GardenGateBlog

Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Chipotle (and a lot of help from @Rick_Bayless)

I grew some lovely sugar pumpkins last fall and had a few left sitting around the kitchen.  Since its almost Valentine's day, I decided it was time to cook them.  I took out the seeds and made some tasty roasted pumpkin seeds then I roasted the pumpkins

So far so good, but then I hit a wall - I couldn't decide on what to do with the soup.  All internet searches turned up only so-so sounding pumpkin soup recipes.  Then I had an idea. 

I follow a lot of people on Twitter:  friends, colleagues, thoughtful writers, good cooks and a few professional chefs.  I remembered the many beautiful food "tweets" that Chef Rick Bayless posts - and he posts a lot (you can follow him at http://twitter.com/Rick_Bayless and I know he sometimes answers questions from his followers.  So I tweeted him...

@rick_bayless have some sugar pumpkins that need roasting. Any soup ideas?
10:58 AM Jan 29th from web

and he replied !!

roasted garlic, chipotle chiles, cilantro. RT @cynthiamckenna: @rick_bayless have some sugar pumpkins that need roasting. Any soup ideas?

It sounded good to me so I roasted garlic

Pureed the roasted pumpkin

Added a couple of chipotles and some of the adobo sauce and pureed some more

I chopped an onion and caramelized it in a heavy pan...

I added quite a lot of roasted garlic, because we love garlic then added some stock - I had some turkey stock in the freezer and let it cook for a while.  I really am going to do a post about how to make great stock...

Back to the soup...

Then out to the garden to get some fresh cilantro - which is a winter plant here in Texas

Add the chopped cilantro and let it wilt a bit in the hot soup, finally, adjust for salt and pepper.

The soup was delicious.  Warm, satisfying, and really simple.  You could use any winter squash, or even use canned pumpkin.  Adjust the heat by adding more or less chipotle. 

We'll make this again.  It was the perfect dinner for a chilly winter's night.  Special thanks to Rick Bayless for his generous spirit and culinary expertise.  

Happy Eating! 

Cynthia - you can find me on twitter http://twitter.com/cynthiamckenna

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Cynthia McKenna is a therapist in private practice in the Texas Hill Country.  She specializes in anxiety and depression and loves helping people change their lives. You can find out more about her work here. When she isn't working, she's usually in the garden or the kitchen. 

Roasted & Salted Pumpkin Seeds

I had a few sugar pumpkins left from the fall, and decided today was their day for cooking.  After cleaning the seeds, I roasted them according to this recipe from Epicurious.com   Use the last recipe in the "reviews" section - olive oil and soy sauce - just delicious.

The pumpkin seeds are slow roasted - so make them on a day when you have time to hang around the kitchen and stir the pan every 15 minutes. 

Next up - some pretty tasty pumpkin soup.

Cynthia

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Cynthia McKenna is a therapist in private practice in the Texas Hill Country.  She specializes in helping women with anxiety and depression. 

White House Exec Chef and Foodie Nation

Its a chilly Sunday morning and I decided to catch up on some food blog reading.  I read Obama Foodorama (ObFo) and get recipe ideas and important photos like this homage to the president in sushi.  ObFo also covers quite a lot  about locally grown, organic food, gardening and the White House initiatives to get Americans to eat better. 

This week, there are several posts about the upcoming state dinner.  I'm linking to this particular post because, if you follow it to the end, there is a link to a LONG three-part story about the role of public and private with regards to food and the chefs at the White House.  Looks like some people wish the current executive chef, Christeta Comerford, to talk about food issues - and she isn't allowed to because of her position.  These interviews happened before Sam Kass came on the scene and into the spotlight. Kass talks a lot about food, and gets extensive coverage.

I found it all interesting, and thought you might too.  I'll be out in the garden later, transplanting strawberries and finally getting the spinach planted.  Have a great Sunday.

