Brandied "Pumpkin" Pie

Some prefer apple. Others go for pecan. A few brave the world of "mincemeat." But few can deny that pumpkin is the most traditional flavor of pie to serve for Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin is easy to acquire. Just buy a can of Libby's pumpkin puree and call it a day. Or....shake things up. Ditch the can and make a better pumpkin pie by not using pumpkin at all. Instead, make "pumpkin" pie with butternut squash. After all, I've ready that Libby's pumpkin isn't really pumpkin anyway but Dickinson squash--although Libby's will call it Dickinson pumpkin, and I might point out that "pumpkin" is a sort of generic term anyway, rather than a name for specific type of squash. So, it's all good (Snopes even looked into this).

However, it's even better if you use butternut squash, which is, after all, my favorite squash, and I suspect it might be yours as well (it's really good). Just roast the squash first and puree it, making sure you have enough for 1 3/4 cups, which is about the amount you'd get in a 15 oz. can. And since booze and dessert go so well together, this recipe also calls for some brandy. Cheers to that!

Just who came up with this wonderful variation on the Thanksgiving pie? Melissa Clark, the New York Times recipe writer who, at this point, I think is safe to say is the goddess of all things delicious.  Seriously, I've never met a Melissa Clark recipe that wasn't incredibly good (her garlicky chicken thighs and pinto bean soup recipes are among my favorites).

Brandied "Pumpkin" Pie
Adapted from a New York Times recipe by Melissa Clark

For the crust:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (150 grams)
1/4 tsp. salt
10 tbsp. (1 stick plus 2 tbsp.) unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
2 to 4 tbsp. ice water

For the filling:
2 1/2 to 3 lb. butternut squash (to make 1 3/4 cups butternut squash purée)
2 tbsp. melted unsalted butter
All-purpose flour (for the work surface)
3 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup dark brown sugar (153 grams)
2 tbsp. brandy
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg
 Pinch ground clove

1. Make the crust: add the flour and salt to the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse into the mixture forms pea-size pieces. Add ice water in 1-tbsp. increments, pulsing after each addition, until the dough just comes together (you may not use all the water). The dough should be moist but not wet. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and form into a ball, then flatten it into a large disc. Wrap the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour, up to 2 days.

2. Make butternut squash purée: Preheat oven to 400 F. Peel and halve the squash and remove and discard its seeds (pro tip: an ice cream scoop works great for removing squash seeds and slimy membranes). Cut the squash into 1 1/2-inch pieces and place them in a large bowl. Pour the melted butter over the squash and toss to coat. Transfer the buttered squash cube to a baking sheet and roast, stirring every 15 minutes, until the squash is tender, about 30 to 45 minutes. Remove from oven and cool, then puree in a food processor.

3. Lightly flour a work surface. Place the chilled dough disc in the center and roll out to a 12-inch circle. Transfer the crust to a 9-inch pie plate. Fold the edges of the dough under so the dough comes up to the top of the pie plate (see photo above). Crimp the edges with fork tines and prick it the dough all over with the fork. Place the pie plate in the refrigerator to chill the crust for 30 minutes (don't skip this step--the dough needs to be cold when it goes in the oven to minimize shrinkage).

4. Heat the oven to 375 F. Line the top of the chilled crust with aluminum foil and weight it down with pie weights (you can also use coins or dried beans). Bake the pie crust for 20 minutes, remove the foil and weights and bake an additional 5 to 7 minutes until the crust is lightly golden. Remove from the oven and set on a rack to cool a bit.

5. Lower oven temperature to 325 F. To the bowl of a food processor, add the squash purée, eggs, cream, dark brown sugar, brandy, ginger, cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon salt, nutmeg and clove. Turn on the food processor and blend until the mixture is smooth. Pour squash mixture into the cooled pie shell. Set the pie plate on a baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake until the crust is golden and the filling jiggles just a bit in the middle when shaken, about 50 to 75 minutes (Clark says to bake the pie 50 to 60 minutes; I recommend using an instant-read thermometer and cooking the pie until the filling registers 165 F). Remove the pie from the oven and cool before serving.

Thanksgiving Central

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Orange-Ginger Cranberry Sauce

Probably the best cranberry sauce we've had at Thanksgiving. "Tastes like summer," said Chris.

