Butternut squash, red onion & tahini casserole

Thanksgiving, 2015

If ever a Chez Toby needed a picture!  This dish has a minimal number of ingredients and a knockout appearance and taste.  The key is to cut the onions the way the recipe says to, because the onion sections (each an eighth of a globe, the south pole or root portion of each eighth remaining intact to secure all of the layers) fan out beautifully and can be arranged atop the squash, violet floral motifs on deep orange.  Here are leftovers to give an idea: 

Ingredients for maybe 8 servings:

• 4 large red onions
• 2 pounds butternut squash (can increase and just mound up for more servings)
• 1/3 c or more pine nuts or shelled green pistachio nuts
• tahini sauce (1/4 c. tahini paste, 2 T. lemon juice, 1 clove minced garlic (or smash bulb and use immersion blender to make sauce), 1/2 t. salt, 1/4 c. water, 1T olive oil or more lemon juice if desired)
• 1/2 c. oil, salt, pepper

Preparation

1. Heat oven to 475 degrees. Lightly coat two large baking sheets with olive oil or use parchment.
2. Peel onions, leaving root ends intact. (Just leave the solid, connected part of the root end; it's OK to cut off any root portion protruding from globe.)  Cut each onion in half from stem to root. Cut each half into 4 wedges, leaving the root intact so that each wedge holds together. Spread on a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with oil.
3. Peel squashes and likewise cut them into vertical wedges, 1/2" wide at outer side - - or around 8 wedges per typical squash.  Put the squash in a large mixing bowl. Add 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt and about 1/4 teaspoon pepper; toss to coat. Spread on a baking sheet.
4. Place both pans in oven and roast for 30 to 40 minutes, until the vegetables have taken on some color and are cooked through. Keep an eye on the onions, as they may cook faster than the squash and need to be removed earlier.
5. If using nuts, pour 1 tablespoon oil into a small frying pan and place over medium-low heat. Add nuts and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook for 2 minutes, stirring often, until the nuts are golden brown and smell toasty. Immediately remove from the heat and dump onto a cutting board to stop the cooking. If using pistachios, chop coarsely when cool enough to handle.
6. To make tahini sauce, place tahini in a bowl. Add lemon juice, 1/4 cup water, garlic and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Whisk until sauce is the consistency of honey, adding more water or a tablespoon of olive oil if necessary.
7. When the vegetables are cooked, set aside until ready to serve. (The vegetables should be served the same day they are made. They can be served at warm room temperature, or reheated just before serving.)
8. To serve, combine vegetables on a large serving platter. If using tahini sauce, drizzle on top. Sprinkle any garnish, if using (eg cilantro, parsley) and nuts on top and serve.
   

Pumpkin cupcakes and waffles

I had a little fall baking fest for Halloween. I used two recipes straight off Smitten Kitchen, so I will just link to them here. I am posting them here together in part because they make such a nice pair. If you get 1 regulation size can of pumpkin you can make the cupcakes for dessert and then turn right around and make the pumpkin waffles (1/2 or 1/4 size recipe) the very next day. And you can top those waffles with the left over maple cream cheese frosting. So delicious.

Pumpkin cupcakes

I made them exactly as described in the recipe. I was too lazy to figure out the frosting roses so I just topped them with black and white Halloween sprinkles.

Pumpkin waffles

I made a half recipe and it made 4.5 waffles on my regulation-sized round waffle making. So many waffles. A full recipe would make about 9. So, adjust accordingly. I used walnut oil in place of butter and it turned out nicely, so that's an option. Also, beating the eggwhites separately made the waffles really fluffy. I don't love fluffy waffles. If you prefer a cakier/denser waffle, consider not separating the eggs. I haven't tried this yet, but I expect it would be good. Let me know if you do give it a go.

Kale Chips

I finally got on the kale chips bandwagon. What took me so long?! They're quick enough to make (less prep time than kale salad, though there is a bake time) and super tasty. And healthy! You really don't need much oil to make them taste good. I made them for the first time last night and plowed through the batch before dinner. I saved "half" for M., though his "half" kept getting smaller the longer he dallied in the other room.

I used this entry from She Glows with a few modifications. The author provides a lot of good tips (how to keep your chips from being soggy, etc) as well as explanations for why she does certain things.

