Butternut Squash Gnocchi

Nothing says comfort like an enormous bowl of squash, butter and cheese.

Eat Rating: Delicious.
Difficulty: Medium. Be careful not to add too much flour or overknead. You want it to be light and airy, not thick and chewy.

Adapted from Apples and Butter

1 butternut squash, about 2 lbs
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 - 3 cups of flour
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Peel the butternut squash, cut in half and scoop out the seeds and membrane. Cut into 1 inch chunks, toss in olive oil and then place on a baking tray. Bake the squash for about 30 minutes, turning the pieces or tossing after about 15 minutes, or until the squash is easily pierced with a fork.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool. (This step can be done a day or several hours ahead of time)

Place the cooked butternut squash in a bowl and mash until you have a thick puree. Add in the nutmeg and stir until thoroughly mixed in. Gradually add in the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the squash forms into a thick dough.

Flour a cutting board or the countertop and turn your dough out onto it. Divide into four pieces, then roll each piece into a long, thin cylinder. Use a knife to cut the strand into 1 inch pieces.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Drop the gnocchi into the pot of water. The gnocchi should drop to the bottom. When they are finished, they will float to the top.

While the gnocchi is cooking, melt the butter in another small saucepan. Once it's melted, remove from heat.

After gnocchi floats, remove from the water using a slotted spoon. Toss with butter and parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

Any uncooked gnocchi can be frozen for up to a month.

Roasted Summer Squash with Feta Vinaigrette

Squash + feta = yum.

I love roasting vegetables. I think it's because I lived in the suburbs as a kid and we would spend half the summer grilling out on our deck. Sadly, our tiny apartment in the city also has a tiny yard and no space for a grill. There's a guy down the street who grills in his front yard. I've considered this, but I think our landlords would dislike it if I destroyed their nicely cultivated flower beds by placing a charcoal grill in the middle of them.

So I content myself with roasting. One day, I'll get around to buying some planks to add smoky, grilled flavor to my roasted foods. But in the mean time, I am content with the crispy, deliciousness of a plain roast.

I first saw this feta vinaigrette recipe on The Bitten Word. It's from Food and Wine magazine, one of the few food-related magazines I have yet to subscribe to. I followed their directions, but my vinaigrette came out a little too oily (You can see the olive oil pooling a little around the edges of the dish in the picture.) So I would suggest adding a little less oil and incorporating it gradually while whizzing the food processor. Mine was also not as creamy, I think because I bought some fresh aged feta at the farmer's market that was more Greek style. Look for French-style feta, the kind made from sheep's milk. Also, the recipe makes a good deal of vinaigrette, about 3/4 cup or so.

Feta vinaigrette.

Adapted from The Bitten Word, Food and Wine magazine, June 2009

2 medium-sized summer squash, any shape
1/2 tbsp olive oil
Salt
3 oz. feta, crumbled
2 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp water
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 cup olive oil (LN: As noted above, you might need less)
Salt to taste (LN: Omitted. My feta was pretty salty already)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Wash the squash and chop off the ends. If you have a long thin squash, cut in half lengthwise, then chop into 1-inch half-moon pieces. If your squash is more round, cut into quarters. Toss squash with 1/2 tbsp olive oil and a little salt, then lay out flat on a cookie sheet. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, turning squash after 10 minutes.

While the squash is cooking, combine the feta, vinegar, water and oregano in the food processor. Pulse to combine. Through the spout on the top, gradually add the oil while the processor is whizzing until you have a dressing consistency.

Remove squash from oven after 20 minutes and let cool. Drizzle squash with feta vinaigrette and serve immediately.

With a grill: If you do have a grill, try grilling the squash instead. Wash and cut off ends, then slice the squash in half lengthwise. Grill for 5 to 8 minutes until tender, then cut into chunks and drizzle with vinaigrette.

Orecchiette with Carmalized Onions, Sugar Snap Peas and Ricotta

Slightly creamy with peas (the good kind).

It is not yet June. There are, in fact, another two weeks before it becomes June. But last week the Bon Appetit that suggests what I should cook in June arrived in my mailbox. And though I probably should be cooking things from the May issue since, you know, it's still May and it features foods available in May, I am highly suggestible. So I started adding dishes from the June issue to the Meatless Monday list. Which is how we ended up with orecchiette with sugar snap peas even though it is May and even though sugar snap peas won't really be available till next month.

