Bobby Flay's Pumpkin Bread with Spicy Caramel Apple Sauce

Is there any ingredient inspired more by autumn than pumpkin? I don't think so! I really wanted to get into the October spirit and bake with it. So I was thrilled to find this pumpkin loaf recipe in the recently published Bar Americain Cookbook written by Bobby Flay and published by Random House of Canada. It was the perfect place to start putting this Iron Chef's recipes through my test kitchen.

PUMPKIN BREAD



Whisk together 1 3/4 cups flour, 1/2 tsp fine salt, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg, 1/4 tsp ground allspice and 1/4 tsp ground cloves.



Chef Flay uses a mixer but I know many people do not have one but will want to try the recipe so I made it by hand.

Cream together 4 tbsp unsalted softened butter with 1 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 cup vegetable oil. Add in 1 cup canned pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling.

One at a time, add two eggs, mixing until just incorporated.



Measure out 2/3 cup water. Take turns adding some water, stir. Add some dry ingredients, stir... Making sure to end with the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.



Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake in a preheated 350F oven, from 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes. Mine took 1 hour exactly. I did the toothpick test and it came out clean.



Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely.

SPICY CARAMEL APPLE SAUCE

While the bread was cooling I made the sauce.



Combine 1 cup heavy cream, 1/2 cup apple juice, 1 star anise, 1 1" piece of chopped peeled fresh ginger, 4 cloves, 2 cinnamon sticks and 1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg in a small sauce pan. Bring to a simmer then remove from heat and let steep for 20 minutes.



Strain into another small clean saucepan and keep on low heat.



Combine 1 1/2 cup sugar with 1/2 cup water and 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar in a medium saucepan over high heat. Cook without stirring for around 8 to 10 minutes until it turns a deep amber. Bobby was right on, this was eight minutes into the cooking time, nice!



Slowly and very carefully whisk in the warm cream mixture a little at a time, whisking until smooth. Warning, it will bubble up on you so use the longest whisk you have. You were supposed to add 1 tbsp of apple schnapps which I did not have so I added brandy instead. Cook 30 seconds longer.



Transfer to a bowl and keep warm. At this point I was a little worried, the sauce looked so thin!



I sliced a piece for me and Reg and added the caramel sauce to it for a treat after dinner. Was it Iron Chef worthy? Holy cow was it ever! I mean seriously, that is the moistest most flavourful loaf I have ever had and the sauce, although a tad thin, was a spicy elixir that worked perfectly with this heavenly treat.



Of course I am in the Halloween spirit at this time of year so I got out one of my cookie cutters and cut the loaf into the shape of a pumpkin. Not to worry, I did not waste a morsel. I happily snacked on the rest of it as I set up this shot.



Nothing like a stunning caramel sauce to take an October treat over the edge!



Stunning. Absolutely stunning. What a gorgeous, delicious treat that would be perfect for either Halloween or Thanksgiving or for any day ever. We both loved it. So moist, deep and beautiful. You could make this without the caramel sauce and it would actually be a very tasty healthy-er treat than most but I will indulge in the addition of the sauce. Which is good because the recipe makes 2 cups of it!

If you are looking for a dessert to make that celebrates fall, make this pumpkin bread. The pumpkin flavour is subtle and the loaf actually ends up tasting like the best gingerbread I have ever had which is such a treat. Much easier and faster than making a pie, this is a great Thanksgiving dessert idea for the new-er baker. People will love it and get a kick out of the fact that you made an Iron Chef recipe.

I give this recipe five out of five wooden spoons.

If you want to print this recipe out, click the Print Friendly button just below the post and make sure to select the option to print without photos.

Product Review: Three Farmers Camelina Oil

I have spent a lot of time putting Three Farmers Camelina Oil through my test kitchen. An oil made from an ancient oilseed originating in Northern Europe and Central Asia now being grown and pressed by Canadian farmers? I just had to try it.



An oil that is full of Omega-3 & 6 is best used at room temperature if you want the healing benefits so I used it as an olive oil replacement in my roasted garlic hummus.



Normally when I make this hummus, Reg is all over it and can not stop eating it. He had a couple of bites and stopped. I had some and wondered if I had messed up the recipe. It just did not taste the same. It was OK but the oil clearly changed the flavour.



