Wild Rice and Sausage Stuffed Pumpkin

Stuffed pumpkins rock!  I'm definitely one of those annoying people that look forward to everything-pumpkin in the fall.  I'd never stuffed a pumpkin until a few years ago and it's become one of my most favourite autumn dishes.

We have a recipe for a sweet Apple and Oats Stuffed Pumpkin, but we also enjoy doing savoury stuffed pumpkins, so I thought it was time to get a recipe up!  This stuffed pumpkin was so delicious.  While I chose wild rice and sausage, you can really put anything you like in one!  Change up the meat and use chicken or shredded beef.  Change up the grain and use barley or white rice.  Add nuts - try dried apricots instead of cranberries.  Try a theme - Mexican, Italian, Moroccan, Chinese...

How about The Hollowpoints - The Sickness.  -jen

WILD RICE AND SAUSAGE STUFFED PUMPKIN
Prep Time:  30 minutes
Bake Time:  60 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy to Medium
Serves:  about 6

• 1 pie pumpkin (like a Sugar Pumpkin or a Winter Luxury)
• 5 links maple sausage 
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil + 2 teaspoons, melted
• 1 small carrot, diced (about 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 medium onion, diced (about 3/4 cups)
• 1 large stalks of celery, diced (about 1/4 cup)
• 1 small green pepper or poblano, diced (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 apple, diced (like a Gala or Fuji) (about 1 cup)
• 1 tablespoon ginger, minced (1 tbsp)
• 2 large cloves of garlic, minced (1 tbsp)
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup (brown sugar would be a suitable substitute) + 1 teaspoon
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 teaspoon salt  + 1/4 teaspoon
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper + a pinch
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder + 1/4 teaspoon
• 1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage + 1/4 teaspoon
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon marjoram
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1-2 cups cooked wild rice (recipe below)  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  

Like carving a jack-o-lantern, cut the top of your pumpkin off and scoop the inside and the base of the lid clean.  (Save your seeds and make Seasoned Pumpkin Seeds!)   Discard the insides, keep your lid!  Make sure you get all those stringy pieces out... it's worth the extra effort to make it totally scraped clean.  Set aside.

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook sausages through.  Set aside.  In same skillet with the remaining sausage fat, add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil and the carrots, cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Then add the onion, celery, and green pepper.  Saute about 5 minutes, until vegetables become tender.  Add the apples, garlic, ginger, maple syrup, cranberries, salt, pepper, curry powder, sage, cinnamon, marjoram, and red pepper flake.  Cook another 2-3 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool.

Once cool, dice the sausages and add the sausage and the rice to the vegetable mixture.  Add 2 teaspoons of melted coconut oil, 1 tsp maple syrup, 1/4 tsp salt, pinch of pepper, 1/4 tsp curry powder and 1/4 tsp of sage to the inside of the pumpkin, .  Using your hands, massage oil and seasonings all over the inside of the pumpkin, as well as on the bottom of the lid. 

Stuff the pumpkin completely full with the stuffing.  Place the lid back on the pumpkin and place on a sheet
pan.  Cook at 350 degrees F for about 1 hour.  A sharp knife should slide easily through the skin and the flesh if the pumpkin is cooked thoroughly.  Remove and let rest for 5 minutes.

Place on a serving tray.  Remove lid.  Slice wedges and serve.  Don't forget to slice the pumpkin meat off of the lid, too!

If you have leftover stuffing you can serve it on the table with your stuffed pumpkin for folks who want extra.  You can make an egg scramble out of it (which we did!) or use it as a side dish for your dinner the next evening.

WILD RICE
Cook Time:  45-60 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy
Makes:  about 2 cups

• 1/2 cup wild rice
• 2 cups chicken broth (or water)
• 1 teaspoon rubbed sage (optional)

In a large sauce pan, combine rice, broth and sage.  Bring to a boil.  Cover and reduce heat to a simmer.  Simmer for 45 minutes and check.  You'll want about half of the kernels to split open (they'll look lighter in colour)... could take up to 60 minutes.  If there's any remaining liquid, drain it off.  Fluff with a fork.

Note:  Wild rice will triple or quadruple once cooked.  1 cup may yield 3.5 - 4 cups.

