Gluten-free Dairy-free Pumpkin Pie, so who said it had to be pretty too

Figuring out how to make a pumpkin pie dairy-free is not hard, given the possibility of using soymilk or unsweetened coconut milk as a substitute for cream or half-and-half. Figuring out a compatible crust is harder. The piecrust that I made last Thanksgiving emulated a whole-wheat crust but was crumbly to the point where I felt it belonged on the beach. It tasted like that too. I was about to repeat the mistake this year when, in the midst of baking the apple pie that was to precede Mr. Pumpkin in the oven, E reminded me that I had had aspirations to make a gluten-free gingersnap crust. So she ran out to the only open grocery store and picked up a bag of gluten-free cookies. We tossed together the new crust and pre-baked it, not losing much oven time on a busy day. It wasn’t the prettiest of pies, but it was good, and a good start for future experiments. Next time, I will think ahead and make my own gingersnaps.

As for the pumpkin, I used a good quality organic canned pumpkin puree. The sugar pumpkin that I had on hand would have been watery despite roasting it to concentrate the flavors. The other alternative would have been to roast a cheese pumpkin or sweet potatoes, both of which have more body. That too will wait until next time. The cheese pumpkin on our counter is just too gorgeous to give up.

Gluten-free Dairy-free Pumpkin Pie

1 ½ cups pumpkin puree (1 15 oz can)

½ cup brown sugar or ¾ cup granulated white sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground allspice

¼ tsp ground cloves

Fresh grated nutmeg

1 tsp salt

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk (not light)

3 large eggs

1 pre-baked gingersnap piecrust (see below)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Stir the sugar, spices and salt into the pumpkin puree.  Stir the coconut milk thoroughly to eliminate any lumps and combine with the pumpkin. Slightly beat the eggs and add to the puree, until just combined. Pour into the pre-baked and cooled piecrust and bake for approximately 50 minutes.  The edges should be set and the center somewhat jiggly. It will set up as it cools.

Gingersnap Pie Crust

8 oz gingersnaps, or about 30 small cookies, 2 cups when pulverized

2 tbsp white sugar

1/3 cup dairy-free shortening (I used Earth Balance)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pulverize the gingersnaps in a food processor, to yield 2 cups. Add sugar and shortening and process until the mixture holds together and is clumpy. Pat the mixture evenly into a 9-inch pie pan and bake for 8-10 minutes until set but not overly brown. Set aside to cool before filling and baking.

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Cheese Pumpkin

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Gleaning, Glee and a Gratin of Greens

Every year at the end of the season, our CSA farm allows members to enter the fields to harvest whatever is left, within reason — meaning what your family can reasonably consume, plus a portion collected for a local food bank. If the weather’s good, and this year it was spectacular, it’s wonderful to spend a couple of fall hours in the widespread fields, carefully picking matching leaves of chard or kale, digging up beautiful beets with dark red tops, foraging for the stray head of broccoli or cauliflower, marveling at the red, green and speckled lettuce, snipping parsley, dill, cilantro and celery, and chatting with other gleaners having just as good a time.

Luckily, this pig-out occurs right before Thanksgiving so I start planning our celebratory feast and the surrounding meals right there in the field. This does put a strain on refrigerator space because greens take A LOT of room. If it takes significant self-constraint not to overdo it in the fields (everything’s so beautiful and fresh!), it takes real ingenuity to deal with the haul when I get home. Our new refrigerator is counter-depth so it doesn’t have the cavernous compartment of the old box, and it’s a German machine that demands order (I defied that). However, with the temperature in the low 40s, some things will stay in good shape in buckets on the porch.

This dish is one of my favorite standbys since it is endlessly adaptable to whatever greens you have on hand. It would be called a gratin or a tian when topped with breadcrumbs and cheese, but since we’re going wheat-free and dairy-free at the moment, this one is unadorned even though I left the name intact. The original idea is from a “crust-less greens pie” in Greene on Greens, a 1984 cookbook full of quips and tips on thirty or so types of vegetables. When I read it now, I’m amazed at how much butter and cream Bert Greene used compared to what feels right today. He also cooks his vegetables longer than I do, but then, I mostly get mine straight from the field or farm store so they’re probably younger and fresher. I’m also amazed at how many of his chapters I’ve consulted over the years and how many of his good ideas I have adapted.

