(no subject)

My ears hurt and it's sort of difficult to breathe.

There is too much noise here today. I wanted to go lay in the yard but one side neighbor is getting a new roof and the other side is building a shed. So it's louder outside. But at least they are listening to p-funk.

Pumpkin, luffa gourd, tomatoes

One of the issues with doing vegetarian dishes is how difficult it is to get a room excited about a mound of tofu as a turkey that comes right out of the oven. Part of it is the community issue, everyone hanging around the oven peeking in and checking on things, watching it brown, slowly building the anticipation. While a Vietnamese salad may be lovely, and tasty, it goes together quickly. When I heard about baking an entree inside a pumpkin I knew it was something I needed to think about more closely.

I had already made tiny pumpkin creme brulee and pumpkin panna cotta inside a pumpkin, and I've baked many pumpkins, but not yet an entree.

Gourmet magazine does a cheese fondue inside a baked pumpkin with layers of french bread and cheese. I wanted less cheese, more eggs and did Alton Brown's Cheese souffle recipe, but inside a pumpkin. It took about 1.5h, not 35m to bake. But it did the job, built anticipation, and was beautiful to bring to the table.

Honestly, the flavor was boring. The pumpkin was very good, as was the souffle, but if I do it again I'd want green chilis. Cumin. Do some more thinking.

The pumpkin was an orangey green with white blotches I got at the Mexican market. Very good.



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I also made a salad of luffa gourd, napa cabbage, fresh green chilis, cilantro, and pickled ginger. The dressing was EVOO, ponzu, rice vinegar, tarragon vinegar, damiana, star anise, and basil, and sugar. Really awesome.

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I baked the last of the tomatoes with some white beans the other day, and it was pretty.