Butternut squash Gnocci

Well, we got our first Butternut Squash of the season on Wednesday.  We usually love to make a soup with them, but I wanted to try something different.  I decided to try making Butternut Squash Gnocci.  Since squash vary in size etc. there are no amounts for this recipe.

Butternut Squash Gnocci
1 Butternut Squash
AP Flour
Salt
Pepper
Nutmeg
Olive Oil

The firs thing I did was split my squash in half, longways and scoop out the seeds.  I then rubbed the cut side with some olive oil and seasoned with Salt and Pepper.  I placed them on a baking sheet (cut side down) and roasted them in a 400 degree oven until soft.  Let them cool and scoop out the flesh into a bowl and mash with a potato masher. 
Next I seasoned the puree with a bit of salt and pepper and some nutmeg.  I don't really like a lot of nutmeg so I only put a dash.  Feel free to adjust to your tastes.  I then transferred the mixture to my stand mixer and began slowly adding flour.  It takes a LOT.  I added it until the mixture began to pull away from the sides and form a dough.  I then turned it out onto a floured surface and kneaded it a few times.  I then pinched off parts of the dough and rolled them out into 3/4 inch ropes.  I cut them into 1/2" pieces and rolled them across the back of a fork and placed them on a floured baking sheet.  I then put the sheetpan in the freezer and froze until solid.  I packaged up the gnocci and put them back in my freezer for a later date.  Now how should I sauce my Gnocci?  Brown butter and sage?  Bolognese?  Not sure just yet. 
I hope these taste good as they are quite a lot of work.  I am afraid they might be a bit too doughy, but without a LOT of flour the dough was just WAY TOO STICKY.  I guess we'll find out when I cook them!

Holy cow....Spaghetti Squash Gratin. Amazingly delicious.

Okay, maybe one of my best "made up" recipes ever.  First of all, I should point out that I really do NOT like spaghetti squash.  Everyone says "Just use it like spaghetti", so I tried that and hated it.  I have always thought there was potential for something better and tonight I finally found out what it was.  We got a small (9" or so) spaghetti squash in our basket and somehow the idea of a gratin got into my head.  I had never even heard of using spaghetti squash that way so I looked it up online.  As it turns out there are a LOT of recipes online and all very different.  I read about 5 or 6 and then made up my own.  Here is how it went.

Spaghetti Squash Gratin
1 sm-medium spaghetti squash
1 shallot minced
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup parmesian cheese
2 TBS Sour cream
2 TBS half and half
1 egg
1/2 tsp dried Thyme
2 TBS sharp cheddar cheese (finely shredded)
Topping:
Bread crumbs ( i used the large kind like you would use for stuffing)
butter

   First halve and de-seed your spaghetti squash.  I like to place mine (cut side down) on a microwave safe plate with a little water in it and microwave for about 10 minutes or until soft.  Set aside to cool. 
   In a small saute pan add some butter and saute your shallot until soft.  Set this aside also to cool. 
   In a large mixing bowl, add your ricotta, sour cream, half and half, and egg and mix together.  I then added my Thyme and parmesian cheese.  To this add your cooled shallot and spaghetti squash and mix until thoroughly combined.  Here is where I added a little shredded sharp Cheddar cheese and mix it in. 
   Butter a small to medium baking dish and fill with squash mixture. 
  Melt about two TBS of butter in a bowl and mix in your bread crumbs.  When thoroughly mixed add on top of your squash mixture and bake at 375 degrees for about 40-45 minutes. 
   I have to say that this was delicious.  Not only did it taste great, but it looked really pretty too.  Too bad we still do not have a camera at home.  This would be great with some goat cheese, and I thought a little sweet corn mixed in would have been nice too.  It was very light and airy and not as heavy as you would think a gratin to be.  I HIGHLY recommed this as an alternative use for spaghetti squash.

