Dad! Don’t read this post until Sunday!

My dad has many amazing qualities. He can make a game out of anything – including rolled up socks, the packing material from our new blinds, and a big bucket leftover from some construction project. Incidentally, bucket rides also illuminated one of my mom’s best qualities – trusting that her husband wouldn’t put her kids in the hospital and letting us have some crazy fun.

Dad . . . → Read More: Father’s Day Breakfast Idea: How to Make Homemade Pop Tarts]]>

Dad! Don’t read this post until Sunday!

My dad has many amazing qualities. He can make a game out of anything – including rolled up socks, the packing material from our new blinds, and a big bucket leftover from some construction project. Incidentally, bucket rides also illuminated one of my mom’s best qualities – trusting that her husband wouldn’t put her kids in the hospital and letting us have some crazy fun.

Dad will also support me no matter what – even if it’s listening to me hyperventalate on the phone because I spotted a mouse in my first solo apartment or eating a weird vegetarian meal I cook for him. Oh sure, he’ll eat kale for breakfast to make me feel good, but what does he really want? PopTarts and Diet Pepsi. If you were ever in his car before he retired, you know what I mean. Crumbs and cans galore! Might not be Wheaties, but it’s certainly the breakfast of one of my biggest champions.

So for Fathers’ Day 2012, I give you bacon and jam toaster tarts. Make them for the dad in your life or for yourself, just cuz it’s Sunday and breakfast should be fun sometimes. I froze these and then sent them overnight. Just take one out of the freezer and pop it in the toaster, Dad. Love you!!

Some quick notes on the recipe…First, the dough is almost exactly the same as my standard pie crust with extra salt and sugar for flavor. I also added a splash of vinegar to the water on the advice of my friend Mike, who says it will lend extra flakiness. Second, this is a great way to use up some of last year’s lingering jams. Nothing on the larder shelves caught my fancy, so I made a quick strawberry rhubarb jam from what I had around. Store-bought jam is just fine, too.

Fathers’ Day Toaster Tarts

Makes 10 tarts

Directions

1. Follow these directions to make dough for a double crust pie, adding the vinegar to the ice water and the sugar and salt to the dry ingredients. After you’ve put the dough in the refrigerator, come back to this recipe.
2. While the dough is chilling, make the icing by combining the confectioners’ sugar with 2 tablespoons of water. Whisk until smooth.
3. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
4. To roll the dough, you need a decent amount of space. We’re aiming for a rectangle that’s 15 inches on one side and 8 inches on the other, so you’ll need to roll your dough a little bit larger to account for uneven edges. Find your counter, clean it, and lightly flour it. Keep some flour on hand for the rolling process.
5. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
6. Take one of the dough halves out of the refrigerator. Prepare your filling, so that it’s ready to do when the dough is. Beat the egg and have a pastry brush nearby. If you don’t have a pastry brush, you can use your fingers, but it’s slower.
7. Now, roll out the dough carefully. This is one of those situations when it really helps to be a bit nuts about neatness. Do your best to keep it in a rectangle twice as long on one side as the other. I use a bench scraper to push the ragged edges flat and to help me flip the dough around every few rolls, so that it doesn’t stick to the counter. Use that flour when you need it.
8. Once your dough is large enough, use a ruler and a thin knife to measure and cut a 15-inch by 8-inch rectangle. Don’t worry about moving it yet.
9. Along each of the 15-inch sides, make a little mark with the knife every three inches. Use the ruler and the knife to connect the marks, so that you now have five long rectangles (8 inches by 3 inches). Again, don’t move anything.



10. Using the pastry brush, paint all the edges with egg wash.



11. Place about a teaspoon of filling on one the end of a rectangle. Fold the dough in half to cover the filling and transfer the tart to the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining four tarts.



12. Seal the edges of each tart with your fingers, then use the tines of a fork to crimp them. Poke a few holes in the top of each tart with the fork.



13. Brush or drizzle some icing over each tart. Don’t worry about being too neat. You won’t notice once they’re baked.



14. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly brown. Just like the real thing, you will finish these in the toaster. If you want to eat them immediately, bake them for about 10 minutes longer.



