Vickey from Ohio just chatted with us today with questions about how to make pumpkin pie using her three fresh baking pumpkins. Baking pumpkins, sometimes called sugar pumpkins, are smaller, smoother and less watery than pumpkins. Pumpkin pies made with fresh pumpkin taste, well, fresher and more interesting than those made with canned. The key to a great pie will be to use baked pumpkin that is well drained and to not overdo your pie spices. First, select some great pumpkins which will be heavy with no blemishes on the rind. Vickey’s three baking pumpkins will yield about 4 or 5 cups of baked mashed pumpkin – enough for more than two pies. Any leftover baked, drained, and mashed pumpkin can be stored in the freezer and used for more pie! soups, bread, etc.

Equipment you will need:
Baking tray
Serrated knife large
Metal Spoon
Colander
Food Processor
Pie dishes

Prepare the pumpkin:
1. Wash the pumpkin in warm water, do not use soap. Cut the pumpkin in half width-wise using the serrated knife. Scoop out the insides, seeds and stringy parts.

2. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Place pumpkin on a baking sheet face down / pumpkin rind up. Bake pumpkin until the rind turns a nice golden brown.

3. To check to see if the pumpkin is done, the rind should slip right off the meat of the pumpkin and pumpkin meat can be easily removed with your fingers. Take all the meat and place in a colander to drain any excess liquid. For best results: line your colander with cheesecloth, thick paper towels, or even coffee filters and press down on pumpkin to squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Do ahead tip: Bake your pumpkin a day ahead of pie-making and drain in the colander (wrapper and stored in the refrigerator) overnight.

4. Once cooled and drained, blend in a food process so it becomes a nice smooth consistency.

Prepare pie dough:
Chef Adam has a great recipe and method, use this link: Simple Pie Dough. Keep cover and chilled until use.

Bake your pie:
Recipe is below. Save this to your ChefsLine Recipe Box > >

Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Ingredients
2 cups of cooked pumpkins, mashed*
1 1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg or allspice
1/8 tsp. cloves
2 eggs, beaten slightly

Method
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line baking pan with pastry dough. In mixing bowl, mix 2 cups cooked, mashed pumpkin with remaining ingredients. Pour into pie shell. Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees, then reduce heat to 350 degrees. Bake pie for another 45 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Allow to cool. Serve with whipped cream or by itself.

I feel fondue is one of the most romantic dinners. For me, fondue is always done with candlelight – I usually light a fire in the fireplace, lower the lights, and pull out the votives.  Our fondue pot is set up right in front of the fire on the floor with lots of pillows piled around.  My husband and I have a leisurely evening of dipping things into our cheese and then chocolate pot.  Of course there is feeding each other!  What follows are my recipes for fondue and hopefully your own romantic Anniversary or Valentine Dinner. Enjoy and I am available on ChefsLine’s hotline at 1-800-977-1224 if you need some help.

How to Make Cheese Fondue

Step One: Make a basic Velouté Sauce
Ingredients
4 cup Chicken Stock
8 Tbsp Butter
10 Tbsp Flour

Method
In large sauce pan, bring Chicken Stock up to a boil.
In another small sauce pan, melt Butter, then whisk in Flour, until it becomes a thick paste, this is called a roux.
Once the Chicken Stock is boiling, lower temperature to simmer. Gradually add the Butter/Flour mixture (Roux).
You want this to be a THICK Velouté, whisk and keep cooking over heat to cook some of the flour out.
Simmer for 25-30 minutes, whisking occasionally. Strain sauce through sieve and back into sauce pot (to keep warm) or into warmed Fondue Pot (if serving immediately).

Step Two: Cheese Fondue
To velouté Sauce, add additional ingredients. Heat gently in sauce pot until cheese just begins to melt. Stir occasionally with wooden spoon and keep an eye on it. Pour into fondue pot and serve. Alternatively, you can add ingredients to Veloute sauce that is held in warm fondue pot and stir until all is melted. I recommend you start the final process about 10 minutes prior to eating.

Ingredients
1 cup of White wine
1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
1 Tbsp Worcestshire Sauce
2 cloves of Garlic, minced
1/2 lb. of Gruyere Cheese, shredded
1/2 lb. of Emnenthaler cheese, shredded

Favorite “dippers.” The items you dip in cheese fondue should be consistent in size and large chunks that are large enough to spear on the fondue forks, but small enough to be bite size.

• Ham
• Apples (Green or Red)
• Asparagus
• Cauliflower
• Bread
• Tomatoes
• Broccoli
• Crab
• Blanched Potatoes
• Turkey Breast
• Chicken Breast

Fondue Variations:

• Cheddar cheese and Beer Fondue (substitute cheddar cheese instead of Gruyere cheese and Emnenthaler)
• Blue Cheese Fondue
• Brie Fondue
• Parmesan Cheese Fondue
• Champagne Fondue (substitute Champagne for White Wine)
• Mexican Fondue (Jack cheese, and add a fresh chopped Jalapeños 1 tea. cumin, 2 T. Fresh chopped Cilantro)
• Pesto Fondue
• Italian Fondue (Chopped Tomatoes, Fresh Chopped Oregano & Basil with Fontina cheese )
• Roasted Garlic Fondue

Chocolate Fondue for Dessert

16 oz Chocolate Chips
1 1/2 cup of Heavy Whip Cream
1/4 cup of Liqueur (Grand Marnier or Amaretto)
*or mint extract or vanilla

In the top part of a Double Broiler, melt chocolate, whipping cream, and liqueur. Stir until smooth. Pour into Fondue Pot.

