Dried Cherry- and Sausage-Stuffed Acorn Squash

Winter squash can be intimidating. There are a number of varieties, all sorts of shapes, sizes, and colors. does one cut it, or peel it? And what on earth is that gunk that butternut squash leave on your hands post-peeling - the sap that makes your skin peel off? Almost makes me not want to battle these wonderful winter starches. But they're really worth it...

There are a number of ways to prepare winter squashes. Slice it in half, scoop out the seeds, and cost the halves for a puree with a touch of caramelized depth. Or cube up the pieces and throw it in the steamer for a lighter puree. I love these tips, or will often peel, cube, and roast the vegetable-du-jour it until each piece is crispy in the corner, tender inside, and with a rich caramelized color all around. Delicious. But even then, after a couple of times of making this (I've used it in pasta, risotto, omelettes, salads, and more), it can get monotonous.

For someone gluten- and corn-free like me, finding healthy carbohydrates to satisfy my hankering can be a challenge. Squash saves the day, so I'm always thinking of new ways to serve up this starch (My vegetables aren't vegetables unless they're green!)

Stuffed squash is one of my new favorite go-tos. Start with some sausage, or for vegetarians, a base of brown rice. Supplement with sweeteners (honey or maple syrup) and spices as you wish, then add a variety of flavorings from cherries and pine nuts to something exotic, like pineapple, coconut, and chopped macadamia nuts. You can even try greens — kale, miso, and a garnish of scallion sounds delicious, doesn’t it?


Dried Cherry and Sausage-Stuffed Acorn Squash

2 acorn squash, sliced in half and seeds scooped out
4 tablespoons olive oil, for brushing, plus more for sautéing
4 tablespoons maple syrup, for brushing
Salt, to taste
2 large yellow onions, finely diced
6 turkey sausage links, removed from casings
1/3 cup dried cherries
1/3 cup pinenuts, toasted

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Trim off the bottom of each squash half so each sits flat. Brush with olive oil and maple syrup. Season with salt and bake for about 1 hour, or until the flesh is tender when pierced with a fork.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over high heat. Add the onions and turn the heat to medium high. Cook for about 10 minutes or until onions are golden and translucent. Season with a pinch of salt and add the turkey sausage. Cook about 10 minutes, or until the meat is cooked most of the way through. Add the cherries and remove from heat. Set aside.

Once the squash is tender, fill each with stuffing. Bake for about 10 minutes, until everything is warmed through. Garnish with pinenuts and serve immediately.

Serves: 4

A Long Time Waiting: Simple Risotto

Yes, I've been a little MIA. Between the holidays and a busy start to the new year, cooking and writing here has (sadly) taken a back seat to life. Hopefully that will change!

I've recently fallen back in love with risotto. A real Italian may be horrified with the approach I've taken (OK, using a little freedom when it comes to ingredient choice), though the outcome both tries was utterly delicious.

Adventure One: Last weekend, when visiting a dear friend and her husband in Boston, the plan was to make a wild mushroom risotto. It was only after we poured our second glass of St-Germain and Sauvignon Blanc (and emptied the bottle) did we realize we had no more white wine. Oops. Red would have to suffice. Thankfully, between the dried morels, morel broth, and button mushrooms (oh, and plenty of Parmigiano!), it was delicious. The perfect complement to a Rioja on a bitter, bitter cold winter night.

Adventure Two: The second adventure in risotto-making took place last night, on the Upper East Side. Two friends, a mad craving kale and butternut squash from the greenmarket, and a good bottle of California chardonnay. I proceeded to lead a brief cooking lesson in risotto 101 to my attentive "student." The outcome (made with a New Zealand sauvignon blanc) was delightful. And even more so the next night. Yes, leftovers with my beefalo!

Below is my simple risotto recipe. It's not an authentic risotto per se - but it's easy to remember and versatile when it comes to adding the flavoring of choice. So what's next for me? I'm looking forward to trying a beet risotto topped with lemon zest, poppy seeds, and creme fraiche. Or perhaps zucchini and caramelized onion. Feeling indulgent? Bacon and Parmigiano - a gluten-free, carbonara-inspired dish that satisfies a craving for comfort food.

