EDF Cooking Contest--Pumpkin Challenge

[SamIAm]

Thanks for the kind words, Mermade. [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

Milliondollaz, great stuff. That video is incredibly entertaining; I said to myself "Why would I want to watch him make soup?" and then "Oooh! Time Stop Action!" and watched the whole thing.

When I was on my pumpkin shopping trip, next to the large pumpkins (carving) and small pumpkins (pie), I found these tiny pumpkins (unlimited uses).



My favorite uses are "Fund Raisers" and "Gifts". [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]


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FWIW, I think the following are relatively standard, and thus less likely to win my vote:

Pumpkin ravioli
Pumpkin latte
Pumpkin cheesecake

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Leftovers: <font color="orange">Pumpkin Ravioli</font>

With some wonton wrappers and tomato sauce from the freezer, we performed a standard fridge-cleaning exercise last night.

Place a tablespoon of filling on a wonton, paint the edges with water, and seal another wonton on top. Filling can be pumpkin hummus as pictured below, or some grilled salmon steaks that need to be eaten. (Not pictured.)

Cook in simmering (but not boiling) water and then pan-fry. Serve with standard homemade tomato sauce, because it's what you had in the freezer.

[SamIAm]

MillionDollaz, I can't get over that picture of the full stick of butter in a pumpkin. So funny.

On the other hand, you totally forgot to add arty borders to your final pics! I took the liberty:







Phew.

[Mermade]

I was going to pick up a bag of these tiny pumpkins for cooking purposes, but noticed that eating/cooking wasn't one of the myriad of uses they suggested. I was worried that they may be coated with some inedible shellac like the seasonal gourds that they sell.

[Mermade]

Seriously, how am I supposed to compete now without arty borders? More importantly, how am I going to compete without at least 5 courses. I better get on the stick!

[SamIAm]

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how am I going to compete without at least 5 courses. I better get on the stick!

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Mermade,
Absolutely. Get on the stick!

Everybody else,
Don't bother stressing about 5 courses. Make a couple dishes with the easy, canned, squishy mess that is pumpkin. Post great or decent or crummy pictures. Post failures if you've got 'em. (There's more to talk about than with successes.)

I have a pumpkin dish I've failed on twice already. I going to try one more time before posting the horrific ordeal. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[BretWeir]

Wow -- some really incredible entries already. Not sure if these are in the same class, but here goes. Cooking details to follow.

Appetizer: Pumpkin Popover and Pumpkin Mustard Bruschetta



Main: Pulled Lamb with Pumpkin Dumplings



Dessert: Chilled Pumpkin Parfait



Cooking notes to follow.

[ElSapo]

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DAMN! I LOVE that video. My favorite part is watching the wine glass in the background empty and fill up. I'll say more about the cooking tomorrow. But Wow. Multimedia. I love it..I LOVE IT!

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Holy crap. The overall level of entry this time around is amazing. Congrats to eveyrone in advance.

Yeah - I was going to post the same thing: watching the wine glass was awesome. Maybe it's just me, but I think most people put too much wine in their glass - less wine means more swirling and breathing.

Also, milliondollaz: you drink way slower than I. Maybe I have a problem...

[BretWeir]

First off, here are the pumpkins:



Appetizer: Pumpkin Popovers

I've been wanting to make popovers ever since I had some incredible ones at BLT Steakhouse in DC. I used their recipe, modified to incorporate pumpkin.

For four popovers:
2 cups milk
1/2 pumpkin, roasted
4 eggs
2 cups flour
3/4 tbsp salt
6 oz grated gruyere

I roasted the half pumpkin at 325 for about 40 minutes, then scooped out the meat, mashed it and added it to the warm milk.





I then slowly whisked the pumpkin milk into the eggs, and combined with the sifted flour. I poured the batter into a greased popover pan and topped each popover with about 1 1/2 tbsp of gruyere.



Baked at 350 for 50 minutes. The end result:



They rose nicely (though they need to be served *immediately* or they'll fall -- they'd already falled a bit by the time I took the pic above). The pumpkin added a little weight to the bottom parts -- they almost had a Yorkshire pudding-type texture. The pumpkin flavor was subtle, but it did come through. And it blended nicely with the cheese. Overall, these weren't as good as the original (non-pumpkin) recipe, but they were a nice change of pace.

