Pilaf-Stuffed Delicata Squash

This is from October 31, 2010.   Toward the end of the Winter CSA, I have a bunch of squash and sweet potatoes that need to be dealt with, but I've let them sit, since they can for a while, without going bad.   I was somewhat winging it with this, with the gorgonzola and cranberries, but the sweet, sour, and sharp really worked well together.   The beer is spiced, so that added some additional character, but truly you'd be unlikely to pick out its contribution, what with everything else going on in the dish.   It did make a nice pairing to the food, though.
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Roasted Delicata:

• 2 Delicata Squash
• 4 cloves of garlic
• Olive oil

Preheat oven to 425F.  Cut each squash in half lengthwise and cut the seeds and stringy stuff out with a spoon.  Set them on a roasting pan  Peel the garlic cloves and cut the hard bit off, and cut them in half lengthwise.   Smear garlic over the exposed parts of the squash and then leave a clove's worth of garlic in the bowl of each squash-half.  Brush the squash liberally with olive oil, and then season with some salt and pepper.    Put in the oven and roast at 425F for 40 minutes.

Pilaf:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into small cubes
• 1 large portabella mushroom cap, cut into small cubes
• 1T unsalted butter
• 1 cup Rice Select Royal Blend rice blend (texmati, brown, wild, & red rices)
• 3/4 cup Terrapin Pumpkinfest ale
• 7/8 cup water
• 1T fresh sage
• 1T Bragg's liquid aminos
• 1/4t fresh-ground nutmeg
• 1/3 cup dry cranberries
• 1/2 cup toasted walnuts  (toast in a dry skillet over medium heat just until aromatic, and remove from heat)
• 1/3 cup gorgonzola cheese
• salt & pepper

Melt butter in a large sautee pan, and add the onion, sweet potato, and mushroom.   Add a little salt to help pull moisture out of the vegetables.  Cook on medium heat until the sweet potato is just softening, 10-15 minutes.   Add the rice and stir around and make sure it's all covered with a slight sheen of butter.   Deglaze with the beer.   Add the water, sage, nutmeg, Bragg's, and any additional salt and pepper to taste.  Bring to a boil, toss in the cranberries, Cover and simmer for 15 minutes (or slightly less time than the rice package recommends).    Remove from heat and stir in the walnuts and cheese until the cheese has mostly melted.

Pile the Pilaf into the roasted squash until it's mounded over the top of the squash.   Bake at 450 for 20 minutes, or until the pilaf has slightly crusted on top.

Butternut Squash Soup

November 8, 2009.   I made this for Abby the first time she came up to the house.   I'd had some squash from the CSA sitting around, and wanted to make something good for a cool day.    Looks like today is another of those, though the butternut are no longer in season.   Nutmeg and Sage go amazingly well with winter squash.
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2 small/medium butternut squash, halved & seeded
4 cloves of garlic, crushed & peeled
olive oil

Rub each squash half with a garlic clove, drop the clove into the seed cavity, then brush with olive oil.  Roast at 425F for 30 minutes, and then rotate the pan and roast an additional 20 minutes at 350F. Set out to cool.

1/2 large onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, bias cut
3 medium/small carrots, quartered & diced
2 cloves garlic
olive oil to coat bottom of soup pot
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon powdered thyme
1/2 teaspoon tarragon
1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground nutmeg
10-15 small-medium fresh sage leaves, chopped
2oz heavy cream
4 cups water
sea salt & pepper to taste

Put onion, celery, carrots, and garlic into a pot with olive oil to sweat, with just a little salt. While the vegetables cook, rough-chop the garlic that was roasted with the squash, and then use a spoon and the back of a knife to scrape the meat from the skin of the squash. When the onions were nice and translucent, add the squash and the water. Then added the herbs & spices, and the cream last. Simmer slowly for an hour or so.

Serve with grated parmessean and toasted ciabatta bread, with a little bit of butter.

