A few years ago when I carved a jacko-lantern, I couldn't help but think about all the wasted food. So, I developed a method to remove the pumpkin meat without baking the pumpkin, making it impossible to use it as a jacko-lantern. I use the pumpkin innards to make several things, but my favorite is a pumpkin pie. Once you try this recipe, you will never want canned pumpkin pie again.
*ingredients can be substituted for 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.
Directions:
1) Use a sharp knife to carefully pierce the top of your pumpkin. Remove the knife and insert a pumpkin knife into the slot. Cut a circular opening around the stem.
2) Remove the top. Use a strong metal spoon to remove the seeds and strings. (Put the seeds aside if you plan to make roasted pumpkin seeds).
3) Use the same spoon to vigorously scape the pumpkin meat. Set aside the pumpkin meat in a medium bowl. The more you scrape from the inside, the more purée you'll have and the more your jacko-lantern will glow.
4) Steam the pumpkin meat for 30 minutes.
5) Blend the pumpkin meat in a blender or food processor, until it is practically liquefied. (If you have extra it will keep in the freezer for about six months).
6) Preheat oven to 425°. Line a 9-inch pie plate with pie pastry, homemade or purchased.
7) In mixing bowl, combine pumpkin, sugar, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground cloves. Add eggs; mix until well blended. Add evaporated milk, water and vanilla; mix until smooth and well blended. Pour pumpkin pie mixture into the prepared pastry lined pie plate.
8) Bake at 425° for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° and bake for about 25-30 minutes longer, until the pumpkin filling is set.
(Feel free to Facebook or tweet me for instruction how to make the Toy Story pumpkin below)
By: Josh Martin
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1 large sweet potato (yam)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 tablespoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon olive oil
Directions:
1) Dice sweet potato into medium sized chunks
2) Place diced sweet potato into a medium sauce pan. Cover the sweet potato with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for about 15 minutes.
3) Remove the sweet potato from the water once it is tender, but still mildly crunchy. Combine sweet potato, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, olive oil and water in a medium sized skillet. Stir and sauté for about 10 minutes on medium-low heat.
4) Enjoy, once the sugar has caramelized into a thick black sauce and the potato is tender.
By: Josh Martin
1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Using a large serrated bread knife, cut the squash in two. You can use a sawing motion, sea-saw motion, or both to cut clean through.
2) Use a spoon to remove the seeds. Scrape the the inside until you no longer see "strings".
3) Place 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1 tablespoon brown sugar into each half. Rub the spice mixture onto all of the orange portion of the squash. By the time you are through the spices should look like a brown paste.
4) Place butter inside each half
5) Cover tightly with tin foil, bake for 50 minutes.
Ingredients:
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) cream of mushroom soup mix
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons liquid smoke
1 tabkespoon ground black pepper
4 cups cut green beans
1 1/3 cups fried onions
Directions:
1) Remove any stems from the green beans and break them in half. Place the beans in a steamer for 30 minutes.
2) Preheat oven to 350°F. Stir the soup, milk, Liquid smoke, black pepper, steamed beans and 1 cup fried onions in a 1 1/2-quart casserole dish.
3) Once mixed sprinkle the remaining fried onion over the top.
4) Tightly covered with tinfoil and bake for 30 minutes or until the bean mixture is hot and bubbling.
By: Josh Martin
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History of Pumpkin Pie Recipes:
The name pumpkin originated from the Greek word for "large melon" which is "pepon." "Pepon" was changed by the French into "pompon." The English termed it "pumpion" or "pompion."
1621 - Early American settlers of Plimoth Plantation (1620-1692), the first permanent European settlement in southern New England, might have made pumpkin pies (of sorts) by making stewed pumpkins or by filling a hollowed out shell with milk, honey and spices, and then baking it in hot ashes. An actual present-day pumpkin pie with crust is a myth, as ovens to bake pies were not available in the colony at that stage.
