Tomatoes fresh, tomatoes canned, and some pumpkins too

Before waxing rhapsodic about tomatoes and pumpkins, I first want to say thank you to all who wrote here, on Facebook, via email and via text in response to yesterday's post, Time's Determined March. Any writer who feels her words resonate with and impact others is fulfilled, and my heart is full and appreciative today.

Now, food. I was en fuego yesterday, y'all. Pumpkin puree, roasted pumpkin seeds, tomato and white bean soup, roasted tomato jam, chocolate chip banana bread...and scene.

Pumpkins

Let's begin with the pumpkin puree and seeds as those are both shockingly simple, and pumpkins are just showing their happy autumnal selves at area markets.

I like to make pumpkin puree -for cheesecakes, breads, pies, ice cream, muffins; anything you'd otherwise use canned pumpkin for- from sugar pie pumpkins. These are exceedingly round, bright orange squash that are much smaller than those you'd use to carve jack-o-lanterns from. 

Simply wash each pumpkin, cut it in half and remove the seeds. Rinse the seeds and remove any chunks of pumpkin flesh. Set them aside if you want to roast them, or discard/compost. Place the pumpkin halves cut-side down on a rimmed baking sheet and roasted in a 385° or 400° Fahrenheit oven until the flesh is soft and easily pierced with a knife; there should be NO resistance. 

Once cooked, let the pumpkin cool before scooping out the flesh and putting it through a food mill. This will remove any seeds you didn't remove before as well as any overly fibrous flesh. I then portion out and freeze the puree in one-cup increments. 

Later, I roasted the seeds I'd cleaned and reserved but learned something new as I prepped. Boil the seeds in salted water before roasting them in the oven. This ensures that the salt seasons both the interior seed as well as the exterior shell. Thank you, Elise Bauer, for sharing your  mother's wisdom.

Tomatoes fresh, tomatoes canned

Before tomato season calls it quits, I wanted to make one last batch of roasted tomato jam, so I bought three pounds of beefsteaks and got busy. This recipe, from Amanda Hesser, is really spectacular. I love the slight pepper kick and the cinnamon and fennel seed undertones, all of which deliciously buttress the sweet tomato base.

roasted tomato jam

Meanwhile, I was in the mood for tomato soup and so used some wonderful canned tomatoes that I put up over the summer to make the tomato-white bean soup that my whole family loves. It's a recipe I've developed over time, and I think it's now pretty perfect. Saffron, basil, peperoncino, shallots, garlic, lemon zest and an all-important Pecorino (or Parmesan) rind stew together magically with tomatoes and white beans. The recipe is now posted in Soups.

a pumpkin pot for tomato soup

It's a one-pot vegetarian meal that won't take more than forty-five minutes. Make some grilled cheese sandwiches or toast some bread for the side, and you'll be in heaven. 

tomato and white bean soup

Pumpkin-prune bread

Isn't this pretty? And this little one is too cute! If you are or know anyone who is pregnant, if you've got little ones running around, or if this just sounds good to you, this bread makes a great treat. It's full of iron, fiber, folate and omega-3s, amongst other goodies, because of the pumpkin, prunes, wheat germ, walnuts, whole wheat flour, spices and egg it contains. There is no oil or butter to be found, yet it's moist as can be! It freezes well, toasts up nicely the day after it's made and can easily be made egg- and nut-free.

Chard goopiness was great, and so forth

I really enjoyed the panade last night. Although nothing this goopy and cheesy tends to photograph terribly well, this photo gives you the idea of the dish: an unctuous chard and onion mixture interspersed with pan-fried bread and Gruyère. Yum! I always like a dish that feels healthy even when it's not quite there. Whatever virtue the panade had, I pretty much cancelled with the amount of white wine I imbibed, but alas. Yesterday deserved to be finished with a bang. And I learned, via a hip friend -go KP, go!- a fun new phrase: in my cups. Not even KP's husband knew what this meant, so I don't think my ignorance of it means I'm that out of the loop, but it means 'drunk.' Like, "wow, after that last one, I'm in my cups." I headed straight to the gym this morning after dropping Jack off to sweat away the remaining remnants of cup'iness.

Today I'm going to make some pumpkin-prune bread for a friend who's preggers and do something with some gorgeous turkey cutlets I picked up at the FM (farmers market) recently. Need to use more asparagus too!