Veronica’s Pumpkin Soup–Gluten-Free Progressive Oscar Dinner Party

February 22, 2010 · Filed Under Progressive Dinner, dairy free, easy, entree, gluten free, pumpkin, recipe, soup · 50 Comments

This post is linked to Gluten Free Progressive Dinner Party, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Tuesdays At The Table, and What can I eat that’s gluten free?

I have the honor of kicking off our Gluten Free Progressive Oscar Dinner Party. We’re all selecting meals related to Oscar-nominated movies. When it comes to the movies in the nominations this year, the one that speaks food the most is, of course, Julie and Julia. The Internet Movie Database (IMDB) describes Julie and Julia: “Julia Child’s story of her start in the cooking profession is intertwined with blogger Julie Powell’s 2002 challenge to cook all the recipes in Child’s first book.” I enjoyed this movie, largely because of my love of Julia Child and Meryl Streep’s charming portrayal of Julia. Make no mistake about it … it’s Meryl who brings Julia and, therefore, this movie to life. In my opinion, Streep’s Best Actress nomination is well deserved.

In Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child shared her pumpkin soup recipe. Hers was served in a pumpkin and included crème fraiche. While crème fraiche is very French and very delicious, if I’m the one making it, I want a simpler pumpkin soup. (And, sadly—or perhaps gladly—there are no pumpkins available to use as serving dishes this time of year.) My friend, Veronica, had mentioned her pumpkin soup recipe back in the fall. I finally asked her for the recipe and she immediately emailed it to me. Even better, she graciously gave me permission to share it with you, my gfe readers.

Veronica told me that her inspiration was a pumpkin soup made by her Belgian cousin. Veronica created a quick and easy, mild-flavored, but hearty version, which works as a meal. However, she used evaporated skim milk versus traditional cream, half and half, or crème fraiche as was used in Julia Child’s recipe. (You can read more of Veronica’s notes below the recipe.)

This soup can be made with either canned pumpkin or fresh pumpkin puree. I had some puree in the freezer and the other ingredients on hand. This soup came together so quickly and I fell in love with its velvety texture and savory, yet slightly sweet flavor. Veronica’s Pumpkin Soup … it’s now one of those dishes that make me think comfort, warmth, and simple goodness. I think Julia would approve and I hope you do, too.

Veronica’s Pumpkin Soup
(Click here for a printable version of this recipe.)
1 onion, chopped fine
2 tablespoons butter
1 large can (29 ounces) of pumpkin (or equal amount of fresh pumpkin puree)
4 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 12-oz can evaporated skim milk, regular evaporated milk, whole, or 2-percent milk

In a soup pot, sauté the onion in the butter until tender. Add the pumpkin, broth, ginger, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Simmer for about 20 minutes to blend flavors, then add the milk, heat through, and serve.

Veronica’s Notes: Because I normally use boxed broth, I don’t add any salt. If you’re using homemade broth, you may want to add salt to taste. Canned pumpkin may be denser and heavier than most home-prepared pumpkin, so you may want to adjust the amount of your liquids. If your pumpkin isn’t pureed, you’ll need to mash or puree it before adding it to the soup. This makes a thick soup with some texture as I serve it as an entree, not an appetizer. Those who want a lighter, smoother version may want to send it through the food processor and add a bit more milk at the end.

Shirley’s Notes: Because I’m usually the only one eating this pumpkin soup, I use a 16-ounce can of pumpkin (slightly more than half the original amount in Veronica’s recipe) or 2 cups of fresh pumpkin puree. I also halve all the other ingredients. Using fresh pumpkin will make for a soup that’s a bit lighter in color and taste and slightly thinner as well because of the water content in fresh puree. I use regular evaporated milk because that’s what I have on hand most often. For the dairy-free folks, I believe non-dairy milk should work, but haven’t personally tried the recipe using non-dairy milk. Of course, non-dairy butter (or perhaps grapeseed or coconut oil) would also need to be substituted for the butter in this recipe to make it dairy free.

