Winter Squash Puree with Roasted Garlic and Onions

This dish is nice and rich, perfect as a side dish for a mild meat like chicken. It’s very time intensive, but it’s worth it if you’ve got the time.

Roasted Garlic

3 heads garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. To prepare the garlic, cut off the top third of each garlic head and discard. Stand the garlic heads upright in the center of an 8-inch square of aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with the water. Loosely seal the foil closed. Place on oven rack and roast until soft and slightly caramelized, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours (I had to do mine for 2). Set aside.

Squash Puree

3 lbs winter squash such as butternut or acorn, halved lengthwise and seeded
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons butter

Lower oven temperature to 375 degrees. Place squash, cut sides up, on a baking sheet or in a glass baking dish. Sprinkle with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Place in oven and bake until the squashes are soft when poked, about 1 1/2 hours. Set aside to cool.

Caramelized Onions

3 small (I used 2 large) red onions, cut through the root end into wedges
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper

Raise oven temperature back up to 400 degrees. Toss onion wedges with the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. Pour the onions and liquid onto a baking sheet. Roast until caramelized and the edges are crisp, about 12-15 minutes (I had to do mine for about 20, adding a bit more balsamic vinegar and olive oil). Remove from oven and let cool. With small scissors, snip off the root end holding the layers together on each wedge. Set onion pieces aside.

Puree and Finish

Using a large spoon, scoop the flesh from the squash halves. Put half of the flesh in a food processor and puree until somewhat smooth. Add 2 tablespoons butter and the rest of the squash and puree until very smooth.
If you don’t like chunks of garlic (I don’t), squeeze the roasted garlic out of it’s skin and puree it in with the squash.

Melt a tablespoon of butter in a saucepan over medium heat and add the puree mixture and onions, stirring slowly to heat and incorporate all ingredients.

Serve hot.

Also good topped with blue cheese crumbles!

Sausage and White Bean Stew in Pumpkin Bowls

This recipe has such a mild, unassuming flavor that it’s perfect for even the more picky people in the family.  Besides, who doesn’t love eating out of a cute little pumpkin bowl? 🙂

1 cup dried navy beans

6 small baking pumpkins (about 2 lbs each)

1/8 cup olive oil

salt and freshly ground pepper

1 dried bay leaf

1 sprig fresh thyme

1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

2.5 cups chicken stock

1 medium onion

1.5 tablespoons butter

1 large leek, white and pale green parts, thinly sliced and washed thoroughly

2 medium carrots, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds

1 celery stalk, diced

18 red or white pearl onions, peeled

6 oz small fingerling or new potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces

1/2 lb to 1 lb turkey sausage, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1/2 cup baby peas

4-6oz white button mushrooms, quartered (I used shiitake mushrooms and they gave it a nice “woodsy” flavor)

1/8 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup milk

1 tablespoon fresh sage, coarsely chopped

Pick over the dried beans, discarding any stones or broken beans, and rinse.  Place them in a large saucepan, cover with cold water by 2 inches, and bring to a strong boil over high heat.  Cover and remove from the heat; let stand 1 hour.  Drain the beans, set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350.  Line two baking sheets with foil or parchment paper.  Cut a lid into the top of the pumpkins.  Remove the seeds.  Rub the inside of each pumpkin with some olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place the pumpkins right side up on the baking sheets and bake for 30 minutes.  Turn pumpkins over and make until they are tender but firm, about 30 minutes more.  Set aside.

Tie bay leaf, thyme, and peppercorns in to a piece of cheesecloth to make a bouquet garni.  Set aside.  Place beans in a medium stockpot.  Add the chicken stock, onion, and bouquet garni.  Cover and bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until the beans are tender, about 30-45 minutes.  Drain the beans, reserving the cooking liquid.  Discard the bouquet garni.

In a large stockpot, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the leeks, carrots, celery, pearl onions, and potatoes.  Cook until softened, about 15-30 minutes.  Add the sausage, and cook until browned, about 10 minutes.  Stir in the peas and mushrooms.  Sprinkle in the flour, and cook 2 minutes.  Reduce heat to medium, stir in the milk and reserved cooking liquid, and stir the stew often until it thickens, about 20 minutes.   Stir in the beans and sage.  Divide the stew among the pumpkins, and return the baking sheets to the oven; bake until the pumpkins are soft and the stew is heated through, about 15 minutes. 

This recipe serves 6, but it’s just as easy to double it and serve half of it for dinner and eat the other half in regular bowls later in the week.  I made the doubled version and gave it to some of my friends.  It seemed to go over quite well!

Stuffed Pepper Sunday!

Hey.  Sorry I’ve been gone so long.  I know.  Obviously, I do not know how to run a successful blog.  Life gets in the way and sitting at the computer typing about cooking just doesn’t sound like fun sometimes, ya know?

