Pan-roasted Butternut Squash Seeds

You didn't really think I would build an entire post on roasted Butternut Squash seeds, did you?  After all, I only roasted about 1/4 cup!  But the star of the evening's entreé, risotto, was going to be dressed up with Butternut squash.  So I bought a diminutive one, weighing in at just over one pound.  And because I was in a pensive mood and had some time to ponder, I decided to use the entire squash (sans skins) for this or some future meal.  I peeled off the outer skin, and then proceeded to chop the squash into small cubes for the risotto and larger chunks for freezing. And all the while, I am thinking about this holiday season...

I need a couple boxes for gifts I have purchased and also some decorative tissue paper.  I also need double wine bags.  It is so easy to find single bottle wine bags, but double bottle?  Not so much.

Scooping out the Butternut interior, I picked out the seeds and placed the soft, pulpy leftovers to the side.  I have oven-roasted pumpkin seeds back in the day, but never roasted squash seeds.  I was looking forward to using these on top of the risotto...or maybe thrown into a salad.  But what was I going to do with the...well...um...the somewhat slimy, strand-y pieces surrounding the seeds?  I was after all, going to try and use the entire squash.  Confession:  My TV diet of late consists of Edge of Alaska, Alaska: The Last Frontier, and Dude, You're Screwed.  Now it makes sense that the squash pulpy-ness was not a turn-off, yes?

I spoke with my younger sister recently, and she shared that her family just added a new puppy to the clan.  I could hear Zoe in the background as we spoke chewing on a squeaky toy.  Cute!

While the squash cubes were boiling away to soften, I figured it would be wasteful to turn on the oven to roast a handful of seeds, so I decided to pan-roast them instead.  After lining a cast iron pan with foil, and drizzling in some olive oil and a pinch of kosher salt, I placed the rinsed and dried seeds into the pan.  When I heard the oil sizzle, I used a spatula to move the seeds around...and waited... for the popping.  For such small seeds, the few that popped were surprisingly loud.  I had to turn the edges of the foil in to the pan to catch any escaping seeds.  As soon as the seeds where golden and some had popped, I took the pan off the burner and let them cool down.

Perhaps an Apple Galette for one of the Christmas dinner desserts?  Never done that before!

You want to know what I did with the pulpy part of the squash, right?  Well, I chopped it finely, and threw it in with the risotto!  I also had some fresh time that I tossed in too.

I've decided that I'm not going to roast a whole turkey this year.  I'm not even going to roast less-than- a-whole-turkey.  Yikes!  What will I do?  Time to change the day up to a more manageable event.  
I am placing my faith (and money) in Shoprite to roast a few turkey breasts for me.  There...I said it...

All went well for my wee little Butternut Squash today.  The squash cubes, pulp, and seeds were stars in a delicious dinner.  Now if only I could have figured out how to use the peeled skin, I'd really be onto something!

Happiest of Holidays to you!

Fave dei Morti Cookies

There's a lovely story behind these small cookies, sometimes referred to as little cakes.  Though the translation, Beans of the Dead, sounds a bit macabre, these cookies are wonderful treats with coffee, tea, or a dessert wine.  The liturgical story explaining the history of these treats balances remembering past lives with the promise of future relationships.  The cookies are eaten on November 2, or All Soul's Day.

I have to say that I looked twice at this recipe before deciding to try it.  Perhaps I should have looked one more time (see below).  Not anywhere near renouncing my love of sweets, I was nevertheless piqued by how healthy-on-paper these little 'beans of the dead' looked.  Hardly any butter (replaced by nut fat, I'm sure), the substantial quantity of almond meal (this has to be more nutritious than using all white flour), and the relatively low load of sugar (hmmm...likely supplemented by the sugar in the shot of rum)... for a yield of 5 dozen cookies?  Remarkable!

I made these in October and was pleasantly surprised at how lovely they turned out.  They were delicately soft and almond-y.  Pictures were taken, uploaded, and an All Soul's Day posting was my goal.  But there was something about the taste and coloring of the cookies that was missing.

Carefully scanning the recipe once more, I knew that I had left out the cinnamon!  It's taken me until now to remake the cookies, retake additional pics, and confess.  I give you both:  faded and flushed.

Notes

I used a mixer to combine all the ingredients, but I am sure you could use a wooden spoon and/or spatula to mix everything together.  

I melted the butter on my first making and softened the butter the second time.  No difference!

