Pumpkin Pudding with maple pecans

A variety of Squash are abundant in the fall. Butternut, buttercup, blue hubbard, red kuri, kabocha, sugar, cheese, sweet dumpling, the list goes on. One of my favorite things to do on a chilly autumn day is bake a squash in my oven. I turn my oven onto 350, wash my squash of choice, put it on a large baking/roasting pan and pop it into the oven – whole. Check it after about an hour or until the squash is soft.  Then I take it out wait for it to cool and I easily peel the skin away, scoop out the delicious flesh, discarding the seeds (some folks save the seeds, wash then, dry them and toast them, by all means go for it if you got the patience) and now, with all this yummy fresh baked squash you are ready to make some fall goodness. If you want to make this recipe into a pie, by all means do. Just pour the pudding into a unbaked pie crust and follow the same baking instructions below. Also if you have some baked squash left over you can make a soup or add it to a stew…

Pudding

3 cups cooked squash

¼ cup maple syrup

¼ cup agave

½ cup unsweetened soy milk, coconut, cow or homemade almond milk

¾ tsp ground cinnamon

¾ tsp ground ginger

1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (i never use the pre-ground nutmeg. buy the whole nutmeg and a nice little grater and you just made your dish taste that much better!!)

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp sea salt

2 TB arrowroot powder

1 tsp agar powder (if you can only find agar flakes you have to dissolve 4 1/2 tsp agar flakes in a pot over medium heat with the milk of your choice, stirring until dissolved, about 10 minutes. You will know they are dissolved when you don't see any flakes on the back of your stirring spoon.)

* use can omit the arrowroot and agar altogether and add 1 egg and 1 egg yoke instead.

Pecans

1 ½ cup pecan halves, coarsely chopped

1 Tb molasses

¼ cup dark maple syrup

1 tsp arrowroot powder

Toss everything in bowl. Mix and set aside.

Preheat oven 350.

Add everything except arrowroot and agar to food processor. Process until smooth. Taste. Add more agave if necessary. Then add arrowroot and agar. Mix until combine. Pour into, lightly buttered or coconut buttered, 9 inch pie dish (or pie crust if using). Make sure you put the pie dish on baking sheet so nothing drips in the oven. Cover with parchment paper then foil. Bake for about 50 minutes. Be-careful when taking off the parchment paper, it the pudding may stick too it and be a little gooey. 

Remove from oven and remove parchment paper. Evenly distribute pecan mixture over the top. Put bake into oven and bake, uncovered, for another 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool a couple of hours before serving. 

Garden Gazpacho

These are the last few weeks for tomatoes so get em' while you can. And if you are in LA it feels more like summer than fall! So make yourself one of the most refreshing soups and best ways too use those soft tomatoes. At the farmers market they sell soft tomatoes for half price but you gotta ask where they are at!! Remember not too refrigerate your tomatoes. They will lose much of their flavor if you do. So use them asap. Oh and you may notice that there are no bell peppers in this recipe. Why you ask? Well because I am not a fan of the bell peppers. But if you are then by all means chop some up and add them into the food processor with the rest of the vegetables. To each is own. Make sure you patiently wait for the soup to chill.

Soup

4 large heirloom tomatoes, large chop (I use pineapple and black cherokee tomatoes)

2 medium cucumbers, peeled and chopped

1 small red onion, chopped

1 small jalapeno pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped

large handful of fresh cilantro, chopped

4 basil leaves, chopped

fresh squeezed juice of 2 limes

2 tsp sea salt

fresh ground pepper

Garnish

1 fresh corn, kernels only

1/2 hass avocado, small dice

cilantro leaves

Place tomatoes and sea salt in food processor, pulse until blended but still a little chunky. Pour into large bowl. Then add cucumber, onion and jalapeno into food processor, pulse until finely chopped. Add to tomato bowl. Combine. Mix in fresh cilantro, basil, fresh ground pepper and lime juice. Taste. Add ½ tsp salt if necessary. Chill in fridge for at least an hour. Taste. You may need to add a pinch more salt and possibly a squeeze more lime juice. Ladle into bowls and garnish with the corn kernels, avocado and a beautiful leaf of cilantro. I like to serve this with Mary's Gone Crackers for an extra crunch! http://www.marysgonecrackers.com/ns/intro.php