Simple Risotto

1/4 cup olive oil
1 yellow onion, finely diced
3 small cloves garlic, minced
3 cups finely chopped vegetables (here I used 1 small butternut squash, and a bunch of dinosaur kale, finely chiffonaded)
3 cups arborio rice
2 cups white wine
Salt, to taste
4-5 cups chicken stock, warm, if necessary
1 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano
Pistachios or toasted pine nuts, for garnish

In a large Dutch oven or stock pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and turn to medium. Cook until translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the vegetables (I added the squash. I'd rather have roasted it and waited until the rice had cooked halfway, when I added the vegetables) and cook until halfway tender.

Add the rice and cook until the outside each grain is translucent. Add one cup of white wine and cook, stirring continuously, until the liquid is absorbed. Add remaining wine and continue cooking and stirring. Season with a pinch of salt.

Once the liquid is absorbed, begin adding the stock, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring continuously, until the rice absorbs it. Continue until the rice is nearly al dente. Add any greens or cooked vegetables, and add any more stock, if needed. Once just done, add 1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano and season to taste.

Serve immediately, garnished with remaining cheese and nuts, if desired.

A Harvest Feast

As promised, I am finally posting the recipes from the most delicious feast I cooked for my friends!

Here is a link to the original posting, with images

1^st Course:

Seared Nantucket Bay Scallops

atop a Butternut Squash Puree and an Apple Cider-Maple Reduction (serves 8)

Wine Pairing: Triennes Sainte Fleur Viognier

Recipe:

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp olive oil

60 Bay Scallops (approx 7 bay scallops per plate)

Salt and pepper

Butternut Squash Puree (below)

Maple – Apple Cider Reduction (below)

Chives for garnish

Heat sauté pan to hot. Reduce heat to medium-high and add butter and oil. Season scallops with salt and pepper. Cook scallops on one end until nicely browned on bottom, approximately a minute or so. Flip on sear on other end. Remove from pan and keep warm.

For plating, place a dollop of warm puree in the center of a plate. Stack scallops, 4 on bottom layer, on puree, and place another scallop atop these. Drizzle reduction on top of scallops and around plate (5 drips). Scatter chives on top and serve.

Apple Cider-Maple Reduction

2 cups apple cider

1/4 c maple syrup

Bring cider and syrup to boil in a small saucepan. Cook until reduced to a syrup. Keep warm for serving.

Butternut Squash Puree

1 large butternut squash (yields approx. 5-6 c puree)

1 1/2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp maple syrup

Salt, to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Slice butternut squash in half vertically and place on foil lined baking sheet, cut side down. Roast in oven until fork tender.

While still warm, scoop out filling into a saucepan. Add butter and maple syrup and stir to combine while heating. Puree with immersion blender and season to taste. Keep warm for serving.

2^nd Course:

Creamy Chestnut Soup with Crème Fraiche and Candied Walnuts (serves 8)

inspired by Rachael Ray

4 tbsp butter

3 tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp nutmeg

2 14.1 oz cans chestnuts in water

3/4 c carrots, emincer

3/4 c small stalks celery, emincer

3/4 small onion, ciseler

1/4 c port

1 15.3 oz can chestnut puree

32oz plus 2 cups chicken stock

Salt to taste

Crème fraiche

Parsley, hacher

Candied Walnuts (recipe below)

Heat butter in a sauté pan. When melted, add sugar, salt, and nutmeg and stir to combine. Add chestnuts and their liquid. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook until liquid reduced and the chestnuts are beginning to caramelize.

While the chestnuts cook, heat remaining 2 tbsp butter in a stockpot. Add the carrot, celery, and onion and sweat until translucent. Add chestnut mixture to stockpot. Deglaze sauté pan with port and add to stockpot. Add chestnut puree and stock to stockpot. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer on medium-low. Cook for 30 minutes. Puree with an immersion blender until smooth. Test seasoning.

