A Fall Side

 Fall is here, and with the change in the seasons comes a desire for a hearty side dish to go with some cooler temperatures. Amy Traverso, who's the Senior Food Editor at Yankee Magazine, stopped by Tonia's Kitchen with a great idea for sugar pumpkins. Amy told Tonia she uses them in her recipe for Walnut Rosemary Glazed Pumpkin Wedges, which really makes for a nice side dish for your upcoming Thanksgiving feast, or other big holiday meal

Yield:

4-6 servings

Ingredients

1 medium sugar pumpkin (also known as pie pumpkin)
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1¼ teaspoons kosher salt, divided
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar
¼ cup walnut pieces
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves, chopped

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 400°F and set a rack to the middle position. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Slice off the top ¼ inch of the pumpkin to remove its stem. Cut in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Cut each half crosswise into wedges about 1½ inches wide at their widest point.

In a large bowl, toss the pumpkin slices with the olive oil, maple syrup, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Arrange the wedges, skin side down, on the prepared baking sheet and transfer to the oven to cook for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, in a food processor, pulse the brown sugar, walnuts, rosemary, and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt until the mixture looks like wet sand with small pieces of walnuts.

Remove the pumpkin from the oven and sprinkle evenly with the brown sugar mixture. Return to the oven and roast until the slices are golden brown and the walnuts are toasted, 10 to 12 minutes more.

Pumpkin Spice-Chili Edition

 

It's a real chili for the fall. And the reason it's great for the fall is because it's more a stew with some classic chili toppings, and also pumpkin. Amy Traverso, who's the Senior Food Editor for Yankee Magazine, stopped by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about her Harvest Chili recipe, which she says is made with pumpkin puree and Kabocha Squash. Amy says that last ingredient is pumpkin like but has the texture of a sweet potato. The skin on the squash is very tender so you don't need to chop it.

Yield:

About 6 servings

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 teaspoon chili powder
¾ teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 cup pumpkin puree
1½ pounds kabocha squash, seeded (unpeeled) and cut into 1-inch chunks
2 (15-ounce) cans white beans, such as northern or cannellini, with liquid
3½ cups chicken or vegetable broth
Avocado slices, cilantro, and sour cream, for garnish

Instructions

Warm the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat, then add the carrots, celery, onion, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until the onions are translucent, about 6 minutes. Reduce heat to medium. Add the garlic, red pepper, chili powder, cumin, and oregano and cook, stirring often, for 5 more minutes. Add the pumpkin puree and kabocha squash and stir to coat. Cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes. Add the beans and broth, bring to a low boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, stir, and simmer until the squash is tender, about 30 minutes more. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Serve hot and garnish with avocado, cilantro, and sour cream.

Eggplant Parmesan That's Good For You!

In fact, it's so good for you, it's part of the The Power Five. That's not a basketball conference, that's a new cookbook by Dr. Michael Crupain. He stopped by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about the cookbook and some of the recipes in there. The Eggplant Parmesan the good doctor prescribes calls for roasted, instead of fried eggplant and different kinds of aged cheese where can actually use less and get more. Dr. Crupain calls it "stealthly healthy" as a nutritious dish that's delicious as well. It's one of many recipes in the book that you can feel good about!

Exquisite Escarole

   

Talk about an Italian Delight! Michele Scicolone, who wrote the Italian Vegetable Cookbook stopped by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about her recipe for sautéed Escarole. Michele says her recipe is a delicious way to excel at Escarole and very easy to make as well. She notes you can serve it as a lunch with poached eggs, or whatever you wish, as it goes well with a number of items. See the recipe below in the dialog box.

Soup For the Fall Season

  

With the chilly days of fall finally here, soup season is in full swing. But Tonia's Kitchen wants to take you beyond the norms of the fall classics (chicken and tomato) and tell you about a soup that really sings. Samantha Ferraro, who wrote the cookbook, The Weeknight Mediterranean Kitchen, told Tonia about a delicious recipe for Cumin-scented squash and lentil soup. She says it's a creamy, delicious, nearly-luxurious soup for those fall nights, that really gives off a unique flavor. She starts by roasting the squash, then adding red lentils and a variety of spices.  Top it off with some crisy chickpeas, or, for a really exotic flavor...harisa sauce. That's a red pepper sauce that's very thick. Samantha says there's a recipe for that as well, which follow below

• 2 large red bell peppers
• 3 fresno peppers (serrano peppers may be substituted)
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon olive oil, plus more as needed
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• salt, as needed
• Preheat oven to broil or 550 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil. Place the bell peppers on the baking sheet. Wrap the garlic cloves in a small piece of foil and place on the baking sheet with the peppers. This will ensure that the garlic doesn't burn to quickly. 
  2

  Broil the peppers and garlic until the entire pepper is softened and you can see black char, about 10 to 12 minutes. Once done, remove the peppers from the oven and cover with another piece of foil and allow to cool enough to handle. This also helps make the outer charreed skin easier to remove. 

  3

  Once cool enough to touch, remove the skin, seeds and stems from the peppers and place the flesh in a food processor along with the roasted garlic cloves. 

  4

  Add the tomato paste, cumin, paprika, oil and lemon juice and zest to the food processor and pulse until there is a smooth yet coarse consistency. Taste for seasoning and add salt as needed. 

  5

  Pour the harissa into an airtight container and keep in the fridge for up to 4 days.

For the soup

• acorn squash
• ground cumin
• red lentils
• red onions
• paprika
• thyme
• turmeric
• vegetable stock
• Fresno chiles
• cooked chickpeas