Pumpkin Chowder

The main ingredient of this dish is the pumpkin - perfect cooking ingredient for the Fall. I got inspired to cook with pumpkin by my friend M. who had such a fabulous halloween themed dinner on Halloween (bat pasta with a pumpkin sauce and pumpkin cider).

The most common pumpkin to use for cooking would be the small sugar pie pumpkin, the one that looks like a smaller version of the big pumpkins used for jack-o-lanterns. However, there are tons of different pumpkins and squashes that you can use and it could be fun to try some new ones. For this chowder I went and looked at all the different possible pumpkin and squashes. I ended up using a mix of sugar pie pumpkin, hubbard squash and sweet dumpling squash.

This is a recipe for a pumpkin chowder instead the pumpkin soup. A chowder is a vegetable or seafood stew, usually with added milk or cream. The difference to the soup is that the chowder is just a thicker soup with lots of good chunks in there.

Ingredients

• olive oil
• 1 leek - sliced
• 3 garlic gloves - minced
• 1 red pepper - chopped
• 1 red bell pepper - in cubes
• 1 green bell pepper - in cubes
• 2 pounds of pumpkin - peeled, seeded and in cubes 
• 2 teaspoon fresh marjoram - chopped
• 3-4 bay leaves
• 2 cups frozen corn
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup cream
• salt, pepper, cayenne pepper to taste
• garnishment: shaved pumpkin seeds (roasted and salted), parmesan cheese

Preparation

For the chowder you do need to peel, seed and cube the pumpkin. The pumpkins/squashes are pretty hard and it took me longer than expected. I would suggest to do this first, so that you don't need to rush later.

Heat the oil in a big pot, add the sliced leeks and cook for about 5 minutes till they are soft. Then add the minced garlic and chopped red pepper and cook for 2 more minutes for the spices to open up their flavor. Add the cubed bell peppers and cook for 5 more minutes. Then add the pumpkin cubes, marjoram, bay leaves and corn. Stir and add the white wine. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the vegetable broth and cook for 20-25 min till the pumpkin cubes are soft. Reduce heat, add cream and spice the mix to taste (salt, pepper, cayenne pepper). Do not boil with the cream in it, as it would separate.

Transfer 1/3 - 1/2 of the chowder to a blender and mix till smooth. Transfer it back to the chunky chowder still in the pot and mix. This will result in a creamy chowder, that will still have lots of flavorful chunks in it.

For garnishment I bought shaved pumpkin seeds, I quickly salted and roasted them at 350 degree for about 5 minutes. If you want to use the ones from your pumpkin you need to roast them and then peel them. You can also top the chowder of with some grated parmesan.

If you want to go all cutesy, you can by an extra small pumpkin and seed it and serve the soup in it :)

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Deviled Eggs

Deviled Eggs - one of my boyfriend's favorite appetizers - were another quick appetizer that we brought to our potluck dinner.

I got inspired to these deviled eggs by my work colleagues M. and K. who I was lucky to share the office with for a time. M. actually made these deviled eggs for a work potluck lunch and I immediately fell in love with them. On K.'s suggestion I looked up Paula Deen's recipe for spicy deviled eggs.

Over time I modified the recipe to my liking. Really, there are no limits - from the use of a spicy aioli mustard, the additions of chives, or peppers, or relish, or bacon...

Ingredients

• 12 eggs
• 1/4 cup aioli mustard 
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup sliced spring onions or chives
• 2 tablespoons relish
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• salt, pepper, cayenne pepper to taste

• optional: 2 slices of bacon - crispy cooked and cut into tiny pieces
• for garnishment: sliced red pepper rings, sliced spring onion/chive rings

Preparation

How to boil the eggs:
Place the eggs in a pot and fill with cold water till they are covered about 1 inch. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. As soon as it starts boiling, turn the heat down. Don't keep boiling them on high heat as that results in a green, ugly ring around the egg yolk. However, I like to leave the eggs on low heat for a few minutes, then I turn the temperature off and let the eggs sit on the warm stove and in the hot water, covered, for 10-12minutes. Drain the eggs and fill the pot with cold water. This will make it easier to peel the eggs. Peel the eggs, cut in half lengthwise and remove the egg yolk and place in a separate mixing bowl. Keep the egg white halves. They will be filled.