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Cynthia

Cynthia McKenna is a therapist in private practice in the Texas Hill Country.  Find out more about her at www.CynthiaMcKennaCounseling.com

Compost Tea is ready to go into the garden

I am surprised to learn that probably 1/2 gallon or more of the compost tea has evaporated...I don't think Pippin drank that much.  It might be wise to use a lid next time I make compost tea.

My plan was to foliar feed my garden with the compost tea, but the winds are howling today as our first cold front of the year moves in.  So I'm heading out to the garden to harvest all the tomatoes, peppers and those strawberries that decided to fruit in November, then I'll pour my compost tea on the young seedlings.

I will also probably start a second batch of tea, it won't be cold  and windy on Wednesday and that would be a great time to foliar feed after we come out of the little cold snap.  

BTW - if I had been able to use the pump sprayer to apply the compost tea, I would have poured it through one of the paint strainer bags to catch any large particles that escaped when I initially immersed the tea bag int he water.  I did not have the bag tied closed and some debris definitely escaped.  

Happy compost Tea brewing everyone.  I hope you'll try it, its easy and your plants will love you for it.

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Cynthia

Compost Tea - continued

I used an old spoon to stir the compost tea and repositioned the air stones so they were distributed evenly (sort of)  Now we wait 18-24 hours and the tea will be ready.  My compost tea mostly smells like the fish emulsion that I added - but it's a pleasant smell. 

Here is a video of Mr. Pippin checking out the set-up from earlier this morning.

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Cynthia

Cynthia McKenna Counseling

Checking in on the Compost Tea

 

The technical name for compost tea is, "actively aerated compost tea"  That is what the air pump and air stones are all about - putting as much oxygen into the water as possible.  This makes a healthy environment for the bacteria and fungai to grow, and multiply like crazy.

Compost tea should smell earthy.  It might smell sweet like molasses if you added molasses.  It might smell yeasty.  If your compost tea is really stinky, it's gone anaerobic and that's a bad thing.  That means you are growing bad or dangerous bacteria and you don't want to put them into your garden or onto your plants.  Dump it out and start a fresh batch.

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Cynthia McKenna is a psychotherapist in private practice in the Texas Hill Country.  You can learn more about her at www.cynthiamckennacounseling.com

Making Compost Tea - the process

The compost tea is brewing and I want to share the process I used.  I referenced both Bruce Deuley and Bob Webster for my tea bucket and the method.  Thanks to their generous spirits, the plants should be benefiting in about 24 hours

You'll need:

• 5 gallon bucket
• air pump for 50 gallon fish tank
• air stones
• plastic tubing
• T splitter or other splitter to get additional lines in bucket
• paint strainer bag
• water:  de-chlorinate your water or use rainwater (I used pond water)
• 1 quart of good organic compost

 

This is the splitter I used.  Also my pump has two lines so I can get even more air lines into the bucket

Air stones which create lots of bubbles in the bucket of water

Because the bacteria and fungi will need something to eat while they grow and multiply, I added 1/2 t molasses and 1 T fish emulsion, and about 1/3 cup oatmeal to the water. 

Next -fill the paint strainer bag about 1/3 full of compost, tie the bag shut and add your bag of compost to the bucket of water..

  

Tie bag with a string and if you are using multiple lines & air stones, put one line down in the bag.  Here is my final set up:

Special thanks to Mr. Pippin for making sure I did everything correctly.

Now we wait 4-6 hours then remove the bag and let bubble for another 18-24 hours.

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Cynthia

Cynthia McKenna is a psychotherapist in private practice in the Texas Hill Country.  You can learn more about her at www.cynthiamckennacounseling.com

Compost Tea

I am getting ready to make compost tea tomorrow.  I have been watching videos on the internet, and I ran to local stores today to get the supplies.  I am planning on blogging the process so if you are interested, check back over the next two days & watch the progress.

Here is a great set of very informative videos featuring my favorite organic gardening expert, Bob Webster, from Shades of Green in San Antonio, TX.

Compost Tea

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Cynthia McKenna

Therapy for women

Halloween Pie

 

Happy Halloween!

Got crust?