Orange-Ginger Cranberry Sauce
Adapted from a recipe by Sheila Lukins for Parade via Epicurious

22 oz. fresh cranberries, picked over and rinsed
2 3/4 cups granulated sugar
Finely grated zest from 1 orange
4 tsp. finely grated ginger
2/3 cup water
1/2 cup fresh orange juice

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the berries pop open, about 10-14 minutes. Smash the berries around a bit with a spoon as they cook so some break up.

2. Using a spoon, skim any foam off the top surface of the sauce and discard the foam. Cool the sauce to room temperature, then refrigerate, covered, for up to 3 months.

Thanksgiving Central

Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Celery with Cumin, Garlic and Rosemary

Every good Thanksgiving spread needs some good vegetables sides. And not vegetable sides loaded with so much butter and sugar that they are pretty much a dessert, but honest-to-goodness recipes that honor the vegetables at the core of the dishes. That's what I'm aiming for here, a sweet potato side with no added sugar and no butter: just an assist from celery and the flavorful mix of garlic, rosemary and cumin.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Celery with Cumin, Garlic and Rosemary

3 lbs. red-skinned sweet potatoes (about 2 large or 4 small), peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 bunch of celery, ends trimmed and stalks cut on the diagonal in 2-inch pieces
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
1 tbsp. ground cumin
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 425 F.

2. Combine sweet potato cubes with 2 tbsp. olive oil, season with 2 tsp. cumin, salt and pepper in a large bowl and stir to coat potatoes with oil and seasoning. Transfer potatoes to a roasting pan and roast for 20 minutes.

3. Combine the celery with the remaining tbsp. of olive oil, tsp. of cumin, salt and pepper in a large bowl and toss to coat the celery with oil and seasonings. Remove the roasting pan with the potatoes from the oven and stir in the seasoned celery, along with the garlic and rosemary. Return the roasting pan to the and roast another 20-30 minutes until the vegetables are tender and lightly browned. Serve in a large bowl.

Restaurant: Bindaas (Washington, D.C.)

Roasted sweet potatoes

What does it take to turn around a declining neighborhood restaurant scene in a tony corner of Upper Northwest D.C.? Indian street food, apparently, and we're all the more lucky for it.

Cleveland Park, one of the coziest northwest red-line neighborhoods, used to be a prime dining destination in the city. When I moved to the neighborhood in 2001, I was excited to live in an area known for its diverse dining options. This was well over a decade before places like 14th Street and Shaw became filled with a seemingly endless array of eating options.

Recent years haven't been kind to the Cleveland Park dining scene, which has been marked by a number of closures--Palena, Dino and Ireland's 4Ps most notably--without notable, or in many cases any, replacements. There are still good reasons to eat in Cleveland Park, such as Fat Pete's barbecue, Italian Coppi's and Top-Chef alum Marjorie Meek-Bradley's Ripple, but the long-vacant restaurant spaces really stick out, as the aforementioned three vacant spaces are among the most prominent locations in the neighborhood.

The reasons for the vacancies are not entirely clear. Some say it's because new restaurants are more interested in hot zones like Shaw, U Street and the SW Waterfront. Some say it's because of the area's high rent. Others blame local zoning rules that cap the percentage of Cleveland Park commercial space that can be used for restaurants at 25 percent. Although I've read this was done to help ensure the neighborhood maintains a variety of commercial uses (and not just eating and drinking), it seems that non-restaurant businesses are not interested in these spaces. After all, what type of business besides a restaurant would be interested in a space configured for a large seating area and an industrial kitchen?

If the aforementioned zoning rules are the reason behind Cleveland Park's restaurant gaps, you may be wondering how Bindaas managed to pull of its opening? Well, it's technically more of a repurposing than a wholly new space, as it occupies the former Bardeo half of Ardeo+Bardeo, and is mostly but not completely closed off from Ardeo, which now returns to its former half-size (and both Ardeo and Bindaas have the same owners).

All this to say that the fact that the area's newest restaurant has foodie tongues wagging--in a major way unseen for years in the neighborhood--is a major coup for Cleveland Park.

