Friday night dinner

As I may have mentioned we have a chicken ban at our house. I think this might come from too much of a good thing! We seem to be in a unique situation in Stamford, CT in the kosher meat arena! We do not have a kosher butcher. Considering that 50 years ago we had 3 kosher butchers and the kosher population is up, not sure why this is happening. I'm guessing that the cost of buying wholesale kosher meat must be too high for the margin you can make on sales. The reason I tell you this is because the easiest kind of kosher "meat" I can buy is chicken or turkey. Well, you can imagine after eating poultry every Friday night for months at a time, a person can become weary! Another hint is when you start to sprout feathers and cluck! (Only joking about this part!) So coming up with interesting ideas for Shabbat dinner can become a challenge. Last night I tried a recipe from Wednesday, November 14th NY Times.Corn Bread and Broccoli Rabe Strata; comment from David: "What did you think of dinner tonight?" Me: "I liked it, what about you?" David: "Well the Broccoli Rabe thing was ok". What does this translate to? Don't make that Broccoli Rabe thing again! A strata usually has some kind of bread soaked in an egg and milk mixture to make the whole thing puff up. This recipe called for corn bread so I think it just got too doughy! Oh well, I made a Pea (green peas) Soup that I liked. Didn't discuss it specifically with David, not sure what the review is! Here's the recipe if you want to try it:

Fresh Pea Soup St. Germain Serves 2-3

butter or olive oil
2-3 shallots, minced
3 cups shelled fresh peas (from about 3 pounds of garden peas) or frozen peas
2-1/4 cups water or vegetable broth
3-4 Tbs whipping cream (optional)
salt
pepper
curry powder to taste
croutons for garnish

Melt butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Add the shallots and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the peas and water and season with salt and little pepper and curry powder. Cover and simmer for about 12 minutes for young peas and up to 18 minutes for large or older peas, stirring occasionally. When the peas are tender allow them to cool and puree the soup in a food processor or use a submersible blender. Stir in the cream. Garnish with croutons.

The last part of the menu was supposed to be stuffing one of the pumpkins that Patty and Nolan bought for us when they were visiting. Frankly the thought of being up to my elbows in pumpkin gook just didn't turn me on so I used the recipe as a casserole instead and added diced butternut squash. Actually this one got rave reviews!
It is from a book called "Olive Trees and Honey". This is a treasury of vegetarian recipes from Jewish communities around the world. This recipe is from Uzbekistan.

Bukharan Stuffe Pumpkin

3 Tbs olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1-1/4 cups long-grain white rice
2 cups vegetable stock or water
1 tsp salt
ground black pepper to taste
pinch of saffron or 1/4 tsp turmeric
1 Tbs hot water
1/4 cup dried currants or raisins
1/4 cup chopped cilantro or parsley
1 tart apple peeled, cored and coarsely chopped (optional)
1 quince, peeled, cored, and diced (optional)
1/2 cup cooked chickpeas (optional)

1 small pumpkin 4 to 5 pounds

To make the stuffing: In a medium,heavy saucepan, heat the oil over med heat. Add the onion and saute until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and saute until well coated, about 3 minutes. Add the stock, salt and pepper, bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer until the liquid is absorbed but the rice is still slightly underdone, about 15 minutes.

Dissolve the saffron in the hot water and stir into the rice. Add the currants, cilantro and any combination of chickpeas, apples and/or quince, if desired.

Cut out a disk from the stem end of the pumpkin about 4 inches in diameter. Scoop out and discard the seeds and loose fibers. Sprinkle the insides with sugar and salt.

Pack the stuffing into the pumpkin and put on the lid. Arrange a cabbage leaf, if using, in the bottom of a deep baking pan or large pot to prevent the bottom on the pumpkin from burning. Place the pumpkin in the pan and add enough water to reach about 1 inch up the sides. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer, or bake in a preheated 375 oven until the pumpkin is tender, about 2 hours. Cut into wedges or scoop out the filling. Serve warm. I made the mixture in a casserole dish and baked it for 1 hour at 350. Also, for the rice I used the Trader Joe mixture of long rice. It was quite delicious!