If you’d like to serve a bread with this soup, either my gfe cornbread or popovers would be a great accompaniment. They both are simple and easy recipes that would complement this soup nicely.

A little bit of history on my friendship with Veronica … Veronica and her family used to live at the end of our street. However, it was only after they moved to Belgium for a few years that she and I really got to know each other and became good friends. How is that possible you ask? Well, after her family was settled in Belgium, I found out she had a blog—now called Compost Studios. Her subtitle explains the title, but she shares writing, musings, art journal entries, photographs, and handmade cards at Compost Studios. I started following her blog faithfully. We’d chat via comments on her blog and exchange emails from time to time, and soon we knew each other far better than we had when we’d only lived several doors apart. It seems crazy, but I maintain that the connections many of us make via blogs are very much like the communication of pen pals of years ago. Slow and steady, so to speak, with just the right amount of committment to get to know someone. Incidentally, Veronica’s self-named professional blog is here. (If you need a professional writer, she’s your person.) Thanks so much for this very lovely pumpkin soup recipe, Veronica!

Okay, this year the Oscars can be more than fashion do’s and don’ts and yea’s and nay’s on movies. This year it can be about the food! Please visit the rest of the Gluten Free Progressive Oscar Dinner Party folks for more award-winning ideas:

Tuesday, February 23 – Sea from Book of Yum with appetizers inspired from the movie Avatar—Millet Eggplant Croquettes and Fried Chips (Two Kinds)

Wednesday, February 24 – Karen from Cook4Seasons with Kale Chips as Oscar celebration food, Diane from The WH.O.L.E. Gang also using inspiration from Julie and Julia—Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Whipped Cream, and me again, this time with Southern Fried Oysters for Crazy Heart

Thursday, February 25- Alison from Sure Foods Living with Simple Salmon Spread for Oscar party fare

Friday, February 26- Ellen from I Am Gluten Free shares her Roasted Potato Slices with Smoky Aioli Dip as part of her celebration food

Interested in having your own Oscar party? Visit Diane’s event page to print out ballots for voting and get your Oscar party kit. I really like the looks of The Red Carpet Party Fizz cocktail myself.

FYI—I plan to be back with at least one more Oscar-inspired main dish this week … please stay tuned. Last, there’s an Xagave and cookbook giveaway over on the Out and About page. Check it out here!

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

Tags: brown sugar, dairy free, easy, GFE, gluten free, pumpkin, soup

Chocolate POMerdoodle Ice Cream

February 12, 2010 · Filed Under Out and About, Slightly Indulgent, Suite of Sweets, Valentine's Day, dairy free, dessert, easy, gluten free, ice cream, pomegranate, raw, recipe, sugar free · 1 Comment

Full disclosure: Last September, I attended BlogHer Food. I paid all my expenses, but I did receive some amazing swag. Included was some Scharffen Berger cocoa. I was not paid to write about Scharffen Berger, but I think their products are excellent. October, I attended the POM Wonderful Blogger Harvest Festival in California—all expenses paid. I was not paid to write this post, but the POM Wonderful product used was given to me. However, I write about POM products because I consider them to be excellent products and, of course, they are gfe compliant.

This post is linked to the Valentine’s Day roundup at Ellen’s I Am Gluten Free and Amy’s weekly roundup, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays.

Some of you may remember the POMerdoodle Ice Cream that I made last September for the Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free! blog carnival. Katrina (Gluten-Free Gidget), who greatly enjoys drama and theatrical arts had chosen a Disney theme. I couldn’t settle on a particular Disney movie for my recipe inspiration, so I decided to pay homage to all Disney dogs with a designer dog ice cream. You’re welcome to read the original POMerdoodle post, but basically I added POM Wonderful pomegranate juice to a version of Snickerdoodle ice cream and created the doggie-named POMerdoodle ice cream. Both a fun and delicious creation.