15. Store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Our CSA switched over from fall to winter this week, which means that, in addition to produce and eggs from Red Fire Farm, we get some fun extras from other local producers. This week’s pick-up included sauerkraut from Real Pickles and cheddar from Chase Hill Farm. Now, I know that I may be in the minority, but I love sauerkraut. I’ve got some fermenting on the floor of the kitchen right now, but it’s . . . → Read More: Dark Days Challenge Week 8: Pasta with Sauerkraut and Bacon]]>

Our CSA switched over from fall to winter this week, which means that, in addition to produce and eggs from Red Fire Farm, we get some fun extras from other local producers. This week’s pick-up included sauerkraut from Real Pickles and cheddar from Chase Hill Farm. Now, I know that I may be in the minority, but I love sauerkraut. I’ve got some fermenting on the floor of the kitchen right now, but it’s not quite ready, so I was thrilled to get a jar from the CSA. I could seriously just eat it straight (and sometimes do), but that’s not a very fun post for the Dark Days Challenge this week. Instead, we dug through the freezer and found some pasta dough and bacon. That sounds like a meal to me!

The recipe comes from Eugenia Bone‘s excellent small-batch preserving book, Well-Preserved. Unlike other books, which have tons of recipes for preserves, but no help on what to do with them, Well-Preserved has only a dozen or so preserving recipes, but then 3 or 4 ways to use each. The fish and pickled asparagus dinner we made a few weeks ago was a riff on a recipe in that book. It might not be the first book on the subject you buy, but I’d definitely recommend adding it to your library eventually.

Pasta with Sauerkraut and Bacon

Makes 3-4 servings

Directions

1. You can make or use any pasta that you like. We used leftover pasta dough that we had in the freezer. We let it thaw and then rolled it out into a sheet. Lucky for us for Dark Days, this pasta was made using only local ingredients, including the flour. We’ll save the pasta recipe for another time, but here is a picture of the rolling process:

   

2. We tried to shape it like penne by cutting it into diagonal pieces and shaping it around a chopstick. However, in the end, this all completely fell apart in the water. We actually really liked the end results, though. So much so that we’d actually recommend making or using wide noodles. It worked really well with the sauerkraut. Anyway, here are some photos of the attempt:

   

3. While the water is boiling for your pasta, fry up some bacon, very crispy. It works best (especially for this recipe) in a cast iron skillet. When it’s done, place it between two paper towels to drain. Pour off almost all the fat from the pan.

   

4. Add the sauerkraut to the skillet and cook it over medium-low in the remaining bacon fat for five minutes. Add the pasta, salt, and pepper. Crumble in the bacon, and add the cheese and parsley. Toss to mix, and serve.

   

   ]]> http://eatlocal365.com/2012/01/19/dark-days-challenge-week-8-pasta-with-sauerkraut-and-bacon/feed/ 0 http://eatlocal365.com/2011/05/31/feasting-at-flying-pigs-farm/ http://eatlocal365.com/2011/05/31/feasting-at-flying-pigs-farm/#comments Tue, 31 May 2011 16:31:47 +0000 Lindsay http://eatlocal365.com/?p=3596 Now that we’ve introduced you to the Farm, please say hello so some absolutely delicious pork. Everything we’ve had from Flying Pigs Farm has been juicy, flavorful, and addictive, but we had really only eaten their sausage and bacon before. We used our trip to try a few new things – namely pork belly, blade roast, leaf lard, and tenderloin. The Surgeon General would not have approved of the amount of meat we ate that . . . → Read More: Feasting at Flying Pigs Farm]]> Now that we’ve introduced you to the Farm, please say hello so some absolutely delicious pork. Everything we’ve had from Flying Pigs Farm has been juicy, flavorful, and addictive, but we had really only eaten their sausage and bacon before. We used our trip to try a few new things – namely pork belly, blade roast, leaf lard, and tenderloin. The Surgeon General would not have approved of the amount of meat we ate that weekend…please do not attempt at home. However, you should definitely try all of these products as part of a balanced diet!!