Tofu Curry

 From March 1, 2009...  This is another one I really need to revisit.  It's sort of in the spirit of a thai curry, but uses almonds, rather than peanuts.   The sweet and spicy combination with the almonds and coconut milk really made this dish.
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1T butter
2t olive oil
2t walnut oil
1t sesame oil

1.8oz ginger, peeled & minced

1/2t black mustard seeds

whole spices:
1/8t anise seed
1t coriander
1t fenugreek
1t cumin
1t black pepper
3 cardamom pods
2 dried thai chilis

other spices:
1/4t cinnamon
1/4t allspice
1t turmeric
10 grinds nutmeg

1/3 cup ground almonds
1 can coconut milk
1 can water
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1.5T soy sauce

1/2t salt (to taste)

1 package nasoya fresh (not silken) tofu, cut into little cubish bits (1/2" x 1/2" x 1-1/2" bits or so)

Heat a pan on medium heat until it's hot. Add oil and butter. When butter has melted, and oils have mostly mixed, add onion, garlic, mustard seeds, and mushrooms. Stir occasionally until the onions are starting to carmelize (10 or 15 minutes). Add ginger and mix in and cook for about 1 minute. Meanwhile gather up the whole spices and grind them up. Mix in with the ground spices, and add the spice mixture to the hot stuff, and mix that in and cook for about 30 seconds. Add tho coconut milk, water, soy sauce, brown sugar, and ground almonds. Stir to mix up and bring to a simmer. Add tofu. Make sure tofu is covered with sauce, and return to simmer. Cover and cook for 20 minutes, then uncover and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve over rice.

Black Eyed Peas

 I also made these for New Years, 2009.   This would also work well for the various cow peas and Lentils.   Again, the soy, butter, and smoke really help bring out the flavors of the peas.   Great with cornbread.
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8oz dry black-eyed peas
1/2 capful liquid smoke
1/2T butter
1 capful soy sauce
1 capful apple cider vinegar
kosher salt to taste
water to cover peas by 1-2 inches

bring to boil and simmer 50 minutes, or until soft, stirring occasionally

Greens

This is what I did for New Years 2009.   The combination of flavors and the butter gives them a good full flavor, without going overboard on any one thing.   This will work with kale, turnip greens, and mustard greens as well.  
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9oz collard greens (after cleaning and stemming), chopped into rough 2 inch squares
4 cups water
1/2 capful liquid smoke
2 capfulls soy sauce
1/2t sugar
1/2t red pepper flakes
1/2T butter
kosher salt to taste

bring to boil, cover and simmer 45 minutes, stirring every 15

Potato Soup

From December 21, 2008.   Potatoes and cream in soup.   It's a good soup that will "stick with you".

For some additional interesting flavor and texture, 5-10 minutes before serving, add ~8oz of imitation (or real) crab meat, or a few chopped-up stalks of broccoli (or both).  
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1T butter
2T olive oil

1 medium onion, diced
2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced

~2lbs of golden potatoes, diced
1/2 cup heavy cream
4.5 cups water

2-3T fresh parsley, chopped
black pepper to taste
1 vegetable bullion cube.

2oz cheddar cheese, grated
2oz monterey jack cheese, grated

In a large pot, got the oil & butter just up to the smoke point, and then added the onion, garlic, celery, carrots, and a dash of kosher salt, to help extract water. Sauteed all of those for a bit, and then added the potatoes, water, and cream (in that order). Ten I added the seasonings, and sprinkled the cheese into the pot while stirring. Brought it back to a low simmer and cooked on medium low for about 45 minutes.

Oatmeal Apple Cookies

From December 20, 2008.   This is my take on quaker's vanishing oatmeal cookies.  I mix the dry ingredients with a wire whisk in a steel bowl, and then everything else with a wooden spoon in a huge ceramic bowl that my grandmother gave me that probably has lead in the glaze. It never gets hot, though. I think most people would prefer a mixer, though, since getting the butter and sugar to a smooth consistency is a pain.

