Butternut squash makes the best “pumpkin” pie in my opinion and the link to the pie-crust below is hands-down the best pie crust I have ever made—a winning combination thus!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Radicchio, Beet, Walnut and Blue Cheese Salad
Marinated Lentils with Roasted Beets Walnuts and Orange Vinaigrette
Dijon-Braised Brussels Sprouts
Celeriac Remoulade
Winter Squash Coconut Milk Curry
Roasted Squash and Onions with Lemony Tahini Sauce
“Pumpkin” Pie (with Butternut Squash)
Radicchio, Beet, Walnut and Blue Cheese Salad
This is a beautiful, substantial salad. The sweetness of the beets is lovely with the bite of the radicchio.
2 large or 3 medium beets, baked until tender, peeled and cut into ¾-inch dice
about 4 cups radicchio cut into ¾-inch ribbons (well washed and dried)
1/3 cup (or more) walnuts, toasted about 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees, and crumbled or roughly chopped
1 shallot, very thinly sliced (or diced) and macerated in 2 tablespoons of red wine or sherry vinegar for 10 minutes (or more)
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese (Stilton, Roquefort, etc.)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Olive oil
Drain the shallots and reserve the vinegar. Mix the radicchio, shallots and walnuts in a salad bowl. Add salt, pepper and olive oil and toss well. Add the blue cheese and toss again. Add some of the reserved vinegar, to taste. Finally gently stir in the beets. Taste and adjust seasoning and serve immediately.
Marinated Lentils with Roasted Beets Walnuts and Orange Vinaigrette
–inspired by Bean by Bean by Crescent Dragonwagon
4 medium beets, roasted cooled and sliced into ¼-inch rounds (roast at 375 – 400 tightly covered with a splash of water until tender)
2 cups French green lentils (or other smaller variety that holds its shape well)
2 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
2 quarts veg or chicken stock or water
½ a small red onion, very thinly sliced
1 recipe orange vinaigrette (see below)
½ cup toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped
Combine lentils, garlic, cinnamon stick, and stock or water and bring to a simmer and cook for 30- 40 minutes until tender but still holding their shape. Drain the lentils (reserving liquid for a soup if you want) and discard bay, cinnamon stick and garlic cloves. Put lentils in a bowl and cool to room temp.
Toss lentils with red onion and about two thirds of the dressing. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Toss beat slices with remainder of vinaigrette.
Serve beets on lentils and topped with the toasted walnuts.
Orange Vinaigrette
Juice and grated zest of 1 orange
1/3 cup good olive oil
2 tablespoons red vinegar
1 clove garlic minced or mashed
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon honey or maple syrup
Combine all ingredients in a small jar with a lid and shake well. Keeps well for a week or a bit more.
Dijon-Braised Brussels Sprouts
–adapted from smittenkitchen.com
This is worthy of the Thanksgiving table and I would happily eat it and a few other sides and skip the turkey. This dish is complex and lovely.
Serves 4 as a side dish
1 pound Brussels sprouts
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup vegetable broth (I use homemade veggie bouillon, recipe below)
2 to 3 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced (or the equivalent amount of regular onion)
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 scant tablespoon smooth Dijon mustard (or more to taste)
Trim sprouts and halve lengthwise. In a large, heavy 12-inch skillet heat butter and oil over moderate heat. Arrange halved sprouts in skillet, cut sides down, in one layer. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, to taste. Cook sprouts, without turning until undersides are golden brown, about 5 minutes. (If your sprouts don’t fit in one layer, brown them in batches, then add them all back to the pan, spreading them as flat as possible, before continuing with the shallots, wine, etc.)
Add the shallots, wine and stock and bring to a simmer. Once simmering, reduce the heat to medium-low (for a gentle simmer), cover the pot and cook the sprouts until they are tender can be pierced easily with the tip of a paring knife, about 15 minutes.
Remove the lid, and scoop out Brussels sprouts. Add cream and simmer for three or so minutes until slightly thickened. Whisk in mustard. Taste for seasoning, and adjust as necessary with more salt, pepper or Dijon. Return Brussels sprouts to the pan and if sauce is a little thin, simmer for another minute or two and then serve hot.
Celeriac Remoulade
A classic Celery Root Remoulade exclusively uses mayonnaise in the dressing, which is good but I suggest a combination of Greek yogurt and mayonnaise for a slightly tangier and fresher flavor here but by all means use just mayonnaise if that’s what you have.
And again, quantities are approximations so adjust depending on the number of people you’re feeding, etc.
Scant 2 lbs. celeriac, peeled
¼ cup good mayonnaise
¼ cup whole milk Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons whole grain mustard
2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard
A little white wine or cider vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper
You can either grate the celeriac in a food processor or if you can, use a sharp knife or a mandolin to cut it into matchsticks. Toss the grated or cut celeriac with 1 teaspoon sea salt most of the lemon juice. Let rest for at least 15 minutes and up to 30.
