It’s never a good idea to admit you’re a loser over the internet.  But let me come clean.

This pie lost my family’s Holiday Pie-off.  The Sistaster’s Chocolate Pecan pie was the victor.  So why I am burdening you with a losing pie recipe?

Oh my, for many reasons:

One – it’s really hard to compete with a supersweet pie.  In fact, in a blind taste test people tend to prefer Pepsi on the first sip as it has a sweeter first bite than Coke.  But in a longer drink-a-full-can-type taste test, the more balanced flavor of Coke wins out.  Now I’m not comparing my pie to can of Coke but after a huge holiday meal I think my family’s senses were pretty darned dulled and couldn’t appreciate the subtlety of my Gingery Sweet Potato Pie.

Two – my pie is made mostly of real food.  Real vegetables.  The heart and soul of my pie are three beautiful winter-resistant tubers.  That’s just got to win some points over a pie mostly made of corn syrup.

Three – I think I overbaked the pie I made for the Pie-off.  The siblings do not forgive overcooking.

Four – The Sistaster doesn’t write a food blog of her own - therefore nary a word will come in her defense from the internet ether (unless she chooses to leave a comment below, in which case I can only plead to be kind, dear sister, be kind.)

So go on.  For reasons one, two, and three above, make and enjoy this lovely pie.  And in the name of the New Year, please forgive me for being a loser, and forget reason number four.

Time: 20 mintues active time plus about 2 hours baking time
Serves: depends on how many slices of pie you like.  4-12.

Gingery Sweet Potato Pie

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pick the whole sweet potatoes with a fork and bake them on a
foil-lined baking sheet until tender, about an hour.

For crust:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus additional for buttering pie plate
Flour for dusting
1 1/2 cups finely crushed gingersnap cookies (5 oz; 30 2-inch cookies)
3/4 cup finely chopped almonds or walnuts (2 oz), toasted
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Meanwhile, start the crust by buttering and flouring a 9″ pie pan.

In a medium bowl, mix together melted butter, gingersnap crumbs,
almonds, sugar and salt.
Press a 1/4 inch thick layer on the bottom, then build an even layer
up the sides.  Chill in the refrigerator until filling is ready.

For filling:
1 1/2 lbs sweet potatoes, (about 3 large)
2 large eggs
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 tsp vanilla

Split potatoes in half legthwise to cool.  Peel.

In a blender, blend together the potatoes, eggs, cream, sugar, salt,
cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and vanilla.

Pour the filling into the crust and bake for 50 mintues or until the
center is solid and the filling close to the crust is just barely starting to crack.

Cool pie on rack about 1 hour.

The recipe below is a little, um, trashier than what I generally like to post here (beware, Marshmallow Fluff below!) but I’ve been thinking about this recipe since last year when the L’il Sis made a huge batch of soft pumpkin cookies. I knew these soft cakey gems would be even better as a wee cookie sandwich and curdle your Thanksgiving gravy if I’m not right.

One interesting fact I’ve learned about holiday cooking from my fellow foodbloggers is that the best pumpkin pie is not made with canned L*bby’s pumpkin puree but with homebaked butternut squash. The redeeming quality in these cookies, should their soft cake-like texture and binge-worthy filling not be enough for you, is that you can use an honest-to-goodness strain-your-arm-when-trying-to-slice-it squash. You know, those crazy shaped things next to the leftover flavorless Halloween pumpkins.

I have a pal (who shall remain nameless here but you know who you are) that last year cooked her own “from scratch” Green Bean Casserole using fresh haricots vert, creamed wild mushrooms, and even breaded and fried her own onion rings for the topping. And! Not one person at the table remarked on the effort. Sigh.

In any case, at least you can feel good about throwing one fresh from the farmer’s market ingredient into this tasty holiday-time treat.

makes: 8-9 dozen single cookies, about 50 sandwiches
time: 1 hour to bake squash, 30 minutes to mix batter, 11 minutes to bake

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

4 cups flour
3 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups butternut squash or pumpkin puree*
1 1/2 tbsp milk
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

*see introduction for words of warning about using canned pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together in a second mixing bowl. Add oil, squash/pumpkin puree, milk, eggs and vanilla.

Slowly add dry ingredients to the wet while beating on medium speed. Continue beating until well mixed.