I'll also sometimes switch the apples out for other dried fruit and nuts.   just a cup of those combined.  (cherry & almond would be good in this).
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1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
2 cups Oats (quick, uncooked)
1 cups Oats (whole rolled, uncooked)
1 cup chopped sour apple


preparation
1. Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat margarine and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats and apples; mix well.
2. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Vegetable Casserole

 From Dec. 10, 2008.   This was an attempt to make something tasty and reasonably healthy, that was also relatively easy to throw together.   It wound up being a whole lot like a pot-pie filling.   I need to revisit this one and actually put this inside a pie crust sometime...
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1 large potato, diced
1 large stalk of broccoli, chopped
1/2 of a large onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/3 cup brown rice

Some random frozen vegetables to fill the casserole dish, I used peas, limas, and some corn.

1 can of cream of mushroom soup
Water to fill aforementioned can 1.5 times
12 grates of sharp cheddar (2 oz, maybe?)
20 grinds of black pepper
1t thyme
1/4t cayenne

Get everything mixed well and bake with a lid at 425 for an hour. Take it out of the oven, crumble 10 saltines over the top of it, and return it to the oven for 20 minutes.

Minestrone

From October 26, 2008.   I cooked this for my father and grandmother when they came to visit.  It's a fantastic soup, and it reheats well.   You could probably cut the simmer-time back to 30-45 minutes and have it for a weeknight meal, but it really is better with that extra time.

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Sautee these in 2-3 T of olive oil, and 1/2T of butter, with 1/2t of salt
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
3 medium carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, chopped

Once the vegetables are bright and the onions are translucent, add:
28oz can diced tomatoes
1 15oz can garbonzo beans
water to rinse both cans out + some more to get it to soup consistency
1 vegetable boullion cube
the leaves from 3 basil plant tops
a large handful of fresh spinach (2-3 oz)
1T dry parsley
1/2 t thyme
1/2 t dry rosemary
1/4 powdered oregano
1t dry marjoram
30 grinds of black pepper
1/2 t liquid smoke
1/2 t apple cider vinegar

Bring it all to a boil, and simmer for a couple of hours, for the flavors to meld.   Serve with fresh grated parmesan cheese and fresh cornbread from the oven.

Cornbread

The Joy of Cooking that I have has approximately this on page 777, so you know it's God's Own Recipe.

Preheat oven to 450, with a cast-iron skillet inside

In a large mixing bowl, mix :
2 cups cornmeal
1t baking powder
1t baking soda
1/2t salt

Stir in (all at room temperature, if possible):
2 cups of buttermilk
2 large eggs

Just stir to get them mixed, not beaten like crazy or anything.

Toss a little butter into the skillet and wait for it to melt, and then pull the skillet out and pour in the batter. toss it back into the oven and bake for 25 minutes. when it's done, turn it out onto a cutting board and cut and serve while it's hot.

Apple Crisp

From September 23, 2008.   The John Brown apples (probably Jonathons) work excellently for this. I also usually put a little bit of lemon juice into the pan with the apples. Just a couple of tablespoons, so that it will coat the apples and keep them from turning brown before they get cooked. It's not really necessary, though. 

Yes, all of these cobblers are variations on the same thing.
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preheat oven: 400F

8x8 stainless baking pan, greased with butter wrapper.
1 stick butter, melted.
1t vanilla extract, add to butter when it is mostly melted

Mix these up together:
1/2 cup AP flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup quick oats
25 grinds of a nutmeg nut on my box grater (1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Add 1 large chicken egg to the dry stuff after it's been mixed, and combine all that and let it sit while you peel and chop enough apples to mostly fill the pan. Once you get that done, dump the crusty stuff in to the pan, and the pour the butter over the top of it all. Bake for 45 minutes, or until it's crispy and bubbling in the center.

Hot Potato Casserole

 From August 5, 2008.   Essentially, this is just a variation on a classic, but it's a nice change of pace.   Especially if it's being served with something relatively bland.   I usually wind up making this sort of thing in a round corningware bowl, but it really gets cooked through better with something like a 9x13 dish.    The best part is the burned cheese around the edges.
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1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1-1/2t cajun seasoning
1 chipotle, chopped
potatoes to fill casserole dish
1/2t ground black pepper
3oz sour cream
1 can cream of mushroom soup
3-4oz shredded mexican quesadilla cheese

Mix it all up and put it in a casserole dish for long enough for the potatoes to get cooked. i did 35 minutes covered and 35 minutes uncovered (to get some cheese-char, but not too much) at 400, but i probably should have done 425.