Whisk the remaining ingredients in a small bowl and pour over the veggies. Mix well and adjust seasoning.
Winter Squash Coconut Milk Curry
It is a bit of a pain to seed and peel a raw winter squash but the flavor is awfully good when you cook the raw pumpkin with spices and other vegetables and then add some coconut milk. If you prefer to bake the pumpkin (cut in half and seeded) for a bit to make it easier to peel you can certainly do that.
1 2 lb (or so) butternut squash
2 tablespoon neutral oil (peanut, sunflower, etc.)
1 medium onion
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
2-3 carrots, well scrubbed and cut into thin rounds on the bias (optional)
1 ½ teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1-2 serrano chiles, minced (seeds and all) or ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 cup broth or water
1 can coconut milk (full fat preferably)
chopped cilantro (optional)
lime wedges
Cut the squash in half and scrape clean. Now you can either bake it for a while to soften it a bit and then cut it into bite-sized pieces or do so with a sharp knife and with care in its raw state.
Heat the oil in a large pot. Sauté the onion for a few minutes until it softens a bit and becomes translucent. Add the garlic, ginger and spices and hot pepper and sauté over medium high heat, stirring often for about 2 minutes. You don’t want the mixture to brown. Add the carrots and cook for a few more minutes. Add a little oil if it’s too dry. Then add the squash and broth or water and bring to a gentle simmer. After about 10 minutes add the coconut milk and some salt and cook until all the vegetables are tender but not falling apart.
Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve over rice with a squeeze of lime juice and chopped cilantro.
Roasted Squash and Shallots (or Onions) with Lemony Tahini Sauce
–slightly adapted from Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sam Tamimi
If you’re loathe to peel and trim the squash raw you can bake the whole squash, seeds and all for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees and then remove it, let cool a little and then peel and cut—a bit easier to handle this way.
1 medium butternut squash (2 1/4 lb. more or less), cut into 3/4 by 2 1/2-inch wedges
6 shallots, cut into 1 ¼ -inch wedges or 2 onions, cut the same
3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
3 1/2 tablepoons tahini (sesame paste)
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons water
1 small clove garlic, crushed
3 1/2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 tablespoons za’atar (optional – I found it at People’s co-op the other day)
1 tablespoons coarsely chopped parsley
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F.
Put the squash and onion in a large mixing bowl, add 3 tablespoons of the oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and some black pepper and toss well. Spread on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until the vegetables have taken on some color and are cooked through. Keep an eye on the onions as they might cook faster than the squash and need to be removed earlier. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. To make the sauce, place the tahini in a small bowl along with the lemon juice, water, garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Whisk until the sauce is the consistency of honey, adding more water or tahini if necessary.
Pour the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons oil into a small frying pan and place over medium-low heat. Add the pine nuts along with 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook for 2 minutes, stirring often, until the nuts are golden brown. Remove from the heat and transfer the nuts and oil to a small bowl to stop the cooking.
To serve, spread the vegetables out on a large serving platter and drizzle over the tahini. Sprinkle the pine nuts and their oil on top, followed by the za’atar, if using, and parsley.
Well, after years of making a certain all-butter pie crust (inspired by the Chez Panisse galette crust) I have 100% switched this recipe and technique. I find it completely unbeatable and while it includes one extra step, I don’t think twice about it anymore. Some of you may have adopted this technique ages ago so I may be late to the game. Better late than never. I’m making more pies than ever before☺!
Pumpkin Pie
This is a fairly classic pie, with the exception of the sour cream/Greek yogurt and optional rum. I do not blind bake my crust for this pie though most recipes call for doing that. I have great luck with the below method and the crust doesn’t get too dark and brittle.
1 9-inch single crust Pie shell, chilled (not partially baked using ½ of above recipe)
1 ¾ cups butternut squash puree
(bake the squash until very soft in a 400 degree oven–cut side down–takes about 35 minutes or more depending on size of squash)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 cup whole milk or cream
or a combination of the two or half and half
1/3 cup sour cream
or Greek yogurt (which is what I use)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons dark rum or cognac or brandy (optional)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Lightly sweetened lightly whipped cream, for topping
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 450°F. If you have a pizza stone, put it on the rack you’re going to use and then preheat. Setting the pie pan directly on the pizza stone helps the crust bake nicely and not get soggy, especially since we’re not pre-baking the crust.
Roll out your pie dough and place it in pan and crimp edges as described in apple pie recipe above, though your just crimping a single layer of crust, the technique is the same. Chill or freeze pie shell in the fridge while you make the filling.
Put all of the filling ingredients in a food processor and process for 2 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice and pour the filling into the chilled pie shell. Alternatively whisk all the ingredients well in a bowl.
Bake for 15 minutes at 450, then reduce the oven temperature to 350°F and continue to bake for 35 to 45 minutes longer. Tap the pan gently—if the custard only jiggles a little bit in the very center, it’s done. Transfer the pie to a rack and cool to room temperature.
Serve the pie with lightly sweetened whipped cream