French Onion Soup

This soup is amazingly rich. The special somethin' somethin' comes from the use of unpasteurized dark miso. I use south river miso. They make their miso using a variety of grains, beans and sea vegetables. They are all wonderful. Miso not only add extra depth to any soup but has exceptional nutritional values. Unpasteurized miso is a 'living food' and contains natural digestive enzymes that aid in digestion. So feel free to melt a thick piece of cheddar cheese on top and toast a baguette and while you're at it open a good bottle of red (very snobby wine list coming soon!) and you got yourself a meal fit for a queen. Unfortunately, there is no vegan alternative for the cheese that I have found to taste remotely good. As for a gluten free bread option, I love grindstone bakery. Yes they are up in San Francisco but you can order a bunch on line and freeze them. Also if you live in the LA area, Erewhon supermarket thankfully started to carry them. The loaves are made with quinoa, millet and buckwheat flours so they are whole grains, dense, very nutritious and delicious toasted.  http://www.grindstonebakery.com. 

Soup

2 TB olive oil

4 pounds red and yellow onions (about 8), halved and thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

½ cup port

8 cups vegetable stock 

2 to 3 TB dark miso paste

fresh ground black pepper

fresh parsley, chopped

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large soup pot. Add onions and garlic, dash of sea salt. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions have softened, 12 to 15 minutes.

Uncover and continue to stir and cook until onions are dark golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. (If bottom becomes brown add ¼ cup water and scrap up browned bits with wooden spoon.)

Add port and cook until syrupy, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in broth. Bring to simmer. Turn off stove. Mix 3 Tb miso in ½ cup water and then blend into soup. (Do not boil miso. It losses the nourishing medicinal properties.) Taste. Depending on your salty taste buds add more miso if necessary. Add freshly ground pepper and garnish with a touch of fresh chopped parsley.

Homemade Vegetable Stock

This is a basic stock that can be used with pretty much any soup or stew.  You can always tailor your homemade stock to enhance the soup you are making. For example, if you're making a sweet vegetable soup, add sweet potato or squash for extra sweetness to your stock. You can also use your vegetable trimmings, such as leek tops, mushroom caps, squash skins and fennel tops. But avoid spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, kale, collards, brussel sprouts, beets, onion skins and wilted vegetables. They will make your stock bitter. The stock will last about 5 days in the fridge and 2 months in the freezer.

Stock

1 large onion, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

1 leek, white and green parts or 2 leek tops, washed and chopped

2 carrots, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

1 celery rib, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

1 parsnip, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

8 ounces mushrooms, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces (if fresh is not available use dried)

1 whole garlic bulb, unpeeled and cut in half

2 quarts filtered water

2 bay leaves

10 black pepper corns

handful of fresh parsley 

handful of fresh sprigs of thyme or 1 tsp dried

Put everything in a soup pot. Bring to boil. Skim off any foam that forms. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 1 hour. Strain vegetables and voila, you have made your very own homemade stock.

Chestnut Soup with White Truffle Oil

Simply elegant and damn good!!

Soup

2 TB olive oil

1 cup shallots, chopped

¼ cup celery, chopped

3 cups cooked whole chestnuts

3 ½ cups vegetable stock

¼ cup unsweetened edensoy soy milk

Pinch of cayenne pepper

White truffle oil

In a large saucepan heat the oil.  Add shallots and celery; sauté until tender.  Add chestnuts and 3 cups stock.  Bring to boil.  Cover and reduce heat to medium-low for 15 minutes.  Remove 1/3 cup chestnuts from pan and chop coarsely; set aside.

Puree soup in blender.  Return to pan and mix in ½ stock and ¼ cup soy milk.  Season with salt and cayenne pepper.  Ladle soup into bowls; add chopped chestnuts and drizzle with white truffle oil and a leaf of fresh parsley.

Yellow Split Pea Soup with Ginger and Squash

I promise you won't miss the ham hock in this wonderful soup. Remember to soak the spilt peas overnight (drain and rinse in fresh water in the morning). You can use green peas if you wish but I just love the brightness of the yellow peas mixed with the orange flesh of the squash and the green of fresh chopped cilantro or parsley to garnish.

Soup

1 cup yellow split peas, soaked

1 medium squash (butternut, buttercup, kabocha or delicata), peeled, seeded and cut into small dice OR if you don't have squash you can replace with 1 large sweet potato. 

