Woodcutting by R. Street. Click on his cool art to go to his website!Hello, darlings! When La Diva was a kid growing up in Michigan, I always looked forward to autumn. To me, it meant a time for buying new school clothes, meeting new classmates and the excitement of new subjects and teachers. It meant apple picking at the cider mill and eating hot cinnamon sugar dusted doughnuts while chugging down cold, freshly-pressed apple cider! It was a time for picking out the perfect carving pumpkin at our local pumpkin patch and of course, autumn meant it was the season for one of every kid's favorite holidays: Halloween!
As daylight savings was over and it would get dark by five p.m., trick or treating was extra-scary in the Midwest, with the wind blowing the last leaves off almost barren trees creating a spooky, sinister silhouette! My brother, sister and I would rocket out the door as soon as night fell and we wouldn't come back home until 9 o' clock! And darlings, you KNOW we walked MILES to get a full pillowcase of candy! Ahh, what fun we had!
Our parents weren't worried about us, organized Halloween parties were rare, and we went to each and every house with a light on in our neighborhood! Shame on the poor fool without any candy for us as punishment was the usual "trick" of soaped windows or door bell ringing but honestly, we were more determined to get even more candy to care and moved quickly on to the next lit house! We were the last generation of the "free kids" that could still enjoy a sense of adventure and independence without constantly-hovering, over-protective parents controlling our play time!
Now that I live in Miami, I no longer have the cool, crisp air and changing leaves as a cue to autumn's arrival. The temperature drops from the 90's to the 80's and perhaps I am able to open my windows once in a while for fresh air! In spite of the local churches selling pumpkins, "fall," pumpkin carving and Halloween just isn't the same to La Diva amongst the ever-green coconut palms! (It could also be due to the fact that I have no kids and am in my 40's too! haha!)
And so this brings me to why I'm posting about pumpkins: Karmic Kitchen's Dim Sum SundayPumpkin/Squash Challenge. With all the varieties available, La Diva decided to go with butternut, as I find it to not have the stringiness of acorn squash and also has a firm texture and sweet taste. But first, a bit more info about PUMPKIN!
Here in Miami a very common type of pumpkin sold locally is called calabaza. It's grown in the Caribbean and South America and is a staple eaten year-round. The Cuban's make a fantastic flan out of it but it is used in many savory dishes as well.
The Japanese pumpkin is also called kabocha and is used frequently in tempura. The Japanese pumpkin is also very popular in Australia. Click on the photo to see more info!
This is a type of heirloom pumpkin that La Diva cooked most frequently while living in Australia.La Diva really got familiar cooking with pumpkin while living in Sydney, Australia. As the Aussies don't celebrate Halloween (and their autumn is in March!) they eat other varieties of pumpkin year 'round. I've never seen an orange pumpkin over there but mostly the green varieties like the Japanese kabocha.
During a Sydney winter, just about every restaurant has pumpkin soup on their menu! It's economical and very earthy and comforting as a soup choice. For something a bit different, La Diva likes to make a Thai version of pumpkin soup using coconut milk, ground coriander, chili and ginger and it's divinely spicy!
Eating out in Australia, I've had pumpkin in Thai stir-fries and coconut curries, Indian vegetable curries and also most commonly with roasted leg of lamb for Sunday dinner!
Indeed, Lady "Flo" Bjelke Peterson, ex-Queensland Premiere Sir Joe Peterson's wife, was renowned for her incredible baking and cooking skills and was famous for her pumpkin scones! Received as a wedding gift, La Diva has Lady Flo's entire cookbook of traditional Aussie dishes and desserts but luckily, I found a link for her original recipe here.
One of the dishes that's become a favorite in La Diva's house is my roasted pumpkin risotto! I didn't choose to make pumpkin but roasted cubed butternut squash in extra virgin olive oil. Make a standard risotto (I use chicken broth but of course you can also use veggie stock for those pesky vegetarians in your life!) and once the rice is cooked AL DENTE, add butter, grated parmesan cheese and the squash. I add a tablespoon each of freshly chopped marjoram, chives and thyme and stir through carefully at the very end. SERVE and mangia!