I think that using a variety of greens is helpful to the overall consistency and complexity of taste. I typically balance something sturdy like kale (I’ve used just about every type) with more delicate spicy greens such as dandelion, arugula, or even a little mustard, plus herbs like parsley, lovage, dill or basil (use one of last three, not all). Chard also works well but don’t overcook it. I also tend to keep the pieces of kale or chard fairly large since the spicier greens are usually smaller. It’s important to assemble all of the ingredients first.

I often make the greens mixture in advance and store it in the refrigerator so that all I have to do is add the eggs and topping and bake it, making it about 30 minutes to prepare. I also have frozen the mixture with success, but it does need draining when thawed, and a little freshening with herbs.

Gratin of Greens (without or without the bread and cheese)

Approximately 8 cups of greens, preferably a mix, torn or cut into pieces

Approximately ½ cup chopped herbs (parsley plus lovage, dill or basil)

1 red, yellow or orange pepper, chopped  (1/4-inch pieces)

1 medium or 2 small zucchini, grated

1 yellow onion, chopped (1/4-inch pieces)

1 or 2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbsp olive oil

1tbsp butter or vegan spread (like Earth Balance)

3 eggs

Salt and pepper

Optional toppings:

½ cup fresh breadcrumbs (and 1 tbsp olive oil or butter)

½ cup grated cheese (Swiss-type cheese, maybe combined with a little Parmesan)

Prepare all of the ingredients. In a large pot over medium heat, cook the onion in olive oil and butter until softened, add the garlic and stir, then add all of the ingredients other than the eggs, salt and pepper. Cover the pot and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring every so often to combine the ingredients. Cooking time will vary depending on the main green (chard melts quickly, kale takes longer). If there is liquid left in the pot, let it cook uncovered for a few minutes to evaporate. Season with salt and pepper and set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly beat the eggs and stir them into the greens mixture. Pour into a greased ceramic or glass pie plate or gratin dish. If you are topping with breadcrumbs, toast them lightly in a pan with a little butter or oil. Bake for about 25-30 minutes and let cool for about 10 minutes before serving. Serves 4.

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Radicchio Risotto

When fall and winter roll around, bitter greens like radicchio and Belgian endive have great appeal, raw or cooked. They feel seasonally right.  I have been trying to thin down anything bulky in the refrigerator to prepare for the upcoming holidays, so when I spied a bunch of not so tightly bunched radicchio, cooking a whole head for a dinner risotto had a double benefit. Risotto is not hard to make, and it is not particularly time-consuming when you realize that it can be a meal-in-one in about 30 minutes, including a little prep time.

Sometimes when I make vegetable-laden risotto, I cook the rice and vegetable separately (as in the case of asparagus, which could reduce to slime if cooked with the rice) but here, the time needed to cook the greens and the rice is about even, so they go into the pot together. The radicchio dyes the rice a violet-brown, but that’s okay for this season. Any vegetable exudes liquid, so the amount of stock being added will be diminished. In this version, I used a good amount of greens in proportion to rice, but that can easily be adjusted according to preference. I also like my risotto pretty firm. Add more broth and stir it up if you like it creamier.

Vegetarians can use vegetable stock instead of chicken and dairy-free folk can simply omit the butter and cheese. This would be terrific served with roasted acorn squash slices, which have a similar mouth-feel and a great complementary color.

Radicchio Risotto

½ medium onion, diced

Olive oil and/or butter (about 1 tbsp combined)

1 medium head radicchio, cut in half lengthwise and in ¼-inch ribbons crosswise (1½-2 cups)

1 cup Arborio rice

¼ cup white wine

4-5 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese (or to taste)

Salt to taste

Saute the onion slowly in the oil and/or butter. Add the radicchio and stir to coat, turning the heat up to medium-high to start it cooking (browning a little is okay). Add the rice and stir to coat. Add the white wine and stir to allow it to evaporate and also instill the ingredients with flavor. Add 1/3 cup of stock, turn the heat to medium low or low (so it just simmers) and stir until the stock is absorbed. The liquid from the vegetables will start to express, so the process of adding stock may be slower than in other risottos. When the liquid is absorbed, add another 1/3 cup of stock, wait until it’s absorbed, stirring occasionally, and then repeat until the rice is tender but still al dente. This process will take about 20-25 minutes. Add grated cheese, season to taste, garnish and serve.