Kale chips
Serves 2-4 people
Preheat oven to 300F

1/2 large bunch of kale - washed and DRIED WELL
Strip kale leaves from their stems and tear into medium sized pieces (~2"x2")
Place in large bowl
Pour 1T EVOO over the kale
Sprinkle with 4 cloves of garlic, minced; black pepper; chili powder; salt and then massage the kale to get the oil and spices to really soak in. These spices could use all kinds of tweaking - go simple with just salt and pepper, perhaps, or garam masala to accompany Indian food.
Spread onto rimmed baking sheets such that the kale forms a thin layer. This is important - if the kale is stacked up it will end up soggy.
Bake for 10 minutes. Rotate pans so that the kale cooks evenly. Cook for an additional 12 minutes or so.
Remove from oven and let stand for 3" before enjoying.

Agua de Sandia

When M and I visited Mexico a few years ago, we loved getting agua fresca. This translates to "fresh water" and refers to a blend of fresh fruit, water, and sometimes ice. My favorite was agua de sandia, or watermelon water. It is a perfect treat for a hot summer evening! I had forgotten about it for a while, but saw it again in a Whole Foods earlier this summer and decided I had to make it. It turned out really well! It turned out even better the second time I made it, when I added rum (of course).

Agua de Sandia (virgin)
Serves 2
Fill blender with chunks of watermelon (seedless or seeded) up to the 5 cup measure
Add the juice of 1 lime
Add 1/2 cup cold water or rum (do the rum.... trust me)
Pack the rest of the blender with ice (about 2 handfuls)
Blend until there are no more big chunks.
Garnish with a sprig of mint.

Enjoy!

As I sipped it, it separated into the prettiest layers of translucent orange and opaque pink.

Will post a picture soon.

Choose your own ending Chocolate Pudding

Ideally, start with an 8 cup Pyrex™ measure, or else be prepared to watch closely.  Add 3 1/2 c. Milk, 20 Scharffen Berger petite baking chocolate squares (I think this comes to 5 oz.), 1/2 c. Sugar and 1/2 t.salt.  Start the microwave for 10 minutes.  Now take 3/8 c. Cornstarch and whisk with 1/2 c. Milk.  Next start whisking the mix in the microwave.  It may take a few visits over a minute or two.  Add the cornstarch mix and whisk the whole thing we every minute or so. After 7 minutes or so, the mix will foam at the top as it starts to boil.  Whisk it down every 30 sec. Or so.  After the ten minutes are up, it should have some body and show a whisk Mark.  Remove it from the microwave and whisk it every few minutes until you can touch it (maybe 105 degrees).  Then add 3  tablespoons of the liquor of your choice – Drambuie, Cointreau, sham board, etc.  Or Chambord if you like Francois I better than you like voice recognition.  And put it in the frig.

Watermelon gazpacho

This gazpacho calls for two batches of vegetables, each processed differently - one batch finely chopped, the other pureed.  I used the food processor for the first batch and the blender for the second.  Everything needed to be roughly chopped first.

Ingredients:
1 red onion - one half for each batch
2 red bell peppers, one for each batch
1 big or 2 smaller cucumbers, peeled and seeded, half for each batch
1/2 of a jalapeno, again divided equally - increase if you want more kick

 One half of each of the above ("batch one") goes into the food processor to be finely chopped, not puréed.

 The rest of the above vegetables, plus the following (collectively, "batch two"), will all go into the blender to be puréed:  2 cups tomatoes, 6 to 7 cups of chopped seedless watermelon , and 1/4 cup cilantro.  A watermelon the size of a medium big cantaloupe will give you a good amount.

 My blender works better with diverse textures, so I'm jumbled up all the chop of batch two and threw it in. (It did not all fit at once.)  Once all of these were puréed, I added 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar , and then another tablespoon.  I used Brandywine tomatoes and a fairly sweet watermelon , and, even so, the vinegar just seemed to make it sweeter.

 Then process and mix in the finely chopped vegetables from batch one.  Chill and serve, garnished with sour cream or diced avocado .

