Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop’s Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly add in eggs and vegetable oil. In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Alternate adding dry ingredients into the butter-oil mixture with milk. Stir until just combined. Stir in pumpkin, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl until no more streaks remain and pumpkin is fully incorporated. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop 36 whoopie halves onto greased baking sheet – this will yield 18 complete whoopie pies. Bake for 10 minutes, rotating halfway.

Filling
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup vegetable shortening
8 oz cream cheese
5 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 tsp Madagascar Bourbon vanilla extract

Glaze
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
2-4 tbsp milk
½ tsp pure maple extract

Beat butter and shortening until combined. Add in cream cheese and beat until combined. Slowly add in powdered sugar, then vanilla. Beat for two minutes or until light and fluffy. Fill cooled whoopie pies. Glaze. Enjoy!

Prego‘s Jumbo Texas Gulf shrimp with caramelized pumpkin and housemade pancetta risotto
2 cups Arborio rice
1 cup pumpkin, caramelized and cubed
16 jumbo gulf shrimp
1 cup pancetta, diced
2 green onions
1 tbsp flat leaf parsley, chopped
4 tbsp butter
½ cup grana padano or parmesan cheese
2 tbsp heavy cream
2 tbsp garlic, minced

Prego’s Jumbo Texas Gulf shrimp with caramelized pumpkin and housemade pancetta risotto

To prepare rice, brown 2 lb of Arborio rice in ½ cup of olive oil. Once it’s browned, add vegetable stock two cups at a time and stir until all the stock has been absorbed. Continue adding stock and stirring until rice is fully cooked. To prepare the pumpkin, slice pumpkin in half, remove the seeds, and separate the soft interior from the hard exterior. Discard the exterior and cube the soft interior into one-inch cubes. Drizzle with olive oil and liberally salt and pepper on a sheet pan. Roast the cubes in a 400-degree oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside. Sauté diced pancetta until most of the fat has been rendered and the pancetta is turning brown. Add jumbo shrimp, green onion, and minced garlic and continue cooking until the shrimp are pink. Add the butter, cream, and cheese. Stir until integrated. Add the cup of caramelized pumpkin and 2 cups of risotto. Add chopped parsley, cracked black pepper, and coarse sea salt to taste.

ASTI Trattoria‘s Bunch Kale & Pumpkin Salad
small pumpkin
kale
goat cheese
pan gritata (fried torn bread in garlic oil)
rendered bacon
olive oil
salt & pepper
sherry vinegar

ASTI Trattoria’s Kale & Pumpkin Salad

Dress kale with a little olive oil and grill; if you don’t have a grill, heat up an iron skillet or large sauté pan until it’s smoking, carefully add dressed kale, and toss until bright green and crispy. If you’re grilling, make sure to get charred edges. Set aside kale to cool. Tear up old crusty bread – focaccia, ciabatta, french (something chewy) – into slightly larger than bite-size pieces. Heat up garlic oil in a small pot for about 5 minutes, don’t let it smoke or it will burn. Carefully fry torn bread in oil until golden brown and remove from oil to drain on paper towel. Discard remaining oil. Cut bacon into small chunks and render off in a sauté pan until golden brown. Drain fat. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Quarter small pumpkin and drizzle olive oil, salt, and pepper and place on sheet tray in oven for about 15-20 minutes. Once removed from oven, let cool for about 5 minutes and scoop out flesh carefully. Rough chop into medium-dice pieces. In a large bowl combine kale, goat cheese, fried bread, roasted pumpkin chunks, and bacon. Season with salt and pepper (to taste) and dress lightly with olive oil and sherry vinegar.

Sweet Paris Creparie & Café’s Pumpkin Cinnamon Crème Brûlée Crêpe

Sweet Paris Creparie & Café‘s Pumpkin Cinnamon Crème Brûlée Crêpe
Made-to-order crepe with caramelized sugar and caramelized slice of pumpkin on top. It’s the creparie’s monthly special served in October.

Sonya Coté‘s Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Hash
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups sweet potatoes, julienned
2 cup french pumpkin,  julienned
2 tsp red pepper flake
1 medium onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
2 garlic cloves, diced
fresh sage, chiffonade
white pepper
4 oz vegetable stock

Sonya Cote with a Pumpkin

In a heated sauté pan add olive oil, sweet potato, pumpkin, peppers, and onions. Sauté until vegetables begin to soften and brown. Add the garlic, sage, salt, and pepper. Continue to sauté for one more minute. Do not burn the garlic. Add the vegetable stock and place in a preheated 350-degree oven until all vegetables are completely cooked but still maintain most of their shape and texture. The finished dish has should have some moisture to it. A little stock may be added.

Uchi‘s Pumpkin Dessert

Uchi’s Pumpkin Dessert

Uchi’s desserts aren’t simple enough to make at home, but I figured I’d at least give you the components of this delicious pumpkin dessert: White Pumpkin puree, Goma croquant, lemon vinegar gelee, Kuro Goma Sorbet, five-spice powder, white pumpkin cake, and ginger thread.

Philippe Restaurant + Lounge‘s Pumpkin Gnocchi and Lobster

Gnocchi
7 oz flour
17 oz pumpkin puree
18 oz baked potatoes – peel and pass through a tamis while still hot
4 eggs
salt & pepper

Mix the hot potatoes with the flour, eggs, pumpkin puree, and seasoning. Roll each gnocchi [12.5 gr = 1/2 oz] in the palm of your hand, using a little bit of flour, and blanch them in salted water until they come to the surface, then chock them in ice. Drain in a towel. Pan sear on each side for a few seconds in a Teflon pan with hot butter and then bake for 4 minutes (turning once) at 300 degrees.

Philippe Restaurant + Lounge‘s Pumpkin Gnocchi and Lobster

Lobster (optional for an appetizer or as hors d’oeuvres)
1 whole – 1 lb and a quarter lobster
4 qt vegetable stock

When the vegetable stock simmers, cook the lobster tail [4 min] and the claws [6 min]. Remove and let cool for 10 minutes before taking the shell off. Thinly slice. Save lobster body.

Lobster Beurre Blanc
Lobster shells
2 tbsp olive oil
2 quarts vegetable stock
1 cup vegetable mirepoix
1 shot cognac
1 cup white wine
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 roma tomatoes, each chopped
6 oz butter
½ bulb shallots, thinly sliced
2 tbsp vinegar
4 tbsp cream
2 tbsp lobster reduction

Clean the lobster body and make a stock out of it by sweating the shells and mirepoix vegetable in olive oil until light in color. Add the cognac, white wine, and water or vegetable stock. Add the tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Cook 30 minutes then pass through the strainer and reduce until a syrup-like consistency is achieved. Boil the vinegar with shallots, add the cream and whisk the butter [previously at room temperature] that you will incorporate slowly at a low heat. Salt and pepper and add the lobster reduction. Warm the lobster slices in the beurre blanc, at a low heat, Place the lobster on each puffy, warm gnocchi and use a bamboo fancy skewer to hold it together before serving. Drizzle a little bit of beurre blanc on top of the lobster at the last second.