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Pumpkin/Squash and Sweet Potato Soup

Now that Halloween has passed, we no longer need the sugar pumpkins to stand around looking cute, so it’s time to get them ready for Thanksgiving. Since this growing season was so wet, all of the winter squashes are fragile and easily spoiled, so they are not storage crops. Use them up! Also, our CSA had a bumper crop of sweet potatoes to harvest (20 pounds per family in one week, OMG!). I had already oven-roasted the pumpkin, not knowing what I was going to do with it, so when some of the sweet potatoes looked like they might not last, a delicious soup was the logical concoction.

This soup can be made with pumpkin and/or other winter squashes, including butternut, buttercup, sweet dumpling, Hokkaido, or just about any firm-fleshed varieties. Pumpkin can be pretty weak-flavored and watery, so the sweet potatoes and carrots provide taste and body. Had I thought to make this when I roasted the pumpkin, I would have roasted the sweet potato and carrot too, so that’s what I wrote in the directions. I usually make this soup with water if the squash is really flavorful, or otherwise with vegetable stock, starting with a smaller amount and adding more if the soup needs thinning. It freezes reasonably well, but I don’t add the spices and seasonings until it’s defrosted and ready to be served.

 

Pumpkin or Squash Soup

1 medium sugar pumpkin or two small winter squash, cut into chunks (peel if using butternut squash, but leave unpeeled for pumpkin or other types)

1 large or 2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

Olive oil

Coarse salt

2 onions, coarsely chopped (or 1 onion and a large leek)

2 stalks celery

Bay leaf

½ tsp dried thyme or a few fresh sprigs

5+ cups of water or vegetable stock

1+ tsp ground cinnamon

1+ tsp ground cumin

A couple of grinds or grates of nutmeg

¼-½ tsp mild cayenne pepper (start with the least and taste)

A couple of tablespoons of heavy cream to finish (optional)

Chopped parsley or cilantro (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Brush the cut sides of the pumpkin or squash with olive oil, salt and place cut side down on a baking sheet.  Toss the carrots and sweet potato chunks with olive oil, salt lightly and place on baking sheet. Do not combine them since they typically cook at different rates. Toss a couple of times during roasting to brown all sides. When soft and browned, remove and set aside. When the unpeeled pumpkin or squash is cool enough to handle, scoop out the flash and set aside.

Slowly saute the onion and celery in olive oil (you could use butter if you’re using cream at the end) for about 5-7 minutes or until soft. Add the thyme and bay leaf and the reserved vegetables, and stir to coat. Add water or stock and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 25 minutes, or until everything’s fully cooked.  Puree in a food processor. Return to pan and season with cinnamon, cumin and cayenne, using the smaller amount and then adding more to taste. Add additional salt if needed, and serve with a little cream or a few snipped herbs if you have some. Makes about 6 servings.

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Bubble and Squeak and a Balancing Act

No, this is not a circus performance of an elephant and a mouse, but rather a riff on a classic, on the fly. Bubble and squeak is a traditional English dish that combines leftover vegetables, typically mashed potatoes and cabbage. I guess the consistencies of those two make this sound-taste word association a conceptual onomatopoeia.  It is usually served with leftover roast meat and condiments such as pickles (you’ll see why in a minute). I first heard about bubble and squeak from a certain Oxford-educated, inspirational high school English teacher who (in the 1960s) thought that Dylan Thomas would appeal to us more than John Donne (he was right, though we studied that too). Cool move. He should be doing Teach for America now! When I went to Scotland to visit my uncle and aunt a few years later, they exposed me to kidney pie (woe), haggis (distress), and bubble and squeak (relief).

Since we’re on an English topic, I might as well admit that I am the “Queen of the Leftovers.” Sometimes I cook things just to have them available, like the roasted pumpkin that I later turned into soup or the mound of spinach that had been taking up too much room in the refrigerator. Having ingredients around makes me improvise and have fun in the kitchen.  Especially on weeknights when I don’t get home from work until 7 or so. This evening worked out unexpectedly well, in less than 30 minutes. I had some leftover braised rutabaga cubes, leftover cabbage that had been tossed in a skillet until browned, several baby yellow potatoes, a couple of cucumbers rescued for 15 cents from the seconds bin at the supermarket, and a wee bit of  salmon that I bought just because I craved it for dinner.

