Pumpkin Curry

One of my absolutely favorite fall traditions is making pumpkin curry. We discovered this three years ago when we first joined our CSA farm and received a half dozen pumpkins during the fall season. Outside of make pies and treats, we had no idea what to do with them! So we searched for some savory recipes and discovered the idea of pumpkin curry. We've played around with recipes and settled on these ingredients. 

We loooooove international cuisine, particularly Thai.  Once upon a time we lived in Minneapolis and had a ton of restaurants at our fingertips so we could be picky little food snobs who would go to one place for curry and another for noodles and another for stir fry. Now that we live in Fargo, that level of selection isn't available to us anymore so we've been forced into the kitchen to experiment and concoct the flavor profiles that we really love. 

If you love creamy, sweet, spicy Thai curry, this recipe is for you! With just a few simple ingredients you can really taste each thing. If you haven't experimented with international cuisine, this is an easy one to start with. 

Pumpkin Curry

click above for a link to my easy print google doc

Ingredients:

         1-14oz can coconut milk

         2 TB red curry paste

         1 lb fresh sweet pumpkin, peeled, seeded and cubed

         1 chili pepper (jalapeño is great for this)

         4-5 kaffir lime leaves (try your local Asian market for these)

         7-8 thai basil leaves

         1 cup chicken or vegetable stock

         salt, to taste

         1 cup shredded chicken, optional

Directions:

Prepare pumpkin by peeling and removing seeds. Cut into about 1 1/2 inch cubes. Some small and big is good. The smaller cubes will dissolve to thicken the curry. Julienne the pepper. Tear the center stem from the kaffir lime leaves and julienne the Thai basil.

Pour half of the coconut milk into a pot over medium heat. Add the red curry paste and mix it well with coconut milk. Stir to prevent the bottom from sticking and burning. Simmer until a reddish oil ring starts to form, then stir to let the oil bring out the flavor and aroma in the spices.

Add the pumpkin and stir to coat pumpkin with curry sauce. Add the rest of coconut milk and stock. Season with salt; start with a teaspoon and taste. Prepared curry paste can vary in salt content so increase salt to taste. Simmer until the pumpkin is soft, about 25 minutes.

Add sliced pepper and kaffir lime leaves. Add Thai basil. Turn off the heat and allow to cool slightly and combine flavors.

This is a great make ahead or freezer meal as the flavors will increase as it rests.

A handful of relatively simple ingredients

Prepare pumpkin by cutting into about 1 1/2 inch cubes

Julienne basil and pepper. Tear lime leaves from step and tear or chop into smaller pieces

Let coconut milk and curry paste simmer to bring the oil out

Add pumpkin and stir to coat pumpkin in curry. Add the other half of the coconut milk and stock. Simmer until pumpkin is tender and smaller pieces break apart to thicken the curry. Add salt to taste. If you want a slightly sweeter curry, you could also add in a tablespoon or two of brown sugar. 

At the last minute, add the pepper, basil and lime leaves. You can also stir in some precooked chicken at this point if you want to add a protein to the dish.

There it is! Yummy sweet, spicy pumpkin curry.

Happy cooking!

-Nina

Gnocchi with Zucchini & Cherry Tomatoes

So we've been little vacationistas the last couple of weeks so while I've been up to lots of projects I just haven't quite made the time to blog about it. Back to a regular schedule!

We continue with our incredible CSA farm, picking up our lovely veggies every Tuesday. One of my favorite experimental veggies surprised me when it appeared in the box--zucchini!

this week's box: lettuce, broccoli, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and my star ZUCCHINI!

Let me tell you about zucchini in my family. My grandfather was an awesome gardener. I remember him planting two HUGE gardens (or maybe they just seemed huge to me) when I was little. My dad got the bug and we planted a little garden ourselves. My mom always insisted on planting zucchini and I was amazed at how large they would grow. Looking back the more amazing thing was what my mom did with it--desserts! I didn't eat zucchini as a vegetable until well into my adulthood. Zucchini for us meant cake, bread, or brownies. Now it's one of my favorite summer vegetables. 

I had to go with an old favorite recipe for this week's CSA box. It's so very simple, full of vegetables and just enough butter to make it all come together. It's also a great SUMMER make-ahead meal. I think it always tastes better the second day after all the juices have soaked into the gnocchi.

Gnocchi with Zucchini & Cherry Tomatoes
click title for easy printing

Ingredients

1 pound fresh or frozen gnocchi

2 tablespoons butter

2 medium shallots, thinly sliced

1 pound zucchini, (about 3 small), very thinly sliced lengthwise

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions

Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Cook gnocchi until they float, 3 to 5 minutes or according to package directions. Ere on the side of underdone. DO NOT overcook or you’ll get a soupy mess by the time you add it to the vegetables later. Drain and set aside.

Use a vegetable peeler to slice the zucchini lengthwise in long ribbons. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half. (Tip! Put the tomatoes between two storage lids and run a knife between to make quick work of this.)

Meanwhile, melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook until the butter is beginning to brown, about 2 minutes. Add shallots and brown them a bit to start caramelizing them.  Add zucchini and cook, stirring often, until softened, 2 to 3 minutes.