Orechiette is one of the little pastas, like orzo and conchigliette. The article that accompanied this recipe called it "ear shaped." I always think of it as shaped like a buttercup, which inevitably makes me think of the song. So orechiette and the Foundations, wierdly associated in my head. Anyway, it's a good pasta. So bookmark this page and come back to it in a few weeks when sugar snap peas are everywhere.

Eat Rating: Good. Not awesome. Slighly below awesome. But still good. Particularly because I love crisp snap peas.
Difficulty: Easy. The only weird instrument required is a zester, my favorite kitchen invention ever. If you don't have that, the finer holes on a grater would work.

From Bon Appetit Magazine, June 2009

2 tbsp olive oil
3 cups onion, chopped
1 cup (8 oz) sugar snap peas, cut into pieces
1/2 cup ricotta cheese (LN: They recommend whole milk, but we used fat-free)
Fresh basil leaves, torn
1 1/2 tsp lemon zest (About one lemon's worth)

In a large skillet, heat the oil and then saute the onions until lightly browned, about five minutes. Reduce heat to medium and saute the onions for another 15 minutes. You want them browned all the way through. While the onions are cooking, boil a pot of water for the pasta. Cook pasta according to the package directions (mine took about 8 minutes.)

Once the onions are thoroughly cooked, add the cut peas and saute until slightly tender, about 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat until pasta is cooked.

Drain the pasta, reserving about 1 cup of liquid. Add the pasta and 1/2 cup of the water to the onion/pea mixture and return the pan to medium heat. Cook for about 1 minute, then stir in the ricotta, basil and lemon zest. Stir until well-incorporated, adding additional pasta water if necessary.

Serve immediately.

All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.

It's a Recession!: Homemade Energy Bars

Not much of a looker, but damn is she good.

Today we debut a new weekly feature, It's a Recession!, where I attempt to make foods at home that I would normally buy at the store. I will freely admit this idea was inspired by this article in Slate where another food blogger attempted to figure out which pantry staples (bagels, cream cheese, etc.) you could make at home more cheaply. The article also led me to her food blog, which is also pretty cool.

Anyway, I thought this was a great idea. My first attempt at yogurt failed. Miserably. More on that in a few weeks once I've gotten it right. Because of that failure, I moved on to something I thought would be a little easier: snack bars. I found a seemingly simple recipe in the "Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook," which I got for my birthday. This attempt was also a miserable failure. I took one to work in my lunch and sent another with CCO. Around lunchtime I was forced to send him this message: "Subject: DON'T EAT IT. Message: Unless it's already too late." His slightly more generous reply: "Yeah. Not so good."

So we'll save that one for another time. Perhaps it is also salvageable.

Feeling horrible about myself for being a failure, I will give you a cool recipe I tried a couple weeks back that has been making its way around some other food blogs. Larabars are made out of all raw ingredients -- mostly nuts and fruits -- with a base of dates. They are tasty, with no-sugar added because of the sweetness of the date, and only about 200 calories each (I knew you'd wonder that part, Annie.) I found the basis for this recipe on Chocolate and Zucchini. This other food blog by Camilla Saulsbury also has a bunch of other variations, but I have not had a chance to try those yet.

Anyway, I played with Clothilde's recipe a little since I couldn't actually find date paste. You can buy Medjool dates in the bulk food aisle at Whole Foods. If you go to Whole Foods, make sure to buy them in the bulk food section where they are $6.99/lb. If you buy them in the pre-made plastic cartons in the produce section, they cost $7.99/lb. Sneaky Whole Foods. You can also find them in the produce section at some Trader Joes stores.

Eat Rating: Awesome. I ate them all within a day and had to make a second batch because I forgot to take a photo.
Difficulty: Easy. Just requires a food processor and a rubber scraper.

Adapted from Chocolate and Zucchini, "Homemade Larabars"

8 Medjool dates, pits removed and roughly chopped
3-4 tsp water
1/2 cup roasted almonds (LN: Try to get ones that aren't salted. If you have salted, you can rinse them in a colander to remove the salt.)
1/2 cup walnuts
1/8 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 heaping tbsp cocoa nibs (LN: Not the chocolate covered ones)

Spray the bottom of a loaf pan with Pam or olive oil. Also tear a sheet of saran wrap or wax paper long enough to cover the pan. Set both aside.