   Friday night started with a bang with pork belly in a Chinese-style glaze (recipe to come).

   

   I had eaten pork belly in restaurants, but never cooked it myself. Success! This was one of the easiest things we made all weekend, but I think it was also my favorite. Pork belly is essentially unsmoked bacon. It’s rich and creamy and salty. NOT DIET FOOD! But, seriously, we weren’t there to diet and you shouldn’t diet all the time anyway! A little pork belly every now and then (from happy, healthy, well-cared-for pigs) is a treat you should allow yourself. We also had rice and bok choy, just to please our moms.

   Although we were all stuffed, I wanted to try making pie crust with their rendered leaf lard. I had read a NY Times article about lard pie crusts (which mentioned Flying Pigs) and was dying to try it out. I was able to get the bottom crust out, but my rolling skills still need work, so I improvised on the top crust. I pinched off marble-sized pieces of dough, flattened them into sloppy disks, and laid them over the top of the pie like roof tiles. Not too pretty, but tasted delicious and saved me a lot of stress trying to make a perfect pie.

   

   We all agreed that the leaf lard made a really flaky, but tender crust for our apple pie. The recipe I have from their website is delicious and easy, but uses volumetric measurements, which I think is kind of a pain. As soon as I figure out the weight equivalents, we’ll post the recipe.

   We awoke on Saturday morning to a beautiful day and brown sugar bacon waffles! Yum yum yum. I wasn’t even really hungry, but who cares! We brought up a big bottle of cold brew coffee concentrate, which made the morning even better.

   

   Our friends, Pete and Cynthia, made us a great mixed grill for lunch. Juicy chorizo, which was just spicy enough, on the grill along with peppers, onions, and tortillas. Pete’s grilling skills were much appreciated…he manned the grill even when a rain shower came out of nowhere. We enjoyed the spread on the covered deck with some refreshing rhubarb-rosemary gin cocktails.

   

   Dinner on Saturday night was also “hosted” by Pete and Cynthia, who prepared two really impressive roulades – one with tenderloin and one with blade roast. They were both stuffed with mild sausage, lemon, and sage. The tenderloin was nice and lean, so was complimented well by the sausage filling. The blade roast was heavier, but the lemon and sage provided a nice light offset to the richness. Perfect! They roasted the roulades with some fennel, which turned so sweet it was almost candy. Mmmmmmmm… We also made a quick baked beans type dish with navy beans, spinach, and sweet and spicy tomato sauce I canned last summer.

   

   I’m slightly embarrassed to say that we had another pie on Saturday night. Peach pie with a crumble top using the same great lard pie crust and peaches we canned last summer. We also whipped some local cream for the top. Please don’t count the calories we ate. I don’t want to know. It was so so so worth it though. Girlish figure be damed!!

   Before we went to bed on Saturday night, we made a strata of sourdough bread, breakfast sausage, cheddar-ish cheese, leftover herbs, and Flying Pigs eggs. On Sunday morning, I popped it in the oven while we all got ready for the day and it was ready about 45 minutes later. Stratas are one of my favorite brunch foods to prepare. All the work is done the night before, so you don’t have to fuss in the morning. Plus, they’re delicious. Cynthia made a nice fruit salad for us, so that we didn’t only eat meat and bread.

   

   After breakfast, Morgan, the Farm manager, took us on a tour of the Farm. I definitely needed a walk. We met the pigs and chickens, and climbed a nice hill to see the view. And, what do you know, I was hungry when we got back! As a quick lunch before heading out, we wrapped some asparagus in bacon and roasted it at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes. Topped off by a poached egg, it made the perfect farewell lunch.

