Thai Red Curry with Winter Squash

I had an amazing pumpkin curry at a Thai restaurant in Seattle a few months ago and have been wanting to recreate it at home. A cooking date with a few friends from school was the perfect excuse to find a recipe. And the recipe I found is AWESOME.

Jenna, of Eat, Live, Run, wrote about the recipe, "Seriously, I wanted to drink this sauce with a straw. It’s definitely the closet to “authentic” Thai curry I’ve ever gotten at home. You must make this!!!" I knew I had to give it a try. It was not hard to pull together, although it did require some ingredients that I didn't have on hand and had to get at the local Asian supermarket. You can find her original recipe here.

Thai Red Curry with Winter Squash

serves 4

Time: 1.25 hours (includes time to roast the squash)

Ingredients:

1 large kabocha, butternut, or other orange-fleshed squash

1 large handful green beans, cut in half OR 1 small zucchini, cut into bite-size pieces

1 red or yellow bell pepper, diced

2 kaffir lime leaves, torn

6 Thai basil leaves, chopped

1 tbsp canola oil

3 tbsp red thai curry paste (make sure you get one that says, "red thai curry paste", not just a thai curry paste that appears to be red-colored)

1 (15-oz) can coconut milk

1/4 cup water

1 tbsp fish sauce

2 tsp brown sugar

2 red thai chilies, pierced several times with a knife

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Drizzle olive oil on a foil lined sheet tray. Slice squash in half, remove seeds (you can roast them later!), and place cut-side down on the sheet tray. Roast squash halves for about 30 minutes until tender. Remove and let cool completely.

2. In a large pot or deep pan, heat the canola oil over medium high heat. Add the curry paste and mash into hot oil so all the paste gets incorporated. Slowly drizzle in the coconut milk, whisking continuously until all milk has been added and no curry “clumps” remain.

3. Add water, torn kaffir lime leaves, thai basil, fish sauce, brown sugar and chilies and bring to a simmer. Add bell peppers and green beans or zucchini and continue simmering sauce for about 15 minutes until vegetables are just cooked but not mushy.

Peel or slice kabocha squash away from peel. Chop into large chunks and add to the curry sauce.

Serve curry over jasmine rice (don’t eat the chilies!).

Orzo with Kale Pesto and Broccoli

This is a wonderful and healthy dish to use up Farmer's Market Kale and Broccoli!

1 package of orzo or any other small-ish pasta

1 cup pine nuts or walnuts, lightly toasted

1 bunch kale, chopped and woody stems removed

1/2 cup fresh basil (I used frozen basil from Trader Joe's)

1-2 cloves of garlic

Juice from 1 lemon

~½ cup olive oil

1 large head of broccoli, cut into small florets

1/3 parmesan cheese, preferably freshly grated

Salt and pepper

1. Bring a pot of water to boiling, add a generous pinch of salt and add the orzo. Simmer for 5-7 minutes, drain when tender and let it cool.

2. Add the kale and basil to a pan of boiling water for 1-2 minutes. Run under cold water or submerge in ice water for a few seconds, then drain. Dry in some paper towel. This will preserve the bright green color so your salad does not turn a muddy green color after a few hours.

3. Bring the water back to a boil and add the broccoli. Put the lid on and cook for 1-2 minutes, just long enough to take the edge off. Quickly drain the broccoli, and run under cold water to stop the cooking. Drain well.

4. To make the pesto, combine the kale, basil, garlic, nuts, parmesan, 1/4 tsp salt, and the lemon juice and pulse in a food processor. Drizzle in the olive oil and pulse until smooth (you may need more or less than the indicated amount of olive oil to get to the desired texture).

5. Toss the orzo, broccoli florets, and about 2/3 of the pesto. Taste it and add what you like – more lemon, salt, the rest of the pesto. Top with a bit of extra parmesan if you prefer. Serve hot or cold.

pumpkin cheesecake

We traded pumpkin pie for pumpkin cheesecake this year, and it was a big hit! I think this will be our new tradition. This recipe is adapted from Smitten Kitchen, which adapted the recipe from Gourmet Magazine (2003).

