Roasted Delicata Squash Kale Salad with Maple Tahini Dressing

It's been a difficult couple of weeks news-wise, and for me, often a carefully-planned and satisfying meal is the best comfort. This week, I made a salad with roasted delicata squash, and it really hit the balance between rich comfort food and being healthy. 

Have you tried delicata squash? I first tried it a few years ago, and now it's the epitome of autumn to me. It's super easy to cook -- you cook it with the skin on, and it's delicious roasted -- and has a great squash flavor.

What's also great about this recipe is that the different components are super versatile and could easily be used in other dishes -- the maple tahini dressing has a really interesting, nutty flavor, and the roasted squash is great on it's own. 

Also, a podcast to try out while you cook. I thought the "Anna in Somalia" episode was really moving, and made me re-realize I still need to read Anna Karenina. 

Roasted Delicata Squash Kale Salad with Maple Tahini Dressing

Makes 3-4 large servings

1 medium delicata squash
1 T olive oil
1-2 T honey
salt and pepper
dash of chili powder
dash of garlic powder
dash of paprika
1/3 C goat cheese, crumbled
About 3 cups baby kale or chopped regular kale (no ribs or stems)
1/4 C dried cranberries
1/2 C chopped walnuts

Dressing

1 small clove garlic, peeled and grated
½ cup olive oil 
¼ cup tahini (sesame paste)
3 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon molasses
dash of paprika  
3/4 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper or white pepper

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F. Slice squash in half and clean out seeds with spoon. Slice each half into C-shaped pieces by slicing horizontally. Place on baking sheet or 9 x 13 pan. Drizzle 1 T olive oil over squash, along with 1-2 T of honey, and then season to taste with salt and pepper, chili powder, garlic powder, and paprika. Squash pieces should be lightly coated with oil, honey, and spices.

2. Bake squash for about 15 minutes on each side (about 30 minutes total); leave in oven until golden brown. 

3. Prepare dressing by mixing all dressing ingredients; a mason jar with a lid works well for shaking to mix ingredients. 

4. Assemble salads: on a bed of the kale, add roasted squash, goat cheese, dried cranberries, chopped walnuts, and drizzle dressing over it all. 

Enjoy! Happy fall! 

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Chorizo, egg and rosemary breakfast risotto

The weather has been autumnal here in DC, and as I was thinking about the weekend at the end of this week, I started to crave a really hearty brunch. After coming across a couple of recipes for savory breakfast risottos, as indulgent as that sounds (and is...), I couldn't resist. Colder weather + breakfast ingredients + risotto makes tons of sense to me.

I wound up combining two different breakfast risotto recipes, particularly because I wanted to make one that had a more autumnal flavoring, which to me means herbs like rosemary and sage.

The resulting flavor is interesting, because it's a bit like eating porridge, and a bit like eating a favorite comfort food, with the rosemary, roasted tomatoes and chorizo. I also love the addition of the egg on top - although it doesn't take away from the richness of the dish, the egg is such a different texture, and has such a bland (in a good way) flavor, that I think it makes it a lot more interesting. While it's rich, it's great for when you feel like something substantive for breakfast; it made a great post-run brunch this weekend.

 

 

This is also not the quickest of recipes. So make it on a weekend when you have some extra time, and want to dig into a cooking project. The reward is that it makes a pretty big batch, so you should have leftovers.

(Try to ignore the imperfect job I did on this sunny-side-up egg... which turned out to more of just a fried and slightly scrambled egg.)

Chorizo, egg and rosemary breakfast risotto

Adapted from the Smitten Kitchen and Jamie Oliver recipes

Serves: Approx. six

6 cups low-sodium chicken stock or vegetable broth
3-4 links of chorizo sausage
3-4 tablespoon olive oil
2 large or 3 smaller leeks, quartered lengthwise, cleaned of grit, and chopped small
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
2 cups arborio rice
1/3 cup dry white wine or vermouth
6 small Roma tomatoes or other small tomatoes
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 cup finely grated fresh Parmesan cheese, plus extra for garnish if desired
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
approx. 6 large eggs; one per serving