Serve soup in a bowl with a dollop of crème fraiche, topped with a couple of candied walnuts, and a sprinkle of parsley.

Candied Walnuts

from Rachael Ray, Rachael Ray Magazine, December 2009[3]

1 tbsp melted butter

1/4 c sugar

1 egg white

Pinch salt

2 c walnut halves

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Mix melted butter, sugar, egg white, and salt together in bowl. Add walnuts and stir to combine. Pour onto foil lined baking sheet and bake until golden. Let cool part way and crumble. Cool completely

3^rd Course:

Roasted Rack of Rhode Island Lamb

with a Fresh Corn Cake and Sautéed Garden Swiss Chard with Cranberries (serves 8)

Wine Pairing - Bordeaux - Chateau Tour Prignac 2005

Rack of Lamb

From Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Parties!

3 tbsp salt

4 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves

6 cloves garlic

1 c Dijon mustard

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

4 racks of lamb, frenched (2 portions of 3 chops per rack)

In a food processor, process salt, rosemary, and garlic until they are as finely minced as possible. Add the mustard and vinegar and process for a minute.

Place the lamb in a roasting pan or baking sheet with the ribs curving down. Coat the tops of the meat with the mustard. Let stand for 1 hour at room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Roast the lamb for about 20 minutes for rare, 25 minutes for medium rare. Remove from oven and tent with foil while meat rests for approximately 15 minutes (keep in warm area, such as atop the stove). Cut into individual ribs.

Fresh Corn Cake, made with Walker’s Corn and Gray’s Cornmeal

Inspired from “Polenta Corn Cakes with Wild Mushroom Pan Roast “21” Club,” from Gourmet

2 1/2 c skim milk

1 1/2 c heavy cream

2 c Gray’s Cornmeal

4 ears of fresh corn, blanched and cut off cobs

4 tbsp butter

Water, if needed

4 oz semi-hard cheese, like Gruyere or Ewephoria

Salt, to taste

Butter a 9x13” baking pan. In a large heavy saucepan, stir together milk, cream, and cornmeal over medium heat. Add fresh corn and butter. Bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer, cooking for 15-20 minutes, stirring constantly so that it doesn’t stick or burn, until the polenta is thick and the corn and cornmeal are cooked. If the polenta gets too thick, you may add water, a tablespoon at a time. Stir in cheese until incorporated and season to taste. Pour into prepared pan and chill until cold, 2-3 hours.

To serve, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut 4” rounds of polenta and place on a silpat lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Once warmed through, remove from oven and turn on broiler. Broil 4” away from element for 2-3 minutes, or until just golden.

To plate, place corn cake in center of plate. Top with some cranberry chard. Arrange three lamb chops just forward of corn cake, with ribs curving over corn cake and chard.

Sautéed Garden Swiss Chard with Cranberries

3 large bunches Swiss chard, rinsed

3 tbsp olive oil

3/4 c dried cranberries

Salt, to taste.

Roll still-wet rinsed leaves of Swiss chard together and cut into 1/2” ribbons. Heat large sauté pan and add oil. When shimmering, add wet chard. Cook until just wilted. Add dried cranberries and season to taste. Continue cooking until chard is tender and cranberries are warmed through, and water has evaporated.

4^th Course:

Soft Gingerbread with a Local Apple Compote and Salted Caramel Sauce (serves 8)

Soft Gingerbread

From Marion Cunningham’s The Breakfast Book

1 c sugar

1 c dark molasses

1 c vegetable oil

3 eggs

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cloves

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

2 c flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 c boiling water

Local Apple Compote (below)

Salted Caramel Sauce (below)

Crème Chantilly (below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and lightly flour a 8x8” baking pan. Put the sugar, molasses, oil, and eggs in a mixing bowl and cream until smooth. In another bowl, combine the salt, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, flour, and baking soda and stir to combine thoroughly with a fork. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Add the boiling water and beat well to combine and batter is smooth (it will be thin!). Pour into prepared baking pans and bake for about 40-45 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Slice slightly warm gingerbread into 2” squares. Serve on a pool of salted caramel sauce with warm apple compote on the side, and a drizzle of caramel and a dollop of crème chantilly on top.

