A Gift Guide for Foodies

My father and mother always had very different shopping habits when it came to acquiring Christmas gifts.  My mother typically had all gifts stored away by Thanksgiving while my father would realize several days before Christmas, when all the other packages had already been stuffed under the tree, that he had some shopping to do.  He would pack my sister and I into the truck, turn up the Christmas music, sing along with Mariah Carey and we would pick out gifts for our mama. 

I like to believe that I fall somewhere in the middle when it comes to my Christmas shopping habits.  I usually have one or two gifts that I have collected throughout the year, and buy the last one the week before Christmas.  

If you are more like my father and I, and you still have a few gifts left to cross off your list, I have a few suggestions for the food-lovers in your life.  In essence, this is a list of things I either want to receive myself or already have and enjoy.  

1. This Coffee & Tea Calendar is high on my personal Christmas list this year.  The illustrations are whimsical and charming - October’s is my favorite.  If I am lucky enough to receive this gem, I plan on cutting out several of the illustrations and framing them for my kitchen.  After the year is over, of course.  
2. I love buying people things that they would never buy for themselves.  Things like this Copper Tea Kettle.  It’s a total splurge, but absolutely heart-stopping.
3. If you are looking for something small to tuck into a Christmas basket, or a causal gift for that co-worker that is always brewing tea in the break room, this Downton Abbey Christmas Black Tea is a fabulous choice.
4. This Mastering Pasta book is everything.  It is an excellent technical resource, especially for someone who is new to pasta-making.
5. Honeycomb is one of the hottest trends in the foodie world right now.  Bring this as a hostess gift for your food-loving friend and she will love you forever.  Bring her a fresh baguette too and she might cry a little.  It’s a good move.  
6. I first saw these Snowflake Copper Cookie Cutters last year while window-shopping on a cold, December day.  I love how they look hanging in my kitchen and their twisty shapes make them so unique.

7. This book is high on my list of recipe books that I want to acquire within the next couple months.  I love the simplicity of the recipes - from yogurt biscuits to cream cheese cookies, each recipe is a blend of new and old.  I cannot wait to begin baking with this book! 

8. These are my very favorite teacups.  Yes, you have seen them before in many a recipe post, but I just love them.  They are so dainty and the perfect size for me.  They can be used on formal occasions or more causal evenings, and they can also become punch glasses in a pinch.
9. These books are from Penguin's Great Food Series and I am dying to crack them open.  Witty essays, old but faithful culinary tips, and instructions for hosting a dinner party fill their pages.  With titles like “The Campaign For Domestic Happiness” and "A Dissertation Upon Roast Pig and Other Essays" you know they are going to be good.  
10. This Heirloom Recipe Box is one of those things I would probably never buy for myself but I would be overjoyed to receive.  It’s simple and classic and everything that a recipe box should be. 
11. I love this French Marble Rolling Pin.  Marble rolling pins are wonderful because, unlike wooden models, they do not tend to stick to the dough while you are rolling.  They also stay cool which helps in preventing the dough from getting gummy while you are working.

I have to go bake something.  Happy shopping! 

Sincerely, 

Pedantic Foodie

{ The 1st Meal } A Conclusion

It’s December.  How did that happen?  Wasn’t it September just twenty minutes ago?  We are just a few short weeks away from the new year.  A new year, with new recipes, new inspiration, and a new series.  Although we have a few weeks left in this beautiful year, it is time for one series to come to a close. 

I began The 1st Meal series back in the beginning of Fall and I have had so much fun creating recipes for it each week.  Some of them were a bit over the top, some were pure and simple, but all were undoubtably delicious.  

We have twenty-seven mornings left in 2015 to eat as many chocolatey, streusel-covered, and cranberry-studded breakfasts as we can bake!  If you missed some of The 1st Meal entires, or need some refreshment, I have compiled a list of all the entries below.  

If you are looking for something quick to make for that hoard of holiday company, these muffins will not let you down.  Make a double batch, as they have a naughty tendency to “disappear” before your company has a chance to find their way out to the kitchen.  Oops.  

“I was just making sure they were good…”

The inspiration for this Turtle French Toast was twofold.  I have long-admired Jessica's blog, How Sweet It Is, and her superpower to create over-the-top, ridiculously wonderfully decadent recipes, and I was longing to create something absurdly indulgent of my own.  My other inspiration was the product of eating too many Quin's Turtle Caramels and trying to contrive an excuse to eat them for breakfast.  

