David Ross

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-

Sounds like we have some great squash dishes coming to our cook-off. I have to admit that I didn't appreciate eating squash until I was well over 30. Mother used to cut an acorn squash in half, scoop out the seeds and put a pat of butter and some brown sugar in the squash. I just couldn't take the smell of that squash when it came out of the oven. But I sold Mother's squash short because I never actually tasted it. Sort of like a kid saying I won't eat spinach without actually knowing what spinach tastes like. I'm thinking I'll appreciate squash quite a bit once our dishes start coming in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q8zTVlZ19c Mmmm. The sweet, spiced aroma of a freshly baked pumpkin pie wafting over the Thanksgiving table. A large bowl of chilled, sweetened cream is passed around the table, a cool dollop of cream cascading over a slice of “homemade” pumpkin pie. (In many households, removing a frozen pie from a box and putting it in a hot oven is considered “homemade.”). Americans can’t seem to get enough pumpkin pie during the Holidays. Some 50 million pumpkin pies are sold for Thanksgiving dinner and according to astute company marketing executives, 1 million of the pies are sold at Costco. And Mrs. Smith sells a few million of her oven-ready, frozen pumpkin pie. In August of 2013, we debuted the Summer Squash Cook-Off (http://forums.egullet.org/topic/145452-cook-off-63-summer-squash/) where we presented a number of tasty zucchini and patty pan dishes showcasing summer squash. But our squash adventure wasn’t over. Today we expand our squash lexicon with the debut of eG Cook-Off #71: Winter Squash. (Click here http://forums.egulle...cook-off-index/ for the complete eG Cook-Off Index). Cut into jack-o-lanterns for Halloween and crafted into cheesecake for Thanksgiving, pumpkin reigns supreme each Fall. But pumpkin is just one variety of winter squash--squash that grows throughout the summer and is harvested in fall. The acorn, butternut, spaghetti, hubbard, kabocha, red kuri, delicata, calabaza and cushaw are but a few of the many winter squash cousins of the pumpkin. Winter squash is not always the best looking vegetable in the produce section--knobby, gnarled and multi-colored, winter squash has a hard, tough skin. Peel back the unfashionable skin and sweet, rich squash meat is revealed. Winter squash cookery doesn’t end after the last slice of pumpkin pie. You can stuff it with a forcemeat of duck confit and sautéed mushrooms, purée roasted squash into a creamy soup garnished with lardons or slowly braise squash with peppers and corn in a spicy Caribbean stew. Please join us in sharing, learning and savoring winter squash.

Hah. We think alike! I love this gratin for breakfast. With a poached egg on top, my Doctor will never know. I also form this into little cakes and saute it to crisp the crust. Then serve with a rich fish like salmon or sea bass. Sablefish, (aka black cod) is another good choice. Although if you use a white fish, halibut for example, it's a white fish white salt cod dinner. I love it, but some of my food friends want some color on the plate. I give them a lemon buerre blanc for color. I only use Russet potatoes, I suppose due to living in Eastern, Washington. I boil them till soft and pass them through an old-fashioned potato ricer. Then into a warm pan and stir with a spatula to dry out the water from the potatoes. That's a Robuchon trick. I don't add butter to the potatoes. Now for the salt cod, I use it from a little wooden box and yes, it's frozen. I soak it two days in changes of water. But you can't go from that stage to mashing it up. Boil it in water for about 10 minutes and it will be fall apart flaky. Then saute in some olive oil and I add a whole bay leaf. Then the cold mixture, including the bay leaf, into a food processor and pulse to break the salt cod down. Now in goes the mashed potatoes and a good measure of hot milk and olive oil. I use equal part milk and olive oil to get a creamy mixture. Then in go some chives and fresh rosemary, a few flakes of dried red pepper. Then into the gratin dish, 375 oven about 30 minutes and broil until brown. It's very good with some Spanish chorizo stirred in. Dried chorizo, not the cheap runny chorizo. Also good as a stuffing for whole fish.

Salt Cod and Potato Gratin-

Food Network continues their string of horrific cooking shows by traipsing out Eddie Jackson's "BBQ Blitz." The format is a rip-off of oh so many other shows, the cooks going on and on and on about their dishes and the host, Eddie Jackson of "Food Network Star" fame, appears as though he's dazed. Poor sap probably thought his life was going to change after his celebrated win. Uh, not so much.....................

