Portland Foodie

Pumpkin and Butternut Squash Shepards Pie

Earlier in the week, or maybe at the end of last week (my days tend to blend together) I made a pumpkin and butternut squash shepards pie. Now, I thought of this as sort of an every day thing, but when I mentioned it on Twitter, people were astounded! "What? You used a pumpkin for shepards pie?", "You combined a pumpkin with butternut squash?" "You cooked for your family?" (For more hilarity, be sure to check out Good Enough Gardening Podcast, Hoards of Gourds episode).

The answer to all of the above is "Yes!". There are two key things at play here. The first is that shepards pie is really more of a method than a specific dish. There are a hundred variations, making it a great way to use up leftovers. The second is that pumpkin can actually be eaten like sweet potatoes. In fact, pumpkin tastes very similar to sweet potatoes...and to butternut squash, which is why many pumpkin pies are actually made with butternut squash. I happened to have a small sugar pumpkin and a good sized butternut squash, so I combined the two and made a great topping for my pie.

Here's how it all went down:

1 pie-sized pumpkin

1 butternut squash

6 oz broccoli, cut into florets

6 oz carrots, chopped

olive oil

salt and pepper

1 lb ground turkey

1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 medium yellow onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp dried thyme

1 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp flour

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place broccoli and carrots on sheet pans. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast until browned and tender, 30 minutes or so. Remove and set aside.

At the same time, grab the small pumpkin and butternut squash. Cut in half, remove seeds, place on a baking sheet. Drizzle the cut sides with olive oil, salt and pepper. Turn cut side down and roast until tender...anywhere from 30-45 minutes, dependent upon the size. When finished, set aside to cool. Once cooled, remove the outer skins and place the orange flesh into a bowl. Mix together and set aside.

Add olive oil to a pan over medium heat. Saute turkey, pepper, onion, and garlic together. Add paprika, thyme, salt and pepper and cook until turkey is browned. Push mixture to the outer edges of pan. Add one tablespoon of butter and one tablespoon of flower to the center. Let combination melt and cook for approximately one minute. Whisk in chicken stock, add roasted broccoli and carrots, stir to combine. Bring to a simmer.

Take the squash and pumpkin mixture and layer over the top of the filling. Use a spatula to smooth. Place in a 400 degree oven for 20-30 minutes until top starts to brown and firm.

Without a doubt, this is one of my favorite winter meals...and it is super easy! I would love to hear from you, if you give it a try...

photo by D3 San Francisco

Grilled Nopales Salsa

A few days ago, my friend Maryellen (aka @yogacowgirls) asked me to make a salsa from the Prickly Pear Cacti that she grows. In addition to hosting the Association of Professional Landscape Design folks on their tour of Portland gardens, she is also having a plant sale for the Hardy Plant Society of Portland. We decided she did not have near enough leaves for these tribes...so we supplemented by ordering three pounds.

Now, nopales are the round, succulent leaves of the prickly pear. And, as you might suspect, are quite prickly...

 

And thankfully, the pads I received were already stripped of most of their needles. (Note that I say most of their needles...I recommend plastic gloves because there are always a few left and they are really annoying).

Before you use these plump little fellows, the little nubs (previously held the spines) have to be removed and the leaf trimmed. I grabbed my trusty Santuko knife and my favorite veggie peeler and went to hacking. Here's what I learned: believe it or not, these leaves are not that sturdy. So handling them requires a gentle touch.

Take the leaf and lightly scrape the knobs to remove. Use a knife to trim the outer edges, then keep the leaf in tact and slice into segments like this:

 

Add a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper and you are ready for step two...grilling. The Nopales have a bit of a slime factor (like okra), so grilling is an important step for this recipe. Cook over a medium hot grill for about 15 minutes until browned and reduced in volume. Since I already had the grill out, I cleaned and grilled a pineapple or two, as well as ears of corn. I just find that the grill really concentrates the flavor.

Once grilled, (don't be alarmed because they are pretty damn ugly looking at this point) chop into salsa size pieces. I have to say, I was really worried, thinking there was no way I was eating this stuff. But really, they are absolutely delicious! To me, they have a flavor similar to tomatillos. Tart, zingy, fresh, verdant....an excellent component for a summer meal. 

I made a huge batch of salsa, so I am going to approximate the proportions for something a bit smaller. For a small batch, I would say 1 pineapple to 1 to 1.5 lbs of Nopales is a good start. But hey, it's salsa, not brain surgery...so don't worry too much about it.

You will need:

1 pineapple, cleaned, quartered, grilled, chopped

1.5 lbs Nopales, cleaned, quartered, grilled, chopped

2 fresh ears of corn, grilled, removed from cobb

1 red onion, chopped

4-6 really tasty tomatoes

2 bell peppers (yellow, red or orange), chopped

1 jalapeno, chopped

4 limes

1 bunch of fresh basil, chopped

olive oil

sea salt and pepper

dried Chipotle pepper flakes

In a fridge friendly container, zest and squeeze the juice of three limes, add a healthy dose of sea salt and pepper, then whisk in enough olive oil to create a nice marinade. Add Nopales and pineapple, let stand for 2-3 hours or overnight.

Prepare the tomatoes by cutting in half and removing the "guts", chop and add to a big bowl. Add onion, bell peppers, corn, and jalapeno.  Add a generous amount of sea salt and black pepper. Add Chipotle pepper flakes to taste. Zest and add one lime.

Grab Nopales mixture from the fridge. Using a slotted spoon, add contents to the salsa. Stir to combine. Add fresh basil, stir to combine. Let the flavors develop by refrigerating for a couple of hours or so. Serve with chips or as an accompaniment to fish, chicken or pork.

Yes this salsa is a bit more work than you might want to do every evening, but man, it is fantastic! The balance of the tart Nopales and the tart and sweet of the pineapple is so yummy...but the depth of flavor brought by the grilling and Chipotle peppers.

I hope you will give this dish a try and let me know how it worked out for you!

**For more information on Nopales, including where to buy, check out:

Gourmet Sleuth: Nopales

Dried and Smoked Peppers

I recently harvested my first, and only, crop of hot peppers (for more on my crop, check out the post at Gardener to Farmer). As you can see, quite a few of them ripened at the same time. I thought about a couple of storage options, like freezing, or canning, but I settled on drying...and while I could have dried them in the oven, I decided to smoke them over indirect heat on my Kettle Grill.

I put it on a low, indirect heat...wasn't over 250 at its hottest. Then, I had to replenish it once. All in all, the peppers were on there for maybe three hours. It is important to keep the vent relatively closed in order to control temperature and capture the smoke.

And when I was finished, I had some gorgeous peppers...smokey, yummy and preserved for future use. I think I will grind some of them and use it in recipes...others I might save an reconstitute this winter, or add a couple of whole peppers to a chili recipe.

Have you smoked any of your garden harvests this year? Let me know how it worked...