Winter Squash Soup

Marley has been asking for winter squash soup - made at home, from fresh squash - not the boxed soup I normally get her when she asks for it.  So today I finally honored her request and the result was quite delicious.

I scoured cookbooks and the internet for recipes that looked good, techniques for simplifying the process, and a list of ingredients that I liked.  By combining some and tweaking others, I came up with this recipe.

WINTER SQUASH SOUP

1 large butternut squash
1 large acorn squash
1/2 a yellow onion, chopped in small pieces
4 teaspoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
32 oz chicken broth
1/2 cup cream
salt
pepper
cayenne pepper

Wash both squashes, then with a sharp knife, prick the butternut squash several times.  Place squash in microwave oven and cook for about 4 1/2 minutes.  This softens the tough skin.  Cut both squashes in half lengthwise and scrape out seeds with a spoon. (Seeds may be saved and washed, then roasted for garnish if desired.)

Arrange squash halves on foil-lined baking sheet, cut side up.  Brush each half with 1 teaspoon olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt and black pepper.  Place in 425-degree oven and roast for one hour. 

Allow to cool for about 20 minutes, then scrape the cooked squash out of their skins into soup pot.  In small skillet saute the onion in the butter until onion is tender and translucent.  Add skillet contents to soup pot. If desired, mix the squash and onions thoroughly with a mixer or egg beater.  Slowly pour in chicken broth and stir broth and squash together until thoroughly mixed.  Add 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper and the cream (or Half & Half).  Simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally until warmed through.  Eat. 

Summer's bounty

Tonight's supper: Chicken gumbo.

Ingredients:
1 pk chicken breasts (from Piggly Wiggly)
1 pk homemade sausage (from a friend)
6 tomatoes, cut in large chunks (from the garden)
2 onions, sliced (from the garden)
16 okra pods, sliced thinly (from the garden)
2 bell peppers, chopped (from the garden)
4 bay leaves
2 tsp. thyme leaves
sea salt
black pepper
1/4 c. olive oil
3 c. water

Place in slow cooker and cook on "High" for several hours.  Serve with rice.

Jezebel Sauce

On the menu at a fancy restaurant we sometimes patronize is an item called "Jezebel Sauce." I've eaten it twice and loved it. It's sweet and hot, and has an impressive after-kick. A few weeks ago, while flipping through some of Mom's old cookbooks I found a recipe for it and decided I had to make it right away. Glenn and Aric were home, and I knew they'd eat it with me, but our supper that night was grilled chicken, which was probably not the best partner for the sauce. We ate it anyway. Lots of it. It was just as delicious as I'd remembered. And it tasted good with chicken, although we all agreed it would probably pair better with beef or pork.


Jezebel Sauce
16 oz. jar of apple jelly
16 oz. jar of pineapple preserves
1 small can of dry mustard
1 jar of horseradish
2 Tbsp cracked black pepper

I halved the recipe, and we still had way too much for us to handle at one meal. But it keeps well in the refrigerator for several days.

Leftover lunch

For Sunday lunch I made pasties and served them with a romaine lettuce salad.

Yesterday we ate all the leftovers and Marley got the last slice of the pasties, along with some steamed sugar snap peas. Now the fridge is cleared of leftovers and I can start with new meals today.

Mango Salsa

Last week Joan and I made this recipe and it was delicious.



Mango Salsa Recipe

1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted, and diced (about 1 1/2 cup)
1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeno chile, minced (we omitted the ribs and seeds in order to have a milder flavor)
1 small cucumber, peeled and diced (about 1 cup)
3 Tbsp fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and serve.


We doubled the recipe and ate some of it with tortilla chips. Then we cooked turkey burgers and topped each one with 1/4 cup of the salsa. It was very fresh and light.

Kitchen Essays

I bought Kitchen Essays by Agnes Jekyll because I liked the title. The essays were originally printed in The Times from 1921 to 1922, and have many references to post-war (WWI) life as it impacts food.

