Easiest way to cook a pumpkin

I'm about to make Thai Pumpkin Soup, so I cooked a pumpkin that I grew in my garden. I accidentally figured out the easiest way ever to cook a pumpkin. Just put the whole pumpkin in the oven at 350º for an hour or more. I put mine in whole, intending to take it out after half an hour or so to cut it when it was softer and more pliable. I forgot about it. An hour and a half later, I took it out, cut it in half (oh so easily), scooped out the seeds and stringy bits and discarded them, scooped up the cooked pumpkin flesh and put it in a container to await its addition to soup and baked goods.

Brussels Sprout and Mushroom Ragout with herb dumplings

Ok. How's this for an impulse buy? I was at the supermarket yesterday, and I saw these beautiful, bright green brussels sprouts, and I just had to have some. I knew I had a recipe to do that featured them, but I had no idea what else was in it. I have never cooked a brussels sprout in my life, but for reasons unknown, I had to have them.

Well as it turned out, I had everything else for the recipe in the house - sort of. We just got some gourmet "royal trumpet" mushrooms in our CSA box, so I figured those could stand in for the mushrooms called for in the recipe. I was supposed to have 3/4 pound of mushrooms for the recipe, and I only had 4 ounces of the gourmet mushrooms, so I went to my pantry and pulled out a small handful of dried porcini mushrooms. I covered them with hot water, let them soak for 15 minutes, and then drained off the mushroomy broth to use in the recipe.

For those of you who haven't made friends with brussels sprouts in your adult life - now is the time. They are delicate and delicious when not boiled into a mushy mess. This dish is warm, earthy, and satisfying. I used sweet onions which made the broth pleasantly sweet and went well with the tarragon. It took me about 40 minutes to make, but would be closer to an hour if you make the stock.

This recipe begins by asking you to make mushroom stock - which is delicious and well worth the extra time, but I happened to have some on hand from the last time I made it. Yay! (You can find the instructions for the mushroom stock here.)

This was also my first time making dumplings, which are much easier than I imagined. This meal did feature a lot of dirty dishes, but it was well worth it. There are several steps, so I'll do this more like a regular recipe.

1. Make the mushroom stock. See above.

2. While that is cooking, put on a pot of water to boil for the brussels sprouts. Rinse the brussels sprouts and cut them in half or quarters. (I cut them in half, but then they were too big to eat in one bite in the finished ragout. I think quarters is better unless your sprouts are quite small.) Set them aside to be ready when the water boils.

3. Heat 1 T. olive oil in a skillet and slice up 2 onions. I highly recommend sweet onions for this dish. Saute the onions over medium heat until nicely colored - 12 to 15 minutes.

4. While the onions saute, chop 5 T. parsley and 2 T. tarragon. Separate the herbs into 2 piles: 3 T. parsley and 1 T. tarragon will go in with the onions; the rest will go into the dumplings.

5. Mince 1 clove garlic, and the mushrooms. Use 3/4 pound white, crimini, shiitake, or a mixture. (Or whatever you have on hand.)

6. When the onions are nicely colored, stir in the herbs, garlic, and mushrooms.

7. Squeeze half a lemon over the onion and mushroom mixture. Turn up the heat and saute until the mushrooms are browned in places (5-7 minutes.) Then lower the heat to low.

8. When the water boils, add salt. Cook the brussels sprouts for 5 minutes, or until they are tender when you poke them with a fork. Drain.

9. Add the brussels sprouts and the mushroom broth to the pan with the onions and mushrooms. (I used about 2 cups of broth, but it could handle a little more than that.) Taste for seasoning.

10. Turn off the heat while you make the dumplings.

11. To make the dumplings, combine the following dry ingredients, and then stir in the wet ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 t. baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup milk warmed with 3 T. butter or oil
• 1 egg
• the tarragon/parsley mixture you set aside earlier

12. Return the ragout to low heat, and drop spoonfuls of batter into the warm liquid. Cover (or tent with foil if you need more room), and cook on low for 10 minutes or so. Don't add any more than 12 dumplings or it will get too bready and messy. I only used 8. You'll have leftover batter which you can fry up later.

I learned that the dumplings don't need to be down in the liquid. They can sit on top and they'll still cook if you leave the cover on.

Serve in low, flat bowls if you've got them, including 2-3 dumplings per bowl. I just used regular soup bowls, but it would be really pretty though to see all the different ingredients.

The tarragon, mushrooms, sweet onions, and brussels sprouts are really wonderful together. This would go great with some kind of winter squash as a side dish.

Things I'd do differently next time: Try the dish with more mushrooms, of the recommended variety. I'll definitely continue using the sweet onions if I have them around.

Approximate cost to prepare:

1 pound brussels sprouts - $2.00

3/4 pound mushrooms - $2.25

2 medium to large onions - $1.00

5 T. parsley, and 2 T. tarragon - $1.00

1/2 lemon - $.25

garlic, olive oil - negligible

Mushroom stock - $1.50 or so

The dumplings

1 cup flour - $.25

3/4 cup milk - $.20 (?)

parsley and tarragon (inc. above)

1 egg - $.25

salt, baking powder - negligible

TOTAL - $8.75 for 4 people

Scrambled Eggs in a Tortilla

Here's a super fast and easy supper! This is one of those things to fix on a night when your refrigerator looks a little bare. I love having eggs for supper, but as vegetarians, we have to be careful about how many eggs we eat in a week. This is still a quick hit of protein and ready in about 5 minutes - if you have sauces already made.

The recipe recommends serving this with salsa cruda with avacados (pico de gallo with chopped avocado added) and with Salsa Ranchera. I didn't have home made versions of these on hand, so I just used some salsa and green sauce I had in my refrigerator. I've made both home made sauces and they are delicious, so if you've got time to make them, they are both wonderful.

Basically, you just scramble 6 - 8 eggs in a bowl with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 2 tablespoons of water to make them fluffy. Melt 3 T. butter in a wide pan. When foaming, add the eggs and let them cook to your liking. Toward the end add a handful of feta cheese and some cilantro. (You could also use goat cheese or jack cheese.) While the eggs are cooking, warm 4 flour tortillas in a pan and wrap them in a towel to keep them warm.

Divide the eggs among the tortillas, wrap them up like a breakfast burrito, and serve. If you make ranchero sauce, you can smother it over the outside of the tortilla and top with more cheese.

I served this with hash browns (grate half a yukon gold potato per person into hot oil, season, and let it brown without moving it. When brown, flip the whole thing over and cook the other side. Cover with a lid to steam the potatoes.) I started this before starting the eggs and they were all done at the same time. I put some of the potatoes in the tortilla with my eggs and sauce.

Things I'd do differently next time: The quantities above serve 4 people. I used 3 eggs, which we divided between 3 smallish tortillas. I think next time, I'd make 4 eggs for the 2 of us and stuff our tortillas a little fuller.

Approximate cost to prepare:

6 eggs - $1.50

handful of feta - $.50

handful of cilantro - $.25

4 tortillas - $1.50

3 T. butter - negligible

Salsas - depends

TOTAL - $3.75 + sauce