Spicy Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

In my first semester of culinary school, I fell in love with making soups. I loved the entire process, making stock to have on hand, making sure all other ingredients were sized to fit on the spoon, the smell of mirepoix sauteing, seasoning layer by layer, and slowly adding cream as to not curdle it. The thing is, I was damn good at it too. I always told myself, that if I end up in a classic French brigade de cuisine, I would be a Saucier (one who is in charge of sauces and warm hors d'oeuvres...another one of my favorite things to do) or a Potager (soup maker). When the weather starts getting cold, I can live off of soup. This is one of my favorite fall soups. Local butternut squash, spicy sausage, and a splash of cream to balance the two, this soup makes me want to put on fuzzy socks and curl up on the couch. I typically make a double batch and freeze in serving size containers. Makes for an easy, ready to go meal.

You will need:
1 butternut squash, about 2 pounds
2T olive oil
1c onion, small diced
1 1/2t garlic, minced
1/2c carrot, small diced
1/2t ground cumin
2 c low sodium vegetable stock*
1/4c heavy cream
3 links spicy sausage, such as spicy Italian, andouille, or chorizo**
Salt and Pepper to taste

*For the love of Julia, always use low to no sodium stocks, you can always add salt
**You can use pork or chicken sausage, I used a spicy Italian chicken sausage.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the squash in half and drizzle lightly with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Place on a sheet pan, cut side up and roast for 40-50 minutes. Allow the squash to cool to the touch. In a large sauce pot, heat the oil on medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, and garlic, and cook until the onion begins to brown. Add the cumin, salt, pepper, and scoop the squash into the pot. Add stock and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, in a frying pan, add the sausage. Cook until done and either chop finely with a knife or pulse until fine in a food processor.When the soup is done, blend together with an immersion blender (or in batches in a food processor). Puree until smooth. Fold in the sausage and slowly add cream. Season with salt and pepper.

                             

Halloween Meatloaf Fun

Man, I am a bad food blogger! I swear, I have cooked in the past 3 months! For Halloween, I made these meatloaf hands. I got the idea from notmartha.com (great website). They used a hand mold to sculpt the shape, but I just did it by hand. I used my standard meatloaf recipe, which you can change to a turkey loaf, added onions for the fingernails and wrist bones and added provolone cheese to create the burnt skin look. Tip: always pull your meat out 5-10 degrees cooler then what you want it to be, it will continue to cook as it rests. Also, you can hide imperfections in the shape of the hand by piping mashed potatoes around it.

Meat Hands (makes 2 hands)

1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/3 cup whole milk
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium celery rib, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

4 sliced of bacon, diced

1 1/2 pounds ground beef chuck

1/2 pound ground pork

2 large eggs

1/3 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 onion

4 slices provolone cheese

1/2 cup ketchup

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Soak bread crumbs in milk in a large bowl. Meanwhile, cook onion, garlic, celery, and carrot in butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, allspice, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper. Add to bread-crumb mixture. Add bacon to onion mixture along with beef, pork, eggs, and parsley and mix together with your hands. Shape into 2 hands. Slice onion into a fingernail shape and attach to the meatloaf. Spread ketchup on the top of the hands. Tear provolone and cover the entire meat hand, except the fingernails. Bake for about 45-50 minutes or until the internal temperature is 160 degrees. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Stone Fruit Sangria

I have been munching on local peaches and nectarines constantly for a month now. Sometimes I have two or three a day. They have been major juice bombs, and basically, I have been making a huge mess eating them. My neighbor and I have a tradition of making Sangria on our movie night. Typically, I would use oranges, grapefruit, lemon, and lime, because I love citrus fruits so much. With my latest obsession with these local nectarines and peaches though, I decided to make my sangria with them. I also added some fresh cherries that I had in the fridge....and where as they are not local, I am enjoying them while they are in season. I used white wine, but you can certainly use a red. I would personally use a Pinot Noir.

What You Will Need:
1 bottle of a lighter white wine (I typically use a slightly sweeter Riesling or Pinot Grigio)
1 nectarine, pitted and sliced 1/4" thick
1 peach, pitted and sliced 1/4" thick
10 cherries, pitted and halved
1/3c brandy (I used Korbel)

1/3c orange juice

Place your fruit in your pitcher that you will be serving from. Add the brandy and orange juice and marinate for 30 mins. When you are ready to serve, pour your wine into the pitcher. I serve mine in a wine glass with ice.

Bison Meatloaf

I'll have to admit, I love meatloaf. My mom made great meatloaf growing up, so I was never scarred from a dry, unflavored meat block. I have stopped buying beef for quite a while now. Occasionally I will buy Bison instead; packed with flavor, iron, and leaner than the leanest of beef. The thing I like about Bison is that no matter how much you cook it, it is still tender and juicy. Bison to me is also not gamey. Here is my meatloaf for 2 (with lunch the next day). I packed it full of crimini mushrooms, red onion, and served it with homemade mashed potatoes and garlic sauteed spinach (and pinot noir).

What you will need:

1 pound ground bison

1 1/2c crimini mushrooms, small diced

1c red onion, small diced

1T fresh sage, chopped

1T fresh thyme, chopped

1 egg

3/4c tomato sauce, divided

1/2c breadcrumbs*

1/2t salt

1/2t black pepper

1/4t dried crushed red pepper flakes

* I highly recommend panko bread crumbs. If you are like me and have to use gluten free bread crumbs, add a little extra.

