Roasted butternut squash soup

A few weeks ago or a month I don't remember now. Someone invited me to a soup pot luck. I was feeling lazy the day I was asked so I planned on stopping and picking up soup at New England Soup Factory. However, at the last minute my obsessive nature kicked in and I decided that I needed to make soup. I was feeling really obsessed with Roasted butternut squash soup in particular so I set out to find an easy recipe to make. Then I got worried about it coming out wrong so I of course made another soup but that is for a different post.
Of course Williams-Sonoma came through with an easy recipe. The recipe below is adapted from this one.

2 large butternut squashes, each 1 1/2 to 2 lb.
olive oil
6 Tbs. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
4 large shallots, chopped
8 fresh sage leaves, shredded
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock or canned broth
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Ground nutmeg, to taste, if needed
Pinch of sugar, if needed
1/3 cup hazelnuts
Directions:
Preheat an oven to 400°F.

Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds. Then, brush the flesh with olive oil and place skin up flesh down on a baking pan covered with tin foil ( if you can find grill foil I highly recommend it). Roast until they feel somewhat soft to the touch and a knife penetrates the skin easily, about 45 min-1 hour. Remove from the oven and, when cool enough to handle remove the skin.

While the squashes are cooling, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F. Spread the hazelnuts on a baking sheet and toast until fragrant and the skins have loosened, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and, while still warm, place the nuts in a kitchen towel. Rub the towel vigorously to remove the skins; do not worry if small bits of skin remain. run them through a food processor for a couple of pulses to chop them up.

In a large soup pot saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Add the shallots and the sage and cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots are tender and translucent, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the stock and squash pulp, raise the heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for a few minutes to combine the flavors. Remove from the heat.

Use an immersion blender to smooth out the soup ( alternatively you could blend the soup in batches in a food processor or blender but this soup is practically made for an immersion blender.  Reheat gently over medium-low heat. Season with salt and pepper. If the squash is starchy rather than sweet, a little nutmeg will help. If the nutmeg does not give the proper flavor balance, add a pinch of sugar. This is a nice basic butternut squash soup but, if you want to add a little kick  you can add some fresh ginger to taste before you blend the soup.

The hazelnuts are meant to be an optional garnish but I personally refuse to eat this soup without them.

The Zack and Katie project: Shrimp and Sausage skewers

This meal was inspired by my friend Melody. I wanted to make something new one night but I had no inspiration. So I asked my friends what they wanted to eat. Mel responded with Strawberry Spinach salad and baked oven fries. So all I had to come up with was the meat. Out came the most recent issue of Bon Appetit and a promising Shrimp and Sausage skewers recipe. I was even more excited when I realized that this could be a Zack and Katie project meal. I am not normally a spicy kind of gal so I wanted to add another dimension to this meal. So I picked up some Orange apricot marmalade at the same shop where I bought the sausage and glazed half of the skewers with that. This meal is more filling than you would expect and stands up just fine when only paired with some corn, or a simple salad. But you can go all out and make potatoes and veggies to go with it as well.

Shrimp and Sausage Skewers adapted from Bon Appetit

¾ cup olive oil

4 large garlic cloves, pressed

2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme + 1 T dried thyme

3 teaspoons smoked paprika

6 teaspoons Sherry wine vinegar

¾ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

1 1/2 lbs uncooked extra-large shrimp (13 to 15 per pound), peeled, deveined

4 pieces of pre cooked sausage 1-inch-long pieces

12 cherry tomatoes

12 2-layer sections of red onion wedges

1 jar of orange marmalade or other sweet preserve

Special Equipment

6 long metal skewers

6 long bamboo skewers soaked in water

View full recipe

Whisk oil, garlic, thyme, smoked paprika, Sherry wine vinegar, salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper in medium bowl to blend for glaze. Transfer half of glaze to small bowl and reserve for serving.

Alternately thread shrimp, sausage pieces, cherry tomatoes, and sections of onion wedges on each skewer. Arrange skewers on large rimmed baking sheet. DO AHEAD Can be made up to 6 hours ahead.

Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Brush 6 of skewers on both sides with glaze from 1 bowl. Brush the remaining 6 skewers with the orange marmalade. Grill until shrimp are opaque in center, turning and brushing occasionally with more glaze or marmalade, 6 to 8 minutes.

Arrange skewers on platter. Serve with remaining bowl of glaze and marmalade.

