Coconut Curry Pumpkin Soup

While we were cooking Thanksgiving dinner, I looked through my Joy of Cooking, I noticed a recipe for pumpkin soup that didn't require an actual whole squash (which we didn't have at home). I suddenly had the impulse to make pumpkin soup. We didn't have any squash at home, but luckily we did have a can of pumpkin in the cupboard. I ended up, making up a soup of my own, instead of following the recipe (since I really wanted curried pumpkin soup), but the cookbook was a great source of inspiration. After debating to use chicken stock, skim milk, or coconut milk as the base, I finally decided on coconut milk since I thought skim milk would be too thin, chicken stock too plain, and there seemed to be a few other curry-coconut-pumpkin soups on the Internet, so I figured that the combination would work. The soup was nice, but next time I'd like to try it with a roasted butternut or kabocha squash (e.g. http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001525.html"). I tried the soup thicker and thinner, and I preferred the thinner version, especially with rye crackers.

1 can pumpkin canned pumpkin
1/2 can light coconut milk, shake can to mix contents before opening
a spoonful or two of curry powder
a few slices of ginger
1 carrot, sliced into small pieces
1 celery stalk, sliced into small pieces
1/2 onion, minced
salt

Saute onions until they have caramelised. Add celery, carrots, and ginger and saute for about 5 minutes, or until they have softened.

Add a spoonful or two of curry powder and saute for about 30 seconds until it is fragrant and smoking but not burnt. Add a bit of small portion of the coconut milk to stop the curry from toasting. Add the pumpkin to the pot, and mix well. Add the remaining coconut milk, and dilute the soup with water, if necessary.

Bring the soup to a boil, reduce heat to low, and loosely cover. Simmer the soup for about 30 minutes.

Turn off the heat after the soup has simmered for a while, and let the soup cool a bit. Try to remove most of the ginger slices; leave 1 ginger slice in the soup if you like your soup to be gingery. Blend until smooth with an immersion blender. If any ginger slices remain, then be sure to blend them well.

Heat soup until just boiling. Taste. Adjust the consistency, if necessary, by adding more water, until the soup is as thick or thin as you like. Add salt to taste (you probably need to add a few pinches of salt to fully bring out the flavor).

Frozen Yogurt

I modified this recipe to include no sugar and vanilla beans: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/a-frozen-yogurt-recipe-to-rival-pinkberrys-recipe.html, and used stevia instead, a liquid sweetener with no sugar or carbs (this sweetener is better for diabetics than Equal, Splenda, etc. because the powdered fake sugars have some carbs). The dish is not fat free however--since I used whole milk yogurt.

2 large cartons whole milk plain yogurt
1/2 cup milk (any kind of milk: skim, 2%, full, etc)
1 vanilla bean
a few tsp of vanilla
A few drops of liquid stevia (to taste)

Drain yogurt in a colander lined with cheesecloth overnight in the refrigerator.

Split vanilla bean and simmer it in a small amount of milk for 5 minutes to extract the flavor. Do not boil hard. Let the mixture cool to room temperature. Strain with a colander if necessary.

Thoroughly mix the vanilla flavored milk, a few tsp of vanilla, the drained yogurt, and some drops of stevia (approximately 10-20 drops) to taste. Freeze in an ice cream maker.

Note: This froze into ice after it sat in the freezer for a while. I suspect that is because of the lack of sugar. This article Tips for Making Homemade Ice Cream Softer by David Lebovitz has some suggestions that I would try next time. e.g. adding 1-3 Tbsp of alcohol, using 1 tsp gelatin. I used full fat yogurt to also try to keep this from freezing solid.

Prosciutto wrapped scallops

Take wrap the sides of the scallops with a pieces of prosciutto. (If the prosciutto is short, use two pieces). Secure with a toothpick. Pan sear the scallops with the scallop part touching the pan, starting on a high heat with some olive oil. Do not move the scallops until they have started to caramelize. Turn scallops over after a few minutes to sear the other side. Reduce heat if the oil starts to smoke or brown too much. Finish the scallops by searing some of the prosciutto also. Cook until the scallops have shrunk, and are firm.

Joy of Cooking

I just got a new copy of Joy of Cooking 75th Anniversary edition (Scribner, 2006). I'm excited! More comments later.

Cucumber, Basil, & Sesame Paste Noodles

This dish is especially good in summer, because the noodles are served at room temperature or cold, and are light.

• Spaghetti or linguine noodles (yes preferably the Italian kind, but you could try soba noodles if you prefer)
• Cucumbers (preferably Japanese or English, but regular cucumbers are okay)
• sesame seeds
• rice vinegar
• mirin
• sesame oil
• hot oil
• salt
• white pepper (optional)
• wasabi (optional)
• fresh basil leaves

Begin heating water for boiling noodles. Prepare the cucumbers while the water is heating.

If you are using Japanese cucumbers, you can use them with out peeling them; all other types of cucumbers must be peeled. Regular cumbers must also be de-seeded. Use a mandolin to julienne cucumbers into long strips roughly the width of your noodles. Since cucumbers contain a lot of water, they must be salted to extract the extra water, otherwise your noodles will be watery. To extract excess water from the cucumbers: add a few pinches of salt to the julienne cucumber strips and mix thoroughly; set aside in a bowl. After the salted cucumbers have sat for 10-30 minutes, they will start to emit water. Squeeze the cucumbers with your hands to extract more water and drain.

When the water is boiling, cook noodles until al dente. Drain (but do not rinse).

To make sauce: Grind sesame seeds with mortar in a Japanese sesame grinding bowl (available at many Japanese grocery stores). Add some rice vinegar, sesame oil, hot oil, and mirin to taste. If desired, you can also mix in some wasabi paste.

Mix sauce with noodles. Separate and loosen the cucumber strips and mix with the noodles. Taste noodles and add more salt if necessary The cucumbers already have salt, so additional salt may not be necessary. If the noodles seem bland, then you probably need more salt. There should be enough vinegar to give them a slight tang.

Before serving, julienne some fresh basil and lightly mix with noodles. Noodles can be served at room temperature or cold.

Expanding Herb Garden

A new container of chives, Italian Oregano, Greek Oregano, and pansies.