Roast Butternut Squash Schnitzel with Squash Kraut

I started reading my review copy of Edward Lee’s Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef’s Journey to Discover America’s New Melting-Pot Cuisine back in late May. One of my first thoughts about the book was that it reminded me a little of Anthony Bourdain’s style of explaining the uniqueness of a place through the food. For this book Edward Lee visited different cities around the US, but what the reader learns from him of those places is not the typical or expected or most common thing about each place. He set out to find stories of food made by immigrants and how those dishes have become American food. There may be interpretations of dishes from home countries or an evolution of dishes over time, but the priority here is to tell the story behind the food and appreciate it for what it has become. Each chapter ends with a recipe or two or three that are Lee’s take on a dish or dishes particular to a place. His story about Lowell, Massachusetts starts with the town’s tradition of boxing but leads to the Cambodian immigrants that now make up 40% of the local population. The recipes include Amok Trey which is a coconut curry with fish that’s cooked in a banana leaf and a Pork Lab with Fried Egg on Popcorn Bread to mimic hash on toast. It was interesting to learn of the Lebanese food traditions in Clarksdale, Mississippi where kibbeh is common and the Chinese buffet restaurant serves sushi and lo mein alongside fried chicken, lima beans, and cornbread. Patterson, New Jersey offered another intriguing story where you’ll find “the largest concentration of Peruvian restaurants in the country” due to immigrants from Peru who came to this city for factory jobs. Lee points out that “the food of immigrants is not authentic but frozen in time, reflecting the culinary moment when the immigrants left their home.” It’s also dependent on what ingredients can be found in the current location. Tastes and customs change dishes in home countries and abroad, and what results is no less traditional just different. The recipes for this chapter include Pollo a la Brasa which is a slow-smoked, marinated chicken and Green Fried Rice with Chicken, Cilantro, and Aji Sauce. The question of why German cuisine isn’t more championed was brought up in a chapter about Wisconsin in which Lee and his wife visited several German restaurants and food shops. It’s a good question. This is the one type of cuisine for which I can’t think of a well-known cookbook devoted to it. But, I was delighted to see a unique spin on schnitzel with the recipe for Roast Butternut Squash Schnitzel with Squash Kraut. And, now I need to explain a little about our local, Austin food scene. Our seasons don’t always align with those of other parts of the country. While some area farms continue to have butternut and other hard squashes through the fall, our urban farms tend to have them early in June. I learned that’s due to insects that attack the plants when they’re planted later in the summer. The plants do fine when planted early but won’t survive the summer bugs. So, I was able to get lovely, local butternut squash to make this dish well before fall. 

First, the butternut squash kraut was started since it needed a few days to naturally ferment. The squash was grated and combined with minced onion, garlic, salt, and caraway seeds. I was sure I had caraway seeds to use for this, but when I searched through my spices there were none to be found. Instead, I used nigella seeds which are also sometimes called black caraway so they’re not too weird of a choice. The squash and other ingredients were mixed by hand in a bowl and squeezed to get some juices extracting. The mixture with all the juices was then placed in a jar, water was added, and I weighted down the mixture with a smaller jar. It was left at room temperature for 48 hours and was then refrigerated for a few days. It can be kept for a month or so. For the schnitzel, butternut squash was peeled, seeded and roasted until somewhat tender. When cool, rounds were cut and pressed to flatten a little. Then, I made a little change to the recipe. Rather than breading the squash with flour, egg, and breadcrumbs, I took a simpler route. I spread the tops with Dijon mustard and pressed on breadcrumbs. I do this often with fish for a simpler breading technique. Also, the recipe in the book includes a mustard-cream sauce which I skipped to make it a little lighter and because the mustard flavor was already present. The breaded squash slices were fried in olive oil until crispy and served topped with the squash kraut. 

In Texas, the most common evolution of schnitzel is chicken-fried steak which for the uninitiated is a pounded-thin slice of beef that’s breaded and fried and topped with cream gravy. Since I don’t eat red meat, I was thrilled to see this vegetarian schnitzel concept. Oddly, the process of slicing and flattening the squash pieces reminded me of making tostones. I love it when food traditions cross boundaries like that. So does Edward Lee, and he encourages readers to take these recipes and make them their own. There’s a lot to learn and experiment with here.

I am a member of the Amazon Affiliate Program. 
Tweet

Almond, Olive, and Rosemary Crackers with Roasted Butternut Squash, Chile, and Tahini Dip