This truly puzzled me. The more time I spent with this oil, the more the scent of it started to bother me. I barely have a sense of smell so this was a new phenomenon for me. I have to strongly disagree with the press release. It is not light. Its fragrance is strong and very earthy.

 

Next I used it again as an olive oil replacement in our favourite salad dressings. The first one was the sundried tomato and garlic dressing I make for spinach salads. Thankfully there was so much garlic in it that the smell was almost masked. Almost.

The next time I wanted to test it with Reg again (the aforementioned dressing is way too potent for Reg!) so I made his favourite salad dressing with just balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, honey and the oil. Reg said, "It smells green!" It also tasted green. Really green. The smell and flavour change did not bother Reg but it bothered me.



OK fine! Salad dressings are out when it comes to this oil for me so let's test it as a cooking oil with a high smoke point. I used it to make my Beef, Black Beans and Rice dish, a dinner I have been making for over a decade. It tasted the same. Now there are loads of strong ingredients in that dish but I was happy that I could cook with it.

Then a few nights ago I made my spicy noodles. It tasted completely different! Damn it!



I have no doubt that Three Farmers Camelina Oil is a high quality cold-pressed stable oil, chock full of super healthy elements that are good for me. I want to like it but can not get over the smell or how it changes the flavour of food. So weird because Reg and our friend Jen had no issues with the smell at all. It appears to just be me!

It changed the flavour of food a lot and really infused with it. If you like earthy fragrances to your salads and dishes, you will LOVE this oil! This will absolutely be the oil that you are looking for. Sadly, it just is not the oil for me. And I know I will be missing out. Stupid nose and tastebuds!

You can find Three Farmers Camelina Oil in these retail stores and online here.

How I almost ruined Chuck Hughes' butternut squash gnocchi

Yes, they look lovely don't they? Beautiful butternut squash gnocchi tossed in an oil and thyme infusion sprinkled with lots of freshly grated Parmesan cheese... Bliss!

Except, it was not exactly easy and it was entirely all my fault. Chuck's recipe was perfect. Totally my bad.



See there some recipes that are easy to divide in half which, as you know, I do all the time. This ended up not being one of those recipes. Remember how I made those Martha Stewart squash leaf canapes a while ago to celebrate fall? I used the top half of the squash for that recipe and then slow roasted the bottom half for this one.

In a food processor I added the roasted squash without the skins or seeds, 2 tbsp of olive oil, 1 beaten egg, 1/2 tsp of salt and 1 cup of flour.



The dough was way too wet! I mean it was just gloop. So I added at least 1/4 cup more flour. Chuck does say I might need more and he was right. I whizzed it up. Still gloop. So I added more.



It was supposed to be a soft texture but woah, I mean, so wet! As a result I completely covered it with flour so I could work with it.



I did manage to roll out the dough into a long 2 cm-wide strip and cut into 2 cm long pieces. Phew!



I put them on a well-floured baking tray but should have also used parchment. How could I have forgotten the parchment?

Chuck cooks his right away which I was going to do. I like to have my gnocchi with a sage butter which would go perfectly with the butternut but my sage had gone bad. I decided to just put the tray in my freezer until the next time I went to the store and picked some up.

I went and they did not have any! I picked up some thyme instead and decided to get a lot more groceries. I had put the tray in the fridge to slightly thaw but did not realize that some of my groceries were going to fall on top of the gnocchi. And flatten them! Turned them into a giant flat piece of pasta.

You can tell I was in a panic because I did not even photograph it! I tried to loosely shape each one into something that kind of resembled gnocchi and once again, put them on a floured parchment-free (damn it!) baking sheet and froze them.



Here they are mostly thawed. Not as pretty as they used to be but hopefully edible!



I added them to salted boiling water and in just a couple of minutes they started to float and were ready.



I added the fresh chopped thyme to some olive oil and melted butter for the sauce.



I tossed the gnocchi with the sauce and they ended up looking quite cute! But, they were under seasoned. Sigh...



Good thing that I had frozen some of the original gnocchi separately so I could try again and get some pretty photos and have them perfectly seasoned.