Mushroom Spinach Frittata

1T butter
1 medium onion, chopped
7 mushroom caps, sliced, stems removed
 1/4t salt
2 medium cloves, garlic, minced (or pressed)
4oz frozen chopped spinach

6 eggs
6T water
2t dry parsley
1t dry chopped chives
1/4t dry thyme
1/4t dry tarragon
1/4t dry basil
1/4t cayenne
1/4t salt
20 grinds black pepper
3oz cheddar cheese, grated

Equipment:   oven, stove, oven-safe skillet in the 10-12 inch diameter range (I prefer cast-iron), spatula for stirring (I like wood or bamboo), rubber or silicone spatula for getting everything out of a bowl, cutting board, knife for chopping vegetables, grater for the cheese (if you buy it in blocks)

Preheat your oven to 350F and make sure you have a rack in the middle of the oven.

Heat your skillet over medium heat.  You're going to leave it on medium the whole time you're working on the stove.   When it's hot enough for water that is flicked onto it to sizzle and roll around, add butter and swirl it around the skillet until it has melted, then add the onion and 1/4t of the salt.    When the onions look about like this (a few getting translucent, but not all of them), add the mushroom slices and toss them around with the onions and make sure they're all separated.   Sautee for 15-20 minutes, stirring every 3-5 minutes, so that some browning can occur.   Add the garlic about halfway through.


Meanwhile, crack the eggs in a medium-large bowl, add the water, and whisk until smooth and slightly frothy.   Add the herbs in steps, so that they get fairly evenly distributed through the egg.  Then add the cheese in the same way.  Set this aside until it's time to add it.

Once the onions and mushrooms have given up all of their liquid and have gotten some nice brown bits on them, add the spinach and get it evenly incorporated with them.   Continue cooking this for 2-4 minutes.   The main thing you're looking for is to get most of the ice melted and water cooked off.

When the spinach is looking somewhat dry, add the egg-cheese-herb mixture.   I usually wind up using a rubber or silicone spatula to try to get everything out of the bowl.   Keep stirring everything to get it mixed well, and to keep the egg from really setting until most of the water is cooked out.  Be sure to scrape the bottom from time to time.  This will take 3-5 minutes.   The egg will start to puff up in places when it's close to time.  The parts that don't puff up will start to take on a "cottage cheese" quality in their texture.   Now is the time to put the whole skillet into the oven.   Bake for about 15 minutes.   It will puff up some as it cooks.

Cut it into slices and eat it pretty soon after it comes out of the oven.  I usually wait until the puffed-up bits have settled back down.

Peach-Apple Cobbler

From July 25, 2008.   I tend to keep some dry apples on hand.   Dehydrating them is an easy way to preserve them, and they will keep next to forever in the freezer.    I occasionally break them out for a sweet but healthy snack, but about as often, they get used for one thing or another in cooking.   They go well in oatmeal or other porridges, cold cereal, or as a sort of filler, as in this recipe.   I had made one cobbler a couple of weeks previous to this, and it turned out way too watery.   The dry apples soaked up the water, and also added some nice tart flavor.

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8x8 stainless pan
a few handfuls of dry apples
10 peaches
1 stick butter
1t vanilla
1/2t cinnamon powder
1/2t ginger powder
1/2t salt
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg

preheat oven to 375F.
lightly grease pan with butter.
put butter in small saucepan on low heat and let it melt. when it's mostly melted, add the vanilla.
mix cinnamon, ginger, salt, sugar, and flour together well and then mix in the egg, so it creates a slightly crumbly consistency
layer the dry apples on the bottom of the pan. it doesn't have to be solid apples everywhere, since i'm just using them to soak up some of the liquid. cut up the peaches and put them on top of the apples, then add the crust mixture fairly evenly on top of the fruit. pour the vanilla-butter on top, and put it in the oven for 50 minutes.