Do you believe that true beauty comes from within? That idea is taken very literally in a new cookbook that offers nutrient dense dishes that help balance gut health and thereby assist with keeping your complexion at its best. The Beauty Chef: Delicious Food for Radiant Skin, Gut Health and Wellbeing by Carla Oates, of which I received a review copy, is a guide to eating for a medicinal effect. Oates writes: “the food we eat provides the ecosystem that interacts with our immune system to maintain our health and skin and overall wellbeing.” Whether you choose to eat certain foods specifically for their positive effect on skin conditions or you just want to try these recipes packed with nutrition powerhouses, there are a lot of great options here. First, there’s a list of nutrients with an explanation of why each one is good for you along with the foods in which it’s found. Then, throughout the recipes, the head note information will have some reminders about those nutrients and which ones are in the dish. The chapters cover Breakfast, Lunch, Snacks, Dinner, Sides, Desserts, Baking, Drinks, and Basics. I became hooked quickly after seeing the variety grains and fresh vegetables used, the abundance of fermented pickles, and the use of less-refined sweeteners like honey and maple syrup. There’s an Autumn Spice Smoothie Bowl made with oats, banana, and almond butter and topped with poached pears that I can’t wait to have for breakfast. And, I marked almost every page in the Lunch chapter with dishes like Warm Cauliflower Couscous Salad with Roasted Roots, Hazelnuts, and Crispy Spiced Chickpeas; Raw Rainbow Salad with Soft-boiled Egg and Creamy Miso Dressing; Buckwheat Noodles with Miso-Roasted Pumpkin, Caramelized Onion, and Umeboshi Plum Salad; and Lunch Wraps with Poached Chicken and Celeriac and Roasted Almond Remoulade on homemade Millet and Linseed and Spinach Wraps. If that all sounds a little too virtuous, bear in mind there are also recipes for oven-fried chicken, bbq ribs, and creme brulee. But since I’ve been going meatless and dairyless a little more often lately, I decided to start with a snack of Almond, Olive, and Rosemary Crackers with Roasted Butternut Squash, Chile, and Tahini Dip.

In the book, the crackers have “Cheesy” in the title, but I don’t think that’s even necessary as a selling point. The cheesy flavor here comes from nutritional yeast. These are gluten-free crackers made with almond meal mixed with the yeast flakes, chopped Kalamata olives, fresh rosemary, and salt and pepper. An egg white and some coconut oil hold the dough together. The dough was rolled out between pieces of parchment paper. Then, it was scored and left on the bottom piece of parchment for baking. There’s a nice tip for baking the crackers: as the outside crackers become browned, they can be cut along the scored lines and removed. Then, the pan can go back into the oven to brown the rest of the crackers. The dip was a simple puree of roasted butternut squash, a roasted tomato, and roasted garlic and chile. Tahini and lemon juice were added to the food processor while pureeing.

The crackers have great, savory flavor with the olives and rosemary and the underlying umami from the yeast flakes. If they lose their crispness after sitting for a bit, they can be popped into a warm oven to bring back their crunchy state. The butternut squash dip paired well with them. And, sliced cucumbers made good vehicles for it as well. There are several more things I’m eager to try from this book and it will be a nice bonus if I happen to achieve a healthy glow in the process.

‘Cheesy’ almond, olive and rosemary crackers
Recipes reprinted with publisher's permission from The Beauty Chef: Delicious Food for Radiant Skin, Gut Health and Wellbeing.

MAKES 24

The combination of olive, rosemary and cheese is a delight. However, in this dish I have used yeast flakes instead of cheese, which are rich in B vitamins and a great substitute for the flavour of cheese.

1 cup (100 g / 3 1/2 oz) almond meal

1/3 cup (15 g / 1/2 oz) savoury yeast flakes (available from health food stores)

1/4 cup (45 g / 1 1/2 oz) chopped pitted Kalamata olives

1 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary leaves

1/2 teaspoon Himalayan salt, plus extra for sprinkling

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 large egg white

1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted

Preheat the oven to 150ºC (300ºF). Combine the almond meal, savoury yeast flakes, olives, rosemary, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Add the egg white and oil and mix well to combine.

Roll the almond mixture out between two pieces of baking paper, to make a 24 cm (9 1/2 in) square, approximately 2 mm (1⁄16 in) thick. Discard the top sheet of paper. Using a large knife, score the almond mixture to make 24 crackers. Press the ends of a fork into the centre of each cracker to mark. Transfer the crackers on the sheet of baking paper onto a large baking tray (cookie sheet). Sprinkle with additional salt. Bake for 10–15 minutes, until light golden.

Remove from the oven and cut through the scored marks. Separate into individual crackers. Remove the outer crackers that are crisp and golden and set onto a rack to cool. Cook the remaining crackers for a further 5 minutes, or until golden but not browned. Transfer onto the rack and leave to cool completely. Serve with dips, spreads, or as part of a meal.

Roasted pumpkin, chilli and tahini dip

MAKES 1 1/2 CUPS (SERVES 4)

A flavour-packed dip, starring pumpkin (winter squash), which is a great source of skin-rejuvenating vitamin A. And did you know that when you consume foods high in vitamin E – such as tahini (made from sesame seeds) – around seven days later vitamin E is secreted through your sebum to provide a protective layer?

350 g (12 1/2 oz) peeled pumpkin (winter squash), cut into 5 cm (2 in) chunks

1 medium tomato, halved

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

4 cloves garlic, in their skins

2 long red chiles

2 tablespoons tahini

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

Himalayan salt, to taste

Preheat the oven to 200ºC (400ºF).

Place the pumpkin and tomato on a baking tray (baking sheet). Drizzle with olive oil and roast for 30 minutes.

Turn the pumpkin, add the garlic and chile and roast for a further 15 minutes, or until the garlic and chile are soft and the pumpkin is tender and caramelised. Set aside to cool slightly.

