How To: Roasting Pumpkins

The pumpkins I'm using are called pie pumkins or sugar pumpkins. They're really the best for any recipe, rather than using big pumpkins. These guys have a much more bold pumpkin flavor. These are'nt the tiny guys that sit in the palm of your hand.. or the big honkers that you carve into jack-o-lanterns.. sugar pumpkins are somewhere in the middle. Quite simply, they're adorable.

 Yes! This is sooo much funnn. I neglected to take before pictures. So imagine this... two perfectly firm, ripe, bright orange pumpkins sitting on the kitchen counter just WAITING to be roasted.

 Turn the oven on to 400degrees. Stab the pumpkins a couple times with a very sharp knife. Be careful! And you reaaally got to stab it. Theres no messing around with these guys, they're tough. So stand back, take aim and swing. Then place them on a baking sheet and into the oven for an hour. By that time they'll become very soft & start to deflate. Now they're roasted.

 Cool them off! I roasted my pumpkins this morning while I was getting ready for work. Then I transfered them to another tray, covered with foil and stuck em in the fridge. By the time I got home they were so cool and soft I could easily poke my finger right through the skin.

 This is the best part. They peel so easily! The skin literally separates from the flesh and peels right off.

Chop em in half. Scoop out them seeds.

I pureed the flesh in my high-speed Vita-Mix blender. You could also puree it in a food processor, a food mill or with an immersion blender. NOW.. you can make pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin butter, bread, muffins, pasta, rissotto, oatmeal, soup, pie, bars, smoothies, ice cream...... YES!

Drying Ginger & Tumeric for Tea

By request of my very dear friend Robert Jenkins, Ill be preparing a lovely tea, of which, the main ingredients are tumeric and ginger. These are nutritional POWERHOUSES, people. Get some. Tumeric is the healthiest spice in the world. (I see the grammatical error there, but just go with it.)Renowned for its anti inflammatory properties, tumeric has been used for over 4000 years to treat a variety of conditions. Its a staple in Indian cusine... and in my home. YES! Ginger, I buy like twice a week. I put it in all my juices, many of my teas, sauces, dressings, soups.. Its great for nausea or an upset stomach, its a very warm spice, so you can add it to tea on a cold day or to a bath if you have a cold! YES!

Tumeric & Ginger

 Many chefs find the best way to peel these roots is with the back of a spoon. Its not quick, its not perfect, but it gets the job done. Use a knife, and chances are you'll lose lots of the goodness. I saved all the skins and added them to my fresh morning juice. Intense!

 Peeled tumeric & ginger roots

Once you've minced them up good, spread them out on dehydrator racks.

 Alternatively, you can dry them at the lowest setting in your oven.

How to Prep a Pinapple

This may seem obvious to many of you.. but there are a lot of folks 

out there who wouldn't know where to start.
And to all of those folks.. this ones for you. 

Get a sharp knife.

 Chop off the top and bottom of the pineapple, so that you have a flat surface to work with.

Slice off the skin, staying as close to the flesh as possible. Its okay if there are lots of eyes (those browinsh circular dents) hangin' around... we'll get rid of those in a minute. If you've got a juicer, juice the skin, it'll still produce quite a bit of fresh yummy juice.

The eyes are in a pattern. It should be pretty easy to slice them off with some long V cuts. So, come at a row of eyes at an angle with your knife..then make another cut so that the eyes are removed in a V wedge.

Bask in your pineapple's beauty. Can't use it all up? Chop it and freeze it. Puree it with banana and make a chia pudding. Make a pineapple salsa. or a Pineapple salad dressing! Oh the places you can go...

Cashew Milk

 Ain't it pretty?! I'm in love. This is my luxury product that I allow myself to always have on hand. I keep raw cashews in my freezer and make this milk a couple times a week. You can make it as thin or as thick as you like.
I use this milk for anything that you would normally use cow, soy, rice, almond, hemp.. etc. I especially love it in my morning VEGA smoothie!!

1 part cashews, soaked 3 hours

After you soak the cashews, drain and rinse them.
Then blend them with 3-5 parts water, depending on how rich and creamy you want your milk to be.
You may want to push it through a fine mesh sieve or invest in a nut milk bag to remove any cashew pulp that may be leftover from the blending process.