Northeastern Native American tribes grew squash and pumpkins. They roasted or boiled them for eating. Historians think that the settlers were not very impressed by the Indians’ squash and/or pumpkins until they had to survive their first harsh winter when about half of the settlers died from scurvy and exposure. The Native Americans brought pumpkins as gifts to the first settlers, and taught them the many used for the pumpkin. This is what developed into pumpkin pie about 50 years after the first Thanksgiving in America.
The early settlers of Plimoth Plantation brought English cookery and possibly some English cookbooks with them to the new world. The present day historians of Plimoth Plantation don't really know what cookbooks, if any, were owned by the 17th century settlers.
1651 - Francois Pierre la Varenne, the famous French chef and author of one of the most important French cookbooks of the 17th century, wrote a cookbook called Le Vrai Cuisinier Francois (The True French Cook). It was translated and published in England as The French Cook in 1653. It has a recipe for a pumpkin pie that included the pastry:
Tourte of pumpkin - Boile it with good milk, pass it through a straining pan very thick, and mix it with sugar, butter, a little salt and if you will, a few stamped almonds; let all be very thin. Put it in your sheet of paste; bake it. After it is baked, besprinkle it with sugar and serve.
1670s - By the 1670's, recipes for a sort of "pumpion pie" were appearing in such English cookbooks as the The Queen-like closet, or rich cabinet stored with all manner of rare receipts for preserving, candying and cookery by Hannah Wooley and The Compleat Cook - Expertly Prescribing the Most Ready Wayes, Whether Italian, Spanish or French, for Dressing of Flesh and Fish, Ordering Of Sauces or Making of Pastry by W.M. NOTE: Thanks to librarian JK Holloway for her assistance.
1670 - The Queen-like Closet by Hannah Wooley:
To make a Pumpion-Pie - Take a Pumpion, pare it, and cut it in thin slices, dip it in beaten Eggs and Herbs shred small, and fry it till it be enough, then lay it into a Pie with Butter, Raisins, Currans, Su|gar and Sack, and in the bottom some sharp Apples, when it is baked, butter it and serve it in.
1671 - The Compleat Cook by W.M:
Pumpion Pie - Take about halfe a pound of Pumpion and slice it, a handfull of Tyme, a little Rosemary, Parsley and sweet Marjoram slipped off the stalks, and chop them smal, then take Cinamon, Nutmeg, Pepper, and six Cloves, and beat them; take ten Eggs and beat them; then mix them, and beat them altogether, and put in as much Sugar as you think fit, then fry them like a froiz; after it is fryed, let it stand till it be cold, then fill your Pye, take sliced Apples thinne round wayes, and lay a row of the Froiz, and a layer of Apples with Currans betwixt the layer while your Pye is fitted, and put in a good deal of sweet butter before you close it; when the Pye is baked, take six yolks of Eggs, some white-wine or Verjuyce, & make a Caudle of this, but not too thick; cut up the Lid and put it in, stir them well together whilst the Eggs and Pumpions be not perceived, and so serve it up.
1796 - It was not until 1796 that a truly American cookbook, American cookery, by an American orphan by Amelia Simmons, was published. It was the first American cookbook written and published in America, and the first cook book that developed recipes for foods native to America. Her pumpkin puddings were baked in a crust and similar to present day pumpkin pies:
Pompkin Pudding No. 1. One quart stewed and strained, 3 pints cream, 9 beaten eggs, sugar, mace, nutmeg and ginger, laid into paste No. 7 or 3, and with a dough spur, cross and chequer it, and baked in dishes three quarters of an hour.
Pompkin Pudding No. 2. One quart of milk, 1 pint pompkin, 4 eggs, molasses, allspice and ginger in a crust, bake 1 hour.
Source: What's Cooking America
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Complied By: Josh Martin
Ingredients:
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 cups grated parmesan cheese
1 large onion
1/2 sprig fresh cilantro
3 chicken breasts
6 slices bacon
2 tablespoons olive oil
16 oz penne pasta
Directions:
1) Simmer the chicken breast in water until it is white, all the way through.