Mushroom & Onion Smothered Chicken

This was the dish we made to go along with our Parmesan & Basil Zucchini.  Normally we just throw the seasoned chicken in the oven, but I felt like something extra to go with it the night I made this.  I was originally just going to saute the mushrooms and onion, but then decided to make 'em saucy.  Pretty quick and easy!  We don't do carbs a whole lot with our dinner, but with this sauce, I wished I'd made some rice or barley or even mashed potatoes to go along with it.

I'm gonna whip out a little old school punk here - Justin will be pleasantly surprised, as this is more to his liking.  I can't even tell you why this song just popped into my head as I was wondering what to post.  All I know is... whenever I think of FEAR, I think of Lee Ving (lead singer) in the movie Clue, as Mr. Boddy.  I love that movie.  Sad side note, Eileen Brennan, who played Mrs. Peacock, just died a few days ago.  So maybe this song is apropos after all.  Here's FEAR, "Living in the City".  -jen

MUSHROOM AND ONION SMOTHERED CHICKEN
Time:  40 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy
Serves:  4-6

• 6 chicken thighs, skin on/bone in
  
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 8oz whole mushrooms, chopped
• 1/2 a medium onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon rubbed sage
• 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup heavy cream (optional)
• 2 tablespoons dry sherry
• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with foil (for easy clean up) and drizzle a little olive oil over the foil or use some non-stick cooking spray on it.

Pat chicken thighs dry with a paper towel.  Pull the skin back and with your choice of seasoning (seasoning salt, Mrs. Dash type seasonings, or just make your own "house" seasoning with salt, pepper and garlic powder), season the meat under the skin.  Lay the skin back over the thigh evenly and season the top of the skin, as well as the bottom of the thigh.  Place on prepared baking sheet and bake at 450 degrees F for 30 minutes, or until juices run clear.  (Adjust time for smaller or larger thighs.)  Let rest 5 minutes before serving.  Note:  Baking at this high of a heat crisps up the chicken skin nicely!

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, combine butter and olive oil over a medium-high heat until hot.  Add chopped mushrooms and onions.  Saute 5-7 minutes or until onions are just turning translucent.  Add garlic, sage and tarragon, cooking an additional 1-2 minutes.  Sprinkle flour over vegetables, stirring to coat, and cook 3 more minutes.  Whisk in chicken broth, Worcestershire and heavy cream (which is optional, it just lends a little more creaminess to it).  Continue whisking over medium-high heat until sauce thickens.  Turn to a low heat and whisk in sherry.  Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.  (If you use a cooking sherry, it's salted and you may not require much more salt in the sauce.)  Remove from heat and serve over baked chicken.

Rancid Recipes #4: Wild Rice Stuffed Pork Chops

It's been a little while since I've posted a Rancid Recipe (such a delicious sounding title, to be sure).  Today's music selection was inspired by a dream I recently had that Tim Armstrong and I were taking a class on identifying Hollywood celebrities.  We both failed miserably, told the instructor that it was a bullshit class, and left to watch the movie "High Fidelity" with my brother.  I don't know what the dream means, but it put me into a Tim Armstrong music kick: Op Ivy, Transplants, Tim Timebomb & Friends, his solo stuff, and of course, Rancid.  Apparently, they knew from the very first show what it was all about.

The idea for this recipe popped into my head about a month ago, transformed a lot during late
nights of intoxication, Food Network, and conversation, and finally came into existence splendidly last night.  Do you have any idea how tickled I am when a recipe from scratch turns out perfectly with no need for alterations?!  Of course you don't, because you're not dining in my house (but perhaps you SHOULD be, Rancid members?)  The stranger in my head does a little dance when this happens and there was dancing last night, by glob!  It's a little time consuming (the recipe, not the dancing in my head), but well worth the time!  The combination of mushrooms, onions and apples was killer!

I think some of the ingredients in this recipe need a little explanation, though.  It does contain wild rice, as the title states, and I learned something - there is no correct way to cook wild rice.  I got mine out of the bulk bin at my local co-op and followed the instructions on the dispenser: 2 cups liquid to 1 cup wild rice.  I did exactly that, and the rice came out a little crunchy.  I loved it.  Justin didn't care for the consistency at all.  So researching wild rice, I found that different suppliers process it differently and you can't always cook two different brands the same way.  Basically, it's preference.  Do you like it crunchy or do you want to cook it until the rice bursts open and is softer.  Your call.  You have to just follow the instructions on the one you purchase and adjust according to your preference.

