Thanksgiving Ideas

Put a twist on your Thanksgiving squashes, pumpkins and sweet potatoes. Here are some recipes that I think you’ll enjoy:

Curried Pumpkin Soup

Potato and Squash Mash

Variations for Pumpkin Pie

Curried Pumpkin Soup:

Skill Level: Intermediate

• 2-medium onions, finely chopped, about 2-cups
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2-large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 ½ tablespoons mined peeled fresh ginger
• 2-teaspoons ground cumin
• 1-teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• 3/4-teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
• 2- (15 oz) cans pumpkin (note: Not pie filling). Or you can use fresh pumpkins, bake in oven till soft and mash approximately 3 ½ cups.
• 7-cups water
• 1 ½- cups chicken broth
• 1-(14-oz) can unsweetened coconut milk
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2-teaspoon brown mustard seeds
• 8-curry leaves (omit if you can not obtain it from Asian Market) Note: they can be bought dried

Cook onions in butter in a wide 6-quart heavy pot over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add cumin, coriander, and cardamom and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in salt, red paper, pumpkin, water, and broth and coconut milk and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 30-minutes. Puree soup in batches in a blender until smooth, transferring to a large bowl, and return soup to pot. Keep soup warm over low heat. In the meantime, heat oil in a small heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, and then cook mustard seeds until they begin to pop, about 15 seconds. Add curry leaves, and cook 5 seconds. then pour mixture into pumpkin soup. Stir until combined well and season soup with salt. This tends to be a thick soup, therefore, if you like it thinner, add water.

Potato and Squash mash:

Skill Level: Easy

Ingredients

• 4-pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and halved or quartered if large
• 1 small butternut squash (2-pounds), peeled, seeded, and cut into 2-inch chunks (6 cups)
• 6-tablespoons butter
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1-cup half/half
• Salt/Pepper to taste

Instructions
In a large pot, combine potatoes squash; cover with salted water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer until potatoes and squash are easily pierced with the tip of a paring knife, about 20-minutes.

Drain in a large colander; return potatoes and squash to the pot. Stir over medium heat; add garlic, and cook until fragrant, about 2-minutes. Add half/half; bring to a simmer. Pour over potatoes and squash; season generously with salt and pepper. Mash with a masher until smooth and creamy. Serve immediately.

Variations to Pumpkin Pie:

Skill Level: Easy

• Apples: Using your favorite pumpkin pie filling recipe, try adding apples. Simply add 3-cups peeled and chopped apples to the filling.
• Substitute sweet potatoes for pumpkins.
• Try using various crusts. For example, use ginger snaps, vanilla wafers, or chocolate snaps etc. Simply crush the cookies (1-cup) finely, add a l/2 cup of chopped nuts (optional), 5-tablespoons of sugar, pinch of salt, and press into pie pan, and use your favorite pie filling.
• Add toppings to your pie, e.g., caramel or a nut topping.