Butternut Squash

So I'm discovering that working a full-time job is not conducive to keeping up with the blog. I have been cooking alot lately, I just haven't been taking the time to take any pictures! Or maybe the food is just gone before I get around to that... I'll let you decide ;).

At any rate, I wanted to share a few of my new season's favorite recipes --- before all of the butternut squash on your grocery store shelves is replaced with eggnog!

I absolutely love butternut and acorn squash. Unfortunately, no one else in my family seems to share my affinity. Growing up, roast acorn squash was one of the meals Mom and I would make for dinners with just the two of us. And now my husband swears he doesn't like squash.

So here are three ways I've found around my family's unjustified hatred of squash. I'd recommend trying these on the squash-haters in your family... I think you may even get your Dad to like them ;).

Maple-Roasted Squash 

An Ina Garten favorite I posted in February.

3-ingredient Butternut Squash Soup

The idea from this soup came from Metrocurean, a local DC blog, but the secret ingredient is all my own! This was the best squash soup I've ever had.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

1 medium butternut squash, peeled and diced

4 cups of chicken broth (less if you like thicker soup)

1/4 - 1/2 cup coconut milk

1. Place diced squash and chicken broth in a sauce pan, making sure the broth covers the squash. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the squash is soft.

2. Carefully transfer the mixture to a blender (don't burn yourself!) and puree until smooth.

3. Return mixture to pan and slowly drizzle in coconut milk until soup reaches your desired consistency and taste. Season to taste with salt and pepper (I'd recommend this, even though it does bring your ingredient count to five ;)).

This was excellent served with grilled cheese sandwiches. And it may have been even better in my lunch the next day.

Butternut Squash Pasta with Browned Butter, Sage, and Pine Nuts

Adapted from the Kitchn

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 medium butternut squash, peeled and diced

1/2 a sweet onion, chopped finely

3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

2 T +1 t olive oil, salt, and pepper

4 T butter

1 bunch fresh sage

1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted

half a pound of dried spaghetti (the original recipe called for farfalle, but I like how the squash coated the spaghetti noodles. Plus I was out of farfalle ;))

freshly grated parmesan cheese, to taste

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Place squash, onion, garlic, and 2 T chopped sage in a sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Roast, stirring every 15 minutes, until squash is soft and slightly browned, about 45 minutes.

2. When the squash is close to done, cook pasta to al dente.

3. While the pasta is cooking, heat 1 T butter and 1 t olive oil in a large saute pan. When the bubbles start to subside, add remaining sage leaves and cook, stirring frequently, until sage is crispy. Remove sage with a slotted spoon. Crush the leaves with the back of the spoon, and set aside.

4. Return pan to stove and add remaining butter. Cook over medium heat until butter solids begin to brown and the butter smells nutty. 

5. Add squash to pan and mash mixture until just a few small pieces of diced of squash remain.  Add drained pasta, pine nuts, and sage. Saute for a few minutes to pan fry the pasta and evenly coat it in squash mixture. If you have a smaller saute pan, you may want to do this in two batches.

6. Sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan cheese and enjoy!

Butterscotch Gingerbread Cookies

I call these my "tastes-like-fall" cookies and I like to make them at this time of year.

I got the recipe from a friend (shout out to Becca if you're reading this!) and I quickly adopted it as one of the more unique cookie recipes in my repertoire.







The recipe starts out with your basic cookie ingredients - butter, flour, sugar, eggs - and a few special ones - most notably molasses and butterscotch chips, along with some cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.

 Cream the butter and the sugar, beat in the wet ingredients, then stir in the dry ingredients... if you're a fellow cookie lover, you know the drill. When the dough comes together it looks something like this:

You'll have to excuse the lack of pictures for this cooking endeavor, but you would have difficulty remembering to take photos, too, if you had a half-naked urchin hanging on your oven incessantly asking "my have some, mama?"

