Pumpkin Pickin' With Paisley

The one thing I like the most about fall is the changing of the colors, and the only good thing that I can see that comes with the cold weather is that it's soup eating season. One of my favorite fall soups is a Southwestern Pumpkin Soup, and granted I usually make it out of a can of pumpkin, although I always have good intentions of going to the pumpkin patch specifically for that reason. But then I never go. I just open up a can.
      

This year Paisley is at that perfect age to go pumpkin pickin', so her mom and I took her to the Pumpkin Patch so she could pick some pumpkins for Halloween. She liked this one...

And this one...that's a lot of soup, I'm thinking. There were so many to choose from...she finally settled on these three.

She is laughing at me because I just coughed up six bucks apiece for them and she knows that you can get them at Wallyworld for a couple of bucks each.

What's better than a pumpkin soup to take the edge off a cool fall day? Nothing that's what, unless of course it's a great fur coat and some killer boots...but that's another story. 
     I've made this soup many times over the years for Thanksgiving, mostly for Paisley's great Grandpa Joe, because he loves it the most and since he's a teensey bit of a picky eater, you know it must be good! 
     The Big Guy was out of town so my friend Cathy was the official taste tester and she gave it her three thumbs up, (she has a little deformity, but don't mention it because she's touchy about it). She was ready to hitchhike to Cleveland to get it, but since the restaurant who made it up is no longer in biz, I told her I'd post it here.

This recipe is from the (now closed) Watermark Restaurant in Cleveland, OH, so don't go there, but you can go to the "Soups-Salads-Sides" tab at the top of this page to view it.

The OOOOO Salad (as in Obsession)

Now that my tomato pie eating days are behind me I have a new food obsession. Created completely by accident but born out of necessity, my OCD now has me on a Tuna and Manchego Salad with a Lemon-Ginger Vinaigrette kick.  Oh yeah baby ~ you heard me right!

Here’s how it happened…I had this beautiful hunka-hunka Manchego cheese burnin' a hole in my refrigerator. Other than the to-die-for-Manchego-chiptole mashed potatoes that I made a week or so ago, I hadn’t really been doing anything with it, unless you count trying to cut the end of my finger off, while I sliced myself a piece for breakfast. That’s the accident part.

Ok, so that's not really my finger, but my cut was almost as bad as that. Just look at the picture below and you will see what I mean. It was taken when the cut was about 4 days old, so it looks pretty minor now, but really...it was a BIG DEAL. I bled like a stuck hog and had to cut off that big flap of skin with my bangs cutting scissors. 

Back to the salad...

So most nights when The Big Guy is out of town I just just fix myself something simple, like beef Wellington or salmon in papillote. (see the FAQ’s)  The necessity part is that I needed to use up that chunk of cheese before it turned green.

So here's what I did...drizzed some lemon-ginger olive oil over a piece of ahi tuna, then pressed some sesame seeds on to it. Doesn't everyone have lemon-ginger olive oil on hand? I thought so. It’s also the base for the vinaigrette unless you don’t have it, then you go to plan B, which is olive oil, fresh minced ginger and lemon juice. By the way, this is a great brand and there are lots of delicious oils to choose from. You should check it out, even though I get no kickback whatsoever.

 
Stay with me.  Sear the sesame coated tuna while you are grating the Manchego or opening the wine, then set it aside to rest a bit before slicing it. Meanwhile, put the salad together.

     Here's where the fireworks come in. From the salty kalamata olives, briny capers, and nutty-ness of the browned sesame seeds, to the buttery-earthy Manchego, and the meaty seared tuna, to the tart lemon and the bite of ginger, this salad is simple, but loaded with flavor.  Seriously...your mouth will be screaming OOOOO and your tongue will be begging for more.  
  

 

Go to the “Soups-Salads-Sides” tab at the top of this page to see how it all comes together.  

Cold Turkey On Tomato Pie

It is a sad day for me. For breakfast I polished off the last piece of tomato pie which is likely to be the last tomato pie of my tomato pie eating season. You see, from mid summer until right about now I’m pretty much obsessed with tomato pie. I eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
     You can ask The Daughters…they call me up and say, “what are you doing, Mom?” and I say, “eating tomato pie.”

It’s no secret that I am not a baker and that I hate to make dough, mostly because I suck at it, so at first I was a little intimidated by the thought of making a pie crust. When I read the recipe and saw that there were two sticks of butter in it, with my name written all over them, I had no choice but to face my fears and fire up the ole' Cuisinart. I dumped the ingredients in the machine, closed my eyes, prayed to the pastry gods, pushed the button and counted to ten. What resulted was a blob of dough that yielded enough buttery goodness for two crusts. Turns out I can make pie crusts! Not only that, but I can make crusts that are so flaky and buttery and light that you won’t even notice them sneaking up on your butt. 
.

I start making the tomato pies in mid summer, when tomatoes are at their peak and believe me when I tell you that you have to use real garden tomatoes, not the store bought ones that have no taste. By the beginning of fall I’m pretty well strung out on pie and could even be considered a tomato pie junkie. Come October I’m prepared to mainline if necessary and I’m getting all nervous and twitchy because I know that my dealer is closing the Farmers Market door in my face and there is not a damn thing I can do about it. I come off that tomato pie high and have hallucinations about knocking off a Hutterite with a pressure cooker, just to get one more fix before she turns fresh into stewed tomatoes.

The Farmers Market closed about a week ago and now I have one..only one garden tomato and three store bought ones left. Can you spot the difference above? That’s just not an adequate ratio to fake a real tomato pie, so as of today I am officially going cold turkey. 
     Yes indeed it is a sad day for me, so if anyone knows of a Tomato Pie Over-Eaters Anonymous Support Group, call me ASAP...I feel the shakes comin' on. 

  

My sister gave me this recipe about 8 years ago and for that she has a solid place in my will. I make it about 10 times during the tomato season, yielding 20 pies, which is almost enough to get my fix on. Go to the "Misc. Recipes" tab at the top of this page to view it.