And deservedly so, for Bindaas is a thoroughly enjoyable and unique dining experience. Sure, there's no shortage of good Indian restaurants in D.C., as I wrote about last year. This includes Indique, which is just a block away and recently refreshed its menu. It also includes Rasika, the downtown restaurant generally regarded as the best Indian restaurant in the city (and among the best restaurants period). That bodes well for Bindaas, since its kitchen is helmed by James-Beard-award-winning Rasika chef Vikram Sundaram. While the name may be familiar, the cooking might not be, as Bindaas' menu is inspired by Indian street food, making it an exciting departure from the usual tandoori, curry and tikka masala dishes available at most American-Indian restaurants.

As is common in newer restaurants, our server informed us that all the dishes on the menu are meant to be shared. The night we went, we had another couple in tow, giving us the opportunity to sample than we would have normally. And almost everything was a home run. "Oh my god, this is so good" because the mantra of the night.

Golgappa

The menu opens with a selection of chaat, small plates of just a few bites. Nothing we tried from this section of the menu was disappointing. One-bite golgappa, crispy fried biscuits, arrive filled with avocado and set atop overlapping streaks of yogurt and spicy-sweet tamarind chutney. Crunchy fried shisito pepper pakodas, which I've read can be hot, but ours weren't. The accompanying pickled onion chutney adds a tangy note.

Although the fried goodies are tasty, the chaat selections also include more healthful offerings like sweet potatoes roasted with cumin and chili and enrobed in sweet chutney and yogurt (pictured at top). Our favorite from this section of the menu: bhel puri, a wonderfully fresh grain salad of puffed rice, mango and mint.

Uttapam with corn and peppers

Having chosen so many chaat dishes, we selected fewer tastes from the rest of the menu, which consists of slightly larger dishes. The pao bhaji was another winner, a spicy vegetable stew served with grilled buns perfect for dipping. Although I've heard the naan at Bindaas is stellar, we opted instead for uttapam, a rice pancake that Bindaas serves with several topping options--we chose corn and red peppers, another winning combination. The only dish out of the bunch that fell short was the chicken kebab, which came with a delicious makhani sauce but the chicken itself was surprisingly tough and rubbery.

Kulfi

For dessert, we opt for kulfi--so good we're told by our server that we decide to order two of them. And we made the right choice. The treat is a cone of ice cream on a stick served over noodles with crunchy almond nougat and other sweet sauces and spices.

A nice surprise awaited us at the end of the meal: the bill. It was surprisingly small. Granted, we ate a bit on the light side, but not so light that we weren't satisfied. Our party of four spent as much as a party of two can easily spend around D.C. these days.

Who knows whether the holes left by Palena, Dino and the 4Ps will be filled anytime soon. I sure hope they are. In the meantime, Bindaas's excellent cooking and fine service is more than enough to distract from that issue, providing an excellent reason for choosy diners to discover (or re-discover) Cleveland Park.

Bindaas, 3309 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC (Cleveland Park, near Macomb Street). (202) 244-6550. Reservations: Resy.

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Butter Pecan Ice Cream

This ice cream pretty much stole the show when I made this for Thanksgiving last year. It is really really good. Note that the recipe calls for whole eggs rather than the usual egg yolks. Worked totally fine that way.

Butter Pecan Ice cream
Adapted from a recipe available from Epicurious originally published in Gourmet, 2002

2 cups shelled pecans (1/2 lb.), finely chopped (I scaled back to 1 1/2 cups, noting that many Epicurious commenters noted they thought 2 cups was too much and used less)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (doesn't need to be, as the pecans will be very hot)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 tsp. cornstarch
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Spread pecans on a baking sheet (lined with foil for easy cleanup) and toast in the oven until fragrant and slightly darker, about 7 to 8 minutes (watch the nuts to avoid burning them). Remove nuts from oven, transfer to a bowl (they will be hot). Add butter and salt to hot pecans and toss until butter is melted, then set nuts aside to cool completely.

3. Stir together the brown sugar and cornstarch, then add the eggs and stir until combined (you can try using a whisk for this, since the original recipe says to "whisky" but I think using a spoon or spatula will work much better, as the whisk tends to fling ingredients too easily). Bring milk and cream just to a boil in a 3- to 4-quart heavy saucepan over moderately high heat, (reduce heat to medium-low) then add to egg mixture in a stream, whisking constantly, and transfer custard to saucepan. (rather than add the hot milk to the bowl and transfer back to the pan, I just added the egg mixture to the pan while whisking constantly).

Cook custard over moderately low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until thick enough to coat back of spoon and registers 170 to 175°F on an instant-read thermometer, 2 to 3 minutes (do not let boil).

