Shiitake and Pumpkin Ravioli

I'm cleaning out my cabinets (as well as the freezer and fridge) this week because.. wait for it... Tim and I are moving to Bangkok, Thailand.  Woo!  More details to come soon over at the other blog.  For purposes of this blog, moving means cooking and eating through the substantial pantry I have built up over the past couple years here in Jakarta.  This meal made a dent, taking care of: a can of pumpkin, half a container of walnuts, parmesan cheese, and a pack of gyoza wrappers from the freezer.

I used this recipe for shiitake and pumpkin ravioli, although I changed it up a teeny bit, using regular soy sauce in lieu of tamari and rosemary in lieu of sage.  Also, for the sauce, I browned the butter with a handful of chopped walnuts and minced rosemary.  Awesomesauce.  Literally.

I highly recommend this recipe- it's super easy and quite a tasty delight.  The sweetness from the pumpkin is great with the savory/umami of the mushrooms and soy.  Perfect!

Pepitas Two Ways: Brittle and Pesto

So, this post may be a little too early, in the sense that pepitas, which are hulled pumpkin seeds, are not really in season yet, but I have an excuse.  I bought a bag of roasted, salted pepitas at Trader Joe's back in January when I was in the States, with no particular plan in mind for them.  I brought them back to Jakarta, set them on the counter, and there they sat for six months...  I felt like I needed to use them or lose them, so here we are.  I've got two fall recipes for you...

Pepita Brittle: sweety, salty, crunchy, awesome.  I was a little bit worried about candy making in a humid environment (see: weepy marshmallows, January 2012), but this recipe from Smitten Kitchen was pretty foolproof. 

A spicy pepita pesto, with basil and cilantro, pepitas in the place of pine nuts, lime instead of lemon juice and a chili for heat... served on pasta with roasted squash (I used kabocha squash, but you could do pumpkin, butternut, what have you...):

Pumpkin Bacon Mac & Cheese

More bacon, I know.  But I made half recipes of this awesome pumpkin bacon mac and cheese as well as the tasty pea and bacon risotto... two half recipes = one package of bacon.

Anywho, this dish turned out pretty great (despite the terrible photos, sorry).  I combined two recipes I found online to make my final product.  I basically followed the sauce instructions from this recipe (minus the honey and all-spice), combined with the onion, bacon and buttered breadcrumb topping from this recipe.  Plus my own addition: some minced garlic with the onion.  

Healthier than your average mac and cheese, but still cheesy enough to satisfy your craving.  

Pumpkin Mousse with Maple Creme Fraiche

I wasn't sure what I could do with half a cup of canned pumpkin leftover from my pumpkin and white chocolate bars, but this recipe sounded too good not to try: pumpkin mousse with maple creme fraiche.

While not particularly difficult, you should probably get your whisking arm and several bowls ready, as the mousse has 3 different ingredients that get a thorough whisking: egg yolks, egg whites, and cream. 

The recipe was quite tasty- the maple creme fraiche (which is like a super thick sour cream to me) was the kicker- so good!  Without it I think the mousse may have been a little bland despite all the spices, but together they were great.  I didn't make the gingersnaps as directed in the recipe, but instead crumbled some butter/almond cookies on top.  Also, I made a half recipe and was able to fill 3 dessert glasses with it (luckily, because I dropped one of them and still had two left for me and Tim!), so I think you could get six desserts out of the full recipe.

Pumpkin Bars with White Chocolate Chunks

Even though "fall" isn't really a thing here in Jakarta, I am still craving fall foods... pumpkin, kale, apples, cranberries, etc.  Sadly, only some of those things are available here (haven't seen kale or cranberries yet, but I am hoping some pop up in the grocery store soon!).  Luckily, pumpkins are available, both fresh (in the form of kabocha squash) and in canned form.  

Needing a dessert for a BBQ we were invited to, I made these pumpkin bars with white chocolate chunks using the canned pumpkin I bought (although I switched out the white sugar for brown).  Quite easy to make, quite tasty, and quite a big hit at the BBQ, but texturally they didn't turn out quite as I had hoped they would.  They were billed as blondies, which in my mind indicates that they should be dense and brownie-like, but these were much cakier than expected.  Not sure how to fix that, but also not sure it needs fixing, as these were pretty popular as is. 

Ricotta-Stuffed Pumpkin Muffins

While in Sydney, we stayed with Adam's very generous family for most of the week.  Tim and I tried to earn our keep by bringing some tasty Indonesian coffee, doing lots of dishes, and making these pumpkin muffins one morning for breakfast.  Amy had spied a can of pumpkin in the cabinet that she was sure dated back to the time she lived there, so we put it to good use. 

 I used this basic muffin recipe, but made it my own by dropping a dollop (a heaping tablespoon, approximately) of ricotta into the batter after I had poured it in the muffin tins.  Then,  for some crunch,  I topped each muffin with a sprinkle of a raw sugar and ground cinnamon mixture before baking.  Excellent.

Happy Blogiversary! Pumpkin Brioche, Meh.

So this past week was my 2-year blogiversary... two years of trying new recipes, crafting like crazy, and sharing the results with friends.
My first blog post back in February of 2009 was the lovely braided challah from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, so, to celebrate, I thought I'd make another sweet bread recipe from their newer book, Healthy Breads in Five Minutes a Day: pumpkin brioche.

Sadly, although I have nothing but raves for the challah, the pumpkin brioche only gets a "meh" from me. My issue with the bread is not with the flavor, but with the texture. It is a yeast bread, so I was expecting it to be fairly light, but it came out pretty dense- not much different than a pumpkin quick bread. When I made french toast with it the next day, it was almost overwhelmingly heavy. Oh well!

Pumpkin Bread

I have had this huuuuuge can of pumpkin puree sitting in my cabinet for over a year... I had a panic moment in the midst of last year's canned pumpkin shortage, because I was worried I wouldn't be able to find any to make Chuck's beloved pumpkin pie around Thanksgiving. Lindsay came to the rescue and donated the big can to my cause, but I was also able to procure a couple cans in the meantime. Thus, we had a plethora of canned pumpkin, and after Thanksgiving was over, I temporarily forgot about pumpkin, and the big can sat, and sat, and sat, and sat.

I was feeling the fall vibe this week, and thought I'd put that big can to use in some pumpkin bread. Turns out a 29 oz can of pumpkin puree makes 3 full sized loaves of bread! I had one for home, one for work, and one to send to Chuck's work. Excellent.I followed this recipe to a T, with one exception: I used half brown sugar and half white. Brown sugar is the best. Anywho, this was a pretty typical pumpkin bread recipe... soft, sweet, spicy, rich. Yum.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce

I have had this pumpkin bread pudding on my to-make list for weeks now, but none of the grocery stores in the 'hood have been able to keep canned pumpkin in stock since the beginning of September. Luckily, the lovely Lindsay donated a couple cans from her pantry stock.

To makes this bread pudding, I cut up some homemade challah, substituted toasted pecans for the golden raisins called for in the recipe, and made my own pumpkin pie spice, since I didn't have any.

Really easy and really tasty: kinda like a cross between soft french toast and pecan sticky buns, with a touch of pumpkin pie. The pumpkin flavor was pretty subdued, surprisingly...