AUTUMNAL BLISS- PUMPKIN SOUP AND ROASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS

 PUMPKIN SOUP WITH CREME FRAICHE AND HAZELNUT GREMOLATA WITH A ROASTED PUMPKIN SEED, CRANBERRY, AND GOAT CHEESE ARUGULA SALAD

 These days you may hear my mom yell every girl at the market’s name followed by “get out here right now!”. You might feel awkward by the anticipation of watching us all get yelled at. Then she’ll throw her hands in the air and her head back- “look at the light!” she’ll mandate us. The way the afternoon light hits the trees on 9G around 4 pm is unbelievable. She goes on to say “see, something to be thankful for” after listening to us all gush about boys, diets, money problems, etc. I find it impossible not to be happy this time of year. The sun on the orange, yellow, crimson leaves makes the  air surrounding us golden. leaving feelings of warmth, wealth, and contentment.

Halloween is coming up and that means pumpkin time. It means mums, Indian corn, apples, cider donuts, cider, pies, scarves, cashmere sweaters, cool foggy mornings, sun-drenched afternoons, and pink October sunsets. Neil Young- "Harvest Moon" is played daily in addition to Hocus Pocus. There is lots of cheesy popcorn in bed, cheese and apple plates, and mac n' cheese. It means goldenrod crowns, marigold garlands, coffee with soymilk, cinnamon and honey, dripping honeycomb on warm buttered toast.  The earthy smells mingle with the sweet; summoning a scent of sugared leather dipped in honey. 

I love running around and throwing myself down in a pile of leaves; just lying there while the foliage floats down like natural confetti. 

Halloween to me will always bring back memories of Jane, Colette, and Lara’s home on Fraleigh St. Colette though a few months younger than me was my mentor growing up. She taught me all things magic- fairies, witches, goblins, ghosts…Her back yard was the most magical nook in Red Hook. Her mom Jane who passed away a couple years ago was responsible for the most enchanting yard of flowers, herbs, swings, hammocks. She’d cut our sandwiches in small triangles and kebob banana slices with mini marshmallows. She’d become a child long enough to inspire us before returning to being a woman. I’d watch her drink red wine with dirt under her nails from working; her hair wild and curly hearing her  laugh and think “one day I want to be just like that”.  Halloween meant popcorn, horror movie marathons, pillow cases of candy, and homemade costumes. A pack of kids littered across the carpet trading tootsie rolls for blow pops and a group of best girlfriends in the back- still in costumes doing grown up things. I like to remember Jane especially on this holiday and thought I’d share with whoever else knew and misses her. Rest easy Jane...

In honor of Halloween and Jane, I made some pumpkin soup from Darryl Estrine’s  (a chef/photographer I met doing a shoot for Table Magazine) book “Harvest to Heat” as well as a salad created around roasted pumpkin seeds (which I looove). This pair tastes like AUTUMN INCARNATE. My Dad felt he was eating the season.

PUMPKIN SOUP WITH CRÈME FRAICHE AND HAZELNUT GREMOLATA

For the gremolata:

¼ cup dry roasted hazelnuts, coarsely ground

Zest from 1 orange

¼ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

For the soup:

One 2-pound sugar pumpkin, peeled halved and seeded, or 2 cups cooked, pureed pumpkin

4 T unsalted butter

Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup hazelnuts, skinned and roasted

1 T canola oil

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

5 garlic cloves, finely chopped

4 cups vegetable or chicken broth

1 T fresh lime juice

½ tsp hot sauce

½ cup crème fraiche, for garnish

1. For the gremolata, mix all the ingredients in a small bowl. Cover and refridgerate until ready to use.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. If using a whole pumpkin, lay it cut size up on a roasting pan and put 1 T butter in the center of each half. Season generously with salt and pepper, cover loosely with aluminum foil, and roast in the oven until the flesh is very tender, about 40 minutes. When cool enough to handle, use a kitchen spoon to scoop the pumpkin flesh out and set aside. Discard skins. In a small coffee grinder or food processor, process the nuts and oil into a paste. 

3. In a large heavy-bottomed pot, melt the remaining 2 T butter over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic, season with salt and pepper, and cook stirring until the onions have softened and become translucent, about 8 minutes. Stir in the cooked pumpkin and hazelnut-oil paste. Add the broth and bring to a simmer, stirring frequently to prevent sticking, about 10 minutes. Season with the lime juice and hot sauce. Carefully transfer the soup to a blender and liquefy (working in batches if necessary). Adjust with salt and pepper. 

