Pumpkin and Peanut Butter Soup

For our Brokers Open at 3772 Powder Horn Dr in Buckingham Forest, Furlong Pa. I made this soup (idea from The New Basics Cookbook, one of my favorite.)





You can use pumpkin, butternut or acorn squash.


The easiest is canned pumpkin.


4tablespoons of butter


4 cups canned pumpkin


2 cups cooked pureed sweet potatoes


1 cup smooth peanut Butter


6 Cups of chicken stock


1 teaspoon black pepper


1 teaspoon salt


heavy cream for garnish (if you use plastic bottles like in the picture, you can make some nice designs)


hot sauce for garnish (sriracha Huy Fong Brand)


fresh chopped parsley for garnish





Melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the pumpkin, sweet potatoes and peanut butter


add the stock, salt and pepper and stir well until smooth, heat to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.


When you are ready to serve, add in each bowl a squirt of heavy cream, 3o4 drops of hot sauce


and a bit of chopped parsley leaves.





Serves 8 (can be doubled)



Note: One can of Pumpkin is about 3 cups and one large can of sweet potatoes is also about 3 cups. That is what I used and it came out great.

Baked Winter Sqaush Soup:

2 acorn squash
2 buttenut squash
8 tablespoons of butter8teaspoons of brown sugar
3 carrots peeled and halved
1 large onion quartered
10 cups of chicken broth
3/4 teaspoon of nutmeg (or mace)
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3 splashes of hot stuff
salt
heavy cream



Preheat oven to 350F
Cut the squash in half. With cavities facing up put a tablespoon of butter in each cavity, then 1 teaspoon of the brown sugar . Arrange the carrots and the onions in the pan arround the squash.
pour 2 cups of the broth and cover tightly, place in the oven for 2 hours.

Remove pan from oven allow to cool a bit so you can handle the veggies. Scoop with a spoon the flesh of the vegetables and put them in a pot. Add the carrots, the onionosn and the cooking liquid plus the 8 remaining cups of broth. Add the mace the ginger hot stuff and salt. boil simmering for about 10 minutes.


Let cool a bit and puree all in the blender. reheat serve hot and add the cream in the soup bowl when you are serving.

Cranberry Apricot Relish

4 Cups cranberries
2 cups chopped dried apricots
1 cup raisins (1/2 black 1/2 white)
1 Tablespoon of grated orange peel
1/4 teaspon of ginger powder
1 cup sugar
2 cups water
1/2 cup French Brandy

Put all ingredientes except sugsr into a large pot. Bring to a boil over high heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until the berries pop open. Remove from heat. Add sugar and stir until dissolved.
Cool. Can be frozen.

People will ask you for this recipe. Either send them here for a copy or have a copy ready in a 3x5 card, you will need it!! Its that good.

Summer Rice Salad

I first ate this salad at Sally Kabinoff's Fourth of July Swim party seven thousand years ago. To give credit where credit is due it originated from Ilene Berman's kitchen. I adopted it as mine, modified some ingredients and I now call it Henri's Summer Rice salad. Why Not.

Two things make this one a winner. You have to use "Success" Rice.
The one that comes in the boil a bag. You Have to use the right proportion of vinaigrette dressing. I said two but it is three, you have to use fresh dill and fresh parsley.

Vinaigrette Dressing

1/2 Cup red wine vinegar
2 Tbs Dijon Mustard
1 Tsp Salt
1 Cup olive oil
1/2 Tsp Pepper
2 Tbs Sugar

Mix and set aside.

The veggies: Plus or minus whatever you like! It has to be colorful.
8 Cups of Cooked and Cold Rice ( That Would be 4 Success Bags)

Chop into very small dice

1 Green Pepper
1 Red Pepper
1 Orange Pepper or Yellow or Both
1 Red Onion
1 Bunch of Green Onions
1 cup of Currants or chopped raisins
1/2 Cup of Dried apricots or white raisins
1/2 Cup of Dried Cherries or Cranberries
Note that I say one or the other, not both. If you want to use both reduce to 1/4 cups.
It really does not matter what you put in it as long as you whatch the proportions
(yellow or green squash, cucumber, celery, etc)

10 oz of frozen Pettit Pois (little peas) a must
1/2 cup of Fresh Parsley chopped
1/4 cup of Fresh dill chopped.

Add all the chopped vegetables to the rice, only after rice is cold, then add the vinaigrette and toss.


You will be asked for this recipe over and over again. Guaranteed!!

You can send them here.

