Arabian Squash Casserole

In the spirit in which this blog was originally intended I got out my classic Moosewood Cookbook and found a recipe that I had never prepared before. 

The recipe calls for 4 cups of cooked squash or pumpkin (mashed) but I must admit to using two cans of pumpkin rather than getting a squash and cooking it. The rest of the ingredients include:

1 T. olive oil

1 1/2 c. chopped onion

1 t. salt

Chopped red and green bell peppers

4-5 cloves of garlic (minced)

black pepper and cayenne pepper (to taste)

1/2 plain yogurt  (I used Greek)

1 c. crumbled feta

chopped walnuts for topping

Once the onions, peppers and garlic were sauteéd in the olive oil I mixed all the ingredients together (except the walnuts) in one bowl, transferred the mixture to baking dish, and topped with the walnuts. This baked for about 35 minutes at 375. I served it with some additional Greek yogurt for topping and pita bread on the side.

The recipe says that this makes 4-5 servings, which is about right. Since there were only two of us we had plenty of leftovers. I made this on a Friday night, and we had some (but not all) of the leftovers on Sunday night. Meanwhile James had some dental work on Monday and he cannot have nuts for a few weeks, so I had some again for lunch on Monday. There is still about a serving left, which I think I will wait a few days before eating, as I am getting a little bored of it.

CCC: Chicken Corn Chowdah

The recipe for Easy Corn and Chicken Chowder I found on All Recipes was indeed easy, and I think it was easier and yummier than what I found on our cookbook shelf. 

I departed from the recipe in three rather minor ways. First, this includes "rotisserie chicken," which we are starting to notice in a lot of "easy" recipes. We find it just as easy -- especially because we are working at home even. more than usual these days -- to cook the chicken rather than buying it from under a heat lamp at the local grocery. We also have greater assurance of the quality and provenance of the chicken. A couple hours ahead of dinner, I boiled breasts from Commonwealth Poultry, adding a bay leaf to the water. I then had time to cool and shred (using two forks in a bowl as always) before adding the chicken according to the recipe instructions.

I did not include a carrot because I did not have one. The method of incorporating flour was something I had not seen, and I did indeed end up with a paste of flour, butter, and aromatic vegetables in a small pan that I set aside to cool while I chopped things for the main soup pot. I used tiny red potatoes with skin on, rather than russets. I also used only one kind of corn.

After boiling for 15 minutes (with heat a bit too high, resulting in some scorching), I added 2 cups of half-and-half, rather than the 2-1/2 cups called for. I notice this amount in a lot of recipes, and never buy a second carton to get the extra half cup.

The result: very creamy, a bit decadent in fact. It went well with corn bread baked by Pam and of course some Malbec.

World's Best Pasta Sauce

This recipe came up on my Facebook feed some time ago from Mental Floss Magazine. The headline reads "The Pasta Sauce Hailed as the World's Best is Surprisingly Easy to Make at Home". Since we had planned on an uninspired dinner of store-bought tortellini it seemed like topping it with the "world's best" sauce would make our meal seem more of a celebration. And as James pointed out: if it's "hailed" you really can't go wrong. It was surprisingly easy to make. The only ingredients are canned whole tomatoes, one onion cut in half, 5 tablespoons of butter, and a bit of salt. Everything went into our cast iron pot and simmered for 45 minutes. The butter melted into the tomato juices and made a nice smooth sauce. The onion was removed and I broke up the tomatoes a bit before serving. It was quite flavorful and complemented the tortellini well. Malbec was naturally our choice for a wine pairing.

Applesauce Raisin Muffins : a belated Christmas post

 We didn't do much to celebrate Christmas this year. There were few gifts given or received, and decorations were sparse. I did, however, make a pumpkin pie to have for dessert (it was, after all, National Pumpkin Pie Day). It seemed like a good day for doing baking so I also made some muffins using a recipe from Granny's Muffin House. I selected this recipe because I already had everything I needed. These were simple enough otherwise. I sifted 2 c. flour, 1 T baking powder, 1/2 t salt, 3/4 t cinnamon, and 2/3 c sugar. Next I added an egg, 1/3 c melted butter, 3/4 c milk, and 1/2 c applesauce and mixed before folding in 1/2 c of raisins. I baked at 400 for 20 minutes.

This makes a dozen muffins and since there were only two of us I froze about half of them to enjoy later. It was when I took them out of the freezer that I remembered that I'd never written a blog post about them. 

Easy and delicious.

