Pasta with Squash, Brown Butter and Rosemary

In my attempt to buy on sale, I decided to use this Pasta with Squash, Brown Butter and Rosemary recipe from Rachael Ray since butternut squash was 39 cents a pound at Whole Foods last week. I looked at two different supermarkets for fresh rosemary and didn't find any at either, which is funny as I hardly ever use fresh herbs. So suffice it to say, you can use dried rosemary as a substitute when making this.

Pasta with Squash, Brown Butter and Rosemary

One 3-lb butternut squash--peeled, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 onion, chopped

2 1/2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 1/2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary (approx. 2 tsp dried)

salt and pepper

2/3 lb lasagna noodles, broken into pieces

4 tbsp butter

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

3 tbsp toasted pine nuts (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, toss the squash, onion, olive oil and rosemary; season with salt and pepper. Place on a baking sheet and roast until the squash is tender, about 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta until al dente; drain and transfer to a large bowl.

3. In a small skillet, melt the butter over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 7 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice.

4. Add the roasted squash, brown butter and 1/3 cup parmesan to the pasta and toss; season with salt and pepper. Top with the pine nuts and remaining parmesan.

The Verdict: My husband and son both liked it because they were oblivious to my faux pas. As the cook, I'd probably like it better if it weren't Pasta with Squash, Black Butter and Rosemary.

Yes, I burned the butter. I made this dish earlier in the day so that I could bring my toddler out for the afternoon. Of course, to foil my plan, he decided it was a no-nap day. So whilst trying to entertain him, cook, and write an email on my Blackberry, something had to give. And it was the butter, which quickly went from a lovely, rich brown to a witch's brew that spat angrily when I added the lemon. So there's a heads up--keep a closer eye than I did on your butter!

Luckily, the butter looked like it was flecked with pepper and didn't taste charred.

The roasted butternut squash was absolutely delicious, and surprisingly, my kiddo ate it as well. His father billed it as "pumpkin" which seemed to pique his interest. Not sure why, but it did.

I found the 2/3 of a pound of pasta ingredient to be a bit tedious--what exactly is 2/3 of a pound of pasta? Before sweating it too much, I decided I didn't care. I had two boxes of leftover lasagna noodles and quite a few large pasta shells. Worked for us. Here's a kitchen tip--if you have a recipe asking for large broken noodles, put them in a freezer bag and gently hammer them with a meat mallet. Took me a while to figure this out personally. Instead, I dealt with shards of razor-like pasta flying through the kitchen and precariously close to my eyes many times before this "a-ha" moment.

This dish is simple, easy (overlooking the butter), and feels like fall. It's a great, filling vegetarian dish.

Scallion Pancakes

I was pretty excited when I found this recipe. I love scallion pancakes but never thought about making them at home. It was even better that I found the recipe in Cuisine Light, suggesting that they were about 18,000 calories less than the Chinese take-out version.

Scallion Pancakes

2 eggs

3/4 cup water

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sliced scallions

2 tsp vegetable oil

Dipping Sauce

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp grated ginger

1/4 cup sliced scallions

1. Prepare dipping sauce by combining all ingredients and whisking together. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, water and eggs until smooth. Add scallions and stir.

3. Heat vegetable oil in a 10-inch nonstick skillet and heat over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add batter; cook 7-8 minutes. Flip and cook the other side for an additional 7-8 minutes.

4. Cut pancake in 8 wedges and serve with dipping sauce.

The Verdict: Don't throw away your take out menus quite yet.

While the pancakes were good, they weren't like the ones you get at a Chinese restaurant. They were quite eggy and spongy which is not how I think of a scallion pancake. My husband, who isn't a giant fan of Chinese food and therefore isn't as knowledgeable about the menu, thought they were just fine.

As I'd predicted while preparing them, they aren't much without the dipping sauce so make sure to accompany them with it.

Like the name implies, a scallion pancake is...well, a pancake. And everyone knows about the first pancake that it's your tester. You need to figure out what heat you need before you create something that's golden and fluffy. Unfortunately, with this recipe, you're making one. (In my case, I doubled the recipe and made two.) Err on the side of caution and flip around the 6 minute mark. Even if you feel like it isn't thoroughly cooked, you can always flip it again for another minute or two.

