Monthly Archive for January, 2011

Pantry pumpkin soup

Published by Cam on January 28, 2011 in Recipes. 0 Comments

Yesterday I made pumpkin soup.

1 red onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
some sort of oil (I used a lightly-flavored olive oil)
1 medium-sized cooking pumpkin, peeled and seeded and chunked
1-2 tsp “better than bouillon” (vegetable) dissolved in a little water
1 tsp tamarind concentrate
~2 tsp hot pepper flakes or to taste

Saute the onion in oil until almost translucent, then add the garlic and saute a little longer. Add the pumpkin, bouillon, and enough water to cover (or use that much good vegetable broth), and simmer until the pumpkin is soft. Puree everything and return it to the pot. Take 1/4 cup or so and mix it in a measuring up with the tamarind paste, then add that back to the pot in batches, stirring it in and tasting as you go. Add hot pepper and simmer until the flavors blend.

This’d be nice with some coconut milk. I might try a little star anise in it, maybe some basil if I had any.

Baked oatmeal

Published by Cam on January 18, 2011 in Recipes. 0 Comments Tags: .

I have a gig this week that has me waking up in the cold, dark winter morning hours, and that means that breakfast is an issue. I’m too groggy and rushed and grouchy to make a good hot breakfast from scratch, but I really want something warm on these mornings. And hot instant cereal? I guess that’s not terrible, but… bleh.

This winter I’ve learned that a good strategy for me is to bake a big batch of steel-cut oats early in the week and then keep on scooping ‘em out and reheating them. It’s amazingly simple. The basic idea comes from Giver’s Log, courtesy of somebody on Metafilter.

It’s almost not a recipe: take a rounded cup of steel-cut oats and put it in a big oven-safe pot with three cups of water, one cup of milk, and a pinch of salt. Bake at 300, uncovered, for 1.5 hours, then cover it for the last half hour or so. You’ll wing it a little bit with covering and uncovering, baking it for more or less time, depending on how saucy you like your oatmeal.

This makes 3 or 4 days’ worth of oatmeal at once, and it can chill in the fridge for about a week. To reheat, I like to plop a chunk of it into a small saucepan with a little boiling water (leftover from coffee-making) and break it up with a fork. It’ll take a few minutes to warm up and become creamy.

I like to have it with ground flax seed, chopped dried peaches, and brown sugar. If I’m feeling fancy — by which I mean “awake”, really — I might grate a little nutmeg in there. It’s delicious — creamy, hot, sweet, filling. Good oatmeal makes waking up seem not so bad after all.