Italian Ricotta Cheese Cake

Every Time Hank Farrentino came to visit he would bring this fabulous cheesecake.Finally I got the recipe from him.
12 oz Ricotta
3 eight oz packages of cream cheese
1 and 1/2 Pts (24 oz.) Sour Cream
9 Tablespoons of flour
1 1/2 Tablespoons of Vanilla
1 2/3 cups of Sugar
9 eggs

Mix Ricotta cream cheese and sugar till well blended. Add eggs one at the time, blend well after each egg. Add sour cream, flour and vanilla making sure that each ingredient is well incorporated. Pour into a ten inch well greased spring form pan.

Bake at 350 degrees, in a pan of water (1-2 inches of water for 90 to 100 minutes.
Cake will rise above lip of spring pan and top will brown. . A good indication that it is done(If the top is not too brown don't wory and go to next step). Turn oven off and allow to cool in the oven for two hours. Cool cake using a cooling rack further till room temperature before refrigerating.


You will need a large mixing bowl, probably 5 quarts or better. Wrapping the outside of the spring form pan with aluminum foil will minimize leakage. Hank puts the spring pan into the larger pan and then pour the batter into it, then he adds the water.

Spanish tortilla 10.000 miles away from Spain

Spanish tortilla 10.000 miles away from Spain

Since you want it nice and easy…



TORTILLA A LA ESPAÑOLA ( by Luisito)



2 lbs French fries (if possible done from peeled raw potatoes cut in two and thinly sliced)

2 lbs. Fried onion up to a brownish colour

Cheddar cheese grated or sliced

1 Dried Spanish sausage (salamín) slice thin

12 eggs

¼ cup olive oil



Heat half of the oil in a good heavy Teflon coated frying pan.

Place half of the French fries on the bottom

Add half of the fried onion on top of the French fries.

Enough slice or grated Cheddar cheese to make another layer

Same with the Spanish sausage

The rest of the fried onion making another layer

The French fries as final layer



Very carefully move the frying pan so as to heat the oil evenly

Pour the beaten eggs.

Keep the frying pan on the move over low heat so as to cook evenly and slowly

Be sure the “tortilla” moves independently from the pan so it won´t stick when ready to turn.

When the egg is creamy on the top (and solid on the bottom), flip over a serving dish.

Heat the rest of the oil in the same frying pan.

Return the overturn tortilla by sliding it.

Couple of minutes moving the pan around and it is ready to serve.

It should be golden yellow on both sides and slightly creamy in the middle.



Great with a good Cabernet Sauvignon, but if you can find a Uruguayan Tannat “with some time in an oak barrel” you will achieve perfection.

Buen Apetito!

Luis

French Bistro Dinner Party for Six Friends

Menu

1. Onion Pies with Blue Cheese (Roquefort), Prosciutto (Jambon de Bayonne) and Walnuts as appetizer
2. Bouillabaisse Provencal with a Spicy Rouille Sauce for the Soup course
3. Beef En Daube with Polenta a Bordeaux Sauce and Caramelized Shallots. Main Course
4. Eggplant Souflee . Side Dish
5. Chocolate Raspberry Napoleons. Dessert

Plenty of French wines. cheese, pate and your party gets going.

Cote is a great place to stop by for the pate and the cheeses . If you cannot find it at Cote

you can try Wegmans or mail order from D'Artagnan

1.

RECIPE INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons of Olive Oil
2 vidalia onions very thinly sliced with mandoline
1/4 cup water
4 oz Blue cheeese crumbled into small pieces
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
1 Tbl melted butter
2Boxes (3 sheets) puff pastry . Save the third sheet for the Napoleons (store it in Refrigerator until ready for use. They have to truly thaw for them to work best.
1 egg
4 slices of jambon

Place a baking sheet in a freezer.
Warm the olive oil in a sute pan.
Saute onions until golden brown, about 10 minutes.
Add the water and continue to saute until all the moisture evaporates, about another 5 minutes. Add the Blue cheese and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until melted, about 5 minutes longer.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Stir in the walnuts, then spread the mixture out onto the chilled sheet pan. Place in the freezer until the onions cool down completely, about 10 minutes.

Preheat an oven to 450 degrees. Brush a baking sheet evenly with the melted butter.
Cut 12 rounds from pastry sheets about 5 in in diameter. You can use the edges of a Tupper or a lid that is approximate 5 in wide.
Place 6 of the rounds on the prepared baking sheet.
Brush their outer rims and tops with the beaten egg.
Spread evenly the cooled onion mixture onto the middle of each of the 6 rounds, leaving 1 inch uncovered around the edges. Place 1 jambon slice on top of each mound of the onion mixture. Cover each round with a second pastry round, making sure to pinch down firmly around the edges to seal in the filling. Brush the top of each pie with more of the beaten egg.
Pierce the top of eachpie making one slit
Bake for 20 minutes
Idea taken form a Weldon Owen Book
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