So without further ado, here's the recipe if you want to give it a try:

Butterscotch Gingerbread Cookies

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup molasses
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ginger
3/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1 (11 oz) package butterscotch morsels

Cream butter and sugar, beat in egg and molasses until creamy. Mix dry ingredients in separate bowl; mix in. Add morsels. Bake on greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 9 to 11 minutes. Makes about 4 dozen.

This post is not about pumpkins!

Don't get me wrong, I love fall (which has finally arrived in DC!!!).... but it seems that every time I check my blog feeds, someone else has posted a recipe using pumpkins. I love seasonal eating, but I think every now and then the fall internet world needs something not made out of squash.

So I made lemon bars! Everyone needs a little buttery, lemony, sugary goodness to round out their fall afternoons. (Of, course, if you're looking for pumpkin, I'd recommend trying these, or these... or these.)

Confession: I forgot to take a picture of the cut bars before they were gone. What can I say? They were really good...

Lemon Bars

A fair warning: This recipe contains a lot of eggs, butter, and sugar (Especially if you make 1 1/2 times the recipe, like I did -- I shared, I promise!). That is why it is sooooo good. Just run and extra mile tomorrow, and don't tell anyone you serve these to the caloric secret to their amazingness ;).

Crust:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

6 tablespoons powdered sugar

3/4 cup butter

Filling:

4 eggs

2 cups of sugar

1/3 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice (2-3 lemons)

zest from one lemon

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine crust ingredients and cut with a pastry blender until butter is in pea-sized clumps. Press crust evenly into the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan.

3. Bake crust for 20-25 minutes, until lightly browned.

4. While crust is baking, beat together eggs, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest with a wire whisk. Mix together flour and baking powder, then gently stir into egg mixture. The mixture should have just a thin layer of bubbles on top. This will give you the nice flakey crust on top of your bars, but be careful not to overmix it.

5. Pour filling over warm crust and return to the oven for 20-25 minutes until filling is set and edges are slightly brown.

6. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 mins. Sprinkle powdered sugar and lemon zest on top. When pan is cool enough to handle (but still warm), cut the bars. You can remove them from the pan or leave them in there for the rest of the cooling. 

Generally, you cool lemon bars before serving them. But sometimes I'm impatient and eat them while they are warm O:-).

Easy Apple Crisp

If you are lucky enough to be swimming in freshly picked fall apples in varieties with names like Ambrosia and Senshu, give this a try... homemade apple crisp with just 5 other ingredients!

Peel, core, and slice five large apples for a 9" x 9" pan. Toss them with sugar (1/2 cup or to taste), flour (2 or 3 tablespoons will do), and cinnamon (to taste). Add a dash of lemon juice or water if you need to thin it out.

The topping is just as simple...  Mix some flour and sugar together and cut in some butter.

Then just spread your streusel topping over the apples and bake for about 30 minutes.

Top with apple ice cream... but that's another post.


Easy Apple Crisp

5-6 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1/2 cup sugar
few dashes of cinnamon
2-3 tablespoons flour + 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter

Toss apples with 1/2 cup sugar (or more to taste), 2-3 tablespoons flour, and cinnamon to taste. Use a splash of lemon juice or water if you need to make it coat the apples. Arrange apples in 9" x 9" pan. In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup flour with 1/2 cup brown sugar, cut in butter. Spread topping over apples. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes until golden brown and apples are at desired softness.

Apple Fritters

Our swelteringly hot summer finally decided to leave on the second day of October. Yes, October. On the third day of October it was 55 degrees and raining, so I guess winter is here now.

I miss Fall!

The weather forecast, at least, is giving me a small glimmer of hope -- it's supposed to be 70 degrees and sunny this weekend. So in holding out for a least a little fall weather, I'm making some apple fritters.