Thanks. Very easy, but the process takes two days. Brown the lamb shanks in olive oil in a heavy pot on the stove. Remove the lamb, then add carrots, celery, onion, garlic, (all rough chopped), bay leaves, black peppercorns, juniper berries. More olive oil and brown the vegetables. Then I sprinkle in some flour. (Which helps thicken the sauce). Then lots of red wine and some beef stock and a few dashes of kitchen bouqet. Put the shanks back in, chuck the pot in the oven and about 4 hours at 300. Then gently pull the shanks out. Pour the sauce and vegetables through a strainer into a bowl. Now chill overnight. It will gel up and the fat will rise to the top. On day two crack that fat shell and chuck the fat in the trash can. Then heat the sauce/gravy up, add a knob of butter and whisk in some Wondra flour to thicken. Oh, and this time I added a few drops of Worcestershire for flavor. Delicious.

Red Wine braised Lamb Shank-

Aside from cold seafood salads, I think my tastes for salad are opposite most of the Pacific Northwest. I tend to eat less salads during the summer growing season and prepare most of my salads during the Fall and Winter months. And while it can be terribly snowy and cold during winters in Eastern, Washtington, I still have plenty of delicious salad ingredients available. Two of my favorite seasonal salads, one with Pacific Northwest flavors. Warm German Potato Salad. Boiled Yukon Gold potatoes with a hot dressing of bacon, bacon fat, apple cider vinegar, onion, parsley, salt and pepper. And this delicious beauty, Washington Red Bosc Pear, Toasted Oregon Hazelnuts and Rogue Creamery (Oregon) Bleu Cheese. A scattering of dried cranberries and a dressing of Dijon mustard, hazelnut and walnut oils, shallot, thyme, salt and black pepper.

First of the season Apple Tarte Tatin. This year I used golden delicious apples. Used unsalted butter and sugar to make the base for the caramel, then the apples, then into a 375 oven for 1 1/2 hours. Let it refrigerate overnight, then on day two sprinkled sea salt over the apples and the caramel juices that had cooked down. Pastry on top, in a 400 oven for 30 minutes and voila. This was the deepest, sweetest most delicious Tarte Tatin I've made.

Bouillabaisse with Mackerel, Prawns, Clams and Alaskan Halibut- Grilled Roasted Garlic Bread with Rouille-

Washington Peach Crostatta-

I'm so glad to follow your adventures.

Grilled Shrimp and Grits from our Shellfish Cook-off, http://forums.egullet.org/topic/151628-eg-cook-off-70-shellfish-grilled-over-an-open-flame/?hl=%2Bshellfish#entry2024632

I'm not sure how Paul Hogan cooked his shrimp on the barbie, but I did a take on Shrimp n'Grits--the shrimp being grilled over the open flame. The other elements of the dish were a tomato-bacon relish, dark chicken jus and grits with lots of cheddar cheese. I used wild American prawns that I get from Mike the fish guy, (the guy who sold me the lobster tails). They are in the U-8 to 10 weight and come off the coast of Louisiana. They are sweet, meaty and far better than the frozen prawns that are farm-raised in Southeast Asia. I kept the shells on to protect the prawns during grilling. Just seasoned them with cayenne, Paul Prudhomme "Cajun Magic" seasoning and olive oil The tomato-bacon relish, or thick jam, can be made a day ahead. Saute some smoked bacon, then add diced red onion, garlic, skinned and seeded, diced tomato and cook down. I added a bit of diced jalapeno, a few drops of liquid smoke, tabasco, smoked paprika, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar and salt and pepper. If it gets too thick you can thin it with some water. The grits were a basic recipe using coarse corn grits from Bob's Red Mill of Portland. Instead of all water for the liquid I used half milk to half water. Seems to make the grits more creamy and a good measure of grated cheddar cheese. The dark chicken jus was a three-day process starting like you would for chicken stock-roasted chicken parts, carrot, celery, onion, parsley, bay leaves, peppercorns, garlic and water. I used about 20 cups of water to 3lbs. of chicken parts-wings and chicken feet. The feet go in raw to add gelatin to the jus. I roasted the wings for about 30 minutes to get them browned and then into the pot. Simmer for about 5 hours and strain. Chill and on day two back into the pot to reduce, adding about 2 tbsp. of tomato puree. Reduced down to about 2 cups and chilled overnight on day two, then back into the stockpot on day three. The final simmer reduces the jus to about 3/4 cup. I suppose you could call it a chicken glace over a jus. Here are the shrimp over the intensely hot fire- Only about 3 minutes per side for the shrimp, then placed on top of the grits, spoons of tomato-bacon relish and a good douse of the chicken jus. The char on those shells was............delicious! I actually couldn't resist sucking the juices and charred little bits off those smokey shells-