I save my cashew pulp, season it, and use it as a spread. I may season it with lemon, garlic and herbs or mustard, or soy sauce...

Heres a TIP! Instead of blending with water, blend with a flavorful broth and add your creamy cashew broth to a delicious soup. 

ALSO you could blend 1 part cashew- 1 part water and make a super thick, rich and decadent cream that you can season with vanilla & maple syrup... you could add a banana and orange juice and serve it with berries.. or on breakfast.. YUM!!

Roasting Peppers

There are several ways to roast a pepper. You can easily achieve this on a grill, over the open flame of a gas stove, or under a broiler. My favorite way is on a grill, but in my apartment I roast peppers as follows..

First, slice em in half, remove the stems, pith and seeds. Rub oil over the skin side of each pepper, them put em under the broiler.

Once the skin starts to brown, bubble and pull away from the flesh.. you have success!

Now to easily remove the skin from the sweet roasted flesh is to store them in an air tight container. You can toss em in a ziplock bag, a brown paper bag... tonight I had this tupperware handy so in they went. Keep the container in the fridge for about 20 minutes. Once they've cooled you can easily peel them.

Best Way To Dice an Onion

If there is an onion in your pantry.. you should be able to come up with something delicious to eat.

This is by far, the most used vegetable in my kitchen.

Pickled, grilled, caramelized, roasted, sauteed, fresh, fried.. these guys are the base for most cuisine and pair well with any savory dish.

Onions have properties which are anti-inflammatory, anti-cancerous, anti-cholesterol, antioxidant and are believed to be an aphrodisiac.

In some lesser developed countries onions are used to reduce swelling, scars, to treat blisters, bee stings, boils and sore throats.

Could you imagine living in a world where onions are as rare and expensive as .. oh, lets say a black truffle?! I shudder at the thought.

• Slice off as little of the papery end as possible

 

• Cut the onion in half, by slicing directly through the root end

•  Lay it on the flat side, then begin making cuts like "flaps." Be careful not to slice them all the way off, but leave each flap intact at the root end. After this point, I should be able to pick up the onion by the root & it should still hold together

•  Now make cuts longwise from end to end, being careful to keep all the pieces together as much as possible.

• Here comes the dice! Carefully, bring the knife down from top to bottom, slicing your strips and layers into a dice.

Prepping Leeks

A member of the Lily family, leeks look like overgrown green onions or scallions. 

They have a slightly sweet, mild onion taste. 

Ideally, they're used early in the cooking process to build a depth of flavor. 

Leeks are often braised, fried, sauteed, roasted, grilled, steamed and boiled.

• First, you'll want to start by chopping off the tough green tops. I like to save them for making vegetable broth, so I keep them in my freezer, in a bag full of scraps.
• Now slice the tender bottoms of the leeks in half and rinse them really well. Lots of mud and dirt like to hide in between the layers

• From here, depending on your recipe and desired cut your technique will vary. To dice the leeks small, I make several cuts longwise through the vegetable.

• Hold the leek carefully, while you slice width-wise to create a small dice.

Teach the World to Chiffonade

Start by placing similar leaves in a pile 

Then roll them up!

like this

Next, slice the leaves into strips.  

Chiffonades vary in size from large to very fine. 

This one is somewhere in between

This cut is great for soups, salad, sandwiches, pizzas..

Roasting Eggplant

Set the oven to 400 degrees. Slice the Eggplant in half and score the back of each half with an X. If you wish, you can thin slice garlic and shove the pieces into the slits of the X. Rub the flat side with a high heat oil and generously sprinkle with salt. Let her roast for at least 30 minutes.

Mmmm sweet juicy eggplant : ) At this point you should be able to poke the eggplant and feel how soft it is.

Flip em over.. and bask in the glory. Those aren't burn marks baby, that's caramelized eggplant and it's going to add a sweet depth of flavor to your dish and is guaranteed to make you a happy cook.

At this point I usually let them cool before separating the flesh from the skin. This is a great addition to pasta sauce, spreads, flat breads and sandwiches.