So for those of you who still live in New England and get to experience this wonderful season... go out and pick some fresh apples and make these:

Apple Fritters

Ingredients:

1/2 c. milk

1 egg

2 T. butter

grated rind and juice from 1/2 an orange

1/2 c. finely chopped apples

1/2 t. vanilla

1 1/2 c. cake flour*

1/4 t. salt

1 T. baking powder

*(I used regular flour that I sifted a few times... this would probably be even better with cake flour!)

Directions:

Whisk together milk, egg, and melted butter in a large bowl. Add orange juice, rind, apples, and vanilla. Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to large bowl, stir until just combined. Let batter sit while oil heats up (I just used about 1/2" of canola oil in a deep-sided pan on the stove). Drop batter by spoonfuls into hot oil and deep fry until browned (make sure you keep your oil between 350 and 375 degrees, otherwise the fritters will absorb too much oil as they cook). Remove from oil and pat dry with paper towel. Toss in cinnamon sugar, if desired. Makes about 8 large fritters.

Enjoy warm! They tend to get a little soggy after a day or so, but they still taste good ;).

Chicken Tortilla Soup with Style

Buying Direct TV for the duration of a 6-hour plane flight is not a good idea if you are easily inspired.  It is like putting a fox in the hen house.  As a result of an extended exposure to cooking shows on my last cross-country flight, I now have a perfected Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe with a twist of fun and lime.

This will be a bonus post because I will include my method of making chicken stock, fried rice and tortilla toppers at the end of the recipe.  You don't have to use the homemade version of these items.  Just use whatever is convenient for you.

This fun version of Tortilla Soup is done by layering rice, beans and cheese in your bowl first, and then covering it with your tortilla soup.  Lastly, you will top it with your favorite toppers.

 Tortilla Soup

Chicken stock (3 quarts) recipe for homemade below

Better than boullion chicken base (1-2 Tablespoons)

Salsa verde (8 ozs)

Roasted corn (3/4 cup) regular corn is fine

Carrots (2-4 cut up in small pieces)

Green onions  (two, chopped well into the green part)

Celery (two stalks chopped)

Canned diced green chillies (1 small can or a little less)

Taco seasoning (3/4  of the package)

Roasted chicken ( a breast, three thighs; chopped in bite-sized pieces)

These are the approximate amounts I used.  You can adjust to your personal tastes and what you have on hand.  I simmer everything but the chicken for about and hour, then add the roasted chicken at the end so it doesn’t fall apart so much.  You can serve this immediately or let it cool and reheat it when you are ready.  The flavors seem to meld together more when reheated.  The salsa verde is a new thing I tried a while ago.  I think it does for the chicken stock, what canned tomatoes do for a beef broth when you are making vegetable soup.

You can use whatever kind of rice you have on hand.  But if you want to try making fried rice, here is the way I do it.  Put 3-4 tablespoons of a half butter/half oil mixture in a skillet and heat it.  Add two cups of rice and toss until rice is thoroughly coated.  Fry the rice on a low-medium heat until it is lightly browned.  Add 4 cups of chicken broth made with Better than Boullion chicken base.  Cook 20 minutes on low or until done.  Toss lightly to separate rice grains.

You can use canned black beans or cook your own.  To cook your own, simmer raw beans for 3-4 hours or until tender.  Drain.

Layer the hot rice, hot beans and cheese; then cover with tortilla soup.  Top with your favorite toppings.

Suggested Toppings

Salsa

Cheddar cheese

Jack cheese

Cotilla cheese

Olives

Avocado

Sour cream

Tortilla toppers (recipe below)

Top off with a twist of lime!  And pass the margarita pitcher, please.

To make Tortilla Toppers
Lightly brush flour tortillas with cooking oil.  Cut in small strips.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned.  Cool.  This may work with corn tortillas, but I haven’t tried that yet.

Chicken Stock

Water

Bony chicken pieces (I include necks, hearts, gizzards (but not the liver), wings backbones, ribs and other bones leftover from when I roast whole chickens.)

