Couscous Winter Salad

This week my grandpa's sister and her two daughters visited from Texas, so we had a big family dinner on Saturday before they headed back south. The last time they had visited was about twenty years ago, so it was good to see them.

Linda took this picture of Great Aunt Margie, Grandpa and Grandma, and, of course, Twilly.

My mom had a lot of food and I brought this salad, which is a winter version of the summer salad I posted a few months ago. Instead of blueberries and basil, this salad's got roasted butternut squash ad dried apricots and cranberries. I used spinach this time because I didn't know how the family would do with a kale salad, but normally I would have made it with "massaged" kale.

My mom bringing the salad to the table.

COUSCOUS WINTER SALAD

2 cups couscous (I used whole wheat ones this time)

2 cups water

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

Bring the water to boil with the turmeric, cinnamon, olive oil and salt. Once it's boiling, turn off the heat and add in the couscous. Cover and let sit for about 10 minutes before fluffing it with a fork.

Cheesy Delicata Squash Pizza

This pizza was made for Laura's friend's goodbye party. She moved all the way to Russia for a couple of years. We made lots of kinds of squash and had dirt cake for dessert. Pretty much the perfect dinner party.

Ingredients:
1 pizza dough
goat's milk yogurt or ricotta
roasted delicata squash
shredded mozzarella
blue cheese
fresh sage

Start by roasting the delicata squash. You can slice it into cubes and then season them with salt and pepper and roast at 375 degrees until tender. I sliced the squash in half, scooped out the seeds, and roasted the halves until soft. If your squash is smaller, you can eat the peel. I then scooped out the squash to put on the pizza.
To make the pizza: Roll out the dough. Spread a layer of goat milk yogurt onto the dough. Sprinkly mozzarella all over the pizza. Then add the squash cubes, some blue cheese sparingly, and some sage leaves. Bake until golden brown and bubbly at 400 degrees.

Vegan Butternut Squash Macaroni and Cashews!

It seems silly to call this dish macaroni and cheese, but it actually does taste like it! Brittany said this is her favorite version of my many vegan mac and cheeses. I made it for a late dinner after yoga class at the Union project (it was much needed)!

2 cups butternut squash puree
1/2 apple, roasted until soft
1 small onion, roasted until tender
2 cups cashews, soaked overnight in bowl of water
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
salt and pepper
1 pound pasta

Roasted Squash with Lemon-Tahini Dressing

I got an acorn squash and a delicata squash at the East Liberty farmer's market on Monday, so it was a good time to try out this Bon Appetit recipe! We really liked the lemon-tahini sauce. It was all of our first time trying delicata squash, and it's really good! You can eat the skin of the delicata but not the acorn squash. I made it for part of our dinner last night (Michelle made curried cauliflower and enchiladas!) and then ate it again today for lunch with cream of spinach soup.

ROASTED SQUASH WITH LEMON-TAHINI DRESSING

Adapted from Bon Appetit


1 acorn or kabocha squash, washed and chopped into 1" wedges
1 delicata squash, washed and chopped into 1" wedges
7 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp tahini
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
crushed red pepper flakes

1. Preheat to 425°. Place acorn or kabocha squash on a rimmed baking sheet and delicata on a second sheet. Divide 3 tablespoons oil and 1 1/4 teaspoons cayenne between sheets. Season squash with salt and pepper; toss. Roast for 25 minutes or until at least most of the pieces of squash are browned. When you take them out, combine them into one dish to serve. 

2. Meanwhile, whisk lemon juice, tahini, and Greek yogurt in a small bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in remaining 3 tablespoons oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Transfer squash to a platter. Drizzle tahini sauce over and sprinkle with crushed red pepper flakes.

Ribollita

The word ribollita literally means reboiled. Nick, Brittany, and I were pondering the meaning of the word last night while I made this hearty Italian soup. Then I finally gave in and looked it up at work today on Wikipedia. Also, according to Wikipedia the soup consists of inexpensive vegetables, white beans, and stale bread. All of which I had plenty lying around the apartment. The original recipe is from 101 Cookbooks.
I made this soup on Valentine's day because I was impatient while waiting for Nick to come over and make me a surprise dinner (French lentils). It worked out because I didn't have any celery and convienently Nick did. He even brought fresh thyme--better than flowers. We ended up having 2 main courses instead which was ok with me!

3 stalks of celery, chopped
1 small carnival squash, seeded, peeled, and chopped (carrots could be used instead)
1 medium red onion, chopped
1/3 head small red cabbage, sliced thinly
1 entire head garlic, minced (I still have a ton of garlic from the Pittsburgh Project Farm)
1-26 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 can cannelini beans
1 can garbanzo beans
4-5 slices stale bread (I used super stale spelt bread that was way in the back of our refrigerator)
7 large leaves of lacinato kale (dinosaur kale), sliced thinly
grated lemon zest
fresh thyme

In a large soup pot, combine the celery, winter squash, red onion, and cabbage and drizzle with olive oil. Let cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes until softened and more translucent.

