Pumpkin-Cider Pork, Roasted Squash, and Radicchio Salad
Every fall I accept the challenge of trying to squeeze all the pumpkin possible into a couple of months. It’s like there’s a rule that says I must eat anything-made-with-pumpkin within the months of October and November. Everywhere I turn, there’s pumpkin looking back at me. It’s quite the dilemma, and the list keeps getting longer! Earlier this month on a rainy Sunday, I kicked off pumpkin-eating season with a “pumpkin” dinner inspired by the “Pumpkin Spice Up Your Life” menu from Dan Pelosi’s Let’s Party cookbook.
My party was a party of two. Me and my husband. My party prep turned into a several hour project. But my house smelled amazing on a rainy drizzly day and my dinner was tasty tasty. I made three recipes, scaling them down as needed. The result was a celebration of pumpkin in different forms, coming together to create a feast of colors, textures, and flavors. Bonus, my husband thought it was date night.
My pumpkin menu:
Pumpkin Cider Braised Pork Shoulder
Roasted Squash with Crispy Chickpeas & Feta
Radicchio, Gorgonzola & Pepita Salad
First, a note about pumpkins and pumpkin spice
Before I get to the recipes, let’s clear up a couple of things.
All pumpkins are technically squashes, but not all squashes are pumpkins. They are all cucurbits from the Cucurbitaceae family. I wrote a crash course in winter squash a few years back if you want to go down that squash hole.
What you need to know: most winter squash is soft-shelled, meaning you can eat the skin; and winter squashes are largely interchangeable with pumpkins, especially when pureed.
And just because something has pumpkin spice in it, doesn’t necessarily mean it includes actual pumpkin. The ubiquitous Starbucks PSL didn’t start out with pumpkin. Only since 2015 has the Starbucks PSL sauce included real pumpkin puree along with a blend of pumpkin pie spices. And even now, it appears that the “pumpkin” is actually kabocha squash. Interchangeable indeed.
Pumpkin Cider Braised Pork Shoulder
The first time I make a recipe, I always try to make it just like it’s written. But on this particular day I ended up making slight modifications to everything based on ingredients I could find day of within a half mile. And because I was cooking for two, I roughly halved everything. This slow-cooked pork shoulder will make your house smell amazing. And even if you’re not a big pork eater (raises hand), you’ll be dreaming about this long after you eat it.
It’s hard to get a good picture of pork. But here she is, a boneless pork shoulder simmering in pumpkin-spiced apple cider with red onions, garlic, and fresh sage.
Here were my portions for the pork, braised in a Dutch oven at 350 degrees for nearly three hours.
2 ½ pound boneless pork shoulder
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1/8 cup olive oil
16-20 oz. pumpkin cider + water. If you can’t find pumpkin ale/cider (I could not), use apple cider and add ¼ cup pumpkin puree and a few dashes of pumpkin pie spice.
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 red onion, sliced
5-7 garlic cloves
A handful of sage leaves from my courtyard
Just pat the pork shoulder dry and season with salt and pepper. Place in a Dutch oven (or oven proof pan) and brown the pork in olive oil on stove top over medium heat, about 5 min per side. Pour the cider over the pork. Add about ½ cup water and the rest of the ingredients.
Bring to simmer, cover pot. Put in oven and bake 2-3 hours flipping halfway through. I left it in the oven the full 3 hours to make sure the pork was really falling apart and could be shredded simply with a fork.
This gave us several meals, including the last one made into a shredded pork sandwich.
Radicchio, Gorgonzola & Pepita Salad
This salad brings a little drama to your table. Plus the colors are gorgeous. Pile the leaves high on a platter, teetering on one another. Then strategically tuck in the pears. Add small globs (technical term) of cheese. Sprinkle roasted pepitas over the salad. Be generous. Drizzle with the maple vinaigrette. Be generous. Dig in.
I should have left the skin on the pear to get the green color against the purple. The maple vinaigrette with the toasty, salty pepitas is lip-smacking good.