One of the dishes that's become a favorite in La Diva's house is my roasted pumpkin risotto! I didn't choose to make pumpkin but roasted cubed butternut squash in extra virgin olive oil. Make a standard risotto (I use chicken broth but of course you can also use veggie stock for those pesky vegetarians in your life!) and once the rice is cooked AL DENTE, add butter, grated parmesan cheese and the squash. I add a tablespoon each of freshly chopped marjoram, chives and thyme and stir through carefully at the very end. SERVE and mangia!
La Diva's roasted butternut squash risottoWhat's great about this dish, is that you can serve it as a nice vegetarian main all on it's own or you can serve it as a side dish. (I think some gourmet grilled chicken sausage would go great with it!) As pumpkin, squash and rice are cost-effective ingredients, this is also a great dish to consider as part of a tasty buffet for a crowd.
La Diva likes to serve the pumpkin risotto with crusty bread and a crunchy green salad for a satiating meal. (It's Big Fella Approved!) And, it's so delicious heated up the next day!
But wait, there's more!!!
Pumpkin Soup...inspired by the hundreds of pumpkin soup recipes out there. Entered by Heather Gallagher from Michigan. (you know her, she's my cousin that gave everyone a home-made pie at her wedding?!)
Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 cup chopped white onion
1 cup crisp corn kernels (canned without salt is actually good if fresh is not available) frozen is too soggy
1 cup of diced potato (I have used frozen "potatoes o'brien" instead and it's not too bad!)
1/2 cup of diced/finely chopped red pepper
32 oz chicken stock (I taste a huge difference between real, homemade stock and stock from the store...but I've use the store bought stuff before and nobody else complained.)
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp ground sage
2 cups of cooked pumpkin (I have tried canned and fresh and I prefer canned for this recipe because of the consistency)
1.5 cups of whole milk or half & half
1/8 cup blue cheese crumbles
chives for garnish/topping roasted, salted pepitas for garnish/topping
Method:
In a large dutch oven saute onion in the olive oil and butter until translucent and starting to develop a toasty brown around the edges. Toss in potatoes and cook until they are done and show some brown on the edges. Add corn, red pepper, black pepper and sage and cook all together for approx. 5 minutes. Add the chicken stock and simmer with vegetables for 15-20 minutes and then add the pumpkin, stirring gently.
Cook additional 5 minutes until heated through. Add milk and the blue cheese and heat to desired serving temperature. Top with chives, additional blue cheese crumbles and toasted, salted pepitas.
Heather says: "This is not a labor intensive, absolutely 'by the recipe' type recipe. I have added different ingredients like crumbled bacon, walnut pieces, green onion on top, a little horseradish mixed in, some maple syrup mixed in, some hot sauce on top, etc. It lends itself to just about any kind of special taste you're craving. It's super healthy with sodium being probably the worst offender in the whole dish. It's also very low in fat."
La Diva likes to serve the pumpkin risotto with crusty bread and a crunchy green salad for a satiating meal. (It's Big Fella Approved!) And, it's so delicious heated up the next day!
But wait, there's more!!!
La Diva's opened up the Dim Sum Sunday to her foodie fans on Facebook and received another FABULOUS entry for yummy pumpkin soup!
Pumpkin Soup...inspired by the hundreds of pumpkin soup recipes out there. Entered by Heather Gallagher from Michigan. (you know her, she's my cousin that gave everyone a home-made pie at her wedding?!)
Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 cup chopped white onion
1 cup crisp corn kernels (canned without salt is actually good if fresh is not available) frozen is too soggy
1 cup of diced potato (I have used frozen "potatoes o'brien" instead and it's not too bad!)
1/2 cup of diced/finely chopped red pepper
32 oz chicken stock (I taste a huge difference between real, homemade stock and stock from the store...but I've use the store bought stuff before and nobody else complained.)
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp ground sage
2 cups of cooked pumpkin (I have tried canned and fresh and I prefer canned for this recipe because of the consistency)
1.5 cups of whole milk or half & half
1/8 cup blue cheese crumbles
chives for garnish/topping roasted, salted pepitas for garnish/topping
Method:
In a large dutch oven saute onion in the olive oil and butter until translucent and starting to develop a toasty brown around the edges. Toss in potatoes and cook until they are done and show some brown on the edges. Add corn, red pepper, black pepper and sage and cook all together for approx. 5 minutes. Add the chicken stock and simmer with vegetables for 15-20 minutes and then add the pumpkin, stirring gently.
Cook additional 5 minutes until heated through. Add milk and the blue cheese and heat to desired serving temperature. Top with chives, additional blue cheese crumbles and toasted, salted pepitas.