Appetizer: Pumpkin-Mustard Bruschetta

This was really easy, though there was quite a bit of down time while I was waiting for the flavors to set. To make the relish, I used

1/2 small pumpkin, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup golden raisins
1 tbsp Colman's dry mustard
pepper

I mixed the sugar with the pumpkin cubes in a bowl and chilled overnight; the sugar will liquify and turn into a kind of syrup.



I then simmered the pumpkin and syrup along with the water and wine for about 10 minutes, till the pumpkin pieces were slightly tender. I removed the pumpkin and reduced the liquid to about 1/2 cup. When it was cool, I whisked in the dry mustard and added the mustard liquid, along with the raisins, to the pumpkin cubes. I added some black pepper, then put the mixture in the fridge for about 6 hours for the flavors to meld.



I served this on top of toasted french bread slices spread with fresh goat cheese:





I was really pleased with these. The sharp mustard set off the sweet pumpkin and raisins really nicely, and – like someone said earlier in this thread – goat cheese makes everything taste better. Would definitely make this again.

[BretWeir]

Main: Pulled Lamb Braised with Veggies

Given that fall's upon us, I wanted to try a nice, hearty dish for the main course, so I broke out the trusty crock pot to make some slow-cooked lamb. I chopped up a bunch of veggies -- pumpkin, sweet potato, apple, carrots, green pepper, onion -- into big chunks, grabbed some raisins and zested a lemon. These went into the pot along with a 1 3/4 lb boneless leg of lamb:



I've had good luck with North African tagine-type seasonings with braised lamb, and I thought that might go well with the pumpkin also. So I ground up some coriander seeds, cumin, a few cloves and lots of black pepper, and threw that in, along with some cinnamon, paprika, ground ginger, nutmeg and red pepper flakes.



For liquid, I used a can of beef broth, a half cup of white wine, a little orange juice and some water. I set the crock pot on high, let it go about 2 hours, then put it on low for another four. My favorite thing about crock pot cooking is the amazing smell that permeates the whole house, and this dish didn't disappoint. Here it is toward the end of cooking:



And after I took it out of the pot:



The lamb was falling-apart tender, so I took half of it and pulled it apart with forks, in a pulled-pork style:



This would go into the main course, while the other half got saved for delicious weekend leftovers.

Main: Pumpkin Dumplings

These followed the same basic idea as ElSapo's gnocchi, though they're considerable less refined. The "dough" was more like a thick batter, so rather than rolling it out and cutting it, I just spooned it into the pot. I also wimped out and used canned pumpkin for this part of the meal.

½ can solid packed pumpkin (unsweetened)
1 egg
½ tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking powder
½ cup flour
1 tbsp grated parmesan
Grated nutmeg
Cinnamon
Allspice

I combined everthing in a mixing bowl



then dropped spoonfuls of the mixture into a pot of boiling water.



After cooking and draining, I fried them up with a little sage butter:



Main: Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

As a garnish for the main course, I toasted some fresh pumpkin seeds in a hot pan until they popped:



I then combined the pulled lamb, pumpkin dumplings and toasted seeds in a pan and heated them through:



I then plated and surrounded the lamb-and-dumpling mix with veggies that had cooked with the lamb and some of the reduced liquid from the crock pot:



Mrs. Weir thought I hit a home run with this. The lamb was super-tender but not overcooked, and the tagine spices worked very well. The veggies really absorbed the flavor of the meat and the spices. And the dumplings turned out better than I had expected. I was happy about using three kinds of pumpkin in this dish -- the pumpkin pieces cooked with the lamb, the dumplings, and the toasted seeds.

[BretWeir]

Dessert: Chilled Pumpkin Parfait

This was something I've done before with Key Lime, and I adapted the recipe to pumpkin. There are three layers: a graham cracker crumble, a pumpkin custard, and a spiced whipped cream:



For the first, I sauteed some crushed graham crackers in butter and sugar to make a kind of graham cracker brittle, which I then crumbled. The custard was pureed pumpkin, sour cream, spices and a little condensed milk folded into whipped cream. Finally, I whipped up some heavy cream and added cinnamon, nutmeg and clove.

I layered the ingredients in a martini glass and chilled them in the freezer for about an hour, then another hour in the refrigerator to soften it a bit.



These were good, but heavy. The wife and I couldn't finish ours in one sitting.