RECIPES 11-05-2013

Appetizer

Assorted domestic cheeses – (old name) Rouge et Noir Brie, Cowboy Creamery ‘Wagon Wheel,’ and Cabot Vermont Extra Sharp cheddar

Assorted Carr’s crackers

Wine – Kalinda Sauvignon Blanc

Main Course

Roast Capon – follow any good roast chicken recipe you want. For this one I pre-heated the oven to 450, stuffed the cavity with chunks of raw yellow onion mixed with dried sage (helps keep the meat moist), and rubbed the skin with a mixture of oil and sweet paprika (yields nice brown color), put it in the oven and immediately reduced the heat to 350. Most recipes say 15-20 minutes per pound, this recipe is done in a bit less than 15 minutes a pound. Let it rest before carving.

Roast Stuffed Pumpkin – most recipes call for a single large pumpkin, I thought it would be more fun to have individual servings. The recipe is for four, I doubled it for six of us and had lots of the rice mixture left over.

4 ‘sugar’ or ‘pie’ pumpkins, about 5-6” diameter

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided use

2 cups broth, vegetable or chicken (I used chicken)

1 small yellow onion, finely chopped

1 medium carrot, finely chopped

1 medium celery stalk, finely chopped

1 cup brown or wild rice blend

½ cup dried cranberries

1 sprig fresh thyme or ¼ teaspoon dried

Kosher salt

Fresh ground pepper

¼ pound sweet Italian sausage

1 cup pecans toasted and chopped

¼ cup minced Italian parsley

Aluminum foil

Preheat oven to 350. Cut off and discard pumpkin tops and remove seeds and strings. Put 1 tablespoon oil in suitable dish. Brush rims of pumpkins with the oil (save the rest of the oil, you will use only part of it in this step). Invert on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the skin is easily pierced with a sharp knife. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. Leave the oven on!

Bring broth to a low boil.

In a heavy 2-3 quart pan which has a tight fitting lid, sauté the onions, carrots, and celery in the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil until softened (5-6 minutes) but not browned. Add the rice and cook (2-3 min.) until the rice is well-coated with the oil. Stir in the hot broth, cranberries, and thyme and flavor with salt and pepper to taste.. Bring to a simmer, stir, cover, and cook for 40 minutes or until rice is plump and tender but not soft. Check for done-ness quickly near then end (pot should stay covered as much as possible). Continue cooking until rice is done and liquid is absorbed.

While to rice is cooking: 1) fry the sausage (chopped, crumbled, you want small pieces) until slightly browned. Set aside in a bowl lined with paper to drain away any remaining fat; 2) toast the pecans for 5 minutes at 350, set aside to cool.

When rice mixture is done, stir in the sausage, pecans and parsley. Invert the now-cooled pumpkins, and fill their cavities with the hot rice mixture. (You will probably have rice mixture left over – if you keep it warm people can have ‘seconds.’) Oil the pumpkin side of the aluminum foil with the oil remaining from the first step, so it won’t stick to the pumpkins, and cover the stuffed pumpkins tightly with the foil. Bake for 20 minutes in the 350 degree oven.

Serves 4

The recipe says that the dish can be covered and refrigerated overnight, although you will need to re-heat it for the same 20 minutes before serving.

Cranberry Sauce

Ocean Spray, but you can make you own if you wish.

Wines

Second-label pinot-noir, I forgot the name – should find a better one, it goes well with the roast capon

Challone chardonnay

Dessert

Pumpkin Pie

Buy your favorite brand of canned pumpkin and follow the recipe on the can, with some additional spices. There are jillions of recipes for this pie, so choose your favorite variant if you wish.

Note: Most pumpkin pie recipes call for sweetened evaporated milk. I find this makes the pie too sweet for my taste. You can use ½ and ½, or as I did, non-fat ½ and ½. You may need to cook the pie a few minutes longer with this substitution.

Ice Cream

Pumpkin ice cream, from Rick’s Rather Rich store.

Wine

Yeah, well, the muscat (Italian) would have been good