falafel

I know many people in the blog world have had pumpkin overload, but I actually haven’t been cooking with it much this season. After being away for a few days and not eating my best, a quick, healthy, and delicious homemade meal was necessary. Inspired by my veggie burger at Hubert Keller’s      Burger Bar, I decided to make pumpkin lentil “falafel”.

I started with 2 cups of lentils that had been soaking in water forever. I planned on using them on Sunday, but a brand new nephew got in the way  

I measured out a tablespoon of curry powder and set that and the lentils aside.

I chopped a small yellow onion and a couple of jalapenos and sautéed them in some olive oil until the onions were very soft.

Then I added in a half can of Libby’s canned pumpkin, the lentils, and curry powder.

On the side, I boiled a few potatoes until they were mashable. Once ready I mashed them into the pumpkin and lentil mixture.

Once cooled, I formed them into falafel-like patties, then baked them at 380 for 15 minutes.

Baking them didn’t give them the golden crust on the outside that I hoped for, but it did dry them out on the outside and seal in lots of flavor. Maybe next time I will roll them in bread crumbs.

The pumpkin falafel was very spicy, even for me, so we cooled the dish down with some Greek yogurt. We didn’t have many great falafel toppings, but I plan on making these again and covering them in pickles, red onion, tomatoes, lettuce, sriracha, and Greek yogurt with garlic. Definitely one of my favorite things about falafel is the toppings. Have you ever been to a Maoz? I dream of Maoz in Boston.

With this spiced curry dish, we drank our newly arrived La Naris from Sheldon Wines, one of the wines that we picked up during the Wine and Food Affair. La Naris is one of my new favorite whites and one of the best wines I tasted during the Wine and Food Affair. A Rousanne/Viognier blend, all I could say after tasting this wine was how beautiful it is. It has both floral notes and some lush fruit flavors, think juicy apricot and white pear along with a distinct (for me) white pepper taste on the finish. It seems at first to be very light, but offers a smooth, almost light oil like sensation in the mouth. It was complete perfection with the flavors of our dinner and on its own after dinner. And the winemakers have a beautiful, adventurous, love-filled story for each other, for wine, and for life. I am sort of in love with this wine.

I miss my nephew and niece, but it is good to be back home. I have a TON of cooking to do today and tomorrow and lots of other fun stuff going on. I can’t wait to share with you as it all happens!

Back to the pumpkin. Are you sick of it yet?

One thing I am sick of reading about is oatmeal. After all of the blog reading I have done over the past couple years, I never want to look at another bowl of oatmeal again.

Do you ever overdo it with certain foods or get super tired of foods that are blog “trendy”?