Grits with Roasted Pumpkin, Aged Maple Syrup, and Crispy Pepitas

Poole's: Recipes and Stories from a Modern Diner

I know, I'm always saying my kids don't like what we make for this channel. This? Was an instant exception. Now, they didn't want the maple syrup (!!!) or the pumpkin seeds, but these grits? They asked for them over and over. The adults enjoyed the addition of the aged maple syrup. Four thumbs up here!

This recipe is available here: https://www.foodrepublic.com/recipes/grits-with-roasted-pumpkin-aged-maple-syrup-and-crispy-pepitas/

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[00:00]: [Music]
[00:04]: hello and welcome to cooking the books
[00:07]: with Heather where we make recipes from
[00:09]: our professional chefs cookbooks and let
[00:12]: you know how easy or hard they are today
[00:16]: we're going to be working from the pulse
[00:17]: diner cookbook actually Christensen's
[00:20]: cookbook and we're making grits with
[00:24]: roasted pumpkin aged maple syrup and
[00:27]: crispy pepitas so when we're filming
[00:33]: this it is October but it has been
[00:36]: summer in North Carolina until the
[00:40]: beginning of October so it's now fall
[00:42]: and we are looking for fall recipes and
[00:45]: this looked delicious especially since I
[00:48]: got a pie pumpkin in my produce box so
[00:51]: this is a very large pie pumpkin it is I
[00:55]: think it was a little over four pounds
[00:57]: whereas she calls for one and 3/4 pound
[01:02]: pumpkin so we'll probably use about half
[01:05]: of it it'll probably take us a little
[01:07]: bit longer to cook it but we're going to
[01:09]: go ahead and get started with it
[01:12]: first thing I'm going to do is try to
[01:15]: slice off this top part that will make a
[01:20]: flat space for me to use and be able to
[01:23]: cut it in half like I'm supposed to
[01:28]: [Music]
[01:34]: here we go okay
[01:38]: someone plan is to cut it in half this
[01:42]: way which is you know what she asks for
[01:45]: you to do and pumpkins are always
[01:54]: difficult hard once you get in doing
[02:04]: this a little bit easier
[02:11]: and it is not anywhere near exactly in
[02:15]: half but oh well there we go and so now
[02:27]: I'm going to scrape out the seeds and
[02:30]: all of the other stuff just like you do
[02:32]: when you carve a pumpkin for a
[02:34]: jack-o'-lantern
[02:35]: except we're going to keep these seeds
[02:38]: and roast them for this recipe so I've
[02:46]: got a bowl here to put this stuff in to
[02:50]: finish scraping out my pumpkin seeds and
[02:53]: guts and everything and as you can tell
[02:57]: they're not quite equal but that's
[02:59]: alright the next thing is we we rub this
[03:06]: with olive oil and then sprinkle it with
[03:09]: salt and so I'm going to do that and
[03:15]: there are no measurements here so it
[03:16]: doesn't just want to make sure they get
[03:18]: covered and and the only measurement she
[03:23]: gives for both of these is just
[03:25]: basically season them liberally with
[03:28]: salt and rub it with olive oil so
[03:36]: I've got my oven on 350 confection
[03:40]: she says 375 if you if it's not
[03:42]: convection we're gonna roast these cut
[03:45]: side up for 30 minutes and then flip
[03:47]: them over and finish roasting them that
[03:50]: way she says 20 minutes mine might take
[03:52]: a little bit longer because it's
[03:53]: probably a little bit thicker maybe I
[03:55]: don't know but it was a larger pumpkin
[03:57]: so I'm gonna just have to i eivol a
[04:01]: little bit make sure it's all done so
[04:03]: into the oven it goes and we'll be back
[04:08]: why my pumpkin is in the oven I'm going
[04:11]: to be separating the seeds from the
[04:13]: pumpkin innards guts whatever you want
[04:17]: to call them so that we can roast them
[04:20]: we won't need all of them but we'll go
[04:24]: ahead and separate as many wash them and
[04:27]: have them ready
[04:33]: okay so this is what they look like
[04:35]: after half an hour cut side up I'm going
[04:39]: to flip them over put them back in and
[04:41]: set another time okay I've got my
[04:45]: measured out and rinsed washed pumpkin
[04:53]: seeds here pepitas and we're going to
[04:56]: add some olive oil paper towel and some
[05:07]: salt we're gonna toss these around I've
[05:13]: got my pan in preheated oven heating the
