David Ross

Once we got power back on after three days I went to check the trauma caused to the chest freezer. Everything survived, but where was my homemade mincemeat? With meat. The batch I made last year, and doused the mixture with lots of brandy. It was the basis for my next squash dish--mincemeat with roasted, diced, winter squash. The horror! Somewhere during 2015, maybe in the heat of summer, I must have satisfied a craving for mincemeat pie. And now, now mincemeat for the patient little squash and I won't make it by Thanksgiving. So the new plan is to use some commercial mincemeat and add diced, roasted winter squash, oh and brandy. I'm hoping squash in mincemeat will be delicious.

Sorry folks. We got hit with a terrible storm and at one time 100,000 without power. Three days without power and five days without internet, cell service or cable and finally I can get back to cooking and doing some more winter squash dishes.

Sounds and looks delicious.

I've got two new winter squash possibilities. They're from Trapold Farms in Portland. I lost the label on the first one, but I'm sure it would be delicious in any of the dishes we've discussed so far. Then there's this cute little buggar I've never seen before, the "Amber Cup." Not much bigger than my hand and described as "Very sweet with golden orange meat. Fine-grained. Great stuffed or baked." And I've got plans for this devil...............

Hey folks, we've got some great winter squash dishes in our Cook-Off topic here https://forums.egullet.org/topic/152196-eg-cook-off-71-winter-squash/page-4. Might be a delicious addition to your Thanksgiving table.

Thinking of stuffing winter squash in a sweet dough and then frying it, it seems that a regular pureed pumpkin would be too runny? Would the mixture need some flour to add body?

Last night I did a duck breast with sautéed chard and roasted pumpkin. Sorry, I didn't get a photo of the pumpkin, but it was labeled "sugar pie" and had an intense orange skin and deep orange flesh. After roasting the squash I pureed it and added some curry powder, garlic, ginger, curry powder and some mustard oil. (I buy the mustard oil at the local Asian store). Then heated the pumpkin puree in the oven and garnished with toasted hazelnuts. Curry works so incredibly well with winter squash. With a brown sugar streusel topping this would be a different twist on candied yams for Thanksgiving. Sauteed the chard in olive oil, some ginger, garlic, and a bit more of the mustard oil and a douse of apple cider vinegar. The duck was based on a recipe from LA Chef Ludo Lefebvre that is featured in the October issue of Food and Wine, "Spiced Duck a' l'Orange." It really isn't close to classic, but Chefs like to toy with classic descriptions but with a new twist. The sauce worked incredibly well with the rich duck meat and the fall flavors of the winter squash puree. (And I've got a new kitchen "secret" ingredient in orange blossom water). The sauce is a reduction of honey, orange juice, chicken stock, apple cider vinegar, ras el hanout spices (I used curry powder) and then a few knobs of butter to finish. Duck Breast with Spiced Orange Sauce, Sauteed Chard and Roasted Sugar Pie Pumpkin with Curry Spices. (My friends would laugh if I gave them that description. To them it's duck with sauce, fried greens and pumpkin). Crisp skin and moist medium-rare meat. A simple stir-fry of roasted, cubed pumpkin would also be delicious with the duck and greens.

Smithy those stuffed squash look quite delicious. And kayb, I was thinking of doing something just like the tamales you described. I was thinking of a fried empanada filled with pumpkin. I've already got two other winter squash dishes coming so I'll put the empanadas on the list.

Do you use it in recipes? I bet it would be delicious on bread and maybe worked into a sauce of some kind.

I think you could certainly use the carnival squash seeds, or any winter squash seeds. I happen to especially like the pepitas because I think they offer flavor in addition to crunchy texture in the salsa. I find pumpkin seeds sort of bland. The pumpkin seeds sold in the super market are basically salty and crunchy yet not much in terms of flavor.

It's a great series of shows and I think Phil is the perfect host for the format.

This isn't really what most of us would think of a squash dish, but it does qualify. It's my salsa recipe and it includes toasted pumpkin seeds--green pepitas. (Same pumpkin seeds I used in the vinaigrette with the squab). It's a blended salsa and the pepitas add a woodsy, herbal note and a bit of crunch to the salsa. I usually serve it with homemade tortilla chips, but it's also delicious on tacos and any grilled seafood or meat. Chipotle-Pepita Salsa- 6 large Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped ½ yellow onion, chopped 3 cloves garlic, chopped 1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped 1 tsp. ground cumin 1 tsp. ground coriander 1 tsp. chili powder 1 canned chipotle chile 1 tbsp. adobo sauce* (from the chipotle chile) 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil Salt, black pepper and a dash of sugar 1/2 cup toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) 2 tbsp. fresh squeezed lime juice Lime wedges for garnish Green pumpkin seeds are usually bought raw. Toast them in a 400 oven about 10 minutes just til they turn brown to bring out more flavor. Place all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse three to four times to make a chunky salsa. Keep refrigerated.