   

   ]]> http://eatlocal365.com/2011/05/31/feasting-at-flying-pigs-farm/feed/ 0 http://eatlocal365.com/2011/03/11/how-to-make-fully-loaded-potato-soup/ http://eatlocal365.com/2011/03/11/how-to-make-fully-loaded-potato-soup/#comments Sat, 12 Mar 2011 04:27:58 +0000 Erik http://eatlocal365.com/?p=2916

   This recipe is our first foray into the new cookbook Slow Cooker Revolution from America’s Test Kitchen. If you like learning about what works in cooking and why, you will love America’s Test Kitchen (on PBS). It’s like Alton Brown but without the goofy theatrics (don’t take that as a knock, Alton). Their research into this book is essentially a reinvention of how to use a slow cooker to make easy but awesome meals. . . . → Read More: How to Make Fully-loaded Potato Soup]]>

   This recipe is our first foray into the new cookbook Slow Cooker Revolution from America’s Test Kitchen. If you like learning about what works in cooking and why, you will love America’s Test Kitchen (on PBS). It’s like Alton Brown but without the goofy theatrics (don’t take that as a knock, Alton). Their research into this book is essentially a reinvention of how to use a slow cooker to make easy but awesome meals. We’re excited for it.

   That being said, this recipe isn’t what I would consider a hands-down winner. The end result was very good; that’s not the issue. The problem is that the preparation, while not difficult, completely tosses aside the usual advantages of the slow cooker. Usually there is only a little prep (which you can do in the morning) and it cooks for 8+ hours in the slow cooker, so you can go to work and come home again to a finished dish.

   This recipe takes more than 1.5 hours of work before walking away from the slow cooker, and then it only cooks for 4-6 hours. Although it can be a meal unto itself, this soup is not a weekday dish. Given that fact and the general effort involved, there are other recipes that I would put in the queue ahead of it.

   What this meal did do was give us something interesting and new to try during Dark Days, which are almost over soon (we’re ready for them to be!).
   
   
   Slow Cooker Fully-loaded Potato Soup

   Makes 4-6 servings

   Ingredients:

   Amount	Ingredient	Preparation	Where we bought it (* Union Sq. Greenmarket)
   3 lbs	Russet potatoes or similar	Peeled and cubed into 1/2 inch pieces	Berried Treasures Farm *
   8 oz	Bacon (about 8 strips)	Chopped into 1/2 inch pieces	Flying Pigs Farm *
   1	Yellow onions	Finely chopped	Paffenroth Gardens *
   2 cloves	Garlic	Minced	Keith’s Farm *
   1.5 tsp	Dried thyme
   2 TBsp	All-purpose flour		Cayuga Pure Organics *
   4 cups	Vegetable broth	Or chicken stock; separated into 1 cup and 3 cups	Homemade *
   2 cups	Cheddar cheese	Shredded	Cato Corner Farm *
   0.5 cup	Half-and-half	Or heavy cream	Milk Thistle Farm *
   To taste	Kosher salt
   To taste	Black pepper	Freshly ground
   To taste	Scallions	Thinly sliced (optional, for garnish)

    

   Directions:

   1. Peel the potatoes. Cube them into 1/2 inch pieces. Don’t underestimate this step. Look at the pictures. It’s a lot of potatoes!

      

   2. Peel and dice the onion into small pieces. Mince the garlic, and put it and the onion aside in a dish with the thyme. Chop the uncooked bacon into 1/2 inch pieces. I chopped ours straight out of the freezer, so it was easy. Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium heat and cook the bacon until it is crisp (5 – 10 minutes).

      

   3. Preferably using tongs, remove the bacon from the pan and put it aside on a plate lined with paper towel. Refrigerate it for use at the end. Pour most of the bacon grease out of the pan, except for about 2 Tablespoons worth.

      I actually measure two TBsp of water into a bowl so that I could eyeball it. Remember to use oven mitts because the cast iron will be hot! Put the pan back on the heat and add the onion, garlic, and thyme.

      

   4. Cook the aromatics (that’s the fancy name for what’s in the pan right now) for about 10 minutes, until the onions brown lightly, stir occasionally so they don’t burn. Add the flour, thoroughly stirring it in, and cook for 1 minute.

