BROWNIE WITH PUMPKIN PARFAIT

This recipe I saw in the December edition of one of the food magazines here in Turkey.

The recipe seems not to be so difficult. 

I found the end result somehow too sweet so you may consider adding less sugar to the brownie (like 2 glasses instead of 3.5!) 

Ingredients (serves 8):

For the brownie:

2 eggs

1 glass of sugar

Half a glass of yoghurt

Half a glass of oil

One glass of flour

4 spoons of cacao powder

1 bag of baking powder

50 grams of walnuts, chopped fine

walnuts chopped fine

For the pumpkin parfait:

800 grams of pumpkin, cleaned and cubed

pumpkin, cleaned and in the process of being cubed

3.5 glasses of sugar

1 glass of water

8 leaves of gelatin

For decoration: powder sugar

Method

A)   For the brownie

1. Heat the oven at 200 degrees.
2. Blend the eggs and the sugar with the mixer.
3. Add the yoghurt and the oil and continue mixing.
4. Add the flour, cacao and baking powder and continue mixing
5. Add the walnuts and continue mixing.
6. Spread the mixture into a square cake mould that you have oiled.
7. Bake the brownie in the oven for about 20 – 25 degrees.

step A2

Step A4

step A6

B)      For the pumpkin parfait

1. Take the pumpkin to a pot. Add the water and the sugar and close the lid.
2. Cook on medium fire until the pumpkin gets soft.
3. When the pumpkin is soft, make a puree from it by using the blender
4. Melt the gelatin in small amount of cold water. Add to the pumpkin mixture.

Step B1

Step B3

C)      Brownie with pumpkin parfait

1. Cut the brownie into two layers horizontally.
2. Put one of the layers into the square cake mould.
3. Spread the lukewarm pumpkin parfait on the brownie layer.
4. Put the other layer of the brownie on the parfait.
5. Let it rest in the refrigerator for an hour.

Step C1

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE WITH PUMPKIN AND ALMONDS

(Text in English is below. Türkçe tarif için burayi tiklayin)

A couple of days ago I tried this pumpkin parfait with brownie. With the remaining pumpkin that I have I thought I’d make some pumpkin soup. I had also some Jerusalem artichokes that I got from the open air market a week ago and I needed to do something with it when it was still fresh. Then I thought “hmm, let’s forget about the soup and try to combine these two together”.

Jerusalem artichokes, called also sunchokes, are actually not artichokes. They are like potatoes, however sweeter in taste. They are said to be quite healthy and a must-have on the table at least once a year! 

Normally Jerusalem artichokes are prepared as a vegetable dish cooked with olive oil. In Turkey, these sorts of dishes are called “zeytinyagli” (meaning “with olive oil”) and they are usually served as cold starters, not as main dish. However, there are many people who cook bigger portions of these “zeytinyagli” stuff and have it as main dish. It is quite vegetarian and healthy.  

As for the Jerusalem artichokes are concerned, there is this particular recipe called “Jerusalem artichokes with orange”; I have based my recipe on this one; I added the pumpkins and the almonds and I omitted the extra sugar in the recipe. It was delicious, I am glad I tried it this way. 

 As I said, Jerusalem artichokes are quite sweet just as the pumpkin so it was a mild combination of sweet flavors – that’s why the extra sugar is not necessary. I think it would also make a great combination with red meat.

Here we go:

Ingredients: (serves 3 – 4)

1 kilo of Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and washed, cubed 

jerusalem artichokes, peeled and cubed

3 slices of pumpkin, cubed

1 carrot, ringed

pumpkin cubed and carrots

1 medium sized onion, ringed

1 small to medium potato, cubed (smaller than the cubes of the pumpkin)

1 glass of orange juice

 3 spoons of olive oil

A handful of almonds

Salt

Method:

1. Sauté the onions in the olive oil for one minute.
2. Add the carrot and the almonds and continue sautéing.
3. Add the Jerusalem artichokes, the pumpkin and sauté for a minute more.
4. Add the potatoes and the glass of orange juice. Close the lid and let it simmer. It takes 15 to 20 minutes till it is ready.
5. Add salt to your liking.

step 2

delicious jerusalem artichokes with pumpkin

yummy ending