I loved the POMerdoodle flavor as did many others, but I simply had to try a chocolate version. Carrying on with my light-hearted dog theme, I decided to call it Chocolate POMerdoodle (you know … like Chocolate Lab, Chocolate Poodle). Adding just a small amount of cocoa adds richness and depth to this ice cream, particularly if you use a high-quality cocoa. I used Scharffen Berger cocoa, which I’d received in my BlogHer Food swag. I love both that cocoa and POM Wonderful pomegranate juice and I love this ice cream. It’s both gluten free and dairy free. It’s not refined sugar free, but I believe you could skip the brown sugar and simply use 2/3 cup honey or the same amount of agave nectar and end up with an equally delicious, dairy-free ice cream. (I wouldn’t use a one-to-one swap because of the liquid content of honey or agave.)

Chocolate POMerdoodle Ice Cream
(Click here for a print version of this recipe.)

½ cup honey
½ cup light brown sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
2 ½ cups full-fat coconut milk, chilled
½ cup POM Wonderful pomegranate juice
2 ½ to 3 tbsp Scharffen-Berger cocoa (or other good quality cocoa, amount to taste—once mixed in, of course)

Mix all together in a mixing bowl or blender. Add to ice cream maker. Churn about 20 minutes until firm. You may remove ice cream from ice cream maker and store in freezer for additional firmness, if needed.

Recipe by Shirley Braden

If you enjoy the wonderful flavor that POM Wonderful pomegranate juice adds to recipes, you’ll want to check these recipes, too:

–POMerdoodle Ice Cream (pretty pale pink—lovely for Valentine’s Day)

–POM’d Pork

–Reindeer Antlers Punch (it’s the perfect color, but perhaps rename it Cupid’s Punch for Valentine’s Day … just skip the alcohol if serving to children or teetotalers)

Don’t forget to check out all the other SSS entries this week:

–Surprise Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

–Cinnamon-Sugar Crusted Almond Popovers

–Perfect Pound Cake

–Pleasing Pecan Pie

And, if you’re looking for a momentary chocolate overload … pair a Flourless Sparkling Chocolate Cookie with a dish of this ice cream. Happy Valentine’s Day all!

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

Tags: brown sugar, chocolate, coconut, easy, gluten free, go ahead honey, pomegranate, recipe, Valentine's Day

Polynesian Sweet and Sour Sausage Stew (Gluten Free, Dairy Free)

January 28, 2010 · Filed Under GAHIGF, dairy free, gluten free, recipe · 15 Comments

I’ve been participating in the Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free! (GAHIGF) carnival since February of last year. Sweet and super creative Kelly from The Spunky Coconut hosted my “inaugural” month. GAHIGF is the clever creation of the wonderful Naomi of Straight Into Bed Cakefree and Dried. Each month it’s hosted by a different blogger who gets to choose the theme. It’s a fun event with amazing recipes. I always like to imagine all of us who participate getting together in person to sample each other’s dishes, as I did when I hosted last July with the “Make Me A Happy Camper” theme. Laura of Mouthgasmic is this month’s host. She selected “Stews from Around the World.”

I wanted to make something different than your typical beef stew or, say, my jambalaya. So I took a look in the pantry and refrigerator to see what I had on hand. (I find that doing that often makes me more creative than if I looked at a recipe and then purchased all the ingredients to make it.) Smoked sausage, coconut milk, pineapple, stir-fry “baby” corn, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms all made me think Polynesian. Hmmm. A chilly, thick pina colada also came to mind. We used to have a Polynesian restaurant in our area (before I was gluten free). Oh, it was a chain restaurant and the food was not much different than Chinese food really, but for many years, it was a very enjoyable place to eat equally enjoyable food. Plus, the service was always excellent; the décor was a bit over the top with gold statues, fountains, and such (in a way that was not tacky, but made you feel oddly special); the plush deep-set booths made for a great date setting (or fun tête a tête with a girlfriend); and their pina coladas were “to die for” (they weren’t even made in a blender; they were just shaken, but they were truly fabulous). However, I digress.