Preheat the oven to 375. In a medium skillet, heat 1T of olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and mushrooms. Saute for about 5 minutes. This will remove the water from the mushrooms and leave the onions translucent and tender. Remove from heat, add sage and thyme, and cool slightly. While that is cooling, in a bowl, mix the bison, egg, breadcrumbs, 1/2c tomato sauce, salt, and pepper. Shape into a roughly 6x3 loaf and place it in a baking pan. Place in the oven for 30 mins. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 1/4c tomato sauce with the red pepper. Pour over the meatloaf. Continue to cook for 20 minutes longer. Rest for 5 minutes.

Moroccan Harissa Chicken with Roasted Red Onions and Chickpeas

Ok, first off...The lighting fixture went out in my kitchen a couple of days ago, and I have been waiting on a new one that has been ordered. Cooking in the dark is a little bit of a pain, so please excuse the crappay photos.

Anywho, I bought some local whole chicken legs that were on sale. This recipe would work well with a white fish (such as tilapia), salmon, pork, or big chunks of vegetables (like eggplant, squash, potatoes). Harissa is a North African paste made from Piri Piri chili peppers, tomatoes, and paprika. It has a wonderful sweet and(very) spicy flavor. I bought a prepared bottle of Harissa from Whole Foods Market and altered it a little.

What you will need:

2 1/2 pounds chicken legs (about 4)

1/3c prepared Harissa paste
1/4c plain Greek Yogurt

1T lemon juice

1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained*

1 red onion, diced very large

1t olive oil

Salt and Pepper-to taste

Preheat the oven to 425. Mix Harissa, yogurt, and lemon juice together. Pour over chicken legs and marinate for 1 hour at room temperature (yes, it's ok). In a bowl, add the chickpeas and red onion. Drizzle olive oil, toss, and season with salt and pepper. In an even layer, place chickpeas and onions in a baking dish (one large enough to eventually put the chicken in). Roast for 10 mins. Remove from oven and lay chicken legs on top of the chickpeas and onions, skin side up. Put back in the oven and continue to cook for 40 mins.

My fiance and I loved this. The yogurt toned down the heat a little, the lemon brightened, and the chickpeas had a slight chew and were packed with flavor. Honestly, I will probably roast chickpeas as a snack in the future.

I served it with wild rice that I cooked according to package, then added 1t onion powder, 1t garlic powder, a pinch of ginger, and 1/2c of raisins. I also sauteed some zucchini.

Blueberry Balsamic Sauce

I recently visited a berry farm here in North Carolina. They use high tunnel technology to grow strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries under a more controlled environment. These tunnels also allow the farm to produce berries earlier then when they would normally be harvested. During the summer, blueberry is king here. They are sweet, juicy, and full of flavor unlike what cooks call "water bombs". Here are a few pictures from the farm:

These tunnels originated in Spain on raspberry farms. The raspberries were getting damaged from rainfall so farmers built these protective coverings. They also keep heat inside which is how they can produce berries earlier.

You can tell what kind of bee pollinated the flower. Regular bees will go up into the flower, whereas carpenter bees go through the side. You can see the marks on the side of the flower.

So here is my recipe for Blueberry Balsamic Sauce. Sweet enough to be heavenly on vanilla ice cream, pound cake, or crepes. Savory enough to go along with roasted chicken or pork, as well as silly easy to make:

You will need:

1 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2c cup sugar

1 pint blueberries

1 cinnamon stick

Bring the sugar and vinegar to a boil. Continue to boil for about 3 minutes. Add the blueberries and cinnamon stick. Return to a boil and cook for about 5 minutes. The sauce will have thicken and turn a deep purple. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Braised Local Beef Short Ribs

Woah, it has been a long time since I have posted anything. Winter months are difficult to find local products. Like I said, there are only so many sweet potatoes I can eat! But now Spring is full in effect and I couldn't be more excited about local berries, tomatoes, and meats!

I wanted to make a special comfort food dinner and was able to snag some short ribs. I remember a fine dining restaurant I worked in made short ribs when they were available. They were packed with flavor and melted in your mouth. When I went to the meat case there were no short ribs to be found. However, I was always told in culinary school and from chefs to make friends with your butcher. So I asked my friendly butcher if he had any and he was able to cut me some right then and there!

Short ribs is to beef as spare ribs are to pork, but much more tender. Short ribs are also a relatively inexpensive cut of meat as well. Mine were $5.99lb, Grass-fed, and best of all LOCAL! I think back to the restaurant and say "Wow, we charged about $28 for an order that had two ribs, mashed potatoes, and vegetables" So here is an easy braised short rib recipe

Serves 2 with leftovers for lunch the next day

2 1/2lb short ribs, bone in

1T steak seasoning (I use Borsari)

2T vegetable or canola oil*

1c onion, medium diced

1/2c celery, medium diced

1c tomatoes, seeded and diced**

3 cloves garlic, sliced

2T Worcestershire sauce

2bay leaves

1/2 red wine vinegar or a medium bodied red wine***

1quart beef broth****

Salt and Pepper to taste

*Do not use olive oil, you need to get your pan smoking hot...olive oil doesn't like it

**I used local fresh tomatoes, but if you can't find good tomatoes, used a no salt added canned

***If it is a yucky wine, you will have yucky short ribs...

****Always use low sodium broths, take control of the salt level!

Season short ribs with steak seasoning. Pat into the meat with your hands. In a large pot, heat oil until very hot. Sear ribs and turn until a brown crust forms on all sides of the rib (Crust is crucial. Don't worry, you aren't trying to cook the meat, only searing it). Remove from pan. Add your celery, onion, and carrots (It's called mirepoix "Mear pwa"-use it and sound smart) and cook until slightly tender. Add garlic, tomato, vinegar (or wine), Worcestershire sauce, and bay leaves. Add short ribs back to the pot on top of the veggie mixture. Pour enough beef broth to slightly cover the ribs. Simmer for 2 1/2 hours.