunks

1 c pearled barley

1 medium onion

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 c dry white wine

2 c chicken or vegetable stock

All the spinach you can handle

1/2 c Romano cheese

1/4 c chopped fresh parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat to 400.

Chop the onion and toss it, with the olive oil, into a pan. Add the squash and cook until the onions start to become clear. Keep stirring. Let it cook for 5 or 6 minutes.

Add the salt and pepper. I think the less the better — you can always add more later.

Add the white wine and cook, stirring, for one minute or so.

Add the stock and bring it all to a boil. When it boils, either cover the container and stick it in the oven or, if the container isn’t oven-safe, dump it all into a casserole dish and cover it up. Stick it in the oven for 30-45 minutes, or until the barley is cooked through.

Remove the dish from the oven and mix in the cheese, parsley, and spinach. The spinach will wilt, the cheese will melt, and you’ll stuff your face. Enjoy!

PS- If you want to roast those pumpkin seeds, fill a bowl with water and throw them in. The guts of the pumpkin will easily pull away from the seeds, which will float. Scoop them out with your hands and dump them on a paper towel to dry. Then toss ’em with some olive oil and seasoning, and spread them out on a baking pan. Bake ’em at 200 for 20-40 minutes (depending on how long it takes for them to get nice and crispy). Possible seasoning combinations might include:

1. honey, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger.

2. cayenne pepper with a dash of lime (lime after they come out!)

3. the traditional route: salt.

Fried Zucchini

I know you’re probably sick of hearing about courgettes, so here is a completely and thoroughly all-American Zucchini recipe. I stumbled upon this fantastic blog called Try It You Might Like It, which for the most part plays host to several items or recipes I have tried and loved or cannot wait to try and love. For instance, doesn’t Sea Glass Jello sound fantastic? I’m not a huge Jello fan, but the photos look absolutely beautiful. I don’t care how it tastes, I’d like to eat something that pretty. After all, we are what we eat, right?

So getting back to these zukes: perfect late summer/early fall veggie, especially because of their value right now. At the market they were only 50 cents per pound, and the smallest summer squash I could find was 3 pounds! Unfortunately this also means that there’s less flavor per … er… there’s less flavor in the large ones. So what do we do with it? Hmm…

At home in Indiana, the first week of every October is Fall Festival time: the third largest street festival in the world takes place in downtown Evansville (third only to Brasil’s Carnival and Louisiana’s Mardi Gras, last time I checked). I’m not kidding when I say that people from far and wide congregate to eat insane concoctions like brain or tongue sandwiches, icky lickies (lollipops with bugs at the center), and a fried version of everything from Oreos to Snickers bars, ice cream to meat.  The first stall my brother and I always search for is the one with the fried dill pickles, then we go our separate ways (or take turns picking what we wanna eat). On my list is always fried zucchini.

When I gave this recipe a shot, I completely forgot I didn’t have bread crumbs until the egg was cracked, the zucchini sliced, and the oil heated.  Coincidently, my mom slipped a container of wheat germ (which I put on the back shelf thinking what the heck am I ever going to use this crap for?!) into the last batch of goodies she gave me. What a perfect substitute! It was crunchy and nutty and almost sweet. Delicious! It was, however, very difficult to make it stick to the slices of squash. Maybe try breadcrumbs next time.

Fried Zucchini

1 large zucchini (well, not 3 lbs worth. Maybe 1 1/2)

1/2 c breadcrumbs/wheat germ

1 egg

2 tbsp water

oil for frying (enough to very shallowly coat the pan)

a pinch of salt

Heat the oil just shy of smoking-point in a skillet.

Slice the zuke as thinly or thickly as you like, though I prefer fairly thick chips so they’re still pretty firm in the center.

Put the egg and water in a small bowl and whisk together.

Cover a slice of zucchini in egg, then drop into the bowl of bread crumbs or wheat germ and coat it to the best of your ability before dropping it into the oil in the pan. Be careful! It might spit at you a little.

After anywhere from 1-3 minutes, flip the slice over and cook the other side just as well. When it’s finished, place it on a paper towel to let some of the oil drain off (I even flip ’em over to get the other side!) Last, sprinkle gingerly with salt.

Keep doing this until you’ve finished your squash. Serve and enjoy.

Italian Greenies and a Gift from Up

A parcel! Oh me oh my! While somewhere in the busy screech of my mind I knew that he sent it, coming home to find a parcel from one of my favorite people made the anxiety of a late-night trolley ride through a not-so-great part of town and a long day (8:30 am-8:00 pm) working for my fellowship, going to class, touring the library’s finer crannies, and meeting with the dean, (pause to breathe) melt away. A smile smothered my face the way I smother my toast in jam.