I looked online to see if my ingredients came close to those in traditional Polynesian stews. Well, the meat ingredient in several recipes I found ranged from beef, to pork, to chicken. My smoked sausage was close enough, I thought. It would provide more depth for flavor and because it was precooked, it would also allow my stew to be ready more quickly. (Quick is important when you haven’t had the foresight to pull out your slow cooker before heading to work.)

One appealing idea I saw when reviewing Polynesian recipes online was adding spinach to the stew at the end of cooking. That recipe was called Polynesian Chicken Fafa. It called for both spinach and shredded coconut. I didn’t opt for the shredded coconut in the stew (although I did use it in my pina colada!), but I did add spinach to my own plate of stew. I used fresh baby spinach leaves instead of frozen spinach as was suggested in that recipe, so it was easy to add just as much as I wanted. I was hoping for a wilted spinach effect, but as you can see from the photo, I didn’t quite achieve that. I think I let my dish cool too much before I added the spinach. Having the spinach at room temperature beforehand would have helped as well. I could have stirred the spinach into my stew, but I liked the look of it on top and really it made the stew much better. (I added even more spinach after I took the photo.)

This stew was a very good dish. I would recommend a few changes, which I’ve noted in the recipe. I added a small amount of brown rice to the mixture while it was cooking and, frankly, it was still a bit crunchy when we ate. We both agreed that serving the stew over cooked rice next time would work better. (Rice can be cooked separately at the same time you make the stew. White rice will be finished in 20 minutes; brown rice about 30 minutes.) The flavor is a classic “sweet and sour” one, which is often a little strong for us. I thought the coconut milk would lessen that effect, but it didn’t actually. Next time, I’ll most likely reduce both the vinegar and honey amounts to suit our taste buds. However, Mr. GFE had seconds and if you’re going for a classic sweet and sour taste, this recipe will serve you well.

Polynesian-Style Sweet and Sour Sausage Stew (Gluten Free, Dairy Free)
(Click here for a print version of this recipe.)

½ to 1 lb smoked sausage, sliced or diced (as desired; I sliced and then halved mine—I don’t like big chunks of meat; more sausage can be added if you wish)
1 tbsp grapeseed oil (or other oil, if needed)
½ cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic
1 cup coconut milk
1 20-ounce can pineapple tidbits, packed in its own juice (drained, with juice reserved)
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup honey (or brown sugar, or similar; I actually ended up using part honey and part dark brown sugar—both to equal 1/3 cup)
3 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp Soul Seasoning (or your favorite seasoning—even sea salt—for adding a little zing to your dishes; optional)
1 can stir fry “baby” corn, drained
1 can water chestnuts, drained
1 ½ cups sliced mushrooms (I used baby bellas)
2 handfuls of raw spinach or one 10-ounce package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

Saute sausage slices/chunks in deep dish skillet over medium-low to medium heat until slightly browned—about 5 minutes. Add onions and sauté in very small amount of sausage drippings (add oil if needed) until translucent—about 2 to 3 minutes. Add garlic cloves and cook another 30 seconds.

Add coconut milk and pineapple tidbits to sausage mixture.

Stir in vinegar and honey. Whisk cornstarch into reserved pineapple juice. Stir into stew. Mix well and add seasoning.

Bring to a boil. Stir in remaining vegetables. Reduce heat and simmer covered for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir the spinach into the skillet (or individual bowls). Stir and let steam cook spinach through before eating—about 2 minutes.

Serve over cooked white or brown rice. Add gluten-free soy sauce to taste, if needed.

Shirley’s Notes: The smoked sausage may be omitted and more vegetables (carrots, bok choy, green pepper, red pepper, more greens, etc.) may be added for a vegan version of this stew. Of course, you can use your remaining cup of coconut milk to make pina coladas. I promise to share that recipe with you soon.