[05:18]: pan so they'll start cooking right away
[05:21]: so I'm gonna get my pan out of the oven
[05:24]: I'm gonna get a hot pad for this and
[05:26]: we're gonna put those on the pan so went
[05:31]: ahead and chose my heaviest non-stick
[05:34]: pan for this just so that it was we're
[05:44]: gonna spread these out and they go in
[05:49]: the oven for 18 to 20 minutes she wants
[05:51]: them brown and crispy so that is what
[05:56]: we're doing now
[06:02]: this is my pumpkin I cooked it for the
[06:04]: exact amount of time that she
[06:06]: recommended and they were certainly done
[06:09]: so I wanted there
[06:11]: they've been cooled for a cooling for a
[06:13]: little while so I'm going to turn them
[06:13]: over you can see they kinda wilt a
[06:18]: little bit we're going to scoop out the
[06:20]: flesh and put it in our food processor
[06:24]: and try not to get any of the skin and
[06:30]: then we're going to puree it so I've got
[06:36]: everything in here and we're just gonna
[06:39]: let it go and puree it until it's as
[06:42]: smooth as we can get it I'm gonna stir
[06:46]: it up a little bit it seems to be having
[06:47]: trouble getting and stuff from the
[06:49]: bottom from the top down to the bottom
[06:50]: two blades I think that's about as
[07:01]: smooth as you can't get it we can just
[07:05]: set this aside and we're gonna use about
[07:07]: half of it like I said we had a pumpkin
[07:10]: that was at least twice the size that
[07:12]: she suggests for this recipe so we don't
[07:14]: need all of it and I'll save the rest
[07:15]: for something else maybe a pumpkin pie
[07:17]: you can freeze it like this and use it
[07:19]: later all right
[07:21]: we'll be back with our pepitas our
[07:24]: pumpkin seeds when they're done roasting
[07:25]: and we'll get started cooking our grits
[07:32]: so I took my pepitas out of the oven a
[07:36]: little early they were they were already
[07:39]: lightly golden brown at least so those
[07:43]: are done and I've got water and salt
[07:46]: coming to a boil here on the stove to
[07:48]: start making our grits
[07:52]: it calls for stone brown white grits I
[07:55]: bought the house Audrey brand there were
[07:60]: a lot of different ones I did look to
[08:01]: see to try to find some that took longer
[08:04]: to cook but all of the ones in my
[08:07]: grocery stores said they only took 1215
[08:10]: minutes but these ones were going to
[08:12]: cook for 50 minutes I always cook my
[08:18]: grits longer than it says anyway so
[08:20]: it'll be fine
[08:24]: to this water and salt we're going to
[08:27]: add some heavy cream
[08:36]: now if you have ever had super creamy
[08:41]: grits it's probably made with milk or
[08:44]: cream along with the water if not just
[08:48]: milk I think in the deep run roots
[08:52]: cookbook she uses just milk so now we're
[08:56]: waiting for this to come to a boil I've
[08:60]: got it on high heat so it'll probably
[09:01]: come to a boil relatively quickly
[09:03]: all right this came up to a boil and I
[09:06]: turned it down a little bit because with
[09:08]: the cream in there it might boil over so
[09:11]: I don't want it to do that but we're
[09:14]: gonna just go ahead and add our grits
[09:16]: and stir those in she does not say to
[09:20]: cover these while you cook them so I'm
[09:24]: not going to but you will need to watch
[09:27]: them especially if you're using a pot
[09:29]: that I mean like this looks big enough
[09:31]: but these can bubble up a lot so you'll
[09:36]: need to watch it you want to reduce it
[09:38]: to a simmer and she says to cook it for
[09:41]: about 50 minutes until they are done
[09:45]: basically until they are creamy and
[09:47]: thick so that's what we're gonna do and
[09:51]: we'll be back my girls have been cooking
[09:55]: for about 50 minutes now and they are
[09:58]: thick they look done they're like I they
[10:02]: look pretty much like I like my grits so
[10:04]: that's that's good now she says to turn
[10:07]: the heat off take them off the heat
[10:08]: this is induction it doesn't stay that
[10:13]: hot I'm gonna leave it on the stove just
[10:19]: because this is how we were set up
[10:20]: so anyway I'm gonna use about half of
[10:22]: this pumpkin puree I'm just my eyeball
[10:26]: it slightly less than half probably I
[10:29]: can always add more if I need to and