Squeeze the garlic out of its skin. Peel the tomato and chillies. Scrape the seeds out of the chiles and discard.

Place the pumpkin, tomato, 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, garlic and chile in a high-speed food processor. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Season with salt. Serve with crudites, crackers or as part of a meal.

I am a member of the Amazon Affiliate Program. 

Tweet

Socca with Butternut Squash

I first heard about the restaurant Sqirl in Los Angeles from a magazine article reporting on the long lines of people waiting for toast. Of course, this wasn’t just any toast, and of course, they serve lots of other things too. Sqirl started as a jam company, hence the amazing toast, and now serves breakfast and lunch. The story of the restaurant and all the recipes are in the new book Everything I Want to Eat: Sqirl and the New California Cooking, and I received a review copy. There’s a mention in the introduction about how guests at the restaurant often order items and request all sorts of substitutions, and as it happens, the dishes adapt easily to various, little changes. Several items are already gluten-free, and adapting dishes to make them vegetarian or vegan is very doable. The recipes cover Eggs and Toast, Grains and Beans, Vegetables, Meat, Fish, Jams, Desserts, and Drinks. For the famous toast, there’s actually not a recipe for the bread itself, but one inch thick slices of brioche are suggested for toasting and spreading with ricotta and jam or ganache and nut butter or almond hazelnut butter and jam. There’s a nice mix of decadence and nutritious options throughout the book. I’ve marked the page for a grain bowl with mung bean sprouts, crunchy buckwheat, and roasted squash with pomegranate seeds, labneh, and cilantro pistou. A few pages later, I’ve marked a salad made with a rich and lovely Southern-Style Fresh Cream and Black Mustard Dressing. Every dish is balanced mix of flavors and textures, and in some cases there are sub-recipes to prepare before pulling everything together. But, you can pick and choose the parts of a dish you wish to make and skip elements if you like. I love the look of the baguette toast shown a few times in the book. It’s a long slice from the full length of a baguette. For the Squid Toast, that long, skinny piece of toast is topped with aioli, roasted tomatoes, and seared squid. It looks pretty and delicious. The first recipe I tried was the Socca or chickpea flour pancakes. They’re made with grated vegetables depending on what’s in season. Winter squash is one suggestion, and I had a local butternut squash ready and waiting. 

Step one is to peel, seed, and grate the butternut squash which looked curiously like a pile of grated cheddar cheese. The grated squash was tossed with a little salt and left to drain in a sieve. Cumin, coriander, and fennel seeds were toasted and then ground in a mortar and pestle. Eggs were whisked and the drained squash was added with minced garlic, chopped oregano, cilantro, and basil in my case since I don’t have any mint growing. Chickpea flour was added with the ground spices along with salt and pepper, and the mixture was stirred to combine. Large pancakes were cooked in a hot pan with melted butter. Meanwhile, some arugula leaves were tossed with lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper. I had started straining some thick yogurt the day before to make labneh, and I seasoned it with salt and a little sumac. The pancakes were served a dollop of labneh, the dressed arugula, and optionally with a fried egg added. 

This was a hearty and flavorful brunch dish. The herbs and spices in the socca added a lot of interest, and the arugula and labneh were just the right added components. Seeing how well this dish came together made me eager to try more things from the book. I’ve got my eye on the Brown Rice Horchata sweetened with dates to try next.

Socca (chickpea flour pancakes) made with your choice of zucchini, carrot, or winter squash 
Recipe reprinted with publisher’s permission from Everything I Want to Eat. 

Since Sqirl is open for breakfast and lunch, the majority of our customers order one dish, not an appetizer followed by an entrée and a cheese course. So we are always trying to come up with ways to create a single dish that really satisfies. This socca pancake stemmed from that quest. It’s traditional in that it is a flat pancake made of gluten-free chickpea flour, but it’s also not so traditional in that it is filled with lots of vegetables and topped with greens and creamy labneh. 

Serves 4 

1 pound (455 g) zucchini, carrot, or winter squash (see Notes), peeled and coarsely grated 
Fine sea salt 
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds 
1/4 teaspoon coriander seeds 
1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds 
4 large eggs 
1 clove garlic, minced 
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano 
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint 
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro 
2/3 cup (80 g) chickpea flour 
Freshly ground black pepper 
Pinch of ground cinnamon (optional; use with winter squash) 
Pinch of ground ginger (optional; use with winter squash) 
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more as needed 
1/2 cup (120 ml) labneh 
3 cups (60 g) spicy greens (such as watercress, arugula, or baby mustard greens) 
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 

Toss the grated vegetable with a few big pinches of salt, then put it in a fine-mesh sieve and let drain, squeezing every so often so that the vegetable releases its water, for at least 15 minutes. 

Meanwhile, combine the cumin, coriander, and fennel seeds in a dry skillet over medium-low heat. Toast the spices, shaking the pan often, until fragrant but not burned, about 3 minutes. Using a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder, grind the toasted spices to a powder. 

