EDF Cooking Contest--Pumpkin Challenge

[SamIAm]

[ QUOTE ]
scurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrred

[/ QUOTE ]Aw snap!

Breakfast: <font color="orange">Pumpkin Muffins</font>

First, buy the smallest pumpkin in your megamart. Note that this is not especially small.



Chop in it quarters, carve out the seeds and strings, and roast.



I used this pumpkin for my next couple dishes, but those are still ... in process.

2 C AP flour
1 t cinnamon
1 t cloves
.5 t allspice
.5 t nutmeg
1 t baking soda
.25 t baking powder
.5 t salt
1.5 C sugar
.75 C vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 t vanilla extract
3 C roasted pumpkin
1 C pecans

Preheat your oven to 325. Sift the dry goods together. Mix the wet goods. Roast the nuts. Puree the pumpkin.



Mix just until together. You don't want to over stir, or you'll make too much gluten and have cavernous muffins.



Bake for 30 minutes, till a toothpick comes out clean.



"Plate" by eating in the car on the way to work.



I feel like my choice of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice in a pumpkin dessert is pretty revolutionary. If you guys want to copy my 'flavor profile' for your own dishes, I'll understand.

[Mermade]

Actually, I just got back from the store. I bought a bunch of small sweet pumpkins "Excellent for baking and soups! Great flavor!" or so said the little handwritten sign at Trader Joe's. My son is obsessed with Halloween. After he found out I intended to cook and eat the pumpkins, he took them and hid them somewhere in the family room. I will find them and make something tasty.

[SamIAm]

This one didn't work out as well. Still, I'll include it for the sake of discussion.

Drink: <font color="orange">Pumpkin Ginger Ale</font>

I found this description of how to make ginger ale. I'd been waiting for a good IC ingredient to try it out.

2 C roasted pumpkin
.5 C sugar
1.5 T ginger
.25 t instant yeast
bottled water

Strain the pumpkin through cheesecloth.



Pour all the ingredients into a 2L bottle. The juice wasn't too strong, so I decided to add the pulp, too. Plastic is nice because you can squeeze and see how much pressure has built-up.

After a couple days, I couldn't even dent the bottle with my thumb, so I figured it'd fermented long enough. Pour the liquid through a strainer (or coffee filter).



Halfway through, the ginger and pumpkin had clogged the neck. I put it down to clear out the strainer and then the bottle. Unfortunately, a clump of pulp stayed in the neck. As I righted the bottle, the carbonization popped-out the pulp like a champagne cork. I left a little pumpkin on the ceiling.

Eventually I got it all strained.



Pour &amp; drink.



The ale definitely had a pumpkin and ginger taste to it. Unfortunately, it needed much more sugar and the yeasty taste was way too strong. I might try ordering special brewer's yeast to see if that improves the flavor. Still, it was a fun experiment that cost almost nothing in ingredients.

[ElSapo]

Wow. SamIAm - serious respect for trying something totally new. Sorry it didn't work out as well as you'd liked. I'd love a trip report on making that dish - and maybe an extended version with a second attempt.

[Mermade]

What I think is sweet is that Sam has submitted 2 dishes already, neither of which is an appetizer or an entree. Way to go! Plus making homemade pumpkinale was a very cool idea. I can't wait to see what's to come!

[ElSapo]

Ok EDF chefs - I need some advice. I'm finishing up the pumpkin entry this weekend, and I'm going to try the pumpkin-seed crust discussed earlier in the thread. So the question: how to crust this?

I soaked the pumpkin seeds in salt water, dried them and then roasted them. Tasty. Then I tossed them into a food processor and made myself some "pumpkin salt," for lack of a better term. But it's not all salt, of course...

...So if I crust the beef and then grill it, won't I wind up with burnt pumpkin on the outside? I could crust afterwards, but I don't know if the result will be as good. I can crust it and coat the outide with oil and see if that helps...

I could roll the beef through the pumpkin dust/salt and let t stand a while, and then coat with something, like honey and other spices, and try and get a crust/glaze that way...

Any thoughts?

[SamIAm]

[ QUOTE ]
respect for trying something totally new.