[10:33]: stir that in that gives it a nice orange
[10:38]: color
[10:41]: which looks a lot like the picture if
[10:45]: you look at the picture you might think
[10:46]: it was yellow grits but it is not
[10:49]: they are white grits with pumpkin all
[10:54]: right and then we add the rest the
[10:57]: ingredients
[10:58]: almost all of the rest eat the rest of
[11:00]: the ingredients we add some Parmesan
[11:02]: cheese finely grated we add the juice of
[11:09]: a lemon half of a lemon so and then we
[11:15]: stir that up and then this part is done
[11:17]: we you're supposed to serve this with
[11:20]: your crispy pizzas your pumpkin seeds on
[11:25]: top and with some aged maple syrup so
[11:32]: this is I found this on Amazon that is
[11:35]: bourbon barrel-aged maple syrup I
[11:38]: haven't really tasted it yet I just got
[11:41]: it
[11:42]: I think Trader Joe's carries barrel-aged
[11:46]: maple syrup so that could be an option
[11:48]: for some people we were gonna make this
[11:51]: recipe too last weekend but I couldn't
[11:56]: find the syrup in my regular grocery
[11:58]: store and my husband said oh hey Trader
[12:01]: Joe's carries it but Trader Joe's is
[12:03]: right beside the Wegmans that opened up
[12:05]: that day the very first Wegmans in North
[12:08]: Carolina so I wasn't going to Trader
[12:12]: Joe's that day so we got this from
[12:14]: Amazon it came it did not break it was
[12:17]: very well packaged so it's a good option
[12:20]: and so that's what we're gonna do now
[12:22]: we're gonna dish this up into a bowl and
[12:25]: add all of our toppings and then we're
[12:29]: done and we'll let you know how it
[12:31]: turned out
[12:41]: on this episode of cooking the books
[12:44]: with Heather we were cooking from Ashley
[12:47]: Christensen's pools diner cookbook and
[12:49]: we made grits with roasted pumpkin aged
[12:53]: maple syrup and crispy pepitas so first
[12:59]: off aged maple syrup was not super easy
[13:03]: for me to find it didn't wasn't at my
[13:05]: standard local grocery store I did find
[13:08]: it on Amazon you probably can get it at
[13:10]: Trader Joe's like I said but if you are
[13:13]: in a more rural area you might have to
[13:16]: order it from Amazon or another place
[13:20]: like that but because aged maple syrup
[13:23]: is in the name of the recipe I felt I
[13:28]: needed to particularly have the actual
[13:31]: aged maple syrup to make this so I did
[13:34]: it was good I really liked like the aged
[13:38]: maple syrup with the grits and the grits
[13:42]: themselves were really delicious the
[13:45]: cheese you could taste the cheese maybe
[13:47]: even a little bit more than the pumpkin
[13:50]: but because of that my kids actually
[13:55]: really both loved it too my husband
[13:58]: liked it we all liked this except for
[14:01]: the pumpkin seeds now I think maybe my
[14:05]: pumpkin seeds were not crispy enough but
[14:07]: I was trying not to blacken them but
[14:09]: also maybe the slightly larger pumpkin
[14:14]: than what she called for maybe the seeds
[14:15]: were a little bit larger and maybe they
[14:17]: were a little bit tougher I'm not sure
[14:19]: but the pumpkin seeds were not something
[14:22]: that we enjoyed with this
[14:25]: I actually prefer I really like pumpkin
[14:27]: seeds without the outer shell which you
[14:31]: can buy those in the grocery store or
[14:33]: unshelled I don't know how you would do
[14:35]: that yourself at home it seems just like
[14:37]: a lot of work but yeah it was it was a
[14:42]: relatively easy recipe do you have to
[14:44]: cook the pumpkin first so it's sort of
[14:46]: putting those things together but
[14:49]: nothing required
[14:51]: like a really horrible technique I
[14:54]: managed not to boil over my grips at all
[14:57]: so that was good they cooked in almost
[15:01]: exactly the amount of time that she said
[15:04]: they should so yeah it was it was a
[15:07]: great recipe great fall recipe who's got
[15:11]: pumpkin and maple syrup if you can't
[15:13]: find it regular maple syrup would also
[15:15]: be delicious
[15:17]: so yeah please make this it is great
[15:22]: everybody loved it and it is easy so if
[15:26]: you enjoyed this recipe please click the
[15:30]: the thumbs up button and subscribe to
[15:33]: come back and watch me cook another
[15:34]: recipe yep and we'll see you next week
[15:40]: [Music]