 The recipe I had did not call for bread , which I thought was the sine qua non of gazpacho.  I thought that the results of the above needed more fortitude. I had on hand about 2 tablespoons of crumbs from toasted whole wheat pita, so I added that, and I think that more breadcrumbs would be welcome.  The recipe also calls for salt and 1 tablespoon olive oil.

Cake for August 21 (sat-fat free birthday, that is)

Mix 1 c. roasted almond oil with 2 c. sugar.
Sift together 3 1/2 c. cake flour, 1/2 t. salt, and 2 t. baking powder.
Mix 1 c. milk with 2 t. vanilla.
Mix the flour mixture into the oil/sugar mixture, alternating in thirds with the milk mixture.
Whip 8 egg whites.  Add them to the above mixture.
Cook at 375 in 2 8-inch pans for 30 minutes, checking near the end.

Icing:
Microwave 20 squares of Sharffenberger petite baking squares (or figure 4 squares to an ounce) along with 1 T. roasted almond oil, whisking about every 30 sec for a total of 2 1/2 min. until you can whisk it smooth.
Mix 1/2 c. sugar with 1 T cornstarch and whisk it into the chocolate mixture.
Whisk in 1 c. milk.
Microwave for a total of 3 minutes, whisking it every minute, then every 30 sec near the end.  It will be close to boiling on the last 2 or 3 whisks.
Let it cool and add 1T. vanilla, whisking every few minutes as it cools down.

Tian from two gardens

M gave me squash and eggplant, which I took to be from the roof.  And neighbor Ryan Ahalt gave me tomatoes and an invitation to harvest from his garden while they are on vacation.  He had parsley.  Hence a tian:  roast 1 lb each of eggplant and squash, sliced 1/4" and sprayed with oil, at 375 for 15 min.  Process 1/2 baguette, 2T fresh parsley, 1 1/2 t. fresh thyme,  2 t. oregano, and 4 oz. cheese.  Slice 1 lb. tomatoes.  Layer as follows:  1/2 of the eggplant and 1/2 of the squash, topped by a drizzle of oil and pepper, then 1/2 of the tomatoes topped with 1/2 of the crumb mix.  Then repeat these layers.  Then drizzle on 1/4 c. of vegetable stock. Cook for 1 hour on 375. 
Notice that my garden contributed nothing.  Its glory was two days ago, with that spaghetti squash.  Since then, exactly 5 pole beans and 2 cherry tomatoes.  Ryan doesn't have that much more sun than I, but he does have his garden up against his white garage wall on the north, and maybe that reflects some sun onto his plants.

Faith-based cuisine? A Pie for all.

Brunch for the Senneshes needed to be gluten-free (Joel and Louise), lactose-free (Louise), fat- and bean- and meat-free (Reeves) and sucrose-free (Robin).  Joel offered the notion of faith-based cuisine.  AND Robin wanted to use her garden's second spaghetti squash.  (Reeves by taste, if not by faith, might be in the spaghetti-squash-free camp.)  I made a leek and fennel pie on tortilla shells (using eggbeaters), with parmesan on one side and garden cherry tomatoes and some of my rageddy basil atop the crunchy spaghetti squash.  I cooked the leeks and fennel on the stove, then put them, with eggbeaters, in the tortilla shell, then topped half with parmesan.  Meanwhile I roasted the squash for an hour at 350, then strung it out and placed it atop the filled pie and baked the creation for about 45 min.  I like the crunch.  It's in the middle, below.  I have no idea how to zoom in on it.

Yuliya's Börek

Yuliya is delving into Turkish cuisine.  Here is her recipe for Börek, which is just a little like spanokopita:

Spinach, Vidalia onion, flat leaf parsley, dill, mint, basil, Jerusalem spices. Mix with sheep feta, Russian farmer's cheese, pepper (no need for salt: feta can regulate it). Yufka dough (you can use phyllo dough too). 
Butter, milk, eggs. (She makes a custard out of the milk and eggs and places it between leaves of the Yufka.  Not sure where the butter goes, but as we know, it comes in handy anywhere.)

Bake on 375 for 20 min, then on 350 for 22 minutes. 

Divine!

Next installment:  Yuliya's King Salmon with red wine and olive oil.  As in, caught by Yuliya and brought back on the airplane from Alaska by Yuliya.