I chilled (30 minutes or so)  the dough on both occasions before rolling because I didn't have the time to bake off.  The mentor recipe does not say to do this.

The mentor recipe suggests adding a very little bit of water if the dough is crumbly.  This never happened with my two productions, but it's good to know.

The dough is sticky, but surprisingly the rolling is not affected.   Hand-rolling goes quickly. 

The dough does not spread much while baking, so spacing can be an inch between cookies.

Fave dei Morti Cookies

Mentor Recipe

7 ounces (200 grams) almond meal

3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 medium-large egg

2 tablespoons butter, softened or melted

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 shot rum (1.5 oz. or 45 ml)

Directions

1.  In a mixer, combine all the ingredients until the dough has gathered together fully.

2.  Wrap dough in saran and chill for 30 minutes or so.

3.  Hand roll walnut-sized pieces of dough into balls and place on parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Each ball was about 3/4 - 1 inch in diameter.

4.  Use a spoon or your finger to dimple each cookie.  Notice that the cookies on the left are paler.  That's because they had no cinnamon!  The ones on the left are the corrected batch.

5.  Bake at 350º F for 10-15 minutes or until dry to the touch and a bit golden.  Turn sheet 1/2 way around midway through the baking.  Again, left without cinnamon.  Right with cinnamon.

6.  Once cooled, place into ziplock bags for air tight storage.  These freeze well too!

Autumn Rice Krispie Sticks

Over the next few posts, I want to share some quick and effortless-to-modify sweets that are easy to freeze and pull out when you are busy with all the seasonal responsibilities requiring attention.  Don't look over your shoulder...I assure you that what is on your platter now is nothing compared to what will climb aboard over the next few weeks.  But enough.  You are well acquainted with Holiday Season frenzy. 

These Rice Krispie Sticks are a riff on the familiar Rice Krispie treat.  Though the classic recipe is barely modified, but the addition of nutmeg and cinnamon to the mix brings these treats to a whole new level of sophistication.  Yes, you create a dessert finger food with a bare minimum of effort and time.  Cutting the cooled Rice Krispie mass into slender sticks, dipping them in melted chocolate (I used dark), and then capping them with sprinkles makes a statement.  And that statement is, "Pick me up and insert into your mouth." Yum!

As you know, this is a no-bake recipe, so it can be thrown together in less than 20 minutes, chilled down for a bit, and then adorned the way you want.  No time to garnish with chocolate?  How about softening some ice cream and use the sticks as dippers, dredging them through some coarsely chopped peanuts on the way to your mouth?  Does barely warmed jam-of-your-choice sound like a dip possibility?  Is a bowl of whipped cream more your style?  Endless...  

Notes:

1)  The recipe yielded about 36 sticks measuring about 1" x 3".  There was a wee bit left over that I wrapped and placed into the freezer for a surprise in the near future.

2)  I melted the butter and added the marshmallows and spices in a non-stick Dutch oven.  When the rice cereal was added, the mixing was easier since nothing stuck to the pan.  Cleanup was a breeze.

3)  Once cut, I stood the stick into the melted chocolate, and in some cases, slathered the chocolate up the stick with a knife.  Then I scraped off any drips and placed the stick into a bowl of sprinkles.  

4)  All sticks were placed on a piece of parchment to allow the chocolate to solidify. 

Autumn Rice Krispie Sticks

(slightly modified from the classic recipe here)

Yield:  Dependent on size; 1"x 3" sticks yielded approx. 3 dozen

3 tablespoons butter

4 cups miniature marshmallows

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

6 cups of puffed rice cereal

11 x 7 glass baking dish, coated with a vegetable spray

1 cup dark chocolate chips (or use whatever type chocolate you like)

Directions

1.  Melt butter in a medium saucepan, and then add the marshmallows, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

2.  Stir with a heat proof spatula until mixture is entirely mixed (including those ever-so-small pieces of marshmallow that just take a bit longer to get with the program).

3.  Remove from heat and add cereal, folding and mixing until everything is coated and gooey.

4.  Move contents to your baking dish and flatten with spatula or your clean fingers.

5.  Allow to cool.  I placed the dish in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes before coating the ends with chocolate.

6.  Meanwhile, place the chocolate chips in a small bowl and microwave for 15-20 second intervals, stirring after each session until chocolate is melted.  I find that when there are very small pieces needing to melt, I just keep stirring rather than heating again.

7.  Remove rice krispie bar from refrigerator.  You can cut your sticks from the glass dish or remove the entire mass from the dish and place it onto a cutting board.  

