Pumpkins generally mean dessert in my mind. Its not like I’ve never made savory dishes that highlight pumpkin before, but still, that association is a stubborn one in my head. So I thought I’d try once again to shake it off by making a pumpkin sauce. In this case, a sage pumpkin cream sauce to go with pasta, sausage, and bacon.
This seemed like a good idea, but I had no idea how good it was going to be. For how simple this seemed, the flavor really blew me away–this was awesome. The sauce was incredibly thick–bordering on macaroni & cheese style thick (granted, I did enrich it with a healthy portion of Parmigiano Reggiano)–and the flavor was surprisingly rich. If I had to describe it in just one word, I would say “autumn” (which means a lot in hot Florida at this time of year–I need all the reminders I can get). Despite the presence of other strong flavors (like sage),
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Posted by mike on October 31st, 2008 in Fruit, Main course, Pasta, Pork, Sauce
I’m not a big breakfast person, and probably in keeping with my sweet tooth, more often than not, you’ll catch me reaching for a pastry over an omelette. This was my nod at being seasonal and keeping my weekday breakfast interesting: a loaf of pumpkin bread with cream cheese swirled in the middle.
This was a delicious bread, kind of like a banana bread (which I’m sure we’ve all had before), but well, pumpkinny instead of banana-y, and richer in color. I included some of the usual suspects as far as pumpkin-friendly spices and a mix of nuts (walnuts, pecans) and chocolate chips. I’ve had images of deliciously frosted pumpkin cupcakes in my head for a while, so I also thought a swirl of cream cheese throughout the loaf would go nicely while still making a decent claim at this being breakfast friendly and not all out dessert. 
I’m also submitting this autumny bread to Art You Eat - Autumn Edition.
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Posted by mike on October 28th, 2008 in Breakfast, Cake, Dessert, Fruit, Snacks
I thought I should explore some savory applications of fresh figs rather than just going dessert-crazy. For some reason, a Morrocan chicken I’d made several months ago kept popping up in my head, so I decided to follow a similar tact and braise a chicken with figs and see where it took me.
I began by breaking down a whole chicken. I strangely enjoy this and seem to get better at it every time I do it, so if this is something that intimidates you, there’s only one way to get better at it so do it! With the chicken in more manageable pieces, I then braised it in a flavorful broth of wine, balsamic, honey, leek, herbs, and figs. The result was absolutely delicious–the chicken was incredibly tender and the sauce was sweet, honeyed, with a surprisingly well-rounded, balanced, full flavor. I had some doubts when I started, but as the aromas wafted through the air and I had a bite, I
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Posted by mike on October 25th, 2008 in Chicken, Fruit, Main course, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Sauce
With autumn upon us, one of my absolute favorite desserts (and one of the first pastries to get me baking) is a good old fashioned apple pie. I had a spare rosemary graham cracker crust from my recent Mascarpone Fig Tart, so I decided to see where these two ideas would take me, and a very delicious creation was the result: a Caramelized Apple and Cinnamon Cream Tart
I’ll admit, I’d had my fingers crossed with each step of this one, hoping that it would all come together, and boy did it ever deliver. The flavor was just like a comfort food orgasm. Its kind of like apple pie meets ice cream meets cheesecake. The cream filling began with a fantastically flavored cinnamon creme anglaise which was then worked into a whipped cream cheese/whipped cream filling. The top layer: quartered apples, cooked in caramel until tender. All together, you have the sweet, spiced, rosemary flavor of the graham cracker crust, the
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Posted by mike on October 22nd, 2008 in Dessert, Fruit, Pie
The rampage of figgy foods continues! As I looked for inspiration for other fun, new things to do with figs, I chanced upon an amazing looking fig and fennel pizza that I knew I had to try. I changed things up a bit and was quite pleased with the outcome. Its one thing to say that I love pizza, but I really loved this pizza.
Fresh figs, fennel bulb, prosciutto, and leek for toppings, roasted shallot cream sauce, and gruyere–yeah, what’s not to love in that mix? These might sound like a lot of big flavors to all have together, but they really all have a phenomenal affinity for one another. Figs and the anisey sweetness of fennel, figs and prosciutto, figs and cheese, figs and the sharpness of shallot and leek–they are all fantastic on their own, and taken together all at once, it was one cohesive, sweet, salty, savory, nutty, intense flavor. Underneath it all were two other important flavors that
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Posted by mike on October 19th, 2008 in Main course, Mediterranean, Sauce
Having enjoyed two different raw preparations of my Kona Kampachi recently, I thought it was time to explore how this fish cooks. Being a Hawaiian fish, my first inclination was to aim for something Polynesian in nature, but then I drifted towards Asian flavors. I also wanted to give this fish a good sear, but not cook much beyond medium-rare. Combining these two ideas, I decided on a sweet, spicy, light sauce to glaze the fish during its brief vacation under the broiler.
I was inspired by one of my favorite Asian food bloggers take on this fish, so I thought I’d try to take that idea in another direction. This glaze had distinct Asian flavors (to speak in such broad strokes. I have such a strong culinary lexicon!)–think of the sharpness of things like five spice, the heat of ginger and cayenne peppers, and the sweetness of honey and mirin. It was lightly spicy, tangy, salty, and sweet, all in great
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Posted by mike on October 16th, 2008 in Asian, Main course, Sauce, Seafood
