Posted by: Kim_Hamilton on 10/09/2008 07:20 PM
Updated by: Kim_Hamilton on 10/09/2008 07:21 PM
Expires: 01/01/2013 12:00 AM
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"Heavenly Pumpkin Recipes"~By Jenny Baxter of Jennys Kitchen
Welcome Friends...In heaven it is always autumn! It must be because this season of the year, my favorite, enlivens all my senses and calms my spirit. In October I come alive! What a pleasure it was to wake up this morning and smell the aroma of earth after a good hard rain. I could hear the drops lightly hitting the canvas awnings that cover my backyard patios as the birds sang their welcoming songs to fall. Looking through the large glass windows on my bedroom doors I saw the wet dark slate, the multihued zinnas in clay pottery ....
that had sprung to life and the patio furniture clean from Nature’s recent bath. I knew exactly how I would spend the first rainy day of the season. I heard the tea kettle whistle as I lit the earth toned candles throughout my house. I couldn’t wait to fill the china teapot with a new Mediterranean flavored tea and cover it with the tea cozy given to me by my Father’s cousin in Scotland. This was going to be a wonderful day! Taking inventory in my spice cupboard, my arms laden with flours, honey, molasses, sugars, extracts, flavored oils, seeds, nuts and seasoning chosen especially for this time for the year I covered the entire tops of my butterscotch, steel gray and raspberry granite counters with everything I would need to create another novel soup and muffin meal. The refrigerator was next. Brown eggs, butter, sour cream, bacon and a huge bowl of cooked mashed pumpkin all balancing on my arms as I gingerly walked to my white marble prepping area. The only thing missing was some soft classical music. I took care of that right away. The processor whirling, the mixer on high speed and the blender rotating the ingredients round and round enliven my passion for cooking! I was on a roll and nothing could stop me. My huge copper soup pot glistened from the sea of runway lights that live in my kitchen ceiling. The black cast iron pans sizzling with bacon and onions were a definite color contrast to the lively paper muffin cups resting in their shining stainless steel pans. The day just flew by and as I cleaned up my kitchen I thanked God that I was alive to enjoy such a fabulous day! Of course, consuming the fruits of my labor is always the best part. I hope you enjoy these delicious foods as much as I did.
Smokey Pumpkin Soup
6 slices of bacon diced, cooked and crumbled with fat reserves
½ cup butter
6 cups pumpkin peeled and cut into one inch pieces
6 cups beef stock
½ cup each sour cream and Marsala wine
teaspoon each thyme and marjoram
Salt and cracked pepper to taste
Pumpkin seeds for garnish
Heat bacon fat and butter into a soup pot over medium heat until melted. Add the pumpkin and stir to coat sautéing for 15 minutes stirring occasionally. Pour in the stock and simmer until the pumpkin is soft, about 30 minutes. Add the wine and the seasonings. Process the soup in batches in a processor until smooth. Return to the soup pot adding the bacon and simmer for 10 minutes. Serve immediately garnishing with a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle the pumpkin seeds on top.
Serves 6 as a first course
Pumpkin Maple Muffins
½ cup cooked mashed pumpkin
1½ cups unbleached flour
½ cup milk
¾ stick softened butter
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
¾ cup maple syrup
2 eggs slightly beaten
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon each baking soda and allspice
Dash salt and cloves
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 16 muffin tins with autumn decorative paper. Combine the flour, baking soda and powder, allspice, cloves and salt in a large bowl and set aside. In the bowl of a food processor cream the butter and sugar until well blended. Add the eggs and mix well. Stir in the syrup, milk, and pumpkin puree and combine thoroughly. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour the pumpkin mixture in it. Stir until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not over mix. Fill the muffin papers 2/3 full and bake about 25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Makes 16 muffins
Keep It Sensuously Simple (A food tip from Jenny) The best way to cook a pumpkin is in the oven. It needs little tending to. Cut the pumpkin into eighths and seed and stem. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet skin side up and bake at 350 degrees until the pumpkin is soft when pierced with a fork, about 45 minutes. Let cool and the flesh should easily separate from the skin. After it is cooled puree.
Well, it’s thyme to go.
Jenny Baxter
Jenny’s Kitchen
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