Lady Jekyll has a friendly and approachable attitude in this book. I loved her comments and small anecdotes, as well as the quotes from classic writers. The recipes, while somewhat dated and sometimes using ingredients and measures that are very British (and therefore might be difficult to reproduce in my home in Alabama), are still delicious to read. I do plan to try a few.

Here is a recipe I like from the chapter, For Men Only:

Clear Tomato Soup

Cut in slices 1 lb. fresh tomatoes, and put into enough ordinary clear soup for, say, six people; simmer gently for 1 hour, strain through a clean cloth, re-boil, and serve with fried croutons, about two-shilling-piece size, piled with stiffly whipped cream, one to each person on a separate plate. The cream softens the acidity of the tomatoes and greatly improves the flavour.

Making an appetizer

Making appetizers is not one of my strengths.

Tonight I have to take finger-food (not sweet) to a meeting. Thankfully, I remembered that I have this old (1958) Good Housekeeping cookbook that I got from my mom.

I read through it and immediately discarded the recipes which included chicken livers or anchovies. While I would eat those, I'm relatively certain that few other ladies at the meeting would.

This recipe with chicken, bacon, and apples sounded like a good autumn recipe, and since it's basically chicken salad, I think it will be appropriate "lady-food."

Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer: A Golden Treasury of Classic Treats

I love cookbooks and when I read about Jane Brocket's collection of recipes from classic children's books, I had to get a copy. I have a small, treasured collection of cookbooks featuring recipes from classic children's literature: The Narnia Cookbook, Mary Poppins in the Kitchen, The Boxcar Children Cookbook, and The Little House Cookbook. Our family has enjoyed reading the books then cooking or baking some of the dishes mentioned in each story.

Through the years as we've read aloud various books together, we have also made meals from the books we've enjoyed. We've had toast and tea and cakes and Turkish Delight while reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. We've had fish and chips while reading Good Night, Mr. Tom. We've had homemade whole-wheat rolls and goat cheese while reading Heidi. Ms. Brocket's book looked as though it would give us more ideas and maybe even a list of a few more books we hadn't yet read.

Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer is a marvelous collection of dishes and meals from a delightful list of American and British children's books. Some of the books and foods were familiar favorites for us, but there were also a lot that were new to us. The recipes are in British measurements, but for most of them, that doesn't matter. (There is a webpage that converts British measurements to American ones.) As always, Ms. Brocket's style of writing is so engaging that she made me want to re-read the books I'd read many times before. My only complaint is that I wish she'd written a 10-volume set instead of just one cookbook!

As in Ripping Things to Do, her other book based on favorite children's books, she includes summaries and selected passages from the books she chose. These made me hunt and buy some of the books we didn't have, and begin reading them.

Curry sauce

The DeputyHeadmistress posted a brilliant recipe using lentils, rice, chicken and curry sauce.

We had everything but the jar of curry sauce, but I did have most of the ingredients to make a curry sauce so we took this recipe from Jennifer Brennan's cookbook The Cuisines of Asia and made our own sauce.

Quick All-Purpose Indian Curry Sauce
2 tablespoons ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
1/3 cup white vinegar
3 medium onions, peeled and chopped
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced
8 tablespoons clarified butter
6 cups of chicken or beef stock
1 cup plain yogurt (may substitute coconut milk)
1 1/4 teaspoons Indian Sweet Spice Mix (I did not have everything for this part so I substituted a mix of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ground black pepper.)
1 teaspoon salt

1. In small mixing bowl combine dried, powdered spices with vinegar into a paste.
2. In food processor or blender, grind onions, garlic and ginger into a rough puree.
3. In large saucepan place clarified butter (I used regular butter without clarifying it) and fry puree mix, stirring constantly.
4. Add spice paste and cook, stirring for at least 5 minutes.
5. Pour in the stock and let it come to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium-low and stir for 10 minutes.
6. Increase the heat and stir in the yogurt or coconut milk. Add Indian Sweet Spice Mix and salt to taste. Stir again, set aside and let cool.

This recipe makes a lot of sauce: 8 cups. She recommends bagging it into 2 cup bags and freezing it so there's always curry sauce on hand when you need it.

