pumpkin bread

Although my boyfriend definitely does almost all of the cooking, there are some things that are always left up to me, mostly within the baking category. I especially love the kind of baking that comes along with fall (pumpkin bread, beet muffins), because I feel like the "exact-ness" of baking is a bit more lenient in these cases, and it seems nearly impossible to really mess up. What I love about pumpkin bread specifically is that it is sweet enough to be eaten for dessert, but not too sweet that I feel guilty eating it for breakfast.

Pumpkin Bread (recipe adapted from Simply Recipes)

Mix together:
- 1 and 1/2 cup flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda

In another bowl, combine:
- 1 mashed roasted pumpkin (should be approx. 1 cup of pumpkin-ness)
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger

Combine wet and dry mixtures
Bake in a well-greased bread pan at 350 for approx. 60 minutes

Best served heated with a generous spread of butter

gnocchi gets cute: mini spoons!

We bought these cute little "amuse bouche" spoons over a month ago, and hadn't used them yet, and I was getting worried we never would. But have no fear, my boyfriend (finally!) got inspired! Since we have a go-to sauce for butternut squash gnocchi (ok, I basically insist that we make the pumpkin brown butter sauce, my boyfriend essentially has no say in the matter), the spoons provided an opportunity to try out some other sauce ideas.




A gnocchi tasting 

Sauces, from left to right:

1) creamed honey, scotch & garlic

2) olive oil, Parmesean cheese & Italian blend of spices

3) balsamic vinegar & goat cheese




Now, these were all good (I was particularly intrigued by the honey/scotch/garlic combo), but my heart already belongs to the pumpkin brown butter sauce, which my boyfriend refined tonight with the addition of sour cream. Tang was just what that sauce needed to stay on the savory track. Now it is officially perfect.

Butternut squash gnocchi (which is always so much better after a night in the fridge!) with The Best Sauce (pumpkin butter, butter & sour cream) topped with goat cheese and chopped apple

Served with sauteed pork sausage, brussel sprouts and radishes.

little pillows of goodness

My boyfriend and I like to be creative and try new things in the kitchen, but there are some combinations that we've stumbled upon that we just keep going back to. Or at least there are some meals I force us to revisit because I love them so much! As soon as I saw a butternut squash in our CSA box last week, I could only think one thing: butternut squash gnocchi.

Butternut squash gnocchi:
- cut 1 large (or two small) butternut squash in half and roast for 45 minutes
- scoop out squash into bowl
- mash squash with two cloves of minced garlic and 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- put mashed squash onto a large cutting board and cover with 2 cups all-purpose flour
- make a well in the center of the squash & flour
- break egg in the well, then slowly work in the flour/squash (think making pasta dough)
- as soon as dough is even vaguely manageable, take small handfuls, and roll into ropes on a lightly floured surface (the trick is to take the very sticky ball of dough, and coat the outside lightly in flour so that you can roll it out - the outside of the rope is dry, but the inside remains gooey)
- cut into quarter-sized pieces
- add gnocchi to large pot of salted boiling water, and remove as soon as they begin to float
- you can serve immediately, but we have found that overnight refrigeration really helps get the right texture (we have no idea why this is, but hey, it's worked every time!)


Of course, the butternut squash gnocchi themselves are only half the story. The part that makes this a crave-worthy dish is the pumpkin brown butter sauce (pumpkin butter, butter, cream, Parmesean cheese) and diced apple. This sauce is probably as sweet as a savory dish can get, so the apple pieces add both some necessary tartness (we tend to use Granny Smith here) and a wonderful textural contrast to the fluffy pillows of goodness.

changing up the flavors

Never get me wrong - I love participating in a CSA. But its hard not to get sick of some of the ingredients. Last year it was green beans, this year it is cucumbers and summer squash. So I did something crazy - I bought vegetables at the grocery store.

Some things I loved about tonight's supper: First, this was a definite change in the flavor profiles we've been hovering around lately, so that was great. Second, it's still hot here, so a heavy meat and potatoes is still not ideal eating. But, the celeriac in the mashed potatoes made them taste light because of that strong celery flavor. Third, I keep forgetting to mention that in the last few months any time we've made chicken using the leg meat, my boyfriend has deboned the chicken, knowing how much I dislike eating chicken off the bone - if that's not love, I don't know what is!

Fried chicken over a potato and celeriac puree with baked brussel sprouts

fall is here!

It may still be over 90 degrees here in Nashville, but it's obvious that fall is just around the corner: we got a mini-pumpkin and butternut squash in our CSA box!!!