(20-30 minutes). Cook the bacon on medium heat. Once the bacon is no longer rubbery, set it aside while the chicken finishes.
2) Slice the chicken / chop the cilantro, onion, and bacon.
3) Pour olive oil into a medium sauce pan. Place garlic, onions, and cilantro in the sauce pan and sauté on medium heat for 4-5 minutes
4) Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil (you can use the same water and pot from the chicken). Add about 16 ounces of penne pasta and turn down to medium heat.
5) While the pasta cooks, add heavy whipping cream, Parmesan cheese, bacon, and chicken to the sauce pan. Cook on medium-low heat until the cheese melts into the cream. Stir frequently.
6) Once the pasta is tender, drain the pasta and mix your sauce thoroughly in the pasta pot and serve.
By: Josh Martin
This recipe my take 8 hours, but it's well worth it. It's also extremely quick to prepare. The best circumstance to make this is early in the morning before work.
Ingredients:
4-5 medium pork chops
8 oz chopped mushrooms
1/2 chopped white onion
1 cup white rice
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons ground pepper
1 26 oz can of cream of mushroom soup
Directions:
1) Lightly spread olive oil on the bottom of your crock pot. Place pork chops in a layer, lining the bottom of the crock pot. Sprinkle ground pepper and garlic over the pork chops.
2) Place onion and mushrooms over the pork chops
3) Cover the mushrooms and onions with cream of mushroom soup. Make sure to distribute it evenly.
4) Cook on low heat for 8 hours.
5) Bring 2 cups or water to a boil. Add rice and simmer until all of the water is absorbed (about 5 minutes) Place pork chops on a bed of rice. Pour remaining sauce onto the rice and pork chops.
Enjoy
By: Josh Martin
Ingredients:
1 egg
1 bottle of chili sauce
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 lbs ground beef
1 tablespoon ground pepper
1 tablespoon creole seasoning (Optional)
1/2 tablespoon parsley
1/2 tablespoon paprika
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350. Combine egg, breadcrumbs, ground pepper, creole seasoning, parsley, peaprika, and ground beef in a medium mixing bowl. Mix ingredients by hand (Actually use your hands). Mix until you can no longer find pockets of breadcrumbs or spice.
2) Place to meet into a well greased 5 x 9 glass pan. Flatten the beef into the pan then, make a 1 inch deep reservoir in the center of the meatloaf.
3) Pour entire bottle of chili sauce, into the reservoir.
4) Cover meatloaf with tinfoil and bake for 35-40 minutes. Typically I serve meatloaf with corn and mashed potatoes.
Note: for an old world taste add 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce to your meat mixture.
By: Josh Martin
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon powdered garlic
1 teaspoon powdered onion
1 tablespoon dried parsley
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning (Any brand)
1 teaspoon grated Parmesan or Romani cheese
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
8 ounces white mushrooms
1 medium onion
1 13 ounce package of whole-grain spaghetti
1 jar marinara sauce
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 pound ground beef
Directions: 1
) Preheat oven for 350. Place ground beef, egg, parmesan, powdered onion, powder garlic, parsley, 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning, and breadcrumbs in a medium mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly by hand (actually stick your hands in the meat). Once all the ingredients are the same consistency, grease a cookie sheet. Roll the meat mixture into 1 inch diameter balls and place on the cookie sheet. Bake meatballs for 25 to 30 minutes.
2) Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
3) While the meatballs bake and the water boils, dice the onion and slice the mushrooms. Place the diced onions, olive oil, 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning, and minced garlic into a medium saucepan. Sauté on on medium heat until soft. Add mushrooms and sauté until tender. Add spinach and cover until spinach wilts. Pour stir in the jar of marinara sauce. Turn the stove top down to medium low heat and cover.
4) Once the meatballs are finished add them to your marinara sauce. Turn the stove top back to medium heat and let simmer for 2-4 minutes
5) Scoop meatballs and marinara sauce onto a bed of pasta and serve with bread and salad.
By: Josh Martin
By: Josh Martin
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