I made several dishes for a potluck Thanksgiving dinner I attended, including a pumpkin pie with assorted goodies. Having decided that coconut milk would be just right, I was going to improvise my own recipe when someone posted one from The Savvy Vegetarian that was just like what I had in mind, so I went ahead and used that one. Then I roasted the pumpkin seeds (sweetly this time) with the idea that they might make a good topping. The next day, having chilled the pie sufficiently, I considered how nice a whipped topping would be, so I used the leftover tofu and coconut milk to attempt one, but while it would have likely been perfect out of a whip-it (and was quite delicious), it was too thin on its own. I thickened it a bit with some tapioca before deciding to just call it a sauce. It worked wonderfully on the pie as well as on the apple crisp I’d also made.

Yay for experimentation! Click through for the many recipes.

Pumpkin Pie

• 1 3/4 cups fresh pumpkin puree (see below)
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 cup silken tofu
• 2 Tblsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp ginger
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1 pie crust (see below)

1. Blend all ingredients except the flour (and the pie crust, duh) in a blender until smooth.
2. Lightly coat the pie crust with flour and pour in filling.
3. Bake in a preheated oven at 425° for 10 minutes, reduce to 350° and bake an additional 30 minutes.
4. Allow to cool completely (ideally, chill) before serving along with vanilla sauce and sweet pumpkin seeds (see below).

Pie Crust (for one two-crust or two one-crust pies)

I’ve been making this pie crust for years. It’s a pretty standard recipe and it just works, but I’m sure your favorite recipe will work just fine, too. I find it pretty straightforward, but I know a lot of people have trouble with pie crust, so let me know if you have specific questions, since I know I’m being brief here. I’ve taught a number of people, so if you’re local and need help, drop me a line.

• 2 2/3 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup shortening
• 7-8 Tbsp ice water

1. Using two knives or a pastry blender, cut the shortening into the flour and salt until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
2. Tossing gently with a fork, add the water one tablespoon at a time until the dough will hold together. If you want to be fancy, you can also use a water sprayer for this part.
3. Gather the dough into two equal balls and refrigerate while you’re not working with it.
4. Carefully roll one of the balls into a circle about 1″ large around than your pie plate. A flexible cutting board makes a great surface for this step, or use a piece of wax paper, parchment paper, or plastic wrap. Why? Because the easiest way to get it into the plate is to flip the plate onto the crust, flip the whole thing, and peel away the board/paper/plastic.
5. Carefully press the dough into the plate, taking care not to stretch it, and crimp or shape the edge as you desire. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.

Five-Minute Maple-Vanilla Sauce

• 12oz silken tofu, minus 1/2 cup
• 1 can coconut milk, minus 1/2 cup
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• pinch of salt
• 2 Tbsp tapioca (optional)

1. Blend everything except the tapioca, adjusting sweetener and vanilla to taste.
2. If you want to thicken the sauce a bit, pour off about 2/3 cup of the sauce, mix in the tapioca, and microwave to boiling, then mix back in with the sauce.

Mashed Pumpkin

Cut a pumpkin in half, remove the stem, scoop out the guts, and place cut side down in a baking dish with about 1/4″ water. Bake at 350° for 1 hour (until tender), allow to cool, and mash or mill the pumpkin (sans skin, of course). If the pumpkin is very moist, let it sit in a cheesecloth-lined strainer.

Maple Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

• pumpkin guts
• 1/2 Tbsp vegetable oil (like canola or safflower)
• 1-2 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (ie, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves)

1. Separate the pumpkin seeds from the guts&stuff as best you can (no need to rinse or get anal about it).
2. (Optional step, but I think the results are better this way.) Spread the seeds out on a cookie sheet and leave to dry for a few hours or overnight. (The oven (turned off) is a good place for this.)
3. In a bowl, mix the seeds with the oil, maple syrup, salt, and spices. Spread on a cookie sheet and put in a 300° oven for 45 minutes or until done. Use a spatula to toss the seeds every 10 minutes or so and keep tasting.
4. Cool on parchment or wax paper to prevent sticking.

