pear & rosemary bourbon cocktail

A lot of fall and winter cocktails and drinks seem to track toward the soporific - either really rich and creamy, like eggnog and or the warm and cosy like hot toddies, mulled wine and boozy hot chocolates. I’m not opposed to these drinks - they are all amazing in the right context (like when you can take a long afternoon nap directly afterward) but they can be a little overwhelming sometimes. I wanted to make an autumnal cocktail that didn’t feel quite so coma-inducing.

This cocktail has all kinds of fall flavour - crisp pears, earthy-malty whiskey, savoury rosemary and a bit of tart lemon to pep everything up. It’s cosy and soothing, but not sleep inducing. You could even have one before dinner if you are celebrating Thanksgiving today. It won’t take up to much room, so you can still have turkey, stuffing and pie. Happy Thanksgiving!

pear & rosemary cocktail:

• ⅓ cup pear juice or nectar

• 2 sprigs rosemary (plus a few for garnish)

• ⅓ cup sugar

• ⅓ cup water

• ½ a medium pear, roughly chopped (save the other half to slice for garnish)

• 4 ounces bourbon/ Tennessee whiskey

• 2 ounces lemon juice

• soda water

Combine pear juice, 2 sprigs rosemary, sugar, water and chopped pear in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a low simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and strain out solids. Chill in the fridge until cool.

Combine pear and rosemary syrup with lemon juice and whiskey, stir to combine. Serve between 4 glasses and top them up with a splash of soda water. Serve garnished with a sprig of rosemary and a slice of pear.

pumpkin soup

I have learned that soup, and lots of it, is the key to a calmer, more organized, Konmari-ish and just generally better life. Specifically, making lots of soup and keeping it in the freezer is the trick. There is an incredible soothing effect from having a filling, healthy meal always ready to go in about 10 minutes. Plus, they are pretty inexpensive and you can feel really smug about getting lots of vegetables. 

Especially as the holidays bear down upon us all like a huge, looming, twinkling thing - soup in the freezer is the way to stability. If you can manage to make more than one type and freeze both, so you have soup variety in your life, you level up. Might I recommend tortellini chicken soup, roasted tomato or cream of mushroom to add some variety? 

This soup is a great way to use up any straggler pumpkins left over from Halloween. If you have one hanging around, hurry up and use i or you might get an unfortunate liquefied pumpkin ooze mess, as I did this year. You can also use butternut, kabocha or any similar squash, or a mix. 

pumpkin soup:

• about 2 pound pumpkin

• grapeseed or vegetable oil

• 3 cloves garlic, smashed with the flat of a knife

• 1 shallot, quartered

• 1 tsp ground coriander seed

• 2 tsp ground cumin

• 1 tsp chili flakes

• salt and pepper

• 3 cups chicken stock

• 1/2 cup heavy cream

• fresh cilantro and limes to serve

Heat oven to 400°.  Halve the pumpkins and scoop out seeds and stringy pumpkin intestines.  Brush with oil and sprinkle salt and pepper all over the flesh. Roast skin side down until flesh is very tender, about 1 hour. Let cool until the pumpkin isn't too hot to touch and peel off the skin. Set pumpkin flesh aside. 

In a large stock pot, sauté the garlic and shallots in 2 tbs oil. When the garlic and shallot are soft and starting to colour, add the cumin and coriander seed, and sauté a couple more minutes, until the spices are very fragrant. Add chicken stock and pumpkin. Blitz with an immersion blender or in a food processor until very smooth. Return to low heat and add cream and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with some fresh cilantro and a squeeze of lime. Freeze in single serve portions and rejoice. 

Pumpkin magic. Bibbity bobbity boo.

garlicky roasted tomato soup

I'm on a big soup tear. My goal for the fall and winter is to always have soup in the freezer, ready to go for toasty, hearty meals. It's super comforting to know that if I'm too tired to make dinner, I can just thaw out a soup and eat in ten minutes. It also helps me resist the siren call of take out to know that there is something tasty and healthy (or healthyish at least) in the freezer. 

This tomato soup has been in heavy rotation in the soup rota so far. It's perfect with a grilled cheese sandwich or a flaky cheese biscuit, both of which should be dunked into soup for an optimal dining experience. It freezes beautifully, so you can make a double batch and freeze it for your hunger emergencies. Don't worry about that large amount of garlic here, roasting it with the tomatoes makes it mellow, earthy and sweet and not at all sharp. You can cut it down if you really want to, but I wouldn't. I would add more, even. You almost certainly aren't eating enough garlic, unless you have an acute vampire-phobia.

garlicky roasted tomato soup: 

• 2 pounds of the nicest tomatoes you can find, halved or quartered
• one whole bulb of garlic, peeled
• 2 shallots, quartered
• a glug of olive oil for roasting 
• salt and pepper
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2/3 cup cream
• basil for garnish

Roast the tomatoes, garlic and shallots, tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper,  at 425° until the vegetables are softened and caramelized, about 25 minutes. 

Combine roasted tomatoes and garlic with chicken stock and cream and puré in a food processor or with an immersion blender. Heat in a pan over medium heat. Serve with some finely chopped basil and ideally, some hot cheesy biscuits. Fend off those vamps! 

pecan pie

Pumpkin is a vegetable (well technically a fruit, but never mind that) and therefore pumpkin pie is very nearly a salad. That's why Thanksgiving needs another pie, a pie that is definitely not a salad. It needs a sugar pie. Sugar pies are the ones with gooey, caramel-y, custardy filling. They might have nuts, like pecan pie, or raisins like buttertarts, or sometimes they are fairly unadorned, like a chess pie. I love sugar pies, of all types, with and without fillings and topping. They are jiggly and sweet and rich, and just what you need after a huge meal of turkey, stuffing and lots of potatoes. Happy Thanksgiving!

crust: 

adapted from Bon Appetit. Makes twice as much as you need, tightly wrap the unused portion and freeze it for another pie later. 

• ⅓ cup almond flour

• ¼ cup granulated sugar

• 1 big pinch salt

• 2½ cups all-purpose flour

• 1 cup chilled butter, cut into pieces (my butter was not chilled, doesn't seem to matter too much)

• 2 large egg yolks

• 1/4 cup cold water

Combine almond flour, granulated sugar, salt, all-purpose flour and butter in a food processor and pulse until mixture is just combined and has a sandy texture. Combine egg yolks and water and drizzle them over the flour mixture. Pulse until just combined. Add a few drops more water if the dough isn't coming together. 

Dump the dough out onto a large sheet of plastic wrap and squish it into a rectangle. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill for at least two hours.  Roll out chilled dough to about 1/8th inch thick. Transfer to a pie plate and trim excess from around the edges. Crimp edges and put in the freezer until the filling is ready. 

filling: 

adapted from Martha Stewart

• 2 cups pecan halves

• 4 eggs

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

• 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

• 1 cup golden syrup (use dark corn syrup if you like, but golden syrup is nicer)

• 1/2 cup light corn syrup

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine all filling ingredients and stir well until evenly mixed. Pour into chilled crust and bake at 350 degrees, about 50 minutes, or until the center just slightly wobbles when shaken, but the edges are set.