Drop in 1/2 teaspoons onto a greased baking sheet 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes, until bottoms are golden.
For Filling (adapted from Allrecipes.com )

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
4 cups marshmallow fluff
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp of lemon zest, optional
1/4 tsp salt

Cream together the butter and the sugar.

Add the remaining ingredients and beat together until well combined.

Put the filling into a large ziplock or other clean bag. Snip a small piece off the corner and use as a pastry bag to pipe the filling onto the bottom side of one cookie.

Press the bottom side of another cookie into the filling and Whoopie! you’re all set.

I had a similar flan for dinner at a fancy corporate event at the Met and it pretty much boggled my mind and stomach to find yet another delicious way to serve humble winter squash.

I googled “Squash Flan” and found an easy recipe from Gourmet Magazine, which I’ve tweaked below. I served it in a slice-it-yourself type way but you could also make it in individual ramekins and serve as fancy-smancy first course unmolded on a bed of chard or kale with roasted brussel sprouts and carrot rounds rolling lazily about the plate.

The flan is rich, but still light and almost pudding-y. Please believe me when I tell you that crispy sage leaves are to die for. Honestly and truly. Don’t be surprised when I come at you with a recipe that is just crispy sage leaves and a dipping sauce. Numnum!

Serves: 4-5
Time: 30 minutes active, 2 – 21⁄2 hours baking

Savory Squash Flan with Dijon-Currant Sauce and Crispy Sage Leaves
*Flan adapted from Gourmet Magazine

1 medium squash, (butternut, hubbard, or similar)
4 eggs
1 cup half-and-half
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp garlic powder
freshly cracked pepper
1 ¼ tsp salt
butter
6 Tbsp unsweetened currant jelly (or cooked fresh currants)
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
10 sage leaves
olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Halve the squash lengthwise, discard the seeds, and place cut side down on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Bake for an hour, or until soft to the touch. Cool and set aside. Reduce oven temp to 325.

Scoop flesh from the squash. Discard the skin. Puree in a blender until smooth and creamy.

Add two cups of the squash puree to a large bowl. Whisk in the eggs, half and half, nutmeg, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Save the rest of the squash for another recipe.

Prepare a 8×2 inch round cake pan by buttering the bottom and sides. Line the bottom of the pan with a layer of wax paper and butter the paper too.

Pour the squash mixture into the cake pan and set the cake pan into a larger baking pan. Pour hot water into the larger pan until it’s 2/3 up the sides of the cake pan to create a hot water bath for the flan.

Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the flan is solid and a toothpick in the middle comes out clean.

Let the flan cool for at least 15 minutes and unmold by setting a plate on top of the flan and then quickly inverting. Carefully peel off the wax paper.

For the mustard/currant sauce heat the currant jelly and mustard in a small sauce pan. Adjust for salt/pepper.

Meanwhile, you can shallow-fry the sage leaves in the olive oil over medium heat. With tongs turn them once during the frying process, and remove from oil when they hold their shape - they should not start to turn to turn brown - about 1 minute.

Serve flan cut into wedges with a dollop of currant sauce on top a few crispy sage leaves to garnish.

Bjork once noted in an interview that she sometimes writes her lyrics in English, translates them to Icelandic, and then translates them back to English. Neat, no?

Similarly, this recipe has gone through a series telephone-like translations and I think you’ll find the results equally (or more, quoth the Li’l Sis) delicious than the original recipe. I learned to make Khichri (a classic Indian comfort dish - sometimes the first solid food a baby eats) from Nalini Mehta and I posted this recipe of a traditional Khichri combination last year. A friend, who I will refer to as Mr. Appleseed, surprised me on a dark rainy October night with a big pot of complex-scented rice, peas, and veggies very similar to the below recipe. I was extremely pleased to be treated to a hot home-cooked meal (the downside of having a food blog is that I’m always the one sweating it out in the kitchen) and even more flattered so to find that dish I was eating was in fact based on one of my very own recipes. How endearing! Admittedly, I am highly susceptible to flattery when eating delicious food prepared by hands other than my own.

So anyway - here is my new recipe for Green Autumn Khichri based on Mr. Appleseed’s Khichri which is based on my other Khichri recipe, which I initially adapted from Nalini Mehta. Chewy short-grain brown rice makes a great base for the smoky green split peas and the combination of vegetables is just plain inspired.