8.  Using a sharp knife score and then cut the bar into sticks.

9.  Holding each stick from one end, dip the other end into melted chocolate, using a small spatula or knife to help coat the bottom of the stick.  Scrape off any chocolate that will otherwise drip.

10. Dunk the stick into the bowl of sprinkles and lay on parchment paper.  Allow to dry for an hour or overnight.

11. Once dry, any uneaten sticks (banish the thought) can be placed into an airtight container (layering with parchment to accommodate the sticky-factor) and kept in the refrigerator.

A possible garnish for the holidays...

Easy Polenta Pizza

A few posts ago, I was excited to share a pretty easy pizza crust recipe that was no-fuss and made for outdoor grilling.  I would like to offer an even easier crust that requires no proofing and offers a completely different taste base for pizza toppings.  Another plus is that this crust is gluten free. Thumbs up!

Cooking polenta is a quick process.  Heating water (or stock), whisking in the cornmeal, and stirring until it begins to pull away from the sides of the saucepan takes all of about 5-8 minutes. The cooked polenta crust is placed into a pie pan and smoothed to accommodate toppings of your choice. Then it's popped into the oven to finish off.  You probably already know that when warm polenta cools, it firms nicely, taking the shape of the receptacle into which it was placed.  So moving forward, any leftover pizza will showcase a crust that has a very stable personality.

Recently I happened to be reading USA Today (Tuesday, September 30), and in the Life section there was a snapshot on the state of vegetarians.  A survey conducted by the North American Vegetarian Society shared that there has been a 300% increase in the number of vegetarian adults in the past 18 years.  Additionally, in the past 21 years, there has nearly been an 800% increase in the number of vegetarian restaurants.  Want more?  Did you know that nearly half of adults consume one or more vegetarian meals per week?  I feel a segway coming on...

This recipe comes from a cookbook I've owned for decades called Main-Course Vegetarian Pleasures by Jeanne Lemlin.  The cookbook includes over 100 meatless entrées that use simple ingredients and are quick and easy to prepare.  Vegetarian main courses have come a long way; however, the recipes in this cookbook focus on 30-minute preparation and a relaxed approach to cooking with vegetables, grains, and legumes.  In her book, Lemlin calls this recipe Quick Polenta and Gorgonzola "Pizza".

Happy Belated Vegetarian Day! (October 1 is World Vegetarian Day.)

Notes:

I added the nutmeg to the cornmeal and placed both into salted water.  I used one large Roma tomato and sliced pepperocini for heat and color.  Pushing the cooling polenta up the sides of the pie pan allowed it to resemble a crust.  Eating right out of the oven, the pizza will be softer.  Cooling down to room temperature or chilling overnight will produce more sharp-edged slices.  I am hard-pressed to recommend one over the other.

Nutmeg sprinkled over cornmeal

Easy Polenta Pizza
recipe modified from Main-Course Vegetarian Pleasures by Jeanne Lemlin

3 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt (feel free to omit the salt if using salted butter)
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 cup cornmeal
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup grated part-skim mozzarella
1 medium tomato, cored and thinly sliced
1/2 cup crumbled Gorgonzola or other blue cheese
Freshly ground pepper

Directions:

1)  Preheat the oven to 400º F and grease a 9-inch pie plate.
2)  Bring the water and salt to a boil in a medium-sized saucepan.  Reduce the heat to low.
3)  Drizzle in the cornmeal and nutmeg, whisking constantly to prevent clumping and splashing.
4)  While whisking, cook about 5 minutes or until the polenta begins to pull away from the sides of the saucepan.

5)  Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter and Parmesan cheese until incorporated.
6)  Using a spatula, scrape the polenta into the pie plate, smoothing the top.
7)  Let sit for 10 minutes or cover and chill for a few hours.  Bring to room temperature before beginning the next step.

Push the polenta up the sides to resemble a crust

8)  Cover the top of the polenta crust with the grated mozzarella.  Lay the tomato slices over the cheese.  Sprinkle the Gorgonzola over the tomatoes.  Top with pepperoncini slices and season with ground pepper.

9)  Bake for 20 minutes, until hot and sizzling, and the crust has golden brown flecks.

Homemade Peanut Butter

I should be concentrating on where I am going today.  I should be packing for Paris.  I am leaving in less than 3 hours.  But where am I, and what am I doing?  Yep, I am in my kitchen preparing homemade peanut butter for sandwiches on the flight.  It's the truth!

