Plums by Ms. Pumpkin

Greetings readers! Ms. Pumpkin here, blogging from the great state of Missouri. Recently I had the joy of spending a weekend in our nation's capital with Mr. and Mrs. gorgeous. We had a fabulous weekend of cooking, eating, drinking and other drinking related activities. Such fun!

A Sunday trip to the Dupont farmers' market left us with an abundance of over-ripe plums that had to be used immediately. We decided to finish that night's dinner with a couple of plum-based desserts: kuchen and sorbet.

Kuchen, German for “cake” can come in many forms. As the state dessert of South Dakota (http://www.state.sd.us/state/sdsym.htm), it's made with a yeasty crust and a custard filling that is enjoyed while wearing olde-tyme German garb. In contrast, our plum kuchen was based on a dense cake flavored with ample amounts of lemon zest and white sugar. We topped it with halved, pitted plums covered in more sugar and some cinnamon. After nearly quarter of an hour baking in the hot oven, the tiny kitchen was filled with the aroma of lemons, plums and cinnamon. The golden cake had plumped up around the fruit, which had softened under the melting sugar and cinnamon. Once it was cooled, the cake easily slipped out of the Gorgeous's nifty spring form pan. Thank God for wedding registries.

We planned to serve a plum sorbet along side our kuchen. The ingredients were simple: plums, water and sugar. The recipe had me blanch and peel the plums before blending them. After scalding my delicate fingers a few times, I gave up on these two steps and just tossed the pitted plums into the Magic Bullet. You can leave the peel on without affecting the taste, but don't leave in the pits. I don't think the Magic Bullet would be very happy. Alone, the sorbet was nothing spectacular, but it paired nicely with the heavy kuchen.

All in all, the dessert was a sweet finish to a wonderful weekend. Happy cooking!

GUEST MONTH!!!!!

October is guest month. Get ready for delicious vegetarian recipes prepared by friends and readers of Mr. gorgeous. The first guest is the one and only Ms. Pumpkin.

Baked Orzo

Made this dish last night from a recipe in the NYT. When I began cooking it, the recipe seemed like it was going to be a breeze. Cut up the vegetables and throw them with the orzo, bake and you have the meal. Well it was a little bit more complicated than that because most of the vegetables needed to be cooked beforehand. So the prep took quite a while, about forty minutes. I think we then shortchanged the baking a little bit because it was getting late and Mrs. gorgeous and I were hungry.

The orzo had a lot of flavor especially with all the cooked vegetables, which is a necessary though lengthy process. Frying the vegetables in a small amount of oil beforehand softens them up and brings out there flavor that mixes in with the orzo well. I also think that baking it slightly longer would have been good. The orzo was cooked beforehand in water, and I thought baking would have added a little crunch but I do not think we had quite gotten there yet.

Another note: I think if I were to cook it again I would double the recipe so that there were more leftovers. Only going to get about four plates total out of the recipe (though NYT says serves six) and it would be nice for the effort put in to get a little more return. Mr. and Ms. duke/environmental science, check out that baking pan.

Leftover Mash-up and Fry Dough

I had a lot of leftover vegetables and decided to make a sort of mash-up dish. I cut up all the remaining vegetables (potatoes, broccoli, leeks, carrots, can't remember what else but it was a clearing the refrigerator job). I stir fried the vegetables and then added in coconut milk, turmeric, and cumin (No curry powder). The sauce was sweet and delicious and the vegetables mixed in really well.

The fry bread was from a packet that my dad purchased in North Carolina. You mix up the dough with water and then fry them in a small amount of oil. They puff up like the you can see above.

Overall food was great. Easy, fast, and used up all the various vegetables that remained in the fridge before they went bad.

Sorry for the long absence, trying to get back into this writing thing.

Pizza

Every once in a while Ms. gorgeous and I make pizza at the house. With our wedding coming up, we have gotten some sweet gear to cook the pizza on (pizza stone, pizza board, rolling pin, and pizza cutter). We have yet to make our own dough out of laziness, timing issues, and we have a great spot down the street to buy dough (Vace - as Supertaster says, best pizza in DC), plus having a food processor will make life much easier.

We also bought the different sauces for the Pizza (Pesto and Tomato), but can easily make these in the future when we have a better garden. The nice part of Pizza is the community and creativity aspects. Everybody can customize their own (so everyone is happy) and you get inspirations and taste ideas from those around you that are making their pizza. If you are lucky you they will give you a slice of their creation.

A topping that I really enjoy is butternut squash that has been peeled and fried in olive oil and salt and pepper. Though the season for squash has ended, make sure you try it when the time becomes right again.

The Main Course - Onion and Mushroom Quiche

This was the main course for Mr. and Mrs. Prison. A full-fledged quiche. Now, of all foods quiche is one of the few that I remember growing up and disliking while my sister enjoyed it. She was usually the picky eater. For some reason the whole eggs, ham, and cheese thing grossed me out.

I have finally grown out of that dislike, so I decided to make one for the main course of the meal. It seemed like it would go well with Kale and Sweet Potatoes. The recipe was from the Vegetarian Cookbook linked to before. It was really good. The hardest part was making the crust by hand. They recommend using a blender or a food processor, which I don't own. Made it by hand and it turned out well. The rest was easy. Fry up the onions and mushrooms, pour in the eggs. It was good. Better with the company.

Kale and Sweet Potatoes

A quick little post since it has been so long. I made this dish a while ago when two friends came over for dinner. It was Mr. Prison and Mrs. Prison who came over. This was the vegetable portion of the meal and the next post will be the main course. Very easy to make these dishes and a lot of good tastes.

For the Kale just cut out the stems if the leaves are big or just leave them in. Then put some oil in a pan with some garlic and salt and fry for a few minutes to loosen up the stalks. Add water and let the leaves braise in the covered pan. The leaves should become slightly greener when they are cooked. Nice easy and healthy. In the past I threw away the leftover water if there was any but you could save it for a broth or drink it for the nutrition.

Sweet potato recipe is from my man Bittman. He actually had this on a video post from the fall (article/video). Peel the sweet potatoes and then grate (use a food processor if you got it) them so they are in long threads. Add oil to a frying pan or a big pot (whatever will fit all the potatoes) and then fry for 5-10 minutes until they are softened. While this is going on, bust up some garlic so the flavors are released, and add garlic, 3 tablespoons of butter, and fresh sage to a sauce pan. Put the pan on medium and brown the butter (takes about 5 minutes - at some point the yellowish butter will turn brown and a great nutty flavor begins to spread throughout the kitchen). Pour the butter over the sweet potatoes and serve. A quick and easy way to prepare sweet potatoes that often take a long time to boil and soften.