Mix the egg yolk:
Take the bowl with the egg yolk and smash them. Add the other ingredients (mustard, mayonnaise, spring onions/chives, relish, red pepper, vinegar). If you don't have aioli mustard, you can use any other mustard and add a minced garlic glove. Mix everything, if it is still to dry, add more mayonnaise. Add salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste. If you like it a little more crunchy and hearty, add the crispy bacon pieces and mix.

Fill the eggs:
Use a cookie decorating bag with a tip to fill the eggs. If you do not have one, you can easily use a ziploc back and cut of one corner. Fill the decorating pipe (or ziploc bag) with the egg yolk mix and . Pipe the mix into the egg white halves so that they are a little overfilled. Fill a plate with dried green split peas and place the egg halves on there in a circle. The peas will prevent the egg halves to move. Garnish each egg hall with a red pepper ring and/or a green spring onion or chive ring. Sprinkle red pepper powder over it.

Prosciutto wrapped Asparagus

The other day we were pondering what kind of appetizer we could bring to a potluck dinner. Life is busy and we did not have much time to prepare the dish, but we still wanted to have something "special". We first thought to recreate these bacon wrapped stuffed jalapenos that my boyfriend prepared for our Caribbean BBQ during summer. However, not everyone likes it spicy and I tried to think of other veggies we could wrap in bacon.

I remembered this one time during high school were my friends and I were invited to my friend K.'s place - a very nice place with winter garden, a back yard and a half blind dog. She always had exquisite taste and was very creative. That time she had prepared a few delicious looking appetizers that I had never tasted before. One was melon wrapped in prosciutto ham. At that time I did not fancy prosciutto much, I was a very picky eater and I guess I was to young to appreciate it. However, now it just sounded perfect. And because my boyfriend and I were craving asparagus that night, we decided to prepare asparagus wrapped in prosciutto.

Prosciutto, also called Parma ham, is much thinner than bacon, but has still tones of flavor as it is a dry cured ham. It tastes delicious uncooked and you can wrap the prosciutto around the already cooked asparagus and just eat it like this, but I decided I want to have crispy prosciutto. That's also the way I like my bacon - very, very crispy.

So, here is the recipe to a very FAST and SPECIAL appetizer:

Ingredients

• 1 bundle of green asparagus (about 20)
• 10 slices prosciutto (half the amount of asparagus)
• 3 tablespoons cream cheese (herb & chives) - optional
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Break off the bottom part of the asparagus, it is hard and not very tasty. Place the asparagus in a single line on an oven tray, sprinkle with olive oil and salt and pepper them. Toss around till all spears are coated. Cut each thin slice of prosciutto in half, lengthwise. Now you should have as many prosciutto slices as asparagus spears.

Optional:

Who wants it a little decadent, can smear a tiny little bit of cream cheese on each prosciutto slice. It will be a little juicer then.

Now, wrap one slice of prosciutto around one asparagus spear. Start at the top, a little under the scaled tip and circle downwards, so that there are almost no overlays. Put the asparagus back in the oven tray, make sure that the spears are separated and don't touch each other. If they touch, the prosciutto will steam and not get as crispy. You have now two choices of baking them:

1. Broil them for 5 min: Place them on an oven rack about 5 inches below the broiler, turn the asparagus after 3 minutes of broiling.
2. Bake them for 15 min: Pre-heat the oven to about 400 degrees, let the asparagus bake for about 7 minutes, then turn them around.

They can be served fresh out of the oven, or even cold the next day.

Ratatouille with Polenta

I am a big fan of vegetables, so ratatouille seems very fitting to me. However, my first ratatouille dish I ever ate was back in college in our dining hall and I didn't like it at all. It almost ruined this dish for me. I am not sure what recipe they followed, but I took this as a challenge to prove that there must be a ratatouille that I like.

