Posted on 10/07/2015 3:44:15 PM PDT by Jamestown1630
I used to have a neighbor who refused to cook. I think she got tired of cooking while raising her child, and determined thereafter to always Eat Out - which was kind of a waste, as she usually ordered the same, plain items all the time.
In a real pinch she might fry up a slice of Spam and open a can of baked beans, but that was the extent of her home cooking. Very occasionally, she would rave about some restaurant offering that was brand-new to her and had somehow slipped past her general policy of gastronomic non-experimentation (I remember once it was Three Bean Salad, which she had never eaten before) but overall, she seemed pretty insensate to food.
However, there were three exceptions: she was a coffee fiend, and even refused to keep a coffee maker in her home for fear that she’d overindulge and never sleep again; she loved chocolate, and when depressed she'd stop by the drugstore after work, grab chocolate ice cream, and make dinner of it; and she adored PUMPKIN!
I think her pumpkin-desire bordered on addiction: once she started, she couldn't quit. If she had just stopped to think, and decided to learn to COOK, she could have had any pumpkin-thing, anytime; but that thought didn't occur. So, she anxiously awaited the seasonal, pumpkin offerings at Starbucks and other chains, and made whole meals of them. And when I'd bake a big pumpkin pie for her, she'd wolf that sucker down in a day.
She would have loved the following recipe. It comes from Dean Fearing’s cookbook ‘The Mansion on Turtle Creek’:
Pumpkin Ice Cream with Pecan Sauce (makes 2 quarts)
10 extra large Egg Yolks
1-1/4 C. Sugar
2 C. Heavy Cream
1 Vanilla Bean, split lengthwise
1 C. Pumpkin Puree
1 tsp. ground Cinnamon
Pinch of ground Nutmeg
Pinch of ground Cloves
2 C. Cold Milk
Pecan Sauce (below)
Whole pecans for garnish, if desired
Combine egg yolks and sugar in a small bowl, beating until smooth and lemon-colored. Set aside.
Place cream and vanilla bean in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Immediately remove from heat and cool slightly.
Remove vanilla bean and add a small amount of cream to yolks, stirring briskly. Slowly add yolks to remaining cream, stirring constantly. Strain through cheesecloth or a fine sieve.
Combine pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Stir into strained mixture and chill.
When well chilled, combine with cold milk and pour into an ice cream maker. Freeze according to manufacturer’s directions.
Place scoops of Pumpkin Ice Cream on cold dessert plates. Spoon Pecan Sauce around ice cream and garnish with pecan halves, if desired.
Pecan Sauce
1 Cup whole or broken Pecan halves
½ C. unsalted Butter
¼ C. Sugar
2 T. Water
¾ C. Heavy Cream
Place pecans in a food processor or blender and process until very fine. Add butter and process until smooth. Measure ½ Cup, and reserve.
Combine Sugar and Water in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring frequently, until sugar mixture becomes the color of dark caramel. Remove from heat, and whisk in ½ C. of the pecan butter, then heavy cream.
Return to heat and bring to a boil. Again remove from heat and stir in remaining pecan butter. Cool and serve at room temperature.
(Pecan Sauce can be made a few hours ahead and kept at room temperature.)
A little early this week; and we’re doing Pumpkin!
(If you would like to be on or off of this weekly cooking ping list, please send a private message.)
-JT
OK pumpkin bread, pumpkin pies, pumpkin cookies, yum yum yum!!!
PUMPKIN TIRAMISU
METHOD Beat 1 1/2 c ea h/cream, sugar stiff. Combine w/ 8 oz tub mascarpone, 15-oz can pumpkin, tsp pumpkin pie spice; beat smooth.
ASSEMBLY arrange amaretto-dipped ladyfingers on oblong baker bottom, overlap to fit. Spread w/ 1/3 filling, then 1/3 amaretti; repeat for two more layers. Smooth top; saran/then foil tightly.
Best chilled overnight before serving.
You have ESP, Liz! I saw mention of Pumpkin Tiramisu recently, and thought it would be great for the next office party; was looking for a good recipe!
-JT
This one’s so easy-—my fave dessert.
Well, now we need a recipe for the amaretti :-)
Pumpkin ping!
Did your neighbor get a show on TLC? Hugh Big Things That Devour Dessert Bars.
No pumpkin for me... ;)
/johnny
She was actually a very petite lady; the tiniest feet I ever saw.
-JT
I worked for him as slave labor (internship) for a few days. And Susan Spicer at his restaurant for a special that all the chefs did.
Most important thing she taught me was "Taste... taste... always taste as you cook".
High stress environment. I still have a signed apron hanging on my wall here above my grand piano.
/johnny
The cookbook really is wonderful. And tasting as you go is great advice.
-JT
Woo! That’s some recipe. I’m definitely going to save the pecan sauce - pecans being my favorite nut.
Since I gave away my ice cream maker, I’m reduced to making Nigella’s non-churn coffee ice cream and salted caramel ice cream. Her pomegranate non-churn went icelike on me. I think I overmixed it.
I usually stick to pumpkin pie this season - going to use maple syrup as the sweetener this year and pecans on top.
Our local Stop & Shop features a “taste” every season; this summer it was lemon and they sold all kinds of beautiful lemony items. This season it is pumpkin and I grabbed some pumpkin cider - whatever that is!
Woo! That’s some recipe. I’m definitely going to save the pecan sauce - pecans being my favorite nut.
Since I gave away my ice cream maker, I’m reduced to making Nigella’s non-churn coffee ice cream and salted caramel ice cream. Her pomegranate non-churn went icelike on me. I think I overmixed it.
I usually stick to pumpkin pie this season - going to use maple syrup as the sweetener this year and pecans on top.
Our local Stop & Shop features a “taste” every season; this summer it was lemon and they sold all kinds of beautiful lemony items. This season it is pumpkin and I grabbed some pumpkin cider - whatever that is!
Need a good way to roast garlic in the bulb.
They make little clay/pottery things for that; but all you really need to do is lop off the very top, wrap the bulb(s) in foil (I would sprinkle some olive oil on) and roast. Here’s a link:
http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-roast-garlic-in-the-oven-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-5341
The resulting paste is wonderful on buttered Italian bread.
-JT
Serve a piece of bacon with a slice of pumpkin pie. Serious yum!
The pecan sauce would be great just on plain vanilla.
-JT
When I was 14, I barely weighed a hundred pounds, but I could put dessert away like no other. That continued until I was 16 and overweight and had to slow it down.
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