Butternut squash and pear soup

This is an excellent soup, I often heat some up for breakfast in the morning with a slice of toast. I make this soup as soon as butternut squash hits the markets. No blender, no problem. Just mash the contents with a potato masher in the roasting pan and add them in. It makes a chunky soup, but soup is soup. Since the main ingredients are roasted first then made into soup, this makes an excellent soup to make on the weekends, or if you have some free time at home. The prep is all in cutting the squash, but most of the time is spent idly.

Butternut squash and pear soup

Yield: 4-6 servings, 1 or 1 and 1/2 cups each.

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash, chopped in half and seeds removed, leave the peel on.

3-4 pears, peeled and cut in halves, seeds removed

large handful fresh thyme, washed and left whole

4 garlic cloves, unpeeled and left whole

olive oil as needed

coarse salt

1 red onion chopped fine

1/4 cup white wine

2 cups vegetable broth, or water

1/2 cup milk (soymilk or cream is fine too)

salt as needed

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400º F or 200º C. Wash and scrub the squash and pears. For cutting the butternut squash, leave them unpeeled. I like to lay the squash down and cut it in half along the shortest width, the middle of the squash. Then take each side, place them cut side down on a cutting board so they don't slip, and cut them in half; the top half into two halves, and the bottom into two halves exposing the seeds in the middle. Scoop out the seeds and save them. You can roast them (see note at end of post). For the pears, peel them, cut them in half and remove the seeds and stem.

1. Wash the thyme and leave it whole.
2. Peel the garlic cloves and leave them whole. You can give them a quick smash if you want.
3. Pour about 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of olive oil in a roasting pan. Place the pear halves, butternut squash halves (the fleshy part should be touching the bottom of the pan), garlic cloves, and thyme in a roasting pan. Pour about 1-2 teaspoons of additional olive oil on top and sprinkle with coarse salt.
4. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes to an hour. The longer roasting time will help the juices caramelize, the squash is done when golden brown on top and is easily pierced with a fork or knife. Let cool on countertop.
5. When the squash is cool enough to handle, peel the skin off. It should come off very easily. Remove the thyme from the stems. Leave everything in the pan.
6. In a medium size soup stockpot, heat up about 1 tsp of olive oil. Add in the chopped red onions and cook until nice and golden. Add in wine and let reduce. Add the squash, thyme, pears, garlic and all the roasting juices.
7. Add in vegetable broth and bring to a simmer. If you have an immersion blender, turn down the heat and gradually blend everything together. Alternatively, you can place half the contents in a blender (allow space in the cover for steam to escape, and repeat as necessary), and blend together. Returning the blended soup to the pot. Once it reaches a creamy silky consistency, stir in the milk or cream, and heat up.

Note: When the squash is done roasting, you can lay out the washed butternut squash seeds on a baking tray and roast them on low heat. I just add a tad bit of oil and a sprinkling of salt. They take about 20-25 minutes at 200º F.

Butternut Squash Galette

If you've been lucky to try a galette before, than this may inspire you to bake one at home.  My first galette eating experience was at 3 CUPS in Chapel Hill, NC. I think I had a galette with sweet potato and goat cheese. It was delicious, and has been on my cooking to-do list for a while now.  Making this is labor intensive, but straightforward (obviously you can patronize 3 CUPS, but....), because there is little room to mess things up.  This would be a delicious fall or winter main dinner dish (especially for a vegetarian main dish at Thanksgiving).  Allow 4 hours for prep and cooking.



This winter squash galette recipe is from my Deborah Madison cookbook.   You can use winter squash or butternut squash. I adapted it slightly for what was available to me here in Belgium. I used butternut squash, oregano instead of sage, and half whole wheat flour in the galette dough; any other substitutions are written below.