Place the dates in the bowl of a food processor and pulse several times. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add 1-2 tsp of water. Pulse again, then scrape, repeating until the dates are broken down into a paste consistency. It will be a thick, chunky paste, more like a course meal than something like tomato paste. Add the nuts and pulse several times to chop them up. Add the cinnamon, cocoa and nibs, pulsing again until just combined. At this point, my mixture had started to ball in the bowl of the food processor.

Scrape the content of the bowl into the loaf pan. Using the wrap or wax paper, press the mixture into the pan until it is roughly level. Once the pan is filled, place the wax paper or wrap directly onto the bars and refridgerate for at least 4 hours. After the bars are solid, you can cut them in to bars and wrap in wax paper until ready to eat.

My variations:
Chocolate Cherry - Omit the 1/2 cup of walnuts and increase the almonds to 1 cup. Add 1/2 cup of dried cherries when you add the spices and chocolate.

Choco-coconut - Omit the 1/2 cup of walnuts and increase the almonds to 1 cup. Add in 1/2 to 3/4 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut.

Chocolate cranberry - Omit the 1/2 cup of almonds and increase the walnuts to 1 cup. Add in 1/2 cup of dried cranberries.

Halibut with Tomatoes and Basil

Roasted Halibut with couscous.

I've had a hankering for fish recently. My go-to fish is (predictably) salmon, mostly because I only like fish that is firm and flaky. But CCO was tired of my salmon obsession, so we bought a filet of halibut at the store this weekend.

Roasted in a foil packet with tomato, basil and oil, it was everything I dreamed of and more.

Eat Rating: Delicious.
Difficulty: Easy. Just a long strip of aluminum foil.

1 cup of basil leaves, loosely packed and then chopped
1/2 cup grape tomatoes, halved
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp dry white wine (LN: We used Sauvignon Blanc)
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 1/2 lb filets of halibut

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Tear two long sheets of aluminum foil, about 6 inches long.

In a bowl, combined the chopped basile, grape tomatoes, garlic, wine and olive oil. Mix until all the ingredients are coated and add salt and pepper to taste. Wash the filets and pat dry with a paper towel. Place a filet in the middle of a sheet of aluminum foil. Top with half the tomato/basil mixture. Fold one end of the foil up over the fish, then fold the other side over so you have a roll with two open ends. Then fold each of the open ends over so all sides are closed. Repeat with the second filet. Place the packets on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes.

Unwrap and serve immediately.

Cold Oven Popovers

Poppin up all over the place.

After all that intense eating on the weekend, we decided to go with salad for dinner Sunday. I wanted to make some bread to go with, but I couldn't find a good recipe. Instead, I decided on popovers. CCO suggested using the American Heart Association Cookbook recipe. It uses only egg whites, rather than the whole egg. This means the popovers aren't as full-bodied as ones you've eaten in the past. Still light and fluffy, but not as rich and buttery. Good for if you've eaten way to much in a weekend.

There are two important tricks for this recipe. First, don't preheat your oven. That may sound weird but the trick to popovers is that the pop is created by steam. It works better if the temperature increases gradually. So don't turn the oven on until after you put the tray into the oven.

Secondly, muffin tins don't work very well. You're supposed to use a popover pan. The cups are deeper than a muffin tin. If you don't have a popover pan (because who actually does), you can use custard cups, sprayed with olive oil. The recipe will make about 18 5-oz popovers. That's a lot, so unless you have a big family or company, I'd suggest halving the recipe. Nine is a much more doable number anyway.

Eat Rating: Ok. You can definitely tell they are the "heart healthy" recipe, though.

Difficulty: Easy. The hardest part is separating the eggs.

Adapted from the New American Heart Association Cookbook, 7th Edition

Whites of 6 eggs

2 cups skim milk

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp margarine or butter, melted

2 cups all purpose flour, sifted

1/4 tsp salt

Spray the popover pan or custard cups.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites lightly with a fork, then add milk, oil and melted butter. In a second, larger bowl, stir together flour and salt. Gradually add the milk/egg mix to the flour, mixing with an electric mixer until well blended. Then beat for 1 to 2 minutes.

Fill each cup half-full. Any more and it'll spill over onto the bottom of your oven. Set into the oven, then turn the oven on to 400 degrees. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes. Popovers will be done when they have puffed up and baked to a light golden brown color.