Email

Print

PamPam Panchak / Post-Gazette

Pounds Turkey Farm, in Allegheny Township, is owned by Bev Pounds and her husband Tim.

• 6 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 6 tablespoons flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 cups half and half
• 1 cup turkey stock, or 2/3 cup stock and 1/3 cup cooking sherry
• 3 cups cooked turkey, cut into bite-size pieces
• 8 ounces canned sliced mushroom, or sauteed fresh mushrooms
• 12 ounces cooked spaghetti, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Blend in flour, salt and pepper. Add half and half, and stock or stock/sherry. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat.

Stir in turkey and mushrooms. Toss gently with pasta. Turn into greased 3-quart casserole. Top with cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Serves 8.

-- Bev Pounds, Pounds Turkey Farm

This tasty recipe from Suzanne Hileman of Kistaco Farm in Apollo, Armstrong County, is about as easy as they come. She prefers Golden Delicious, but any variety would work.

• 12 pounds apples, sweet or tart depending on your taste

Peel, core and slice apples. Place in a slow cooker and cook on low overnight. (You don't need to add anything -- no water or sugar or spice -- unless you want to.) In the morning, smash the apples with a potato masher for chunky apple sauce, or whip them with a mixer for smooth apple sauce. Serve warm for breakfast or cooled as a side with dinner.

-- Suzanne Hileman, Kistaco Farm

Why wait until dessert to serve one of fall's most delicious crops, the humble pumpkin? Kick off your Thanksgiving feast with this fragrant pumpkin soup. This is from Lyman Orchards Farm Market in Middlefield, Conn., one of the places in Cherie Brooks Reilly's book, "Pumpkin Patch Proverbs & Pies," that is available at Reilly's Summer Seat Farm ($9.95).

• 1 cup milk
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup pure pumpkin
• 11/2 tablespoons melted butter
• 11/2 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Dash white pepper

In a medium saucepan, combine milk, onions and bay leaf. Slowly bring to a boil. Strain, then combine strained ingredients with the chicken both and pure pumpkin. Save milk and set aside.

In a separate saucepan. make a roux by combining the butter with the flour and cooking over low heat for 5 minutes to avoid the floury taste. Slowly add the reserved milk to the roux and whisk until the soup is smooth. Add pumpkin-chicken mixture to the milk mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer over low heat an additional 5 minutes to allow flavors to develop.

Serves 4.

-- "Pumpkin Patch Proverbs & Pies" by Cherie Brooks Reilly

Blue Goose Farm in Nicktown, Cambria County, offers this baked squash dish as an alternative to candied sweet potatoes. Corn flakes provide the crunch.

• 1 medium butternut squash
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 6 medium apples, cored and seeded but not peeled
• 11/2 tablespoons shortening
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 box of cornflakes, crushed coarsely, about 3 cups
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
• 2 tablespoon butter, melted

Cut squash in half and seed it. Bake upside-down on foil at 300 degrees until tender, about 30 minutes. Scrape out pulp and mash. Season with 1 tablespoon brown sugar and salt and pepper to taste. In the meantime, cook apples with 11/2 tablespoons shortening and 1/4 cup white sugar in small skillet. Cover and simmer until tender.

While apples are simmering, make nutty topping by mixing cornflakes, pecans, butter and remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar.

Spread cooked apples in a baking dish. Spread mashed squash over apples. Sprinkle with nutty topping and bake at 350 degrees until browned, about 15 to 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

-- Kelleigh Farabaugh, Blue Goose Farm

Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.