Apple Pie, Patis, and Pâté

The recent slew of pumpkin and squash posts is not some sort of misguided attempt to turn my year-round tan into a peculiar shade of orange. It’s all about collecting the slippery seeds within for making the pumpkin seed dip called ha-sikil-pak, which is Mayan for water-pumpkin seed-tomato.

I like guacamole as much as the next person but it lacks one thing that ha sikil pak has in spades — the complexity of several toasted and charred ingredients.

Raw pumpkin seeds are crisped and pulverized to serve as the pumpkin seed dip base. The chiles and tomatoes are then charred before mixing with a bit of water, herbs, and the fragrant pumpkin seed powder. Usually enjoyed with tortilla chips, ha sikil pak also serves well as a piquant condiment for grilled meat and seafood or as a substitute for fresh salsa.

View Mayan Pumpkin Seed Dip - Ha Sikil Pak Recipe»

Pan de leche is a Filipino sweet bread that has many regional variations. As far as I know, any yeasted bread baked with milk and sugar can be labeled pan de leche, but I have a very specific idea of what it is supposed to be like. It will be dense and feel heavy for its size. The crumb will be dry but fluffy. The glazed soft crust will have the slightest hint of chewiness. Throwing it against a wall or forehead will cause a resounding thump.

With those attributes in mind, I tried several divergent recipes before coming up with my own. I found that making pan de leche requires the most basic bread baking techniques — pre-ferments, wild yeast starters, and soakers are unnecessary and the dough should be firm and easy to handle. It should take only a few hours of fermentation, some pantry staples, a sheet pan, and a hot oven.

The simplicity of my pan de leche recipe means that it is average bread at best. To put it bluntly, most of the other breads I’ve baked, where slow fermentation spread over a few days fully develops the flavor of the resulting loaf, will taste better.

But this is exactly how I remember it, a close approximation of a childhood favorite. After several attempts, I think I finally nailed it.

View Pan de Leche - Filipino Sweet Bread Rolls Recipe »

This version of hobakjuk, a Korean porridge made with pumpkins or squashes, is all about texture. Velvety pumpkin puree is mixed with tender azuki beans, chewy sweet rice balls, and crunchy pine nuts. And because everyone knows that pumpkins and spices go hand-in-hand, a light dusting of ground cinnamon ties everything together.

I’m just a bit confused whether hobakjuk should be served as a dessert or as a savory soup. At first glance, it seems like a dessert because it is lightly sweetened. The author then suggests serving the porridge with canisters of salt and pepper, tilting the porridge back to the middle of the sweet-savory scale.

In any case, you don’t have to be Korean to like hobakjuk. Unlike kimchi, this pumpkin porridge will seem instantly familiar even to the most unadventurous of palates. It may necessitate a visit to an Asian grocery store, risking life and limb because the possibility of slipping on errant grains of rice on aisle 7 exists, but try this recipe while pumpkins are in season and you’ll end up saving the pie for later. Much later.

View Hobakjuk - Korean Pumpkin Porridge Recipe »

So you pick up a new cookbook and inhale that addictive new book smell. While eagerly perusing photographs and ingredient lists, you may be thinking, “I can make that,” or, “Time to pay Chinatown a visit.”

And then you somehow convince yourself that owning the Alinea cookbook is a good idea, fully intending to actually cook from it. How hard can it possibly be?

The package arrives and the familiar scent creeps up your nostrils as you flip the opening pages. You chuckle as you see “How to use this book” in the table of contents, and against your better judgment, skip to the recipes anyway.

Silence. The techniques require surgical precision. The equipment needed won’t be on sale at Sur la Table. You suddenly find yourself Googling improbable search terms such as “food-safe syringe.” Most of the ingredients are not available at Whole Foods. All of the ingredients are measured in weights, some as accurate to one-half of a gram. You can’t make anything even if everything is delineated in excruciating detail.

Until page 225, that is. Granted, this butternut squash soup is merely one component in a dish of 9 sub-recipes. In case you were wondering, the other elements are duck, curry, pumpkin seeds, peanuts, limes, and bananas. I don’t know how that works either but hopefully I’ll find out soon enough. If only I had some citric acid and soy lecithin.

View Butternut Squash Soup - Alinea Recipe »

One thing that can go wrong with baked whole pumpkins is incinerating it into mush. Filled with cream and Gruyère cheese, you’ll know when the pumpkin is overcooked. It will likely collapse into a deflated mound of white and orange laced with strings of melted Gruyère. The semi-successful dish will still be delicious, as long as the cream spills into a baking dish instead of the oven floor.

That’s my long-winded way of saying that you can’t mess this non-recipe up.

The pumpkin top is sliced off to serve as its own lid and the structural integrity of the baked pumpkin depends on the carving method. Instead of cutting off the tops horizontally in one stroke, use a narrow pointed knife and slice around the stem at a 45 degree angle. Just don’t forget to watch those fingers.

View Whole Pumpkin Baked with Cream and Cheese Recipe recipe »