Pumpkin and Coconut ‘Samosas’…WTSIM #20


I’m going to use the term Samosa here figuratively. But Samosas are what inspired me to make this for my first ever entry into Waiter There Is Something In My… The theme is Gourds.

Let me give you a little background into my entering…

Jeanne over at Cook Sister, is this months host and event founder, and I have had the immense pleasure of meeting both here and her husband while they are in Chicago. Certain Someone and I invited them over for the famous Harold’s fried Chicken. I was quite impressed as they finished of their entire orders!Lets just say she’s eating her way through Chicago.Later in the week I met up with her for a quick lunch at Macy’s( formerly the historic Marshall Fields) for a quick lunch at Rick Bayless’ Frontera Express. While ordering we noticed Marcus Samuelsson has a upscale burger stand next to Frontera. It seems every foreigner I mention Marcus to is not really that familiar. He seems to be more famous here! Go figure. Anyway while chomping and talking away , guess who walks by! Marcus. I could have swooned. Jeanne saw him go behind the counter so it was him for sure.What a treat. I really enjoyed meeting Jeanne and was amazed at what we had in common. She is a treasure. Excuse the photo but I look like porker. It was the Harold’s.
So with Certain Someone gone this week, and a little unexpected lull from a hectic work week, I concocted this savory , somewhat spicy pumpkin “samosa”. I know samosas are traditionally triangular and fried , but I decided to use convenient puff pastry. Rather than potatoes, I used pumpkin as my gourd cooked down with curry, coconut milk, red lentils, and spinach.After I came up with the idea, I did a quick google search and saw some recipes along the same idea. Also I remember seeing this combo and found it intriguing.The filling I made was abundant and I have a lot leftover as only a few teaspoons are needed. I imagine I can eat it up with rice as leftovers.Or serve alongside some chicken later on. It will not go to waste. So without much ado…

Pumpkin and Coconut Samosas

1 sheet frozen puff pastry makes 6 or 2 sheets makes 12
4 cups peeled /cubed pumpkin or 1/2 a small one
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon mustard seed
1 teaspoon curry( add more if that is your taste)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 whole chopped onion
Sea salt * I have a special French sea salt blend with curry , mint, cumin, and chilies added so I adjusted based on this.
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup red lentils
1 cup fresh spinach
1 can coconut milk

Take frozen puff pastry out to thaw. While thawing cook your filling .In a large skillet heat vegetable oil.On medium heat, add mustard seeds and cook until they pop. Add onion and brown stirring occasionally. Add pumpkin, and all dry spices except sugar. Cook until pumpkin and onion start to get tender and slightly caramelize. Stir occasionally. Add coconut milk and sugar. Turn down heat and let mixture simmer. Toss in spinach after 10 minutes. The pumpkin should be tender. Cook until spinach wilts.Take a immersion blender and slightly break up the pumpkin to a mashed consistency leaving some chunks and spinach leaves intact. Throw in the lentils and let simmer another 10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Unroll the puff pastry and cut 1 sheet into 6 even squares. Fill each square with a bit of filling and seal edges. Bake for 10 -15 minutes or until golden.

Do You Love Oysters? I Do.


With life getting so busy I forgot to tell you all about this great contest over at Marx Foods.There are still 5 days to enter and its really easy. Check it out! And if you enter please tell them I sent you in your comment entry!

Win Four Dozen Fresh Oysters

What would you do with 4 dozen free oysters?
The best answer wins 48 fresh Puget Sound oysters!
Contest Dates: October 2 – 19
If we were to send you 4 Dozen fresh Puget Sound Oysters, what would you do with them?
TWO WAYS TO WIN:1. Leave your answer in the comment section below. Be delicious (see comment #19), funny (#13), sensual (#43), poetic (#46), or tug on our heart strings (#39).2. Refer the most contestants to this contest. Pass this on to family and friends or via your blog. Make sure to tell them to leave your name in the “referred by” field. The person who makes the most referrals will also win a fresh oyster sampler.
THE PRIZE:Four Dozen Fresh Puget Sound Oysters and a set of Biodegradable Plates. The oyster sampler will include one dozen each of Pacific Oysters, Kumamoto Oysters, Virginica Oysters, and Olympia Oysters.
HOW WILL THE WINNER BE CHOSEN?Our readers will vote on the finalists! The polls will be open October 21 – 24 @ noon PST, and a winner will be announced on Monday, October 27.
Read the contest rules

Bear With Me My Friends…Working on My Pie Competition

I haven’t posted since last week. Work and personal life is crazy right now. By the time I usually get ready to blog I’m to tired. Not to mention keeping up with all of you. This week I have a Grand Opening at work, will be casually entertaining a fellow blogger on Sunday, working on some house stuff, seeing Certain Someone off to yet another business trip, and submitting two apple pies to the Buck Town Apple Pie Contest next Sunday. I’ve spent this morning on a practice pie. Cant tell you my secrets yet, but its looking good. I’m incorporating some unusual spices and techniques.Its amazing what I have learned in year from all of you and the Daring Bakers. So wish me luck folks, and I will try to visit you this week if time permits.