Carrots (3-4 cut in 1-2 inch lengths)

Onions (half an onion cut in fourths and the layers separated)

Celery (3-4 stalks plus greens)

I don't usually measure just throw it all in a pot and simmer for 3-5 hours.  I usually use a 6-quart pot.  I probably have my pot at least half full of water.  Strain all the stuff out and cool the broth, then chill for twenty-four hours.  Remove the hardened layer of fat from the top.  You should have a medium thin gelatinous mixture.  I use this chicken stock for my dressings and casseroles also.

A recipe for a perfect Friday night

Step 1: Find a park with a free concert. Like Jazz in the Garden.

Step 2: Spread a blanket on the ground and eat delicious appetizers picnic-style while listening to the concert.

Step 3: Return home and grill Marinated Vegetables and chicken for Lemon Oregano Chicken Pasta.

Step 4: Eat dinner at dusk on your back patio with plenty of candles and a bottle of wine.

Crostini with Whipped Feta, Marinated Red Peppers, and Olive Tapenade

adapted from Cooks Illustrated (Sept/Oct 2010, pg 20)

Salsa Verde

One thing I quickly learned about living in D.C. is that it impossible to grow tomatoes. Not the plants themselves, just the fruit. Our backyard is home to some of the tallest tomato plants I have ever seen, but the minute the fruit begins to turn red, it disappears. Out of our walled backyard. Apparently, we have kleptomaniac squirrels.

This year, my neighbor (who shares our backyard) found a way to outwit the squirrels: grow green tomatoes! Either our squirrels aren't familiar with Mexican food, or they just don't like the color green -- but in either case, they rarely touch the tomatillos. Which is quite a loss for them, because our backyard is FULL of tomatillos. 

So I, of course, decided to make salsa.

Grilled Pizza Margherita

September is finally here! Which means two things: It's finally not 100 degrees out every day, and the farmer's markets are full of gorgeous heirloom tomatoes.

Although we do live in a tiny apartment with a tiny kitchen, we also happen to live in the basement of a rowhouse with a beautiful back patio.  And with a little TLC and a lot of weeding, it is now the perfect place for late summer grilling parties. So last weekend we decided to christen our patio by grilling pizza.

Now for some reason, I have bad luck with pizza. I mean, my pizza always tastes good, but it usually sticks to something, or crumples when I try to get it onto the pizza stone, or loses toppings on the bottom of the oven, or sets off the fire alarm. Or all of the above.  So you can imagine my husband's skepticism when I suggest we try pizza on the grill. 

But it actually turned out to be so easy, and fun, that his comments turned from a begrudging "ok, I'll help you grill pizza" to "look at the pizza I grilled!" But hey, if we get to eat something this good, I'll take that any day ;). 

Our favorite pizza is the classic Pizza Margherita, so we decided to try it with the cherokee purple heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil leaves from my garden. It was amazing:

Fun things to grill this summer: Corn on the cob

If you live anywhere that is not the Pacific Northwest, chances are you have grimaced almost daily this summer at the thought of turning on your oven to make dinner. Well, unlike the rest of the country, it's been cold and rainy most of the summer here in Oregon. But we still wouldn't want to miss out the most fun part of summer cooking--firing up the grill.

As you can see from some of my previous posts, we've enjoyed preparing our entire dinner on the grill. Corn on the cob is another great option for the grill, but today we were looking for something a little less messy. I love the flavor of roast corn--sweet and slightly charred--so I decided to grill the corn on the cob, then cut the kernels off with a knife. For a little a color, I added my 'fiesta mix.'

My calm and peaceful summer

What, that isn't what your summer looked like? Yeah, mine neither. 

I spent last summer looking for an apartment, moving, looking for a job, wedding planning, looking for another apartment, moving again, and looking for a new job.

So far I've spent this looking for an apartment, moving, and looking for a new job.

I think I'll skip next summer.

But we are now finally settled in our new town:

And our new kitchen:

(Which is yes, about the size of a closet. Actually, this apartment has more closet space than it does kitchen space. I turned one of of the closets in to a pantry.