[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks. I tend to keep a list of cool new cooking ideas, and try them out when the IC ingredient allows. (I want to work more on sausage making and my pizza making, but neither sounded especially good with pumpkin. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] Maybe next IC.)

[ QUOTE ]
2 dishes already, neither of which is an appetizer or an entree.

[/ QUOTE ]
The plan tonight is to serve an app, a side, a main, and a dessert. I managed to invite friends who are a) vegetarian b) willing to let me take pictures while I plate food c) willing to eat pumpkin in every single dish. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[ QUOTE ]
how to crust this?

[/ QUOTE ]
Before I vowed veggie with this one, I thought about coating some creature with pumpkin dust, but then roasting. The lower heat seemed safer than a sear. Maybe pan-fried fish, but again, that'd be a less intense heat than grilling.

[elwoodblues]

[ QUOTE ]
...So if I crust the beef and then grill it, won't I wind up with burnt pumpkin on the outside? I could crust afterwards, but I don't know if the result will be as good. I can crust it and coat the outide with oil and see if that helps...

[/ QUOTE ]

When you are cooking with high heat, as you would generally want to with steaks, you will likely burn the seeds as you suggest.

A couple of suggestions (neither am I convinced would turn out great):
Don't do steak, do chicken (or even pork chops) and either cook indirectly on grill or in the oven (kind of like a nut crusted chicken.) I doubt the ground up seeds would burn over indirect heat (though they might as I think pumpkin seeds are probably a little more prone to burning than something like chopped nuts)

Do two-zone grilling --- sear the steaks first on hot side for a minute on each side, then crust then finish off on the other side. I don't know how well adding the seeds to a seared steak would work though.

I don't like the idea of adding a glaze because that defeats the purpose of creating a crust in the first place. If you just wanted to add pumpkin flavor you could create a roll with the pumpkin seeds on the inside so that they never come into direct contact with the high heat.

[Xaston]

What about chilling (freezing?) the ground pumpkin seeds and making sure the meat is at room temperature. Then you'll get your sear quicker and your seeds will take longer to burn?

[Mermade]

<font color="orange"> Pepita Pistachio Encrusted Rack of Lamb with Glazed Roasted Pumpkin and Roasted Pumpkin Seeds </font>

New Zealand Frenched Rack of Lamb
Pepitas (these are hulled pumpkin seeds, I used the term pepita for alliteration's sake)
Roasted and Salted Pistachios
Emperor's New Clothes Garlic
Whole peppercorns
Dried Thyme
Fresh Thyme
Kosher Salt
Olive Oil

2 small baking pumpkins
butter
brown sugar

Rub the rack of lamb with kosher salt and sear in a frying pan on high heat in a little oil, a few minutes each side. Meanwhile put equal amounts of pistachio and pepitas in the food processor and process until finely chopped.



I bought this new garlic from Trader Joe's. I think it was called Emperor's New Clothes Garlic. Each head of garlic is just one enormous clove. It comes in this basket.



It was fun to try, but a generous quantity of regular garlic would work just as well. I chopped it fine and put the pepita/pistachio mixture and the garlic in a mortar. I added 10 or so whole peppercorns and crushed them with the pestle. I added some kosher salt, dried thyme, and also some fresh thyme from the garden. I added some olive oil and mixed it up.



Then I put the mixture on the seared lamb:



I tossed the whole pan into the oven at 400 degrees until medium rare. (This should have taken maybe 15-20 minutes or so but took a bit longer because I was doing the pumpkins in the same oven and kept opening the oven to baste.)

I halved and cleaned 2 small pumpkins and put a tablespoon and half of butter in each with a few tablespoons of brown sugar. I put these in the oven at 400 until tender, basting with the buttery-sugary goodness often until the pumpkin was tender and golden. Then I removed them from the oven and cut them in half again basted them again and put them back in the oven until the cut side became golden. A few minutes.

I also roasted the seeds from the pumpkins and served them by sprinkling some on the plate.



This was excellent and I'm definitely doing this again. I was really helped by having really good meat. I've been really happy with the lamb at Trader Joe's. It has a nice subtle lamb flavor without being too gamey. My in-laws are in town and they loved this. Everyone was disappointed there wasn't more of the lamb. I was very pleased.