Serves: 4 hungry people
Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Green Autumn Khichri

Olive oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
8 cloves
8 black peppercorns
1 tsp turmeric
¼ tsp asafetida, optional
½ tsp coriander powder
½ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garam masala
1 ½ cup green split peas, toor dal, or moog dal
1 ¼ cups short grain brown rice
7 cups water
1 inch fresh ginger, minced
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno (I used red), minced (de-seed if you don’t like things very spicy)
3 carrots, diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 japanese eggplants, cut into coins
1 bunch swiss chard, chopped
salt

Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a large pot and toss in the dried spices: cumin seeds, cloves, and peppercorns. Stir them for few minutes until they turn a few shades darker.

Add the ground spices: ginger, turmeric, asafetida, coriander, cumin, and garam masala and stir.

Add the peas and rice, stirring to coat them with the spices, then add the water.

Bring the rice mixture to a low boil, set a lid on and simmer for 20 minutes. Tip: this could be a good time to chop your veggies.

Stir well, check to see if more water is needed (like a risotto, this mix “eats” water) and add the vegetables: garlic, carrots, green peppers, hot peppers, eggplant, and chard.

Covered, bring the pot to a simmer and stir occasionally for another 40 minutes until the vegetables are tender and the rice is mushy. Add salt to taste.

Is there anyone in this hemisphere that doesn’t want soup right now?  This garlicky beans & greens combo has an ingredient list that you can count on your fingers…on one hand (well, almost).

You could use any white bean (cannellini, great northern, butter bean) or green (kale, chard, broccoli raab) but the silky texture of cooked escarole is so appealing and it has just enough bite to give some punch to soup.  But feel free use whatever green catches your eye at the market.

This soup could be made really simple by using canned chickpeas, but cooking your own from dried creates a tasty broth and saves a few cents in the process.  Please note that if you do use canned chickpeas be sure to buy a reputable organic brand (I use Eden) that lines the aluminum cans so the tin flavor and other strange elements don’t leach in - it’s especially important since you’ll be using the bean liquid in the soup.

Now, since I’ve made this so easy on you, unless you’re anti-breadbowl (like this guy, sheesh) go ahead and buy some nice solid loaves of sourdough bread and get to work.

serves: 6
time: 25 minutes for canned chickpeas, cooking chickpeas from dried is an additional 45 minutes – 8 hours

Chickpea and Escarole Soup in a Breadbowl

1 bag dried chickpeas (or 4 cans organic chickpeas, with liquid)
olive oil
6 cloves of garlic, sliced
about 1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, stems removed and chopped
2 veggie bullion cubes (or stock)
2 large heads escarole, washed, cored and roughly chopped
cracked black pepper
sploosh of olive oil
bread for breadbowl - crusty sourdough works well
To top: olive oil, parmesan or romano cheese (optional)

Soak your dried chickpeas one of two ways:

1) Overnight or 2) using the quick-soak method of bringing the chickpeas to a boil and then letting them stand for an hour or two.  Drain and rinse.

Add enough water to cover the beans by an inch or two.  Cook the beans; You could do this in a crock-pot for on high for 4 hours or low for 8 OR on stove for one and half hours OR in a pressure cooker for 45 minutes.

In a large soup pot, sauté the garlic in a large glug of olive oil for a few minutes over medium-low, heat until they start to turn golden.  Add the cooked beans and liquid (or canned beans and canning liquid + 1 can water) and the bullion cubes.  Taste and adjust for salt/pepper.  If you prefer a thicker soup (especially if you are using a breadbowl), at this point you can take out a cup or two of soup and puree in a blender, returning it to the pot to give the soup more body.

Add the escarole and simmer for about 10 minutes until dark green and wilted.

For the breadbowl, cut a crusty sourdough loaf downward in a circle (or rectangle, if you bread is rectangular) ¾ of an inch away from the sides of the loaf. Remove the top crust and pull away the interior of the loaf, reserving it for breadcrumbs or croutons.  Try pull out as much bread as possible without creating a hole anywhere.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15 - 25 minutes, until hot and crusty. Pour your soup in the breadbowl and forget about the dishes.