Puree and Butter

Pumpkin in July you say?  Well I received a pie pumpkin in my CSA and was told that it needed to be cooked sooner rather than later as it did not have a very long, or stable shelf life. And it certainly wouldn't be very plannedovery of me to allow that to happen, so into the oven my seed-scooped halved pumpkin promptly went.  I figured I could use some in a Gluten free almond "bread" recipe made popular by Dr. Davis in his book and blog Wheat Belly.  Almond four, in general was a new experience for me and the notion of baking with a nut "flour" all together foreign. The "bread" itself is quite crumbly it's not really suitable for a sandwich, nor does it really resemble bread made from wheat.  However it is quite good* and an excellent vehicle for butter when toasted!  Because, really, isn't that the whole very point of bread?? To schmear it with some delicious, salty creamy butter?  Well maybe butter is not the whole point, but butter does make pretty much everything better.  Take for example this little doozy of a recipe sent to me courtesy of Rebecca along with my CSA contents list.  Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter. I'm not quite sure, given the abundance of tomatoes currently upon my counter, that anything has sounded, more simple, yet so delicious.   While I've not yet made this, the reviews alone have put it on the very tippy top of the to do list.  Tis the season for tomatoes, and I think this recipe will quite nicely utilize my abundant supply and be an excellent base for a future Planned Over. Back to butter in a bit

An hour after roasting in a 350 oven, my pumpkin emerges, smelling up the house quite like it is fall.  But fall it is not.  However, pumpkin did I have so pumpkin was on the menu.  Fortunately for me, there is not a vegetable that I have encountered that is not equally, if not superior when it has spent a spin in the Vita-mix or Cuisinart. I have long teased with my mother that as a second child I never got enough baby food which has spawned my love affair with all things pureed.  Chickpeas, cauliflower, carrots, beets all heavenly when able to be eaten with a spoon.

I decided to make a spin on shrimp and grits with cumin and smoked paprika scented pumpkin puree.  Sauteed a mess of garlic, red peppers, onion and a little butter and white wine.  Add the shrimp for a few minutes at the end and pour over warmed pumpkin puree.  I think it just might beat out the grits!

Happy eating!

*If you haven't eaten bread in several months, I can tell you wholeheartedly, it is quite profoundly delicious toasted with butter. 

Chocolate Chips and Chicken Carcases

A recent rainy Saturday found me in the midst of all kinds of projects in the kitchen.  First and foremost importantly was to make, for my darling husband, in honor of his birthday, his absolutely favorite cookie of late Chewy Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies.  To say he is fond of these cookies is likening my interest in food as passing.  He like them.  A lot.  I figured if I was going to bake cookies, I might as well make a whole boat load of cookies. And I did.  Seven dozen to be precise.  And seven dozen cookies got me two things, a happy husband, and an extended period of time in the kitchen while they were baking, cooling and waiting to be baked. So why not make stock.

Making stock is really a lost art form as most people tend to these days prefer quicker cuts of boneless meat.  It's also a tendency to think of making stock as some antiquated laborious process that really it's just not.  The thing about stock is that yes, it IS time consuming, but not YOUR time.  I found myself recently with a late evening and a shopping list to Costco, to which was promptly added, a rotisserie chicken for supper that evening.  Which found me the following day with a picked over cooked chicken and the plans of slowly simmered stock soon to follow.    Throw your carcass into a pot with some aromatic veggies and herbs cover it all with water over a low flame, and wait.  For hours.  On end.  Active time of max 10 minutes, hours of a delicious smelling house and a final product that is leaps and bounds above what you can buy in a store. 

In the beginning

At the end

I also happened that very day to have a mess of roasted squash and eggplant from my CSA.  I thought I had roasted just about everything, but had never once even thought about putting summer squash into the oven to roast.  But now I have, and I will continue to do so, and not only when I am receiving an abundance of squash.  I chopped up onions, garlic, red pepper, and zucchini and yellow squash, - tossed it with some olive oil, salt and freshly ground pepper and put it in a 425 oven for 20 minutes.  To that I added some chopped eggplant and roasted for an additional 20-25 minutes.