As it turned out, it didn't need an installment.  I just cooked the salmon in olive oil on medium high heat and then halfway through added maybe 1/4 cup red wine.  The salmon didn't need anything else. 

Spanish inspiration: Salmorejo and Almond Cream

M and I recently got back from a trip to Spain. It was lovely, if too short. We visited Granada and Madrid, saw some good friends, and took in all kinds of beautiful things. The culinary highlight was without doubt our tasting menu experience at La Oliva in Granada. La Oliva is, as the proprietor Francisco is quick to tell you, not a restaurant. It is a specialty foods store. He became an accidental chef of sorts after doing a tasting for a couple that was so happy that they spread the word loudly and proudly on Trip Advisor. He does a meal a few times a week in his shop. Him and his family members use a hot plate in the back to prepare 15 or so different small plates that pair with 5 different local wines. It was amazing! We tried all manner of local products and dishes and had a lovely time hearing his explanations. I was particularly impressed by the fine olive oils - they were incredibly flavorful and spicy. My favorite tasted kind of like cut grass.

I recreated one of the first plates we enjoyed at La Oliva this past weekend as an appetizer for a meal with our friends T and G. It's mild and pleasant. Even their 10 month old loved it.

Romaine Lettuce with Almond Cream
Cream serves ~8 as an appetizers (get extra lettuce if there's a crowd)

Make almond cream:
Place 1/2 lb Marcona almonds, 1 clove ("tooth") garlic, 1-2T EVOO, and ~1/4c warm water in a food processor and process until almost smooth. Add more water if needed for desired consistency. Add salt to taste if the almonds are not already salted.

Rinse, separate and pat dry 1 head of romaine lettuce. If you have enough lettuce to be choosy, use the medium sized leaves - ones that fit nicely in the hand without a whole lot of excess leafage flopping around.

Place a spoonful of almond paste in the center of each lettuce leaf and arrange on a plate to serve.

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We followed that with Salmorejo, adapted from this recipe by Jose Andres. The link includes a very energetic video of him making it on TV. We tried salmorejo in Jaen, the olive oil capital of Spain, where we stopped on our drive to Granada. We ordered soup and a plate of the ubiquitous Jamon, thinking that this would be a light lunch, and somehow accidentally ordered an enormous plate of mystery meat (which turned out to be some part of the cow's neck - paraspinalis? platysma?) Of course, with a dish with this few ingredients, high quality ingredients is key.

Salmorejo
Serves 4 (small dinner portions)

Hard boil 2 eggs
Place 1.5lbs plum tomatoes (~5 tomatoes), quartered, in a food processor. OK to leave the skins and seeds on.
Add 6 slices of "rustic, day-old white bread" with crusts removed. I used Whole Foods' paesano loaf - I think sour dough would work well, too. I also bet that it'd be fine with the crusts on, as long as the crusts aren't too hard.
Add 2 garlic cloves, crushed and peeled.
Add 1.5T sherry vinegar (or 1T red wine vinegar and 1/2T balsamic vinegar).
Add 1/4c EVOO, salt and pepper to taste.
Process all of the above until almost smooth.
Top with sliced eggs, torn pieces of Serrano jamon (use ~4 slices or 1 oz total), and a drizzle of EVOO.
Serve with additional bread.

We were fortunate enough to wash this all down with some delicious red wine from Tagonius (near Madrid) that we had brought back from Spain, as well as a delicious Maryland red from Blackfoot (?). And, of course, delightful company.

Rant of Lamb, or the Gluten-Free Lunch that had some Glaring Glitches

We had a lovely birthday lunch for Louise out on the patio, but it did not unroll as smoothly as I'd hoped.  All of us brought our dietary parameters to the table:  Louise and Joel are going gluten-free, Reeves had his usual limitations, and I was on day 1 of the low-fiber diet for my upcoming colonoscopy.  I had planned to do rack of lamb, cottage cheese bread, cauliflower with plum sauce, and a cake for Louise.
I made the cottage cheese bread out of Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free bread flour. 