I wanted to can pickles this year and I’d tried to grow pickling cukes in my garden, but they didn’t really flourish. I ended up with many small ones, useful (& yummy) for one or two salads apiece, but not really appropriate for pickling, and I neglected to buy a bushel from a local farm. Ah well. Still, these were all nummy and quite popular at potlucks.

Both of these can be scaled as far up as you want to go and keep quite well, assuming you can keep them from getting et.

Sour Refrigerator Pickles (from this recipe)

• 1 1/2 lb cucumbers, sliced into rounds
• 8-12 cloves garlic
• 4 sprigs fresh dill

• 1 Tbsp mustard seed
• 1/2 tsp celery seed
• 1 Tbsp dill seed

• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups white distilled vinegar
• 3 Tbsp kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp sugar

1. Divide dill, garlic, and cucumbers among wide-mouthed pint or quart jars.

2. Mix the next four ingredients (spices) in a small bowl, crush slightly to release flavors, and divide amongst the jars.

3. Mix together the water, vinegar, salt, and sugar in a large bowl or measuring cup and fill each jar, allowing the liquid to fill the caps and topping off and carefully topping off.

4. Cap the jars, shake ‘em up, and refrigerate for at least two weeks before eating — the longer the better!

Notes: When you eat all the pickles, you can also refill the jars with more cucumbers and that works fine, too. Another option when making them is to heat the liquid (with the spices in it) to get things going a little faster. Despite the fact that I sliced them, these are NOT bread and butter pickles, and are quite sour, but I like it that way. In addition to munching on their own, they made very yummy additions to a grilled veggie dog or brat on a bun.

Sweet Swedish Refrigerator Pickles (from this recipe)

• 1 English cucumber or a comparable number of the regular kind
• 1 Tbsp kosher salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/2 – 1 cup sugar (depending on just how sweet you want these to be)
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 allspice berries

1. Slice the cucumbers very thinly (I used my food processor slicing disk), toss in a colander with the salt, and let them it while the rest of the dish is prepared, or up to 30 minutes.

2. Combine water, vinegar, sugar, bay leaf and allspice in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil, remove from heat, and allow to cool.

3. Rinse the salt off the cucumber slices and squeeze out as much moisture as possible, using paper towels to blot them dry.

4. Put the cucumbers in a medium bowl or jar along with the liquid, making sure the slices are completely submerged. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.

On the left is Chipotle Corn Soup (or maybe it needs a better name?) and is something I came up with. The first time, I just processed the corn raw, which was great, but I felt that roasting would really add depth so I wanted to try it that way, too. Then the second time, I didn’t roast because I was in a hurry. But after that, I took the time to grill the corn and really love the added smokiness. It’s great either way, though.

On the right is a Bean, Corn, and Chili Soup from DD’s Stillman CSA newsletter that Mark made while they were both over. The recipe called for pinto beans, but he also used Great Northern. All the vegetables except garlic were from my or DD’s share (the cilantro and celery I’d frozen), with tomatoes and basil from the garden. Very different from the first soup, it was still delicious.

Chipotle Corn Soup

Ingredients

• 6-12 ears of corn (use what you got)
• ~1/2 cup light coconut milk
• 2-3 cloves of garlic or 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 chipotle chilis or 1/2 tsp chipotle powder (or to taste)
• 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 tsp agave nectar (optional)

If you are roasting the corn, do that first, either in or out of the husk. Grill over medium-high flame until it starts to blacken. De-cob the corn, going over it twice with a knife to get all the creamy corn goodness. Meanwhile, if using fresh garlic, roast the cloves in the toaster oven.

Put the corn and garlic in a blender or food processor and pulse, adding enough coconut milk for the mixture to blend and shoving with a spoon or spatula as needed. Add salt and chipotle, tasting for desired level of spice. If using chipotle in adobo, the agave nectar is useful to counteract the vinegar, but not necessary when using dried or powder if your corn is naturally sweet.

Using a sieve or a food mill, strain the soup to remove the corn skins, then heat in a saucepan, again adjusting seasonings as desired. Garnish with cilantro (I didn’t have any handy) or tortilla chips as desired.