Add tomatoes, salt, nutmeg and pepper and continue cooking, stirring often, until the tomatoes are just starting to break down, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in Parmesan and parsley. Add the gnocchi and toss to coat. Serve immediately or cool and store for a make-ahead meal.

zucchini ribbons with a vegetable peeler 

my trick for cutting small tomatoes in half (thank you, Rachel Ray!) 

 pile between to storage lids, carefully slide a knife through

ta da! two swipes and I was done 

everything combined in the saucepan 

shredding up some parm cheese and chopping parsley 

 toss them in at the end and serve!

a delicious hot mess

Apple Craisin Coleslaw

Week two of our summer CSA and another lovely box full of green things. This week we had some pea greens, Nevada lettuce and a head of cabbage. Cabbage is a vegetable I struggle with. I've roasted it, steamed it, and eaten it fresh but I haven't quite found that eureka! recipe for it quite yet so I decided it should be my chosen vegetable for this week's CSA recipe. 

We hosted some friends for a grill-out so, while coleslaw isn't exactly original for cabbage, it seemed like a good pick for this week. 

Apple Craisin Coleslaw
click above for an easy print recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 head of green cabbage, chopped
2 medium apples, diced
1/2 to 1 cup of craisins
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayo or miracle whip
2-3 TB sugar
2-3 TB lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:
Chop green cabbage to a relatively fine dice. Julienne apples to fine pieces. With a whisk, whip together Miracle Whip, sour cream, and sugar. Whisk in lemon juice until light and fluffy. Salt and pepper to taste. Mix cabbage, apples and craisins together. Stir in dressing until you get the consistency you like. Garnish with chopped nuts if desired. 

What else was on the menu? Burgers, fruit and dip, chips and old-fashioned lemonade!

Nothing like a big fat grilled hamburger!

Some CSA lettuce topped off our burger garnishments

Old-fashioned lemonade is one of my favorite summer treats!

Super Simple Old-Fashioned Lemonade

yields 2 quarts

Juice 5-6 medium-sized lemons and set juice aside (aim for about 1 cup for 2 quarts of lemonade). Combine 1 cup sugar and 1 cup of water in a small saucepan. Heat it up to a boil until sugar is totally dissolved in the water. (You've just made simple syrup!) Allow to cool. Combine cooled simple syrup, lemon juice and about 1 1/2 to 2 quarts of cold water in a pitcher. Test it to make sure it's the right balance of sweet and sour for your taste. Top with ice and serve. 

Easy Fruit Dip

This is one of my favorites! Just whip together 8 oz of softened cream cheese and a 7 oz jar of marshmallow creme. Done! 

If you want to be fancy about it, you can whip in a small can of crushed pineapple or really any other crushed fruit to flavor it. (If you want to be REAL fancy about it, serve in a cored out pineapple or watermelon for a bowl.)

Grilled Romaine with Balsamic Reduction

We joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) four summers ago and it was one of the best decisions we ever made. We belong to Bluebird Gardens out of Fergus Falls, MN. We bought a membership and every week we pick up an awesome box full of vegetables picked at the peak of perfection and full of healthy, straight-from-the-ground nutrients. Our farmer Mark and his crew are amazing! Each week he sends an awesome email describing the activities of the farm and what we'll find in our boxes. It's amazing to actually connect with the very people who produce your food and know all the love and care that they put into it. If you have the opportunity to buy into a CSA, do it! You won't regret it. 

Soapbox speech done... onto the good stuff. So this being the first week, we received these beautiful babies:

The biggest head of romaine lettuce I've ever seen and a head of bok choy. I didn't want to start out with just an ordinary lettuce salad so when I heard the idea of actually "grilling" lettuce, I was intrigued and put my grilling hubby to the test. 

Here's how: Grilled Romaine

I read a few different recipes and recommendations for how to actually grill the lettuce and settled on doing it this way. I took off the outer loose leaves and saved them for a plain old lettuce salad. I washed the lettuce under nice cold water inside and out the best I could. I dried it off well by rolling the head in clean towels.I cut the tight part of the head of lettuce in half through the stem. I rubbed the flat sides with olive oil and seasoned them with salt, pepper and a bit of garlic powder. 

Place the flat sides of the lettuce down on a hot, hot grill and just give it a minute or two to char. Flip the lettuce on all sides for a quick char and you're done! The grilling gives the lettuce a nice grilled flavor and brings out the sweetness in the lettuce. It was a fun way to prepare it and a beautiful way to present it if you want to get a WOW out of the crowd. 

But what to serve with it? Ordinary salad dressing seemed a little silly with such a beautiful presentation and since we were serving it with steaks, I decided to try my hand at a balsamic reduction (... doesn't "reduction" just make you sounds like a chef?)

Here's how: Balsamic Reduction

Combine 2 cups of balsamic vinegar and four tablespoons of brown sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and let it rock until it has reduced by half and sticks to the back of a spoon. 

You're going for the consisistency of syrup. It will thicken up a bit once it has cooled so be careful not to overdo it or you'll have a sticky mess. 

Ta-da!

It can be stored at room temperature so put leftovers in an airtight container. Yields about 1 cup of glaze. 

What did we serve with our grilled romaine? Steak of course! Awesome organic grass-fed ribeye steaks from Lynn Brekke's farm. (Yeah, we're those people.) Mmmm... some grilled peppers and onions and grilled asparagus. 

 To grill the peppers and onions we just thinly slice the vegetables and toss in olive oil and season with S&P and cook on a lovely grill pan. 

Grilled asparagus... I think we eat it at least weekly in the summer. Trim off the hard bottoms of the asparagus and lay flat on a cookie sheet. Toss a little olive oil on them, sprinkle with coarse salt and pepper and squeeze a little lemon juice on them. Grill for just a few minutes on each side and squeeze a little more lemon juice on them before serving. Don't overdo the grilling. Asparagus tastes best when it's just a little softened and not mushy.

 Beautiful little babies. My hubby is a rockin' griller. 

Here it is! Grilled romaine with peppers and balsamic reduction. Not bad for week 1.