Battered Rum

Careful readers of this space will by now have noticed that our menu choices are sometimes inspired by the National Day Calendar, which alerts us to all manner of celebrations and commemorations, major and minor. Pam's habit of checking the site daily brings welcome variety to these covid times. It sometimes introduces a bit of a challenge as well, since we visit grocers infrequently and cannot (usually) justify an extra trip for a calendar stunt. Fortunately, our larders are full of varied fare and we (especially Pam) are good with substitutions. 

All of which is to say:

Happy Hot Buttered Rum Day!

As with the patron in this Food Network video, we were vaguely aware of this drink and thought it simply as a bit of butter with rum. We were "today years old" when we learned that it starts with a batter of sugar, butter, and spices.

Fortunately, it is quite simple and the recipe was forgiving of my unwillingness actually to measure any ingredients. The only substitution I needed to make was mace for nutmeg -- I recently learned that they are similar though mace is much stronger. I gently warmed some butter to soften it, made the batter with brown sugar, honey, and autumn spices. 

Image: Ironworks Distillery

I divided the batter between two mugs, divided the last of the excellent dark rum we bought from Ironworks Distillery in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia on our 2018 Bridgewaters Project tour of Nova Scotia, and filled the mugs with boiling water. I stirred thoroughly, and we enjoyed a spicy warm mug as we rewatched a vampire movie. 

A perfect afternoon!

Reflections on 10 years of food blogging

Ten years ago I posted my first recipe for this blog Classic Italian Soup in Reverse. My previous blog projects prior to this were each one-year type explorations (My Year of Reading "Year Of" Books - 2009 and Celebrating the States - 2010). I don't remember if I had any intentions as to how long this project would last, but I don't think I expected it to hit the decade mark. There are now over 600 posts, which would indicate that although I missed a few weeks along the way (sometimes several in a row) and some of the posts are not actually for recipes, and some recipes were prepared, but never blogged, it would appear that James and I have (more or less) kept up with preparing and posting "one new recipe a week". 

There have been some surprising favorites including:

• Ratatatatouille - We are not big fans of eggplant, but we love this
• Salmon and Blueberries - No, really.
• Tomato Pie - I famously hated tomatoes as a child (and into my early adulthood). I love this pie.
• Fish in a Packet - I've tried many variations, including a few of my own since this first try
• Apple Gruyère French Toast with Red Onion - Again I say: no, really

And some not-so-surprising favorites including: 

• Lobster Quesadillas - Thank goodness National Quesadilla Day and National Lobster Day are the same day or we might not have tried this
• Ham and Havarti Sandwiches - A most excellent picnic food
• Simply Sublime Poached Eggs with Mint and Yogurt - sexy
• Grapes Rolled in Ginger and Almonds - also sexy
• Peanut Butter, Bacon, and Banana Sandwiches - not sexy, but decadent
• Spaghetti with Tomatoes, Bacon, and Onion - this may be the recipe I've prepared the most times since I first made it in 2012. Easy and delicious comfort food.

At least two recipes we prepared and blogged about twice (we really love both of these dishes:, I don't know why we didn't remember making them the first time):

• Champandongo
• Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili 

Important lessons learned:

• The essential step of mashing some berries in making super moist muffins from the Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins recipe
• Lebherz Oil and Vinegar Emporium is the best place to get infused Olive Oil and flavored vinegar
• Indispensable cast-iron skillets really are indispensable
• When unsure about wine pairings remember this: Malbec goes with everything

Some other important things I've learned:

• I learned to not only enjoy cooking, but to enjoy eating. I am probably 20 pounds heavier than I was 10 years ago. Some of that I will chalk up to aging and menopause, and some of it I will own as just the weight of a person who really likes food. 
  
  
• Although we still prefer cooking with gas, since we bought our near-the-beach house we have learned to cook on an electric stove, and James has become our resident expert on the Big Green Egg.
  
  
• I am very happy that I already knew how to cook and to keep a well-stocked pantry when the pandemic hit. We have eaten out perhaps half a dozen times since last March, and otherwise prepared our own meals, and although I will admit to sometimes wanting to have someone else cook for me I at least have not gotten bored with our excellent repertoire of good meals. I not only know how to cook from recipes, I also know what to do with whatever ingredients I have on hand, I know what to do with leftovers, and how to make good substitutions, as well as how to salvage a meal that seems un-savable.
  
  
• We enjoy sharing our meals as well. We especially like our Christmas Eve lobster dinner and Thanksgiving tradition with friends. I think our most memorable meal must be 2013's Chinese Thanksgivikkah. Wow! Was that really seven years ago?