      

   5. Add 1 cup of the broth/stock. Deglaze the pan by scraping all the bits off the bottom and into the cooking liquid. Stir everything together thoroughly. Once the mixture has become a gravy-like base (after a minute or two), transfer it to the slow cooker. Add in the remaining 3 cups of broth and stir to combine. Add the potatoes and stir to distribute everything evenly. Cover and set to cook on low. Let it cook for 4-6 hours.

      

   6. When the 4-6 hour period is nearly over, shred the cheese. This is one case where using a food processes may come in handy. Because it will be melted in, the texture doesn’t matter. Sometimes hand-grating is preferable, but in this case it isn’t. Shred or grate a little additional cheese for garnish on top of the soup.

      

   7. Once the long cook is complete, fish out about 2 cups of potato cubes, which should be relatively soft by now, and transfer them to a bowl. Mash them until smooth.

      

   8. Add the mashed potatoes back into the slow cooker. Stir in the cheese until it’s evenly melted. Then stir in the half-and-half or cream. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Let the soup heat for an additional 5 minutes.

      In the meantime, reheat the bacon bits in the microwave on the paper towel-lined plate, for about 30 seconds. Plate the soup and on the top of each bowl of soup add a small portion of bacon, additional cheese, and, if you are using them, scallions.

   9. Note: I cooked the soup for 6 hours, and the potatoes were just mushy enough by the end, although the hear of your slow-cooker may vary. That being said, my soup was a little dry. You can see from the picture below how lumpy it is. It should be a bit smoother than that.

      If necessary, add additional water or broth into the slow cooker before serving, a little bit at a time, and stir. Repeat until you get to a smooth consistency. If necessary when reheating, you can do the same on a per-serving basis. I’m usually timid with such things for fear of making a watery mess, but ith this recipe, you don’t need to be scared of adding additional liquid to thin it out. It will re-absorb it nicely.

      

   ]]> http://eatlocal365.com/2011/03/11/how-to-make-fully-loaded-potato-soup/feed/ 11 http://eatlocal365.com/2011/01/17/dark-days-chicken-and-parsnips/ http://eatlocal365.com/2011/01/17/dark-days-chicken-and-parsnips/#comments Mon, 17 Jan 2011 17:23:02 +0000 Lindsay http://eatlocal365.com/?p=2045

   We made this for dinner on Saturday, but because we tried out a (delicious) punch recipe with some friends yesterday, we didn’t get around to posting about it…or doing anything else we were supposed to do…until today. Oops! Pretty nice way to spend an afternoon, though.

   Braising is one of my favorite Dark Days techniques, because we tend to eat more meat in the winter and I appreciate the extra heat from the oven. . . . → Read More: Dark Days: Chicken and Parsnips Braised in Hard Cider]]>

   We made this for dinner on Saturday, but because we tried out a (delicious) punch recipe with some friends yesterday, we didn’t get around to posting about it…or doing anything else we were supposed to do…until today. Oops! Pretty nice way to spend an afternoon, though.

   Braising is one of my favorite Dark Days techniques, because we tend to eat more meat in the winter and I appreciate the extra heat from the oven. I have made five or six recipes from the book All About Braising: The Art of Uncomplicated Cooking, because it has an excellent breakdown of the techniques and great recipes for creative and classic dishes, like Coq au Vin and pot roast. The short version of the procedure is: brown the meat, sauté the aromatics (such as onions and garlic), use a liquid (like wine) to loosen all the yummy dark bits from the bottom of the pan, put the meat back in the pan, cover, and cook at a low temperature in a small amount of liquid for several hours.

   This recipe is also from All About Braising and is a winner, even though we ended up missing the movie we had planned on seeing, because it wasn’t ready in time. I ALWAYS underestimate the amount of time braising will take. It just takes longer to actually get to the braising part than I think it will. Lesson learned – either start an hour earlier than you think you should or don’t make plans to eat at a specific time. The nice part was that the recipe makes chicken and vegetables, so we didn’t have to mess with making a side dish. If you haven’t had parsnips before, this is a great way to try them. They’re sweet by themselves, but extra tasty after spending an hour in a bacon hard cider bath.

