Transforming Holiday Goodies to Post-New Year’s Resolutions
Ah, fall. Leaves turn pretty colors, the air is crisp and clean, the anticipation of holidays looms bright. The house smells of cinnamon, pumpkin, turkey. It is a delicious time of year.
But fall is over and we’re in the dead of winter. The pretty leaves and big holidays are long gone come dreary January. The post-holiday winter months can seem like an endless string of cold days and gray skies, with nothing much to anticipate until spring.
But it doesn’t have to be! Just because the holidays are over doesn’t mean you have to stop enjoying the tasty food that sends cozy aromas and sighs of contentment wafting through the house throughout the holidays. Nothing warms up a dreary day like a hot slice of pumpkin bread spiced with cloves and cinnamon, or a plate of butternut squash ravioli drenched in nutty sage browned butter sauce.
Well, maybe there is one reason: New Year’s resolutions to eat more healthfully, anyone? That kind of puts a damper on the sugar and butter-heavy treats associated with Christmas and Thanksgiving. But it doesn’t have to mean the end of good food. Even the most indulgent of treats can be reformed.
I tweaked two tasty fall recipes to fit post-New Year’s Resolution health standards: Pumpkin Bread & Sage Brown Butter Sauce. They draw flavor from fragrant spices and herbs and a little patience. Enjoy separately, or as a dinner-dessert combination with a chilled glass of Airfield’s Lightning, a nice counterpoint to the rich flavors in the food. Don’t forget to pour yourself a glass of wine as you cook to whet your appetite!
Pumpkin Bread
Reforming this dish was easy. In fact, I like the revised version so much I never make the “original” which inspired this recipe. Substituting applesauce for half the oil heightens the rich autumn taste and makes the bread very moist without being greasy. I increase slightly the amount of spices and decrease the sugar, providing a nice depth of flavor instead of an overwhelming shot of sugar. One small can of pumpkin makes two loaves, but since the bread freezes and reheats well, it is easy to make one batch to enjoy now, and slice, wrap and freeze the other batch for an easy portable snack for later.
Ingredients:
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
2/3 cup water
2 cups white sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Optional:
Airfield Estates Winery sells Apres Vin Grapeseed Flour, chock full of antioxidants and other health benefits. Try substituting in 4 tablespoons Riesling flour for a thicker bread and an interesting twist of flavor.
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two loaf pans.
2. Mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar in a large bowl until well blended.
3. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger in separate bowl and stir into pumpkin mixture until just blended. Note: if you’re not up for the extra cleaning, it is ok to cheat and add all the ingredients in one bowl- it still turns out fine!
4. Pour into the prepared pans and bake for about 50 minutes. Because the batter is so moist, you will almost certainly need to leave the loafs in for an additional 10-20 minutes; check every 5 minutes. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Sage & Browned Butter Sauce
Sage & Browned Butter Sauce with Butternut Squash Ravioli is a classic, but turning a dish primarily made of butter into something that can be called healthy with a straight face is no easy feat! For this I turned to Airfield’s Lightning. By using Airfield’s Lightning and a little chicken broth to thin the sauce, I could use less butter and still make enough sauce to spoon out in generous portions over the ravioli. The body in the wine complements the nutty notes drawn out by slowly browning the butter, retaining the flavor. Finally, I maintained a nice creamy texture by thickening the sauce with a arrowroot, a powder with a similar effect as corn starch, and a touch of cream. Maybe something as rich as a sage brown butter sauce will never be good for you, but at least it can be not that bad for you, and still taste oh-so-good.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup Airfield’s Lightning
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 tsp arrowroot
3/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tbsp light cream
Black pepper
Sea salt
Butternut squash ravioli; also delicious with pumpkin; Prepare according to package directions
Directions:
1. Melt butter in saute pan over medium heat til golden brown. It is imperative to go slowly on this step to bring out the full depth of nutty flavor. Gently slosh butter back & forth. Be careful not to let it burn; there’s a fine line between browned butter and burned butter! Use a light-colored saute pan if you have one; it is easier to tell the color of the butter.
2. While butter browns, cook pine nuts on low heat in a dry saute pan until golden brown. Remove from heat.
3. When butter has browned, turn to low heat. Add 20-30 sage leaves (approximately 1/3 cup; tear in half if quite large) to hot butter. The sage leaves should begin to fry in the butter. Allow them to heat in the butter for a few minutes to infuse the flavor into the butter.
4. Add wine and increase heat to medium. While it reduces, stir arrowroot into chicken broth until dissolved and add to pan. Sauce should be medium thickness and a bit satiny.
5. Stir in nutmeg.
6. Add cream just before removing from heat. Stir to combine. Sauce should be fairly rich and thick.
7. Grind a bit of black pepper and sea salt over sauce to taste.
8. Add pinenuts and serve over raviolis prepared according to package directions.
Optional:
For a bit of texture, add 1 diced onion when you add the sage leaves and cook in butter until onion softens.
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese adds another nice touch.
For a lighter, springy version, omit the cream and nutmeg and add 1-2 tbsp lemon juice instead (start with 1; add more incrementally until you are pleased with the tanginess).
The sauce is also an excellent accompaniment to an earthy vegetable like steamed brussles sprouts or broccoli. Serve with plenty of bread for soaking up the last drops of flavor.
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