But my new kitchen also contains some new features to aid in my cooking endeavors: a gas stove and a dishwasher! Theoretically, this means you should be seeing more posts from me. I mean, less time dishwashing means more time blogging, right? I guess you'll have to wait and see.... ;))

Watermelon Cookies

(You have to scroll to the bottom of this page to see the final product -- sometimes you have to save the best for last).

I told Nathanael I wanted to make watermelon cookies for our 4th of July bash today, and he looked at me in surprise. As if he thought I was contemplating making something really disgusting. No, not cookies made of watermelon, I assured him. Cookies that look like watermelon. 

And then he gave me the knowing look that says  "oh, she's about to put way too much effort into baking something simple like cookies again." 

Well, that may be true. But it's always worth it, I promise!

I remember making these cookies with Mom when I was a kid, so while a little time-consuming, they are a great family project. The cookies are just your basic butter cookies:

With a few extra-special ingredients:

Watermelon Cookies

Ingredients

2/3 cup butter

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

3 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vanilla

1. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla, mix well.

2. Combine flower, salt, and baking powder. Add to creamed mixture until well mixed.

3. Form dough into a ball and cut into thirds. Leave the smallest portion white (yes, I'm assuming you all, like me, can't make equally-sized balls of dough ;)). Color the other two green and red. To do this, I flatten the ball of dough, and squeeze a few drops of food coloring on it. Let the coloring soak in a little, then knead with your hands to distribute the color. I usually do 3 drops at a time until I get the dough to my desired color.

See, watermelon colors!

but wait, there's more!

4. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and freeze for 15 minutes, until firm enough to handle.

5. On a lightly floured surface, roll the red dough into a log about 1 inch in diameter.

6. Roll the white dough into a rectangle as long as your red dough, and wide enough to wrap around it once. Don't worry if the ends aren't even -- you need imperfect cookies for taste testing!  Gently roll the white dough around the red log, rolling with your hands several times to ensure there are no pockets of air between the layers.

7. Roll the green dough into a rectangle in and roll around the red & white log in the same manner.

8. Wrap the log in plastic wrap and chill until very firm (freeze for 1 hr, or fridge for 2-3).

9. Preheat oven to 350 degrees a few minutes before you are ready to bake.

10. Cut the log into 1/4 inch slices, rotating the log every few cuts to ensure it stays round.

11. Cut each slice in half and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Hey that looks like watermelon now!

And the final touch....

12. Push mini chocolate chips, pointed side down, into the red dough on each cookie, to resemble watermelon seeds

13.  Bake for 12-13 minutes, until firm. Remove from cookie sheet right away and cool on a wire rack.

14. Take to potluck and impress all your friends:

Marinated Roasted Vegetables

In case the last recipe gave you a heart attack, here is something on the lighter side. Or, if you ask me, it's a perfect dinner compliment to Elizabeth's delectable dessert ;).

Easy Grilled Veggies

2-3 pounds of vegetables (carrots, onions, squash, green beans, green onions, etc.)
3/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon (or other herb of your choice)


Wash and slice up the vegetables in large pieces any way you prefer, sliced, quartered, halved, left whole, etc.  If desired, precook or blanch tough veggies like the carrots and green beans by boiling them for a few minutes, then dropping them in ice water to cool quickly. This softens harder vegetables a little so they will take the same amount of grilling time as your quick-cooking vegetables.

Place veggies in a shallow dish or plastic bag. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over vegetables. Let vegetables marinate for about an hour.

Grill veggies until tender and slightly charred. I found it helpful to place a cooling rack crosswise on my grill so no veggies fell through the rack. You could also use a grill basket, but a mesh device won't give you as nice of grill marks.

Black Tie Mousse Cake

This, quite simply, is chocolate decadence. Olive Garden charges $7 a slice for this. I made the whole cake for about $5. The recipe is not a simple one, but nearly all the reviews I've read from people who have made it concur--it's worth the time.