The lion's mane mushrooms are my next ingredient to discuss.  These obviously are not sold in your local supermarket (as Food Network often likes to tell its watchers about exotic foods).  We can sometimes find them in our co-op or local organic stores, but we mostly buy them in the summer at our local farmers markets.  And while you could use regular button mushrooms, crimini or portabello mushrooms for this recipe, there's no way you're going to get the same flavour out of them.  Lion's mane was first described to us as having a lobster flavour.  If you look them up on Wiki, it says when cooked, they have the consistency of seafood.  Well, I sort of agree and disagree with both.  Once that's in your head, that's what you think of (and now I put it in your head), but really, I'd just say they have a very rich, earthy flavour.  They're awesome.  If you like mushrooms and have never tried these, seek them out.  It'll be worth it.

And so we move on to the musical stylings of my favourite band, Rancid, bringing us their song, "Last One To Die".  As they wrap up their tour (which we very sadly don't get to see, again, because we're poor and live behind the Redwood Curtain) and prepare for a new album to come out, I think to myself - maybe they will be the last ones to die.  -jen

WILD RICE STUFFED PORK CHOPS
Time:  1.5 - 2 hours
Difficulty:  Medium
Serves:  6

Wild Rice:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 cup wild rice
• 2 cups water
• 2 teaspoons chicken base 
• 1 teaspoon rubbed sage
• 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
• black pepper to taste (about 1/2 a teaspoon)

Chops & Stuffing:

• 6 thick pork loin chops (we like ours brined, recipe and how-to here)
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cups diced lion's mane mushrooms
• 3/4 cup oyster mushrooms (you can use all lion's mane if you like)
• 1 cup yellow onion, diced (about 1/2 of a large onion)
• 2 cups apple, peeled and diced (about 2 medium apples of your preference - sour or sweet, either would be tasty)
• 1 teaspoon rubbed sage
• 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
• salt and pepper to taste

Rinse wild rice to remove loose hulls and strain the water out.  In a medium sauce pan, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium-high heat.  Add rice and brown, stirring frequently for 2-3 minutes.  Add water and stir in chicken base, sage, tarragon, celery salt and black pepper.  Bring just to a boil, then put a lid on the pan and lower the heat to a simmer.  Cook without removing the lid or stirring for 50 minutes.  Remove from heat and let rest for 10 minutes.  (If you don't like crunchy wild rice, you may want to use 1 more cup of water, 1 more teaspoon chicken base, and a little more of each herb) and cook until the rice grains burst, about 60 minutes, then drain any remaining water from rice.)

While rice cooks, in a large saute pan or skillet, heat 3 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil over a medium-high heat.  Add mushrooms, onion, and apples.  Saute for about 7 minutes, or until the onion becomes slightly translucent.  Add sage, tarragon and salt and pepper (I used about 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 a teaspoon black pepper), and cook for a few more minutes.  Remove from heat and add mixture to wild rice.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, F.  Carefully cut a pocket into the pork chops with a sharp knife,
making sure not to open the ends or the back side.  Place each chop into a gallon-sized Ziplock bag and pound flat.

Season the outside of the pork chop (both sides) with salt and pepper.  Drizzle a little olive oil on a sheet pan (we always cover ours with foil for easy clean up.)  Stuff each pork chop with as much of the wild rice stuffing as it will hold and carefully lay the stuffed chop on the baking sheet.  Place in the oven and cook at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes, depending on the thickness of your chop.  Best to use a meat thermometer and cook until pork reaches 140 degrees F, then let rest.  The carry-over will bring it to a safe 145 degrees.

Chicken In Gravy Over Barley

A few weeks ago, the idea for this meal came to mind... I don't even remember why.  But it's one of those delicious southern comfort foods.  I originally was going to put it over white rice... but the fact is, we really prefer barley over rice.  I think I've mentioned that before.  And it went real well with this chicken in gravy.  It was actually quite fast to make tonight because we'd baked 8 chicken thighs the night before.  So I just used the leftover chicken for this.  It'd actually double just fine for a potpie filling, too!  Or over biscuits if you wanted to get real southern!