Crack the eggs into a large bowl and whisk to break them up. Add the drained vegetables, along with the garlic, oregano, mint, cilantro, chickpea flour, and toasted spices. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of black pepper, and mix well. If you are using winter squash, stir in a pinch each of ground cinnamon and ground ginger. (The pancake batter can be made up to 2 days ahead and stored, covered, in the fridge.) 

Heat a large skillet, preferably cast iron, over medium-high heat for a minute or two. Add the butter, then spoon in two overflowing ½ cupfuls (120 ml) of the pancake batter, pressing each to 1/2 inch (12 mm) thick. Cook, rotating the skillet occasionally for even browning, until the pancakes are nicely browned, about 3 minutes. Flip, then cook the second side for another few minutes. Transfer the pancakes to a plate. Repeat to make two more pancakes, adding more butter to the skillet, if needed. 

Season the labneh with salt. 

Just before serving, toss the greens with the lemon juice, oil, and some salt and pepper. Top each socca pancake with a huge dollop of labneh and a tangle of greens. 

NOTE ON THE WINTER SQUASH You can use any kind of winter squash that you like. We usually go for kabocha. If you’re having a hard time grating the squash on one of those handheld box graters, try cutting the squash into 2-inch (5-cm) pieces and then shredding them in a food processor. 

WANT TO MAKE IT HEARTIER? Add a fried egg on top. 

SPICE UP THE LABNEH Have fun with the seasoning. Try mixing in ras el hanout or za’atar. 

I am a member of the Amazon Affiliate Program. 
Tweet

Maple-Roasted Butternut Squash Salad

We’re all moved into our temporary home, and I’m slowly but surely getting acquainted with the kitchen. I’m not at all happy about the small, shallow sink that makes it difficult to wash large pots and pans. And, I’m still trying to figure out the best way to use the limited amount of countertop space. Despite these little inconveniences and my ongoing complaints, I have managed to do some cooking since we’ve been here. I’ve just been tentative about taking on baking projects that require space for working with dough. But, now I realize I was being ridiculous. I just read a review copy that I received of The Bread Exchange by Malin Elmlid who has baked all sorts of sourdough breads in different situations all over the world. She travels with her sourdough starter or creates a new one when she arrives at her destination. She asks to borrow ovens and seeks out the best flour she can find wherever she happens to be and makes it all work. And, beyond making bread in all the places she’s traveled, she’s also brought about a fascinating project involving trades of bread for gifts from other people. The trades aren’t about any kind of monetary exchange. Rather, her handmade bread that she’s watched over for hours and baked to perfection is traded for new experiences to learn from or things handmade by other people. The book is about bread and how she makes her sourdough loaves, but it’s also about her travels and experiences all over the world. Beyond the initial instructions for creating a sourdough starter and a handful of bread recipes, you’ll find stories and recipes from different occasions and locations. I do want to try the Rosemary Bread with Goji Berries. Elmlid received a goji berry tree as a trade in Germany. I didn’t know goji berries grow well in Germany, and now I wonder if I could grow a tree here. The stories meander from Egypt to Sweden to Bavaria, Poland, the US, and Afghanistan among other locales. The recipes include things like Fig Confit from an event in Berlin, Blood Orange Curd with Rosemary from a stay at a farmhouse in Bavaria, a Midsommar Cake with a Rhubarb Compote inspired by the Midsummer celebration in Sweden, Afghan Leek Dumplings, and Belgian Waffles. Since I still wasn’t ready to bake while I was reading this, I opted to start by trying the recipe for Maple-Roasted Squash Salad which was part of a menu from a roof-top party in Brooklyn. 

In the book, the recipe is made with pumpkin. I knew I’d never be able to peel a pumpkin easily, so I opted to use a butternut squash instead. The squash was peeled and diced, tossed with maple syrup and sprinkled with ground coriander, and then baked until tender. The next element of the salad was the yogurt sauce. Plain yogurt was mixed with minced garlic, and some red wine vinegar was to be added. I had just received some beautiful bottles of oils and vinegars from O Olive Oil and couldn’t wait to try the fig balsamic. I used that in the yogurt sauce instead of red wine vinegar. The salad was built by layering the roasted squash pieces with some yogurt sauce and topping it with sprouts. I garnished with chopped walnuts for some crunch. 

This salad was a light and lovely intro to fall. The roasted squash was completely of the season, but the yogurt and sprouts brightened and freshened it up a bit. The fig balsamic could quickly become my new best friend in the kitchen. It would be a perfect condiment drizzled over any roasted squash all by itself. And, now I think I’m ready to put my sourdough starter back to work. I know I can find the space to knead and shape some loaves no matter how cramped this temporary kitchen seems. 

Maple-Roasted Pumpkin Salad 
Recipe reprinted with publisher’s permission from The Bread Exchange. 
Contributed by Renee Baumann, SERVES 6 

I traded a loaf of sourdough bread, baked in the NoMad kitchen, for this recipe. I asked Renee to help me create a vegetable dish to pair with a burger but that would steer clear of the more typical burger accompaniments. I wanted a veggie dish that would stand on its own, complement the flavor of the burger, and showcase the agricultural bounty of New York. Browsing through the seasonal produce at the Union Square Market, the idea came to her: kadu bouranee, an Afghan dish that she had recently fallen in love with. Traditionally, the sweet roasted pumpkin is served with hot lamb or beef and a cold garlicky yogurt sauce. She borrowed the flavor combination and then took some liberties, choosing simple culinary treatments, with just enough seasoning to highlight the ingredients. 

