The Week of Altogether Too Much Pumpkin Bread

I just wanted to make pumpkin bread. I didn’t think that was all that much to ask. But the first recipe I cooked, and virtually all the recipes I found online, called for copious amounts of oil. Which resulted in a heavy crumb and (natch) an oily flavor.

There are lots of lovely Pumpkin Bar recipes that don’t suffer these problems, but they are by nature very flaky and delicate — not suited for bread. I was really looking for something sturdy enough to ship out to CA to James’ mom and sister. Bars weren’t going to cut it.

I gave up on the internet and took inspiration from a longtime family favorite, which I knew to be freezable and shippable for the holidays: Triple Chocolate Cake, a mix-based pound cake recipe that includes pudding, mini chips, and (optionally) bourbon.

The 1.0 version of Pumpkin Crack was alcohol-free, because I didn’t have any in the house and couldn’t find anybody to borrow it from and it was late. It was still too heavy and gooey, although tasters agreed that it was amazing. (Except Cooper, who doesn’t like nuts, butterscotch, or bourbon.) Although later iterations did include alcohol, you can still make it alcohol-free by substituting more of any of the wet ingredients for the alcohol. More complicated discussion follows the recipe, but you can just go with the following and you’ll be fine.

Pumpkin Crack v 2.0:

1 spice cake mix

1 small box vanilla instant pudding

2 eggs and 3 egg whites

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup bourbon

1 15-oz can pumpkin

1/2 cup butterscotch chips plus 1/2 cup pecans or walnut pieces, processed in a food processor until just chopped up

Mix all ingredients except butterscotch chips and nuts. Fold chips and nuts into batter.

Grease 2 9 x 5″ loaf pans and sprinkle liberally with cinnamon sugar. Divide batter between the two pans and sprinkle tops with cinnamon sugar.

Pour batter into pans and bake for 45 minutes in 357-degree oven (check periodically, b/c I was watching House and forgot to look at the time).

Cool on racks for 10 minutes before removing. You should really cool these completely before wrapping, to avoid a wet, gooey surface (thanks to Jeff at work for reminding me of that!).

Other thoughts:

*There was also 1/2 tsp almond extract in the one I did last night. I couldn’t really taste it but it may have been contributing a little something to the flavor.

*The butterscotch chips really want to turn to paste in the food processor. I am going to try freezing them first when I bake version 2.5. While I’m talking about the butterscotch, I should point out that the goal here was NOT to have it taste like butterscotch. In fact, people have some difficulty identifying it, which was my intent when I decided to grind them up a little. The chips, not the people.

*I wanted a little more of a bite from the bourbon flavor. For 2.5 I am going to use 1 cup bourbon and zero sour cream. I suspect you can use any combination of the two, as long as it totals 1 cup.

*If I don’t burn out (and I probably will), I may try this with yellow cake mix and some combination of pumpkin pie spices of my own creation.

Old School Vegetable Casserole

My idea of vegetable is a steamed perfect broccoli spear or group of asparaguses or green beans, in the nude. But sometimes you have to make a casserole. This recipe was originally “Connossieur Casserole” from Southern Living. Not being able to find it, I made it from memory, therefore it’s mine.

2 cans french cut green beans, drained

1 cup frozen corn (preferably shoepeg)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

8 oz sour cream

4 oz mayo

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup chopped onions

1 TB hot sauce

Mix everything together and dump into a greased casserole dish. Cook for 30 mins on 350. Top with 1 sleeve Ritz cracker crumbs + 1 stick melted butter, mixed together (if you want healthy, look at the first sentence of this blog). Continue cooking 15 minutes or until whatever else you’re making is ready. It’s delicious and horrible for you. Maybe you could eat it with some grilled chicken. It’s actually low-carb, so maybe that’s your excuse.

Pork Tenderloin Asian-ish Yum

Not sure who came up with the original version of this…Mom? Anyhow, I made it today for Cody and three of his friends from school, so writing it up seemed timely. As usual, I’m not going to give you exact directions, but general guidance instead.

In a big ziploc bag, put 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup teriyaki or soy sauce, 1 TB ginger paste or minced fresh ginger, 1TB minced fresh garlic or 1 tsp dried, 2 TB fresh rosemary leaves or 1 TB dried, and 1/2 cup jelly (currant or apricot, melted). Put 2 pork tenderloins in the bag and marinate for 1 hour or more.

Preheat the grill, then drop the temperature to low immediately before putting the loins on. They will stick, and the sugar in the marinade will burn. Turn the loins periodically, but keep the grill lid closed as much as possible. Remove from the grill when medium rare (it’s no longer true that you have to cook pork to death).

While you’re grilling the meat, put the rest of the marinade in a small saucepan and bring to a boil on the stovetop. Be careful, because the sauce will go from not boiling to boiling over in seconds. Immediately after it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to very low. You may need to temporarily remove it from the burner. You need to actively simmer this for several minutes to kill any bacteria before serving it as a dipping sauce with the meat.

Fabulous Dinner: Part 3

This is the third recipe from the series that starts on the post Fabulous Dinner: Part 1. So maybe you should start there if you want context

Bok Choy and Asparagus with a light garlic/apricot vinaigrette

You could make this recipe with any sturdy green. I think spinach would be too delicate, so stick with Bok Choy, Chard, etc.