Stuffed Squash Blossoms and Incredible Sweet Potatos

    As I said in my last post, I have been wanting to try stuffed squash blossoms for a long time and I finally got my chance.  I bought eight of them at the farmers market on Saturday and sent them home with my wife as I went to work.  I asked her to take them out of the paper bag I had them in, put them in plastic and in the fridge.  Chaos ensued.  Evidently they warmed up just enough in the bag that when Wendi opened it, the "dozens" of bugs living in the blossoms became active and flew out of the bag in a "cloud" as soon as she opened the bag.  OH..and a grasshopper jumped out of the bag too!  Her and Simon spent a little while chasing down and "squashing" bugs. 
   Well, after a thorough cleaning, I did stuff the blossoms with a mixture of goat cheese and a bit of ricotta (should have left the ricotta out!) and fried them in a beer batter (1 cup flour, salt pepper and enough beer to make a thin batter).  After all this waiting and excitement....they were okay.   Just okay.  I am terrible at deep frying things so I don't think I had the oil hot enough and they soaked up a bit too much oil.  Also, the batter did not coat them as well as I had hoped.  A good first try. 
    On Wednesday of last week we got our harvest basket and it had white sweet potatos in it.  I remembered these from last year and they are delicious.  Last time I just roasted them whole with a bit of salt and they tasted great.  This time I wanted to channel a little southern lady (my mother) and candy them.  I cut them into large chunks and put them in a baking dish with butter and brown sugar.  That's it.  I roasted them at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes (stiring them once or twice to get all them covered in the syrup).  Oh my...they were excellent.  I served them with some grilled pork chops and some greens that I also got from the basket.  A simple, but excellent Sunday dinner. 
   I think tomorrow I am going to try and make a gratin with some spaghetti squash.  The truth is that I do not like spaghetti squash very well and I thought I would try something different.  I'll let you know how it goes. 

We hope to have our camera back soon!   I keep forgetting to bring one home from work. 

I am so excited about this one!!!!

For years I have seen chefs on television cooking squash blossoms and they always look great.  There is something about them that always looks so delicate and tasty that I have always wanted to try.  I have NEVER NEVER NEVER seen them anywhere that I could buy them UNTIL TODAY!!!!   The downtown Lafayette farmers market had them four for $2 so I bought eight.  I think I am going to stuff them with goat cheese and tempura fry them.  Yummy!  I'll let you know how they come out!

Ethiopian Food - Doro and Misr Wat

    My wife and I try to incorporate Ethiopian culture into our lives as much as possible.  We want our son to have some connection with his heritage and food it a great way to do that.  I have been working on these recipes for a few years now and I think I am finally getting pretty good at them.  These are my versions, but that taste great and are very similar to what I had during my trip to Ethiopia.  Both dishes use Berbere spice, which is a hot pepper spice mixture used heavily in Ethiopian cooking.  It is worth ordering!  It has a lot of heat, but also a great and really unique flavor.

Doro Wat
5-6 chicken legs (they really do work best!)
Juice of one lemon
3 medium red onions
1 tsp sugar (not traditional, but it helps)
1/2 cup butter
1/2 tsp fenugreek
1/4 tsp Turmeric
1/8 tsp Cardamom (ground)
1/4 cup Berbere spice (You can find it online!)
Salt (to taste)
Water as needed 
2-4 hard boiled eggs (optional)

This is one of the very fist Ethiopian dishes I ever tried.  It is the main dish for most traditional meals (Christmas etc.).  First you want to let the Chicken set in the lemon juice for about an hour or so.    While that happens, start dicing your onions.  I like to dice them very fine (I have even used my food processor). 
In a hot stockpot, saute your onions (DO NOT USE ANY OIL!) until they lose most of their moisture and start to carmelize a little.  I like to add a tiny bit of sugar to aid in carmelizing the onions.   Once this gets to the point that it want to stick and burn, add in your butter.   Then add in all of your spices and stir them in.  Next add the chicken and lemon juice marinade and put a lid on it.  Typically you would cook this on the stove top, but I like to put mine into a 350 degree oven for about an hour and a half.  You may need to add a bit of water after half and hour or so.  I really depends on how much liquid comes out of your chicken.  When this is done, you should have a thick sauce and chicken that is falling off the bone.  I like to pull my chicken legs out of the sauce, remove the meat and add the meat back into the sauce.   Here is a great time to add your hardboiled eggs.  Just take the shell off them and poke them all over with a fork to allow some of the sauce to seep in.  The eggs are my favorite part!   This would normally be eaten with the hand with Ethiopian flatbread called Injera, but we like to serve it over rice or couscous also. 