4. Portion the hot soup into 4 bowls, garnish with a spoonful each of crème fraiche and gremolata, and serve.

FOR THE SALAD: 

 1. Rinse the seeds in colander and then dry in a kitchen towel.

2. Toss in a bowl with 1 T olive or pumpkin seed oil, generous sprinkle of maldon salt, fresh black pepper, and 2 pinches of nutmeg. Spread out on a cookie sheet and roast next to the pumpkin at 350 degrees F for about 25-30 minutes.

3. Toss arugula with a quick pour of apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and about 2 T  chevre or fromage blanc

4. Put salad and plate and top with a small handful of cranberries and pumpkin seeds.

Cornmeal Fried Green Tomato Fritatta with Maple Chipotle Goat Cheese

Here in the Hudson Valley, weather works its way into most conversations. I feel like we’re always saying things like “what a strange day, week, month, year”…It’s always something; too much rain, not enough rain, some freak snow-storm in October, t-shirt days in February. Mother Nature suure has a sense of humor. I always feel that the weather mimics my mood or vice versa. Each year, certain crops ripen, and explode with fruition and flavor blowing us all way and making us exclaim how we “can’t remember a better nectarine” in our lives. In turn, other crops are destroyed by weather conditions or maybe just gave their all the year prior and need a little lie-down (Northern Spy apple trees only fruit every other year). This year, that crop was tomatoes. I kept waiting for them to really come into season; meaty pink Brandywines, Sunset-colored Nebraska Wedding, sweet mild Green Zebras. While we definitely had some eventually, I wasn’t blown away. I enjoyed only a few BLTs, made just one single killer batch of gazpacho, and broke balls of burrata over fresh torn basil and tomatoes maybe twice. By the time I was excited enough about the tomatoes, the temperatures dropped and their chameleon qualities vanished, freezing the green tomatoes in time. My heart-break turned to excitement with a few introductions.

Anytime a customer asked me for green tomatoes in August, I gasped a little bit. I’ve had fried green tomatoes before and LOVED them, but why eat a firm unripe tomato when you can have a sweet, juicy, ripe one I wondered?  I flipped through Debra Madison’s book “Vegetable Literacy” (I know it’s a fruit. Does she?) and found this recipe for a fried green tomato frittata with sweet corn relish. I decided I was going to make it.  The next day Kevin West, a preservationist and author of the blog Saving the Season stopped by the market. I received a copy of his INCREDIBLE book and stumbled upon the section on green tomatoes. Depending on my mood and level of sanguinity, I can be a sucker for “signs”. Feeling markedly UP and OPEN lately, I took this as one to make the frittata. Since sweet corn season is over for us, I omitted the relish part but decided cornmeal crusted fried green tomatoes were just crying out for a smoky flavor so I switched out the parmesan cheese she called for with some maple chipotle goat cheese. 

Kevin points out that green tomatoes are “harbingers of a new season-fall. Tomato vines will put on more fruit than the waning sun will ripen.” The days are shorter, there is less sunlight, and “vine-ripened tomatoes” becomes a past-time. This is when green tomatoes are meant to shine. Kevin points out “in their immaturity, green tomatoes are zingy and firm. They’re good for chutneys, pickles, and relishes.”  I fully intend to try his recipes for “green tomato chutney”, “canned green tomatoes”, “Mrs. Dorsey Brown’s green tomato pickle”, and “chow-chow”; as should you. For now, here is what I did with Deborah Madison’s recipe for a FRIED GREEN TOMATO FRITATTA:

2 large green tomatoes, sliced 1/3 inch thick

½ cup fine corn meal with salt and pepper

3-4 T olive oil

6 eggs

2 T chopped parsley

4 oz maple chipotle goat cheese (feta, smoked gouda, smoked cheddar, parmesan would all be good)

2 T chives, chopped

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. Dip the tomatoes in the seasoned cornmeal. Fry them in an oven-proof skillet in 2 T olive oil over medium-high heat on both sides until golden but not mushy. Set them on apper towels, wipe out pan, and then add remaining oil. Return the skillet to the stove.

3. Whisk together the eggs, herbs, and cheese and season with a few pinches of salt and pepper. Pour the eggs onto the skillet, lower heat, and set the tomatoes on top. Shake the pan gently to settle the eggs, then cook on stove-top until set.

4. Set the frittata on a middle rack in the oven until brown, about 15-20 minutes.