Supreme Citrus

To "supreme" citrus is to remove the skin, pith, and seeds while leaving each individual segment intact. 

 

Slice off the top and bottom so that the fruit has a flat surface. Then carefully remove the skin with a very sharp knife. If you don't have a sharp chef knife, use a serrated bread knife.

This is called a Honey Tangerine.. they taste like Orange Hi-C!! They're my current fave this citrus season. We've had at least a dozen varieties of mandarins and tangerines come through the market this month. 

Once you've removed each segment squeeze the rest to extract all the sweet juicy glory.

Roasting Winter Squash

This technique is so much easier than trying to peel a winter squash.

Set the oven to 400. Wash and halve the squash. Rub oil on the flat side of each piece then salt generously..
Lay each piece flat side down on the pan and bake for 30minutes or until soft.

You should be able to easily scoop the flesh out with a spoon. Flip em over and let em cool.

Once they're cool you should be able to easily remove the seeds and separate the flesh from the skin. YES!


ALSO!   If you want cubed squash for the dish you are preparing... you don't have to peel it at all! Just scrub the squash well, get out your sharpest chef knife and cube that sucker. The skin is totally edible and loaded with nutrients. It isn't going to be tough or chewy or whatever you would assume... its actually quite lovely
: )

Let There Be Broth

The Super Bowl is on. I really couldn't care less. Except one of my very favorite people looooves the Patriots. So I actually made an attempt to join her and watch the game, but the bar was "at capacity."
That'll be fine.
I'll just make some soup : )

I  have 3 butternut squash on my counter.. so naturally they'll be the star of this evening's soup.
I start by making a broth... I look through the fridge, through the pantry, and OH. MY. OH. NO!! There are NO onions in this apartment!!!! I only have 1/2 of a very very small onion. I'll admit I freaked a little. I reallllyy didn't want to run to the store tonight. My anxiety rose when I realized there is also. no. garlic. I gave up. Watched an episode of The Office on Hulu.. and THEN decided that I would NOT be defeated.

Making a good broth is a lot like making tea. You find flavorful ingredients and cook them in water until all of their goodness steeps out. I organized my spice cabinet recently (alphabetical order and categorized by peppers, blends, herbs, and roots/seeds) and remembered that I had some dried onion flakes and a jar of dried shaved garlic that my momma put in my stocking a couple years ago. Thanks Mom!  So I checked the fridge again and came up with tonight's broth.

This is a pretty basic vegetable stock. It can be used to add depth to a wide variety of dishes. If I was making a corn chowder, I would add the cobs and any other scraps from that soup. Broccoli soup? Add the stalks to the broth. You can save mushroom stems in the freezer for broths and if you cook a lot, you could save up several days worth of veg scraps, make broth, and store it in your freezer for later use.
Here's an idea: Freeze it in an ice cube tray, pop out the cubes, and keep em in a ziplock bag. Bam.

2 parsnips
3carrots
3 celery stalks
1/2 small onion
2 bay leaves
few white peppercorns
salt
1/4 c dry onion flakes
2 T dry garlic flakes

 To extract the most flavor from your vegetables, cook them in a bit of oil. Stir frequently for about 5minutes, then add water.

 Boil the heck out of it. And keep a lid on, unless you want it to reduce. Boil for a minimum of 30minutes, and no longer than an hour.

Strain. Here I fit a strainer over a pot and mashed the veg to release as much of the liquid as possible.

 Finished Product. 2 cups of beautiful,delicious nutritious broth.

Tips on Preserving Avocado

This avocado has been halved, refrigerated and in a ziplock bag for 2.5 days. Whereas normally it would be oxidized and brown, this avocado still retains its fresh green hue and flavor. How?

First, I saved the half with the pit. The pit helps retain freshness. Infact, if you make a batch of guacamole keep the pit & toss it in whole! It will take your guac at least twice as much time to oxidize and brown.

Second, I rinsed this half after slicing it. Rinsing the sliced fruit removes the enzymes that quickly brown.

 And just so you know...

• Avocados have 35% more potassium than bananas
• they can weigh up to 2.2lbs
• and the leaves, skin, and pit of the fruit are toxic to most animals
• thanks Wikipedia!!!