EDF Cooking Contest--Pumpkin Challenge

[BK_]

I really like the idea of doing another ingredient based challenge. It forces everyone to use seasonal ingredients in new and interesting ways.

I think cranberries are a good idea. (Are they too tart to use in alot of savory dishes? No clue) Other ideas are cauliflower (I have found some interesting purple and green ones here), sweet potatoes, carrots? Or apples if they aren't out of season yet? They might be by the end of the month, I have no idea.

[Ron Burgundy]

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I think there should be multiple polls. First, I think we should do a regular IC poll where we vote for the best cumulative effort. Second, I think we should have a poll to vote for the best individual dish, since we have so many entries this time around.

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I agree.

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Let's have more talk too about next month's contest please. Thoughts? Again, I nominate cranberries if we want to do another IC ingredient challenge.


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Cranberries are good.

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If we want a general-type challenge, how about a "Your Mama" challenge? (I just made that up.) Thanksgiving brings to mind family traditional recipes. Anything would go, but the theme is reinventing the dishes we grew up with. This could be trying to best some recipe that's been handed down in your family or reinventing childhood favorites like making upscale homemade versions of dishes like spaghetti-O's, fish sticks, etc. Maybe the concept of this challenge is too hard to convey or maybe it's just crap. At any rate, come up with suggestions or bag on mine. We'll do whatever the consensus wants.

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Please no. The reason why I started cooking was because my parents were so bad at it. When I was about 12 I realized that if I wanted to eat decent food I would have to either order some or make it myself. This challenge would bring back traumatic memories of bone dry pork chops that crumbled when you tried to cut them, vegetables boiled into oblivion, sticky spaghetti drowning in jarred tomato sauce with pre-grated fake parmesan cheese in a green can. And my dad had this strange salt phobia where he would ABSOLUTELY REFUSE TO PUT A GRAIN OF SALT IN ANYTHING. Not even potatoes, or huge cuts of meat. THE HORROR [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

[SamIAm]

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No, but maybe all this pumpkin will make you realize that it's not Cinco de Mayo anymore and you'll change your avatar. Sorry, but for some reason that's been driving me crazy. Can we please get winking Cat in the Hat until after Thanksgiving (then Christmas/Hanukkah Cat in the Hat obviously)?

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Fine, fine. I hadn't reinstalled my image program since a crash, and I was at the point where I thought it was funny that it still talked about Cinco de Mayo. But apparently not everybody feels that way...

I'm on the record as being pro-cranberry. I think the Yo Momma idea isn't the best; it just sounds a little vague. I like the idea of including Thanksgivingy foods, but I'm not sure of a method theme that would capture that.

[Ron Burgundy]

<font color="orange"> Roast Duck with Curry-Pumpkin Gelee and Pumpkin Fries </font>

So, I wanted to do a raost duck. I look in my Professionl Chef book for a how-to. It says to put the duck in the roasting pan breast side up. Then I think: "Hmmm... which side is the breast side?" Needless to say, this was the first time I'd ever roasted a whole bird. It came out a little dry. I think I overcooked it a little. Also, the skin wasn't really as crispy as it's supposed to be. But still, it was pretty good.

The gelee was made by boiling some pumpkin in water with curry powder and cinnamon. Then I pureed it in a blender, returned it to the heat, and added some agar flakes and chopped carica. After a few minutes more, I put it into a ramekin and let it chill and solidify in the fridge. It tasted great, but it looks like barf.

The fries I put in the dehydrator at 150* for an hour, then cooked them in some rendered duck fat. They turned out a little chewier than potato fries, but they tasted good.

The salad is some micro greens and endive. I made a little sauce/glaze/vinagrette kind of thing with pumpkinseed oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, s &amp; p. And I sprinkled on some pumpkin seeds for a little crunch.

[BK_]

Never would have thought of making gelee. Is it served cold or warm? The greens seem crucial to this dish.

[Ron Burgundy]

I took it out of the fridge and let it come back to room temp. But you could serve it cold or put it in the oven for a few minutes and serve it hot if you wanted.

Yea, the greens were essential since the other components were so heavy. I ended up putting a bunch more salad on as I was eating it.

[BK_]

Pumpkin - Goat Cheese Croquettes with Maple Marscapone over Micro Greens and a Pumpkin Vinaigrette



I loved everything about this dish. All the individual pieces were really tasty, but eating them together turns this into one of my favorite dishes in the last couple of months. The greens and the vinaigrette added a nice textural and tangy component to complement the creaminess of the croquettes. (The use of greens here was inspired by ron b's dish above) Anyways, here is the recipe:

Croquettes
1 lb goat cheese
1 lb pumpkin puree (I'm not sure how much I put in, seemed like the same amount as the goat cheese)
2 eggs
1 bunch thyme
2 cups panko bread crumbs
salt to taste
1 bunch sage (not pictured)
maple syrup (to adjust sweetness)

Mascarpone Maple Drizzle
1 cup mascarpone
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 tbsp maple syrup

Pumpkin Vinaigrette
Pumpkin Puree
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Sherry Vinegar

Mix thyme, goat cheese and pumpkin puree in a small bowl. Add maple syrup as necessary. Refrigerate. Make small 1 ounce "balls'" of the mixture.

Dredge in beaten eggs, then coat with coarse bread crumbs (panko works best). Refrigerate again.

For the mascarpone - mix 1 cup mascarpone, 1/2 cup heavy cream and 3 tbsp maple syrup.

Pan fry the croquettes until golden. as they are frying toss in leaves of sage. Remove from oil, drain well.

For the dressing, combine the balsamic and sherry vinegar. Whisk in olive oil slowly. Add pumpkin puree to achieve desired consistency and taste. Add salt and pepper.

To plate, coat the greens with the dressing and place on the plate. Top with the croquettes and top with the Marscapone Maple sauce. Sprinkle pumpkin seeds (I used the ones I made last week)

[ElSapo]

Dish looks great. How are you shooting these awesome pictures?

[Ron Burgundy]

<font color="orange"> Pumpkin Flambe with Pumpkinseed Brittle and Ice Cream </font>

This was really easy and turned out awesome.

To make the brittle, I just mixed up some pumpkinseeds with maple syrup and minced ginger. Baked it in the oven at 350 for about 15 minutes.

The flambe was chopped pumpkin, coconut milk, maple syrup, cinnamon, ground cardamom seeds, and the seeds from a vanilla bean (which you can get super cheap on Amazon BTW.) Sauteed it for about 15 minutes, then the fun part (I used grand marnier):



I stirred in some chopped mint at the end, and garnished with whole mint leaves.

[BK_]

Thanks. I should be asking you the same question though - yours came out really nicely this month.

But to answer your question, I use a canon rebel dslr with a tripod and reset the custom white balance every night. I just started using the tripod again recently and everything is coming out alot more crisp. The lighting sucks in my apartment for pictures and I use a crappy stock lens for food, but I guess the other things make up for it. I also have a 50mm fixed lens but I can't get the whole dish to stay in focus for some reason.