In celebration of Food Day (Week), Alchemy's Chef Ricardo Heredia made a guest appearance at the Seeds@City Urban Farm stand last Thursday to give a scrumptious cooking demonstration in true Autumn spirit. Scoops of roasted pumpkin, charred Padron peppers, and silky cream filled his bubbling cauldron (stockpot) luring hungry students with the mouthwatering aroma.
A simplified version of the bisque served at Alchemy, he charred the peppers with a blowtorch ("Every poor college kid should have one!" he quipped), threw organic canned pumpkin into his Vitamix, and blended the produce with a generous dollop of heavy cream. Topped with smoked paprika oil and pepitas, students and faculty at City College raved over the free samples and beelined towards the farm stand to buy up the Padrons.
Thanks Chef Ricardo for reaching out to the community! It's people like you who make Food Day exciting, informative, and delicious!
Here's his recipe:
Pumpkin-Padron Bisque
Yield 4 qts
- 3 ea. charred med. *Padron peppers *
- 4 ea. cloves of garlic
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 ea. yellow onion
- 2 lbs. cooked pumpkin
- 1 cups sour cream
- 1 quarts heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons salt
Method
Rough chop the onion and toss with olive oil cook in oven broiler along with the Padrons and garlic until charred and caramelized. Remove the seeds from the Padrons but leave the charred skin on. Puree all ingredients intermittently with one quart of the cream heated. Garnish with toasted pumpkin seeds and smoked paprika oil.
Paprika Oil
- 1 cup pimenton (smoked paprika)
- 4 cups rice oil ( or any oil of your choice)
Method
Put pimenton along with one cup of oil in a sauce pan. Cook on medium heat for two minutes stirring frequently until it begins to darken and give off a toasted aroma. Add remaining oil and cook on low heat until it starts to simmer. Remove from heat and let sit until cool approx. 1 hour. Strain through a fine mesh sieve.
** Substitute your pepper of choice**
To make vegan omit the cream and sour cream and use vegetable stock