In honour of the return of fall and all its delicious flavors, here are some of my favorite recipes from last fall that featured butternut squash and/or pumpkin. As you can see, my photography skills have dramatically improved since this blog's inception, so I am particularly excited to revisit these dishes now that I can take photographs that will do them justice.

acorn squash gnocchi with a beer butter sauce

savory butternut squash pie

butternut squash tart

pumpkin pie (and it's cousin, pumpkin cheesecake!)

pumpkin gnocchi with pumpkin brown butter topped with diced apple and beet chips

pumpkin pancakes

pumpkin bread

butternut squash ravioli with pumpkin butter glazed beets and apple

good morning, breakfast sandwich

Over-easy egg, bacon, tomato, goat cheese and fresh dill on ciabatta

chicken cordon bleu

Grilled chicken breast stuffed with salami and provolone cheese

Sauteed green beans

the return of greens

Seared pork chop

White squash mashed with masala sauce

Turnip greens sauteed with garlic

lamb gyros

This weekend we've been all around the world with lamb. Tonight's dinner started with a mission: use cucumbers. This has got to be the least versatile vegetable. Now, I like a good cucumber salad as much as the next person, but one can only make so many such salads, and we've been getting 4-6 cucumbers a week for the last month (at least).

So this afternoon I used two of our (giant!) cucumbers to make tzatziki. Although the actual "making" is quite fast - really you just blend everything together - the whole process from start to finish takes a few hours because there is a lot of draining involved. That is, lots of letting ingredients sit in paper towel on a colander to get out all the liquid. This is really important if you want a tzatziki with the consistency of dip, not soup. Ours came out okay, but I think I needed to get more water out of the cucumbers pre-blender. I read online that some people salt the cucumber before draining, and I think this is probably critical to getting all the liquid out of a very watery veggie. We ended up doing another "draining" of our tzatziki post-blend, and the consistency still wasn't perfect. (Check out the full tzatziki recipe at the end of the post)

To use our dip as part of dinner, we did the obvious thing - gyros! I was actually extremely impressed with how authentic the lamb tasted with just a few simple spices - oregano, thyme, rosemary, garlic and cumin. The only spice that is usually involved in gyros that we didn't have was marjoram, but this didn't seem to make a huge difference.

Lamb gyro (lamb, tomato, red onion and tzatziki served in warm pita) with a side of roasted yellow squash and potatoes





Tzatziki
- 16 oz Greek yogurt
- 2 large cucumbers, peeled
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 cloves of garlic
- lemon juice and salt, to taste

- put yogurt in a colander lined with paper towel and let drain for at least 1 hour
- ditto with chopped cucumber (try salting first for better drying out)
- blend all ingredients until smooth
- refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving

lamb with indian flair, made easy

It all started with lamb shoulder chops on sale at the grocery store - my boyfriend cannot say no to lamb that's on sale. Then I came up with the idea of making a potato pancake (e.g., giant latke). I feel like we haven't been as creative in our meals lately, and this seemed like a good way to get the crunch we've been unable to resist in potatoes (hence all the crispy chips or fries), but in a different format. And of course we added some squash in there, because, as much as we love our CSA, we are getting inundated with squash that we just have to find ways to use.

But here is where genius sets in: my boyfriend added masala simmer sauce to the shredded squash and potato. 

This of course made perfect sense, since lamb goes wonderfully with Indian spices. Indian cuisine is probably one of the most difficult to master in terms of balancing so many different spices (the masala sauce we added contained - among other things - coriander, cumin, fenugreek leaves, turmeric, paprika, cinnamon and cloves), so having this pre-made sauce on hand made it easy for us to get that in a short amount of time.

Pan-seared lamb shoulder chop served on a potato, squash & masala pancake, topped with vinegar-marinated cucumbers

tart queen?

For those of you long-term readers, you may have noticed that if my boyfriend hands the cooking over to me, chances are I'm going to make a tart (I remind you of my butternut squash tart mania last fall). Now that I've got a couple of techniques down, tarts are easily my favorite things to make - they are a great way to use up veggies we are getting tired of, melted cheese is always involved, and I'm a sucker for flaky crust that is perfectly browned. Oh, and let's not forget how amazing tarts make the kitchen smell while baking. I am so high off my recent string of successful tarts that I am even toying with the idea of making my own dough next time (*insert dramatic music here* - stay tuned!)

 At least while I'm sticking with store-bought crust, it's impossible to go wrong, and coming up with new combinations is simple:

1) pick a veggie (in this case, summer squash)
2) pick a cheese that goes with said veggie (in this case, goat cheese)
3) pick herbs that go with the veggie and cheese (in this case, sage and thyme)

For this tart I followed roughly the same method as my tomato tart earlier this week (and reiterated below).