Misr Wat (red lentil stew)
1 cup red lentils 
1 can chicken stock
1/2 medium onion
1 carrot (diced)
1 stalk celery (diced)
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cardamom
1 TBS Berbere
salt 
butter for sauteing

   Start this recipe by sauteing the onion, carrot and celery in butter until softened.  Next stir in all the spices and let them toast for a minute.  Add your lentils, tomatoes  and stock, cover tightly and simmer until the lentils are cooked.  You may need to add more stock or water as this goes.  In the end you should have a bot of lentils that are a bit on the mushy side.  I actually like to smash mine a little extra (especially if I substitute green lentils as they don't cook up as easily as the red) with a potato masher.   Serve hot or at room temperature with Injera, rice, or couscous.  

    I have tried and tried to make Injera this traditional way and it never comes out well for me.  It was so bad once that the ducks at our local pond wouldn't even eat it.  Here is a quick version you can try that comes out well.   I think this recipe came from Marcus Samuelson's book on African cooking.  It is a fantastic book if you like trying new things.  You can find the Teff flour at most health food stores.  

Injera
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup Teff flour
1 cup plain yogurt
2 cups (or more) club soda
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt


Mix the flours, salt and baking soda together in a bowl.  In a separate bowl mix the yogurt and club soda then add that mixture to the flour mixture and stir.  This should be the consistency of thin pancake batter.  I make mine a lot like crepes.  I get my largest nonstick skillet hot over medium heat and pour the batter in.  I then lift the pan and tip it around in circles to spread the batter out evenly over the surface of the pan.  You want this pretty thin.  cook for about 30 seconds then cover and cook for another 30 seconds.  Remove from pan and let them cool.  This can be very tricky and you will surely lose a few the first time you try this. 
    

Grilled vegetable corn chowder - This was really nice on these first few cold days.

Okay....so I've been gone a couple of weeks.  I have been fighting allergies, and sinus problems as well as returning to college to complete a nursing degree.  I've been busy to say the least.  Our basket this week was kind basic, but I was able to make a nice soup with some of it as well as some corn we had frozen from earlier baskets.  I wish I had a good photo, but alas...my wife left our home camera at my parents house. 

Grilled vegetable corn chowder
4 oz.  diced ham
4 ears corn on the cob
2 cups corn cut off the cob
1 red pepper
1/2 yellow onion
2 carrots
1 1/2 cups new potatos diced
1 qt.  chicken stock
1 cup white wine
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
1/2 cup half and half (optional)
Salt and Pepper

     The first thing you want to do it fire up your grill and char the 4 ears of corn, the red pepper, the onion and the carrots.    Just put them over high heat so that they get a little char on them.  Don't worry if they are not cooked through.  Set them aside to cool.  
     Put your 2 cups of corn that is off the cob into a blender with some of the chicken stock, and puree it until it is as smooth as you can get it.  Set it aside.
     In a large stockput add a bit of olive oil and then your ham.  Cook until browned. Next add your grilled and diced up onion, pepper, and carrot in  a little olive oil and give a quick stir over medium heat.  Then add the grilled corn (after you have cut it off the cob of course!), followed by the white wine.   Bring this to a simmer and add the pureed corn and all of your chicken stock. Once this has returned to a simmer, add your potatos and some of your cilantro, Thyme, salt and pepper and cook until the potatos are tender.  This should look like a creamy soup without the cream.  I went ahead and added a bit of half and half just to make it a bit creamier, but you could easily leave that out.  Add a bit of cilantro to your bowl when you serve this.  It is fantastic.  I think this would also be great using butternut squash instead of potatoes.