Immediately pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and stir in vanilla, then cool, stirring occasionally. Chill custard, its surface covered with wax paper, until cold, at least 3 hours.
Freeze custard in ice cream maker until almost firm. Stir together ice cream and pecans in a bowl, then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden.

Thanksgiving Central

Fall-Leaf Apple Pie

I've covered apple pies with a plain crust and a lattice, but for this pie I wanted to get more decorative. I've seen pies decorated with cutouts and the idea in Fine Cooking magazine to use overlapping leaves seemed perfect for Thanksgiving, everybody's favorite fall holiday.

The Fine Cooking recipe calls for cutting each leaf by hand, as well as making smaller leaves. I cheated a little bit: I used a leaf-shaped cookie cutter. This worked great, as each leave was the same size--about 3 1/2 inches long by 2 inches wide. I scored a line down the middle of each leaf with sharp knife (do this carefully to prevent cutting all the way through the dough).

When placing the leaves on top of the pie, they should overlap just slightly. If your leaves are cut to the same size as mine, you'll need 24 leaves to complete the top. Start with the outer ring and place 14 leaves flush against the edge of the pie plate. Then, complete the inner ring with 9 leaves. Finish with a final leaf in the center.

Since I've had such good luck with it in the past, I switched up the crust recipe and used my trusty "foolproof" double-pie crust with vodka recipe from America's Test Kitchen.

Fall-Leaf Apple Pie
Adapted from Apple with Leaves recipe in Fine Cooking and Foolproof Pie Dough recipe from America's Test Kitchen

Crust:
12 1/2 oz. all-purpose flour (about 2 1/2 cups)
1 tsp. table salt
2 tbsp. sugar
20 tbsp. cold unsalted butter (2 1/2 sticks), cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/4 cup chilled vodka
1/4 cup very cold water

Pie:
5 to 6 firm, tart apples, peeled, cored and quartered
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. salt
1 to 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, salt and sugar in a food processor, about two 1-second pulses. Scatter butter over dry mixture and process until the dough starts to collect in uneven clumps, resembling cottage cheese with no uncoated flour, about 15 seconds. Scrape sides of bowl with rubber or silicone spatula and redistribute dough evenly around the blade. Add remaining cup of flour and give 4 to 6 quick pulses until dough is evenly distributed and the mass of dough has been broken up. Empty mixture into bowl.

2. Sprinkle vodka and water over dough mixture. With the spatula, combine the liquid with the dough using a folding motion, pressing down on dough until it sticks together (use your hands a little if needed, but be careful not to overwork the dough). Divide dough into two pieces, roll into balls and flatten slightly to form thick 4-inch discs. Wrap in plastic and chill at least 45 minutes, up to 2 days.

3. To make the pie crust and decorative top: On a lightly floured surface, roll one of the dough discs into a 12-inch round 1/8 inch thick. Fold the dough over the rolling pin, ease it into a 9-inch pie pan, and unfold it so it's centered over the pie plate with edges draped over the sides. Press the dough up the sides and over the rim of the pan, and trim it to leave about an inch of dough beyond the rim of the plate. Fold the edge of the dough under itself so that the crease is flush with the top of the pie plate. Press a fork into the edge of the dough to make vertical lines--this "crimping" process seals the folded dough together. Chill the pie plate with the dough while you cut out the leaves.

4. Combine any scraps from the first disc with the second disc and roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thick. With a paring knife or a leaf cutter, cut out at least 24 leaves 3 1/2 x 2 inches in size. With the paring knife, score a "vein" down the center of each leaf, being careful not to cut all the way through the dough. Place the cut leaves on a floured baking sheet (don't stack them) and set them aside in a cool place.

5. Cut the apples into 1/4-inch slices--there should be about 7 cups. Put the apples in a large bowl and add the sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Toss gently to coat the apples with the flour-sugar-spice mixture. Transfer the apples to the cooled pie shell, tucking in any apples to create a slight dome in the center. Dot the apples with large flecks of the remaining 1 to 2 tbsp. of butter.

6. Starting at the rim of the pie plate, place the leaves at a slight angle and slightly overlapping around the edge of the pie until the leaves go all the way around. Then make a second smaller circle of leaves closer to the middle of the pie--finishing with a final leaf in the middle. Chill the pie in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

7. Position two racks close together in the lower third of the oven, set a foil-lined baking sheet on the lowest rack to catch any drippings from the pie. Heat the oven to 350 F.