It begins with a few of my favorite things:


You can make the first two layers the night before, like I did.

Layer one is a chocolate cake. That part actually went together so quickly I forgot to take a picture. You could even use a cake mix, although you would have a lot of leftover batter.

Layer two is a chocolate cheesecake. If you have a favorite recipe for chocolate cheesecake, feel free to use that.


Layer three is an Italian mousse. I used a recipe that involved a mixture of cream cheese and heavy whipping cream, but I've also found recipes that are for a more custard like mousse. I'd like to try it that way next time.


Layer four is a dark chocolate ganache. All I have to say about that is: chocolate and cream were made for each other.

Drizzle a little white chocolate in three circles around the cake and swirl with a toothpick before the ganache sets up.


For the grand finale, take some mini chocolate chips and press them along the edges to create a crust.


Oh, wait, we're not done yet... there's not quite enough chocolate here yet. Let's make a little chocolate whip cream to decorate the edges.


And there you have it. Chocolate. Decadence.


A little Hershey's syrup for presentation if you can handle just one more kind of chocolate:


Olive Garden copycat recipe for

Black Tie Mousse Cake

Layer 1 Chocolate cake "crust":

3 Tablespoons butter, softened
2/3 Cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 Teaspoon vanilla
1/4 Cup baking cocoa
1/4 Cup flour

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease bottom only of a 9 inch springform pan. In medium bowl cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, beating well after each addition; add vanilla and mix well. Add flour and cocoa and mix well to combine. Batter will be stiff. Spread in pan. Set aside.

Layer 2 Baked Chocolate cheesecake:

8 Ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 Cup ricotta cheese
3/4 Cup sugar
1 Ounce unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon flour

In large bowl cream cheeses with sugar until smooth. Add small amount to melted chocolate and combine well, add chocolate mixture and beat until well combined. Add eggs and flour and beat well. Smooth over top of cake batter in pan. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until cheesecake is set in center. Cover with foil during last 10 minutes if needed to prevent over browning. Remove from oven and cool.

Layer 3 Italian mousse:

3/4 c. heavy whipping cream
12 oz marscapone or cream cheese, softened (or 6 oz of each)
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 T. cold water
1 T. boiling water
1 tsp. unflavored gelatin

Beat cream until stiff. In separate bowl beat cream cheese with sugar and vanilla until smooth. Combine with cream and fold to combine. In small bowl soften gelatin in cold water for about 1 minute. Pour boiling water over gelatin and stir to dissolve gelatin. Cool five minutes. Fold into cheese mixture until just combined. Spread mixture over baked cheesecake layer and chill well (freezing the cake at this point works well and makes spreading the final layer easier).

Layer 4 Dark chocolate/white chocolate ganache:

9 oz dark chocolate, either chips or bars broken in pieces
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 Tablespoon butter
3 Tablespoons white chocolate chips
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Heat cream and butter over low heat until just boiling (may also microwave). Place dark chocolate chips/pieces in large bowl. Reserve 1 1/2 tablespoons cream mixture. Pour cream mixture over dark chips and let set about 2 minutes, or until chips begin to melt. Stir to combine. Repeat for white chips using reserved cream mixture. Let ganache cool until spreading consistency (set in refrigerator to speed this part up).

Using a sharp knife gently run blade around edge of cake to loosen. Remove cake sides from pan and place bottom with cake on serving plate or stand. Spread frosting over top and sides. Drizzle white chocolate lightly over top. Using a knife or toothpick run it lightly over top to swirl to create desired effect. Press mini chips into frosting on sides until completely coated to create a "crust".

Mousse frosting:

1/2 heavy whipping cream
1/4 c. powdered sugar
1/8 c. baking cocoa
1/8 tsp. vanilla

Combine all ingredients and whip until peaks form. Pipe generously around cake top edge, and center. Chill well and serve. Serves 12-16.