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Sep 26 2009
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Appetizer, Snacks

Spicy + Sweet Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

On our way home from the apple orchard last weekend Matt and I stopped by a little pumpkin patch off the highway to see if the “Fresh Raspberries” sign was true and to check out their pumpkin selection. We were greeted by the incredibly nice grower who explained everything to us and showed off their harvest of what he called their “Martha Stewart pumpkin collection.” Along with the regular carving pumpkins they had a huge wagon with the most amazing pumpkin varieties I’ve ever seen. I really wanted to buy one of every kind, but because neither Matt nor I has a place to put big pumpkins we ended up just picking up a couple pie pumpkins, a pint of the best raspberries I’ve had all summer, and a few mini versions of the Martha Stewart pumpkins.
This is everything we came home with. I was very, very happy.

Here’s my favorite. It looks black, but it’s actually a really dark green.

I’ve been debating what I want to do with my pie pumpkins for almost a week now. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin soup, pumpkin ravioli, mashed pumpkin… I’m a little indecisive. After drinking my first pumpkin latte of the year yesterday I was inspired to take action, and today I actually got around to cutting into one and making toasted pumpkin seeds.

Spicy + Sweet Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
Adapted from Simply Recipes and 101 Cookbooks
Fresh pumpkin seeds
Olive oil
Salt
Sugar
Cayenne pepper
Preheat the oven to 400.

Here’s the lucky pumpkin.
Slice off the stem, and then slice the pumpkin in half lengthwise.
Scoop out all of the seeds with a metal spoon, and separate them from the stringy flesh. I was surprised by how easy this process was.
Scrape out all of the stringy stuff and save the shells for roasting.
Rinse the seeds and pick out any flesh that might remain.
Add the seeds to a saucepan with 2 cups water and 1 tablespoon of salt for each 1/2 cup of seeds. I had about a cup of seeds, so I added 4 cups water and 2 tablespoons of salt. Bring the water to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes.
While the seeds are simmering drizzle a rimmed baking sheet with a little olive oil.
After simmering for 10 minutes drain the seeds.
Then spread them on the baking sheet. Sprinkle generously with salt and sugar, and then add a few dashes of cayenne. Stir to coat. Place on the top rack of the oven, and bake for 10-15 minutes or until browned to your liking. I took the seeds out to stir them about 10 minutes in and they were a little soft, but after 15 minutes they were perfect.
I think toasted pumpkin seeds taste a lot like popcorn, and with the sugar they’re kind of like kettle corn. They’re pretty irresistible. I have a feeling that by tomorrow when Matt gets home from his weekend of shooting pheasants they’re going to be gone.
Sep 07 2009
2 Comments
Appetizer, Cheese

Fried Cheese Curds

I have a special Labor Day gift for all of you laborers out there.  Because Labor Day is the last day of the Minnesota State Fair, and the Minnesota State Fair means fried cheese curds, my Labor Day gift to you is cheese curds!  Well, I’m not going to bring you all a basket of steamy hot balls of cheese or anything, but I am going to fill you in on a little secret: Cheese curds are really easy to make at home!  For those 355 days a year when the fairgrounds are not full of food on a stick, you can satisfy your fried cheese craving in your own kitchen.  And I know you all have fried cheese cravings.
All you’re going to need is a bit of batter, cheese, and hot oil.  And possibly a defibrillator, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.  If you’re not making these for a group of people, you should cut the recipe at least in half.  Matt and I (especially me) ate a bunch of them, and we ended up taking the leftovers to a party some friends were throwing later on because I could hardly stand to look at them.  My belly was so full of cheese curds that all I could handle drinking at the party was a whole lot of water.  I guess it worked out alright, though, since I’d much rather waste calories on fried cheese than cheap beer.  Bottom line: either reduce the recipe or find a bunch of drunk friends to pawn off the leftovers on.
The most important thing about making fried cheese curds are to use flavorful cheese like cheddar and to add a little bit of spice to the batter.  We made some with chunks of mozzarella, and they were pretty bland.  Switching over to cheddar and adding a little cayenne to the batter made the blandness disappear.
Fried Cheese Curds
Adapted from All Recipes

1 cup flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1lb. cheese curds
1 quart oil for frying
Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and cayenne in a medium bowl.  Add the milk and eggs, and stir until smooth.  I stuck the cheese that we weren’t using immediately in the freezer in hopes that it would prevent premature melting once the cheese hit the hot oil.  I’m not sure if this is necessary or not, but it can’t hurt, especially if you’re making a large batch and the cheese will be sitting out for a while.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  I don’t have a proper thermometer, so we just kind of guessed that the oil was ready when drops of water sizzled.  Drop a handful of curds into the batter to coat.  With a slotted spoon, transfer the curds to the oil.
Cook the curds for about a minute or until they’re golden brown.  If they’re in the oil for too long your chances of cheese oozing out into the oil increases.  If you think they’re not getting brown enough turn up the heat a little.
Drain the curds on paper towels.  Serve hot with ketchup, marinara sauce, or plain.
Happy Labor Day!  And sorry for the dark and out of focus pictures.  Daylight was fading and I was too excited to eat cheese curds to stand still.
Aug 31 2009
3 Comments
Appetizer, Sides, Snacks, Vegetarian

