The Royal Butternut

Butternut squash. One of the finer names of the produce section? I think, yes. My fourth year of university had me making this from about November until February. It goes without saying that (it being in my fridge all the time) a bit of experimention came about on the degustation side of things as the winter months rolled by. Example...I would put toasted bread with goat cheese on the soup one day, add cream to it another, add some left over rice and parmesean to it the next. This recipe is versatile. Enough said.

What you'll need: About 2 liters of homemade stock (using my interpretation of vegetable soup stock or any of the thousands of soup stock recipes that exist on the internet) or the kind you buy at the supermarket. You'll also need a large butternut squash (or two smaller ones) and a blender.

Preparing the butternut:

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
Cut your butternut squash in half (lenghtwise) and discard its seeds and filaments.
On a baking sheet, pan, whatever, place the butternut squash skin side up so that the orange part of the squash is lying face down on the baking sheet. Poke some holes through the skin using a fork and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a knife slides through the squash with ease.

Preparing the soup stock:

I'm back and ready to type away this recipe once and for all. I apologize for the delay. So really, as long as you cook your vegetables well (before adding water to them) and allow them to simmer for about an hour, you're in business. This is by no means the best vegetable stock out there, but it requires minimal ingredients, so it's good for when you don't have lots lying around the kitchen. You can add almost anything too it as well. Try dressing it up with some boiled potatoes and leeks, or cauliflower, or a whole bag of carrots if you're not a lover of the butternut.

What you'll need:

6 carrots, chopped
5-6 celery stalks, chopped
2 large onions or 4 small ones, chopped
3 whole garlic cloves, peeled
tbsp. salt
black peppercorns (optional)
bay leaf (optional)

Materials:
A large pot (something that can hold 4 or 5 liters)
A blender

Once you’ve finished chopping up all of your vegetables take about 1/4 c. of olive oil and add it to your pot.

Place pot on stove and set to medium heat. When the oil is hot add the carrots to the pot. When they have softened up a bit add the celery, then the onions and whole garlic cloves. Feel free to pour in more olive oil if you find that the vegetables are starting to stick to the bottom of the pan (I'm pretty sure I end up using about 1/3 c. of olive oil in total...if not more) if they burn/caramelize a bit, don’t fret, this will add loads of flavor to your stock. When you’re vegetables are well cooked (should take about 30 minutes or so) add enough water to cover them completely and then add about 2 or 3 cups more. Throw in your salt, black peppercorns, bay leaf.

Cover your pot and allow everything to simmer (low-medium heat) for about an hour. After this let your pot to cool off for about 10-15 minutes. Then, take all of the contents from the pot (minus the black peppercorns and bay leaf) and liquefy in the blender. Empty all of your blended stock into a large bowl.

When your butternut squash has finished cooking remove it from the oven, allow it to cool and peel away the skin. Put about a quarter of the squash into the blender and pour in some already blended vegetable stock. Pour these contents back into your pot. Repeat this step until all the butternut squash has been incorporated into the stock. Then add salt and pepper to taste, some cream, and enjoy.

Fresh Out The Kitchen

Sweet and cinnamony delights are these. Recipe. They don't mention this, but try adding some cinnamon, cardamom, allspice or what have you to the dough. Freeze the left over dough and enjoy all winter long...

Hot Chocolate for MyMainSqueeze.

You may wish to add more or less of the ingredients listed. I never use measuring utensils in the kitchen so the following quantities are a rough estimate. Also, you may choose add some coffee or espresso to your hot cocoa for extra zip.

1 c. of milk you enjoy
1 1/2 tbsp. cocoa powder
2 tsp. granulated sugar
2 dashes of ground cinnamon
1 dash of jamaican allspice

*Over a medium setting heat your milk in a saucepan.
*In a mug or bowl combine cocoa powder, sugar, cinnamon and allspice.
*Pour some milk from your saucepan into your mug or bowl. With a fork, beat the milk and powder together until all clumps have been obliterated.
*Right before your milk comes to a boil pour the rest of it into your mug. Give it a stir and enjoy.

Mambo Miam Miam

This dressing tastes especially good on arugula/roquette.

Equal parts of sesame oil and rice vinegar.
Pinch of salt.
Two pinches of sugar.
Put all ingredients in a glass jar and shake up.

** If you like a thicker dressing add more oil than vinegar.

Cornbread

My friend Kim doesn't hang out in the kitchen much because she's convinced that she has no skills when it comes to cookery, but the truth is...she makes the meanest cornbread in the State of Michigan. She's in Spain right now living an adventure, so I can't offer you her recipe. However, I will give you the Joy of Cooking's rendition because everyone needs to have atleast one cornbread recipe in their life.

3/4 c. flour
1 1/4 c. corn meal
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder ( I only use 2 tsp.)
2 tbsp. sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten
2-3 tbsp. butter, melted
1 c. milk

INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 400ºF.
In one bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients.
In another bowl, beat the egg and combine it with the melted butter and milk.
Combine all of the ingredients together.
Pour the batter in to a greased pan or muffin tray.
If you use a pan the cornbread should take about 20-25 minutes to bake.
If you use a muffin tray they should take a little less time to cook (10 minutes), so keep an eye on them.