Nothing exists in a vacuum. Our personal lives are inherently tied to all that we do including cooking.

• Those who have been following the blog for many years may have noticed that we stopped referring to our only child as our "daughter" a few years ago and started using "our wonderful child" or "our kid". We are the proud parents of an adult trans child, who is also an exceptionally good cook, and who knows how to pick out a gift for us
  
  
• In the first year of this blog we lost our good friend Anna whose death was memorialized in this post about eggnog muffins.
  
  
• Between us we have lost three parents: Pam's father and stepfather, and James' mother. Posts that mention them can be found here, here, here, and here.
  
  
• When we married in 1987 we had three living grandparents between us. We lost two (Pam's grandmother and James' grandfather in 1995 and 1996 respectively) long before we started this blog. James' grandmother lived until 2016. My grandmother loved Peppermint Schnapps. We made this cocktail and posted it in her honor early in our blogging project. James' grandmother was immortalized with this post shortly after her death. I did not find any posts in which we mentioned Granddad. But I have to say, he really wasn't much of a foodie.
  
  
• In 2017 and again in 2018 we hosted a student (who is now a friend) from Georgia (the country) in our home. If we had not known Luka we probably never would have tried Khachapuri-Georgian Cheese bread.
  
  
• Our 22-year Easter tradition of dinner with our friend Jackie (mother to our good friend Jenny) and her family and friends was interrupted this year due to the pandemic. The missed meal became more poignant when Jackie passed away this summer. Posts about our contributions to Easters past can be found here, here, and here.

Finally, I have this to say: I am a good cook, and proud of it.

A Sweet, Creamy New Year's Day Soup - and it has bacon!

I googled New Year's Recipes on New Year's Eve and found The Pioneer Woman's website. From her list of 35 recipes I selected Butternut Squash Soup. I actually made it on New Year's Day, even though it says it's a New Year's Eve recipe. I also only made a half batch since the pandemic had only the two of us celebrating the start of 2021 together. I carefully added all the things I would need to make this soup to the shopping list of things James was going to procure, including the titular butternut squash. However, when he came home I discovered that he had neglected to buy one. Although we avoid multiple trips to the grocery store these days, he went back for this most important ingredient once we determined that it was indeed on the list!

As per the instructions I caramelized some chopped onions in the drippings left when I cooked the bacon then added the chopped pieces of squash to the pan along with some salt, chicken broth and water. I cooked everything on the stovetop until the squash was soft. Once I could cut the squash with the side of a fork I asked James for help transferring everything to our blender where it didn't take long at all for everything to purée. Once that was done it went back to the pan where we added some heavy cream and maple syrup. I split into two big bowls, and we topped with the crumbled bacon. So good, especially with homemade biscuits!

This is easily made vegetarian by skipping the bacon and cooking the onions and squash in olive oil and substituting vegetable broth for chicken broth. I image you can skip the cream and make it vegan as well.

Salmon & Asparagus

 Toward the end of last week, I browsed Laura Arnold's Best Simple Suppers for Two: Fast and Fool-proof Recipes for One, Two, or a Few. I hardly remembered this book, though my GoodReads review points to our 2017 Turkey Burger Flavor Symphony post. This time, I immediately found three new recipes I would like to try, and bought ingredients for two of them (check back in a couple of days for the rest of this story).

For honey-mustard glazed salmon, I preheated the oven to 450F and then mixed a couple spoonfuls each of whole-grain mustard, brown sugar, and honey in a small bowl. I lined a baking sheet with foil, and then placed a salmon fillet (about 1 pound) on the foil, skin side down. I covered it with the glaze and placed it in the oven, setting the timer for 15 minutes.

I then prepared the vegetables: discarding the woody ends of asparagus, slicing grape tomatoes in half, and zesting one lemon. I heated oil in a large, indispensable cast-iron skillet and once it was hot added both the asparagus and tomatoes. Stirring occasionally over medium-high heat until semi-crisp (five minutes), I then added the lemon zest and juice, cooking for another minute and then turning off the heat.

I removed the salmon, cooked through and with the glaze slightly caramelized. I had actually made too much glaze, so I was grateful that I could discard the foil rather than trying to clean the pan! As is usually the case when baking salmon, the fillet slid easily off the skin. As I always do, I sliced the fillet so that each of us had the same combination of thin and thick cut.

I plated this with the vegetables and paused for this quick photo as Pam pronounced it delicious!