1. First, start the tomatoes roasting. Heat the oven to 350 F, wash the tomatoes, cut then in half, and place skin up in a roasting dish. Coat with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Throw in a spring of rosemary and cook for about 30-35 minutes. After tomatoes are finished, set aside to cool and then cut into chunks, discarding rosemary.
2. Place stock or broth in a small-medium saucepan over very low heat on a back burner and keep it heated until steaming, but not so hot that it simmers.
3. Heat a second medium saucepan (3 quarts) or skillet over medium heat. Add chorizo, leeks, and rosemary, and cook for 10-12 minutes. Leeks should be softened and mostly tender. Next remove all from pan and set aside, but leave pan with sausage flavoring. Transfer to bowl with bacon and set aside, leaving stove on.
4. Add olive oil to pan and cook onions until translucent and tender, about 5 minutes. Add rice and cook sauté until faintly toasted, about 4 minutes. Add wine or vermouth and cook until it almost disappears, about 2 minutes. Ladle 1 cup of hot broth into the rice mixture and simmer until it absorbs, stirring frequently. Add remaining broth 1/2 cup at a time, allowing broth to be absorbed before adding more and stirring frequently until rice is al dente, about 25 to 30 minutes.
5. From smitten kitchen regarding the risotto's consistency: "What you’re looking for in well-cooked risotto is a creamy but loose dish. When ladled onto a plate, it should spill into a creamy puddle, not heap in a mound. You might need an extra splash of broth to loosen it."
6. When risotto is the desired consistency, add the cheese and chorizo, leeks and rosemary mix, and then add the chopped roasted tomatoes.
7. Then, quickly, in a small skillet, heat a olive oil over medium-high and swirl it to coat the pan. Crack one egg into the skillet, season with salt and pepper and reduce heat to medium. Cook egg sunny side up. Cook one egg per serving of risotto.
8. To serve, garnish each serving of risotto with a bit of Parmesan cheese, and lay the egg on top.

Black Bean Pumpkin Soup

It's been really cold in DC the last couple of days, and so I had a craving to make a huge pot of soup. This soup turned out really well - it's comforting and filling, and the addition of the feta adds a very crucial salty component. I also thought that this recipe was interesting because it's a recipe with pumpkin, but that doesn't have the typical spices that usually go with it, like cinnamon or nutmeg.

(By the way, I'm going to take a break from monthly theme idea that I've been doing so far this year. I have a little writer's block with idea, and also, it's fall, one the best food times of the year, so there is no shortage of recipes to try.)

And a reminder from a prior post (the most blog's most viewed/found from Google post!): the more bean recipes you like, the better, since beans are such an efficient source of energy compared to meat.  

Note: I ended up roasting pie pumpkins instead of using canned pumpkin as the recipe says. I roasted two pie pumpkins (different than carving pumpkins) by the following method: cut pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds; either leave pumpkin cut in half, or cut in smaller pieces to decrease baking time, and lay pumpkin pieces in a large baking dish along with 1/4 inch of water; bake at 350 F for 45-60 minutes, until tender (check with a fork as baking time will depend on pumpkin size). I pureed the cooked pumpkin in a food processor. 

Black Bean Pumpkin Soup
from Gourmet

Makes about 9 cups

Three 15 1/2 ounce cans black beans (about 4 1/2 cups), rinsed and drained
1 cup drained canned tomatoes, chopped
1 1/4 cups chopped onion
1/2 cup minced shallot
4 garlic cloves minced
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 T olive oil
4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
2 16-ounce cans pumpkin puree (or about 3 cups of roasted pureed pumpkin)
3 to 4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Garnish: crumbled feta cheese

1. Coarsely puree beans and tomatoes in a food processor.
2. In a large soup kettle, saute the onion, shallot, garlic, cumin, salt, and pepper in the olive oil over moderate heat. Stir until the onion is softened and beginning to brown. Stir in bean and tomato puree. Then stir in broth and pumpkin, and simmer for about 25 minutes, until think enough to coat the back of a spoon.
3. Stir in vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Garnish with feta cheese.

Brined and Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

In honor of Halloween this weekend, an easy, salty and kind of sassy (thanks to Worcestershire sauce) recipe for roasted pumpkin seeds:



I tried something new with this recipe in that I first brined the seeds (boiled them in salty water) before roasting them in the oven, which I'd seen in a couple of recipes.





And after trying them, I think I'm into the brining. It seems it makes them a bit crispier because it kind of puffs them up before you bake them.

It's unfortunate that more seeds don't come in one pumpkin, because it's pretty easy to eat the whole batch yourself.

Brined and Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

seeds from 1 medium-sized pumpkin
1 T olive oil
1.5 T Worcestershire sauce
2 T salt
(amounts may chance depending on quantity of seeds in your pumpkin)

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Cut pumpkin open and scoop out the insides. Separate the seeds from the stringy parts, and rinse the seeds.

2. Measure the quantity of seeds that you have, and add 2 cups of water for every half-cup of seeds, and half a teaspoon of salt for every cup of water, to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Drain seeds.

3. Spread the seeds in a roasting pan. Add 1 T of olive oil and 1 T of Worcestershire sauce for every 1 cup of seeds. Mix all together, and spread seeds in pan so that seeds are in one layer.

4. Bake seeds for 20 minutes, until the seeds begin to brown. Watch carefully as they burn easily. Let cool.

Pumpkin & Feta Savory Muffins

This recipe is for pumpkin-lovers with a curious streak... it's pumpkin not in a pie or dessert, but in a savory muffin (more of a biscuit, actually) with scallions and salty feta cheese.





As a side note, I've included a method for roasting a pumpkin yourself (versus using canned). It's actually really easy as long as you have some extra time.





I was happy with how these turned out, but they almost smelled better as they were cooking-- they sort of smelled like Thanksgiving in a muffin.