Heather says: "This is not a labor intensive, absolutely 'by the recipe' type recipe. I have added different ingredients like crumbled bacon, walnut pieces, green onion on top, a little horseradish mixed in, some maple syrup mixed in, some hot sauce on top, etc. It lends itself to just about any kind of special taste you're craving. It's super healthy with sodium being probably the worst offender in the whole dish. It's also very low in fat."
Heather Gallagher's pumpkin soup with veggies, blue cheese and pepita garnish! YUM!You know what I like about Heather's soup recipe? There is some body and crunch to it! Many times I've had pumpkin soup that looks and tastes simply like pureed pumpkin baby food! blech! I'm lovin' the addition of the veggies and pepitas for crunch and texture and La Diva thinks you can never go wrong adding a bit of cheese (or bacon!) to a dish for an extra hit of flavor!
Thanks Heather, great job!
If you want to get other FABULOUS PUMPKIN AND SQUASH IDEAS click HERE to go to Karmic Kitchen and then check out the comments. If you click on the commenter's name, it will take you to THEIR BLOG and you can see what they posted!
Happy Dim Sum Sunday and HAVE A DIVA-LICIOUS WEEK, DARLINGS!
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A double shot, excellent.
ReplyDeleteI love the pumpkin rundown. I can get kabocha here in KC and since it's not tied to Halloween, it seems to be available more often than it's seasonal cousins.
I love the heirlooms because of all the different colors and shapes. It's kinda sad here in the states that it seems we're growing pumpkins more for Halloween and don't take advantage of their culinary aspects.
You made my fav, risotto. Hmmmmm.
And thanks to Heather for joining in with her wonderful soup. It's been a great week for potential vegetarian dishes.
Happy Dim Sum Sunday
Yes, the Aussies thinks Americans are "wasteful" just to grow pumpkins to carve and sit out! They sell chunks of the pale green heirloom over there and here in Miami you can get chunks of the calabaza.
ReplyDeleteI actually think I prefer to cook the risotto with pumpkin over the butternut, the one I used this time didn't have as much flavor or sweetness as pumpkins used from the past but it wasn't organic. Maybe that's why!
Don't tell the Aussies that really carved Halloween pumpkins are really just squirrel food. Bloody Yanks!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I think you should send that Flan link over to Rosie. I think a little flan my cheer her up.
Great write-up Diva. I remember all of those Halloweeny things from my childhood that my kids will never experience because of the times we live in. I have taken my kids out for Mischief Night to soap windows, TP trees and ring doorbells (neighbors that know it's cominG) and the kids had a great time. Maybe the pudge and I will do it again this year.
ReplyDeleteI am so culinarily challenged compared to everyone else here. I ahve never made a risotto but that one looks great. I have made a descent pumpkin soup before but never thought to add potatoes, bacon or cheese. You've given me some ideas.
Happy DSS!
This has been an awesome DSS! So many great dishes to try out!
ReplyDeleteI love this time of year. When I was a child my mother would make caramel covered apples and give them to all the children in the neighborhood. We would carve the pumpkins and then roast the seeds in the oven with lots of salt. This soup recipe is a recipe I'm going to try. It sounds just wonderful.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, my trick or treat days were cut short by that fucker that tried to kill his kid with the poison candy. But even before that, my mother recently told me that she used to take my candy and replace it with candy she had bought prior...just in case!
Caramel apples YUM!!!
ReplyDeleteJill, your mother was extra cautious! There's no way our mom would even get our candy, we ate so much of it before we got home! How funny.
Buzz, risotto is pretty easy but it takes a bit of time at the stove. Maybe you can get one of your monsters to stir it for a while and help you? :) I think it's great we are all challenging ourselves to learn and do more by encouraging each other and getting out of our comfort zones!
Wow, great recipes, great info too! I've lived in calabaza country and currently live in kabocha country (I have one in my crisper right now, anyone wanna bet if I'll use it before it goes bad? Cringe...)
ReplyDeleteLove the pumpkin risotto, made my mouth water.
Congrats on a fantastic DSS!
Oh and that's me, MakingSpace. I used a different ID to comment with. Don't like it.
ReplyDeleteMistress MJ loves this time of year as she is a fan of all things pumpkin and squash.
ReplyDeleteShe's busy packing on the pounds as we speak!