This recipe is such an easy and fast recipe, with lots of fresh vegetables and herbs, gives me the feeling of eating healthy :) There is actually almost nothing you can do wrong or not like if you stick to the basics. What I especially liked about this recipe was the use of fried polenta slices instead of the usual pasta.

And please check back for my "soon to come" classic Ratatouille's ratatouille, another ratatouille recipe based on the cute movie :)

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion - diced
• 5 mushrooms - in halves or quarters
• 1 red bell pepper - in cubes
• 1 small eggplant - in cubes
• 1 zucchini - in cubes
• 1 yellow squash - in cubes
• 2 tomatoes - in cubes
• 2-3 garlic cloves - minced
• 2-3 bay leaves
• fresh herbs (majoram, thyme, rosemary, basil) - chopped
• 1 small can of diced tomatoes
• salt, pepper, italien herbs to taste

• 1 tablespoon butter
• Polenta, sliced

• parmesan cheese for garnish

Preparation

As mentioned, this is a very easy dish to prepare. Just dice the onions, cut the mushrooms in halves or quarters (depending on how big they are), and cube the bell pepper, eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and tomatoes. Chop the fresh herbs, about 1-2 tablespoon of each.

Start with sautéing the onion in the olive oil for about 3 minutes, then add the mushrooms and bell pepper and keep sautéing for 5 more minutes until you can see that the mushrooms change their color. Next, add the rest of the fresh vegetables (eggplant, zucchini, squash and tomatoes), the garlic, bay leaves and the fresh herbs. Stir everything and let cook for a few more minutes (5-7 min).

In the meantime start frying the polenta. I chose a polenta with dried tomatoes and basil. There are a variety of different flavors, all work very well with the vegetables. Cut the polenta in 1/2 inch thick slices, heat up the butter in the frying pan and add the slices. Let them fry for 5 min, then turn them around. They are ready when the slices are slightly crispy and golden brown.

After all the vegetables have cooked for a few minutes, add the can of diced tomatoes to the vegetables and stir everything. The can will not add too much liquid, but I do like it when the vegetables are in a little bit of a sauce. Add salt, pepper and dried italian herbs to taste. The fresh herbs have been added earlier, so the sauce only needs to be heated up. Cook for a few more minutes (3-5min), till everything is hot and the vegetables are soft. Serve with the polenta slices on the side, and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese on top (which I completely forgot in the end).

Mummy Dogs - Happy Halloween!

These Mummy Dogs are easy to make and perfect for Halloween. We made them as an appetizer for a Halloween Party... I got the idea from one of the Pilsburry classic cookbooks #362, a small mini cook recipe magazines.

Ingredients

• 2 Hot Dog packages (bun sized, 14 oz package, 8 pieces/package)
• 2 Crescent Dinner Rolls 
• Pepper Jack Cheese
• Sea Salt (or coarse salt)
• Salsa flavored Cheese Dip

Preparation

Open and unfold the Crescent Rolls. I got confused by the name "Rolls", but basically they are just the normal Crescents croissants. The unfolded dough has 4 squares, each square with a triangular folding line. Try to mend the triangular folding line, but separate the squares. Now, cut each square lengthwise in 10 stripes. These will be the bandages that we will wrap around the hog dogs. Each hot dog will get 5 stripes.

Slice the cheese lengthwise in stripes. Hold one cheese strip onto the hot dog and then wind a dough bandage around the hot dog, try to cover the entire hot dog, stretch the dough if necessary. Keep a little space at the top of the dog on the opposite side of the cheese free of bandages, it will be the face of the mummy. Continue with 4 more dough stripes, wrap them around the hot dog like bandages.

Place the mummy dogs on a baking tray, the side with the cheese down (face up), spray the mummy dogs with oil and sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake for 10-13 min.

Take mummy dogs out, let them cool for a few minutes and then "paint" the face with the salsa flavored cheese dip. I used a tooth pick to paint the eyes and mouth. You can serve the mummy dogs warm or cold, with the salsa on the side.

Happy Halloween!