Remedy Numero Uno

I have a friend named Liz. She's the queen of the home remedy. Two years ago she started making this potion. Ever since many of us have been overcoming the occasional cold and flu by using it. If you drink it before bedtime, after soaking in a very hot bath, you should feel better come morning. I haven't taken an aspirin/tylenol/sudafed tablet in two years. This is really an all-purpose concotion to be enjoyed during the colder months of the year and/or whenever your system is down.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

1 ginger root
1 lemon or lime
Some honey (optional)

HOW TO MAKE THE POTION:

Slice up atleast two-inches of a ginger root. "More is better" in this case, so chop, chop.
Fill a saucepan with water.
Your stove set to high, bring the water to a complete boil.
Then, reduce the heat of your stove's element to medium temperature.
Throw in your pieces of ginger. Allow them to simmer for about 30 minutes.
Squeeze the juice of one lemon or lime into a mug. Add a spoonful of honey to the mug, if you like. (Brandy if you're restless).
Pour some of the simmered ginger juicein to your cup and enjoy.

*The left over simmered ginger juice may be refrigerated and reheated for another time.

Macaroooooooooons!

Following this recipe, in about thirty minutes, tops, you should have a lovely bunch of macaroons. This recipe makes about 30 quarter sized treats.

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups of shredded coconut (unsweetened coconut is best, but if the grocery store only has sweetened coconut, no worries)
2 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (or if you have a vanilla bean handy, cut it in half and use its seeds). Or you might try adding a crushed cardamom pod.)
1/8 tsp. salt
2/3 cups condensed milk
2 egg whites (beaten until you have a stiff foam)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat your oven to 350ºF.

In one bowl, combine the coconut, salt, condensed milk and vanilla extract together.

In a separate bowl, fluff up your egg whites until you have a stiff foam.

Then, fold the egg whites in to the coconut mixture. By folding, I mean, mix in a chunk of the fluffed egg whites into the coconut mixture, gradually and gently. The egg whites are what help maintain the macaroons' pillowyness. If you beat the egg whites into the coconut mixture you will end up with flat macaroons.

Then, grease a non-stick cookie sheet with butter.

With your hands, make little balls from the batter and place them 2-inches apart from one another on the cookie sheet.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes. Leave the oven light on and check intermittently. Take them out when golden brown.

Take the cookie sheet out of the oven. Remove the macaroons from the pan. They will be sticky and lose their shape when you try to remove them from the sheet, but fret not, you can reshape them with your hands. Allow them a few minutes to cool down.

** If you have time you could try dipping the bottoms of them in melted chocolate (once they have finished cooling) to achieve a more show stopping result.

Ginger Is Good For Your Stomach

I used to work in a deli in Ann Arbor, Michigan called Zingerman's. During my lunch break I would often eat one of their Ginger Jump-Up cookies for dessert. Tasty. Long story short, late one night, when I should have been studying I did a bit of tinkering around in the kitchen to create a cookie that is almost as tasty as the real thing.

Bowl One, Combine:

2 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp. ginger (powder form)
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/8 tsp. clove
1/2 tsp. baking powder
For those that LOVE ginger, chop up some crystalized ginger and incorporate the bits into the flour/leavening/spice mixture.

Bowl Two, Combine:

3/4 cup butter, SOFTENED (I usually leave the butter out to soften a few hours before making the cookies)
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg (beat it before you add it to the butter and sugar mixture)
1/3 cup molasses

Combine the ingredients of bowl one with those of bowl two.
Roll dough in to a kind of log and put it in a plastic bag.
Chill the dough for atleast one hour.
Then, take the dough out of the fridge and roll it out. You can use a floured wine bottle or something of the sort – instead of a standard rolling pin. I myself have been using a Perrier bottle.
You can use the rim of a glass as a cookie cutter if you don't have conventional ones.
Roll the cookies in sugar and bake them for 10-12 minutes, in an oven of 350º F.

Interesting...

Poires Belle Hélène

You should consider playing a little Offenbach on your stereo if ever you decide to make this recipe as it owes its name to Helen of Sparta - the protagonist of his operetta "La Belle Hélène". Offenbach, a virtuoso of the cello and composer lived in Paris during the latter half of the 19th century. Sources say that this dessert was very popular around 1865. It's quite likely then that he would have indulged in the dessert, himself. Very interesting...

The pears:

• 6 firm pears
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 3 cups water
• 1 vanilla bean
• 2 lemons

The chocolate sauce:

• 8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 cups water
• 1 Tablespoon brandy

Serve with vanilla ice cream


Preparation:

1. Cut one of the lemons in half. Peel a pear, leaving stem intact and rub immediately with the cut lemon.
2. Working from the bottom, scoop out the seeds and membrane using a vegetable peeler. Repeat with
remaining pears.
3. Pare the zest from the other lemon and then squeeze out the juice.
4. Cut the vanilla bean in half. Combine the water, vanilla bean, lemon zest, lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan.
5. Heat the mixture until the sugar has dissolved, then bring it to a boil.
6. Remove the pan from the heat; add the whole pears. Cut a piece of parchment paper the same diameter of the saucepan.
Dampen it and place it on top of the pears to keep them submerged while poaching.
7. Simmer the pears over low heat until tender. About 25-35 minutes, depending on ripeness. Let the pears cool in the
poaching liquid.
8. Melt chocolate in bowl. Place this bowl over a saucepan of boiling water (this creates a double boiler).
9. Remove from heat and stir in the brandy.

Drain the pears well and place one in the center of each of 6 chilled serving plates (put them in the freezer for 15 minutes or
so. Arrange 3 or 5 small scoops of ice cream around the pears or place the pears on top of the ice cream. Gently spoon the
chocolate sauce over the pears.