Items that are delicious and fun to dip:

• Strawberries
• Marshmallows
• Pineapple
• Cherries (with pits removed)
• Any Dried Fruit
• Chopped up pound cake
• Bananas
• Raspberries, Blackberries or Blueberries
• Lady Fingers
• Meringues

Deep Frying Turkey allows the skin to be cooked to a delectable crispiness, while the inside is still moist and juicy.

Equipment Needed:
Turkey Deep Fryer Pot Set
Turkey Injection and Injector
Meat Thermometer
Peanut/vegetable oil
Oven mitts

Do’s:

1. The first thing you should do is determine how much oil you need to heat up. To do this, place your turkey in the cold pot. Fill the pot with water to cover the turkey allow for it to cover 2 inch above the turkey. Take the turkey out. Mark where the water level is…..this is how much oil you will need. This is an important step because if you do not determine how much oil you need and just fill the pot with oil, heat the oil then place the bird in…..chances are you have too much oil and it will spill over the pot roll down the sides to the open flame and catch on fire.
2. Dry your turkey off completely.
3. Fill pot with oil to the determined level.
4. Heat your oil outside to 350°-375° F.

Don’ts

1. Do not set up Deep Fryer indoors, or under an overhang. Never place close to the house, allow to be about 4 feet away from any structures.
2. Do not leave hot oil unattended.
3. Do not allow children and pets to be around your hot oil.
4. Do not Place hot oil on any surface that is not flat.
5. Do not use olive oil.
6. Do not brine your turkey. Make sure your turkey is completely dry.
7. Do not stuff your turkey.
8. Do not forget to remove giblets in the cavity of your turkey.
9. Do not try to fry a frozen turkey, the turkey should be completely defrosted.

Use a butter based turkey injection:
Melt 1 cup of whole butter and cool, add your dry seasonings. Suggestions are: cajun seasonings, or poultry seasoning, granulated garlic, salt and pepper. To inject the bird, fill injector with butter & seasonings. Inject each breast 6-8 times and inject each thigh 4-5 times. Pressing down on as you slowly pull injector out.

Use an egg white wash and season:
Smear 2 egg whites all over the outside of the turkey. Egg whites will help the seasonings stick to the outside and make the outside crispier. Season the outside of the turkey with Salt and White Pepper, you can also sprinkle with poultry seasoning, or if you used cajun seasoning in the butter, you can also sprinkle the outside with this seasoning.

Select the right oil:
Peanut is most popular, but you can use canola, or any other vegetable oil. Rice or rice bran oil is also a great oil to use because it has a high temperature before it starts smoking.

Cooking the deep fried turkey:
If your turkey pot comes with a basket, place your prepared turkey in the basket, using your oven mitts; gently and SLOWLY lower the turkey into the hot oil. DO NOT JUST DROP THE TURKEY IN THE OIL, it will boil up and hot oil could fling up at you. Or worse yet, the oil could boil over the pot and go down the outside of the pot, and fall into the open flame which would catch on fire.

Turkey will take 45 minutes to 1 ¼ hours to cook depending on size. Ideally you will use a leave in meat thermometer to measure the internal temperature. Remove the turkey when it reaches and internal temperature of 165° F.

Using your oven mitts, pull the basket out of the hot oil. If you are cooking more than one turkey, you may place the next turkey in the fryer. If not, turn off the hot oil.

Allow the deep fryer to fully cool before discarding the oil.

Allow turkey to rest 15 minutes before carving.

What You’ll Need:
Heavy bottomed sauce pot.
Lollipop (candy) sticks or thin dowels
Firm, ripe apples.
A candy thermometer.
Caramel ingredients. (see recipe below)

Caramel Apples Recipe by Chef Robyn Fennessey:

INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter (do not use margarine)
2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup Karo Syrup
1 can sweetened condensed milk
6-8 green apples
6-8 wooden sticks

METHOD
Place butter, sugar, syrup and milk in a sauce pot. Bring to a boil, stir occasionally with a wooden spoon. Using a candy thermometer, boil the sugar until it reaches 240 degrees F. This will take about 25-30 minutes. After caramel is done, take your apples and dip into the caramel, then top with your favorite toppings, and place on wax piece of paper to harden.

Tips for Great Dipped Apples:
Buy your apples at a farmers market, because grocery store has a wax that they put on your apples, which causes the Caramel not to stick or adhere as easily.
Make sure your topping are all out and ready to go, when your Caramel is ready. A delay could cause your topping s not to stick to the apples.
Never touch the Caramel, it will cause burns.

Some topping ideas:
Chopped peanuts
Almond slices
Mini M& M’s
Mini chocolate chips
Shredded coconut
Rice crispy cereal
Red hot candies
White chocolate chips
Chocolate powder
Chopped up pretzels
Mini marshmallows
Crushed Graham cracker crumb