Woot! I did it! I added more Parmesan, salt and pepper and these were absolutely perfect. Nice and sweet from the butternut squash juxtaposed with the salty edge of Parm, finally, a home run.

I can not tell you how tempted I was to throw out the gnocchi dough, figuring it was over. I had ruined it. Which, technically I had but I made it work. Unlike a lot of things in life, food can be forgiving. There are creative ways to fix a disaster. Just don't give up! And yes, I am also speaking to myself.

Taste of Home's Halloween Gelatin Cutouts

It is that time of year! Halloween foodie posts have officially begun! We start with a classic by Taste of Home with their Halloween gelatin cutouts.

I was a bit wary of starting this exciting foodie time of year with a gelatin project after last year's disaster but the only way to get over past mistakes is to be fearless in the kitchen.



I made half the recipe but will write it up here in full for you. You will need two large bowls. One for 4 packages of orange gelatin (3 oz each) and one for 4 packages of grape gelatin (3 oz each).

Boil five cups of water. Add half to one bowl and half to the other. Dissolve gelatin and set aside for 30 minutes.



In a large bowl whisk together 2 packages of vanilla pudding mix (3.4 oz each) with 2 cups of cold milk for 1 minute.



Quickly pour half into each bowl of gelatin and whisk until blended.



Pour the gelatin into two separate 13" x 9" dishes really coated with cooking spray. I used a loaf pan since I divided the recipe in half and wanted the height. Chill for 3 hours in the fridge.



This was the part I was worried about. Would they come out in one piece or fall apart?



Thankfully they came out perfectly! What a relief...

Put them on a decorative plate.



Put the plate on a spooky surface. I put mine on top of a spider web tray.



The moment of truth my newsletter readers have been waiting for. How did they taste?

Gross!!!

Weird!!!

Not... good...

Darn it! Yes, they look great and were easy to make but the vanilla pudding made them quite blech, for lack of a better word. A visual home run but a flavour reject if you ask me. Now kids might not care, they are cute and cool and giggly but I can not in good foodie conscience recommend these odd treats.

I will try another version that Reg recommended to me soon! Let me know if you have a Halloween recipe you love or would love to try. I need inspiration!

Tyler's Better Buttermilk Biscuits with Thyme & Cheddar

In Canada, Thanksgiving is literally around the corner. It sneaks up on me every year! As usual, I do not feel ready to celebrate next weekend.

What would Thanksgiving be without delicious homemade biscuits? Actually, it would have been our house a few years ago before I learned how to bake. I used to get those rolls out of a tin and ate them quite happily.

Do yourself a favour and this year for Thanksgiving make my version of Tyler Florence's buttermilk biscuits. Here is how you make them!



In a bowl combine 2 cups flour, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, 2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp baking soda. Cut in 1/2 cup of cold unsalted butter that has been cut into cubes. I like to use a pastry cutter but you can use knives. You want the butter to end up looking like coarse crumbs.

Add 3/4 cup buttermilk and quickly fold everything together with your hands. The dough should be sticky. If it is too dry, add more buttermilk (which I did).



I also added some chopped up fresh thyme and grated old cheddar cheese to the mix before bringing everything together.



Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and gently fold over a few times to create layers. So smart!



Roll until 3/4" thick. Tyler uses a 3" biscuit cutter which I thought was quite big. I wanted smaller cuter biscuits so I used my 2" biscuit cutter which also ensured I had more.



Put biscuits on a parchment-lined baking sheet and brush with melted butter. Bake in a preheated 400F oven and bake until golden brown. If your biscuits are 3" you will need to bake for around 15 minutes. Mine took more like 11 minutes.



I took them out when they were just starting to get golden, just the way I like them. You could see the layers in the dough and I loved seeing the fleck of thyme and the orange hue from the cheddar.



I put the biscuits in a pretty little basket and took them to a family event and they were a big hit with everyone. Making them smaller ensured little ones could easily eat them too and this way everyone could have at least one.

So flaky and flavourful, these really are the perfect holiday biscuit for Thanksgiving this year. At least I have one recipe for the holidays that has passed the Suzie the Foodie test with flying colours.