Modern Mezze Menu: Smashing Pumpkins (literally)

Shot by Riley Ziesig

I was shopping at the Greene Grape one afternoon and their display of Fall pumpkins were gorgeous. I've only known pumpkin at the extremes, as a thing you put on your porch or magically appearing in a pie. The in-between part of actually cooking pumpkin eluded me, what, with canned pumpkin available where I grew up? Never really had the opportunity to get my hands on one outside of Halloween!

The most genius (and most simple) idea of cooking this pumpkin came from the Greene Grape signage. A small note next to the pumpkins said, "Smash it on the ground and roast it!"

Yes, you can totally do that. And I'm going to make this joke.

Take any baking pumpkin and wash it. You don't want to get any dirt on the outside to get on the inside. Put it in a paper bag, roll up the excess end and wrap that in a plastic shopping bag. Tie it closed. Ascend to the top of the stairs of your house or if you're in an apartment like me, the top rung of a step-ladder. Laugh a little at the situation, it's part of the recipe.

Make sure the floor is clear. Warn all roommates, housemates, toddlers, and pets that you will be lobbing a pumpkin with some might and force at the ground below. Confirm that you will be throwing the pumpkin stem side up, I don't want you all complaining to me about scuffing your wood floor after this. Don't just drop the pumpkin, throw it. I had to do this twice because I am a small human with little strength.

Open up the bag and check that you actually broke the pumpkin into manageable pieces as big as your hand. It will be impossible (and scary) if they broke into exactly the same size -- pics if that happens! -- but make sure the collective pieces will fit in a pan in your oven.

I love how the pumpkin looks broken up like this and not sliced in unnatural uniform pieces. The divots are ideal for holding dips for your fancy crudités platter!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Scoop out the seeds and save them for roasting if you wish. Use a spoon to remove the pulp or use your hands if you don't mind the barbarism. Place the pumpkin in an oven-safe roasting pan in and drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Do not let any pieces overlap, single layer please! Roast for 45 minutes or until the pumpkin is fork tender. 

While you wait, prepare a sauce, pesto or dip. I like this pistachio tapenade from Smitten Kitchen.

Once the pumpkin is roasted, let it cool so it's easier to handle and you don't mess up the cute cup shapes. Spoon in your favorite dip and enjoy as a vegetarian main or impressive shared side dish!

Did you smash a pumpkin? I wanna see. Tweet me @Randwiches or tag me on Instagram.

You Know You Want Fresh Mozzarella Salad for Breakfast

As seen on on FeedFeed!

As much as I love frying eggs to a crispy and dipping various meats and toast into runny yolk, I start to feel like my insides are lined with grease. Salad for breakfast sounds like a pretty radical idea but it's easy to convince anyone when there is a large slab of fresh cheese involved.  

Sometimes on my way to work, I stop by the Union Square  Farmer's Market. It was a gorgeous May day and celtuce was in season. I was unaware at the time but there is a whole root vegetable that was attached to these bitter greens. I also found a fresh ball of mozzarella at the Central Valley Farm stand. It is lightly salted and very delicate, cracking into familiar yellow curds when you cut it.  I threw my finds together in a salad, but I think you can swap out the cheese for any fresh varieties like ricotta, burrata or oaxaca.

You'll need:
1 fresh mozzarella ball, sliced thick 1 bunch of celtuce 4-5 garlic chives Olive oil Maldon salt	Broccoli flowers Mache flowers* Balsamic vinegar *Substitute with any flowering herb like thyme or microgreens like radish.

Cut the mozzarella into four thick discs, slicing horizontally. Place a piece of cheese on a bed of celtuce greens. Layer on the flowers and garlic chives before sprinkling the Maldon, olive oil and balsamic to your liking. 

If you're prepping ahead of time to serve, plate the salad without dressing and drizzle on when you're ready to eat. Serves 4 as an appetizer.

Do you like breakfast salad? Tell me about yours by tweeting @Randwiches.

See How We Smoked the Competition at the Brooklyn Chili Takedown

I had to talk Jeff out of soaking the beans with wood chips. He was on a smoke kick. He wanted every ingredient to be smokey for the then upcoming Brooklyn Chili Takedown. It was going to be tricky. We both were traveling on family business the two weeks prior to the contest, so we started three weeks early. Charred leeks? Nah. What kind of beans? Something new! This would be better if we had a smoker...

We landed on a recipe we were ecstatic to share and dubbed it THE SMOKEMONSTER (yup, from LOST). Also, not sorry that I made this dumb video:

Beans take forever. That is my only takeaway from this. If you don't have a smoker, you can dry the tasso in the oven on low, the door held open with a wooden spoon.

