Roasting Pumpkin Seeds - Flash Tip

If, like us, you are late to the pumpkin carving and seed roasting this year I have a tip for you!  Clean your seeds, and then boil them in salted water for 10 minutes.  The boil, I learned, ensures that the entire seed cooks evenly and that the inside doesn't blacken up!   Post boil, dry them, sprinkle with salt pepper and cayenne, drizzle with olive oil and roast for 10 - 12 minutes at 325.

Roasted Mushrooms with Crispy Sage and Walnut Oil

You may not have walnut oil in your cabinet, but you are going to buy some.  You may have slight sticker shock at the price, but I can all but guarantee you will thank me when you taste these mushrooms.

I've had walnut oil in my cabinet for sometime and just recently started exploring with it again thanks to the nudging of one of my besties.  She was touting the health benefits, of which there are many, but really, it's the huge, earthy flavor that I adore.  In the dish below, the sage crisps up, the mushrooms drip and the nutty flavors just scream fall.  Enjoy!

Roasted Mushrooms with Crispy Sage and Walnut Oil
Ingredients (serves 2 as a side) 

• 2 cups of whole button and portobella's chopped into a 2 inch dice. note: bunches of enoki would be glorious here
• 1.5 tablespoons of walnut oil
• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
• 10 - 12 sage leaves ripped in half
• Salt to taste 

Directions 

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
• Drop the whole button and chopped portobella on a baking sheet, condensing into a single, close knit center
• Drizzle with the two oils, sprinkle with sage and toss to coat
• Cook for 15 - 20 mnutes until fragrant, but not too shrunken
• Season to taste and enjoy

Marcella's Tomato Sauce

Now that my work life and personal passions are so wonderfully, blissfully aligned, I find myself trying things in the kitchen that I wouldn't have otherwise had the gumption to.  I've made homemade bread, TWICE, in a week.  It was pure elation eating homemade grape jelly on my inaugural loaf of bread last week. 

This inspiration has lead to  more exploration with tomatoes,  which as you may know, is an unexpected turn.  When I read about Marcella Hazan's passing, I knew it was time to try my hand at her tomato sauce.  Run to your local market, scoop up the last tomatoes and do the same.   I included a few yellow heirlooms creating the lighter hue.

Marcella's Tomato Sauce
Ingredients  

• 2 pounds fresh, ripe tomatoes, (skins peeled**) or 2 cups canned imported Italian tomatoes skin less, cut up, with their juice
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 1 medium onion, peeled and cut in half
• Salt to taste 

Directions 

• Put the tomatoes, butter and onion in a saucepan, and cook uncovered at a simmer for about 45 minutes until the butter slick floats on top. 
• Stir from time to time, mashing up large chunks with the back of a wooden spoon.
• Taste, add salt, discard the onion and enjoy. It's best soupy over pasta with freshly grated cheese. 

**Boil water and drop the whole tomatoes in for just a minute.  Remove, let cool slightly and peel.