Pumpkin Muffins

Yes, yes, another pumpkin recipe, but that roasted pumpkin gave more material that what I would have anticipated, so I had to look for another recipe to use the 1 cup left of pumpkin flesh I still had. And these turned out pretty great! and the recipe yields 12 decent muffins, so really, what else can you want? The recipe is from Cooking Classy.  Nevertheless I altered a few ingredients, like the amount of sugar and salt because I hate super sweet stuff as you know. Also I added more spices so that they would taste stronger, like more spiced.

INGREDIENTS:
-1+1/2 cup of flour (212 grams)
-175 grams of sugar.

-1/2 cup of oil.

-1 cup of pumpkin flesh.

-2 eggs.

-1 tsp baking powder.

-1/2 tsp baking soda.
-1/2 tsp salt.

-1/2 tsp ginger.

-1 teaspoon mixed spice.

-1 and 1/2 tsp of pumpkin spice.

STEPS:
1. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl. 
2. Mix all wet ones in a bowl.
3. And now mix it all together in a third bowl.
4. Pour mixture into cups and bake for 10 minutes at 220 degrees and then turn down temperature to 175 and leave them there for about 20 minutes or 25.  They will look down at the top.

So good! ha....yum these are yummy, fluffy, not dry and spiced...and woah what a color. 

Pumpkin Bread

I get a little bit sick every autumn to hear Americans talk about pumpkin this, pumpkin that, and all the pumpkin shots in Facebook. But yesterday I bought a real pumpkin and then after roasting it and mixing it with sugar I began to understand their fascination....it is so good! 

So I roasted it and made around 4 cups of pumpkin puree with the handblender and I made this pumpkin bread that Deb Perelman had that looked straight out of a Dickens storybook. And it is GOOD! Wow so good, and not hard. Here it is. The sugar may seem a bit insane but remember that pumpkin puree is not sweet AT ALL. 

INGREDIENTS:
-1 and 3/4 cups of pumpkin puree. 
-1/2 cup of vegetable oil (or 115 grams of melted butter)

-300 grams of flour.

-3 eggs.

-330 grams of sugar.

-1 and 1/2 tsp of baking powder.

-3/4 tsp of baking soda.

-3/4 tsp of salt.

-3/4 tsp cinnamon.

-1/2 tsp ginger (you can put 1/4, I like the ginger kick)

-1/4 tsp nutmeg. 

-1/6 ground cloves.

For the top:

-1 tablespoon of white sugar.

-1 tsp of cinnamon.

STEPS:

1. Whisk oil, eggs and sugar until smooth.

2. Add baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and whisk.

3. Now add puree and whisk.

4. Now add flour and whisk with spoon until flour disappears.

5. Pour onto dish and now sprinkle the topping sugar that you have mixed with cinnamon. 

6. Bake for 1 hour in 175 degrees approximately, but try with knife towards the end to make sure it comes out completely dry.

Very good recipe, and not too sweet. A great fall dessert. Honestly this pumpkin bread is the type of stuff you buy in Starbucks.

Here are the photos of the roasting part, and one of Cambridge in the fall. 

 

           

White Bean Soup with Bacon

"If I had a restaurant, I would include this soup in the menu". 

And that was the declaration I pronounced after the first taste of this amazing soup. And it is great because I have been meaning to include more legums into our diet...Do you know that you are supposed to eat 3 times a week legums: lentils, beans or chickpeas??? I definitely do not do that, but I think I should at least try do it once or twice per week. Well, this recipe will do that for you, also it is not hard (perhaps the khale part, although you can also skip). This recipe is an adaption of Smitten Kitchen's version, which includes even more yummy touches here and there, but to me this soup was already real fantastic with all the fancy touches. 

The game changer of this recipe was: bacon. 

INGREDIENTS:
-600 grams of potatoes. 
-200 grams of smoked bacon.
-1,5 litres of water.

-500 grams of soft white beans.

-1 big garlic clove 

-1/2 onion.