Using the last of the 2014 huckleberry crop. I usually freeze enough berries to stretch then out through the year. I'm lucky to have friends in Montana who pick them up in the high country on their ranch and give them to me for free! Last year a gallon bag of fresh huckleberries was $50. This year I don't know how the crop will go--very little spring rain out here and intense heat in June into July. Typically the best berries are late August into the first week of September, but this year I think the poor little fellows got roasted--even at the high mountain elevation. Huckleberry "Dutch" pie-

For my first dish I grilled lobster tails and served them with a chile-lime-cilantro butter and then I made a grilled corn, zucchini and razor clam chowder. I've never grilled lobster over an open fire, so I was a little apprehensive. Didn't want it to be over-cooked and rubbery, and I wasn't sure if chucking it raw on the hot grates would char it on the outside yet leave it raw on the inside. I bought frozen Australian lobster tails from Mike my fish guy. I shy away from frozen seafood when I'm cooking a special dish, but these turned out to be very flavorful and I appreciated the fact that I didn't have to prep and clean a live lobster. I stabbed the poor devils with a long wooden skewer to keep them from twisting during cooking. My thought was that I wanted a fairly straight lobster tail to get the maximum amount of meat exposed to the fire during grilling. I par-cooked the lobster tails for 5 minutes in boiling, salted water- Then cut each lobster tail in half so I could expose the meat to the open flame- I let the lobster tails cool then started on the butter and chowder. The butter was simply a stick, 1/2 cup, of salted butter. Softened and then mixed with the zest of one lime, about a 1/2 cup of finely minced cilantro, 1/2 of a finely minced jalapeno chile, a bit of pepper and then chilled. The chowder was based on a recipe from "Truly Mexican" by Roberto Santibanez. His dish is zuchinni with corn and cream, but I thought why not add a few more things along with some Washington razor clams I had in the freezer. The chowder started with the beginnings of a very hot fire- This happens to be my barrel smoker, but I sometimes put charcoal in the barrel, (usually wood goes in the offset firebox), put a grate on top and use that for a very hot fire for grilling. I'd say the fire was about 4" away from the food. I used a combination of briquettes studded with mesquite and a few mesquite hardwood chunks soaked in water to create some smoke. Here are onions, zucchini, corn and roma tomatoes on the grill, getting some char and smoke flavor. (I had pre-boiled the ears of corn for about 10 minute before putting them on the grill). The vegetables were drizzled with olive oil- I then cut the grilled vegetables in about a 1/4" dice and cut the corn off the cob. In a hot cast iron skillet, I drizzled in olive oil then added the onion, about 3 cloves of chopped garlic, a chopped jalapeno, (I prefer jalapenos raw rather than roasted over the fire), the corn, zucchini and tomatoes. I had three large razor clams in the freezer, so I chopped them up and added them with their clam juice to the chowder. A shake or two of dried chile powder, about a tablespoon of dried Mexican oregano and a dash of dried red pepper flakes. Then a good dose, I'd say about a cup, of heavy cream. Oh, and about four pieces of chopped bacon left over from breakfast along with a tablespoon of the rendered bacon fat. Cooked down while the lobster was on the grill. The fire was re-stoked and the lobster tails were grilled for about 6 minutes, (total cooking time, 11 minutes between par-boiling and grilling over the open flame)- So here we have it, Grilled Lobster Tails with Chile-Lime Butter on Grilled Zucchini-Corn Clam Chowder- It was a very good dish. And the heavily buttered bread was wonderful for dipping into the chowder juices. I think the lobster could have used about a minute longer on the grill, but it was very flavorful and well worth the cost. Next up, some shrimp on the barbie.

I knew the chicken feet would throw a monkey into the mix. You've got the gelled bits correct. I'm making a rich chicken jus, on the stovetop, today to drizzle over some grits, and topped with grilled wild American shrimp and tomato-bacon relish. I guess my take on shrimp and grits.

The other ingredients in the shopping bag? Chicken feet, chicken wings, green papaya, grits, jalapeno, cilantro, lime and butter..................

OK, this weekend I'll be grilling large wild American prawns served with a tomato-bacon relish and then a grilled lobster dish.

That's a great dish for the Cook-Off, thanks!

Thanks for the tips. I'm definitely going to grill some tomatoes to use as a garnish or in a sauce for some grilled shellfish.