MAPLE-ROASTED PUMPKIN 
1 1/4 lb/570 g pumpkin, peeled and cut into cubes 
1/4 cup/60 ml maple syrup 
1/4 tsp ground coriander 
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper 

GARLIC-YOGURT SAUCE 
2 medium garlic cloves 
2 cups/480 ml tangy plain sheep- or goat-milk yogurt 
Sea salt 
1 tbsp red wine vinegar, plus more as needed (optional) 
Sunflower shoots for garnishing 
Toasted hazelnut or walnut oil for tossing 
Purple carrots, thinly sliced, for garnishing 

To make the pumpkin: Preheat the oven to 425°F/220°C. Place the pumpkin cubes in a baking pan, drizzle with the maple syrup, and sprinkle with the coriander. Season with salt and pepper. Roast for 12 to 17 minutes, or until al dente. 

To make the sauce: Cut the garlic cloves in half lengthwise. Remove any green shoots in the center. Finely mince the garlic. Stir the garlic into the yogurt in a medium bowl and let the flavors meld for 10 minutes. Season with salt and the vinegar, taste, and add more as desired. If you are using a tangy yogurt, you may not need any vinegar. 

Toss the sunflower shoots with a little nut oil just before serving. Arrange a pile of shoots on top of the pumpkin and top with the yogurt sauce. Garnish with carrot slices. Serve as a warm or cold salad, depending on your mood, season, or schedule.

I am a member of the Amazon Affiliate Program.

Tweet

Purple Hull Pea Salad and Butternut Squash Galettes

It’s going to take a bit of explaining to tell you how this dish came to be. First, some beautiful, fresh things like purple hull peas, a butternut squash, cucumbers, sweet peppers, and cherry tomatoes had just arrived from Farmhouse Delivery. If you’ve never tried purple hull peas, they’re similar to black-eyed peas with a slightly milder flavor. When they’re freshly picked, they cook to a nice state of tenderness in about twenty minutes. I’d been holding onto a recipe from Saveur magazine just waiting for some fresh field peas to come into season so I could try it. That recipe was from a story about Senegalese cooking that included dishes made with black-eyed peas, okra, and hot chiles. The recipes were perfectly suited to what grows well here. So, from that story, I wanted to try the Saladu Nebbe which is a black-eyed pea salad with lime juice, parsley, tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, and habanero. I made it with purple hull peas rather than black-eyed peas. On a completely different topic, I’d also been looking longingly at some little potato galettes from an old issue of Living magazine. I believe the page for these galettes was cut from a 2003 issue and the exact recipe isn’t online, but they’re simple, small rounds made up of very thin slices of potato. I got a crazy idea to try making the same thing with butternut squash instead of potato and then imagined the big flavors of the purple hull pea salad would marry well with a sweet, crispy galette. And, just like that, the dish you see here was created.

I admit the galettes would be easier to make with potato than with butternut squash. The squash slices didn’t stick together while cooking quite as well as potato slices would. After flipping each galette, I did have to push a few squash slices back into place to keep the round shape. I started by peeling a butternut squash and cutting off the straight section. That straight part was cut in half lengthwise and then thinly sliced on a Benriner. Olive oil and butter were heated in a large skillet, and a round galette was formed by layering the squash slices in a circle in the skillet. Each galette was made up of two layers of squash slices. The galette was seasoned with salt and pepper, and a smaller skillet was set on top of the galette to keep it very flat. After a few minutes, the galette was flipped, a few squash slices that slid out of position were pushed back into place, it was seasoned with salt and pepper again, and the small skillet went back on top. For the salad, the purple hull peas were cooked in water for about twenty minutes and then drained and set aside. The dressing was made by whisking chopped parsley and lime juice while drizzling in canola oil. Then, chopped green onion, sweet peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, and a seeded, finely chopped habanero were combined in a big bowl. The dressing was added, and the salad was seasoned with salt and pepper. After tossing to combine, the salad was left to sit at room temperature for about an hour so the flavors could get acquainted.

This dish might have come about in a less than obvious way, but I was happy with the result. The finished galettes were crispy on the edges, tender in the middle, sweet, and buttery all at once. And, the fresh, bright, and spicy flavors of the salad were a good match. I always find good ideas in my recipe files, and who knows what they'll inspire next.

Tweet

The Ultimate Winter Couscous

I had a couple of little butternut squashes that I’d been neglecting, and a turnip collection sat hopeful but lonely in the vegetable bin. It was time to find a good winter dish where they’d be put to use. That didn’t take long once I grabbed my copy of Plenty. The recipe really is called the ultimate winter couscous, but I don’t think that means you have to stick to it too precisely. You could use any type of winter squash, and turnips weren’t even mentioned in the ingredient list, but I was sure they’d be fine. What was in that list was carrots, parsnips, shallots, dried apricots, chickpeas, chopped preserved lemon, harissa, and lots of spices. The vegetables were to be roasted until tender and sweet, and I could imagine the smell of the spices filling the kitchen before the oven was even warmed. I think this is the ultimate winter dish because it really couldn’t go wrong. It was full of warm spice flavors, sweet roasted charm, and perky acidity and heat.

