Pumpkin Pie

We celebrated an early Thanksgiving with Cam, Shana and Theo on Oct. 8, which Jody points out is two days away from Canadian Thanksgiving.  We omitted the dressing, and Shana brought a bountiful salad, but even for just the 5 of us, and some deviations from my usual T'giving prep, it was quite a production:  sweet potato whip (bourbon, lemon zest, the Vitamix was the champion here), brussels sprouts, rice, ginger and orange cranberry relish (no cranberries on the shelves so I had to get a canned jelly and fish out the berries), gravy, and one of the best-behaved turkeys (breast only) I'd ever cooked:  6.6 lbs, 2 3/4 hr in a 350 oven, and the little thermometer popped out exactly when my thermometer read 161 degrees.  And this was a regular Giant fresh, but not organic breast.  I didn't do the whole brining routine.  It was succulent and sweet in its own way.  I had searched on the Giant website for giblets and just came up with catfood.  We passed on that, but Reeves made an excellent gravy with a few pieces of meat, thickened with whole wheat flour.

This pumpkin pie recipe is from the back of the can :  

15 oz pumpkin; recipe calls for 3/4 c sugar, but I omitted that in favor of the cream, below

3/4 tsp cinnamon, 1.2 tsp nutmeg (fresh off the microplane), 1/4 tsp ginger1/4 tsp cloves, 1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs and ~8 oz heavy cream, mixed; recipe called for 12 oz can evaporated milk

all mixed together and poured into frozen shell and baked at 425 for 15 min then 350 for 40 min.  Omitting the sugar really highlighted the spices.

We finished off with little chocolate turkeys, Cocoa Mill not yet being in production.

Eggplant gratin

 Nothing grated on the top, but my source (France Today) calls it a gratin so I'll go with that.   Slow cooking the onions and tomatoes really makes it sweet.

 

Ingredients:

3 medium onions

EVOO

4 eggplant

5 large tomatoes

1 clove garlic

some leaves of basil for deco

 

Peel and finely chop the onions, then saute them in olive oil until lightly browned.

Cut tomatoes into quarters.  Add to the onions.  I didn't peel them.

Cover and cook over medium for 30 min., stirring occasionally.  It should look like a sauce, although you may need uncover and to cook longer. 

Finely chop garlic clove and stir it in, then season with pepper.

Preheat overn to 325.  

Cut the eggplants lengthwise into maybe 1/4" slices.  Pan fry them in the dish you will use as a gratin dish, on both sides until browned.

Keep enough for one layer in the dish, then add a layer of tomato sauce.  Alternate eggplant and tomato sauce until you run out, ending with tomato sauce.  

Bake for 45 min.  Decorate with basil leaves before serving.

Instant Pot Butternut Squash Risotto

 I've been making stovetop butternut squash risotto fairly often lately. I love it, but it is a hassle to stand over the stove stirring for nearly an hour. I tried this instantpot version today, and it was amazing! The thing I really love about this recipe is that it uses short grain brown rice, which I always keep on hand, rather than the traditional white arborio rice.

https://confessionsofafitfoodie.com/instant-pot-butternut-squash-risotto/

Things I changed:

Used 1/2 onion instead of shallot

Used 2T butter instead of 1

Added a shake of white pepper and thyme

Replaced coconut milk with ricotta (happened to have some I need to use)

Garnished with chopped walnuts

Other note:

3 cups of butternut squash was 1/2 of a large grocery store butternut squash 

So excited to have a quicker and easier way to make risotto!

Ribollita

 I came here to link this amazing ribollita recipe over at 101 cookbooks:

https://www.101cookbooks.com/ribollita-recipe/

I followed it quite closely, with the following exceptions:

*Used mostly chicken stock rather than water

*Added celery greens (also used very flavorful garden celery)

*Sprinkle of parm on top

*A few cheese rinds 

It was FABULOUS. The chopped olive garnish made a big difference. It was very filling and hearty.

I haven't made much from 101 cookbooks lately, mostly  because I think she has taken a turn toward somewhat more unusual ingredients/more complicated recipes that I just don't have the energy for, but everything I've made from the site has turned out great.

Instant pot tomato soup

 So excited about this easy and delicious instant pot tomato soup recipe, made with canned tomatoes! I have always found it kinda ironic that winter is th emost appealing time to hbave a nice, hot bowl of tomato soup, but also the time when tomatoes are hardest to come by.

https://peasandcrayons.com/2019/01/instant-pot-tomato-soup.html

I added:

1 diced red bell pepper

2 sticks sliced celery

1 extra cup chicken stock

And used Penzey's Italian seasoning rather than dried basil and oregano

(before cooking)

And after cooking, stirred in 1/3 cup heavy cream.

Instant pot tagine

 We LOVED this instant pot moroccan chicken dish from the food network:

 https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/instant-pot-moroccan-chicken-6551992

 So flavorful! The contrast of tangy olives with sweet apricots - so good!

 A few mods I made that turned out well:

• added 1/2 sliced red bell pepper (same step as onions)

•  used kalamata olives rather than ones with pimentos
• used craisins rather than prunes
• all cilantro rather than cilantro and parsley (all parsley may actually be tastier - I just didn't want to buy both)

I served it on couscous with roasted broccoli and cauliflower (which also goes nicely with Harissa sauce!)

Instant Pot Beef Barley Stew

 LOVE this recipe!!! It is such a thick, filling stew, and because it contains barley, you don't need to serve it with an additional starch. We make it with Knoche's stew beef. I've made it with chicken stock - works in a pinch, but loses some of the richness you get from the beef stock. Five stars, highly recommend!

https://momsdinner.net/instant-pot-beef-barley-stew/