Man, I put this song on a comp a few weeks ago for our work commutes... and the song just won't get out of my head!  I was a fan of the original... but this version is so, so much better.  Down By Law covering "500 Miles". -jen aka zigzag, heheh

HERBED BARLEY
Time:  40 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy
Servings:  4-6

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cups barley
• 3 cups water
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1.5 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
• 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 3/4 a teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat.  Add barley and stir to coat.  Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring until the barley smells toasty.  Add water, soy sauce, sage, thyme, coriander and pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Cover and turn heat to low.  Simmer for 35 minutes.  (Do not lift lid or stir!)  Remove from heat and let rest 5 minutes.  Fluff with a fork.  You can make the chicken gravy in about the same amount of time it takes the barley to cook.

CHICKEN IN GRAVY
Time:  25 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy-Medium
Servings:  4-6

• 3 tablespoons chicken fat (if your chicken didn't render this much, use butter for remainder)
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 medium carrots, diced
• 3 stalks of celery, diced
• 1/2 a medium onion, diced
• 6 tablespoons flour
• 3 cups chicken broth (or 3 cups of water with chicken bouillon cubes or chicken base)
• 2 teaspoons dried rubbed sage
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon fresh or dried chives
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt to taste (some chicken broths are saltier than others)
• meat of 4 baked chicken thighs, shredded (see below for baking instructions)

In a skillet over medium-high heat, heat chicken fat and butter.  Add carrots, celery and onion.  Cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes.  Carrots should be fork-tender, meaning a fork slides easily into them.  Sprinkle flour over the vegetables and stir until absorbed, cook for 2-3 minutes.  Whisk (using an actual whisk!) in chicken broth, sage, thyme, chives, the three peppers and salt, if needed.  Continue whisking until gravy has thickened to desired consistency, turn heat to low, add the shredded chicken and cook for a few minutes until chicken is warmed.  Serve over herbed barley.  (Or use for the inside of a potpie!)

BAKED CHICKEN THIGHS
Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

• 4 medium chicken thighs, skin on
• choice of seasoning (salt & pepper if nothing else)
• olive oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees, F.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (simply for ease of clean-up) and drizzle foil lightly with olive oil.

Season the bottoms of the chicken thighs, the place face-up on pan.  Lift skin from meat and season both under the skin and over the skin.  Bake at 450 degrees F for 30 minutes.  Chicken should be at 165 degrees, and juices should run clear.  If cooking the gravy recipe above, then reserve the chicken fat!

Red Kuri Squash-Leek Soup

We should have carved our traditional pumpkins last night because it was Halloween, but instead, I ended up carving up a Red Kuri squash.  Actually, I didn't carve it up, because I couldn't get my damn knife through the thing!  So I had to wait for Justin to get home from work to cut it for me.  There was intoxication involved and I figured I should give up while I was ahead and still had all my fingers.  Those suckers are thick (the squash, not my fingers... or maybe my fingers too)!

Thoughts on Red Kuri squash: my favourite squash we've tried so far!  I had to taste it after roasting it for the soup, and with just some olive oil, salt and pepper, it had this rich, delicious, buttery flavour.  Not as sweet as some squash is, and I knew it was going to be perfect in soup. 

Exploring different types of squash this fall has been a lot of fun, and this Red Kuri's been sitting on our table, waiting to be used.  Squash-leek soup sounded great, but I didn't really want the thickness of traditional squash soup, I wanted a thinner, brothy soup.  I just happened to have the other veggies in the fridge and they needed to get used up, but they were a really great addition, I liked having something to chew instead of a smooth soup and I would definitely recommend them (though you could easily leave them out if you chose).  If you're looking for a thicker soup, you could very easily just cut the chicken broth back by half (or more, depending on the consistency you're looking for).  The soup was quick and basic, but perfect for the cold, wet night we had.  I wanted it to have just a little heat in it, so I used some white pepper and cayenne pepper, but if you're not into heat, you can leave them out.

