Sweet Potato Pie

This recipe is adapted from Allrecipes.com. Absolutely delicious!

Sweet Potato Pie
Ingredients
1 pound sweet potatoes
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup milk
2 eggs
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 9-inch unbaked pie crust (see our "Best Ever Apple Pie" blog post for crust recipe)

Directions
1. Boil sweet potato whole in skin for 40 to 50 minutes, or until done. Run cold water over the sweet potato, and remove the skin.
2. Break apart sweet potato in a bowl. Add butter, and mix well with mixer. Stir in sugar, milk, eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until mixture is smooth. Pour filling into an unbaked pie crust.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 to 60 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Pie will puff up like a souffle, and then will sink down as it cools.

Pumpkin Cheese Soup Recipe from Elm Tree Organics

Another favorite from Elm Tree Organics! Originally published in the October 9th edition of Lancaster Farming, 2010.

Pumpkin Cheese Soup
Serves 6

Ingredients
4 cups chicken broth
1½ pounds seeded pumpkin (or winter squash), peeled and quartered
1 medium potato, peeled and quartered
¼ teaspoon white pepper
salt, to taste
6 to 8 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated
green pepper, cut in strips for garnish

Directions
In a large saucepan, combine chicken stock, pumpkin, potato, and pepper. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until pumpkin is tender. In a blender, process half or a third at a time until pumpkin is smooth. Return to saucepan. Heat through. Season to taste with salt. Transfer to soup bowls and sprinkle with cheese. Garnish with pepper strips.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

Jeanine from Rockville, MD, submitted the following recipe from the Food Network. She writes, "Here is one I have made twice. It is easy and excellent as well." Thank you, Jeanine!

Curried Butternut Squash Soup
Serves 4

Ingredients
2 halves roasted butternut squash
2 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon curry powder
salt and ground black pepper
*Lime Crema
lime zest, to garnish, if desired

Directions
Scoop flesh out of butternut squash with a spoon. In a medium saucepan, combine broth, flesh of butternut squash, garlic powder, onion powder, curry powder, salt and pepper. Set pot over medium heat and bring to a simmer, about 10 minutes. Puree soup with an immersion blender until smooth. Ladle into bowls. Serve with a dollop of Lime Crema and garnish with extra lime zest, if desired.

*To prepare Lime Crema: In a small bowl, combine ½ cup sour cream, ¼ cup lime zest, and 1 tablespoon lime juice. Whisk to combine.

Pumpkin Bread Recipe from Elm Tree Organics

Eli from Elm Tree Organics sent the following recipe to the LFFC warehouse with his delivery of purple carrots this week! It comes from the October 9th issue of Lancaster Farming. He wrote in the margins that any type of winter squash can be used for this recipe (see Lancaster Farmacy Black Futsu Squash above!), but that some squash are drier than others and may require more water.

Pumpkin Bread
Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients
3 cups sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs
*16-ounce prepared pumpkin (or winter squash)
3½ cups flour
½ teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon allspice
⅔ cup water
1 cup chopped pecans, optional

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix sugar, oil, and eggs. Add prepared pumpkin and mix well. Mix flour and spices and add to pumpkin mixture, mixing until blended. If using pecans, stir them in now. Add water, beat well and pour into two greased 9x5x3-inch loaf pans. Bake in the oven for 1 hour. Test center with a toothpick, which should come out clean. Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack before removing from pan.

*To prepare pumpkin (or winter squash), cut in half and scoop out seeds. Save the seeds to roast in the oven for a tasty snack! Place pumpkin cut side down into a baking dish. Add ½-inch water. Bake in a 450 degree oven until you can pierce the skin with a fork (about 45 minutes to 1 hour). Scoop out flesh with a spoon.

Speckled Hound Squash Coconut Soup

The speckled hound squash in your shares this week come from LFFC member farm Lancaster Farmacy! Casey and Eli, Lancaster Farmacy farmers, wanted to share with you one of their favorite speckled hound squash recipes, adapted from The George Mateljan Foundation for The World's Healthiest Foods (whfoods.org).