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I’m So Perfect I Even Make My Own Chevre Cheese…I’m Joking About The Perfect Part.

My interest in making my own cheese was not motivated by anything more than pure curiosity. I love DIY stuff. In England I had purchased some rennet in the baking aisle that was supposed to be used for a dessert called Junket. In exploring that I found this brand wasn’t suitable to take it further and make cheese because it was diluted. So I searched the net and found this company that had all sorts of cheese making supplies and kits.

I was just going to order some strains, butter muslin, and rennent , and figure it out. The salesperson at the other end though I was one of many Martha Stewart watchers( seemed she just made some cheese) and advised me there was to more to cheese making than adding milk and rennet. So I purchased his easiest kit for soft cheese. This kit provided the strains to make Fromage Blanc, Chevre, Mascarpone, Creme Fraiche, and Neufchatel along with other necessary ingredients.
I just needed to supply either goats or cows milk and a few kitchen supplies.
It was really simple from this point. Heat the goats milk to 86 degrees,add Chevre culture, mix 1 teaspoon of Calcium Chloride with 2 tabelspoons Distilled water and put in the milk, cover overnight in a cast iron pot. Next morning separate the whey from the curds gently.
Tie up in the butter muslin and let drian for 6-8 hours( all done while I was at work).
Look at these beautiful curds!
Next add some flaked salt .
Put in the cheese molds that came with the kit.Let those set for 1-2 days and drain some more.
I was left with a cup of ready to eat cheese that I used up like this for Certain Someone and myself.
Baked Chevre with tomato sauce, olive oil, and basil. Delicious!
The next day I untapped my molds. I rolled one in herbs( provided in the kit) and the other set aside plain.
I cant tell you how excited I am. The finished product was excellent. Check it out for yourself.

The Surreal Life and a Boiled Cider Pie

About around 9:00 Saturday night I was thinking about how surreal my life was. I was standing under a Big Top style tent working as the hired help for a billionaires birthday bash down by the river next to a power plant. And a week before I was at a posh wedding in England. Talk about the tables turning.I swear about a quarter of the nations wealth was under that tent Saturday night. Not to heavy league politicians and the CEO of my company. She saw me and I was busted. But she smiled and said she doesn’t blame me moonlighting for such a event. The bash is the private party of the year. I was working for the caterer on the ‘front of house side’. But the kitchen was the exciting part me me. In addition to the caterer there were about five of Chicago’s top restaurants teams sharing pace with each other to crank out various buffets. Back there I met Gale Gand! And how nice and approachable she was.!I was buzzing with excitement , but some of my co workers though I was talking about Oprah’s best buddy Gail. Not!If you don’t know who Gale is check out this and this. Most of the staff were excited about the Eagles performing that night. Not me, I was with the cream de la creme of the Chicago culinary scene. I still can’t get Hotel California (kind of ironic if you read this and think about the lyrics)out of my head this Monday. In addition to Gale Gand , I met the owner of the hottest cupcake shop in Chi town. More Cupcakes on the Gold Coast. Little bite size miniatures of perfection. They encouraged us to try some towards the parties end. I was hesitant to try her BLT one, but it was awesome. I said it was like a muffin with a savoury cream cheese butter cream. She corrected me and said it wasn’t a muffin but a cupcake. Anyway the cupcake was good, and I think most of this cupcake business is overrated. I need to visit that store.

I worked and walked my ass that evening and collapsed into bed.Why do I do this! For the experience and the extra income. I have learned so much and maybe one day I will have may own catering company. Certain Someone was at the Notre Dame /Michigan game all day with his boys and doing what comes with that( tailgating, drinking, etc.). I came in about an hour after him. We slept so late from the sheer exhaustion of of our respective days, previous travels, etc. Then Sunday afternoon he flew to Brussels for work and I was left alone. I have been working on a Etsy shop which I will announce in a few weeks. But I was to tired to produce. So I made a comforting dinner. One item I have been meaning to bake was something I never heard off. A boiled cider pie. I had purchased some boiled cider for an upcoming pie competition. Imagine a custard style pie with the tartness of cider. My pie didn’t look like the photos I saw. What I saw had the custard separating from the cider stuff. Mine remained a cider colored custard. I wonder if this was due to me using maple syrup ? Anyway it was delicious. I made my crust using the Atora I brought back from the UK. Atora isn’t the healthiest, but it makes the flakiest crusts. I mean its not as if I’m baking pies all the time!For the boiled cider recipe check out this recipe. To see what I thought mine would look like, check out this post ( they used a different recipe, but the principle is the same). This pie was the texture and color of a creamy pumpkin pie. I definitely see me making this again. The only thing I changed was adding grated nutmeg. After today’s news I need a comforting slice. My 401 K is vanishing into thin air and my real day job is in the retail sector dependant on consumer spending. I wonder how a those guests on Saturday made out today as the markets plunged? Its all so surreal.
A quick note based on comments:
Boiled cider is a reduced no sugar added cider product. You can make it your self by reducing cider for a very long time, or buy it. See the recipe link for a leading manufacturer. I got mine through King Arthur’s. I have read you can substitute frozen apple juice concentrate as well. It is not alcoholic. Just pure non fermented cider.