Fun With Your Food

I’ve talked about poaching pears before.  It was a LONG time ago and pear season is here so I think a reminder is necessary.  I think the process can be broken down into three basic steps.

1) Wash, cut in half and “gut” your pear. You can remove the skins but since my pears are organic, I left the skin on.

2) Place the pears into a pot and cover with liquid and boil with a lid for about 45 minutes.  This is 1/3 red wine, 1/3 water, and 1/3 apple juice (pure juice not from concentrate).  Measuring is NOT required, just be sure they are mostly covered.  You may also add any whole spices you’d like.  This has a cinnamon stick some cloves and cardamom.

3) When a fork can cut through them they are done. You now have poached pears.

Now that was a BASIC recipe. You can thicken some of the poaching liquid into a sauce as well. Simply remove your whole spices, turn the heat to medium high and let the liquid reduce to half of it’s post poaching volume. Add one to two teaspoons thickener (I used arrow root but you can also use kuzu or cornstarch) and wisk.  The mixture should slightly thicken after a couple of minutes and now you’re done.

Pretty easy right?

Try it out.  It’s a nice, healthy dessert that impresses the socks off of people.

Teddy

Over a month ago I was lucky enough to visit my family in upstate NY. I spent most of my childhood summers there and my favorite memory is, of course, food based- my grandma’s custard pies. I’ve actually talked about this pie several times. Though I’ve taken photos of grandma making it before, I like how these turned out better.

I just wanted to share them because they make me smile

*Note, I purposely blurred the recipe card.  This one is staying a family secret.  I need to teach it to some else at some point tho haha.

The recipe

The mixing

The measuring

The pre-heating

The washing

The chopping

The pouring

The prepping

The baking

The cleaning

The EATING!

Yea, that’s all really.  Have a nice night.  Coming back at you with a real recipe post next time.

I posted this picture of soup on my twitter and facebook fan page and I got great feedback based on the picture alone. I thought I’d share the simple recipe for it. I post pictures on twitter of my meals quite often and if you ever want the recipes (as rough as they may be) just let me know!

The pumpkin and garam masala went SO well together. Most people associate the spices in garam masala (cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves…) with fall and pumpkins anyway so I’ve been itching to try to make this. Yesterday, by a stroke of good luck (for me), I found a mis-priced whole organic roasting pumpkin. It was only $1.69 for this pumpkin, I think it was supposed to be $1.69 per POUND. What a deal right? I couldn’t pass that up.

After I got home, I split it in half, scooped out the guts and placed it in a 350 degree oven for about 30-45 minutes.  It’ll look like this when it’s done:

I also suggest cooking it in a dish with a lip because they release juice as they’re baking.  Allow to cool then remove the now leather-like skin.

You’ll end up with a large bowl of ready to use pumpkin:

This is a LOT of pumpkin.  I saved and roasted the seeds as well, for snacking, of course.

ALL of this is optional.  Roasting a pumpkin is a plain pain for some. I’m a weirdo who LOVES to do it myself. If you use pumpkin puree, be sure to use UNSWEETED or unflavored puree and you’ll need MUCH less water than I did (probably 1/2 the water).  This can be made with butternut  or kabocha squash chunks too.

Yields two 1 cup servings:

1 1/2 cups pumpkin (chunks)

1/2 a sweet yellow onion

1 Tablespoon Garam Masala (more or less based on your taste)

about 2 cups water (or enough to cover your chucks of squash)

1 Tablespoon sweet white miso (diluted in water)

Sauté the onions in a small amount of oil until they become soft. Add in the Garam Masala and coat the onions in it.  Add in the pumpkin chunks (squash chunks or your puree) and the water (MUCH less if using puree) then the diluted miso mixture.  Cook on a medium/low heat until the mixture barely begins to boil. Remove from heat and blend with a food processor, blender, immersion blender or a food mill. You can strain it but I don’t. Then, EAT.

Easy-peasy. 5 bucks says you can do it.

Teddy

Yesterday was National Taco day! I planned on making a batch of beans and then making some tortillas to celebrate. The last time I made tortillas was far too long ago. If you have access to masa, I recommend making them instead of store bought any day.

Black beans made with dried ancho chilis, avocado. pickled onions and queso fresco (optional if vegan).

My favorite way to make beans is in my pressure cooker. At first the pressure cooker freaked me out. I was pretty sure I would do something wrong and it would explode. Well that has yet to happen- thank goodness. Now, you’re SUPPOSED to soak beans overnight but I usually forget and this is where the pressure cooker saves my life.  Simply add beans, enough water to cover the beans by at least a two inches bring to a boil and put your lid on your pressure cooker.  Let them cook at full pressure for around 30 minutes. They’ll come out perfect every time.

I don’t add my salt for seasonings until the beans are soft. Once the pressure has come down add in your dried anchos (fish them out and chop them once they get soft), onion, some cumin, corriander, salt and pepper.  Stir and let them boil for 5-10 minutes and taste for seasoning.  It’s not a QUICK meal but since I usually make batches, it provides quick snacks/meals the rest of the week.

I don’t think I’ve done a post on how to make tortillas.  That should probably happen.  Perhaps next time.

Teddy