First, big chunks of all the vegetables needed to be roasted, and I used carrots, parsnips, turnips, and butternut squash. Shallots were added to the roasting pan along with cinnamon sticks, star anise, bay leaves, ground ginger, ground turmeric, hot paprika, chile flakes, olive oil, and salt. After roasting for a bit, chopped dried apricots, chickpeas, and a little water were added to the pan. Just before the vegetables were ready, couscous was added to boiling water with saffron and olive oil. After the couscous had absorbed the water, butter was added, and the couscous was mixed and fluffed. When the roasting pan was removed from the oven, a big spoonful of harissa and some chopped preserved lemon rind were stirred into the vegetables. The couscous was served topped with the roasted vegetables and some chopped cilantro leaves.

This was such a fragrant dish, and it hit on just about every flavor you can name. The preserved lemon added little sparks of brightness here and there while the cilantro brought some fresh herbiness. The flavors of all the vegetables had become sweeter and more intense from roasting, and the spices permeated each bite. This was an ultimate winter dish, and I’ll remember it next time my butternut squash or turnips or parsnips are feeling overlooked.

Tweet

Butternut Squash and Cheddar Bread Pudding

I realize I'm sort of repeating myself here, but it couldn't be helped. Butternut squash and greens are just meant to be together. The bitter greens balance the sweet squash, and I've been getting, well let's just say, a steady supply of butternut squashes from my CSA this fall. So, once again, I have for you a savory dish with that perfect pairing. I was hoping to find a dish using butternut squash that would be good for brunch, and I found just the right thing on Epicurious. This first appeared in last November's Bon Appetit in Molly Wizenberg's story about creating a vegetarian main course for Thanksgiving. It's a rich and hearty, savory bread pudding with roasted squash, sauteed greens, lots of cheddar cheese, and a custard accented with dijon mustard and white wine. It would have been very fitting on the Thanksgiving table, but it was just as nice for brunch the weekend before.

First, the squash was peeled, seeded, cubed, and roasted. I actually roasted the squash the day before and stored it in the refrigerator. Then, a baguette was cubed and soaked with the custard mixture of eggs, whole milk, white wine, dijon mustard, and salt and pepper. The recipe calls for half and half, but I lightened it up just a bit by using whole milk instead. As the bread sat to soak, fresh greens that had been coarsely chopped were sauteed with minced shallots. Kale was the recommended type of greens here, but I used the broccoli greens I had just received from my CSA. Everything was layered in a baking dish, starting with half of the bread mixture, then half of the kale, and half of the roasted squash. That was topped with shredded cheddar cheese, and the layers were repeated. The assembled bread pudding was covered with parchment and foil, and it baked for about 20 minutes. The foil and parchment were removed, and it baked an additional 20 minutes.

Bread puddings are so versatile, and they make fantastic one-dish meals for brunch. This one was delightfully full of vegetables, and I've already gone on about how much I enjoy squash with greens. The melted cheese in the center and the browned cheese on top just made it even better. Now, I need to decide how to use the four more butternut squashes that are sitting in my kitchen this week.

Tweet

Pickled Butternut Squash with Burrata

Pickled pumpkin has such a nice ring to it, and that’s what this was supposed to be. The page for this salad had been marked since March when I first got the book My Favorite Ingredients. I had waited months to try it, and when I had an extra butternut squash and some tomatoes on hand from our CSA, I went for it. With a mix of both winter squash and tomatoes, it’s a perfect cross-over season dish. I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve tried from this book. Interesting flavor combinations and simple, seasonal dishes keep me coming back to it. The chapters in the book are organized by ingredient, and this salad is from the vinegar chapter. The butternut squash was pickled in red wine vinegar, and the salad was finished with aged balsamic. The vinegars were balanced by the sweetness of the squash and slow-roasted tomatoes and the beautiful, creamy, fresh burrata.

To begin, you should pop the tomatoes in the oven since they slow-roast for three to four hours. Of course, this can be done in advance, and the tomatoes can be stored in the refrigerator. Halved tomatoes were sprinkled with salt and pepper and roasted at 250 degrees F until shriveled with concentrated flavor. For the pickles, sugar was combined with red wine vinegar, a bottle of dry, white wine, some bay leaves, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, a bunch of thyme, and a hot chile. The mixture was warmed until the sugar dissolved while the butternut squash was seeded and sliced. The peel was left on the squash to keep the thin pieces intact while cooking. The squash slices were placed in the pickling liquid where they simmered for about an hour and then were allowed to cool. I picked the squash pickles out of the liquid and strained the liquid back over the pickles before storing them in the refrigerator. Readying the tomatoes and pickles took some time, but it was mostly waiting time. Then, putting together the salad was a breeze. The dressing for the salad was a mix of fresh oregano leaves chopped with some salt and combined with lemon juice and olive oil. The pickled squash and roasted tomatoes were arranged on plates and topped with burrata, that was drizzled with the oregano dressing, and then aged balsamic was dribbled on the plate.