8. Bake the pie on the second-lowest rack until the crust is a deep golden brown all over and the apples are tender when pierced with a thin knife blade, about 60 to 80 minutes (I baked my pie for 85 minutes). Let the pie cool completely before serving.

Thanksgiving Central

Butternut Squash, Roasted Tomato and Popped Black Bean Salad

It's easy to load a Thanksgiving table with carb-heavy dishes like stuffing, mashed potatoes and biscuits. I'm not at all opposed to that, however, I like to balance my table with a few vegetable sides as well. This recipe, which was recently featured in the Washington Post, strikes me as being perfect as a healthy Thanksgiving side. More importantly, it's quite delicious. I've made it twice--loved it both times. There's very little added fat and no added sugar in this dish of primarily roasted squash and cherry tomatoes (good cherry tomatoes are mostly out of season, although I have still seen some recently--if not available, you could just omit them and still have a great dish, or perhaps substitute something like chickpeas). I love the black beans, which take on a slightly crispy texture from being cooked in a dry pan until they crack open. The recipe comes from Anna Jones' A Modern Way to Cook: 150+ Vegetarian Recipes for Quick, Flavor-Packed Meals. Based on this recipe, I'm more than a little intrigued about what other delicious ideas she has.

Butternut Squash, Roasted Tomato and Popped Black Bean Salad

Adapted from A Modern Way to Cook: 150+ Vegetarian Recipes for Quick, Flavor-Packed Meals by Anna Jones, as appeared recently in The Washington Post

Note on deviations from original recipe: I peeled the squash, as I prefer it that way. I added the olive oil spray. The recipe gave the option of using liquefied coconut oil instead of olive oil. The recipe called for freshly ground seeds from 2 green cardamom pods, whereas I just used already ground cardamom. The recipe gave the option of using coconut yogurt instead of plain. Also, I used more yogurt--an entire single-serving container.

1 butternut squash (about 2 pounds total), peeled
Olive oil spray

2 tbsp. plus 1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

Salt, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 tsp. plus 1 tsp. ground cardamom
1 3/4 oz. (a generous 1/2 cup) flaked unsweetened coconut

25-30 golden or red cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1/2-inch piece peeled fresh ginger root, finely grated (such as with a Microplane)

14 oz. can of black beans, drained and rinsed

5.3 oz. (single-serving container) nonfat plain Greek yogurt 

Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime

1. Position oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 475 F.

2. Line two baking sheets with aluminum foil and spray with olive oil spray. Cut off the ends of the squash, then cut it half lengthwise. Scoop out and discard the seeds (I recently discovered that an ice cream scoop is the perfect tool for this). Cut the squash halves into 1/2-inch-thick slices and arrange them on the two prepared baking sheets. Drizzle the squash slices with 2 tbsp. of olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt, pepper and 1 tsp. of ground cardamom. Roast the squash for 25 to 35, minutes until blistered and golden, rotating the baking sheets top to bottom and front to back after the first 15 minutes. Spread the toasted coconut over the squash and return the baking sheets to the oven for an additional 5 minutes or so until the coconut is lightly toasted. Remove from oven and set aside. If you only have one oven, keep it on for step 3 (if you have two ovens, you can do step 3 concurrently with step 2).

3. In a medium bowl, add the cut cherry tomatoes with remaining tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper, to taste, and grated ginger and toss to coat the tomatoes. Spread the cherry tomatoes onto another baking sheet (lined with aluminum foil for easy cleanup) and arrange them all cut-side up. Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes until the tomatoes look a bit deflated. Remove from oven.

4. While the vegetables roast, dry the drained/rinsed black beans on paper towels. Heat a nonstick skillet or saucepan (I used a shallow 3 1/2 qt. saucepan) over medium heat. Add the beans and cook for about 12-15 minutes, stirring occasionally until the beans have dried out, cracked open and crisped.

5. In a small bowl, add the yogurt, lime zest, lime juice, remaining tsp. of cardamom and salt and pepper to taste and stir to combine.

6. Serve the salad on a platter as follows: spread the beans first in a single layer, top with roasted squash slices, then the tomatoes and drizzle the yogurt on top.

Thanksgiving Central