Ingredients:
Radicchio - While I’ve eaten radicchio over the years, dare I say that this may have been the first time I’ve purchased radicchio from the grocery store? I didn’t even know how to pronounce it properly (ruh·dee·kee·ow) until I heard my daughter talking about the radicchio she got from her CSA a few years back. It’s Italian for radish. Yes, of course.
Gorgonzola - or a blue cheese. I used Oregon Blue from Rogue Creamery.
Sliced Pear - I used a Bartlett, but use your favorite.
Pepitas - If you aren’t tossing a handful of toasted, salted pepitas on all your fall salads and roasted veggies, you’re missing out. Pepitas are shelled, hull-less pumpkin seeds. They are small and green; not the seeds you get from jack-o-lanterns. When you roast them, they get crunchy and delicious. I usually just toss them in a dry skillet with kosher salt and move around the pan until they start to brown and even pop. Be careful not to burn though! This recipe sautes them in olive oil. Either way works but I lean toward the dry ones.
Maple Vinaigrette - perhaps the star of the salad and a dressing you should keep in your fridge always. I made half the recipe: 1/4 c. balsamic vinegar, 3 Tbs. maple syrup, 1/2 Tbs. Dijon mustard, 1/4 c. olive oil, plus S+P. The truth is that I usually just eyeball salad dressing measurements and shake it all up in a pint-sized jar.
One more look. Drizzle the vinaigrette over so it pools a bit in a few of the radicchio leaves.
Roasted Squash with Crispy Chickpeas & Feta
I could eat this dish all season long. It would be equally delicious as an accompaniment to chicken. It’s a bit involved, and for that matter could be dinner on its own. The recipe calls for three varieties of winter squash. Acorn, delicata, and kabocha. My store was out of delicata so I ended up just using the two varieties. What really won me over though, were the crispy chickpeas. And the mint. Oh and the lightly pickled shallots. Plus the sweetness of the squash. Each separately delicious. Served all together, a surprise in every bite.
To get the full visual impact of this Roasted Squash, Crispy Chickpea and Feta dish, try to use rings of delicate squash to add another shape to the dish. Alas, my store was out of delicata.
Ingredients:
Chickpeas – Open a can, rinse, and dry them with paper towels spread on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with 2 Tbs. olive oil and kosher salt. (I roasted the whole can, but only used about half to match the other proportions.)
Squash - Two of your choosing (Delicate, Acorn, Kabocha) – Wash and cut your squash. I was sorry I didn’t have delicata since it makes such pretty rings. I used an acorn and a kabocha and left the skin on. Mix it all on a baking sheet with salt, 2 Tbs. olive oil, and sprinkle with cayenne pepper.
Bake the squash and chickpeas together on separate baking sheets at 400 degrees. (Chickpeas on top rack.) When you take chickpeas out, sprinkle them with 2 tsp. smoked paprika. You can move squash to top rack and turn on the broiler to char the squash a few extra minutes if desired. (Also, you could choose to bake the chickpeas in advance.)
Shallots - Marinate them in apple cider vinegar for 5 minutes. (I had quick-pickled shallots in my fridge already, so just used those.)
Feta cheese (buy the block, not pre-crumbled so you can shave off nice chunks.)
Mint leaves, a small handful torn
Honey for drizzling
Assemble the salad:
Arrange squash on a platter.
Sprinkle chickpeas and shallots over the top and around.
Add feta and torn mint.
Drizzle the entire platter with honey as desired.
Dig in and enjoy! If you’re wondering what else was in the “Pumpkin Spice up Your Life”chapter, the other recipes included an Autumnal Cheese Ball made with pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice; a Creamy Pumpkin Sauce served over cheese ravioli. Definitely on my list to try; and Ginger Pumpkin Pie with Maple Whipped Cream, which has a gingersnap crust and also on “my list.”
Not one to forgo dessert, and staying on theme, I also made (the same day), Brown Butter Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies from Sally’s Baking 101. It was date night after all.
These Brown Butter Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies are dipped in icing, reminiscent of the Old Fashioned Oatmeal Cookies from the grocery store aisle.
Stay tuned for my next post, hopefully on pumpkin (if I can stay focused), this time with sugar and all the spices. I only have a month to fit it all in.