This was my kind of salad since I like just about any kind of pickle. The butternut squash slices had softened a little but retained some texture, and you could cook them more or less to achieve whatever level of crispness you prefer. As they were, they provided nice textural contrast with the roasted tomatoes and burrata. And, there were plenty of leftover pickles. They're great for snacking straight out of the refrigerator.

Tweet

Kale Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash and Spiced Pecans

When I was invited to a hog roast last weekend, my first thought was to bring a salad. There was going to be a lot of pork on offer, so something green and leafy would at least be a good contrast. This hog roast was a celebration of local food with the hog itself coming from a nearby farm. I had just received my first butternut squash of the season from my CSA, and I found a couple of varieties of kale and red onions at the farmers’ market the morning of the party. And, I had ideas about raw kale. The week before, I attended a Health Starts Here cooking class at Whole Foods, and I posted a few photos from the class on Facebook. One of the dishes demonstrated was a raw kale salad, and the cut leaves were tenderized and wilted by squeezing the dressing into them by hand. I went with different flavors for my salad, but that technique made all the difference. This was something I made up as I went along without really measuring, but I’ll do my best to list approximate quantities in a recipe below.

I used dinosaur kale, but any variety would have been great. I cut the thick parts of the ribs from the leaves and then chopped the leaves into little ribbons. The ribboned leaves were washed and spun dry in a salad spinner, and then they went into a big bowl with finely chopped red onion. I poured some aged balsamic vinegar over the kale and reached in to scrunch away. You want to work the vinegar into the leaves, and the squeezing and scrunching will soften the kale. For the pecans, I imagined a little spice on them would add a faint bit of heat and interest to the salad. I whisked some chimayo chile powder, salt, and sugar into an egg white and then tossed the pecans in that mixture. Once well coated, they were toasted in the oven for about 20 minutes. The pecans and cubes of butternut squash and a small splash of olive oil were tossed with the kale to complete the salad.

The pig was the star of the night. When it was brought in for carving, it had everyone’s attention. I even tasted a piece of cheek and a bite of belly. It was a fine roasted hog, and the salad was indeed a good side dish. The sweet, spicy, and savory items balanced the bitter greens, and the leaves were slightly wilted with a little crispness intact. I’ve already decided I’m making this salad again for Thanksgiving and probably a few times between now and then.


Kale Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash and Spiced Pecans
a lisa is cooking original

1 small butternut squash
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/4 cups pecans
1 egg white
1/2 teaspoon chimayo chile powder or cayenne to taste
1 teaspoon sugar
2 bunches kale
1 small red onion, finely diced
2-4 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar (I used 18 year aged from Con'Olio.)
salt and pepper to taste

*note: the size of a bunch of kale will vary, so taste as you go and adjust as needed when adding the vinegar and olive oil to the salad.

-Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Peel the squash, cut in half and remove seeds. Cut squash into 3/4-inch cubes. On a large baking sheet, toss cubed squash with 2 tablespoons olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 15 minutes or until squash is tender and allow to cool. The squash should be tender but not mushy. It should hold it's shape when tossed in the salad but still be cooked through. (The squash can be roasted a day in advance and stored in the refrigerator.)
-In a large mixing bowl, whisk one egg white with chimayo chile powder, sugar, and a good pinch of salt. Whisk just until the egg white is foamy. Toss the pecans in the egg white mixture and stir to coat the pecans well. Using your hands, place pecans on a parchment-lined baking sheet leaving excess egg white in the mixing bowl. Toast in the 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes checking from time to time to be sure the pecans are not getting too brown. (The pecans can be toasted a day or two in advance and stored in an airtight container.)
-Cut thick parts of ribs from leaves of kale. Then, cut leaves in half lenghthwise and then into ribbons crosswise. Soak cut leaves in a large bowl of water. Swish to remove grit, and then allow grit to fall to bottom of bowl. Pick leaves up out of water and place in basket of a salad spinner and spin dry. Placed washed leaves in a large mixing bowl. Add finely diced red onion. Pour two tablespooons aged balsamic over kale and onion and squeeze and scrunch the leaves with your hands. You want to tenderize the kale and work the vinegar into the leaves.
-Add roasted squash cubes, toasted pecans, two tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste, and carefully toss to combine so squash cubes remain whole. The oil used in roasting the squash along with the pecans add richness to the salad, so nut much additional olive oil is needed. I used about two tablespoons, but taste as you add.

Tweet

Slow Food Feast in the Field and the Butternut Squash Gratin

A week ago, we attended the Slow Food Feast in the Field benefiting the Austin Discovery School. (In the interest of full disclosure, I won my ticket as a giveaway from the always awesome Addie Broyles, but we purchased Kurt’s ticket.) The feast was held at Green Gate Farm which is a short, ten minute drive from downtown Austin, but it was a quiet, peaceful place outside of the city’s hubbub. It was a clear, cool, fall night, and the barn sat in the shadows behind the buffet table of salad, bruschetta, and pickled persimmons. Servers passed trays of duck confit canapes and shot glasses of pureed butternut squash soup, and wine was served from a table under a big tree. The dining tables were set between planted fields and were softly illuminated by strings of lights. Hence, my photos were of poor quality, but I snapped away just the same. There was even a small trailer from which espresso was served next to the greenhouse. The meal was prepared by Chef Jesse Bloom of Ecstatic Cuisine, and the entire menu was crafted from local vegetables, meats, and wines and much of that local fare came from Green Gate Farm.


