Pumpkin Pull-Apart Rolls

These make a great addition to any Thanksgiving table.  Not only do they look good but they taste awesome.  The pumpkin brings a wonderful moistness to the dough and a beautiful golden colour.

INGREDIENTS
Makes about 28 rolls
- 1 1/2 cups warm soy milk
- 1 tbsp instant yeast
- 1 cup pumpkin puree (canned is fine, but fresh is better)
- 3 cups all purpose flour (or whole wheat pastry)
- 3 cups bread flour
- 2 tsp salt
- 5 tbsp sugar
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp oil
- additional oil for brushing

METHOD
1. Sprinkle yeast over the soy milk and whisk to dissolve.  Add puree, flours, salt, sugar, and oil and bring into a soft dough, adjusting flour or liquid as needed.  Knead for 5 mins, until smooth.
2. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
3. Line two 9 inch round pans with parchment paper.  Slice off 2 oz pieces of dough and work into a ball.  Place in the prepared pan just touching one another.  When pans are filled, brush buns with some oil, cover, and let rise for 30-40 mins, until almost doubled.
4. Preheat oven to 400 then bake for 15-18 mins, or until golden brown.  Remove from pan to cool on a wire rack.  Serve warm, letting your dinner guests pull off rolls as needed.

You can very easily freeze a pan of these when they are cooled, then thaw/warm them when you need them.

Harvest Pies

I am actually on the ball this year and posting a Thanksgiving recipe a full week before Thanksgiving!  Yes, Canadian Thanksgiving is October 10.  So for you American readers I am really on the ball.  This recipe is a slight variation on the Winter Pies I posted a while back.  If you are pressed for time you could make these pies like the winter pies (i.e. like a tasty Hot Pocket) rather than going through all the fuss of making mini pies.  Also, you can probably get 12 pies out of this recipe buy adding another two cups total of veggies, but I have given you some wiggle room with the pastry dough.  The two things that make these superior to the Winter Pies are the roasted cranberries (awesome!) and the roasted squash (equally awesome!).  The crust, as always, remains my favourite.  It is easy to work with and durable, yet still flaky and tender.  Don't worry if the top crust does not totally bond with the bottom--we enjoyed taking off the tops, pouring in some gravy, and putting the tops back on.

Makes 10

Pie Crust
INGREDIENTS
- 1 lb (3.5 cups) all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 10.5 oz (1 1/4 cup + 1tbsp cup) cold Earth Balance margarine, or vegetable shortening
- 5 oz (scant 2/3 cup) ice cold water
- 2 tsp ground flax seed

METHOD
1. Whisk dry ingredients together, then cut margarine into the dry ingredients until it resembles coarse bread crumbs.
2. Whisk flax seed into the water, then add to dry ingredients. Work into a soft dough with a fork and then your hands.
3. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour.

Filling

INGREDIENTS

- 4 cups butternut squash, small dice

- 1 cup fresh cranberries

- 1/4 cup minced shallot

- 1 tsp olive oil

- salt and pepper

- 4 cups total diced veggies (I used potato, carrot, and onion)
- 2 cups cooked white kidney beans
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped

- 2 tbsp olive oil

- 1 tbsp margarine

- 1 tsp sage

- 1/4 cup white wine

- 2 tsp poultry spice (or a mix of thyme, sage, marjoram, and savoury)

- salt and pepper

- you also need some gravy

METHOD

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

1. Toss butternut squash, cranberries, and shallots in the olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper and roast in the oven on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper for 30-40 mins, or until golden brown. 

2. While squash is roasting, heat olive oil and margarine in a large saucepan over medium-hi heat.  Add veggies, beans, and garlic and the 1 tsp sage and turn to coat all the veggies with the oil.  Season with salt and pepper, then reduce heat to medium and cover.  Cook for 15-20 mins, stirring regularly, until veggies are cooked and golden.  Remove lid, add wine, and cook until reduced.   

3.  Add braised veggies to the pan of roasted squash.  Sprinkle poultry spice over top and gently toss together.  Adjust seasonings to taste.  Set aside to cool.

Reduce oven to 375 degrees

4. Remove pastry from the fridge and cut off 2/3rds.  Return 1/3 to the fridge.  Roll out dough on a well-floured surface to between 1/8 to 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut the dough into circles, big enough to fit your muffin tin with some hang over.  For example, my muffin tins have sections with a 3.25 inch diameter, and I found that a circle of pastry dough with a 5 inch diameter fit perfectly.  Make sure there is a lip of dough so you can attach the top crust on.

5. Mould the pastry into the muffin tin, making sure it is an equal thickness.  Fill with cooled veggie filling, mounding it up as much as you can.  

6. Roll out the remaining pastry dough and cut to the right size to make a top crust for each pie.  Press the top crust on to the lip of dough from the bottom crust.  Cut venting holes/slits in the top and bake for 35-40 mins, until golden.  

7.  Let cool for 5 mins, then gently remove from the muffin tins.  I found it easiest to gently place a cooling rack upside on top of the pies, then invert the rack and the muffin tin at once (like getting a cake out of a pan).  Once out of the tin, serve the pies (right side up) with gravy.

Canned Pears

Pears are in season here in Ontario so I spent some time canning them to enjoy later during the winter months.  Canning is not hard, but it does take some time.  It is time well spent, though, and you will thank yourself in February when you are feasting on the succulent fruits of the summer.  