1 dried smoked chipotle chile

1 2-inch chunk of fresh ginger, cut into 3 slices

6 cups filtered water

Sea Salt

2 TB olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 celery stalk, cut into small dice

1 TB mirin (Japanese rice wine)

1 TB mellow miso, dissolved in 2 TB warm water

1/2 cup fresh cilantro or flat-leaf parsley, chopped

In medium pot combine spilt peas, chile, ginger and 5 cups water over high heat. Bring to boil. over heat. Lower to simmer and cook, covered, for 45 minutes or until the split peas are soft and have broken down. Add 1 tsp salt. Stir. Discard ginger and chile.

Warm oil in sauce pan and add onion, garlic, squash and celery. Saute about 10 minutes over medium heat until vegetables are soft and beginning to brown. Add vegetables to spilt peas. Add mirin to vegetable sauce pan along with 1 cup water and cook until all the brown goodness is cooked into the liquid. Add to spilt peas. 

Dissolve miso in 2 TB warm water and add to spilt peas. Stir. Taste. Add more salt if necessary.

Garnish with fresh chopped cilantro or parsley. 

Butternut Squash and Chestnut Soup

Nothing says fall like butternut squash and chestnuts together, as one, in your mouth. Ahhh a little piece o' heaven.

Soup

1 medium butternut squash, about 2 ½ pounds, chopped, 6 cups

6 to 7 cups vegetable broth (homemade is best, but in a pinch I use Imagine organic no-chicken vegetable stock)

2 TB olive oil

1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped

2 tsp mined garlic

¼ cup white wine

10 fresh sage leaves, thinly sliced, about 2 tsp

Chestnut Puree

½ pound vacuum-packed whole chestnuts, about 1 ½ cups

1 cup vegetable stock

Sea Salt

Fresh ground black pepper

Place chestnuts in small saucepan with the stock and bring to boil.  Lower heat, cover pan, and simmer until soft, about 20 minutes.  Puree in blender until smooth, adding stock as needed to thin. And season with salt and pepper.  Set aside until needed.

Place the chopped squash and 5 cups of the stock in a soup pot.  Bring to boil, lower the heat, and simmer until squash is tender and starting to beak apart, about 30 minutes.

Heat the oil and butter in a sauté pan and add onion, ¼ tsp salt, and pinch of pepper.  Cook over medium heat until onions soften, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic and cook 1 minute more.  Pour in the wine and cook until pan is nearly dry, about 3 minutes.

Add Chestnut puree and reserve ½ cup for the garnish.  Add the remaining puree to the squash, along with the onions and a pinch of salt.  Cook together over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes.  Place in blender and puree until smooth, adding stock as needed.  Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.  Garnish each serving with a swirl of reserved Chestnut Puree and sprinkle with sage.

Japanese Autumn Quick Stew

This is one of my all time favorite, quick (30 minutes or less) meals in a pot. Serve with your choice of cooked grain or add a cup of cooked beans to the stew at the end of cooking. Warming, satisfying and yummy!

Stew

½ kabocha squash, seeded, 1 inch thick cubes ( I leave skin on)

1 small onion, halved and thinly slices

6 sprigs fresh thyme, take herbs of 3 sprigs and leave others whole

2 large fresh sage leaves

1 piece kombu, cut into 4 - 2 in thick slices

2 TB wakame seaweed

½ napa cabbage, sliced

4 large fresh shitake mushroom, stemmed, caps left whole

6 coins fresh ginger, sliced

dash sea salt

2 TB mellow miso

2 scallions, white and green, thinly sliced

hot toasted sesame oil

In a medium pot add layer of sliced onion, sprinkle with half fresh thyme, add cubed squash, sprinkle kombu and wakame evenly around, sage, cabbage and mushrooms. Add enough filtered water to cover the squash. Sprinkle with pinch of salt and bring to boil. Turn heat down to simmer and cover, about 20 minutes. Discard thyme sprigs and sage. Turn off heat and stir in miso. Add more if desired. Garnish with scallion if desired and dash of hot toasted sesame oil.

Kabocha Squash and Adzuki bean Stew

Tis the season for warming, nourishing soups and stews. This is one of my favorites. Adzuki beans, according to traditional Chinese medicine, strengthen the kidneys and are very easy to digest. They are also one of the only beans that you don't need to soak so you can make this stew on the fly. This is a hearty bowl of all the wonderful highlights of the season. Yummy!