   Chicken and Parsnips Braised in Hard Cider

   Ingredients:

   Amount	Ingredient	Preparation	Where we bought it (* Union Square Greenmarket)
   2 tsp	Sunflower oil		Stolor Organics (sold by Cayuga Organics)*
   4 slices	Thick-cut bacon	Cut into 1/2 inch wide strips	Flying Pigs Farm *
   4 (~3 pounds)	Chicken breasts	Bone-in and skin-on	Violet Hill Farm *
   To taste	Salt and pepper
   1 large	Shallot	Minced	Paffenroth Gardens *
   2 1/2 cups	Hard cider (still or bubbly)		Doc’s Hard Cider
   1 TBsp	Fresh rosemary	Finely chopped	Our fire escape
   1 pound	Parsnips	Peeled and cut into 3-inch by 1/2-inch sticks	Paffenroth Gardens *

   Directions:

   1. Rinse the chicken breasts under cool water and then pat them very dry with a paper towel or two. They won’t brown very well if they’re damp, so don’t rush this step. Sprinkle both sides liberally with salt and pepper. Set them aside.

      

   2. Slice the bacon into 1/2-inch strips.

      

   3. Heat the oil in a 12-inch cast iron skilletover medium heat and add the bacon. Make sure your skillet has a lid. If it doesn’t, use a large, heavy-bottomed, oven-safe pot that will fit all the breast in one layer.

      

   4. Stir the bacon occasionally until it becomes crisp, about 5 minutes. Use a slotted spoon or spatula to transfer the bacon to a paper towel covered plate to drain.

      

   5. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the skillet (discard) and return it to medium high heat. Place the chicken breasts, skin side down, in the pan. This part is a bit like playing Tetris. Try not to move them around too much once they’re in the pan, but you might need to make a few adjustments to get them all to fit. In my pan, it works best to arrange them like the wedges in Trivial Pursuit. Try to remember the order they went in, because the first one in will brown first.

      

   6. While the breasts are browning, chop the shallot, rosemary, and parsnips, if you haven’t already. The larger parsnips might have a visible, tough core. It’s worth removing this, if you have time.

      

   7. After about 5 minutes, take a peak at the underside of the first breast you put in. It should be a nice golden brown and not stick to the pan. If it seems ready, flip it over with tongs and repeat for the other three breasts. If it sticks or isn’t brown, leave it for another minute. You’re not trying to cook them through at this point, just give them a nice brown crust.

      

   8. After another 5 minutes, check the second side. If your breasts are pretty thick, you might want to stand them up against the side of the pan to brown the edge for another 2 to 3 minutes. Once all the sides are brown, take the breasts out of the pan and set them on a large plate.

      

   9. Keep the pan on medium high heat and add the shallot. Stir constantly, because it will burn quickly. Once the shallot is brown, about a minute, add 2 cups of the hard cider.
   10. Let the cider cook down to about 1/2 cup, which will take about 15 minutes. While it’s boiling, use a wooden spoon to scrape the bits off the bottom of the pan.

       

   11. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
   12. Add the rosemary and the other 1/2 cup of cider and reduce it again to about 3/4 cup. This should take another 8 minutes or so.
   13. Arrange the parsnips in a single layer on the bottom of the pan and give them a good sprinkling of salt and grind of black pepper.
   14. Add the bacon on top of the parsnips and try to spread it evenly.

       

   15. Put the chicken, skin side down, back in the pan on top of the parsnips and bacon. Cover it with a piece of parchment paper and then the lid. If you’re using a pot, push the parchment paper down so that it almost touches the chicken, so that you can mimic the tighter quarters of the skillet.

       

   16. Put the skillet in the oven and cook for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, flip the chicken and cook for another 25 minutes or until the meat is no longer pink on the inside (make a small incision in the thickest part to check).

       

   17. After the chicken is done, use a slotted spoon/spatula or tongs to transfer the chicken and parsnips to a plate. Cover them with tin foil and return the pan to the stove. Boil the sauce over medium high heat for about 10 minutes to thicken it. It won’t become thick like gravy, but it will be thicker than broth.
   18. Serve each breast on a big pile of parsnips with a good drizzle of sauce.