Delicious and I like the idea of cooking the pumpkin in a pressure cooker. Tonight I'm doing a braised lamb dish with a roasted squash side dish.

The squash that exploded in the oven the other day was resurrected tonight in a dish of pappardelle pasta with pumpkin cream sauce. I couldn't find fresh chanterelles in the market so used brown crimini mushrooms, sautéed in butter then deglazed with chardonnay. Then some roasted garlic in the mix, the pureed pumpkin, fresh sage, cream and lots of cracked black pepper. The pasta was rich enough without it, but I added a good shower of parmesan. Quite a good pasta dish considering the poor pumpkin almost ended up in the bin.

Well, last night I basically blew up a winter squash in the oven. The sticker on the squash said "heirloom" pumpkin, but it looked more like a green gourd than a pumpkin. The goal was to roast it first, then cut it, clean out the seeds and dice it to use in a pot pie. I set the oven at 350 and the timer at an hour. At the 50 minute mark I smelled the smoke and found the poor thing had split and was oozing onto the heating element. Not all was lost though as I saved most of the pumpkin meat. It looks sort of stringy, so we'll see if I can use it. I plan on using the pumpkin in a cream sauce with pasta.

That looks really delicious. If my Mother had stuffed acorn squash like that I surely would have eaten every last bit of squash!

Another one of my favorite recipes is a sticky toffee pudding with rum raisin sauce. I think I found the basis for the recipe came from BBC Food, but I've changed it over the years. This time I added some pumpkin puree to the pudding. I didn't change the other ingredients to accommodate for the pumpkin, just added about a cup of pumpkin. Made for a very moist pudding. I also added pumpkin to the rum raisin sauce. Again, no adjustment with the other ingredients. The pumpkin did keep the sauce from thickening, but it really didn't matter as the taste was better than ever. Definitely a dish for the Holidays. Pumpkin rum raisin sauce- 2 cups heavy cream 1 cup dark brown sugar 2/3 cup pumpkin 4 tbsp. butter 1/3 cup golden raisins 1/3 cup currants Dark rum, (I added about 1/2 cup) Heat all the ingredients in a saucepan until the mixture starts to bubble, then turn the heat down and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Pumpkin Sticky Toffee Pudding with Pumpkin Rum Raisin Sauce and Vanilla Ice Cream-

It's the lack of spell check on the part of the cook. Should read apple cider vinegar--when mixed into the other ingredients makes a pumpkin seed vinaigrette! Oops.

Yesterday was a pumpkin cooking frenzy. I've been making Chef Larry Forgione's Pumpkin Seed Vinaigrette for years now. The recipe in his cookbook "An American Place" is "Grilled Salmon with Pumpkin Seed Vinaigrette and Braised Kale." I've been doing the dish with baking the salmon on a cedar plank and using swiss chard instead of Kale. My original plan for this dish was to do a roasted squab, the pumpkin vinaigrette, sautéed chard and a pumpkin risotto. Game birds pair incredibly well with pumpkin, and the vinaigrette has enough tang to cut through rich game meat, but I decided against adding the risotto because it seemed to be too rich and creamy along side the other parts of the dish. (Squash Risotto alone is delicious). The pepitas, (I call them green pumpkin seeds), add a toasted, herbal, almost woodsy flavor to the vinaigrette and the dish really speaks to the fall season. Pumpkin Seed Vinaigrette- 1/2 cup toasted green (pepita) pumpkin seeds (then 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds as a garnish) 1/3 cup pumpkin pureed (I used canned) 1 clove garlic 1/2 tsp. turmeric 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar 1/2 cup olive oil 1 sprig each of fresh thyme and rosemary Salt and pepper Everything goes into a blender and pulsed to emulsify the vinaigrette. I was a bit worried about roasting a squab because I don't do a lot of wild game cooking, but I referred to one of my Joel Robuchon cookbooks for guidance. Robuchon has a unique method for roasting poultry and it doesn't disappoint. The general sense is that by turning the bird, the internal juices run through out resulting in a more juicy roasted bird. Rub the squab with butter and season with salt and pepper. Place the squab in a roasting dish turned on its side so it is resting on the wing and thigh. Roast in 450 oven for 5 minutes, then turn to the other side and roast again for 5 minutes and baste with pan juices. Turn the squab so the breast side is down, and roast another 5 minutes. Then turn onto the back, breast facing up, and roast for 10 minutes. Baste again with pan juices. I hit the squab with a dash under the broiler for 2 minutes to crisp the skin. The squab was incredibly moist and medium-rare. While the squab was resting, I sautéed the chard in olive oil and garlic, then a dash of water. I usually pull the chard off the heat once it starts to wilt but is still retaining fresh, green color. I think this dish would work with any wild game, venison and elk come to mind, any game bird, chicken, pork, and salmon or halibut. The pumpkin vinaigrette is also delicious in a salad with goats cheese.

