Summer flavors are still abundant so enjoy delicious salads with plump tomatoes or juicy peas, as well as the taste of the sea - fresh cod, crab or monkfish, anyone? As the days begin to get colder, there's potato dauphinoise, roasted fennel, beetroot and tender lamb. September basically has it all. Start cooking with the best of this month's seasonal ingredients with this week's Foodie Friday...
Total Time: 40 min Yield: 4 Servings
Ingredients
2 lb piece of pumpkin
1 lb tomatoes
2 sticks of celery or the tops of a whole small head
1½ oz of butter
Salt, garlic if you like, parsley
1/4 cup of cooked, then baked quinoa (see tip below)
Instructions
Peel the pumpkin, discard the seeds and the cottony centre core; cut into small chunks. Skin and chop the tomatoes. Wash and chop the celery.
In a large, heavy frying pan heat 1 oz of the butter, put in the celery, the pumpkin, and 1 scant tablespoon of salt.
Cook gently, uncovered, until the pumpkin is soft and just beginning to look slightly jammy. Transfer it to a shallow gratin dish. In the same pan cook the tomatoes, with the garlic if are using it, a little more salt and some chopped parsley.
When most of the moisture has evaporated and the tomatoes are almost in a purée, mix with the pumpkin, smooth down the top (the dish should be quite full), cover with the cooked, baked quinoa and the remaining butter cut into tiny knobs, stand the dish on a baking sheet and cook near the top of a fairly hot oven, 365˚F, for 35-40 minutes, until the top surface is golden and crisp.
Make Ahead Tip:
Quinoa is packed with fiber and protein. Cook quinoa in water and drain. Spread the cooked quinoa on a baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and place the quinoa in it for about half an hour. If you want, you can add salt, pepper, and dried herbs to the prepared quinoa.