Things you'll need:
1 pack of Roman beans 1 jar of Pepperoncini (de-stem, chop and keep juice) 1 can of peeled tomatoes 1 onion, chopped 2 jalapenos, stemmed and chopped 1 chile de arbol, soaked in hot water 1 guajillo pepper, soaked in hot water	2 lbs of boneless pork shoulder Allspice White pepper Kosher salt Slow cooker Smoker (optional)

"I want everything to be smokey" Jeff said again. 

I broke down each component in a Google Doc. How can we infuse smokiness in every single level of our competition chili? It had to start with our protein. Been a while since we cured anything, so I headed straight to my copy of Charcuterie. The recipe for tasso ham sang out at us and we had to test it. 

When we took it out of the fridge from the cure and dusted it with the rub before the smoker....

After the smoker!

Basically you make a curing salt rub and leave the meat in the fridge for a day. You rinse it and coat it in a thick rub consisting mostly of allspice. It goes into a smoker and then you can dice it up for any gumbo or in our case, chili. The only real modifications we made were in the rub, where we put in a diluted mix of ghost pepper powder and breadcrumbs.

We were lucky enough to have access to the smoker at Montana’s Trail House in Bushwick (thanks Nate!). If you don’t have a smoker, don’t worry, you can still accomplish stellar tasso in an oven on the lowest setting with a wooden spoon propping the door open.

The test beans! 

Our final beans.

When we tested 6 types of beans, our hands down favorite was the Roman variety (better known as the cranberry bean). It is very similar to a pinto bean but this Italian strain has a thicker skin. We liked that it didn’t disintegrate after long hours of cooking and still had a chewy yield.

Our beans were soaked overnight and rinsed. Don’t ever cook beans in the soaking liquid because it includes the indigestible sugars that makes you toot toot. But if you value flavor over gaseous comfort, by all means!

We threw the beans into the slow cooker with a can of whole peeled tomatoes, a whole jar of pepperoncinis (juice and all) and water to cover. As they were finishing, I charred the onion and jalapeños in the broiler, mashed those up and stirred that into the beans. Took the chile de arbol and guajillo, took their stems off and pureed them. Mixed that into the beans, too.

For competition day, I diced the tasso and tossed them in sugar for a quick broil before throwing them at the last minute into our chili. Usually I would advocate for putting the tasso into the beans right away to meld together, but I knew we’d have at least 2 hours of standing heat at the venue. 

We ended up getting 2nd place, people's choice! Hooray!

Would you like us to make you a batch for your party? Let us know.

Zupa Ogórkowa, an Unbelievably Cozy Polish Pickle Soup

If you hang around Greenpoint, Brooklyn long enough-- you’re bound to sample the local Polish fare. A highlight my friends have always told me to try is the pickle soup at Karczma.

Fear not! It is actually very cozy and not too vinegary. When you cook the brine long enough, the acid mellows out much like Filpino adobo or French gastrique. I’ve also read that to balance out a soup that is too sour, simply add a potato. Since we’ve already got both simmering in harmony, your pickle jar dregs will have a home this winter.

Things you will need : 1 medium carrot 1 small onion 2 medium kosher pickles 1 quart of vegetable broth 1 bay leaf 1 swig of your preferred saute oil 4 small white potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 scoop of labneh (here's how to make it!) A bit of washed dill 1 cup of vinegar slaw (optional) 1 saute pan 1 soup pot ladle Bowl(s) and spoon(s) Salt and pepper to your liking

I started this batch with matchstick'd carrots, onions and a leftover tub of vinegar slaw in a pan. Once these vegetables are sauteed and the onions a little brown, add to a pot of broth with bay leaf and chopped potatoes. Bring up to a boil and then lower to simmer.

While the soup base is coming up to a boil, chop up your pickles! You’d be surprised how well it works in soup. This is also an amazing way to clean up all those pickle jars in your fridge. If you've got other pickled things, TRY THEM. I bet beets would make this soup look really cool.

Many recipes you will find for this soup will tell you to stir in sour cream before serving. I thought I could add another texture by substituting the sour cream with yogurt—even further then, labneh smeared on the bottom of the bowl !

Once the potatoes are fork tender, finish the soup with the chopped pickles and ripped up dill.

It's not quite the same because we're not using pork or beef broth but it is hearty enough to keep the skinniest vegetarian warm this season. Try it with some toast or top it with a pierogi!

Did you try this? Let me know by tagging @Randwiches on Instagram, Twitter or Tumblr.