A Very Blueberry Thanksgiving: Pumpkin soup with dried blueberry "dust"

• 

Pulse freeze-dried blueberries in a food processor to make the blueberry "dust" that decorates this smooth, creamy pumpkin soup (photo: Karen Ard)

My mother told me the other day that she likes my recipes because they're always so simple.

I told her it's because I'm a lazy cook.

And it's true. I hate separating eggs. I rarely sift. I will never use two pots if one will do.

Part of the reason I write simple recipes is because I am often making large numbers of dishes for large numbers of people. That's exactly why this pumpkin soup led off A Very Blueberry Thanksgiving, the blueberry-themed Thanksgiving dinner I made for a couple dozen food bloggers a few weeks ago.

Nothing could be easier: Cook onions in olive oil, add canned pumpkin puree and chicken stock, a few seasonings, a little milk, and you're done. It's a great way to start a festive meal like Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, especially when served in small glasses as a walking-around appetizer.

Because A Very Blueberry Thanksgiving was sponsored by the U.S. Blueberry Council, each of the 10 dishes I served included fresh, frozen, or dried blueberries. See the purple "dust" on the pumpkin soup shooters in the photo above?  Take freeze-dried blueberries and blitz them briefly in a food processor. The tartness of the blueberries combines beautifully with the fragrant pumpkin soup. And it looks gorgeous too, don't you think?

Note: Freeze-dried blueberries are hard and crunchy; don't use the dried blueberries that are chewy and have the consistency of raisins. The ones you're looking for shatter when you bite into them.

print recipe

Pumpkin soup shooters with dried blueberry "dust"

by Erika Kerekes November-22-2013

There's no better way to start a festive holiday meal like Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner than with this smooth, creamy soup. Freeze-dried blueberries take a spin in the food processor to make the blueberry "dust" that decorates the top of the soup.

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 1 29-ounce can pure pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
• 1 quart chicken stock
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 lemon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/4 cup freeze-dried blueberries

Instructions

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.Add the onion and saute about 4 minutes, until the onion is translucent.Add the pumpkin puree, chicken stock, and nutmeg. Stir the pumpkin mixture and bring to a boil.Turn down the heat and simmer the soup about 30 minutes, until the onions are very soft.Puree the soup in the pot with a hand-held immersion blender, or transfer the soup to a countertop blender and puree until very smooth.Add the lemon juice and salt. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Stir in the milk.Put the freeze-dried blueberries into a food processor. Pulse in 2-second intervals until the blueberries look powdery.Ladle the hot soup into small juice glasses or demitasse cups. Sprinkle each serving with a large pinch of the ground dried blueberries. Serve immediately.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 30 mins Total time: 35 mins Yield: 10 servings

A Very Blueberry Thanksgiving: Pumpkin blueberry trifle

• 

Add this pumpkin blueberry trifle to your Thanksgiving dessert table (photo: Karen Ard) 

When I started planning the menu for A Very Blueberry Thanksgiving, the twist-on-tradition Thanksgiving dinner I hosted last weekend for Los Angeles food bloggers, I had no trouble pairing blueberries with pumpkin soup, turkey, roasted butternut squash salad, sweet potatoes, and Brussels sprouts.

(Yep, that was the twist - every one of the 10 courses served included fresh, dried, or frozen blueberries.)

But I couldn't decide on dessert. I wanted to do something with pumpkin, but pumpkin pie with blueberry sauce felt underwhelming.

It was Julie Stas, the lovely woman who leads the public relations team for the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (one of the event's sponsors), who suggested a trifle. I'd never made a trifle before, but it sounded like a good idea: cake or cookies, fruit, custard, whipped cream. Pumpkin blueberry trifle. Sure. Why not?

Give it up for Julie. She is a genius. This pumpkin blueberry trifle came together easily, looked absolutely stunning in the bowl, and tasted heavenly. The warm spices in the pumpkin bread played perfectly off the tangy blueberry sauce and the smooth, creamy vanilla pudding.

And while a decade ago this dessert would have been impossible to pull off at Thanksgiving because fresh blueberries were nowhere to be found, now we can get excellent fresh blueberries from Chile and other South American countries from October until March. The blueberries I bought at my local grocer to top this pumpkin blueberry trifle were plump, juicy, and sweet. Click here to learn more about winter blueberries.

Add this pumpkin blueberry trifle to your Thanksgiving dessert list - you'll be glad you did.

Note: I made my own pumpkin bread (recipe included below), but feel free to use a prepared loaf from your favorite bakery or grocery store.

print recipe

Pumpkin Blueberry Trifle

by Erika Kerekes November-16-2013

Spicy pumpkin bread and fresh blueberries make this traditional English trifle a delicious and impressive Thanksgiving dessert.