I served the pancakes with fried vegetable brown rice, a recipe you can find in this blog. I tried to make a link for you, but the link caused all kinds of formatting disasters. I write in this recipe that the best fried rice is made from at least day-old rice. Well, guess who forgot to make rice for tonight's dinner? If you guessed me, give yourself two points. If you find yourself in the same predicament, don't fret. Take this tip from chef Ming Tsai: make a batch of rice and freeze it for 25-30 minutes. (Incidentally, if you're going to cook with tofu as a meat substitute, do the same, though you may need to increase the freezing time. It changes the tofu's consistency from creamy to rough; giving it a meatier texture as well as a texture that your other ingredients more easily sticks to.)

Sausage Meatloaf, Part 2

I've not posted for a few days, not because I haven't been cooking like a lunatic, but because life is busy. The bulk of the activity revolves around our toddler. There is always nothing specific to report, it's more that he has two modes: on and off. Mainly on. Like tonight, I returned home from a meeting to find Amir still awake. "I went pee-pee, Mama!" he tells me. A weary looking Daddy says, "Yes, but tell her where, son." I'll spare you the gory details.


The good news is that in my flurry of cooking, I revisited the sausage meatloaf I'd posted a while back. Perhaps you remember it, perhaps you don't. But the verdict was that the taste was wonderful but the consistency was much too wet. I followed some of your suggestions and now have a meatloaf that will be a part of the regular rotation. I'll do a separate post for the side dish, polenta with corn and thyme. That was pretty ummy-nummy, so be sure to check that recipe out. Without further ado, here's the new meatloaf recipe.

Sausage Meatloaf

1 egg lightly beaten
1/3 cup chicken stock
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 slices whole grain bread, cubed
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
2 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp chopped, jarred garlic
1 lb hamburger
1 lb Italian chicken sausage (pork is fine, too, I'm sure)
1/2 medium onion, grated and squeezed
3 tbsp ketchup
2 tsp cider vinegar
2 tbsp packed brown sugar



1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl combine eggs, broth and the Worcestershire sauce. Let stand for 15 minutes. With fork, mash bread cubes into small pieces, then stir in parmesan cheese, mustard and garlic. Add meat and raw sausage from the casing and onion. Mix well with hands but do not overmix. Form into a rectangular loaf in a 13 x 9-inch glass baking dish.

2. In a small bowl, mix ketchup, vinegar, brown sugar and the remaining Worcestershire sauce. Evenly pour sauce over the top of the meat.

3. Bake, uncovered, for 1 1/4 hours. Drain grease from pan using a spoon or small ladle, and let stand for 10 minutes.

The Verdict: Now that's meatloaf.

Cutting down on the wet ingredients did help a nice loaf to form. It was still a bit crumbly, but in a good way that showed that it was moist. I also omitted the green pepper from the original recipe. From what I'm reading, the fewer "chunks" in a meatloaf, the easier time it has to bind. Besides, there's a lot of flavors going on between the sausage and the baked-on sauce.

I was worried that I had another gloppy mess on my hands when I saw the amount of grease around the loaf. However, it only stands to reason that this would be a fattier meatloaf with the addition of sausage. And I also learned in my meatloaf research that your hamburger itself should have a higher fat content. The leaner the meat, the more likely to crumble. Just siphon off the grease immediately, then let the loaf set.

This is a definite two thumbs up from Amir, the peeing toddler. He ate a slice just about the same size as mine, then said in his upwardly inflecting way, "More?" He said it a second time after eating another half piece, but generally a request for thirds is met with mainly playing with his food. Request denied, but thanks for the sentiment, kid.

Buttered Toast Crispy Fishwiches

While cooking this dish the other night, I was thinking about people who don't like fish. I'm sure, in part, the reason I like it so much is because I grew up in New England. Fish like haddock and cod, as well as lobster are easy to get, not to mention fresh. I think I took that fact for granted until my dad and stepmother moved to Florida. They missed haddock miserably and were excited to find a local restaurant that served fish n' chips from haddock flown in every Friday.



