1. Vibrant Food: Celebrating the Ingredients, Recipes, and Colors of Each Season by Kimberly Hasselbrink. 2. MATCH pewter gravy boat. 3. Herend Chinese Bouquet Rust Dinner Plate. 4. Caspari Place Cards, featuring Scalamandre, Elsie de Wolfe 5. Leontine Linens, Malcolm Embroidered linen napkins. 6. Vagabond House, Pewter Corn napkin ring. 7. Sarah’s favorite pecan pie recipe (see below). 8. Sandy’s favorite soup in a pumpkin recipe (see below).
Butternut Pear Soup
1 Butternut Squash (peeled)
4 Ripe Pears (cored)
1 Large Onion
Cube and roast. 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes (with olive oil and salt) until fork tender
Puree with:
4 C (960 ml) Vegetable Broth
½ C (140 g) Greek Yogurt
½ t Curry powder
½ t Cinnamon
½ t Ground Ginger
½ t Nutmeg
Blend in batches, then simmer all for 10 minutes.
Recipe by Erin Gleeson, The Forest Feast
How to Make Mini Pumpkin Soup Bowls:
1. You’ll need miniature pumpkins (about 6 inches in diameter), olive oil, salt and pepper. The cooking equipment you’ll need includes a paring knife, a pastry or basting brush, a sheet pan and a serrated grapefruit spoon or a regular table spoon. To begin, preheat the oven to 350˚F. Wash and dry the pumpkins, then cut the tops off each pumpkin as if you’re carving a jack o’ lantern.
2. Pull the tops off the pumpkins and discard them.
3. Using a serrated grapefruit spoon or a regular spoon, scoop the pulp and seeds out of the pumpkins, scraping as much of the pulp as possible off the inside of the pumpkins. If necessary, use the grapefruit spoon or a paring knife to cut away the inside of the pumpkin in order to make the opening a little larger.
4. Brush the inside of the pumpkins lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
5. Place the pumpkin bowls on a sheet pan and bake at 350˚F for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the inside flesh of the pumpkin bowl is tender when pierced with a fork. Let the pumpkin bowls cool slightly before filling them with soup. The inside flesh of the bowls is edible.
Bourbon Pecan Pie
Piecrust
Yield: two 9-inch crusts
Ingredients:
1 2/3 cup of all-purpose flour mixed with ¾ tsp. kosher salt
2/3 cup lard
¾ tsp. white vinegar
1 small egg
Water
Preparation:
Place flour and salt in bowl, and cut in lard until mixture resemble small peas. In a Pyrex measuring cup, combine vinegar and egg and add water to make 1/3 cup liquid. Slowly add liquid to the flour mixture, forming dough. Do not overwork. Remove from bowl, halve, and pat into disks. If not using immediately, cover in plastic wrap and chill.
Bourbon Pecan Pie Filling
Yield: fills one 9-inch crust
Roll out one dour disk and fit in 9-inch pie pan, crimping edges.
Ingredients:
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ cups dark corn syrup
½ tsp. kosher salt
1 ½ tsp. all-purpose flour
3 large eggs
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. bourbon
1 ½ tbsp. melted sweet butter
1 ¾ cups pecans
Preparation:
Using a hand mixer, combine sugar, syrup, salt, flour, and eggs, mixing well. Stir in remaining ingredients and pour into unbaked pie shell.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes (a toothpick inserted in center should come out relatively clean). Remove from oven and place on cooling rack, allowing pie to rest for 2 to 3 hours to set.
Recipe by Hilary White, featured in Garden and Gun Magazine.
Featured Image: Lexie Armstrong Watercolors Turkey place cards.
“Gobble until you wobble.”