Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

Simplicity is a beautiful thing. I have been making this recipe for Spice Pumpkin seeds for years and they are always a big hit. Sugar pumpkins are your best bet for pies and other seasonal side dishes, so this is a good recipe for any time you crack one open, but it also works well with seeds from the larger pumpkins normally used to make jack-o-lanterns.

If you are making these on Halloween Night, they make a good alternative to snacking on Halloween candy as you wait for the trick or treaters to knock. Sugar and cinnamon bring that nice sweet, autumnal flavor, perfect to usher in the coming of November 1. As the seeds cook, they absorb the butter and the sugar melts down to form a sweet coating.

I have had far too many pieces of Halloween Candy this afternoon, and I am very much opposed to the idea of factory made sweets. But, there’s just something about the orange wrapper of a certain peanut butter cup that calls out nostalgia to me this time of year. My only beef is that this year they are way smaller than before. Leave it to corporate America…

Anyway. Happy Halloween!

Spiced Pumpkin Seeds – makes about 1.5 – 2 cups

Seeds from 1 sugar pumpkin (this is the one that’s about the size of a cantaloupe)

1 T granulated sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t ginger
1 (or 2) dash(es) garam masala
1 T melted butter

Pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees. Meanwhile, melt the butter (I like to toss it into a ramekin and melt it in the oven while it preheats, but it’s your kitchen).

Toss the seeds with sugar and spices. Pour the butter over the seeds and toss to coat.

Arrange seeds in an even layer on a cookie sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool slightly and serve.

Ingredient origins: Pumpkin – just down the road; Butter – Maine; Sugar – Florida; Spices – near and far, probably far.

Butternut Squash and Shallot Tartlets

Who doesn’t love a little tiny pie? Tartlets take less time to bake than a full sized pie and, thanks to their petite size, they offer a smaller margin of error in bake time. Also, they’re adorable.

Butternut squash is in season and widely available in New England this time of year. Simply roasted and served with a pat of butter is divine, but three or four squashes into a season, you may be ready for a new application. Fat free and packed with vitamin A, squash deserves to be dolled up with a little pastry dough. Buttery shallots and tarragon complement the natural sweetness.

Butternut Squash and Shallot Tartlets – serves 4

3/4 C flour
1/4 t salt
1/4 cup butter, ice cold and diced
3 – 5 T ice cold water
1 1/2 C roasted and mashed butternut squash (*see instructions below)
2 T butter
1 T brown sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 shallots, sliced
1/2 t dried tarragon

Start by making the pastry dough: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Blend flour and salt in a food processor. Drop ice cold butter into the flour and blend until it resembles small crumbs. Gradually add the water and blend to form a ball. Place dough on a floured surface, lightly dust the top and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out pieces the size of the tartlet pans. Line the pans with dough, pierce with a fork a few times and bake 10 minutes.

Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in small skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots, lower heat and gradually cook until translucent and golden, about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the squash, the rest of the butter(melted if necessary), egg and sugar.

Remove the tartlet shells from the oven and fill with the squash mixture. Top with shallots. Return the pies to the oven and bake an additional 20 minutes.

Allow to cool slightly before removing from the tart pans.

*Preparing a whole butternut squash in advance will yield about double what is needed for this recipe, depending on size. The excess can always be frozen or used as a side dish for another meal. To cook the squash, cut in half lengthwise. Place cut side up in a baking dish with a 1/4 inch of water. Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes at 400 degrees. Scoop the meat out of the shell and discard the shell.

Lentil Kale “Shepherd’s Pie”

Shepherd’s pie is traditionally made with ground or minced lamb. So which protein source are we herding here? Lentils. They tend to wander off, as you know. This is a great option for a vegetarian meal that doesn’t include cheese. Lentils are supremely nutritious, offering a good deal of iron, fiber, protein and folate. A member of the cruciferous family, kale is practically perfect with high levels of vitamins A, K and C.

And yet, somehow despite all of its nutritional splendor, with its comforting mashed potatoes and shallot-y goodness, this dish turns out to be moist, fluffy and flavorful.

Lentil Kale “Shepherd’s Pie” – serves 4 – 6

1 shallot, diced
1 1/4 C dried brown lentils
1 t dried thyme
4 3/4 C vegetable stock
1 bunch kale (about 15 leaves) chopped into 1 inch pieces
3 T butter
2 lbs baking potatoes, peeled and chopped
1/4 C milk
salt to taste

Start off by boiling the potatoes in water in a large stockpot for 10- 15 minutes until fork tender. Drain. Either mash or whip the potatoes using a stand mixer. Gently stir in one tablespoon of butter and the milk until just combined. Salt to taste and set aside.

Check the lentils for little stones and remove any if you find them. I like to do this by pouring them out onto a dinner plate so that they’re one level of lentils deep so that you can see any impostors. If checking this way, you’ll probably need to work in batches.

Saute the shallot in one tablespoon of butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until translucent. Add 4 cups of the stock and lentils. Cover. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer 30 minutes. Remove the cover and simmer for another 10 minutes until the liquid is absorbed and concentrated.

