In case you are still searching for holiday menu ideas, or simple inspiration, we asked two local chefs, Nate Rafn, creator of the televesion program Living Culture, and Jessica Ritter, co-owner of The Wild Pear, to share a couple of their favorites. Read on to learn more about Nate’s family recipe for Best Pumpkin Cookies and Jessica’s delicious Roasted Butternut Squash – either one is guaranteed to bring some local flavor to your holiday table!
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“What would the holiday season be without the mouth-watering tradition of reviving old family recipes?” says Nate. “Family recipes are an important part of the holiday experience. It gives children and adults alike an opportunity to engage and create something memorable. It is this custom that preserves family connections, and keeps us in touch with fond recollections of years past.”
His his family enjoys holiday treats that pay tribute to Danish or American culture – homemade eggnog, Danish julekage, and his Grandma’s unusual, but tasty, pumpkin cookies.
“My grandmother, Louise Rafn, was the first in my family to make pumpkin cookies,” he says. “She originally found the recipe in a Church of Latter Day Saints Relief Society magazine. She liked the recipe so much, that she submitted it to the Salem 4th Ward Relief Society cookbook in 1979. It has been a popular treat in my household, and others in the Salem area Mormon community, ever since.”
BEST PUMPKIN COOKIES - makes 25 cookies
This recipe produces a cookie that is subtly sweet, soft, and somewhat bread-like. Most of the moisture comes from the pumpkin puree. So be careful not to over-mix the dough. These cookies also freeze very well.
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup nuts (optional)
1 cup raisins (optional)
1 cup chocolate chips
2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup pumpkin puree (canned or prepared fresh)
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Stir the butter to soften. Gradually add sugar and cream together until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, and mix well. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternately with pumpkin. Beat after each addition until smooth. Fold in raisins and nuts (optional), and chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoons on two greased cookie sheets. Bake each batch at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
Enjoy these cookies with a mug of eggnog!
Nate Rafn produces a television series about local foods entitled Living Culture, on KWVT Willamette Valley DTV channel 17.1, Comcast channels 22 in Salem and 29 in Portland. Visit www.livingcultureonline.com.
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ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH
This recipe, from The Wild Pear’s Jessica Ritter, uses blue cheese and pecans to take roasted butternut squash from ho-hum to heavenly – showing that simplicity is sensational. The amount of blue cheese, pecans and sugar that you use will be dictated by how much squash you have. You can easily modify this recipe to make a smaller or larger amount – just keep the proportions roughly the same.
1 medium-sized butternut squash
1-2 T of canola oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 – 1/2 cup of crumbled blue cheese
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 cup of pecans, roughly chopped
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Seed, peel and dice the butternut squash into chunks. Toss squash with oil to coat and season with salt and pepper. Place in baking dish and cook uncovered until soft and nicely browned. Remove dish from oven. Toss together blue cheese, pecans and brown sugar. Sprinkle this mixture over the squash. Bring oven to broil. Place dish under broiler for a few minutes. Serve.
Jessica Ritter is co-owner , along with her sister Cecilia James, of Salem’s Wild Pear Restaurant, located at 372 State Street. Visit www.wildpearcatering.com.
Many thanks to Jessica and Nate for sharing their culinary talents on the FSSM blog!
