Nik has been asking for it so that afternoon, I made pumpkin pie (but not with that pumpkin in the background!):

I used Mom’s recipe for the crust.  I only added the low end amount of water called for in the recipe and the dough was immediately too wet.  So I guess maybe cooking in Baltimore is different than cooking in Glennallen.  Although certainly not beautiful, it came out flaky and tender, despite the lack of vodka.  Take that, Cooks Illustrated.  It tasted so good but we ended up taking it to Covenant Group on Tuesday night because, really, do two people need to eat a whole pie?

On Tuesday, we made kaddo borawni with the sugar pumpkin that you can see in the Farmers’ Market picture:

Kaddo Borawni (also spelled bourani) is a dish that you can get at the Helmand, an Afghani restaurant (owned by a younger brother of President Karzai of Afhganistan).  We went there last Friday to celebrate my birthday, before going to the symphony.  It was so good that we came home, motivated to find the recipe and make some.  (What would we do without the Internet?!)  It’s essentially sugar pumpkin, pan-fried and roasted (in my Calphalon Dutch oven!) in the oven with sugar and cinnamon for a long time.  Then you eat it with a garlic-yogurt sauce.  It sounds weird but it is SOOO good!  Make this while you can!  (Sugar pumpkins won’t be around for forever and then we’ll have to wait until next fall!)
Here’s the recipe:
One 2 to 2.5 pound sugar pumpkin –  quartered, peeled, and cubed.  (I actually found it easier to cut it into slices, sort of like you slice a cantaloupe and then peel it, just using a vegetable peeler).
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2-3/4 cup sugar  (Yes, it sounds like a lot of sugar but it’s really good this way.  I found recipes that called for twice as much sugar!)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Heat the vegetable oil in a pan (preferably oven-safe if you have it).  Add the pumpkins and saute it, turning frequently, until golden brown.  If necessary, transfer the pumpkin to a roasting pan, then stir in the sugar and cinnamon, cover it, and bake at 350 for 30 – 60 minutes (depending on how soft you want it. 

Sauce
1 cup plain yogurt

1 clove garlic, crushed
Mix the two together and let the flavors chill together while the pumpkin is roasting.  To serve, put some garlic sauce on a plate, then pumpkin, and then more garlic sauce.

As an added bonus – wash off the seeds from the pumpkin, toss with olive oil and kosher salt, and roast in the oven for about 10-15 minutes.  They make a YUMMY treat to eat while waiting for the pumpkin to finish!!

Then, last night we made pumpkin soup with canned pumpkin and hot Italian sausage.  It was really good too.  We used the cilantro from the FM in this.

Here’s the recipe for this one.  It’s easy!!
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 onions (chopped)
2 cloves garlic (chopped)
2 chorizo sausage (casings removed) (We used hot Italian sausage because that’s what was on sale!)
3 cups chicken stock
2 cups pumpkin puree
1 potato (peeled and cut into 1/2″ cubes)
1 tablespoon oregano
1 teaspoon cumin (ground)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon cilantro per bowl (chopped)

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a pan.

2. Add the onions and saute until tender.

3. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant.

4. Add the chorizo and brown.

5. Add the chicken stock, pumpkin puree. potato, oregano, and cumin and bring
to a boil.

6. Reduce the heat and simmer until the potato is tender, about 45 minutes.

7. Remove from the heat and let cool for 10 minutes.

8. Stir in the cream.

9. Pour some soup into a bowl and top with the cilantro.

I found this recipe here (my soup looks much different than his!) thanks to this food blog.  Now that I’ve found the world of Food Blogs, my life may never be the same!