For crust
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs, or other cookie crumbs (we used vanilla goldfish!)
1/2 cup pecans
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

For filling
1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin
3-4 large eggs
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature (we used low-fat cream cheese and the results were excellent)

Make crust:

Butter sides & bottom of 9-inch springform pan

In food processor, mix cookie crumbs, pecans, sugars, and butter. Press crumb mixture evenly onto bottom and 1/2 inch up side of pan (if you can) then chill crust, 1 hour.

Make filling:

In food processor, mix pumpkin, eggs, brown sugar, cream, vanilla. Add cream cheese and mix until creamy and smooth.

Add sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt.

Pour filling into crust, smoothing top.
Bake in 350 oven until center is just set, 50 to 60 minutes.

Transfer to rack and cool 5 minutes. (Leave oven on.)

If desired, chill until cold. Remove sides when you want.

Nancy's Simple Poppy Seed Muffins

We started making these simple muffins when we lived in New Zealand. They were very popular, especially with the the almond extract.

1 egg

½ c. milk

¼ c. oil

1 ½ c. flour

½ c. sugar

2 t. baking powder

½ t. salt

1 t. almond extract

1.5 t. vanilla extract

2-3 T poppy seeds

Optional: slivered almonds to put on top of muffins before baking

Beat the egg, then add milk and oil.

Blend in dry ingredients and stir til just moistened.

Batter will be slightly lumpy.

A little sprinkle of sugar on top of the muffins before baking will make a nice muffin-top.

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

Amazing Fat-Free Banana Ice-Cream

A number of different chefs have done something like this, but here's my take.

Take 2 overripe bananas per serving and peel them and cut them into slices that are 1/2 inch wide. Freeze them in a flat layer until they are solid, a good 6 hours at least. Right before serving, puree the bananas in the food processor (not more than 6 or so at a time). If the bananas are having a tough time pureeing, you can add some milk to help it get going. Top it however you like, I especially like a quick mix of honey and peanut butter and some chocolate. Hard freeze any leftovers and they will stay good.

Tomato Candy aka Slow Roasted Tomatoes

Wow, we haven't posted for a while! There have been lots of transitions in the family over the past few months, but no lack of delicious, local cooking. Here's a simple recipe that takes advantage of the abundance of tomatoes still in season. I used Juliet tomatoes, which are like small Roma tomatoes. The recipe is inspired by Orangette's recipe for Slow-Roasted Tomatoes with Sea Salt and Ground Coriander and Food & Wine's recipe for Honey-Tomato Bruschetta.

2 pints ripe tomatoes (roma, juliet, cherry, or grape tomatoes would all work well)
~2 T Olive oil
Sea salt
Ground coriander

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

Wash the tomatoes, and halve them lengthwise. Toss the tomatoes in a bowl with the olive oil. Place them, skin side down, on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle them with sea salt and ground coriander—about a pinch of each for every four to six tomato halves.

Bake the tomatoes until they shrink to about 1/3 of their original size but are still soft and juicy, 4 to 6 hours. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, and allow the tomatoes to cool to room temperature. Place them in an airtight container, and store them in the refrigerator. Delicious on their own, with pasta, on bruschetta (see Food & Wine recipe), on a simple pizza, or anything else you can imagine!

Quick Cucumber Pickles

Lots of cucumbers from our garden this year! This recipe is adapted from Deborah Madison's "Local Flavors"

• 2/3 cup any mixture of white wine and/or apple cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup sugar
• ½ t. salt
• 1 red onion, sliced thin
• 2 cucumbers (peeled only if the skins are tough), sliced thin
• 1 t. mixed whole peppercorns
• 2 T olive oil

Mix the vinegar, sugar, salt, olive oil, peppercorns in a glass or ceramic bowl.

Add cucumbers and onions and toss well.

Cover & refrigerate.

Pickles are best if they can sit for a day, but don’t let them sit longer than 5 days.