Winter Squash Galette
2 1/2 pounds of winter squash (such as butternut squash)
1 small head garlic, cloves separated, but not peeled (I used 6-7 cloves and it was plenty)
1 T olive oil
1 onion, diced (I used 2 small red onions)
12 fresh sage leaves, chopped, or 2 t dried (I subbed in 2 t oregano, and found it to be good)
1/2 cup parmesan
salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten for the egg wash

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Brush the tops of the squash with olive oil. Place the garlic into the squash cavities and then put the squash cut side down onto a sheet pan. Roast 40 minutes.
2. After the squash is cool enough to handle, scoop out the squash and squeeze the garlic from the cloves. Mash together, but leave some texture.
3. Heat up about 1 T of olive oil in a skillet, and add the onion and sage, cooking for about 12 minutes. Add it to the squash and season with salt and pepper. Add in parmesan cheese and combine.  Set filling aside.





Galette dough:
Enough for one large galette or a dozen 3-inch turnovers.
2 cups all purpose or whole-wheat pastry flour (I used 1 cup pastry flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour)
1/2 t salt
1 T sugar
12 T cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces (I ended up using only 8 T)
1/2 cup ice water, or as needed

1. Mix the flour, salt and sugar together inside a bowl.  Cut in the butter by hand. I used a fork to mash it into the flour until I had several pea-sized chunks.
2. Sprinkle the ice water over the top, adding in 1 T of water at a time and working it into the dough. You will be kneading it in slowly. The ice water helps to keep the butter cold, so you will have a flakey crust.
3. Continue to combine, until the dough comes together into a ball. Press it into a disk and refrigerate 15 minutes, if the butter feels soft.  I found it easier to roll out when cold.




Pastry flours ready for the mixing (above)




Pastry dough with pea-sized butter chunks (above)



Making the Galette:
1. Roll out the dough on a lightly-floured surface. Be liberal with the flour so you don't end up making the galette dough stick to your counter.  Roll it out, then rotate it, to make sure it doesn't stick.  Roll out to 14 inches in diameter.
2. When ready, lightly fold the galette into quarters and transfer it to the back of a sheet pan or cookie pan and then unfold it. It will be larger than the pan.
3. Place the butternut squash filling into the center, and spread the filling around, leaving 2 inches at the border.
4. Pleat the dough over the filling, then brush the edges with the beaten egg. Bake until the crust is golden (about 25 minutes). I found it took about 40 minutes to bake.

Kitchen Sink Sushi

I haven't eaten sushi since moving here (fail! lame!), and had to work quickly to fix that. This seems like a mixture of all my favorite Asian foods and is sure to offend serious sushi lovers. Oh well. Enjoy!

tofu satay sushi, originally uploaded by slammgrass.

Five-spice pan-fried butternut squash & tofu satay 

Rolls:

California-Philly-we miss USA roll: sesame seeds, cream cheese, cucumbers, avocado

Half-outside roll: sesame seeds for the outside, tofu satay and avocado inside.

The boring roll: cucumber, sesame seeds

B-nut Cheese Pie and some Phyllo dough love too

I'm sharing a link here because I wish I could have been awesome enough to come up with this one, but Cooking Light did instead. It is one of my favorite recipes ever.

Butternut Cheese Pie
Serve with a big-ass salad.

I will add a bit on working with Phyllo dough. If you buy frozen, set it in the fridge overnight before working on it so it can thaw out. When ready to work with it, cut the package and set the phyllo dough in a clean long rectangular baking pan or on a clean countertop. Have a damp wet towel ready. Make sure the towel covers the phyllo dough. You want to make sure it covers the phyllo because it will dry out in about 1 minute or less if it sits there. So either work extremely fast, or work carefully, and have a towel at the ready. The towel just needs to be damp, not soaking. It if it soaking, it will make your phyllo a sticky mess.

Next - It shouldn't stick. Remember damp towel, not soaking. If working one sheet at time, pull off 1 sheet, cover, use, uncover, pull off, cover, use, then....yep.....cover, pull off, use, cover. Some of the edges may break, but the best thing about working with phyllo is that you are going to use more than one layer, so just move on.

You can spray sheets with cooking spray once they are at their destination, or wipe with butter or some other oil. This will keep it from breaking apart when cooking, and I think helps bring out the flavors of whatever you are cooking it with. So after laying down one sheet, spray, then continue layering. The oil also helps the phyllo from drying out once you have it in whatever recipe you are using.

