Squash!

 This photo of the last harvest from our garden featured lots of squash, so I've been exploring ways to cook them.

I found that in 2009 we posted lots of recipes and ideas related to pumpkins--and incidentally a photo essay about making apple juice (which you will have to watch in reverse order).  Those of you who don't get to participate might find it interesting.

But on to squash.  There are a number of kinds of winter squashes--they have very hard shells, unlike summer squash.  They also store very well in a dry basement where they won't get frozen. Most of them are similar in color and taste but there are some differences in texture and sweetness so it is worth it to try different kinds.  The exception is spaghetti squash which is quite yellow, and oval shaped.

Spaghetti squash can be cooked in the oven after pricking a few holes in the skin with a fork or sharp knife.   It takes about and hour at 350 and then you can stick a fork into it easily.  Cut it in half and scoop out the seeds.  The pulp is stringy--like spaghetti--it's tasty served with butter and salt and pepper or with a tomato based spaghetti sauce.

Other types can also be baked in the oven, whole or halved.  Or you can cut them into chunks, put them in a bowl, loosely cover, and microwave for about 10 minutes, or until tender.  Then it is easy to scoop out the pulp.  Or you can peel the squash--butternut is best for this---and cut it into cubes about 1/2 inch--these can be roasted in the oven or cooked in a pan with a little olive oil or butter.  You can add diced apples to them if you want, and cinnamon, and even a bit of brown sugar.

Here is a very hearty squash soup recipe from Deanne Christensen:

SQUASH SOUP
1 lb bacon, cooked and diced
1 medium onion
1 rib celery
2 T flour
14 1/2 oz chicken broth
6 cups cooked and mashed butternut squash
1--14 oz can creamed corn
2 cups half and half
1 T. fresh parsley minced
Salt and Pepper

Cook onion and celery together in some of the bacon fat, until teender.  Stir in flour until blended, gradually stir in broth and bring to boil.  Cook and stir until thick.  Reduce heat and add remaining ingredients.  Cook and stir until heated through.

(I used a different kind of squash and had to adjust the other ingredeints somewhat because it was more dry than butternut.  I also used some our frozen corn rather than creamed corn.)

Potato-Leek Soup

 This is the Julia Child recipe for Potato Leek soup.  She says you can eat this  soup hot, or cold when it is called vichyoisse.

4 cups sliced leeks (white part and a bit of the tender green)
4 cups diced potatoes
6-7 cups water
1 1/2 to 2 tsp salt, or to taste
1/2 cup heavy cream or sour cream

Bring leeks, potatoes and water to boil in a large saucepan.  Salt lightly, cover and simmer 20-30 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.  Taste and correct seasonings.

Puree the soup in batches in blender or food processor.
If you are going to serve all the soup you can add the 1/2 cup cream just before serving--or I like to dish it up and put 1 Tablespoonful of cream on top of each bowl.  This serves 6-8

Note from Julia Child:  "If you are not pureeing the soup, cut the vegetables rather neatly."

If you desire to add leafy vegetables such as watercress or spinach chop them and add just before blending. You could use chicken broth instead of water, or as part of the water, but I've never tried that.

*A note about leeks from Julia Child:  "Trim the root ends of the leeks, being careful to keep the leaves attached.  Remove any wilted leaves, and cut off the tops to leave the leeks 6-7 inches long.  Slit each lengthwise down to where the white begins, give the leek a quarter turn and slit again.  Wash very thoroughly under cold running water, spreading each leaf apart to rinse off all the dirt and grit."

Bucket List

I am so bored of the same old cookies, cakes and bars recipes I make all the time.  But I am sort of afraid of the kitchen and trying things I don't know how to do.  The other day, I actually made an apple pie with a lattice crust.  It sort of gave me hope that I could maybe make some of those hard "desserts" that I have always shied away from because I didn't know how, or didn't have the pan, etc.

 


I decided to expand my cooking repertoire through a cooking bucket list.  I got the idea from here - although I am going to start small and only try a few things:

1.  Lemon merige pie
2.  Creme puffs
3. Creme brulee
4. Carmels
5.  Carmel apples
6.  cheesecake
7.  pumpkin roll
8. Flourless chocolate cake

I notice all of these are sweets - maybe someday I will make a bucket list for savory food...it is just not that interesting for me to make that kind of stuff.

Does anyone else have a bucket list?  Or any tips on how to accomplish mine?  

Apricot Tart

 Apricot season is a joyful time--partly because the blossoms are so early that they frequently freeze so a year when the apricot trees bear fruit is a great treat.

There are lots of things to do with the fresh fruits--eat them right away, bottle them, make jam and preserves, dry them, or make fruit leather.

One of the first things I like to make is Apricot preserves--they are useful as a fruit spread, a glaze and other things, and it's very easy.

Apricot Preserves:
5 cups mashed up apricots--(this a good use for the over-ripe ones or ones that have been damaged--just cut away the bad parts.  You can chop them fine if you want, but I like to have chunks of fruit in mine so I just crush them into the cup to measure them they break down more as they cook.)
1/4 cup lemon juice
4 cups sugar
Mix all this up and put it in the fridge overnight or for 4- 5 hours.