This sandwich comes from Everyday With Rachel Ray and it doesn't answer, "Yeah, so, I live where cod is hard to come by...what now?" For those of you who want to make this recipe but are a little worried about where to get the fish, I'd suggest using frozen fillets. Check your local Trader Joe's if you have one around; they claim that their fish is flash frozen right on the boats. This recipe calls for cod; you can use haddock and it will work just as well.

Buttered Toast Crispy Fishwiches
4 tbsp butter, melted
1 1/2 cups panko breadcrumbs
1 tbsp Old Bay Seasoning
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
Grated peel of one lemon
A couple of tbsp chopped fresh thyme
A couple of tbsp finely chopped fresh chives
4 pieces of cod (6 oz each)
Salt and pepper
Flour, for coating
2 egg whites, beaten
4 sandwich sized English muffins, toasted and lightly buttered

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a bowl, pour the melted butter over the panko and work it into the crumbs to evenly distribute. Season with the Old Bay, onion powder, garlic powder, lemon peel, thyme and chives.
2. Season the cod with salt and pepper, then coat in the flour, egg whites and panko mixture. Arrange on a broiled pan or a cooling rack placed on a cookie sheet (spray the cooling rack with Pam). Bake until deeply golden and crisp, about 20 minutes.
3. Place the English muffin bottoms on a work surface. Dress the slices with whatever you like--cole slaw, lettuce, bread and butter pickle slices, sweet relish, onion, lemon juice or malt vinegar. (Or all of it.) Place a piece of fish on each and top with the remaining muffins.

The Verdict: I haven't been on for a few days. That's because this was so good, we're eating it every night from now on and the blog is finished. Thanks for reading. Bye.

Of course, I'm kidding but these sandwiches were really, reeeeally good. Make sure to serve them fresh out of the oven so that the coating stays nice and crispy. Cooled fish still tastes good, but part of the charm is the crispiness.

The original recipe is a bit specific about how to top the sandwich but seriously, whatevs. Do what tastes good to you. Between you, me and the lamppost, we topped ours with sweet relish and slices of cheese. Rachel doesn't mention anything about cheese. So sue me. Also in the original recipe, it calls for fresh thyme and lemon peel. I didn't have fresh thyme, so I used about a teaspoon of dried and it came out just as well. Nor did I have a lemon, so I used dried lemon peel which you can find in the spice aisle.

Another suggestion, which to the kitchen master is a "no duh": when dunking your fish from flour to egg to panko, set up an assembly line. One next to the other. If you don't, you make a mess. I'm not a kitchen master and used to do it pell mell all the time. A giant mess ensues. Which also reminds me: this recipe uses lots of dishes. If you pop things into the dish washer as you go, or into a sink of hot, soapy water, you can enjoy your dinner afterwards instead of grumble about the disaster in the kitchen waiting.

By the way, I think the picture for this recipe doesn't do it justice at all. It looks bland and brown. Don't judge the sandwich from the picture. Trust me, you'd rather me cook you dinner than take your family photo.

Leftover night and a tomato paste tip

I cooked the shepard's pie in a 13" x 8" baking dish, so it made much more than one meal for a family of three. I think the leftovers could have very easily been frozen; I'm not a huge fan of leftover night and probably should employ the freezing technique. But regardless, it was shepard's pie, part deux tonight.

I did want to share a tip about tomato paste. Unless I'm making tomato sauce, I never use a whole can of tomato paste. Do you? So I used to put saran wrap and an elastic band over the can, stick it in the freezer, and watch it move further and further into the recesses of the shelf. Then, weeks later, there was a tomato science experiment. I also toyed with the squeezable tubes. But still, the paste needs to be used up within a week or two, and I don't know about you, but it seems I don't choose recipes that call for enough tomato paste in a week to use it all.

So I began employing this method: flash freezing tablespoons, then transferring the frozen dollops to a freezer bag. The method is simple. Line a cookie sheet with a piece of wax paper. Dollop tablespoon-ish sized mounds onto the wax paper and freeze the tomato paste until it's set. Then you can transfer the frozen dollops to a freezer bag and they won't stick together in an unbreakable lump. The tomato paste is then good for a long time. And you can just use as much as you need without worrying about fuzzy stuff in your fridge!