Pumpkin Gnocchi

Gnocchi are sturdy little bite-size dumplings that are often made with mashed potatoes, but other veggies can form the basis for them too.  They usually have an egg as a binder, and I like that this recipe uses an alternate (therefore allergy-free and vegan) binder that takes advantage of leftovers, if you have leftover rice.  There original recipe comes from a PBS vegan cooking show called Christina Cooks.  I choose to serve mine with a non-vegan browned butter and sage sauce.

The tricky thing about this recipe is controlling for moisture content...you can't.  Your pumpkin may have more or less water than average, and even how soon you puree and use your cooked rice alters its moisture content.  I made rice special for this recipe and (as usual) made too much.  I pureed all the rice immediately (thinking I'd freeze some as "rice cereal" for the baby) and clouds of steam poured out of the food processor.  By the time I finished the gnocchi dough, the rice left in the processor was dry and sticky...I suspect that if I'd used the rice at that stage, I would have needed less semolina in my gnocchi dough.  I also suspect using leftover rice rather than freshly prepared hot rice would have had the same effect.  So the amount of semolina you use is very approximate...keep adding until it's the right consistency.

Which, by the way, is like a soft cookie dough.  You want the dough to hold together when you boil the dumplings but you don't want the dough so stiff that the dumplings are like concrete when you cook them.  So you want a dough that can be controlled with a light dusting of flour on your hands and work surface when you roll it out, but not as stiff as, say, a pie dough or cutout cookie dough.

And the semolina...I don't know if you could easily substitute regular wheat flour for the semolina flour.  They're both wheat products, but the semolina feels like cornmeal.  It's also a higher-gluten flour than regular all purpose flour.  You can't substitute cornmeal either because cornmeal doesn't form gluten bonds and therefore won't bind properly.  I didn't have a hard time at all finding semolina flour...it was on the baking aisle at my decidedly non-fancy grocery store with "specialty" flours.  Bob's Red Mill was the brand available.  For what it's worth, I've made other gnocchi-type dumplings before from different recipes that used regular flour and I thought they were heavier and chewier than the gnocchi I made with the semolina.

Lastly, this recipe calls for 1 cup pureed pumpkin.  I used canned pumpkin.  1 cup is about 1/2 a 15 oz. can.  I HATE having half-a-can of stuff leftover.  You could double up the recipe (especially since you can freeze the uncooked gnocchi!) or make pumpkin muffins, pumpkin seafood chowder, or pumpkin pancakes.  You can use homemade pureed pumpkin or I bet even other types of pureed squash though, again, these changes will affect the moisture content of the dough and change how much semolina you need.


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Pumpkin Soup and Pumpkin Muffins

Oh look!  There I am, reflected upside down, in the spoon!

I was reading a newspaper article recently that claimed Halloween was the only "major" American holiday that didn't have a signature food or meal associated with it...Thanksgiving has turkey, Mother's Day has brunch, St. Patrick's Day has green beer, the list just goes on LOL

That statement rang true at first, but as I thought more about it, I realized Halloween does have a signature food...the pumpkin!  I think most of us tend to think of pumpkins as edible only in pie form, but they're part of the winter squash family and as such, are versatile menu players. 

Peeling a fresh whole pumpkin for a recipe is an undertaking, and I prefer when possible to use canned puree (not pumpkin pie filling which is actual pumpkin plus a bunch of other stuff).  The following recipe for soup (which I made for our pre-trick-or-treating repast) only calls for 1/2 a can, so I made muffins with the remaining puree...less waste = less cost = less aggravation.  I am brilliant ;)

The soup recipe is from the Frugal Gourmet Cooks American.  You can make this soup up to the point of adding the scallops and milk and fridge or freeze it (be sure to include scallops and milk as part of the freezer kit to finish the soup).  Just reheat the soup base to a simmer, add the milk and scallops and simmer 5 minutes to finish.  Or if you don't have front-end time to make the soup in its entirety, prep and group the ingredients for next-day or same-day cooking: onion/celery/garlic/ginger in one bowl, flour/spices in another, stock/Worcestershire/Tabasco in a bowl, pumpkin/squash cubes in yet another and scallops/milk saved for last. 