Stock

8 dried shitake mushrooms

1 4 inch piece kombu

2 scallions, white and green part, thinly sliced

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

2 TB tamari

2 TB mirin

6 cups water

Soup

3 pound kabocha squash, scrubbed and cleaned

2 tsp sesame oil

2 onions, thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 hot red chili pepper (Serrano, jalapeno or thai), seeded and minced

1 ¼ tsp sea salt

¼ cup scallions, white and green part, thinly sliced

Adzuki Beans

1 TB sesame oil

1 TB fresh ginger, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 ½ cup cooked adzuki beans

2 TB mirin

1 tsp umeboshi vinegar

¼ tsp sea salt

Preheat oven 375.

Make stock: combine all ingredients into pot. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer, uncovered for about 20 minutes. Strain the broth.

Wash squash and put into oven. Bake about 20 minutes. Take out with oven mits and carefully cut in half. (it’s easier to cut when a little warm) Put halved down on parchment lined baking sheet and rub in sesame oil onto skin. Roast, cut side down for about 25 minutes or until tender. Remove and let cool. Discard seeds and scoop out flesh into bowl. Set aside.

Warm 1 TB sesame oil in pot over medium heat. Add onions, and sauté until soft, about 10 minutes. The add garlic and chili pepper and cook 1 minute.

Add squash, salt and 4 cups of stock. Cover and bring to boil. Lower heat and cook, partially cover for 10 minutes to blend flavors. Take off heat. Cool slightly. Transfer to blender and blend until smooth. Return soup to pot and taste. Add a few drops of hot toasted sesame oil (or regular toasted) and a pinch of cayenne if not to hot and more salt if necessary. 

Make beans: in a medium skillet combine oil, ginger and garlic, Cook over medium heat about 2 minutes. Then add cooked beans, mirin, vinegar and sale. Stir to combine.

Serve soup with ¼ cup adzuki beans in each bowl and sprinkle sliced scallions on top.

Farmers Market Minestrone with basil pesto

I got inspired my Martha Stewart again.  I always read what new recipes she is cooking up. Then I take the basic recipe and put my spin on it. I think in color. Sometimes. Especially when making a soup. And this was definitely the case with this minestrone. Taking full advantage of the abundant fall produce at the santa monica farmers market. And don't even think about not making the pesto. It makes the soup. It does. The flavor. The color. The beauty. The deliciousness. Enjoy!

Soup

2 TB olive oil

1 medium red onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 medium carrots, scrubbed, halved and cut into half moons

1 large celery stalk, sliced

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp fresh rosemary

1 tsp fresh thyme

2 bay leaves

2 tsp sea salt

fresh ground black pepper

4 pounds heirloom pineapple tomatoes, skin peeled and chopped or you can use 1 can (14.5 ounces) whole, peeled organic tomatoes, chopped (reserve juice)

10 purple baby potatoes, halved and cut

1/4 head savoy cabbage, cored and thinly sliced

2 cups fresh shelled beans or 1 can (15 ounces) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 pound green beans

1 ear corn, kernels only

1 /4 cup parsley, chopped

1 bunch green kale, chopped

2 cups cooked quinoa, 1/3 cup on top of soup when serving in individual bowls.

In large pot heat oil and saute onions, garlic, carrot, celery, red pepper flakes, rosemary, thyme, bay leaves and 1 tsp sea salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion begins to turns golden, about 8 minutes. Add tomatoes, cook about 1 minute then add potato, cabbage, beans, 6 cups filtered water and reserved tomato juice. 

Bring to boil then turn down to simmer for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are soft. Add green beans, corn kernels, parsley and kale. Cook about 5 minutes or until kale is tender. Add 1 tsp sea salt (or more if needed) and fresh ground black pepper.

Pesto

2 cups green basil

2 cups purple basil

2 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 TB fresh lemon juice

4 TB olive oil

Put everything in food processor and chopped until combine.

To serve ladle soup into bowl with 1/3 cup cooked quinoa, fresh sliced basil leaves and large TB of pesto (bring pesto to the table so you can add more if desired). Oh and if you can eat dairy serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese! Toast some nice gluten free bread (or baguette) and serve on side. Yum Yum!