Pumpkin Pecan Crunch

I had made this recipe for the Thanksgiving of 2012 and had put some notes on my blog post about how I would tweak it next time. And that is exactly what I did this Thanksgiving and it came out better :). What a nice feeling. This is exactly what I started this blog for. To keep track of what I make and to keep notes on the recipes.

This Thanksgiving was perfect. My cousin and her family came over and we watched football and had a lazy lunch for which I made butter chicken followed by coffee and dessert (recipe below) and a late chai. That's the kind of Thanksgiving meal I like.

Here is the recipe for pumpkin pecan crunch with my tweaks.

Recipe based on Pumpkin Pecan Crunch. Yellow cake mix recipe based on this one.

Serves 8-9

canned pumpkin             1 15oz can
evaporated milk              1 12 oz can
white sugar                     2 cups
brown sugar                    1/2 cup
eggs                                 3
pumpkin pie spice           6 tsp
vanilla extract                 1 tbsp
salt                                  1/4 tsp
pecans, chopped             1 cup
butter, unsalted              1.5 sticks (3/4th cup)
all-purpose flour             1.5 cups
baking powder                1 tbsp
dry milk/ milk powder     1/2 cup


Method

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 
2. Spray a 13×9 baking dish with non-stick spray; set aside. 
3. Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Add to it the pumpkin, evaporated milk, brown sugar, 1 cup of the white sugar, 5 teaspoons of the pumpkin pie spice, vanilla and salt until well-blended. Pour into prepared baking dish.
4. Mix the remaining 1 cup white sugar and 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice with the all-purpose flour and the baking powder. Blend with wire whisk. 
5. Sprinkle this dry mix evenly over pumpkin mixture. 
6. Sprinkle with chopped pecans. 
7. Drizzle evenly with melted butter. 
8. Bake 50 minutes or until golden brown.

Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I'm posting something after a really long time - blame it on two big events - new job and new house. My new job is located in a very exciting area of SF, especially from a foodie's point of view. I can eat lunch and buy produce at the Ferry Building everyday if I wanted to. What more can a food-lover ask for?

Friends and family have been visiting to see the new house. Recently at one of the parties I baked a cake that is so perfect for fall.

Recipe based on Pumpkin Sheet Cake


Serves around 12

canned pumpkin             1 15oz can
white sugar                     2 cups
vegetable oil                   1 cup
eggs                                4
all-purpose flour              2 cups
baking soda                    2 teaspoons
pumpkin pie spice mix    3 teaspoons
salt                                  1/2 teaspoon

For the frosting:

cream cheese                 8 oz
butter, softened              1/2 cup (1 stick)
vanilla extract                 2 teaspoons

confectioners' sugar       1 & 1/2 cups

milk                                 few tablespoons
pecans                            3/4 cup


Method

1. In a mixing bowl, beat pumpkin, 2 cups white sugar, and oil. Add eggs, and mix well.
2. Mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice mix and salt. Add these dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture, and beat until well blended. Pour batter into a greased 15 x 10 inch baking pan.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes, or until done. Let cool.
4. Beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until smooth. Gradually add 1 & 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, and mix well. Add milk until frosting reaches desired spreading consistency. Frost cake, and sprinkle with pecans.

Butternut Squash & Kale Lasagna

There was this butternut squash lasagna that I wanted to try for a long time and this Thanksgiving seemed like the perfect occasion to try that out.

An 8x8 baking tray is prefect for the recipe below. When making lasagna, it is really important that the entire tray is full otherwise the sauce will drain away.

Recipe adapted from this one.

I got a whole butternut squash and prepared it from scratch. Half of it sufficed for this recipe (for 4 people).

Serves 4

half of a medium-sized butternut squash
large kale leaves (little less than half of a typical bunch)  3-4
2% reduced fat milk                                                     3 cups
all-purpose flour                                                           4 tbsp
finely chopped garlic                                                    2 large cloves
no-boil lasagna noodles                                                6
shredded Italian cheese                                               1 cup
unsalted butter                                                            4 tbsp
powdered black pepper
salt
sugar


Method -
1. Cut the butternut squash in half and peel one half with vertical strokes using a knife or a peeler. Cut it in small flat-ish pieces since we have to stuff them in between 2 layers.

2. Put aluminium foil on a baking tray, and toss the squash pieces on it with salt, pepper and vegetable oil.
I saved some squash seeds and roasted them along with the squash. They were toasty and crunchy - a nice garnish for the lasagna.
Roast at 400 deg F for about 25-30 mins or until it is soft, tossing the squash once after 15 mins.

3. Wash the kale leaves, remove the thick veins and chop them. Then sprinkle salt over the chopped leaves and massage them vigorously by taking a fistful in your hand at a time and releasing. This "tames" the kale and makes it more manageable as well as palatable.

4. Mix the roasted squash and the kale well.

5. Heat the milk in a pot. In a different pot, add the 2 tbsp butter on medium heat. Once it is mostly melted, add the chopped garlic and saute for 1-2 mins.

6. Then add the 2 tbsp of all-purpose flour to the melted butter, saute for 2 mins. Now add the hot milk gradually, keep your heat a bit higher than medium and keep stirring until the mixture thickens a bit.

7. Now add 3/4 tsp salt, 2 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp powdered black pepper (adjust amounts to your taste). Also add 1/4 cup cheese and stir well. Turn off heat.

8. Preheat oven to 375 deg F. Grease the baking dish. Pour roughly 1/4th of the white sauce on to the baking dish.

9. Place 2 lasagna noodles over it and half of the squash-kale mixture over the noodles. Pour another 1/4th of the sauce, sprinkle 1/4th cup cheese.

10. Repeat #9

11. Top with the remaining 2 noodles, remaining white sauce and 1/4th cup cheese.

12. Cover with aluminium foil, make several slits for the steam to escape and bake at 375 deg F for 10-15 mins.

13. Then remove foil, top with pecans, walnuts and/or toasted squash seeds. Broil in the oven for 5-7 mins or until brown spots appear on the lasagna. Serve hot.

Update [Oct 2016]:
I made this last night with sweet potato and it turned out great! I did not notice any difference in the taste. Also sweet potato is a lot easier than butternut squash to peel and prep!

A Vegetarian Thanksgiving Menu - Butternut Squash Risotto & a Pumpkin Dessert

Butternut Squash Saffron Risotto

(Apologies for the poor picture quality - it is a product of dim lighting and iPhone 4)

                                                                       Pumpkin Dessert with three textures

We had some friends over for dinner around Thanksgiving so I made a fall-themed dinner. As one of our friends is vegetarian I came up with a vegetarian menu but had no regrets whatsoever! It turned out to be so good that I didn't miss turkey at all. The star of the show was Ina Garten's butternut squash saffron risotto and a delicious pumpkin dessert vying for the limelight. The dessert has three layers - the bottom one like pumpkin pie, the middle one like a cookie and the topmost one crunchy because of the pecans.
I made it with reduced fat evaporated milk and it still tasted good if a bit less firm. Next time I'll make my own yellow cake mix because the store bought is too sweet especially when it sits in one compact layer like in this dessert.

For the risotto I used good New Zealand sauvignon blanc and skipped the pancetta.
To go with the risotto I made a quick tossed greens salad.
Here's the salad recipe... or something like it -
Toss arugula, spinach, thinly sliced pears, grated parmesan and cooked (or canned) garbanzo beans with a dressing of apple cider vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper and sugar.

In general adding garbanzo beans to salads is a great way of incorporating vegetarian protein to your meal. Especially if you want to control the amount of soy protein in your diet because of the concerns regarding its harmful effect on hormones in both men and women.