I have wanted to make this recipe from Brown-Eyed Baker for awhile, but haven't gotten around to it.  Why get around to it on the day that I'm heading across the Atlantic?  Well, the short story is that we normally pack a meal/snack on a long flight, especially one like this where we arrive tomorrow morning and you never know just how long it will take from Charles De Gaulle to downtown...and I want us to be prepared.

Yes, I know that the airline will provide a dinner and a breakfast.  But what is that exactly?  This is what drives me to prepare something here...just in case I don't like what I'm served.

The only modification of this recipe was to cut it in half.  Rather than yielding 2 cups, I made only 1 cup of peanut butter.  This recipe is completed in less than 10 minutes because...well, it only has one ingredient! Winner!

Homemade Peanut Butter

2 cups of dry roasted peanuts

Directions:

1)  Place the dry roasted peanuts into food processor.
2)  Process for 2-3 minutes.  The peanuts will go from a granular to dough-like consistency and then right to heavenly smoothness.

Peanut Butter Bagel avec un peu de sel

Wrapped and ready for carry-on

Buttermilk Pecan Fudge

I wonder why I don't chase down fudge more often.  As far as sweetness goes, it's right down my alley.  It has a great mouth feel, comes in many flavors, and those tiny squares?  Well, they're just my size!  So why am I not making fudge...ever?

Back in my day, fudge was an occasional family treat at holiday time or purchased when my family vacationed in Ocean City, NJ.  Each summer, we couldn't wait to take ourselves and our little wallets to Morrow's Nut House on the Boardwalk.  After spending some good-ole-time searching for new flavors of saltwater taffy, chocolate confections, or macaroons, we often decided on all of the former with a side of fudge! I am extrapolating from this vintage data to explain why I don't regularly seek out fudge.  It's history was intermittent for me. However, you should know that I don't envision fudge as mainstream or ordinary.  It is nothing short of being stellar.

Okay, stories aside, I don't think I have ever made fudge...but if I have, it was back when glaciers blanketed the lower 48, and I would have made the no-cook kind.  You too?  Well, in this post, I branched out in many directions.  I cooked sugar to the soft-ball stage and went wild using buttermilk.  And let me tell you a thing or two...the results were so luscious, so incredibly captivating that I am almost embarrassed to tell you that I feel like I could fit quite well in confectionary school right now.

The essence of fudge: Sugar, butter, honey, buttermilk, kosher salt

This recipe comes from Bon Appetit and is easier to create than you might think.  The ingredients are few, and though it does take some time, it's not 'hovering' time.  You will be free to attend to other tasks that don't take you too far from your kitchen.

Notes:

1.  I do not own a clip-on candy thermometer (could this explain why I never made fudge?), but I own a thermometer that holds itself in the pan by the head (see pic below).  I would recommend purchasing a candy thermometer that hooks onto your pan so there are no accidental splashes, if you get my drift.  Remember this mixture gets very hot!
2.  I toasted my pecans in a skillet on the stovetop rather than using the oven.  It is summer, after all.
3.  I used whole pecans.  With a coarse chopping, the profile of the pecan in the cut fudge is stunning.  If you use smaller pecan pieces to begin with, know that the look will be somewhat different... either way is fine :)
3.  I wondered if I was doing something wrong in the heating of the sugar mixture to soft-ball stage.  The original recipe stated this would take 6-8 minutes.  In my kitchen that time was tripled!  After about 25 minutes the soft ball stage temperature (238º F) was reached.  Now you understand why you can do a few kitchen-y things along the way.
4.  Though I should have done some research before I began this candy-making adventure, I did not.  However, after the fudge was made (and sampled...yum...), I was curious about the science of cooking sugar.  I found some useful information here.

Buttermilk Pecan Fudge

1 cup whole pecans
2 cups sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (I used salted), cut into pieces
1 tablespoon honey
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
Flaky sea salt (don't skimp on this...it takes the fudge over the edge)

Directions

1.  Line your loaf pan with parchment paper.  The two longer sides should have parchment excess so it's easy to pull the cooled loaf out without breaking.
2.  Place your pecans in a small skillet and toast them until fragrant and just turning color, as below.  These took between 5-8 minutes.  Remove from burner and allow to cool.  Chop coarsely.