Lastly, I used whole-wheat flour in this recipe in an effort to use the lesser-processed option, but you could also use white all-purpose flour. The whole-wheat version seemed to make the muffins a little denser than I was expecting, so I would be curious what a half-and-half version would be like.





Pumpkin & Feta Savory Muffins

Makes 20-22

2 C chopped roasted pumpkin pie pumpkin (or other winter squash)
1 large handful of spinach, chopped (about 1 C)
1/2 C unsalted sunflower seed kernels
1 t Dijon mustard
3/4 C feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 C Parmesan cheese, shredded or grated
1 t salt
1/2 t ground black pepper
1 t red pepper flakes
4 t baking powder
2 C whole-wheat flour (can also use all-purpose flour)
2 eggs
3/4 C milk
1 bunch of scallions/green onions, chopped (about 1 1/4 C)
1 T butter or olive oil to grease muffin tins

1. To roast the pumpkin:

Preheat oven to 400 F. Slice pumpkin open and scoop out seeds. Cut pumpkin into about eight chunks. Leaving skin on, place pumpkin pieces in a pan and put about 1/4-inch of water in the bottom of the pan. Place in oven for about 40-45 minutes; test tenderness of pumpkin with a fork.

Once pumpkin is done, set aside to cool. The oven can stay at the same temperature to cook the muffins.

2. While pumpkin is cooking, grease the muffin tin with butter or olive oil (I actually used coconut oil, which is a good alternative to butter).

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the spinach, scallions, sunflower seeds, Parmesan, a half-cup of the feta, the mustard, salt, red pepper flakes, and pepper. Add the chopped pumpkin.

4. Beat the eggs and milk together in a separate bowl, and add to the pumpkin mixture. Sift the flour and baking soda into the pumpkin mixture and fold all together.

5. Spoon the mixture into the greased muffin tin, filling each tin about 3/4 full. Sprinkle the remaining feta over muffins. Bake for about 15 minutes (still at 400 F), until the tops and sides of the muffins are brown. Let sit for a few minutes before cooling on a cooling rack.


Adapted from a 101cookbooks.com recipe.

Butternut Squash Barley Risotto

Somehow, it is already October. And getting towards mid-October. It's still really warm in DC, so it doesn't feel like October. But I panicked a little the other day, thinking about this, because fall is probably my favorite season for cooking, and I have a lot I want to cram in before it's over! So, whatever the temperatures are here, it's time for autumnal cooking.


I think that cooking at this time of year is so rewarding because in addition to a lot of delicious ingredients being in season (squash, apples, pumpkins, etc.), the food is basically all about comfort, or, more explicitly, chilliness and finding comfort in food that's the opposite of chilly.

This dish is a great example. I started out wanting to make a dish with butternut squash and sage, which go really well together, and then started thing about how comforting risotto is, and so decided to do both. I think this recipe definitely delivers on the comforting front; the flavors are very mild, but the combination of the sage and squash flavors with the chewiness of risotto is really nice.

This risotto recipe is also interesting because it uses barley instead of Arborio rice, which is usually used in risotto. (So really this is probably more of a "risotto.") But as barley is a whole grain and Arborio rice is not, this recipe is healthier and uses less-processed ingredients. Barley itself is a little bit of a complicated topic, because there are several different types, but pearled barley, which the recipe calls for, is a little less nutritious than what's called hulled barley, but is probably necessary for this type of a recipe where you're trying to make the barley get really soft.

You can use either water or broth for the liquid, but it's probably more flavorful with at least some broth; I used half broth and half water.







To fall!

Butternut Squash Barley Risotto

Serves 6 to 8

1 medium butternut squash
2 C [dry] pearled barley
9-10 sage leaves
salt and pepper
7-8 C of chicken or vegetable stock, or water
1 C white wine
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium onion
1/2 C Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated
2-3 T extra-virgin olive oil

1. Peel the squash and scoop out seeds. Dice into small cubes, and put into a pot with 3-4 whole sage leaves, salt, and 1 C of broth or water. Bring to a simmer and cook until tender, but not too soft, about 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, then add the onion, garlic, and six chopped sage leaves. Stir constantly for about five minutes, until the onions are translucent.

3. Add the barley to the onions, garlic, and sage, and stir until coated with a sheen. Add the white wine, and simmer for 3-4 minutes, until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Season with salt and pepper.

4. In increments of about 1 C, add the liquid to the barley mixture and stir. Turn down heat if necessary; it should be at a simmer. Wait until almost all of the last cup of liquid has been absorbed before adding next cup, and keep stirring it every few minutes.

5. Returning to the butternut squash: once done, remove sage leaves and set squash aside, covering pot to keep squash warm.

6. Continue to add water to barley mixture until have added about six cups. Once last cup has been added, add squash to mixture and stir. When almost all of the liquid has been absorbed, add the cheese (this can be skipped to make recipe vegan). Continue to stir until all of the liquid has been absorbed.

Adapted from a Chez Panisse Vegetables recipe.