I may do that next time, but this time we ate every bit of it. I ladled some on top of the chicken while it baked. Then I cut the cooked chicken into chunks, mixed it with the rest of the sauce and allowed everyone to put as much or as little as they wished on their rice and lentils. It fed 10 of us with seconds and leftovers for the next day. Not many leftovers, but enough for a couple of family members.

It was delicious!

Frogmore Stew

On Monday evening Tom cooked and served Frogmore Stew for our supper. There were fifteen of us and we had lots leftover, even though we ate until we were stuffed. We ate it in the traditional way - with our hands! And there was very little clean-up to do afterwards. We simply rolled up the newspapers with the cans, cobs and shrimp shells and threw them in the trash.

Frogmore Stew (Tom's way)

Potatoes, washed and cut in half

Corn on the cob, shucked and cut in half

Kielbasa sausage

Shrimp

Crab legs

crab boil

(Use in quantities appropriate to the number of people to feed.) In large pot, boil potatoes for 20 minutes. Add sausage and crab legs and boil for 15 more minutes. Add crab boil and shrimp and cook for 10 more minutes. Add corn and cook for 5 more minutes. Drain off water, dump food on newspaper-covered table and eat. Napkins optional.

When I make it I add onions and bell peppers and omit the crabs.

Parsley for soup

The parsley I planted last spring survived all our sub-freezing nights and has overshadowed the mint and is in serious competition with the rosemary.

Last night Sarah made beef soup and we harvested about one cup's worth of parsley to put in it.

Beef Soup

2 lbs. ground beef, cooked and drained
3 carrots, washed, peeled, and diced
3 celery stalks, washed and diced
1 onion, diced
1 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 lb egg noodles
1/4 cup beef-like powder
6 to 6 1/2 quarts water

In pan, saute carrots, celery, onion, parsley and garlic in olive oil until onions are translucent. Transfer to large soup pot. Add beef-like powder (or beef broth or beef bouillon) and water and cooked ground beef. Bring to a slow boil and add noodles. Cook about 6 minutes or until noodles are tender. Serve.

This soup fed 9 of us, using large bowls and having second (and even a few third!) helpings.

Almond cookies

Becky Y. gave us this recipe 5 years ago. Jacy was babysitting Becky's boys and Becky gave Jacy some Christmas cookies she'd made. Jacy ate one of the almond cookies and immediately asked for the recipe. She came home, rolled up her sleeves and made the cookies that day. Life has not been the same since then.

These are dangerous cookies. They are the controlled substance of the cookie world. It is impossible to eat one or two. They are highly addictive and scream out to be devoured until there is not a crumb left.

Last night Joan told me she'd make a batch of almond cookies for me to take to a Christmas party Thursday for some ladies at church. I got all the ingredients (except for almonds - Piggly Wiggly had none) and Joan mixed and baked. Sarah helped decorate, and Sam tasted.

As they worked I was reading in the living room so as to be away from the cookies. Joan said I'd have to try one. I agreed. Then I thought, "Well, maybe I'll eat two." When the first one was decorated, Joan gave it to Sam. He ate it, and could not leave the kitchen after that. Joan brought me one. Sarah brought me one. Then I made the fatal error of entering the kitchen and I ate FIVE more! Joan is a quick thinker and she rescued all of us by taking a dozen to David, Marley and Steve. They ate their cookies and came into the kitchen looking for more. By that time they were all gone.

Did I mention that none of the cookies had actually cooled yet? So here's the recipe. Bake at your own risk.


Almond Cookies
1 c. butter
2/3 c. sugar
1 egg
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. almond extract

1 egg white, slightly beaten
ground almonds
red and green candied cherries

Icing:
2 T. butter
1/4 c. shortening or butter
1 t. vanilla
1 egg white
1/2 t. almond extract
2 c. powdered sugar

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg, almond extract and salt. Mix in flour. Roll into small balls and dip in egg white and then ground almonds. Press slightly with thumb. Bake approximately 4 to 5 minutes in a 350-degree oven, then press cookies down with thumb a little more. Bake another 4 to 5 minutes. Cool, frost, then add cherries.