My whole life, I have been surrounded by stuffed peppers.  My aunt makes a variation with rice.  My paternal grandmother makes some that are more like “meatloaf stuffed” peppers, making due without the added carbs of rice.   This week at the farmers market, peppers were plentiful and I decided to not only stuff some green peppers, but some jalapeno peppers as well. 

Stuffed Green Peppers

3 large green peppers, halved and seeded

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 pound ground beef

2 tomatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons minced parsley

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil, or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried

salt

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

1 cup freshly made bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Oil a shallow baking dish.  Cook the peppers in boiling water for 2 minutes; drain and set aside.  Heat the oil in a skillet and add the chopped onion.  Cook, stirring, until soft.  If using uncooked meat, add it and cook lightly for 5-10 minutes.  Otherwise, mix the onion and meat together, then add the tomatoes, parsley, basil, salt to taste, and pepper, combining thoroughly.  Lightly fill each pepper half with some of the meat mixture.  Sprinkle tops with bread crumbs.  Bake for 30-40 minutes.

I also added a little bit of marinara sauce on top of each pepper before I put them into the oven, and added about 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese into the meat mixture.  Both variations are delicious.  If you are wanting a more “meatloaf-like” texture, I would recommend adding a half cup of bread crumbs to the meat mixture before putting it into the peppers.

Stuffed Jalapeno Peppers

Note to all: Wear gloves when handling fresh jalapenos. That is all.

My jalapenos have been done for over an hour now AND I have taken a shower, and my hands still burn like I decided to set them on fire or something.  Please, wear gloves. Consider yourself warned.

12-20 fresh jalapeno peppers

1 1/2 cups cream cheese

2 cups sharp cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons finely diced onion

2 tablespoons fresh chives, finely chopped

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, finely chopped

4-5 slices of bacon

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice peppers in half.  Take out the ribs and the seeds.  Mix together cream cheese, cheddar cheese, parsley, onion, chives, salt, and pepper.  Stuff half of each pepper with cheese mixture and then put the other half on top, wiping off excess cheese mixture.  Slice bacon into 1-2 inch pieces and wrap each piece around the stuffed peppers, securing with a toothpick.  Place peppers on broiler pan and bake for 30-45 mintues and serve hot or cold.

Tonight’s Feast: Lamb Zucchini Casserole

I made a few changes to this recipe since things are finally in season:

I didn’t buy the right cut of lamb for this recipe, so I made it with ground lamb instead of lamb steaks trimmed into strips.  Seems to work just fine.  I also used fresh spinach and cooked it myself. NOTE: press the cooked spinach with a paper towel to get out oll of the water; my end result was slightly watery because I didnt’ get enough water off the spinach.

1 pound boneless lamb, cut into thin, bite-sized strips trimmed of fat (or one pound ground lamb)

3/4 cup chopped onion

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon olive/coconut oil

2 10-oz packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained (or two pounds fresh spinach, washed, cooked and well drained)

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

Dash ground nutmeg

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cups cold water

1 teaspoon chicken bouillon

(or you can use 2/3 cups chicken stock instead and omit the bouillon/water mixture, which is what I did) 

1 teaspoon cornstarch

2 small zucchini, thinly sliced

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon dried basil

In skillet brown the meat, onion, and garlic in hot oil.  Drain off fat.  In large bowl combine spinach, 1/2 teaspoon basil, and nutmeg.  Stir in drained meat mixture, mozzarella cheese, and salt.  Combine water, bouillon, and cornstarch; add to spinach mixture.  Mix well; turn mixture into a 10x6x2-inch baking dish (any variety of that size will do; I used a 9×9).  Arrange zucchini slices atop, overlapping as necessary.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and 1/4 teaspoon basil.  Bake, covered, for 3o minutes at 350 degrees or until zucchini is crisp-tender.  Uncover and bake 5 to 10 minutes more or until golden.

The verdict:

A miracle, folks, considering she rarely eats any of my cooking adventures.

I’m alive, but AT&T isn’t helping me appear as such

I was so excited to blog to all of you that I had finally gotten wi-fi for my new house so that I could blog with ease at whatever time I pleased (mostly right after I got done cooking)…

But AT&T had other plans.

I was sent a regular modem instead of a wireless router modem; right now I am sitting in the middle of my living room because it is as far as the cords plugged into the wall/phone jack/modem will reach (because my computer MUST be plugged in to function AND the laundry room is the only one with a phone jack  in it).

AT&T has alot of “departments” all over the US.  I got to talk to all of them between today and last night.  The nicest people are the ones in sales.

I digress.

SOON, friends, I will be showering you with regular kitchen remodel updates, recipes, and other random foodie goodness.  SOON.