Roasted Pumpkin Soup

My family, like many others, spends our holidays with a few other families. We rotate venues and change menus every year, but some things always stay the same. Christmas Eve, for example, is always at my family's house. We always serve seafood bisque, pork pies, and carrot cake. Its just tradition.

A few years ago at Thanksgiving the hostess served a pumpkin sage soup. I'm usually not one for pumpkin, but this soup was out of this world. Since then, regardless of where we are gathered, she has brought soup over as a first course. And since then, regardless of season, I've had dreams about this soup.

It has finally cooled down - and rained! - in Southern California and I've been feeling fall-ish. I want to wear boots and cute coats and eat soup. I attempted, mostly in vain, to recreate the famous soup. I wasn't successful, but this version is quite delicious all on its own.


Apple Pumpkin Soup
Very Loosely adapted from here

1/4 cup olive oil
1 small-to-medium pumpkin
5 medium apples
2 tbps olive oil
1 onion
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
1 tbps chopped garlic
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 tsp nutmeg
salt and pepper
applesauce
sour cream or creme fraiche

 

Preheat oven to 400F. Peel and roughly chop apples and pumpkin. Toss with 1/4 cup olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast until soft but not mushy.

Heat 2 tbps olive oil in a dutch oven. Sweat chopped onions, carrots, and celery. Add garlic and saute until all vegetables are soft. Add the stock and the roasted pumpkin and apple. Blend, either with an immersion blender or in batches until the entire soup is smooth. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

Serve with applesauce and sour cream.

Ratatouille

Ratatouille
Adapted from here

1 onion, finely chopped
3 tbsp chopped garlic
3 cups tomato sauce
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 large eggplant
3 zucchini
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
4 potatoes
fresh thyme
Salt and pepper


Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Pour tomato into the bottom of a glass 9x13 baking dish. Sprinkle the garlic and onion into the sauce, stir in one tbsp of olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper.

Slice the vegetables using a mandoline, approximately 1/16-inch thick. Arrange slices of vegetables in rows in the baking dish, alternating vegetables. Drizzle the remaining olive oil over the vegetables and season with thyme, salt, and pepper

Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake for approximately 45 minutes, until vegetables cooked, but not totally limp.

Gazpacho

I had gazpacho for the first time almost exactly two years ago. The Mister and I were on vacation at his family's beach house, along with his uncle and girlfriend. They made us dinner one night, and although I don't remember the main course at all, I do remember the meal started with a bowl of gazpacho.

It took me almost a year to move gazpacho out of the "to-make" list. When I did, I used a recipe I swiped from another blog that looked easier than most. It didn't turn out very well. In fact, when The Mister tried it, it didn't stay down very long. If you know what I mean. Another year later, I decided it was time to give gazpacho another shot.

This time I used a recipe from my go-to for the classics: The Dean and DeLuca Cookbook. And although I made some minor changes to fit my tastes, I stuck to the essentials of the recipe. The soup was exactly what I wanted: fresh, simple, and delicious with some home made croutons on top.


Gazpacho

From the Dean and DeLuca Cookbook

1 small can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 cucumber, chopped
1 tbps olive oil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
salt and pepper, to taste

A few hours before serving, combine all ingredients. Let sit in a covered container to let the flavors mellow and combine.

Just before serving, blend 1/2 of the soup (or more, depending on your tastes). Serve topped with croutons.

Baked Falafel

When the Mister and I lived in New York City one of our favorite things was choosing a neighborhood to explore. After taking the train over, we could wander for hours up and down the streets, in and out of the shops, just enjoying the city.

Of course, we worked up an appetite on these long walks, and just as much as the neighborhoods we loved sampling the local food. One of our favorite things to eat was falafel, and there are hundreds of options in NYC.

When we moved to LA we missed the falafel almost as much as the pizza. I said almost. And although we haven't found good replacements for either, its much easier to make falafel at home. We like to bake ours, but otherwise we eat it just like we did in New York - in a big pita with tzatziki sauce, chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, and pickles. Now, if we could just make pizza this good...

Baked Falafel

Adapted from here

1 15 ounce can garbanzo beans

1 small onion, finely chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Drain and rinse the garbanzo beans, place in a medium sized bowl and smash with a fork. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

Using 2 spoons, form the mixture into small balls, then flatten slightly. Place onto a well-oiled baking pan and bake for 10-15 minutes on each side, until brown.

Serve with mini pita pockets, hummus, tahini sauce, tomatoes, lettuce and/or cucumber.