I've been on an Against Me! kick for the last two weeks, and I had several of their albums thrown on my playlist on repeat while making this... so it was a no brainer for music!  This is one of mine and Justin's all-time favourites, "What We Worked For".  -jen

RED KURI SQUASH-LEEK SOUP
Prep Time:  1 hr, 15 minutes
Cook Time:  5-10 minutes

Difficulty:  Medium

• 1 Red Kuri squash
• olive oil
• salt & black pepper
• 8-oz crimini mushrooms, diced
• 1 orange bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 cup very small broccoli florets
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 3 large leeks, greens removed and whites diced
• 2 quarts chicken stock (or vegetable stock if you prefer)
• 1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Quarter the squash and remove seeds and membrane.  Rub enough olive oil over the exposed flesh to coat, and then generously salt and pepper them.  Bake at 425 degrees for one hour.  Set aside.  Remove skin when squash has cooled enough to handle.

In a stock pot, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add mushrooms, bell pepper, broccoli and minced garlic.  Saute until softened, 5-7 minutes.  Remove from pan and set aside.

Heat 2 more tablespoons of olive oil in same stock pot, over medium-high heat.  Add leeks and saute until tender, 10-12 minutes.  Puree leeks, squash and broth together.  (If you have an immersion blender, you can add squash and broth to pot and blend.  If not, remove leeks from pan and place in a blender with the squash and enough broth to puree, then pour back into stock pot with any remaining broth.)  Add the sauteed mushrooms, pepper and broccoli.  Stir in sage, white pepper and cayenne pepper.  Heat to serve.

Roasted Sage Chicken with Mushroom Sage Stuffing

This came out to be such a tasty, home cookin' kinda meal!  We'd just had the whole chicken in the freezer for a while, not sure what we were going to do with it.  Justin had mentioned brining it.  But I left work early today and decided I was cooking up a meal.  We had a lot of the stuff on hand - that's often inspiration enough for us... trying to see what we can use up in the fridge and still create something fantastic.  We had the garlic sourdough bread, the leftover corn bread, we had onions and lemon... so I really just picked up a few odds and ends to complete it.

Oddly, we weren't really listening to much music while cooking this tonight.  So as I posted this, I had this random stream of thoughts that made their way to Rage Against the Machine's "Bulls On Parade" in a ridiculously long, out-of-the-way though process.  Punk?  Well, not really, though I can think of a handful of arguments on how you could call Rage punk.  But I get to break my own rules whenever I want.  And if I want to post some Rage, I'm gonna post some Rage! :)  -jen

ROASTED SAGE CHICKEN

• 1 whole chicken (about 5 pounds)
• 1 cup sage butter (recipe below)
• 1/2 a lemon, quartered (use other 1/2 in butter below, zest whole lemon first)
• 1 large carrot stick
• 1/2 a medium onion, quartered
• 1-2 celery sticks
• a handful of fresh parsley
• a handful of fresh basil
• salt and pepper
• butcher's twine

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Make sure all innards are removed from chicken cavity.  Generous salt and pepper the chicken cavity.  Stuff lemon, carrot, onion, celery, parsley and basil into cavity.


Tie legs tightly together with butcher's twine.  Then gently lift the skin from the chicken and using your hand, rub a generous amount of sage butter under the chicken skin.  Rub remaining sage butter over entire outside of chicken.  Place chicken in a roasting pan and cook for about 90 minutes, or until the breast reaches 160 degrees F and juices run clear.

SAGE BUTTER

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temp
• 1 heaping tablespoon minced garlic
• 3 tablespoons fresh sage
• 2 teaspoons parsley, chopped
• zest of 1 lemon
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• several cranks of fresh cracked pepper

MUSHROOM SAGE STUFFING

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1.5 medium-sized yellow onions, chopped
• 3 cups roughly chopped crimini mushrooms
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 5 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon salt
• several cranks of fresh cracked pepper
• 6 cups stale bread, cubed (I like 4 cups sourdough, 2 cups cornbread)
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 2 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Melt butter over medium-high heat and add onions, mushrooms, and celery.  Saute until tender, 8-10 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in sage, parsley, salt and pepper.  Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, combine bread, chicken broth, and beaten eggs.  Mix in sauted vegetables.

Pour into a buttered 9x13 baking dish.  Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 425 degrees F.  Remove foil and continue baking for an additional 30 minutes.