-salt and pepper

-some khale leaves (optional)

STEPS:

1. Fry up the bacon in slices in a pot and set aside.

2. In the same pot, don't scrub it!!! sautee the onion and garlic until traslucent.

3. Now fill up with water and add the potatoes that you have previously diced (no need to peel just clean them well).

4. Bring to a boil and simmer everything until potatoes soften. 

5. Now add the beans and bring again to boil.

6. Now turn it down and puree with hand blender, it will be thick but also beautifully coloured.

6. Now let it cool and season with salt and pepper (or you can also add some vegetable stock with no water.

7. Now add bacon on top, and also you can add some crispy khale on top (which is so good but takes some work).

8. The way you do khale crispy is simple: wash it, dry it and coat well with olive oil and salt and place in oven for about 15 minutes....watch it! cause it can burn fast.

So so good you all, a great way to eat beans. Taste amazing. This one is a keeper for fall. This picture is in the highlands in Scotland.

My Mom's Marmalade Recipe

      

Yesterday I managed to make something I had been meaning to do for a long time: Marmalade with my mom! It's so fun and cool! Not hard either. 

We had some old figs and it turned out amazingly, the way the sugar melts is incredible, it becomes this amazing paste. So here is the magic recipe and the proportions, which is basically that you add 1/2 of sugar of the amount of fruit, so for 1 kg of fruit you add 500 grams of sugar. The sugar and the lemon are the preservers.

INGREDIENTS:
-400 grams of figs.

-200 grams of white or granulated sugar.

-1/2 lemon.

STEPS:

1. Cut up your figs in little pieces and place in a pot, add the juice of a lemon.

2. Now add the sugar to high fire, and now stir, stir, stir, and suddently it all begins to melt, keeping stirring or it will burn. 

3. Now you need to let it boil and keep stirring for 15-20 minutes and then this amazing thick paste begins to appear in front of your eyes. It is all caramelized...glossy, gorgeous paste.

4. Now after 20 minutes of the sauce bubbling up and you stirring constantly pour in your glass jar and close immediately. It will seal and make a popping sound.

  

How to make your own Pumpkin Pie Spice

I know it's Spring, not fall! But I found this simple recipe and needed to try it. I have Pumpkin Spice that I got from Taste of America but I cherish it, and try to use it sparingly.....but I know I won't because boy it's easy to recreate it. Thanks Britanny! 

INGREDIENTS:
-1/2 tsp cinnamon.
-1/4 tsp. nutmeg
-1/4 tsp of ginger
-1/8 tsp of cloves or allspice.

No steps to this recipe, mix it all together in a jar and shake!

"Soupe à l'oignon" -- Onion soup

With my job I was able to go and visit the EU institutions. Brussels and Strasbough in meetings with the Council of Europe. Last year, I had this awesome dinner, right beside the Schuman building (see picture) and ended up in this very cute restaurant that had German

 and french food. I had my very first onion soup, and yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam it warmed my heart that night. 

It's been so long since all that and here I am now, to jot it down. Okay onion soup takes WORK AND TIME, like 2 hours total I would say, but it is worth it when you have time. I followed this recipe of Martha Stewart.  Okay, the trick of this soup is caramelizing the onions for a looooooooooooong time, like an hour. This is how you achieve this flavour that will knock the ball out of the park as well as your socks! both at the same time, trust me.

INGREDIENTS:

-4-5 big onions. 

-3 -4 tablespoons of butter.

-1 heaped teaspoon of white sugar.

-1 heaped teaspoon of flour.

-125 ml of white wine.

-1 litre of beef stock.

-2  bay leaves.

-1/2 teaspoon of thyme. 

-olive oil.

For the toast:

-Some toasted bread-

-Some grated strong cheese.

STEPS:

0. Step 0: Did you know that if you put the onions in the freezer for 20 minutes you don't cry when you cut them??? I tried that in this recipe and it worked! 

1. Drizzle the olive oil in a big saucepan or dutch oven. Heat up and then add the butter. Melt the butter.

2. In the meantime slice the onions, on the thin side, really, you do not want thick slices, but not transparent either! 

3. When they are sliced add to the butter and keep fire to like number 3 out of 6. Now stir the onions every once in a while and they progressively start browning. After 15 minutes add the sugar to start the caramelization process, which is truly amazing. 