Butternut Squash, Onion & Apple Galette

I've been meaning to make a free-form pie like this for a while, and I'm definitely looking forward to making lots of different kinds now that I've made this one. I'm still using up that gigantic squash I roasted (see the mac and cheese and enchiladas), and I love using apples in everything (see half of the things I've posted on the blog plus Colleen's quiche). And rosemary!!!! Michelle and other sage-addicts can sub in sage.

Butternut Squash, Onion and Apple Galette

Adapted combo of Food Network's Butternut Squash, Apple Onion Galette with Stilton and the Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion Galette on Seven Spoons

Dough:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Pinch salt

8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, diced (1 stick)

1 large egg, lightly beaten

(from Food Network) "For the dough: Pulse the flour and salt together in a food processor. Add the butter and pulse about 10 times until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal with a few bean-size bits of butter in it. Add the egg and pulse 1 to 2 times more; don't let the dough form a mass around the blade. If the dough seems very dry, add up to 1 tablespoon of cold water, 1 teaspoon at a time, pulsing briefly. Remove the blade and bring the dough together by hand. Shape the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 1 hour."

Filling:

1 large baking apple, such as Rome Beauty or Cortland

1 small or 1/2 medium butternut squash (about 3/4 pound), roasted and cut into chunkes

1 small onion, rough chopped

1⁄3 cup cubed cheddar (optional)

3 tablespoons butter, melted

2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary

2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme (I didn't use)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons mustard

1-2 egg yolks to brush over crust

Mix up everything but the mustard & egg yolk in a bowl. Then put as much as you can in the middle of the pie crust.

Fold up the edges of the crust, folding pieces over each other and pinching to seal. Bruss with egg yolk if you want - it'll look pretty. Here's what mine looked like at this point, kind of odd-looking:

Bake at 400 for about 35 minutes. 

On the Food Network recipe it uses raw butternut squash and says to cook for 55 minutes, but I would think that would burn the crust, I don't know.

This fancy galette inspired some sister/puppy lovin'.

Rajas con crema (on butternut squash enchiladas)

As I understand it, rajas con crema is a Mexican condiment - like if you aren't feeling salsa, put rajas con crema on it. They are roasted poblano peppers in cream sauce.

I bought a couple poblano peppers at Schramm's, and I had stuffed them last time I'd bought these peppers, so this time I made rajas con crema. So far I've had it on brown rice with chicken and baked on top of butternut squash enchiladas.

These enchiladas are just like the pumpkin enchiladas I posted about before (because that's pretty much always how I made enchiladas) except sub in butternut squash and spread some rajas con crema on top before baking. They had some nice spice because I had roasted the squash with cayenne pepper for the butternut squash mac and cheese, but the poblano peppers I used weren't that hot.

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RAJAS CON CREMA

From Simply Recipes

6 poblano chiles

1 tbsp butter 

1/2 onion, sliced

pinch salt

1/2 cup Mexican crema (probably not that authentic but I made mine from this recipe)

1/2 cup milk (I didn't add this)

1/2 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese

Roasted Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese

This is mac and cheese on butternut squashy steriods, it is so good. I got an enormous butternut squash at Schramm's and roasted it a couple days ago since I knew I wouldn't have time to roast and make this on the same workday evening. 

So when I did make this it was really quick. Making the cheesy squashy part took about as long as boiling the pasta.

I'm just going to post the original recipe from How Sweet It Is because I'm really not sure about the quantities I used for anything - I made it in a loaf pan with about a third of the huge squash I'd roasted. I also used cream cheese instead of mascarpone cheese. I roasted the butternut squash with cayenne pepper instead of nutmeg. I used a different kind of pasta, I think it's called fusilli, and I used monterey jack cheese instead of mozza and parmesan. No bacon this time. I'm sure it would be great, but I don't think it needs it. I added halved grape tomatoes on top.

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Roasted Butternut Squash Baked Penne

From How Sweet It Is

ingredients:

1 pound butternut squash, peeled and chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small shallot, chopped
1 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese
2/3 cup milk
1/2 pound whole wheat penne
1/4 cup freshly grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
sage leaves
crumbed bacon, if desired

Squash Ravioli from Thanksgiving leftovers!

Hi everyone, it's Kate here and it's my very first post! Yay! I'm living in Ohio now, but a Pittsburgher at heart.

Last week, I got some delicious inspiration from this Trib article about reinventing Thanksgiving leftovers. The one that stuck out to me were the ravioli, especially since they're pretty similar to pierogies, a true yinzer favorite.

Squash ravioli: delicious and easy to make!

Instead of incorporating turkey, because we actually ran out of that, I focused on the butternut squash, because we have a ton. So here's a squash ravioli recipe slightly adapted, but mostly the same from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article.

Simple Butternut Squash Soup

This is the first type of butternut squash soup I ever made back when I was living on campus at Duquesne (ah, Brottier). I got the recipe from a magazine I suppose. I also didn't have a blender at the time, so I used a mini food processor to blend the soup. It took so long! Haha. This recipe is still a staple of mine since I usually have the ingredients laying around the apartment in the fall. (I have been known to hoard squash.)