Blondie

I made this on August 29, 2006.    I wasn't in the mood for chocolate, but I wanted something sweet, so i modified the Brownie recipe...
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1C flour
1 stick + 2T butter
1/2 C light brown sugar
1/2 C dark brown sugar
1t baking soda
1t baking powder
1/4t cinnamon
2 eggs

mix dry ingredients. melt butter. add butter and eggs to dry stuff and mix until smooth, then pour into a 8x8 baking pan, and toss it in a 350F oven for 25-30 minutes.

Another Apple Cobbler

This one is from August 7, 2006.   This particular combination of items in the crust is a direct consequence of ingredient shortages.  

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2-3T lemon juice
a bunch of apples
1 stick butter
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2t cinnamon

first, i got the oven preheating on 350. then, i squirted some lemon juice into the pie dish, and as i peeled and cut the apples, i put them into the dish. the lemon juice helps to keep them from oxidizing, and it sours things up somewhat. once the dish was pretty much level-full, i stopped. i think there are 2 apples left out of that 3lb bag. next, i got out a stick of butter and got it started melting. then i realized that i didn't have sugar, so with some quick improvisation, i mixed up the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl. those are approximate amounts, both due to the way i cook (measuring utensils make handy scoops (i.e. What do you mean, "level it off"?), and due to me finishing off both the barrel of oats (slightly more than advertised) and the bag of sugar (slightly less than advertised). i have no idea if it'll actually be a good mixture or not, but we'll find out tomorrow. anyway, drizzle the melted butter on top, and i set it to cook for 55 minutes. basically, until i saw that it was bubbling in the middle.

Smoothy

From June 25, 2005.   This makes a great breakfast.

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5 small peaches cut up into 1-2" chunks
1 banana cut into 1" disks
a handful of grapes
1T lime juice
pomegranate juice (i used the rest of my jar, i'm not sure how much it was. maybe 2 fl oz.
maybe another 2 fl oz of milk

put everything into a blender and run it on the low setting for 20-30 seconds, dump into a glass, drink.

An Apple Cobbler

 I love a good cobbler.   The crunchy, sweet topping contrasting with the soft, sour fruit underneath...   Especially when it's warm and covered in some ice cream.   I made this one for a party, and it wound up disappearing in about 15 minutes.   I can't remember if I got a piece of it or not.
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1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
~1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
1 stick and 3 tablespoons of margarine (or butter)
a dash of nutmeg
a few dashes of cinnamon
~1 tablespoon lime juice
enough peeled and sliced apples to fill a 16x9 baking dish

peeled and cut the apples and stirred them around in the lime juice, so they wouldn't turn brown (this turned out to be unnecessary, but i'm sure it had some effect on the flavor). mixed up the dry ingredients while i melted the butter, and dumped them on top. poured the melted butter on top of it all, and tossed it in the oven at 350 for an hour.

the apples were winesap apples from my parents' orchard.... nice and sour.

Brownies

There are a couple of recipes that are pretty much burned into my memory.   They're good, they're simple, and I've made them for years, and eaten them for even more years.

These are great hot out of the oven, with ice cream melting on top of them.   They're also quite tasty at room temperature for breakfast.   They're not nearly as dense as some brownies, and the outer edges get a little bit cake-like.  

As well as the English walnuts, I have added one or more of the following at various times:

• 1/4t ground cinnamon
• 1/4t cayenne powder
• 1/4t ground nutmeg
• 1/4 C Black Walnuts + 1/4 C dried sour cherries (instead of the black walnuts)

3/4 C flour
1/2 t baking powder
1 stick + 2 T butter
3 T cocoa
1 C sugar
1/2 t salt (optional)
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
1/2 C nuts (optional... English walnuts are great)

Melt butter in a saucepan on low and preheat the oven to 350F.   Meanwhile, mix all the dry ingredients except the walnuts thoroughly.   Once the butter is melted, stir in the wet ingredients until smooth, and then add the walnuts. Pour into 8x8 greased pan. Bake at 350 F for 25-30 minutes.  Shorter cook times will yield a gooier center.