Summer Squash & Goat Cheese Tart

- lightly butter pie pan and then put crust in pan and press down the bottom

- layer slices of squash, slightly overlapping, in concentric circles

- then add some thinly sliced red onion

- drizzle with olive oil

- add a generous amount of sage and thyme

- top with goat cheese and more herbs

- fold over edges of crust

- bake at 425 for 30 minutes

our take on philly cheesesteak

Let's talk about how good this was. Now first, you are probably asking "cheesesteak? Where is the cheese?" You can't see it in the picture because we put the provolone in the pan with the steak, and it melted so intensely that it literally coated all the meat in a cheesy glaze. Yes. Cheesy glaze. Do I really need to say more????

Pan fried chuck steak, caramelized onions, sauteed green peppers and melted provolone cheese, served on a hoagie roll with mayonnaise

fresh & crisp: our go-to slaw

We have been making this slaw (or slight variations) on a pretty regular basis since we first got the idea in January. It is a perfect fresh and crisp foil for...well, just about anything. We've used it as topping for burgers and quesadillas, and tonight it was an excellent accompaniment for spicy beef.

Go-To Slaw: jicama, cucumber, radish, cilantro, rice vinegar, touch of mayonnaise


Served with beef marinated in hot bean paste and sauteed with yellow squash, green pepper and okra

healthy AND satisfying? incredible but true

Here is both the mystery and the triumph of tonight's dinner: it was remarkably satisfying, without any of the usual suspects normally associated with "deeply satisfying to eat" like melted cheese, mayonnaise or deep frying. I know - it is shocking.

I think the "satisfaction" can be attributed to a combination of the lentils, which have a great texture, and the way the capers in the sauce lent a slight - but not overpowering - caper-ness to the whole dish. I should also mention that I hate the texture of eggplant, but mixed in with the lentils I didn't even notice it (the texture, not the flavor).

Pan-fried cod served over eggplant strips (sauteed with garlic, vinegar and white wine), and lentils, topped with a white wine, shallot and caper sauce, garnished with fresh cilantro

tomato & goat cheese tart

Today I was inspired by this post on Love and Olive Oil to use our fabulous CSA tomatoes to make a tart...but of course, this inspiration (and subsequent craving) occurred on the first day in months that we did NOT get tomatoes from our CSA! So I had to supplement our one remaining farm tomato with a store-bought tomato. This picture doesn't do the shocking difference in colour justice. Seeing the store tomato and farm tomato side-by-side was almost enough to make me consider not eating tomatoes from the grocery store again. Le grand sigh.

Now, onto happier things: the tart. I based this tart on the recipe provided by Love & Olive Oil, except I'm not as ambitious so used a store bought pie crust instead of testing my pastry skills. I also made one big tart instead of tartlets, and used dry instead of fresh herbs.

I absolutely loved the use of tarragon here. When I think of tomato I instinctively go to basil, and this was a nice change in flavor profile. Plus the smell of the tarragon while the tart was baking was just incredible.

Tomato & Goat Cheese Tart:
- lightly butter pie pan and then put crust in pan
- spread dijon mustard evenly on bottom of the crust
- layer tomato slices
- drizzle with olive oil
- add a generous amount of tarragon and a little bit of sweet basil
- top with goat cheese and more herbs
- fold over edges of crust
- bake at 425 for 30 minutes

In this week's box...

1 box of okra
1 bunch of radishes
1 eggplant
2 green peppers
1 sprite melon
2 white squash
6 yellow squash
2 paddy pan squash
4 cucumbers
8 potatoes

Also: 6 eggs, 1 whole broiler chicken, beef chuck steaks

beer battered...chicken?

Surprise! Fish isn't the only thing that tastes great with a beer batter. This chicken was super-moist, with all the satisfaction that comes with fried chicken, but with a much lighter and airier coating.

Beer-battered Chicken: flour, beer, chili pepper, shallots, garlic, paprika and garlic powder

Topped with a cilantro mayonnaise

Cheddar cheese mashed potatoes

Cucumber Salad: cucumber, tomato, zebra tomato, jicama, green pepper, cilantro and white wine vinegar

with sliders, condiments are everything

There are two schools of thought when it comes to making burgers: either you pack lots of ingredients into the patty itself, or you go big on the toppings. We have tried to go the first route a couple of times, but have always found that we can't taste a lot of what we put into the burger itself, the biggest disappointment being when we put beets, horseradish and dill in our burgers and they just tasted like...burgers. Since then we have gone simple on the burgers (garlic, onion, salt, sometimes cumin or Moroccan 35 spice) and go all-out on fun and interesting combinations of toppings.



Tonight we had two varieties of sliders served in pita pockets with a side of oven-baked fries:

The Caprese: tomato, fresh mozzarella, shallots and mayonnaise

The Awesome One: tomme de savoie cheese, wasabi mayonnaise, shallots and green zebra tomato.