       

   I think I’m going to go eat the leftovers for lunch. Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!

   ]]> http://eatlocal365.com/2011/01/17/dark-days-chicken-and-parsnips/feed/ 1 http://eatlocal365.com/2010/12/12/dark-days-challenge-pumpkin-bisque/ http://eatlocal365.com/2010/12/12/dark-days-challenge-pumpkin-bisque/#comments Mon, 13 Dec 2010 02:55:04 +0000 Lindsay http://eatlocal365.com/?p=1348 We spent the week in sunny Texas, but got home yesterday to dreary drizzle. Blech. Luckily, we had fun brunch plans and all the ingredients for a steamy soup ready for today. There’s really nothing better, in my opinion, than a warm bowl between your hands on a dark winter night. Even better if the contents of that bowl are sprinkled with bacon.

   This recipe comes from a great book called Art of . . . → Read More: Dark Days: Pumpkin Bisque]]> We spent the week in sunny Texas, but got home yesterday to dreary drizzle. Blech. Luckily, we had fun brunch plans and all the ingredients for a steamy soup ready for today. There’s really nothing better, in my opinion, than a warm bowl between your hands on a dark winter night. Even better if the contents of that bowl are sprinkled with bacon.

   

   This recipe comes from a great book called Art of the Slow Cooker, which we use pretty often. I substituted a few ingredients to stay within the Dark Days SOLE requirements and made a few other modifications to make my life easier. It is deliciously creamy and satisfying, but pretty healthy and quick to make.

   My slow cookerwas indispensible for this soup. I used it to make the vegetable stock a few weeks ago, which I froze, to cook the pumpkin overnight last night, and to make the soup this afternoon. If you don’t have a slow cooker, you could make the stock and soup in a heavy pot on the stove and follow the oven roasting method for cooking the pumpkin.

   Ingredients:

   Amount	Ingredient	Preparation	Where we bought it (* Union Square Greenmarket)
   1 TBsp	butter		Ronnybrook Farm *
   1 large (8-12 ounces)	yellow onion	chopped	S&SO *
   3 cloves	garlic	chopped	Keith’s Farm *
   4-5 cups	pumpkin flesh (from a 5-6 pound pumpkin)	cooked, but no need to puree or drain	Oak Grove Plantation *
   2 quarts	vegetable broth		Various *
   1/8 tsp	ground nutmeg
   1 tsp	kosher salt
   1/2 tsp	pepper	freshly ground
   1/2 cup	half & half		Milk Thistle Farm *
   1/2 cup	cheese, such as Parmigiano-Reggiano or something smoked	grated	Cato Corner Farm (We used their Aged Bloomsbury) *
   2 TBsp	fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley (optional garnish)	chopped	Keith’s Farm *
   2-3 strips	bacon (optional garnish)	sliced into short strips and cooked until crispy	Oak Grove Plantation *
   1/2 cup	nuts (optional garnish)	toasted and chopped

   Directions:

   1. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven.
   2. Add the onion and saute over medium heat until the onion is soft and translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook briefly.
      
      Note: The onion is dark in the photo above because we crisped the bacon first and then used the same pot for the onion to add a little exta bacon-y flavor. This is a good method if you want to garnish with bacon, but it’s not necessary.
   3. Stir in the pumpkin, broth, nutmeg, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil.
   4. Transfer to a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker and cook on low for about 8 hours (or high for about 4).
      
      Be careful when pouring the soup into the crock. It splashes!
   5. Just before eating, add the half and half and cheese and use an immersion blenderto puree the soup. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can use a blender, but be very careful. Blending hot liquid can lead to an explosion, so please let it cool down for some time before you blend.
   6. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with the parsley and bacon or toasted nuts, if desired.

   Any leftovers can be frozen. We served this with homemade crackers.

   ]]> http://eatlocal365.com/2010/12/12/dark-days-challenge-pumpkin-bisque/feed/ 1