I used the recipe on the bag, substituting roasted almond oil for melted butter and eggbeaters for eggs.  The recipe called for proofing the yeast in the 1 3/4 c. of milk called for, heating the milk to 110 degrees.  In the interests of making it a little tastier, I substituted cottage cheese and yogurt for 1 1/2 c. of the milk called for, and substituted hot water for the remaining 1/4 c. of milk so that I could proof the yeast.  I added 1 c. of onions.  I realized to my dismay that I couldn't add sesame seeds or dill seeds, as I am forbidden seeds.  Happily I saw on my recipe the note that Jody had substituted wheatberry.  I started cooking the wheatberry and realized that I was losing the whole gluten-free idea.
By this time, I was getting a little exasperated.  Gluten-free bread seems like an oxymoron anyway, since I thought that the dough traps the carbon dioxide produced by the yeast with the sheets of gluten that build up from kneading.  Indeed, Bob adds guar gum and xanthan gum to his flour to perform this function.  I think it also gummed up my bread machine:  I can't get the pan out anymore.  It had been leaking a bit into the spinner underneath, and now it seems like it's permanently glued.  The bread was ok. 
Undaunted, I went on to make birthday cupcakes out of Bob's All-Purpose Baking Flour. 

The recipe I found for gluten-free cupcakes mentions using Namaste All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour.  It has xanthan gum.  Bob's All-Purpose Gluten-Free does not.  I just loaded the recipe with baking powder and hoped for the best.  Again, I used roasted almond oil and eggbeaters.  I think the chocolate glaze carried the day.
The lamb was very docile.  I discovered that I was nearly out of garlic, but then I found the mustard mixture I'd left on the countertop at Easter (see following post).  (Yes, it had returned to the frig on Easter.)  The only alteration was using bread crumbs from the gluten-free bread, and that worked fine.
My main takeaway about gluten-free cooking is never, never taste the dough.  If you had a bad habit of enjoying dough as you cook, you will be cured.  Cooking seems to help the taste.  Compared to the dough or batter, the products are divine.  Enough said.

Update:  The FedEx guy "dropped off" the new breadmaker on Tuesday.  I could hear it land on the front porch.  Right before leaving for my colonoscopy on Wednesday, I got it going with a whole wheat, wheatberry onion loaf.  Forget low fiber!  Forget gluten-free!  (Just put in yeast, 1 t salt, 1/2 chopt onion and 1/2 c wheatberres w/ 1 c water, warmed on power level 5 for 10 min in the microwave.  Then add King Arthur Whole Wheat, maybe 3 c or until it looks right.  I forgot the oil.)  When I got back, ravenous, my bread was 8 minutes away. 

Easter encore, Chez S

We celebrated Easter in Fed Hill with our wonderful hosts Suzanne and M and with Cheryl, Strom and Jessica.

Not pictured:  Dan.  What was up with that?
Suzanne gave us the bunny cake, the carrot and raisin version, on a bed of green grass (coconut shavings).  I'm not sure there was any left over.  I had two pieces.

The rack of lamb was out of this world!!  Huge chops!!  Suzanne had snagged it at Cross Street Market, and the butcher in addition gave her what looked like rack end pieces that just had eensy ribs on them.  Cheryl, Suzanne and I cooked the racks, and Cheryl seared the end pieces in order to give them more cooking time.  (They had the back bone with them.)  (We do not know what became of those morsels.  Dan???)  I had carefully made a mustard/thyme/garlic glaze which enjoyed the afternoon sitting on the island at White Chimney.  Suzanne and M came to the rescue with mustard and garlic, and we added rosemary.  We had the lamb with a fairly fruity New Zealand pinot noir that seemed to suit it.
We had French green beans with almonds of Suzanne's.  And the mac 'n' cheese outdid itself this year.  M did something a little different, and I can't remember what it was (a different cheese?), but it was splendid.  As our appetizers we had foccacia, stuffed eggs, and stuffed peppers from Trinacria.
Michael had an idea which should be a separate post in itself:  use the forgotten mustard glaze with salmon.  I did just that the next night, glazing and then broiling it.  It was excellent, and would be even more excellent if next time I sear the salmon, then paint it with the glaze and put it into a 400 oven for 9 or so minutes.  Had it with a Rioja which was sublime.  
A beautiful, bountiful celebration.  Thank you all!!