I think I would be perfectly content to eat Biscuits and Gravy for breakfast every day for the next five years.  These biscuits are fluffy and packed with sharp, white cheddar, and topped with a generous ladle of thick, creamy black pepper gravy and crispy pancetta.  Just make me a biscuit bed and give me a hot tub full of gravy.  

I will take banana bread any time, any way.  These Banana Bread Pancakes are topped with a big ol’ spoonful of cinnamon pecan butter.  Game over. 

Though each breakfast recipe stands on its own, breakfast is not complete without a strong brew of your favorite tea.  In this post, I shared some of my favorite blends and tips for morning brewing. 

I hope that this series inspired to you move slowly, to soak in the mornings, to take your time enjoying your first meal - to begin well.

Sincerely, 

Pedantic Foodie

Thanksgiving Leftovers Become Roasted Pumpkin Soup

The Christmas decorations are up, the leftover turkey is (sadly) almost finished, and you are left with the remnants of your Autumnal adornments.  All those lovely pumpkins have been exchanged for shiny tinsel and dazzling glass orbs.

Although those gourdeous (heehee, see what I did there?) adornments are behind us, that is not to say that they have lost their usefulness.   

The solution to most of life's problems is cookies.  The solution to the rest of them is soup.

For some time now I have had this pumpkin soup recipe on my ever-growing recipes-to-try list.  It peaked my interest, because unlike most gourd-based soup recipes, this soup is actually baked inside the pumpkin.

Our pumpkins need to be cleaned and gutted before we fill them with all sorts of deliciousness.  Creamy goat cheese, crisp apples, fresh thyme, onions, salt, chicken broth, butter and cream combine to form the base of this rich bisque. 

The pumpkins are baked until the flesh is tender, then the sides are gently scraped to remove the soft, flavorful meat.  An immersion blender is very helpful at this point because it allows us to puree the pumpkin directly into that rich, flavorful broth we have created. 

You may choose to ladle the soup into individual bowls, or serve it in its more natural vessel.  Either way, the flavors of the season will fill your senses.  

This is the last stand for these final fruits of autumn, and it’s a beautifully flavorful one.

Sincerely, 

Pedantic Foodie

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Roasted Pumpkin Soup

recipe slightly adapted from Alton Brown / serves 4

• 1 whole medium pumpkin (4 lbs) or two smaller pumpkins (1.5-2 lbs)* 
• 2 teaspoons olive oil 
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/2 small sweet onion, diced 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 small apple (any crisp, sweet variety will do) peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4 inch cubes 
• 1 cup chicken broth 
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 ounces chevre 
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

Use a sharp knife to cut a lid out of your pumpkin(s).  Cut around the stem at an angle to form an opening several inches wide.  Use a heavy spoon to scrape away the seeds and fibers from the inside of the pumpkin.  Be thorough with this step, as you do not want stringy pumpkin floating around in your soup.  Grease a large, high-sided, oven-safe dish with olive oil and place pumpkins inside. 

Fill the pumpkin(s) with butter, diced onion, salt, garlic, apples, chicken broth and heavy cream.  If you are working with two pumpkins, divide the ingredients evenly between the two.  Cap each pumpkin with its lid and brush with olive oil.  Bake for 1-1/2 hours, depending on the size of your pumpkin(s).  Remove when the skin has begun to deepen in color and the flesh is fairly tender when poked with a fork, but not fully cooked. 

Remove the lid(s) and add thyme and chèvre.  Return to the oven and bake for an additional 30 minutes, then allow to cool for 10-15 minutes.  

Use a large spoon to gently scrape some of the pumpkin flesh into the soup mixture.  Be careful here!  You want the walls of the pumpkin to stay intact.  Do not scrape away all of the flesh, otherwise the pumpkin could collapse.  Use an immersion blender to puree the soup until smooth, being careful to not blend too close to the sides or bottom of the pumpkin, as the blender could tear the skin. 

Serve immediately.  Enjoy! 

*Unfortunately, not every pumpkin on your mantle or dinning room table will make for a toothsome soup.  The large, tough pumpkins you would use for carving are not ideal for cooking.  However, Sugar Pie pumpkins or even Cinderella pumpkins are both just as appealing to the eye as they are to the palate.