Meanwhile, melt one tablespoon of butter over medium-high in a frying pan. Add the kale, lower the heat to medium and saute 5 minutes. Add the remaining 3/4 cup of stock and cover. Lower heat to medium low and continue to cook until completely wilted, 15 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Spread half of the mashed potatoes in the bottom of an 8 inch baking dish or pie plate. Arrange the kale over the potatoes. Evenly distribute the lentils over the kale. Top with mashed potatoes.

Bake 25 – 30 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Marinated Goat Tenderloin

Goat meat is a great option for New Englanders who are interested in locally raised hormone-free, grass-fed sources of animal protein. Many small-scale local farms are now raising goat, which makes it not too difficult to find at farmers markets and natural food stores. I buy my goat meat from Riverslea Farm in Epping, New Hampshire. Their goats and lambs are pasture-raised without antibiotics or hormones.

As you can imagine, goat tenderloin is quite small, compared to that of pork. The meat is also much leaner, making a quick high-temperature sear a good option for cooking. Marinating tenderizes the meat nicely, and since the tenderloins are thin, an hour is enough time for the meat to absorb the flavor and soften.

In this case I used a dry tempranillo to break down the meat and a little bit of dried thyme to impart an herbal flavor. The result is tender and juicy with a flavor richer and more earthy than beef.

Marinated Goat Tenderloin – serves 2

4 goat tenderloins
1/3 C dry red wine
1/3 C olive oil
1 t dried thyme
1 clove garlic, crushed and diced
1/2 t salt
olive oil

Whisk together the wine, oil, thyme, garlic and salt.

Arrange the goat tenderloins in a marinating dish, pour the wine mixture over the meat and toss to be sure the meat is coated. Refrigerate 30 minutes.

Flip the meat and continue to return to the refrigerator for another 30 minutes.

Remove from marinade and drain well.

Heat a slick of olive oil on a griddle over medium high heat. Place the tenderloins on the griddle and cook 2 -3 minutes on either side until crisp and brown. Using tongs, be sure to sear the entire surface.

Serve hot over a nice starchy, buttery side. It is almost winter after all.

Chicken Barley Soup

The key to a good soup is to make your own stock. This is especially true for a chicken soup intended to help ease a cold or flu. Stock from a carton or can just doesn’t have the same anti-inflammatory benefits of homemade. There’s just something about the chicken fat that gets extracted from the bones and skin that makes homemade chicken stock into something of a high end moisturizer for a sore throat.

I’m one of those people who saves vegetable trimmings and herb stems for stock. This really only works for certain vegetables, however. Potato skins, onion skins, carrot and parsnip peels are great for stock, but leafy greens will turn the pot bitter, and beets will turn it oddly sweet and blood red. Keep in mind the flavor you’re trying to achieve when collecting your trimmings.

If you’re not into saving vegetable trimmings, that’s perfectly fine. Prepare the vegetables for this soup in advance and save the trimmings to add to the chicken as it simmers. Since the trimmings will be discarded anyway, I like to separate them from the chicken pieces by using a vegetable steamer basket. This way the chicken simmers on the bottom of the pot while the trimmings steep on the top. When the stock is finished, the basket can simply be pulled out and the trimmings tossed. Another benefit of steeping the veggies on the top bunk is that they carry away some of the fat that rises to the top of the liquid as the chicken stews.

I like to chop my veggies into narrow strips the length of a spoon. I just like the uniformity of the way they look more than having little carrot wheels and celery half-moons like cafeteria soups.

Chicken Barley Soup - serves 8

4 carrots
2 parsnips
12 large sprigs parsley (about a half bunch)
4 stalks of celery, plus leaves
5 green onions
1 whole 3 – 3.5 lb. chicken
6 quarts of water
2 C trimmings from potatoes, parsnips, carrots and herbs (optional)
3/4 C barley

Start off by prepping the vegetables.

Place the celery and leaves, green onion trimmings, parsley stems and carrot and parsnip peels and optional added trimmings, if you have them on hand, into a steamer basket.

If the chicken came with the little baggy of innards and the neck, set the liver aside and add the gizzard, heart and neck to the veggie basket. (Bonus Recipe: It’ll be a long time before this soup is done and you’re most likely going to want a little nosh. While this thing simmers, take a tablespoon of butter, melt it in a small frying pan and saute the liver in the butter until it’s no longer pink in the center. Enjoy on toast with a little blue cheese and bask in the horrified stares of onlookers.)

Chop the veggies as desired. Cover and refrigerate.

Bring 6 quarts of salted water to a boil.

Meanwhile, cut the chicken into pieces. Drop the pieces  into the simmering water. Place the veggie basket into the water over the chicken. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 2.5 hours.

By this point the meat will be falling off of the bones. Remove the vegetable basket and discard contents. Carefully remove the chicken pieces with a tongs or a slotted spoon. Strain the stock if necessary to remove any runaway bones.

Allow the chicken pieces to cool enough to handle. The bones should slide right out of the meat. Go through each piece to remove any cartilage or other gristley bits.

Chop any larger pieces into 1 – 2 inch cubes. Cover and refrigerate.

You should now have a big pot of dense, fragrant stock. Add the barley to the stock and simmer 15 minutes. Add the prepared vegetables to the pot and simmer for another 15 minutes. Add the chicken to the pot and simmer for another 15 minutes.

Serve hot.