Speaking of jam, look at what he sent my way.  Up, you never cease to amaze and baffle me.  I’ve been rambling about my endless desire for figs for more than a week (they really are the sexiest fruit on the planet, aren’t they?), and just this past Sunday had to force myself to put back a box of soba noodles and an interesting jar of what I think was jam to pinch a few pennies. Nearing the end of  a fantastic book, I was despairing at my own lack in inspiration for book-hunting.

He encouraged and fed me (yes, I remember those tamales!) during my freshman year, nudged me toward scholarship during my sophomore year, and composed his own reading material for me during my time in the UK. Here he is, doing it again. Giving me space without interruption when I need it, and caring deeply from a distance, he is one of the few I can count on to just get it. You’re an absolutely amazing person. Thanks, Up.

Don’t worry — I’m not worming away without dropping a quick recipe into your world. It’s more of a method, to be honest. It’s hard not to agree with Jamie Oliver when he says that we all need to eat more greens, so this week I really have been trying, and have already done this three times with different veg.

Italian Greenies

1 handful of something green: kale, chard, courgettes, spinach, broccoli, etc.

1 lemon (for juicing)

3 parts olive oil to 1 part lemon juice

Optional: garlic cloves, fresh herbs

Get a pot of heavily salted water boiling on the stove.  Peel and drop garlic cloves into the boiling water to soften them for mashing, if you’re including them.

Wash (and cut smaller, if necessary) the greenies and drop them into the bowling water before placing a lid over it all. We’re blanching.

Cut and juice the lemon. Lay out either a paper or tea towel, and when the veg is bright and just a bit softer (3-5 minutes depending on what it is), drain it and dump the steamy vegetables onto the towel to let some of the steam escape.

This is your chance to add the olive oil to the lemon, give a quick chop to the herbs and drop them in, and smash the garlic. Add the garlic to the mix and give it a whisk.

Put the greens on a plate and treat the mixture like dressing, drizzling/forking it over the warm veggies. Serve immediately.

Courgette Fritters

This is another story that starts with Caitlin and ends with one knife, one girl, and a buncha food. Before she left, Caitlin always talked about the free library and how much time she’d spend there, exchanging books every weekend and camping out at Whole Foods, reading. I’ve been meaning to see the courthouse-like building for some time, but finally got the nerve after Terra and I had a glorious little picnic in the  Azalea Garden, behind the Art Museum. Below are some of the lovely pictures from our short walk down there and our sit.

Anyway, back to the story. So I finally made it in, after a long, rain-soaked walk with Terra and hunted down the cook book section. Even though I was looking for Good to the Grain, I wandered out with The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, Chez Panisse Vegetables, and Jamie Oliver’s Italy cookbook. Flipping through each book slowly and carefully, reading each recipe word by word, I flipped the back cover of Oliver’s book shut and knew when I saw Spaghetti Fritters, that I wanted to give it a go. But I don’t have any spaghetti… ZUKES!

What I wound up with felt a little more like a very dense handful of frittatas than a fritter, but I completely blame the courgette-water for that. Despite my repeated attempts to completely dry it out after grating it, there was still too much water wedged in the summer squash. I should have just left out the two egg whites that Jamie says to add, but .. well, I’ll give it a go later this year or maybe next. They were still outrageously tasty, though.

I can’t claim this idea as my own, but it stemmed from Rachel’s (check out my blogroll: Rachel Eats) peaches in wine. I left work dying for a tall, thin glass of sangria, packed with apples and peaches and oranges, but alas! I had none of those fruits left. I did, however, have a tiny honeydew melon so made a pitstop at a little Wine and Spirits store  near Reading Terminal Station. See the reoccurring theme, here? Anyway, I picked an incredibly (but naturally) sweet white and popped two slices of honeydew in for dessert. Mmmm!

Oh, and a quick aside: After a brief word with tall-dark-and-beefy, the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen call himself Farmer (and as we all know, that’s something, since I’m from Indiana: the land of corn and cattle), he agreed to bring in some squash blossoms for me next week. If, that is, I remember to call and remind him. Somehow I don’t think I’ll be forgetting this any time soon.

Courgette Fritters

A tweaked version of Jamie Oliver’s recipe

3 small courgettes, grated

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 handfuls freshly grated parmesan cheese

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

1 handful fresh chopped parsley

a little oil (for coating the pan)

Grate your courgettes on a fairly large … er… use the big holes, not the little ones. This is the hard part: getting all the water out. I pressed — HARD — with several layers of paper towel (only because I don’t have any clean dishtowels left. I promise I’m not so un-green!) on either side of the courgettes to try to get rid of all the water.

Dump what’s left into a bowl, then add all the remaining ingredients (except for the oil for the pan). Give it all a good mix, breaking all three yolks and stirring them in well.

Heat a pan on med-high heat and drizzle a little oil in the pan. Using a fork, add hunks of the mixture to the pan and cook until they’re golden-brown on each side, flipping as necessary.  Jamie suggests you use a higher temperature setting to achieve a golden crust while keeping the inside soft and almost (but not quite) gooey. Mmmm!