Apple Compote

adapted from Martha Stewart Living, October 2005

3 lbs apples, peeled, cored and diced

1/4 c brown sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

1/4 c water

Place cut apples, sugar, lemon juice, and water in a saucepan and cover. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce to low heat and cook covered until apples are tender. Remove top and simmer while stirring until juices evaporate and compote looks like a chunky applesauce. Keep warm for plating dessert.

Salted Caramel Sauce

from Christine Muhlke’s “The Way We Eat: Salt With a Deadly Weapon,” from The New York Times Magazine

2 1/4 cups white sugar

1/2 cup water

2/3 cup cream

3 tbsp butter

1/2 c milk

Salt to taste (I used about 3 tsp)

Combine sugar and water in a large (tall sides) saucepan. Do not stir. Cook over medium-high heat to a dark caramel, swirling once the edges begin to brown (this may take 5-10 minutes). Reduce the heat to low when the caramel turns a dark brown shade and you can smell the dark caramel scent. Deglaze with cream (watch out, it will bubble). Add butter and milk. Stir well. Season to taste. Keep warm for serving.

Crème Chantilly

1 c heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp confectioners’ sugar

In a cold bowl, whip together all ingredients to stiff peaks.

A Remedy for a Cold...and Rainy Day

I awoke early this morning with a smidgen of a sore throat. Was I too dehydrated from the kitchen and a long run yesterday? Or did my lack of sleep and running in the rain with a sleeveless top catch up with me? Not sure. All I knew is that my throat needed some cooling comfort and TLC.

It was another utterly rainy day. I didn't mind being inside in class all day one bit, secretly hoping skies would clear by 3pm. But, no. The rain was still coming down. Kind of one of those days you want to curl up with a good book in front of a fireplace with a big bowl of soup.

Of course, I came home from school ravenously hungry, and craving some warm comfort -- and some nutrients with the hopes of kicking this sore throat. Of course, I didn't really want to run to the grocery store, not did I want to spend 2 hours in front of the stove. I wanted some instant, okay, well maybe not INSTANT, gratification. Scrounging around the fridge, I found half of a butternut squash, and had lots of apples...mmm...I knew just what to make!!!

One of my favorite soups of all time is Eli Zabar's Pumpkin Butternut soup. It's rich and delicious, but living in CT, I didn't have access to it. Another favorite is Ina Garten's Butternut Apple Soup - with some brioche croutons, this is delish!

Now, I didn't have a full squash, nor apple juice nor brioche, but I was confident I could use the ingredients I had on hand to create a wonderful soup, full of healthy vitamins and minerals (Butternut squash is full of Vitamin A (Beta Carotene), Vitamin C and Potassium) and fiber - filling (even my labs liked it!).

My Curried Apple Butternut Squash Soup - serves 2-3

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion, 1/2" dice

1 /2 - 1 tablespoon curry (I like more - use as much as you wish)

1/2 butternut squash, peeled and diced into 1/2" chunks

2 small or 1 large apple (I like Cortland or yellow delicious for this), peeled and diced into 1/2" chunks

2 cups water

Salt

1/2 cup applesauce

Optional: dash of cream and/or tablespoon of butter

1. Saute onions in olive oil until translucent. Add curry powder and cook on low for 5-10 minutes.

2. Add diced squash and apple. Saute a bit to warm and then add water and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce to a simmer. Cook until apples and squash are tender through.

3. Add applesauce and stir. Use a blender or an immersion blender to blend to smooth. Season with salt to taste. Optional: add cream, milk, and/or butter to taste. I was going to try calvados

to bring out the apple sweetness but didn't have any on hand. I decided for a bit of butter and a dash of maple syrup. You can even try a garnish of creme fraiche!

Serve with crusty toast, or as I did - with oat crackers!