Wassail

Last year, we spent the thanksgiving holiday time with my boyfriend's sister T. and her family. She has 4 little girls and it was a wonderful holiday time with lots of fun and nice food. We made this great warm holiday punch, it is called "Wassail" and basically is a mix of fruit and citrus juices and mulling spices. We followed the recipe and used a mix of orange, apple, lemon and cranberry juice with emphasize on the cranberry juice, so that we had a very reddish looking drink (see picture on top).

This year, I couldn't wait to re-create the drink. I found this cranberry-apple juice mix that I used and the drink turned out more yellow.

The ancient English word "Wassail" has two meanings: it can refer to the hot mulled punch, but it can also refer to a salute on someone's health, "waes hail" (literally: be you healthy). Originally, the drink was a mulled cider drink and the verb "wassailing" referred to a ceremony of drinking and singing to the health of the apple trees in hope to scare away evil spirits and ensure a good harvest.

There are lots of variations for this drink. Mix juices you like, you can also add tea or even stronger beverages such as cider, wine, brandy, or rum. 

Ingredients

• 1 can concentrated frozen orange juice (+ 4 cans of water)
• 1 can concentrated frozen cranberry - apple juice (+ 4 cans of water)
• 1 cup of fresh pressed lemon juice
• 3 lemon slices
• 3 orange slices
• 6 cinnamon sticks
• 6 anis stars
• 10 gloves
• 1 cup cider mate mix (orange peel, dried berries, gloves, ginger, anis star pieces)

Preparation

It is up to you what kind of juices you use. A mix of orange, apple and cranberry juice works really good. The more cranberry juice, the redder the drink gets, what can be fun for the Halloween time. It works good with frozen juices that you can always have ready in your freezer. You can also add tea to the juice mix such as rose hip tea, raspberry tea or peach tea.

This year, I used only two cans of frozen juice: orange and a cranberry-apple juice mix.

Combine the orange and cranberry-apple juice mix in a small pot or slow cooker, add water to the juice concentrate and stir till the concentrate is dissolved. Add the lemon juice, the orange and lemon slices and the spices. I always put the spices directly in the juice and use a strainer in the end. Some folks like to put the spices in a cheesecloth, so that they can just take them out in the end. It's not as messy but it requires to have a cheesecloth. Heat the punch and let it cook on medium for at least 30 minutes for the spices to unfold. In my experiences, the juices are already sweet enough, but if you like it sweeter, use honey or sugar. Serve warm and use a small strainer to pour into a cup.

German style "Curry Wurst"

The "German Curry Wurst" is one of the most famous "fast food" dishes in Germany and you can usually buy it on almost every event and outdoor food cart. The Curry Wurst goes really good with Pommes Frites (french fries) or just a good baked roll. 

All you need for a "good" curry wurst is the right sausage and the right sauce. This is easier said than done here in America. I went to a special German store that has original German meats, breads, candy and condiments. The store is called "Edelweiss" and I was so happy as I discovered it. I think this is as close to original German food as you can get here in the US. They do make their own sausage here in the US, so, it is still a little "americanized". 

However, even if it is not true authentic, the sausages are delicious. I bought a variety of different ones that in my opinion seemed to work well as a Curry Wurst: a White Wurst, a Curry Wurst, a German Wurst, a Fine Bratwurst. 

I was also able to find the right sauce: A Curry and a Schaslik Ketchup. These are flavored Ketchups, spiced with some curry, cayenne, cumin, etc. It is not the same to just use Ketchup and Curry powder.

Ingredients:

• Sausage
• Curry Ketchup
• Schaslik and Zigeuner Sauce (if available, not necessary)
• Curry powder
• Hot sauce
• side dish: french fries or role

Preparation:

The Curry Wurst tastes best, if you really grill it on a BBQ. When the Curry Wurst is done, plate it and slice it.

In the mean time prepare the sauce. Therefore, I warm up the Curry Ketchup, mix it with the Schaschlik Ketchup and Zigeuner Sauce (if I have some, but not necessary), and then I add some Curry and Cayenne Pepper, some Hot Sauce.

As soon as the sauce is warm, pour it on top of the Curry Wurst, sprinkle with some additional Curry powder and serve with French Fries/ Roll.

Guten Appetit!