Place the mixture in a large pan (dutch oven size) and bring to boil stirring occasionally.  Boil about 30 minutes stirring more often as it thickens.  (Keep a close eye on it as it can scorch easily). When it seems thick enough you can put it into bottles,  Wipe off edges, place lids on top and process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes.
(or I just fill the bottles with hot water, put the flats in a small pan covered with water and bring that to a  boil.  Then I dump out the water from the jar, fill it with hot jam, wipe off edges, put on the hot flat and tighten the ring on--then turn it upside down for about 5 minutes, and repeat for the next jar.  That involves handling a lot of boiling things quickly, but they usually seal just fine.  The last time I made this recipe I got 3 pints and a bit more for a jar to put in the fridge.



 The queen of all the things to make with apricots is a tart.  Folowing is the recipe I use.

Apricot Tart from "Once Upon a Tart" cookbook and shop in New York City.



Tart Crust
(Makes enough for two tart crusts)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks cold butter cut into 1/2 inch pieces)
5 Tablespoons solid shortening (chilled)
small glass ice water
1--9 inch tart pan

Put flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of food processor and pulse a couple of times to mix up and salt and flour.
Put in all the butter and shortening and pulse about 10 times or until the mixture looks like crumbs.
Pour it into a large bowl and sprinkle 4 Tablespoons ice water over the top.  Mix with a fork or your hands to bring the dough together, adding more water a Tablespoon at a time until it barely comes together.  (I usually end up adding about 8 Tablespoons altogether.)
Cut the dough in half and make into disks.  Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and put in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.  (You can keep it for a few days in the fridge or freeze one of the disks if you won't be making another tart for a long time.)
When you are ready to bake the crust preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Take the disk from the fridge and roll it out and fit it to your tart pan--you can patch cracks and holes with scraps of dough.  Prick holes in the bottom with a fork.  Put a piece of foil on top of the crust--fitted to the shape of the pan, but it will be handly to have corners sticking out.  Fill it part way with dry beans or pie weights.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and carefully lift out the foil and beans.  Return the tart to the oven for 5 more minutes.  Remove to a rack and let it cool.
(Note about the beans--they won't be good for cooking after this, so I just keep them in a container and re-use them for this purpose.)

Apricot Tart filling:

1/2 cup applesauce
15 medium apricots, halved, pits removed--be sure they are fresh and sweet apricots
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup Apricot glaze.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
 Spread 1/2 cup applesauce over the bottom of the crust evenly.
Arrange the apricot halves in the shell, pitted side up in a circular pattern, overlapping them so that the bottom apricot cradles the next one, which cradles the next one.
Holding your had about 6 inches above ther tart sprinkle the sugar evenly over the apricots.
Bake in  center of oven for 50-60 minutes or until apricots are a nice golden brown and even darker around the edges.
Remove tart from oven and set on rack to cool.  After it is cool you can slide off the ring of the tart pan and then carefully transfer it to a serving platter.
Brush top with apricot glaze.

Apricot Glaze:
1/2 cup apricot preserves
2 Tablespoons warm water
Stir until mixed, put through a strainer.
This is useful for the Apricot tart and for other pastries--the glaze makes them look very finished, and beautiful.

Brunch after Magnolia's blessing

 These are the items that Elizabeth served for brunch after Magnolia's blessing.  The lemon cupcakes were made by a friend.
 Elizabeth, Chrys Allen and I made the other items.  All the recipes are from "Our Best Bites" cookbook.

 The breakfast tacquito is a tortilla wrapped around a really excellent scrambled egg mixture--the eggs themselves would be a delicious treat even without the tortilla.

The fruit brushetta is a simple and delicious treat containing strawberries, mangos and kiwis on toasted bagette slices brushed with a cinnamon sugar mixture.

The strawberry cheese cake squares have a crust made from pecan sandies cookies with a cream cheese and sour cream filling swirled with fresh strawberry syrup and topped with strawberries.

 Hopefully Elizabeth will share the recipes.  We had such a lovely time together!

Easter Dinner in pictures

 Birds nest table placements (I would add the names, but we are only two people and Evan!)

 Vertical pear salad with vingerette and honey

 Citrus ham

A really typical Mormon potato casserole recipe from a old ward cook book

Green onion rolls (my personal favorite of the meal). 

Sunflower peep chocolate layer cake with Lion House chocolate frosting.

The birds nests, vertical pear salad and cake all came from pinterest.  The ultimate result of the dinner: we are just two people and I made WAY too much food.  As you can imagine, Evan only ate his birdnest and some cornflakes from the potatoes. 

Granola Bars

I've been wanting to post this recipe for awhile, and after Mom's great post on oatmeal it seemed like the perfect time. I'm not a granola bar fan, I never buy them, I think they are kind of gross. But these. So good. I like that they are sweetened with honey and brown sugar (no corn syrup), and have just enough ingredients to make the flavor interesting, but not too many that they get all muddled together. And no chocolate. I love chocolate, just not in granola bars.

The recipe comes from Ina Garten. A few tips: really do line the pan with parchment, if not they are a sticky pain to extract. They are better the day after, so don't eat them all the first day. You can store them in a bag or just out in the open. I've never put the apricots in, I'm sure they'd be good, but they are good without also.

Ingredients

• 2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1 cup shredded coconut, loosely packed
• 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup chopped pitted dates
• 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8 by 12-inch baking dish and line it with parchment paper.

Toss the oatmeal, almonds, and coconut together on a sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and stir in the wheat germ.

Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.

Place the butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for a minute, then pour over the toasted oatmeal mixture. Add the dates, apricots, and cranberries and stir well.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Wet your fingers and lightly press the mixture evenly into the pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until light golden brown. Cool for at least 2 to 3 hours before cutting into squares. Serve at room temperature.

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