Roasted Pumpkin Slices

Ingredients:

1 small pumpkin or 1/4 large pumpkin

1 tablespoon olive oil

sea salt

choice of spices*

1 tablespoon packed brown sugar

Directions:

Heat oven to 400F. Using a large metal spoon, scoop out the seeds and insides of the pumpkin. (Save the seeds for roasting.) Use a sharp chef's knife to cut slices of pumpkin, about 1-inch thick.

Place pumpkin slices on baking sheet covered in aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil and rub on both sides of pumpkin. Season with salt, spices and brown sugar. Roast for 20-25 minutes, depending on thickness of pumpkin slices.

 

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* Spice options. Comment: don't be shy: Be a little adventurous.

a) Pumpkin pie spice, or the ingredient spices (Yumm!):
   ground clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, maybe allspice.

b) Garam masala is good! It's an Indian spice blend.

c) Cumin & curry powder is a good mix.

d) Chipotle chile powder with extra brown sugar, makes a good smokey-spicey-sweet blend.

e) Tandoori spice blend, with curry powder. (Yumm!)

Hint: Mix the seasonings together with a little of the brown sugar, and sprinkle them on together. I use a tiny mesh sieve to sprinkle the spice.

Comment: After your meal of roast pumpkin, go back to the aluminum foil that it was roasted on. Where the brown sugar, butter and spices melted on the foil, if they mixed, they made a very nice candy. Tandoori candy is surprisingly good!

Eggnog Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients

3 cups flour (white or wheat)

2 tsp dry yeast

1 cup lukewarm eggnog [Pumpkin eggnog is even better]

¼ ground, dried pumpkin

2 tsp pumpkin spices

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp melted butter (optional)

Topping:

Mix ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice with ¼ cup powdered sugar, and 1½ TBSP raw sugar; sprinkle on top of bread before baking.

 

Instructions

In the mixer bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough (about 4 1/2 cups, or a little less). Knead on low for 6 to 8 minutes, or until smooth. [Can be divided at this point, goodies added to one, while the other is prepared for raising.]

Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise an hour or so, until the dough has doubled in volume.

Punch down dough. Pinch or cut off small handfuls of dough about the size of a large golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes. [Refrigeration up to 24 hours is OK here. If possible, warm to room temperature before proceeding.]

When doubled in size, divide the dough as appropriate for the pans you're using.

For smallish loaves, divide in two and shape each ball into a log. Place each log into a greased 7 inch bread pan, cover with plastic foil and leave until doubled in volume.

In the meantime heat the oven at 375F.

Bake the loaves of bread for 25-30 minutes.

As soon as you remove them form the oven brush the top with the melted butter.

Double Chocolate Espresso Custard Ice Cream

Ingredients

3 cups heavy cream

1 cup milk

1½ cups sugar

⅔ cup espresso coffee beans
1 TBSP coffee emulsion

6 egg yolks

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted

¼ cup Dutch-processed cocoa

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

Combine the cream, milk, and sugar together in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the mixture becomes hot and the sugar dissolves. Heat to about 175⁰.

Grind the beans very roughly; goal is just to crack the beans: a pulse or three. When the milk mixture is hot, add the cracked beans, and steep in the hot milk for 30 minutes or so. 

Strain the mixture into another bowl, clean the strainer, and strain the mixture a second time, back into the saucepan.

Whisk the egg yolks together in a spacious, heat-tolerant bowl. Temper the yolks by slowly adding one cup of the hot cream mixture while whisking vigorously. Re-heat the mixture to 175⁰. Stir constantly until the custard thickens slightly. Stir carefully and do not let the custard boil, or the yolks will curdle.

Add the melted chocolate, finely ground powder and cocoa to the custard and stir until smooth. Add 1 TBSP coffee emulsion. Stir well. 

[The first trial involved adding some extra dark chocolate, maybe an additional ounce (with the appropriate sugar and a bit of cream), and an additional ½ TBSP of coffee emulsion, making it "Double Chocolate Espresso Overload Custard Ice Cream ." The Mrs. thought it was "perfect." Tough to argue with "perfect." ]

Allow the custard to cool to room temperature (maybe an hour). Stir in the vanilla, then refrigerate for 4–6 hours, or overnight. We put it in the freezer for an hour one time, put it warm into the ice cream canister the second time, but transferred it to a second canister before it was done.

Pour the cold custard into the canister of your ice cream maker and fire it up.

Transfer the ice cream to a container, cover, and freeze for at least 4 hours to firm up. For best flavor, always remove ice cream from the freezer 20 minutes before serving, or place it in the microwave for 15–20 seconds.

Comment: If you use caffeinated coffee, this will have a pretty substantial caffeine kick. Probably need to have this for breakfast. 

Summary: this is one of the finest ice cream recipes I've ever encountered. It's not easy, but it comes out pretty darned good. It tasted like it was still a "75%" dark chocolate bar, with espresso. 

Roast Beef & Barley Stew

Ingredients with instructions:

¾ pound (give or take) beef. Pick your favorite kind. I used boneless beef ribs.

Sear the beef on the available sides. I season it a bit during this: pepper, dried onion.

I like searing it while it’s frozen; the meat doesn’t cook much while searing. Place the seared beef in the bottom of a small-size crock pot and pour over it:

1 bottle dark beer (I used Stockyard Oatmeal Stout)

1 cup vegetable juice. This one was tomato based, with celery.

Turn the crockpot on high while you go to work. When you return, use forks to shred the beef.

And add ½ cup pearl barley. Add some spices: Basil, allspice, cayenne. More basil than cayenne.

I just liked the Stockyard Stout swirling around with the
vegetable juice. I forgot to photograph the finished meal.

Add some flavoring components: we used 4 cloves of garlic (peeled, whole) and three sticks of celery (chopped up), three carrots, chopped, and half an onion, also chopped.

Cook on high (no lid) for another 90 minutes or so. Or put it into a saucepan and boil it pretty hard. We boiled most of the liquid out, making it a fork meal. Really flavorful.

Fed four, with side dishes.