The Zack and Katie project, Gluten free AND Onion free

You all may know about my GFF by now, well, having her involved in my life gives me a good excuse to be creative when I'm coming up with new menus. Over the years I have developed a variety of different menus that can be pulled out at the mere mention of a dinner party. Vegetarian menus, no red meat menus, no chicken menus, no pork menus, no gluten menus, no vegetable menus, no spice menus, I am even working on some no onion menus. The only group I haven't really had to accommodate thus far is vegans. And I really hope I don't get any vegans cause if I can't cook with dairy along with all of the other restrictions, I will be one sad chef. So, this one falls into the no gluten and no onion menus. It is also part of my 45 minutes or less collection of easy and attractive dinners. So here it is. The polenta recipe is adapted from cooks illustrated.

Marinated Shrimp with Parmesan Polenta
For the shrimp
2lbs large shrimp, uncooked shelled deveined and rinsed in cold water
1/2 cup Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup dry white wine (cooking wine is fine)
juice of one lemon
3-4 large garlic cloves pressed/diced
2 Tbs minced fresh parsley
dash salt
dash pepper
2 dozen bamboo skewers soaked in water

For the polenta
7 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
Pinch baking soda
1 1/2 polenta ( I use quick polenta)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Ground black pepper
butter (can use a non dairy butter like substance.
2 cups parmesan cheese (can use pecorino romano)

For the shrimp
combine all ingredients in a bowl. add the shrimp and let sit for an hour. DO NOT LET THEM SIT for longer than an hour and 15 minutes or they will start to cook in the citrus juice.

let bamboo skewers sit in water for 10 minutes while the shrimp are marinating.
Skewer the shrimp there is no real rhyme or reason to this though I usually try to stick the skewer two times through each shrimp to ensure stability.

grill the shrimp for 5-10 minutes on each side or until they look done.

For the polenta
Bring the water to a boil
once the water is boiling, add the salt and the baking powder ( this helps keep the polenta from clumping)
Then slowly pour in the polenta while stirring. Make sure you keep stirring until all of the polenta is thoroughly wet. Continue to stir continuously for 1 minute
then turn down the heat and leave the polenta to simmer for 5 mins stirring occasionally. pour in the cheese and incorporate. turn off the heat and stir in the butter.
It is now ready to serve.


Put big spoonfulls of the polenta in the bottom of a regualr or salad bowl. Then liberate the shrimp from the skewers and arrange on top of the polenta.
garnish with leftover parsley.

Easy creamy lemon pasta

This one is so easy that I honestly didn't believe it the first time I tried it. In fact, I have complicated it significantly since I first tried the recipe. I really wanted a light fresh cream sauce, and I was astounded at how easy this is. The lemon juice actually curdles the cream turning it into this lovely light and lemony cream sauce. The thyme is the perfect accompaniment. And depending on what you add into this one, this recipe can take as little as the amount of time it takes to cook pasta.

Creamy lemon pasta

Enough pasta for 2 people
1 cup cream
2 tsp lemon juice
Lemon zest from 1 lemon
3 tsp thyme
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
Pecorino Romano cheese for garnish

-Saute the lemon zest and the thyme in the olive oil for 2-3 minutes.
-Add in the cream and cook until it is reduced a little.
-Add in lemon juice.
-Season to taste with salt and pepper.
-Coat pasta with sauce.

Serve with any of the following.

-Chicken breasts cooked with lemon juice and thyme cut into small pieces.
-Slightly wilted baby spinach
-Sliced proscuitto ( I recommend you add this to the sauce at the last minute)

Or you can do what I do and add all three. The great thing about this recipe is that you can add any or all of the ingredients above to accommodate any number of picky palates.

Ricotta, Peas, and Bacon Oh My!

I found the idea for this dish on tastespotting. But once I started playing with it I definitely made it my own. This is quite possibly the easiest dinner I have ever made and one that my annoyingly critical husband actually really liked on the first try. I added in the hazelnuts after my husband proclaimed that it, had a nutty flavor, it gives the pasta a nice added crunch.

5 pieces of bacon
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup peas
2 tsp lemon thyme
3 handfuls of arugula
1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts (chopped in a food processor)
1/2 a package cooked penne pasta
grated Pecorino Romano cheese

fry up the bacon until it is to your preference ( both crispy and chewy works) remove the bacon so that it can cool for a minute. Pour off about half the bacon fat and add 1/4 cup of water. Add in the peas and simmer for about 5 minutes. Crumble the cooled bacon into smallish pieces and then add the bacon, ricotta, thyme and hazelnuts stir until thoroughly mixed, then add in the pasta and stir until incorporated. Finally, spoon into a pasta bowl and mix in the arugala, sprinkle with the romano.