Quite heavenly on it's own, it became even more spectacular in it's PlannedOver form.  I made a roux with flour and butter and to that added some of the long simmered chicken stock and a touch of milk.  Boiled pasta and finely chopped the PlannedOver roasted squash.  Drained pasta and veggies were all added to the pot of sauce and tossed to coat.  Sprinkled with, of course, a dusting of Parmesan cheese.

Try your hand at making a stock, the 10 minutes of active work you have in it will pay you dividends of rewards in taste.  And you will have plenty of time to whip up a batch of cookies!

Happy Eating!

Re-cobbled Cobbler

It is hard for me to believe I am writing this, let alone that I would ever in a bazillion years, ever find myself with the need to generate a Planned Over for any type of cobbler.  You see around my house there are two.  One of which is 15 years old and can eat his weight in, well lets be realistic, just about anything he puts his mind to.  I had no idea that male adolecents could eat as much as they do.  Did my boyfriend at the age of 15 hide this from me?  It never fails to boggle my mind when he makes himself a full on sandwich for a snack 15 minutes before dinner.  And that's even when he LIKES what I am making.  The second one at home loves cobbler.  Loves it.  The man has not met a fruit that to his liking, was not thoroughly enhanced with some flour, sugar, butter and a brief stint in a hot oven. 

It all began innocently enough.  Wanting cobbler but realizing that I was up to my eyeballs in the remainder of dinner prep, the husband took over mid recipe.  Miscommunication ensued.  I thought he understood that I had already added the sugar to the FRUIT, and he heard I had added ALL of the sugar required for the recipe.  Needless to say, after their first partially eaten servings,  neither of my cobbler eating males was having any more of this particular dish. 

So here we are, cobbler sans sugar coupled with a desire for variety and my unwillingness to throw out perfectly good food, and the re-cobbled Cobbler is born.

I took the remainder of the PlannedOver cobbler and chopped it. 

To that I added some fruit from the freezer, I had raspberries, blueberries and a few blackberries on hand, so in they went.  To add moisture, melted vanilla ice cream, and soy milk french vanilla creamer that found its way into my fridge following some houseguests.  I am certain that milk with a little vanilla extract would work equally well. 

Next I needed some body and binding.  I added a beaten egg and some crumbs.  I figured if you add bread crumbs to a crab cake to help it bind why not try graham cracker crumbs here.  It was a soupy mess, not worthy of a picture, but 45 minutes at 350 produced a nice crust with a soft, moist interior.  Served with a scoop of vanilla, this time around, not a leftover to be found!

Happy Eating!

Squash becoming.....more squash

One of the things I really enjoy about my weekly CSA delivery is finding a way to live with wanting what you have vs having what you want.  And right now what we have is squash.  A lot of it.  Zucchini and yellow crook neck squashes proliferating like wild rabbits.  So it has been fun and challenging to come up with some new inventive ideas for said surplus of squash.  A friend told me recently that he dices squash, onions, and garlic with a little olive oil and roasts it for 20-30 minutes in a 425 degree oven.  I have not yet tried this, but it is on the menu for later this week.  Of course there are other uses as I wrote about in  summertime squash.  Marlo, at Gluten Hates me has several lovely recipes for summer squash, Zucchini Fries anyone??? And lets not forget the sweet side of squash to be sure.  Chocolate Zucchini Cake anyone?  Zucchini bread is always another option, or what about Zucchini Lemon Cookies from the fine folks over at food 52.

But sometimes basic is best and when the sun is shining and the sky is blue, I am so often called to the great outdoors, and specifically, the grill.  I score my summer squash in a diamond pattern and brush on some balsamic vinaigrette allowing about 30 minutes to marinate.  Oil the grate and put skin side down over medium high heat for 8-10 minutes per side.  On the grill with the squash, some thickly sliced Vidalia Onion that has been generously brushed and basted with balsamic.  Confession.  Everyone, in my house at least,  likes the burnt charie onions, that form the outer rings.  So delicious are that that I might, every once in a while, sneak a few out on the deck, without the "others" knowing.

Delicious.

Now to take our PlannedOver grilled squash and onions to another dimension.  Chop remaining Squash and onion, toss with roasted red pepper puree, goat cheese and fresh basil.  A few grinds of fresh pepper and a quick saute in a touch of garlic oil and you have a brand new use for all of that glorious summer squash.

Happy eating!