Speckled Hound Squash Coconut Soup
Serves 4

Ingredients
1 speckled hound squash, peeled and chopped into ½-inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 tablespoon + 2 to 2¾ cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, grated
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1) Heat 1 tablespoon of broth in a medium soup pot. Sauté onion in broth over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until translucent.
2) Add garlic and ginger, and continue to sauté for another minute. Add turmeric and curry powder, and mix well. Add squash and broth, and mix. Bring to a boil on high heat. Once it comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered until squash is tender, about 10 minutes.
3) Place in blender and blend with coconut milk. Blend until smooth, about 1 minute. Thin with a little broth if needed. Season to taste with salt and white pepper. Reheat and add cilantro.

Torte of Collard Greens and Cheese

Thank to Bruce, a shareholder from Silver Spring, MD, for sharing the following collard greens recipe with us!

Torte of Collard Greens and Cheese
Serves 8

Ingredients
2 bunches collards, stemmed and cut in shreds
½ lb Gruyere cheese, grated
½ lb Asiago or Manchego cheese, grated
4 cloves of garlic, minced or crushed
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped
fresh ground pepper, to taste

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees, and set a large pot of lightly salted water to boil. Blanch collards in boiling water for 10 minutes, then drain well.
2) Mix all ingredients and spread evenly into a 9x9 baking dish. Bake until the cheese on top browns, about 30 to 45 minutes. Serve hot.

Baked Spaghetti Squash

The following recipe, adapted from Vegetarian, edited by Nicola Graimes and published in 1999, is simple to make and tastes delicious! Graimes writes, “Spaghetti squash is unusual vegetable—the flesh separates into long strands when baked. One squash makes an excellent supper for two.”

Baked Spaghetti Squash
Serves 2

Ingredients
1 spaghetti squash
8 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons mixed fresh herbs, such as parsley, chives, and oregano, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 shallot, chopped
1 teaspoon lemon juice or apple cider
½ cup cheddar cheese, grated
salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the squash in half lengthwise. Place the halves, cut side down, in a roasting pan. Pour a little water around them, and then bake for about 40 minutes until tender. Do not allow to burn—cover with foil if necessary.
2) Meanwhile, put the butter, herbs, garlic, shallot, lemon juice or cider, and cheese into a blender and blend until creamy in consistency. Season to taste.
3) When the squash is tender, scrape out any seeds. Using a fork, pull out a few of the spaghetti-like strands in the center of each to make room for filling. Add a dollop of herb butter, then sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese. Serve the remaining herb butter and Parmesan separately, adding them as you pull out more strands.

Baked Cherry Tomatoes: My New Favorite Side Dish

So simple, but so, so delicious.

drop 1 pint mixed cherry tomatoes (or as many as you like, really) into a baking dish. Drizzle with some good extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper and any other dried herbs you like. I used an "Italian Seasoning" mix of dried herbs. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or so - the skins on the tomatoes should start to split and get a little squishy.

Deeeelicious!

Sweet Potato Vichyssoise

Hernandez Sweet Potatoes at Bellview Organics.

Below is Jeanine's second recipe suggestion, from GrowEatCook.com, published in November of 2008. The author writes, "Sweet Potato Vichyssoise is a fantastic summer-time chilled soup, but can also be served hot on a cold winter evening."

Sweet Potato Vichyssoise
Ingredients
Soup
2 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
1 celery stalk
4 garlic clove
1/4 cup white wine
2 medium-large sweet potatoes
4 cups water
2 leek
1/4 cup cream

Garnish*
1 tablespoon butter
corn, cut from cob, canned, or frozen
shallots
garlic
chipotle peppers
water
red wine vinegar

Directions
1. Heat pot over medium heat. Add 2 tbs. butter. Add onions, garlic, leeks and celery. Sweat for about 5 minutes. Deglaze with white wine.
2. Add potatoes and water. Simmer for about 30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.
3. Puree soup. Add cream. Season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice.
4. Chill soup.
5. While soup is chilling, heat a large sauté pan over high heat. Add the garnish ingredients. Sauté without shaking the pan, for 3 minutes, or until the corn becomes sweetly aromatic. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
6. Puree chipotle peppers with 1/4 cup water and 1 tbs. red wine vinegar
7. When soup is chilled, garnish with corn and a drizzle of the chipotle puree.

*Winter version: garnish with spicy sausage and diced scallions.