[Because we had no almonds we substituted ground pecans instead. Delicious. Today Joan is going to make another batch so I'll have some to take to the ladies' Christmas party. No one in this house will be allowed to taste one.]

Mario Batali's Lasagne Bolognese al Forno

Steve had this lasagna at a colleague's house a few weeks ago and came home anxious to make it himself.

Steve shopped for all the ingredients, then he and Marley prepared the meal. They started at 4:00 p.m.

First they diced and chopped vegetables. Then they minced the meat. Then they cooked the meat and the vegetables and made the pasta and the bechamel sauce. Steve assembled the lasagna, baked it, and finally (at 9:00 p.m.) we sat down to eat. We were so hungry, but it was worth the wait.


The next day he made it again, but with ground beef, and he left the nutmeg out of the bechamel sauce. When asked by Steve how they liked the second version, Sarah and Joan replied, "It's really good, Daddy. It tastes like Hamburger Helper." NOT the response Steve was looking for!

But he made it again the right way and we were all very pleased. And yes, it really does take 4 to 5 hours to prepare.

Pear Cranberry Crisp

Dad gave us a bag full of pears he'd picked and after we'd eaten a lot of them in hand, we still had enough left over to make a dessert. With this recipe for pear cranberry crisp Sarah made a dessert that was so good, it was gone as soon as it came out of the oven. There's no picture of the finished product. We ate it.

But I think we might make another one or two for Thanksgiving.

No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Someone made these No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies and brought them to church Sunday night. My children loved them and came home vowing to find the recipe and make some for us. Joan searched cooks.com, one of her favorite websites, and found the recipe she liked.

This is a recipe that goes from ingredients to yummy treat in less than 10 minutes and is perfect as a chocolate fix when there are no chocolate chips in the pantry. The cocoa powder does it all.

Baked Lasagna with Eggplant (Lasagna al forno)

The Piggly Wiggly had beautiful eggplants (Steve insists there is no such thing) in the produce section on Saturday so I bought one thinking I'd decide later what to make with it. I found a recipe for eggplant lasagna in the cookbook, Italian Vegetarian Cooking, by Paola Gavin. (I modified the lasagna recipe slightly - used dried lasagna noodles instead of making them fresh, and skipped the bechamel sauce.)

Baked Lasagna with Eggplant
1 large eggplant, 1 to 1 1/2 pounds
salt
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cups tomato sauce (recipe follows)
1/2 pound mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
7 or 8 lasagna noodles

Tomato Sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tablespoon fresh basil, or 1/2 teaspoon dried.
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
3 cups canned plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Heat olive oil in a large frying pan and cook the garlic, basil, and parsley for one minute. Add the chopped tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste. Cook, uncovered, over high heat for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the sauce starts to thicken, mashing tomatoes gently with a fork as they cook. Makes enough sauce for one pound of pasta.

I made almost a double recipe of the sauce.

For the lasagna:
Peel the eggplant and slice into thin lengthwise slices. Sprinkle with salt. Set in a colander and leave to release the bitter juices for 1 hour. Wash off salt and pat slices dry with paper towels.
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and fry the eggplant, a few slices at a time, until golden on both sides. Drain on paper towels. Oil a large shallow baking dish and arrange a layer of lasagna noodles over the bottom. Cover well with tomato sauce so the dried pasta will absorb the liquid as it bakes. Add a layer of fried eggplant, some more sauce, and a layer of mozzarella cheese. Repeat until all ingredients are used, ending with a layer of sauce on top of the mozzarella cheese. Bake in preheated 350-degree oven for 30 to 40 minutes. Serves 6.

This was so good that I'm making it again tonight, but with spaghetti squash instead of pasta.

The Body in the Gallery

The Body in the Gallery is the latest mystery in the series by Katherine Hall Page. All of "The Body in the..." series feature Faith Fairchild - the wife of a pastor, mother of a son and a daughter, and a caterer and terrific cook - as the sleuth who usually (I think it may be always) stumbles upon the particular bodies referred to in the titles.