The stock sounds interesting. It makes sense that the strings and peels could be used for stock, but I wonder if the seeds would make a stock bitter? No basis for using seeds in stock on my part, just curiosity.

I'm working on two dishes today--my Sticky Toffee Pudding recipe with the addition of pumpkin in both the pudding and the caramel sauce. Then one of my favorite recipes from Chef Larry Forgione. The dish is a cedar-plank roasted salmon served with sautéed greens and served with a pumpkin vinaigrette and garnished with toasted green pumpkin seeds. I'm changing it up this time with a roast squab with pumpkin risotto, sautéed chard and pumpkin vinaigrette. I think my favorite ingredient in the vinaigrette are the toasted pepitas (green pumpkin seeds).

Anyone ever pickled some winter squash? Would you boil it first to soften it? Would you use a basic pickle brine for winter squash?

I'm going to stick with sweet recipes before I move into more challenging savory dishes using winter squash. I'm intrigued with Heidih's seasonings. I don't cook much with balsamic vinegar, but it seems like it would really enhance the sweet flavor of winter squash.

One of my favorite pastries are homemade caramel rolls. My recipe never fails me and it gets rave reviews, so I thought it would be a good base dough to build a new recipe for caramel rolls filled with pumpkin. I started with a basic sweet pastry dough- 3/4 cup warm water 2 tsp. dry yeast 1/4 cup sugar 1 egg 2 tbsp. soft butter 1 tbsp. dry milk powder 1 tsp. salt 3-3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup currants I'm not an expert when it comes to breads and pastries, but this recipe gives a novice baker like me a good start to an excellent caramel roll. Into the warm water goes the yeast and sugar. About 10 minutes later when it's foamy, into the mixer bowl, then the other ingredients. I start by adding about 2 1/2 cups of the flour and add additional flour as needed to make a soft ball of dough. And I let the Kitchen Aid mixer do the kneading. For this dough I added some currants. Now that I think about it, I should have soaked the currants in brandy or rum. I think I'll add drunk currants when I make these pumpkin caramel rolls for the Holidays. I let the dough rest about 10 minutes before rolling out. It doesn't need a first rise after the kneading. Here's the dough rolled out- Then the dough is brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg and a good layer of canned pumpkin-(I know, that pumpkin sure doesn't look appetizing......yet)- And rolling the dough into a log- The next step is to cut the dough into thick slabs and place them on top of the caramel. For the caramel stir these ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat until combined- 1 cup dark brown sugar 1 stick salted butter (I prefer salted butter in all my baking and cooking) 2 tbsp. light corn syrup I typically use walnuts for these caramel rolls, but this time as a nod to my years living in Western, Oregon,I used toasted filberts. (When our family tells someone that "we used filberts in the cake," folks have no clue what we are talking about). 3/4 cup toasted hazelnuts Pur the caramel mixture in a large baking dish and sprinkle with toasted hazelnuts- Now the rolls are placed on top of the caramel and left to rise. I don't use a specific time marker for when the dough has risen enough. I just look at it and if the rolls are about double in size and look like they are pushing out the guy next to them, it's ready for the oven- In a 350 oven for about 30 minutes. Again, I don't have a set baking time, just when the edges of the rolls are starting to brown. Then out of the oven and let it rest for only about 2-3 minutes. The rolls need to be inverted onto a cookie sheet when the caramel is still hot. Otherwise you'll be left with an expensive Le Creuset casserole encrusted with caramel cement. I'm pretty good at inverting stuff, just takes patience and practice. I put a cookie rack and a cookie sheet on top of the casserole dish, gripped at both ends with towels, and gently flip the pan over and the rolls are released. And pulled apart, you can faintly see some of the pumpkin puree spread throughout the rolls. The pumpkin flavor is subtle yet distinct. The perfect breakfast pastry for the Holidays-