If you don't go through all your phyllo, wrap well in plastic wrap and then cover with wax paper. It will stay in fridge about one week, or refreeze, if you aren't going to use it, and use up within 6 months. Wrap it really well (airtight) so that it won't get freezer burn.

Questions? Just ask, and I will repost.

Quick Eats

I love home-cooked food.
Much more so than heading out to grab a quick bite. If you grocery shop often enough and keep pantry staples it's easy enough to throw quick meals together. This kind of thinking gets lost mid-semester, but cooking is relaxing and creative, and can be really nourishing. My grocery list is usually made up of perishables from most of the 5-6 food groups (fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, calcium-rich foods, and fats). Pantry staples are life-savers:

• grains: whole-wheat pastas, rices (basmati, brown, quick-cooking, arborio, jasmine), couscous, barley, quinoa, oats
• fruits and veg: dried, frozen, and canned goods are always on hand to throw in. Things like dried mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes are also good to have on hand. I always have cans of canned and diced tomatoes (low-sodium varieties) available.
  
• beans and proteins: canned, dried, and frozen, soy foods, and frozen soy foods (veg links, and patties), nuts, nut butters.
  
• calcium-rich foods: fortified soymilks, regular milk, parmesan cheese, or other specialty cheeses, silken tofu, miso paste.
• Spices and herbs: cumin, turmeric, saffron, black pepper, red pepper flakes, chili powder, any variety of dried herbs, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, caraway seeds, celery seed, garam masala, and any others you love or cook with.
  
• Others: oils such as olive oil, peanut oil, canola oil, and toasted sesame oil, vinegars like red wine, balsamic, white wine, and cider vinegars, chutneys, dips, green and black olives, bottled marinara sauces, frozen semi-healthy prepared foods (like frozen spring rolls or gyoza, veggie patties), vegetable broth, beer and wine, coconut milk, thai curry paste, fruit jams, and lemon custard.

This recipe was thrown together with mostly pantry goods and a few items I bought on my bi-weekly grocery store trek. It took me about 35 minutes. I get the rice going first so as it cooks, and you start on the main thing, the rice is ready when you are.

Thai Veg Curry
Serves: 4

4 cups Jasmine rice, cooked
4 shittake mushrooms, rehydrated from dried
2 T ready-made Thai Green Curry paste (from Harris Teeter)
1.5 cans (14 oz or 16 oz) coconut milk. (you pick the fat content - fat carries flavor)
1 t peanut oil
1 t coriander
1 cup, carrots, cut into matchsticks
1/2 medium sized butternut squash, 1" dice
1.5 cups extra-firm tofu, thawed from freezer, 1" cubes
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
1 small can bamboo shoots, rinsed and drained (like the size of a small tuna can)
2 T brown sugar
salt to taste
2 T lime juice or fish sauce
1 T tamarind paste
6-7 peanuts, crushed

Note: to rehydrate dried mushrooms, rinse, and then place in boiling water, you can use the water as a stock if you like.

In this recipe several of the ingredients come right out of the pantry. The fresh vegetables that are added to it could be any stir-fry vegetables that you have on hand or like. I would avoid cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbages, brussel sprouts) because they give off a funny odor when cooked into a curry like this one. I usually just buy whatever is in season, or whatever appeals to me that day.

1. Cook rice according to package directions.
2. If using dried mushrooms, rehydrate (they usually take about 30 minutes to soften).
3. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat
4. Combine coconut milk with curry paste, mix well and add to pot. Continue cooking over medium heat.
5. Next add in butternut squash, and cook about 7 minutes, add in carrots, tofu, and continue cooking about 5-7 more minutes more.
6. Stir in brown sugar through tamarind paste.
7. Stir in bamboo shoots, shittake mushrooms, and cilantro

Serve over jasmine rice, and garnish with some chopped peanuts. I served these with some vegetarian gyoza with soy-sesame oil, and dried chives