For two:

2-3 cups coarsely chopped Bok Choy, green parts only

1 cup asparagus broken into 2″ pieces, and blanched (I microwave in a bowl with a small amt of water for 30 seconds to 1 minute)

1 tsp minced fresh garlic, 1/2 tsp minced fresh ginger

Vinaigrette: whisk together 2 TB olive oil, 1TB red wine vinegar, 1 TB lemon juice, and 2 TB apricot jelly (I used Mary Lyn’s Apricot/Plum jam)

In a sloping-sided skillet or large saute pan, heat 1 TB olive oil and 1TB butter. Add the garlic and ginger and just let them bloom. Do not let them brown. If they do, start over Add the greens and asparagus and saute, stirring or flipping frequently, until the bok choy is very wilted (to your taste). Drizzle withe vinaigrette and add salt and pepper to taste.

Now, if you are cooking the entire Fabulous Dinner, you’ll probably need to follow this sequence (also included in part 1):

1. Marinate the beef

2. Roast the squash and cook the carrots while you chop the bok choy, garlic, and ginger, and prepare the asparagus

3. Make the souffle batter and get it in the oven. Saute the potato pancakes.

4. Put the meat on kabob sticks and start simmering the sauce.

5. Preheat the grill and grill the meat.

6. Remove the meat from the grill to a plate, and cover with foil.

7. Saute the bok choy/asparagus and crisp the potato pancakes.

8. Serve.

Secret sauce: only my family members will understand this: for the vinaigrette, I actually started with Lebanese dressing and added the ML jam.

Fabulous Dinner: Part 2

Butternut Squash Souffle

This recipe is just like so many others available. It’s very similar to the Carrot Puff recipe I made so many times years ago. That recipe was from one of my Southern Living Annual Recipes cookbooks (that I can’t find since the move).

If you know me very well, you know that I HATE squash. I’ll have you know that Butternut Squash is quite different than nasy, slimy yellow squash, so it’s OK to eat it. You have to wrestle it to the ground first, though. It’s very hard to cut when it’s raw, so you may consider simply halving it and roasting it first. I only needed a very small squash this week, and it seemed rather tender, so I cubed it before roasting it. In any case, you need about 2 cups of roasted butternut squash. I’ll give the directions for the “cubed first” version.

Peel a smallish butternut squash, halve it, scrape out the pulp and seeds (as you would a pumpkin), then cut it into medium-sized cubes. Try to get them relatively even in size, to promote equal cooking. Toss them with olive oil, salt, and pepper, then spread them on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Bake for about 30 minutes at 375. Test for doneness (they should feel like a baked potato or sweet potato). Continue baking as needed. Remove from the oven. Increase heat in the oven to 400.

In the meantime, simmer about 1 cup of carrots in water so they’re done about the same time.

In a blender or food processor, process butternut squash, carrots, and a stick of melted butter. Season with salt and pepper to taste, plus 1/2 tsp nutmeg and about 1/4 cup white or brown sugar. Don’t overdo the sugar!

After the veggies are pureed, add 4 eggs, one at a time. I had to start adding eggs before the veggies were completely pureed because they were so thick. If the veggies are still quite hot, consider tempering the eggs with a bit of the veg mixture before adding them, to prevent scrambling.

Pour the souffle mixture into a greased casserole dish (preferably a round one) and bake for 40 minutes or until set.

Fabulous dinner, part 1

Being unemployed has enhanced both the cleanliness of my house and the complexity of the fare Chez Stevens/Wolters. I had a lot of time alone yesterday to think about and work on dinner. I’ll document the results here in 3 parts.

Part 1: Steak kabobs served over a crispy potato pancake with a red wine reduction

Part 2: Butternut squash souffle

Part 3: Bok choy and asparagus with a light apricot/garlic vinaigrette

Steak Kabobs (for two)

Get a one-pound steak that’s at least 1″ thick, cut it into 1″ (or more) cubes, and marinate it in olive oil, red wine, red wine vinegar, Montreal Steak seasoning, and a little cumin overnight or at least while you’re preparing everything else. You’ll start grilling the steaks when the butternut squash souffle is almost ready, and when you have everything chopped for the bok choy (but not cooked).

For the potato pancake: use leftover mashed potatoes or buy premade, and then use the rest for another meal. Mix approximately 1 cup of potatoes with 1 egg. If necessary, add milk to achieve a pancake batter-like texture (on the thick side).  Butter 2 spots in a hot skillet or griddle, sprinkle with a few bits of green or Vidalia onion, then spoon half the potato batter on each spot. When the bottoms brown, flip and brown the other side. Set aside until you’re ready to serve everything.

When you’re ready to grill the steak, simply remove it from the marinade, skewer it on wooden skewers that have soaked in a glass or pan of water for a minute or two, then place on the preheated grill. Cook to desired doneness (rare!). While the kabobs are grilling, pour the remaining marinade into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Add more red wine and taste. You should not need to add salt or pepper, as the steak seasoning contains lots of each. You may need to add a little sugar, though, if the sauce is bitter. Let the sauce continue simmering until you are ready to serve. It should reduce in volume by about half.

When the kabobs are done (rare!) remove them to a plate and cover lightly with foil while you cook the bok choy. This lets the juices set up. The beef will continue to cook during this phase, so don’t over-grill.

When you’re ready to serve (the butternut squash souffle is ready and you have sauteed the bok choy), bring your griddle up to high heat, then drizzle with oil and quickly rewarm and crisp the potato pancakes. Serve immediately by placing one pancake on each plate, topped with a kabob, and drizzled with the red wine reduction. Serve additional sauce on the side.

Steaks: I used eye of round because it was on sale and is very lean. It was also a little tough. You can also use London Broil, but it will be on the tough side as well. If budget permits, use top sirloin, New York strip, or (bless your heart) filet.