The potatoes were boiled skin-on, mashed with the rutabaga and a little cream to bind them, and combined with the cabbage, which I had re-sautéed briefly and freshened with white wine vinegar.  The cucumbers were partially peeled, quartered lengthwise, seeded, cut into triangles, salted and set aside. After about ten minutes, they were dried with a towel and sautéed in oil on medium high heat until browned but still crisp and doused with white wine vinegar. I cooked the salmon filet on the stove (the oven also works fine). The three components were assembled on a plate and sprinkled with fresh dill sprigs that, together with the “pickle,” meaning the vinegar-laced cucumber, cleansed the palate.  A great balance. Yum.

(You might think this looks like a lot of food on one plate, but the scale’s deceptive in the photograph. Pictured are 3 oz salmon, ½ cup mash and half a cucumber. )

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Last Leaves Left

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Chocolate Sorbet

This is basically a chocolate version of my coconut sorbet, without the shredded coconut. If you were to add the coconut, this would taste like a Mounds candy bar, maybe. Add almonds and guess what? Almond Joy! For those who need to be dairy-free, make sure to read the label on the chocolate. I’ve been using one 4-ounce bar of Ghirardelli Semi-sweet Chocolate and one 4-ounce bar of Bittersweet Chocolate, both of which contain milk fat. If you use only bittersweet chocolate, you might increase the sugar. The first time I made this, I added about half of the sugar with the melted chocolate but when I found that it wouldn’t dissolve without burning the chocolate, I dissolved the rest in water. The result was a slightly grainy texture, which actually seemed to work.

Chocolate Sorbet

1 4 oz bar semi-sweet chocolate

1 4 oz bar bittersweet chocolate

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 14 oz can unsweetened coconut milk (regular or light)

½ tsp vanilla extract

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, being careful not to overheat it. Set aside to cool. Mix water and sugar until the sugar dissolves (you can heat it a little if it’s being difficult). Add the coconut milk, melted chocolate and vanilla and chill thoroughly. Process in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions. Makes nearly a quart. 

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Pears!

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A Ton of Tomatillos: Time to Can and Prospect the Pantry Later

I started experimenting with canning tomato salsa a couple of years ago, trying to find a safe balance of ingredients without turning it into a vinegary pucker. I was just about hitting my stride when this summer the chief ingredient, the tomato, was devastated throughout the Northeast by the fungal disease called late blight.

 

(The real story should be an expose on big box stores and a commentary on our food supply since the culprit that started this epidemic – the same blight that caused the Irish potato famine in the 19^th century – was a supplier of plants to big box stores. Not just one. Several, with their massive distribution… Of course, it was aggravated by our weather, as the disease became wind-borne. Thus even the most astute organic farm was eventually hit, though my personal garden survived. But this rant is not the point of this post… back to the tomatillo.)

 

So, with a bumper crop of tomatillos and not a tomato in sight, we opted for green sauce. It turns out that the tomatillo has a pH that makes it a good candidate for canning. I followed the method in Eugenia Bone’s excellent book entitled Well-Preserved.  Canning books and manuals are uninspiring, generally speaking, and even some of the best feel like the 1950s with an uncomfortable new hat. The Farmer’s Almanac is a rip in comparison.

 

Ms. Bone’s book, in addition to having well-tested recipes for what she’s preserving, contains recipes for what to do with the stuff. So, for tomatillo sauce, she offers Scallop and Tomatillo Ceviche, Brie with Tomatillo Sauce, Corn and Tomatillo Soup, and Chicken and Tomatillo Stew. Wow. So now we have jars of tomatillo sauce that are bases for other dishes later on.

 

Her method of canning tomatillos is also interesting. It’s similar to my favorite way of canning tomatoes, which allows them to reduce before being poured in a jar. She briefly blanches whole tomatillos, chars the skin off poblano and (watch it!) jalapeno peppers, chops up onion and garlic, processes everything in a food processor and – here’s the best part – simmers the whole mix in the requisite lemon juice with a little salt. That reduces the mix that’s poured into the canning jars and water-bath processed. It also allows you to skim the extra liquid off, so what’s in the jars has a good and not too watery consistency.

 

The uncanned leftovers have been great, so I have high hopes for the winter. I have a bunch of frozen roasted corn from the office picnic, which promises to make a good soup when combined with tomatillo sauce and chicken or vegetable broth, and maybe chunks of chicken. Lunch tomorrow?

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