Bean, Corn, and Chili Soup (from Stillman’s Farm’s newsletter)

Ingredients

• 2-3 cans pinto beans (we used one can pinto & one can Great Northern)
• 1 mild hot chili
• 3 gloves garlic
• 4 medium tomatoes, chopped (~2 cups)
• 2 medium carrots, chopped (~1 cup)
• 1 stalk celery with leaves
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 ears corn, de-cobbed
• 2 Tbsp chopped basil
• 2 Tbsp chopped cilantro

In a dutch oven or heavy stock pot, cook onion, garlic, and chili over medium heat 5 minutes or until tender. Add tomatoes and cook 15 minutes or until tomatoes break down, stirring often.

Add drained beans, carrots, celery, bay leaf, salt, and about 4 cups water (or more) to cover all the veggies. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, until the veggies are very tender, ~30 minutes or more.

Remove the bay leaf, and with potato masher (or immersion blender), mash the mixture to desired consistency. Stir in corn, basil, and cilantro, and simmer 5-10 minutes more until corn is tender, adding more water if you prefer a thinner soup.

In addition to eating it with chips (shown are Trader Joe’s Flax Seed Tortilla Chips), I think it’d work very well over quesadillas or other spicy dishes.  Last night, DD and I grilled some tempeh rubbed with a hot cajun mix and the salsa made for an excellent topping.

Salsa Verde (Tomatillo Salsa)

Ingredients

• 3 pts tomatillos
• 1/2 cup chopped white onion
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro
• 1 Tbsp lime juice
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 3 jalapeño peppers, stemmed, seeded, and chopped
• 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste

Remove papery husks from tomatillos and rinse well in warm water to wash off the weird sticky coating.  Cut in half, coat lightly with olive oil, and place cut side down on a roasting pan or cookie sheet.  Broil for 5-7 minutes, or until the skins have started to blacken and bubble.

Put tomatillos in a blender (or FP) along with the remaining ingredients and mix until smooth.  Cool and serve.

I also tested two cooking methods: frying and baking. Fried was somewhat tastier (no surprise there), but baking was also quite yummy and had the advantages of using less oil and not needing to tend to a pan in front of a hot stove in the summer. These were so full of yummy that I’m ashamed to admit how many I ate in the name of testing.

Rootkes

Ingredients

• 2 cups shredded beets
• 1 cup shredded potatoes (or sweet potatoes)
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp fennel seed powder
• A few turns fresh ground black pepper
• Olive oil for frying

Mix together all the veggies, then mix in the remaining dry ingredients. Add water a tablespoon at a time until the mix is moist. Hands work great for this — it’s quite tactile! Form the mixture into small (~1″) balls (or larger ones if you prefer).

Fry: Heat a thin layer of olive oil in a pan and (once the oil is HOT!), flatten the rootke into it. Cook until crispy and browned on one side, then flip and do the same on the other.

Bake: Preheat oven to 375°. Coat a baking sheet (or foil-lined sheet) with olive oil and flatten the rootkes onto it. Spray (or drizzle if you don’t have a sprayer) the top with more oil. Bake until browned and crispy, flipping halfway through if desired for better effect.

I’d made a delicious (backyard) blackberry cobbler a couple of weeks prior with a recipe I found online, so I modified it a bit for the peaches. It turned out delicious. I’ve made many many pies in my time, but I’ve also become quite a fan of cobblers (and crisps) for their fruity yumminess with much less effort. Watching the batter rise up through the fruit is a lot of fun, too. The result is a very light cake-like concoction spread through with peachy yumminess.

Peach Cobbler (based on Tamara’s Grammie’s berry cobbler)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup unrefined sugar
• 1-1/2 cups flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp margarine (plus more for greasing)
• 3/4 cup soymilk
• 4-5 cups peeled, sliced fresh peaches*
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9″x13″ baking dish.
For the batter, mix together the sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the margarine until the mixture is course and fairly uniform, then mix in soymilk. Plop the batter into the greased pan in a relatively even manner. Neatness is not particularly important.