3 unpeeled apples, cored and quartered
1 large unpeeled butternut squash, seeds removed and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 large onion, peeled and quartered
3 cloves of garlic
1 small bunch of sage, sliced
1 tablespoon of rosemary
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
3 cups of homemade vegetable stock (more or less depending on how thick you like your soup)

As a side note, I don't like peeling vegetables, especially if their peels are edible. I figure if you are blending the soup anyways, it doesn't make a difference. Also as a bonus most of the nutrients and fiber is in the peel, not to mention it is way less work. Also all the soup got eaten before I could take a picture. Above is a picture of the roasted vegetables!

Directions: Place the apples, butternut squash, and onion into a 9 by 13 inch baking pan and drizzle with olive oil. As an alternative, you can just add about an inch of water to the bottom of the pan instead of oil.

Toss some salt, pepper, cinnamon, and rosemary on the mixture. Roast at 375 degrees until the squash can be pierced easily with a fork, about 45 minutes to an hour. Put all of the ingredients minus the sage into the blender and blend until the soup is a consistency you like. Pour the soup into a saucepan, add the sage, and heat up the mixture to serve. Season with salt and pepper.
I like to serve the soup with some extra sage and olive oil. It's a really hearty soup-perfect for those chilly fall days!

Acorn Squash Risotto with Fresh Sage

Risotto is one of Brittany's favorite foods, so I was inspired to make it yesterday. I got some fresh sage from the farm, so I figured a squash dish would be even more perfect. Sundays are a great day to spend some time making this delicious dish since it does require a good amount of time.

Roasting the squash: Cut the squash in half and scoop out all the seeds. Slice into 1/2 inch pieces and place onto a greased baking pan with the skin on. Roast the squash at 350 degrees until the squash is tender (you can test it by seeing if a fork goes through the sqush easily) which takes about 20 minutes. Let cool, then peel or cut the skin off. It's much easier after the squash has roasted. Then slice the squash into bite sized chun

Making the risotto:

1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, diced
2 cups of risotto rice (arborio rice, specifically)
6 cups of vegetable stock (this is just an estimate)
1/2 cup white wine (I just used a splash of white wine vinegar)
1 small bunch of sage, sliced
1/2 cup shredded asiago cheese
1 bunch of chopped parsley for garnish

Boil the vegetable broth, then turn the heat down to low just so it simmers. Saute the onion until transluscent in a large saucepan. Add the garlic and saute for an additional minute. Add the rice and saute for about 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of the broth and stir until the rice absorbs the liquid. Then continue slowly adding 1/2 cup amounts of broth until the rice is tender but still has some firmness to it. Make sure to keep stirring! It is a slow process and it makes your arm hurt but it is absolutely worth all the work! Finally add the white wine and continue stirring until the liquid is gone. Turn off the heat and add the cheese and stir into the rice. It gets nice and melty. Then add the sage and acorn squash. Season with salt and pepper.
Most restaurants add cream at the end, but this dish has enough flavor as is. I like to serve risotto over salad greens with an extra sprinkle of cheese and some chopped parsley. I did just that with a spicy green salad from Who Cooks for You Farm! Delicious.

Two Fall Soups: Black Bean Pumpkin & Butternut Squash

Roasted butternut squash pieces for soup #2

I found the first of these fall soup recipes while looking at other MUCH more established Pittsburgh food blogs as we started to set up this one. I saw that Burghilicious had posted a black bean pumpkin soup and decided to make it asap - I love pumpkin and I love black beans, especially black bean soup. 

Back in 2007 I spent a month in Costa Rica living with a host family, and my host mom made me something with black beans every single day, usually for more than one meal. Her black bean soup was the very thin brothy kind, with just a few beans, and often with a hard boiled egg, which was good because she normally served with something like three ham sandwiches, a pound of rice and an avocado. 

This soup by Burghilicious is totally different and features pumpkin puree, which you can use a can for or roast a pumpkin like in the last post. It's pretty thick and can hold up to a lot of good toppings, like tortilla chips, cilantro, sour cream or yogurt, chicken, cheese, etc.

Braised Acorn Squash, Apple & Chicken

This week my mom wanted to bring dinner over to the grandparents' house, and I wanted to use up some acorn squash and try braising something in beer. 

To get these ideas together I used a Better Homes & Gardens recipe for "Brown Ale-Braised Chicken" and combined it with an Emeril Lagasse recipe for "Braised Apple, Roasted Acorn Squash, and Fresh Thyme." Both of those recipes sound great; what I made doesn't resemble either one. But it was really good, just a little sweet and lots of good texture, and I'm looking forward to making different variations of it for fall and winter dinners.

Pretty much everything in our fridge found its way into this dish, and somehow it worked out. We've got apples, acorn squash (which got a little pre-roasting before going in the mix), red peppers, onion, celery, carrots, garlic, chicken and broth. And pumpkin beer. 

The grandparents liked it.

They weren't told about the beer since according to them "alcohol is not necessary for success," potentially even in braised chicken dishes. They are entitled to their opinion since they are 86 and 87 years old.