Pumpkin Scones
Do you have a bowl of leftover pumpkin puree staring at you every time you open the refrigerator? If you haven’t yet over-dosed on all things pumpkin, these yummy scones are a great treat for breakfast.
Ingredients
scones
½ cup pumpkin puree (Sweet potato works too.)
1 egg
1 T vanilla
2 cups flour – white whole wheat or all purpose
2 tspn. baking powder
¼ cup plus 2 T granulated sugar
½ tspn. salt
½ cup cold unsalted butter
½ cup chopped pecans
1/8 cup millet (optional)
topping
¼ cup chopped pecans
2T turbinado sugar
2 tspn. cinnamon
2 T milk or cream
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the puree, egg, and vanilla.
- Place the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Pulse several times to combine.
- Cut butter into small cubes. Add to flour mixture and pulse until mixture resembles a coarse corn meal.
- Add the dry mixture, chopped pecans, and millet to the bowl with the puree and stir or mix by hand just until combined.
- Dump the dough mix onto a lightly floured board and pat into an 8 inch disk. Cut disk in half, then quarters and then into eighths as evenly as possible.
- Place the scones on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- For topping, combine pecans, sugar and cinnamon.
- Brush the tops of the scones with milk and sprinkle generously with topping.
- Bake for 17-19 minutes, until the tops begin to crack. If your oven browns unevenly, turn the scones once after 10 minutes.
Baked Ricotta with Sundried Tomatoes
Baked Ricotta with Sundried Tomatoes
Ingredients
2 cups whole milk or part skim ricotta
3 eggs
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, fresh grated
freshly cracked black pepper and coarse sea salt
pinch of nutmeg
6 sundried tomatoes
1 T fresh flat leaf parsely, roughly chopped
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Generously butter 6, 6 ounce ramekins.
- Vigorously combine all ingredients except the tomatoes and parsely.
- Place a sundried tomato in the bottom of each ramekin.
- Divide ricotta mixture evenly among the ramekins. Bake until golden brown and slightly puffy, about 30-35 minutes.
- Let cool for 10 minutes. Use a knife to release each baked ricotta from the ramekin onto a serving plate.
- Sprinkle with parsely and serve with fresh, crusty bread and olives.
- Refrigerate leftovers. Bring to room temperature before serving.
Overnight No-Knead Multi-Grain Bread
This bread is delicious the day it’s baked, but makes an even better toast. Try it with a generous slathering of natural peanut butter. And don’t be afraid to experiment with different flours, grains and seeds.
Overnight No-Knead Multi-Grain Bread
Ingredients
2 cups all purpose or bread flour
1 cup rye or oat flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup of mixed seeds and grains (quinoa, millet, amaranth, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds)
1/4 tspn active dry yeast
1 1/2 tspn salt
2 cups water
Preparation
- Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Add water and stir with a long handled spoon until the dough resembles a shaggy ball, adding more water if necessary.
- Cover bowl with cling wrap.
- Allow dough to rise at room temperature for 12-24 hours. It’s ready when it has nearly doubled in size.
- Lightly oil a large bowl and sprinkle it with wheat bran, wheat germ, or flax meal.
- Generously flour a board and your hands. Turn dough onto board and press into a large rectangle. Fold it into thirds like a business letter. Turn it 90 degrees and fold in thirds again.
- Place in prepared bowl seam side down. Cover with cling wrap and let rise for 2-3 hours.
- Put a 6-8 quart heavy covered pot in the oven.
- Preheat oven to 475°F degrees.
- When the dough is ready, remove the hot pot from the oven and confidently flip the dough from the bowl into the pot.
- Quickly sprinkle the top with your favorite combination of seeds and grains. (optional)
- Shake the pot to adjust the dough ball if necessary. Cover pot with the lid.
- Reduce heat to 450 and return pot to the oven.
- Bake for 45 minutes.
- Remove lid and bake for an additional 5 minutes.
- Cool on a wire rack for an hour before slicing. (The hour wait is the hardest part!)
Cauliflower Soup with Gorgonzola and Pear Relish
Yes, it’s a fall soup, but since I’m still waiting for spring veggies in Chicago and I had a few slightly mushy pears on hand and I was dying to try this recipe and…who cares. It’s delicious! Don’t even think about skipping the relish.
Cauliflower Soup with Gorgonzola and Pear Relish
Adapted from Skye Gyngell’s A Year in My Kitchen.
Ingredients
1 medium cauliflower, broken into small florets
15g unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
2 bay leaves
4 sprigs thyme, plus extra to garnish
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1L chicken stock
250g Gorgonzola
100ml heavy whipping cream
chopped parsely or fresh thyme leaves for garnish
Pear Relish
25g unsalted butter
3 T dried cranberries, soaked for 10 minutes in water to soften
3 ripe pears peeled and chopped into 1cm dice
75ml cider vinegar
2 T granulated sugar1 cinnamon stick
3 sprigs thyme
Preparation
- Melt the butter over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add the onions and sweat for 5 minutes, until translucent. Add cauliflower, thyme, bay leaves, and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring now and then, for 2 minutes. Add the stock, cover, and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the cauliflower is soft.
- Meanwhile, make the relish. Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add the pears and cook for 3-5 minutes until they soften. Add the other ingredients and cook, uncovered, stirring often, for 15-20 minutes, until thick and glossy. Remove the thyme. Season with sea salt and black pepper.
- Fish out the thyme and bay leaves from the caulifower pot. Add the gorgonzola and cream. Pour into a blender and whiz until smooth. (Or use a hand blender.) Season with salt and pepper.
- Ladle soup into shallow bowls. Spoon a generous tablespoon of relish into the center and sprinkle with thyme or parsely.
Tomato, Feta, and Cucumber Skewers
A final tribute to summer.
Ingredients
cherry tomato
cube of Greek Feta
1/2” cube of a peeled cucumber
Serve on toothpicks with Tzatziki Sauce. Easy, refreshing, pretty on the plate and delicious. Each toothpick holds a bite of summer. Until next year….
Green Tomato Tart
Still have a pile of green tomatoes sitting in your kitchen? Grab a few and try this delicious, easy tart. I used an all butter pie crust. If you have to cheat, use a puff pastry sheet found in the freezer section of your grocery store. It tastes better and looks prettier than the pre-made refrigerated pie crusts.
Baked Polenta with Mushrooms
This tasty vegetarian entree from Food and Wine Magazine is oven ready in thirty minutes. Just saute the shrooms and grate the cheese while the polenta gently simmers. Make it a day ahead and keep it in the fridge until you’re ready to bake it.
Wild Mushrooms with Garlic and Sherry
 Hen of the woods mushrooms |
 Chicken of the woods mushrooms |
Score at the farmer’s market today!
Ingredients
2 T butter
1 garlic clove, minced
12 oz assorted wild mushrooms, sliced (about 3 cups)
3 T dry sherry
5 T chopped fresh Italian parsley
crusty bread
Preparation
- Melt butter in a large frying pan.
- Add garlic and mushrooms, cover and cook 3-5 minutes.
- Add sherry, cook, uncovered to evaporate liquids.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Sprinkle with parsley.
- Break off a hunk of crusty bread, pour some yummy wine (maybe a Pinot or a Sancerre – nothing too heavy), and enjoy!
Bob Vivant 