Mix the peaches with the brown sugar, cinnamon, and pinch of salt, then spread over the batter. You can do this very carefully and neatly, but I was feeling impatient at the time, so I just cobbled it together. (*giggle*)

Pour the cup of boiling water over the top and immediately place in the oven. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until the crust is nicely browned.

* Peaches can be peeled using the same trick that works for tomatoes: score an X on the bottom, then dunk them in boiling water for 30-45 seconds. Cool in cold/ice water. The peel should come off easily.

Seasoning can always be adjusted as desired, but Spike is always a good bet.

Oven-Roasted Vegetables

Ingredients

• onions, peeled and quartered
• beets, scrubbed and sliced
• harukei turnips, scrubbed and sliced
• fennel, trimmed and halved (I also mixed in a bit of the tops)
• little white potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
• carrots, scrubbed and sliced
• garlic cloves, peeled
• Spike all-purpose seasoning

Preheat oven to 375° while the veggies are prepped.

In a roasted pan (or use a bowl, then transfer), mix everything but the garlic with olive oil and Spike (hands are the best tool for this) and put in the oven. After 15 minutes, add the garlic and mix gently. In another 15, mix again. In another 15 (45 minutes total), it’s all done.

Before roasting:

Serve with rice, in a wrap, eat cold the next day, or anything else you can think of. Other vegetables that work particularly well in the mix are pretty much any squash or pepper.

(Occasionally, I’ll throw it in a blender with some stock to make roasted vegetable soup, but this time it all got et as-is, so that will have to wait for another entry.)

Baba Ghanoush (based on RecipeZaar)

Ingredients

• 1 large (or two medium) eggplant
• 2-3 tbsp tahini
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced (roasting the garlic first works, too)
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (I used lime because I’d just used up my lemon canning tomato sauce)
• A few shakes ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
• olive oil, black olives, and parsley (from the garden!) for serving

Brush the eggplant with a little olive oil and salt, pierce several times with a work, and roast in a 375° oven for 45 minute, or until the skin blackens and the insides are very soft. The skin should come off easily.

Mash the eggplant innards in a bowl with the tahini, garlic, lemon juice, and seasoning. Taste, and add more of each as desired.

Baba can be eaten immediately or refrigerate a few hours to overnight to allow the flavors to marry and deepen.

Serve with olives and parsley. Drizzle with olive oil if desired.

Beet Carrot Salad

Ingredients:

• shredded beets
• shredded carrots
• caramelized onions
• chopped green apple
• balsamic vinegar

Once the ingredients are prepped, assembly is just a matter of how you want to do it. I put a big bunch of beet on the bottom, topped with slightly less carrot, a bit of caramelized onion, garnished with some chopped apple, and finished off with a splash or two of balsamic vinegar.

Mix it all up and eat. It’s really a fabulous combination.

Focaccia (multiple sources)

I can’t remember exactly how I made this, so some of these numbers may be off.

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 2.5 cups flour
• 2-3 tbsp olive oil
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
• caramelized onions

Combine the water, yeast, and sugar and let sit for a few minutes to foam, then mix with the flour, salt, and half the olive oil. Knead the dough until it is smooth and slightly sticky, then cover and allow to rise until doubled (about an hour).
When the dough has risen, punch it down and knead briefly, mixing in 2 tsp of the rosemary, then stretch or roll it on a parchment-line baking sheet. Cover and let it rise for 30 minutes.

Using your finger, poke holes all over the dough, then sprinkle with remaining olive oil and rosemary, some coarse salt, and as much of the caramelized onions as you can fit.

Bake in a 400° oven for 30-40 minutes until golden brown and as crispy as you like it.

Caramelized Onions (improvised)

Ingredients:

• onions (as many as you like)
• olive oil for the pan
• maple syrup to taste
• 2 splashes red wine, more or less
• pinch salt

Cut onions into thick slices and sauté in a little olive oil over medium heat with pinch of salt. When the onions have softened, add a drizzle of maple syrup and continue to cook. Once everything is nicely browned, use some red wine to deglaze and you’re done.