Butternut Squash Soup with Goat Milk Creme Fraiche.
Duck Confit. Asian Pear Compote.
Paired with Fall Creek Estate Pinot Grigio.

Local Greens Salad Bar with Green Garlic Goddess Dressing.
Build Your Own Bruschetta: Eggplant Caviar. Mushroom Caponata. Local Cheese. Pickled persimmons.
Paired with Fall Creek Estate Pinot Blanc.

Smoky Pork Loin. Blackberry Lavender Reduction. Local Greenery. Butternut Squash Gratin with Caramelized Onion, Walnut, and Veldhuizen Gruyere.
Paired with Fall Creek Estate Super Texan.

Mary Louise Butter's Brownies with Amy’s Mexican Vanilla Ice Cream.
Paired with Fall Creek Estate Port.

I requested a vegetarian main course, so I enjoyed a stuffed poblano pepper with black beans, corn, avocado, and chipotle lime tofu instead of the smoky pork. The meal was very well prepared and nicely served, and the warm brownie with Amy’s always-perfect ice cream for dessert was simple but delicious. The port with its hint of honey was well-matched with chocolate.

The one item from the meal that really caught our attention was the butternut squash gratin. Kurt and I, and everyone else at our table, couldn’t stop going on about it. The tender layers of squash with flavors of walnuts and caramelized onions and the lovely crispy topping had us all praising it. The next day, I contacted Ecstatic Cuisine to ask if they’d be willing to share the recipe for that incredible gratin, and Ian LeClair, the sous chef, was happy to do so. He told me the squash they used was from Green Gate Farm, the cream was from a local source, and the Veldhuizen Gruyere is made in Dublin, Texas. I haven’t made this myself yet, but I think this could easily make its way onto a holiday menu this year:

Ian’s Butternut Squash Gratin
from Ecstatic Cuisine
1 large or 2 medium butternut squash
4 cups thinly sliced yellow or white onions
2 Tbs olive oil
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried nutmeg
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2-3 cups heavy cream
1 cup grated gruyere
3/4 cup breadcrumbs (I prefer Panko)
1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts

In a large saute pan, heat the oil and half the butter. Add the onions and the thyme and cook until the onions are caramelized and reduced to about 1 cup.
While the onions are cooking, peel the squash and cut off the large butt end with the seeds. Thinly slice the neck part into rounds. (Ian uses a mandoline to get nice thin slices.)
In a mixing bowl combine the flour, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Toss the squash slices in this flour mixture to coat.
Grease a 9x13 baking dish with the rest of the butter.
Arrange half the squash slices in an overlapping pattern to form a layer in the bottom of the baking dish. Spread half the onions on top. Form another layer with the rest of the squash and then top with the other half of the onions.
Sprinkle the cheese over the top and then pour the cream over the whole dish. The cream should almost come up to cover the layers.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake in a 350 degree F oven for approximately 20-25 minutes or until the squash has mostly softened. Remove from oven and remove foil.
Mix the breadcrumbs and nuts and spread over the top of the gratin.
Return to oven and continue baking for 10-15 minutes or until topping is golden and crispy and squash is fully cooked.

Tweet

Roasted Squash Salad

The planning, shopping, and cooking for Christmas ended with splendid indulging and leftovers for a few days. Indulging continued on through New Year’s week, but I was no longer cooking. While visiting family, I got to sit back, relax, and catch up on magazine reading. Is there anything better than not setting an alarm for several days, getting to sit and read without even needing to glance at a clock from time to time, and knowing someone else is making dinner today? Well, that last one is nice once in a while. I spotted this roasted squash salad in the December issue of Bon Appetit which I lazily read right after finishing Saveur and just before picking up Eating Well. Rough week. The combination of flavors sounded great, and it looked like a meal in itself.

The peeled butternut squash was thinly sliced and roasted with a glaze of balsamic vinegar and a scant bit of brown sugar. The remaining ingredients were simply arranged on the plate. The one change I made was using pears instead of apples. Endive spears were fanned about, pear slices were interspersed, the roasted squash was mounded nearby, and dried cranberries and blue cheese crumbles were spilled atop it all. The plated salad received a drizzling of balsamic and lemon vinaigrette.

It was simple and lovely, and tasted as good as I knew it would when I sat idly reading about it a few days ago. What culinary challenges and delights will 2009 hold? Which filed-away recipes will finally be attempted this year? What classics will I ruin beyond all recognition? I have no idea. I really want to make a sourdough starter. I want to make tamales in my own banana leaves. I want to make ice cream too. And, I have a stack of new books waiting to inspire all sorts of new dishes.

Tweet