Elusive White Pumpkin Grain Salad

Here's an online version of my favorite grain salad from Charlie Trotter's vegetables book (it's also by far the easiest recipe in the book). The white pumpkin has been elusive for several years, but they are delicious. The seeds are tenderer than regular pumpkin seeds, which really need to be shelled before eating.

Tonight I made a version of this with brown rice, roasted butternut squash, toasted pecans, and olive oil. I like this better with one of the recommended oils, or walnut oil. The olive oil has too distinctive a taste. Still delicious, though.

pasta with braised kale

Molly Wizenberg has a column in Bon Appetit now. Last night I made one of her recipes from the column. It was perfectly good, but very basic, and relied on Parmesan cheese for flavor. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I just didn't learn anything new. Also, I used whole-wheat penne instead of regular spaghetti, and left my half-cooked kale sitting on the stove for three hours while I went to volunteer. These little alterations can make a big difference.

I'm jealous of Molly, can you tell? I relate to her and there are some similarities in our pasts, but she is vastly more successful.

spaghetti with braised kale

I've often made a pasta recipe like this with tons more stuff -- cannellini beans, chopped tomatoes, canned artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, etc. etc.

braised winter squash

I've made this recipe from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, a few times (link is to a PDF). It's a good one, especially for dryer squashes like delicata.

2 lbs. winter squash, peeled, halved and sliced into ½ inch rounds
2 tbs. butter
2 cups apple cider
1 tsp. salt
Rosemary and pepper to taste

Melt butter in skillet with rosemary, after a few minutes add the squash, salt, pepper, and cider. You may need to add some additional cider (or water), enough to cover the squash. Bring to a boil and braise for 20-35 minutes until tender. At this point the juice should be reduced to a glaze. If not, raise heat for a few minutes until excess liquid evaporates.

Butterscotch Pudding

I made this butterscotch pudding recipe last night, with mixed results. Taste is delicious; texture not ideal. A little bit lumpy or grainy. Maybe I didn't whisk it enthusiastically enough? I wonder if I would have better results by leaving out the eggs.

I didn't use any whisky and forgot to put in the vanilla extract, but didn't miss these flavorings. Instead of dark brown sugar or cassonade, I used light brown sugar plus a couple spoonfuls of molasses.

Gorgonzola, Fig, and Spinach Pizza

The pizza was based on this Vegetarian Times recipe. I didn't use a gluten-free crust.

• 4 oz. Gorgonzola cheese
  
• 1/4 cup milk
• whole-wheat bread dough
  
• 1-2 cups spinach leaves
• 6 fresh figs, quartered
• handful chopped toasted walnuts
• sprinkling of pitted black olives
  

Preheat oven to 500°F. Mash cheese and milk together with spoon or fork until smooth. Spread cheese mixture on a rolled-out round of pizza dough. Top with spinach, figs, nuts, and olives. Bake on pizza stone until crust is browned and cheese is melty.

This pizza was kind of eh. The Gorgonzola and walnuts are nice, but the fresh figs didn't seem to cook enough. I almost think a drizzle of fig jam would be better, or maybe dried figs would give a more intense flavor.The pizza does need a caramelized fruit of some sort, but the fresh figs didn't deliver. It was kind of exciting that the Gorgonzola spread melted. I wouldn't have guessed it would.

We also made a commonplace pizza, with red pizza sauce, spinach, green pepper, and a mixture of fresh and pregrated mozzarella cheese.

I used cornmeal to keep the pizza from sticking to the peel, and it made a big mess in the oven, as usual. Maybe I use too much cornmeal--it tends to accumulate on the peel, blacken, and give off clouds of sooty smoke. It's much tidier to roll out your pizza dough on parchment paper, then slide the pizza in still on the parchment. Less authentic, but tidier.

Mozzarella, 6 failures

After taking a cheesemaking class at the Angelic Organics in Caledonia, IL, I was highly motivated to make homemade mozzarella. Using the Angelic Organics recipe, the 30-Minute Mozzaralla recipe from cheesemaking.com, and Barbara Kingsolver's mozzarella recipe from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I've now failed 6 times. Each time, the recipe seemed to be proceeding fine until the last step, when you heat and stretch the curds, and they become shiny, pliable mozzarella. Mine became incohesive, ricotta-like curds, or hard, cratered, nonstretchy curds.

I wrote to cheesemaking.com, where I bought my cheesemaking supplies, asking for advice, but no response.

Milk that is pasteurized at too high a temperature can cause curd failure. Is it possible that all the costly milks I've used were overpasteurized? Doubtful, but maybe. For the record, these are the failed milks and recipes:


1) Organic Valley Whole Milk, Barbara Kingsolver's mozzarella recipe from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
2) Organic Valley Whole Milk, Angelic Organics Quick Mozzarella recipe
3) Oberweis Dairy Whole Milk, 30-Minute Mozzarella Recipe
4) Fair Oaks Whole Milk, 30-Minute Mozzarella Recipe
5) Milk made from Similac Nonfat Dry Milk Powder plus Dean Foods Light Cream, 30-Minute Mozzarella Recipe
6)Similac plus cream again.

Dried milk is supposed to work fine, according to the Cheese Queen Ricki. Also, I think the cheesemaking class at Angelic used Organic Valley milk. What, oh what, am I doing wrong?

Mike has acquired the highest quality possible milk--some Whole Foods offering billed as nonhomogenized, gently pasteurized, and local. Four dollars per half gallon. Dare we try again? I think I have to.

Ruined mozzarella is still edible. Once we made pizza with it. The cheese didn't melt, but still tasted good. I also used it to make ice cream (tasted like cheesecake) and crustless pumpkin pie.

Ruined Mozzarella Crustless Pumpkin Pie

1 1/2 c. pumpkin puree
3/4 c. sugar
1 t. ginger powder
1 t. cinnamon
3/4 t. freshly grated nutmeg
pinch cloves
3 eggs
1 1/3 c. milk or cream (I used a mixture of soy milk and light cream)
your ruined mozzarella

Preheat oven to 375°. Food process ingredients until smooth. Pour into buttered pie pan. I used a ceramic one. Bake for 40-45 minutes until custard is set. The result is a cheesecake-like pumpkin custard.

Basic, Relatively Healthy Pumpkin Bread

3 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 can pumpkin puree
1 cup milk (any kind: soy, cow's, etc.)
1/2 cup applesauce, unsweetened
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup pecans, toasted and chopped
whole pecans for decoration

Preheat oven to 400 F. Grease two loaf pans, six mini loaf pans, or two muffin tins.

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices. In a separate bowl, combine pumpkin, milk, oils, applesauce, and molasses. Mix wet ingredients into dry along with chopped pecans until just combined. Decorate tops of loaves or muffins with whole pecans, if desired.

Bake for 18-20 minutes (muffins), 30-40 minutes (mini loaves), or 40-50 minutes (full size loaves) until golden brown at edges, and knife stuck into center comes out clean.

Quark

Quark is a fresh white Eastern European cheese, similar to French fromage blanc. I came across this recipe while looking for a fromage blanc recipe, and it's amazingly easy. Basically, I take buttermilk, let it sit in my dehydrator at 115° F for about 6 hours, and then drain it in cheesecloth. So good! If you like buttermilk, you'll like quark.

Quark recipe