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.

Tomato Gratin

I'd like to take credit for this awesome dish, but I really feel like I need to give credit where it's due - Ina Garten's Scalloped Tomatoes.  I went through and added what I wanted, subtracted what I didn't want and my methods were a little different.  But I still wouldn't feel right if I didn't give Ina credit, as her recipe is great.  Ours is just better.  (Sorry, Ina!  We love you!) Justin was baking us a loaf of boule the other day, but whether it was due to temperatures or humidity, it just didn't rise as much as he'd hoped, so it came out a little dense.  I'd remembered seeing Ina make her Scalloped Tomatoes recipe and thought our dense bread would be perfect for this... and it was! 

I wondered why this dish was called "scalloped"; it was my understanding that meant a dish was made with a cream sauce.  So I did a little researching on the magic interweb and it seems there are a few different definitions of what "scalloped" means in the culinary world.  While I didn't find a solid answer, I did find this article that summed up the variances nicely.  Still, I didn't know if I really wanted to call this recipe Scalloped Tomatoes - I didn't know if it would really explain what the dish was to someone browsing recipe names.  Now, the same website that broke down "scalloped" has this to say about "au gratin":  "Au Gratin means garnished with crumbs (usually bread) and grated cheese, then baked or grilled (aka broiled.)"  I think this definition fits the bill for my recipe more.  Now, because I don't speak french, I don't know if it's grammatically correct to call the dish a "tomato gratin" or "tomatoes au gratin" and I couldn't find an answer on that.

I'm not sure how we've done all these recipes and not used a Black Flag song yet.  What the hell is going on?!  Rectified now... Black Flag (with a long-haired Rollins) doing "Nervous Breakdown".  -jen

TOMATO GRATIN
Prep/Cook Time:  25 minutes
Bake Time:  35 minutes
Difficulty:  Medium
Serves:  6-8

• 2.5 pounds (10-12) fresh Roma tomatoes, diced (1/2") 
• 2 teaspoons salt
• olive oil
• 2.5 cups cubed artisan bread (1/2")
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup rough-chopped green or kalamata olives
• 1/2 cup finely diced onion
• 1 tablespoon fresh minced garlic (5-6 cloves)
• 1/2 cup basil, roughly chopped or julienned, packed
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Prepare a shallow 2-quart baking dish (8"x8") with non-stick cooking spray.

Place diced tomatoes in a strainer over a bowl.  Toss with salt and set aside.

Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over a medium heat.  Add the bread cubes and toss in the olive oil to coat.  Let cubes toast into croutons, stirring often, until dark golden-brown and crispy, 5-8 minutes.  Add drained tomatoes, sugar, black pepper, olives, onion and garlic.  Cook an additional 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently.  Remove from heat and stir in basil.

Transfer mixture into prepared baking dish.  Sprinkle Parmesan over the top, and drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the Parmesan.  Bake, uncovered, for 35 minutes.  Serve hot.

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.

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.