The mysteries are usually fairly interesting puzzles - not too easy to figure out, but not too difficult, either - but the main attractions for me are Ms. Page's descriptions of food and the recipes she includes.

See what you think of this:

"He motioned Faith toward the living room. As she followed him she noticed that the flame under the chicken had been turned off. She paused to uncover it. It definitely needed to simmer longer. She replaced the lid and turned the burner on. It was an easy dish and a family favorite. She'd browned the skinless breasts in olive oil, then topped them with layers of thinly sliced onions, red and yellow peppers, plus two cups of fresh chopped basil - the last from the garden. She'd harvested the crop earlier in the afternoon, making and freezing pesto, saving one large bunch for this dish. Salt, pepper, and half a bottle of red wine - she'd had some leftover pinot noir in the fridge - completed the dish, which needed to simmer for at least an hour so the chicken could absorb the flavors. They'd have it with whole wheat couscous, which has a lovely nutty taste, and a salad."

That sounded delicious, so I made it. Twice. And she's right - it's very good with couscous.

The murderer was caught in the end, too.

Cake Brownies with No-Cook Fudge Frosting

We have new neighbors (a young couple with a dog, three cats - and the couple is expecting their first baby!) and we wanted to meet them and take them something nice to eat. Joan decided she would try a new brownie recipe, and make a batch for us, too.

Both recipes come from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, Special Edition

Cake Brownies
3/4 c. butter, melted
1 1/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 c. milk
1 c. chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2 recipe No-Cook Fudge Frosting (to follow)

Stir together butter, sugar, cocoa powder, eggs and vanilla. In a small bowl combine flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to chocolate mixture, beating after each addition. Stir in nuts. Pour batter into greased 15x10x1-inch baking pan. Bake in 350-degree oven for 15 to 18 minutes. Cool 2 hours on a wire rack. Frost with No-Cook Fudge Frosting, then cut into bars. Makes 48 brownies.

No-Cook Fudge Frosting
9 c. sifted powdered sugar (about 2 pounds)
1 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 c. butter, softened
2/3 c. boiling water
2 tsp. vanilla

In a very large bowl combine powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Add butter, boiling water, and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until combined. Beat for 1 minute on medium speed. If necessary, cool for 20 minutes or until mixture reaches spreading consistency. (This frosts tops and sides of two 8- or 9- inch cake layers.)




The brownies were very good.

Super Fig Cobbler

One of my parents' friends has seven fig trees. Dad picked a box of figs for us to enjoy, and we ate some fresh, but I wanted to do something else with the rest of them. I like to quarter the ripe figs, put a dollop of goat cheese in the middle of each fig, drizzle honey over them, and broil them in the oven for a few minutes. But no one else will eat them that way.

I found this recipe for Super Fig Cobbler and asked Joan and Jacy if they'd make it for me. They did and it was fantastic! It tasted more like apple cobbler to me, and the recipe says you can substitute apples for figs. We halved the recipe, and it made a standard pie. The pastry was delicious, too.

Honey Watermelon Ice

We tried a new recipe this week. It came from a farming magazine - perhaps The Progressive Farmer - and is easy, light, and delicious. Joan mixed it in less than 10 minutes, then froze it, and we ate it the next day.

Honey Watermelon Ice
5 c. cubed and seeded red, pink, orange or yellow watermelon (about 2 lbs.)
1/3 c. fresh orange juice
1/2 sugar
2 T. honey

(We omitted the sugar and in place of it and the 2 T. honey we substituted 1/3 c. raw wild honey.)

Process all ingredients in blender until smooth. Pour mixture into 8" or 9" baking pan. Cover and freeze about 4 hours or until nearly firm. Break frozen mixture into small chunks with a spoon. Place in large bowl. Beat with electric mixer until smooth, but not melted - about 3 minutes. Return to pan; freeze 4 hours longer or until firm. Yield: 5 cups.