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Pantry Puttanesca

This is one for which you can have all the ingredients lounging in your pantry/freezer any time, or at least until the canned goods expire.  The only need-to-shop-now, fresh additions might be a handful of chopped fresh herbs or a couple cups of leftover roasted/grilled/sauteed veggies.  I wouldn't go out of my way to cook anything special for this recipe, but if you've got some leftover zucchini or eggplant, this is a great way to use it up.

A traditional puttanesca sauce uses anchovies, black olives, capers and tomatoes for its base.  If you think you don't like anchovies, think again.  Anchovies are the major flavor ingredient in Worcestershire sauce, giving it the full, rich, salty, umami quality that Worcestershire sauce brings to your favorite marinade (which makes Worcestershire sauce not vegetarian, for anyone who cooks for vegetarian types). 

I choose to use sardines here because I'm currently hot for them, dietarily speaking, for the reasons outlined here.  You can use tuna or the traditional anchovies, if you prefer.  If using tuna or sardines, you can choose to leave them quite chunky (so as to be easily picked around) or flake them up quite a bit before adding to the sauce so they become more of a flavorful ghost in the machine rather than an upfront protein.

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Posole

I’m pretty sure I’m committing heresy, but I mix red and green ingredients in my posole.  Gasp!  I also include vegetables which is something my husband’s new Mexico-raised grandmother never did.  Inauthentic, but so good!

I have a tile from a store in New Mexico with a recipe for posole on it that has 6 ingredients: pork, onion, garlic, hominy, chile pods and salt.  My recipe is slightly more complicated than that.  It’s an adaptation of a vegetarian three-sisters sort of recipe that calls for beans and squash in addition to the characteristic hominy.  I use meat (beef  back ribs, short ribs, pork shoulder, pork sirloin roast) instead of beans and beef broth, but keep the extra veggies and seasonings.

This recipe, like most chilis, soups and stews, has a variety of stopping points and can accommodate your schedule beautifully.  Today, I chopped, measured and grouped in the morning to cook in the evening.  You can also chop and measure ingredients and freeze them as a meal kit.  You can also cook this dish entirely in advance and freeze it, so that all you have to do with it is thaw and warm it.  Though chiles are notorious for getting hotter with freezing, so consider yourself warned!

As for handling the broth if you intend to prep-ahead and freeze a kit…you’ve got three choices.  1) Use canned/boxed broth, just label the can or box and store it on the pantry shelf to pull when you do the posole.  2) Freeze homemade (or store-bought) broth in ice cube trays and portion out about 1 quart of cubes to include in the freezer kit (1 standard ice cube tray holds about 2 cups of liquid).  This is a good method if you’re prepping several meals ahead that require broth, though it will take up more room in the freezer.  3) Use granules or bouillon cubes and add the appropriate amount to the squash/chile component.  When you cook, add 1 quart of water.  This saves a lot of freezer room.

Posole (serves 6-8)

3 dried Sandia chile pods (or other mild dried chile, such as ancho or pasilla)
1 tbsp oil
2 lbs. bone-in pork shoulder cut into cubes, beef ribs, short ribs
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, diced
½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp dry thyme
1 tsp dry oregano
1 acorn squash (or other small winter squash), peeled and coarsely chopped
½ cup salsa verde (store-bought is fine, I just happen to have homemade)
2 15-oz. cans hominy, drained
4 cups beef stock (or 2 tsp. granules or 2 cubes bouillon + 1 quart water)

Accompaniments: chopped cilantro, diced avocado, sliced green onions, diced tomatoes, chopped bell peppers, corn bread

Cut the stems off the chiles and shake out the seeds.  Reconstitute them in hot water for about 1 hour.  Coarsely chop them and set aside.

If freezing a meal kit, combine the chopped onion, garlic, celery, and spices in one vacu-seal or zip-top bag.  Combine the chiles, squash and bouillon (if using) into another bag.  Double-bag the meat and place into a larger bag with the two ingredient bags and freeze.  Make sure to label the hominy cans, salsa verde and beef broth (if using) for storage in the pantry.

When ready to cook, sear the meat in the oil in a large pot until well-browned on all sides.  Set meat aside to cool slightly.  If using ribs, cut the ribs into serving pieces.  (Today I'm using a cut of pork that the local farm processor labels "loin end roast".)

Saute the onion, garlic, celery and spices until soft, adding more oil if necessary.  Add the chiles and squash and stir until combined.  Add the broth, salsa verde and hominy and simmer 1 ½-2 hours.  Add any desired garnishes to serve.

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