3.  Place the sugar, buttermilk, butter, honey, and kosher salt into a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until everything is liquified, about 5 minutes or so.
4.  Clip the thermometer onto pan and, adjusting heat, bring ingredients to a gentle boil, stirring occasionally until the thermometer reaches soft-ball stage (238ºF on your thermometer).  This may take awhile...perhaps close to one-half hour.  The mixture will have changed to a golden color and smell of toffee.  Below, the thermometer registers around 200ºF.

5.  Remove mixture from heat, and immediately pour into the bowl of your electric mixer.
6.  With your mixer on medium-high speed, beat the fudge until cool and thickened, 5-8 minutes.  The two photos below show how the color, thickness, and shiny-ness changed over a few minutes.  The photo on the right is nearly done.  Notice it is stiff and matte.

7.  With a spatula, fold in the cooled pecan pieces.
8.  Scrape the fudge into the prepared pan.  Smooth the top with your fingers or a spatula.
9.  Sprinkle with sea salt.  Let sit for at least an hour before lifting out of the pan and cutting.

10. Prepare to be dazzled and/or speechless.
12. Store tightly wrapped leftovers at room temperature or chilled.

Easy Coleslaw

I should have posted this recipe earlier in the summer when you needed an awesome side that you could count on forever.  All season long when you were preparing your barbecues, pulled meat sandwiches, or just needed a side that was fool-proof, I could have offered you this Easy Coleslaw.  At least it's still summer and truthfully, this coleslaw can adorn many meals in the coming seasons.  You will no longer have to purchase prepared coleslaw at the deli section of your grocery, and you might even give up buying the packaged, sliced cabbage. Instead, purchase that special sphere, knowing that you have removed many steps in its processing from the farm.  Yay!

I use the recipe from Jim 'n Nick's Restaurant exclusively because of the results.  This crunch-and-tang coleslaw is fresh and crisp on Day 1and softer and creamier on Day 2.  Frankly, it gets better with age, but I can't attest to anything past the second day...it's that good.  I'm leveling with you:  It does not need to be a side.  It can be a snack.  It can be your breakfast.  It can be the topping for your sandwich or the pick-up for your cracker.  It can be a quick taste when you open the refrigerator door, scouring the contents for something to eat.  It can be handy when you're hangry.

The recipe comes from the August 2010 issue of Bon Appetit.  It was featured as a reader's favorite from a
Jim 'n Nick's BBQ restaurant, a Southern institution with multiple locations and a nod to 'low and slow' cooking of pork and other meats.  It's one of their meal 'trimmings'.

The hand model shredding the cabbage?  My husband :)

My notes:

1.  I begin with about a pound of raw cabbage.  That's half of a medium head, give or take.
2.  I have cut back on the amount of sugar and apple cider vinegar from the original recipe.  No effect on taste.
3.  Instead of all mayonnaise, I use half mayonnaise and half fat-free sour cream for the dressing.  No effect on taste.
4.  I have been known to throw grapes (cut in half) into the final mix to add color and a little sweetness.
5.  Substituting chives for the scallions makes sense when that's what's growing in my garden.
6.  I do not get hung up on the 30-minute intervals (see directions below) for soaking the cabbage.  They are just guidelines. There is no problem if you are busy and the cabbage soaks longer.
7.  This recipe is able to handle your additions and modifications.  Get jazzy with it!
8.  Used as a side, the coleslaw will serve 6-8.  But when you discover how tasty this is, the yield will diminish...

Easy Coleslaw
(Yield: Dependent upon your definition of a serving)

Half a head of cabbage (about a pound), cored and sliced very thinly
3/4 cup of apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup of sugar
1/4 cup or so of shredded carrots (if you forgot carrots at the store, don't worry)
Chives, snipped to make about 1 tablespoon
1/8 cup mayonnaise
1/8 cup ff sour cream

Directions

1.  Place the shredded cabbage in a large bowl.  Add the vinegar and sugar.  With your hands, toss the cabbage to coat it.  Cover with saran and let stand, at least 30 minutes.

Preparing the slaw:  Adding the sugar and vinegar

2.  Uncover, and toss the cabbage again.  Cover and let stand again, at least 30 minutes.

Preparing the slaw:  Tossed and ready to stand

3.  Drain the cabbage.  I usually just tilt the bowl over the sink, allowing the liquid to drain while holding back the cabbage with one hand.

Preparing the slaw:  Drained and ready for dressing

4.  Add the grated carrots, the chives, mayonnaise, and sour cream.  Toss to coat.

5.  Serve.  Cover and refrigerate any leftovers.