INGREDIENTS

- 10-12 lbs pears = 4 1L (1 quart) jars

- sugar

- water

- lemon juice

First, get your jars sterilized (or sterilizing) in boiling water or the dishwasher.  Since you will need to process the pears in boiling water, it makes sense to sterilize them first in your canning pot.  

Then, you need to make some syrup for the pears.  Light or medium syrups are perfect for pears.  Combine the sugar and water, bring to bubbling, then keep warm over low heat while you prepare the pears (i.e. don't let it boil down).

LIGHT = 2.25 cups sugar + 5.25 cups water

MEDIUM = 3.25 cups sugar + 5 cups water

Peel the pears and remove stem and blossom ends.  

Halve pears and remove seeds with a small spoon.  Place pears in a solution of 4 cups water + 1/4 cup lemon juice to keep from browning.  Bring the syrup to near bubbling over medium heat.

When syrup is hot (bot not boiling), place one layer of pears into the pot.  Reduce heat to medium-lo.  The idea here is to warm to pears for about 5 mins, not boil them.  You want the syrup to replace the air in the pears while still maintaining the fruit's integrity.  You will notice that the pears will slowly bubble when they first go into the syrup, like they are being deep fried.  Generally, when the bubbles slow down/stop, you are ready to can them.

 I like to use a funnel like you see above to transfer the fruit into the jars.  Working in batches, fill your sterilized jars with fruit, removing each batch of pears from the syrup with a slotted spoon.  Make sure there are not any air bubbles trapped in the fruit's cavities.

When you have four jars filled (or however many you can fit in your canning pot), fill each jar with syrup, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace.  Top with lids and rings adjusted finger tight.

 Your jars must be submerged in the boiling water for processing.  Cover with a lid and boil for 25 minutes.  Then, remove from the heat and remove the lid.  Let the jars stand in the hot water for 5 mins, then remove and let cool.  Done!

Coconut Cream Topping

So, you may remember this post in which I made a vegan banana cream pie.  You may also remember that my attempt at a whipped cream-esque topping was an unqualified failure.  This was because the coconut milk did not separate/congeal in the fridge like it usually does.  I thought I would try again after being invited to a dinner party.  Once again, though, the cream did not set in the fridge (has Thai Kitchen changed their coconut milk?  What's the deal?).  To remedy the situation I took some readers' advice and put some agar into the coconut milk to firm it up.  It's a little more complicated than just putting a can into the fridge, but it's not really hard and is more stable at room temperature.  I used full fat coconut milk, but I don't see any reason why this would not work with low fat (but that theory has yet to be tested.  You might need more agar since there is less fat to firm up in the mixture when it gets cold).

INGREDIENTS
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1 tbsp agar flakes
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla

METHOD
1.  Separate coconut cream from coconut milk and add the milk (i.e. the watery stuff) to a small saucepan.  Sprinkle afar flakes over and let sit for 5 mins.  Add sugar and bring to bubbling over med hi heat, whisking constantly.  Cook for 3-5 mins, or until all the agar has dissolved.
2.  Remove from heat and whisk in cream and vanilla.  Adjust sugar to taste then pour into a bowl, cover, and place into the fridge.  Allow to fully cool.
3.  When ready to use, whisk the cooled mixture and spread over your pie (or whatever).  Place pie (or what have you) back into the fridge until ready to serve.

Vegan Party Time

On Friday I hosted a reception for the new grad students entering our department. I made the food, others provided the drinks, and everyone had a good time. Despite a few early bacon jokes, the menu went over smashingly with everyone (even bacon boy). I think if the food is good no one cares if it can be labelled vegan or not.  Above is the savoury table.

 In the back left are sliced baguettes (Peter Reinhart, of course).  In front of that, a plate of focaccia.

The idea was to use the bread a base for various toppings.  Pesto, for one.  The larger yellow bowl is garden fresh tomatoes with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper.  Simply, but really tasty.  There was also hummus, along with plenty of veggies.  The only thing not made by hand was the tortilla chips.  I went with the "scoop" variety of chips so they could easily hold the bean salsa (black eyed peas and black beans with chopped yellow and orange pepper, red onion, celery, and corn.  All this was tossed in olive oil, white wine vinegar, and lime juice then seasoned.  I would have added jalapeno and cilantro, but sometimes that does not go over well at parties).  

Rounding out the savoury table were samosas (curried potatoes and peas wrapped in phyllo and served with a mango chutney (oh, I bought that, too).

And here is the sweet table.  Ye olde classic fruit trays are at the end (berries and melons, mostly).  

The mini cupcakes were a hit--chocolate and vanilla with mocha buttercream.  Simple, but tasty.  

I also tried my hand at palmiers.  I will have to revisit these and post a recipe.  They did not stick together like I would have liked, but they tasted great and were not a lot of work.  

I also made a batch of mini turnovers (1 inch square pieces of dough) but found them too fiddly and did not make any more.  

All the food could be eaten without a fork, which is great when you are standing trying to negotiate food into your mouth whilst not spilling your drink.

I made and baked the baguettes, focaccia, turnovers, palmiers, samosas, and cupcakes ahead of time and froze them.  The thawed cupcakes were iced on the day of the party, and the samosas reheated.  Pesto and hummus were made the night before, and fruit and veggies were cut the day of the party.