4. Continue cooking the onions in low heat for an hour. Yes an hour, I know this is crazy long, but this how you get this succulent flavor where something as strong as onions become near candy.

5. After that hour your onions are probably brown and sweet! Great, now add the flour and continue stirring.

5. After 5 minutes, add the whine and deglaze the pan for about 5 minutes, so with the liquid lift up the brown spots on the pan.

6. Now add the beef stock, the thyme and the bay leaves and bring it to a boil.

7. Now let it simmer for about 15 minutes.

8. In the meantime, toast some bread on the oven. 

9. Now serve the soup in bowls and put on top the pieces of toast and the grated cheese and quickly grill it at maximum temperature for 5 minutes. The cheese will melt and toast toast more.

10. That's it. Ready to die of pleasure? 

Ah perfect for a wintery day.

Spinach Salad for Thanksgiving

Another Thanksgiving classic recipe of my friend Julie:

INGREDIENTS:

- 2 bags of salad.
-1 package of feta cheese 
-1/2 red onion thinly sliced
-3 handfuls of cranberries.
-Almonds sliced or walnuts crushed a bit.
-4 spoonful of balsamic vinegar 
-1/4 of a glass of olive oil.

-5 spoonful of raspberry jam. 

-salt and pepper.

-1 tspoon of sugar if it is too acidic.

STEPS:

1. Place all salad in a bowl.

2. Add all ingredients, the red onion sliced and the feta cheese.

3. Now mix the balsamic vinegar, the jam, the olive oil and salt pepper. It should be a mix of sweet and salty.

4. Season with the dressing, and with the cranberries.

5. The sliced almonds/walnuts are the superb finish but not necessary. 

So so festive. Perfect for Christmas too.

Green Bean Casserole for Thanksgiving

Another great and easy recipe for Thanksgiving and for bland green beans, who knew beans could taste so good, seriously.  Unfortunately this is the only photo I have of the beans, but you can see how yummy it all looks.

INGREDIENTS:

-French cut beans (from bottle already cooked or fresh ones). 
-1 can of condensed mushroom soup (Campbell's).
-Onion flakes (the type you buy).

STEPS:

1. Put the beans in glass container and then pour the mushroom soup and mix everything. 

(If they are fresh boil them for 10 minutes but don't let them get too mushy). 

2. The day of Thanksgiving, place green beans of oven dish and add the entire mushroom Campbell soup and toss so that they are all covered in the sauce. 

3. After 20-30 minutes in 180 degrees baking, add and then and only then, the onion flakes on top and grill for 5 minutes.  Be careful with the order of this step.

4. Be careful with the flakes, they burn in NO TIME.

Sweet Potatoes with Marshmellows--Thanksgiving

 

This dish of the Thanksgiving dinner is one of my favorites. The thing about this dish is that you can make it good or so so good, and it all depends on these little things that make it taste from another world (but also more fattening too). I got the recipe last year from this site. 

INGREDIENTS:

-6 sweet potatoes. 

-50 grams of brown sugar.

-1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon.

-250 grams of white marshmallows.

-1/4 teaspoons of all ground spice or pumpkin spice.

-1/2 teaspoon of salt.

-2 handfuls of pecan nuts.

STEPS:

1. Peel and boil the sweet potatoes for 20 minutes and then roast them in low heat for 2 or 3 hours until they are very very soft.

 

2. Now mash potatoes and mix with the sugar, cinnamon, salt, and all ground spice. Make sure it is neither too sweet not too salty. 

It has to be balanced because of the layer of sugar you are adding next with the marshmallows.

3. Now add to a baking dish and cover with a little bit of brown sugar and some pecan nuts and then a layer of marshmallows. 

(This step is totally optional).

4. Now add a layer of marshmallows and stick in oven in top grill for 5 minutes, but be REAL CAREFUL, they burn in NO TIME.

This dish is Thanksgiving in a nutshell.