Ingredients

• 2 cups pure pumpkin puree
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup grapeseed or canola oil
• 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 32-ounce bag frozen blueberries
• 1 lemon, juice and zest
• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• 4 cups vanilla pudding (buy prepared or try this recipe)
• 2 cups fresh blueberries

Instructions

Make the pumpkin bread: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, 2 cups sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. Sprinkle the salt, flour, baking powder, and baking soda on top of the pumpkin mixture, then stir with a large spoon just until combined. Spray a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and pour in the batter. Bake about 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool, then crumble the pumpkin bread into large chunks with your fingers. (Alternatively, you can buy a large loaf of prepared pumpkin bread.)Make the blueberry sauce: Put the frozen blueberries, remaining ½ cup sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest into a saucepan. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat, and simmer about 1 hour, until the sauce is thickened and glossy. Remove from the heat and let cool.Just before assembling the trifle, whip the cream with an electric mixer (or by hand if you’re sturdy) until it is fluffy and glossy.Assemble the trifle: In a large glass bowl, put down a layer of pumpkin bread crumbs, a layer of pudding, and a layer of blueberry sauce. Repeat once more, ending with a layer of crumbs. Pile the whipped cream on top and scatter the fresh blueberries on the whipped cream. Let sit at least 2 hours before serving to give everything a chance to meld.Note: Trifle can also be made in small glasses for individual servings.

Details

Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 50 mins Total time: 1 hour 10 mins Yield: 12 servings

Pumpkin Dutchess Potatoes: A twist on traditional mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving

• 

Looking for a new twist on your traditional mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner? Try these Pumpkin Dutchess potatoes. They come out of the oven all crisp on the outside and creamy on the inside, with a smoky overtone from the smoked paprika. And the beautiful orange color is pure autumn.

They look very fancy, but trust me - they're easy. Even for dopes like me who can't get the hang of the piping bag. Notice the variation in the swirls above. And then notice that even the imperfect ones look pretty darn good.

A side benefit: automatic portion control. Unless you're like me and you eat a half-dozen with your fingers before they make it to the serving platter. Then...not so much.

P.S. Yes, Mommy, I am planning to make these for our Thanksgiving dinner.

I developed this recipe for the Idaho® Potato Commission. Need other potato ideas? They've got a million and a half fantastic recipes. Click here to see their massive collection of potato recipes.

print recipe

Pumpkin Dutchess Potatoes

by Erika Kerekes November-13-2013

Beautiful swirls of mashed potato mixed with pumpkin puree, then bathed in butter and baked in the oven until crisp along the edges. A beautiful addition to your table for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any elegant dinner.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds Idaho® Russet potatoes
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
• 1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
• 6 Tablespoons butter, melted, divided
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 egg
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• freshly ground pepper
• Equipment: potato ricer, piping bag with large star tip, pastry brush

Instructions

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil, then spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray. Preheat the oven to 425° F.Wash and peel the Idaho® Russet potatoes, then cut into 2-inch chunks. Place the potato chunks into a medium-sized pot and cover with water by 1 inch. Add 1 teaspoon salt to the water.Bring the pot to a boil, turn down the heat, and simmer 20-25 minutes, or until the potato chunks are tender when pierced with a small knife or the tines of a fork. Drain the cooked potatoes in a colander, then return them to the hot pot. Shake gently for a minute or two; you will see steam rising as the potatoes dry out.While the potatoes are cooking, into a large bowl add the pumpkin puree, 4 tablespoons of the melted butter, heavy cream, egg, egg yolks, and smoked paprika. Whisk thoroughly, until the mixture is slightly puffy and aerated.For the lightest texture, use a potato ricer. Hold the ricer over the bowl of pumpkin mixture and press the cooked potatoes into the bowl. This eliminates all lumps, making it easier to pipe the swirls onto the baking sheet. (Alternatively, mash the potatoes thoroughly in the pot with a potato masher, then add the mashed potatoes to the pumpkin mixture.) Blend thoroughly with a large spoon until the mixture is uniform. Add the remaining ½ teaspoon salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.Spoon the potato-pumpkin mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe swirls of the potato-pumpkin mixture onto the prepared baking sheet. You can place them fairly close together, as they will not spread during baking. You should get about two dozen swirls.Using a pastry brush, gently dab the potato-pumpkin swirls with the remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter. Be careful not to flatten the piped ridges too much.Bake the potato-pumpkin swirls about 25 minutes, until they are hot and the ridges are starting to crisp. Serve immediately, allowing two swirls per person.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 45 mins Total time: 1 hour Yield: 12 servings