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Oven roasted tomatoes have been popping up all over the place on food blogs lately, and I’ve been dying to try them. The only problem was I didn’t have a bunch of tomatoes sitting around that I needed to use up. Until last week. Matt came back from a week at home with a huge box of veggies from his mom’s garden, largely composed of Roma tomatoes. I was thrilled. If I would have known how simple slow roasting tomatoes was and how delicious the results are, I would have been roasting them all summer long. I guess now I just have to put my tomato consumption into overdrive until the season is over.

I have yet to use the giant zucchini, and I can’t decide what to do with it. Zucchini bread is out since I still have half a loaf in my freezer from when I made it a month or so ago. Any ideas?

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Slightly adapted from Orangette

  • Roma tomatoes
  • Olive oil
  • Salt

Rinse the tomatoes, cut out the stems, and slice them in half lengthwise.

Place them skin side down on a baking sheet and drizzle lightly with olive oil. You can also brush the oil on with a pastry brush, which makes it a little easier to control the amount that goes on.

Sprinkle with a little salt. You can sprinkle on some herbs or spices as well, but I stuck with just salt figuring they could be used more universally if they weren’t seasoned.

Bake at 200 for at least 4 hours or at 225 for at least 3 hours. Since the temperature is pretty low you don’t have to worry about making your kitchen insanely hot for several hours.

Some recipes call for roasting the tomatoes until they’re a little more dry and shriveled, but I took them out when they were still moderately juicy. They ended up being in the oven for about 5 hours.

Eat them plain, throw them on a sandwich, toss them with pasta, add them to a salad, or anything else that tickles your fancy. If you don’t use them right away you can store them in an airtight container in the fridge.

Tagged
Jul 14 2009
5 Comments
Appetizer, Cheese

Meat + Cheese Layered Appetizer

As the Kelis song goes, my appetizers bring all the boys to the yard.  And they’re like, better appetizers than yours.  That’s right, they’re better than yours.  I can teach you, and I do not have to charge.  Please don’t be insulted.  I didn’t write the song.  And this appetizer really will bring all the boys to the yard.  Meat + cheese + puff pastry = boys in the yard.  Basic math, people.

I had a little get-together this weekend before Basilica Block Party, and these meaty, cheesy bundles were a huge hit.  The recipe came from an old family friend, and it’s incredibly easy to make and would surely take well to substitutions.  The original recipe called for two tubes of crescent rolls, but I’m slightly addicted to puff pastry so I went that route.  If you’re not into ham, you could easily substitute turkey.  You could also make it vegetarian by replacing the meats with spinach or eggplant or zucchini.
Meat + Cheese Layered Appetizer

2 sheets puff pastry, thawed
1/2 lb. thinly sliced salami
1/2 lb. thinly sliced ham
3/4 lb. provolone (or 1/2 lb. thinly sliced from the deli)
1-2 roasted peppers
1/2 cup parmesan, grated
5 eggs
Start out with a sheet of puff pastry on a lightly floured surface.  Roll it out to about 10″x14″.
Transfer it to a well-greased 9″x13″ pan, and start the filling with a layer of sliced provolone.  You could go the deli route and have them thinly slice about 1/2 lb. of provolone for you, but the blocks of cheese were cheaper so I went with that.  It took a little more cheese because I couldn’t slice it quite as thin, but I’m not one to complain about a little extra cheese.
Top the cheese with a layer of ham.
Then a layer of salami.
Scatter some pieces of roasted peppers over the salami.  You could roast your own peppers, but I opted for a jar of already roasted ones.
Mix the parmesan with 4 beaten eggs.  Whisk to combine.
Pour half of the egg mixture over the meat/cheese/peppers.
Spread it around as best you can.
Repeat the layering.  This time I mixed it up and put the ham and salami on the bottom under.  Exciting, huh?  Top with another layer of cheese followed by the remaining egg mixture and the peppers.
Roll out the second sheet of puff pastry just enough so it will cover the filling and provide a little bit of overlap.  Brush the edges with water and pinch the two pieces of pastry together to seal it.
Lightly beat the last egg and brush it over the top of the pastry.  Bake in a 350 oven for 30 minutes covered and then for about 30 more minutes uncovered.  The top should be nicely browned like this and the inside should be set.  There’s nothing quite like a browned, flaky crust.  Yum.

Slice into small squares and devour.  This is best served warm, but it works at room temperature, too.

Along with the layered appetizer I whipped up a batch of Pioneer Woman’s Bacon-Wrapped Jalepeno Poppers.  Spicy and delicious.  You just can’t go wrong with bacon AND cream cheese in one bite.
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