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.

Beef and Pinto Bean Chili

This week, instead of choosing recipes first, I scanned the circular for the local supermarket to see what was on sale. After getting an idea of what meats and main staples were available, I chose dishes from this information. What's funny is that I didn't save a dime. Well, for the time being anyway. One of the items I bought was a 3+ pound chuck roast. With it, I was able to nearly double this recipe for Beef and Pinto Bean Chili. We ate it for dinner last night, sent some with my husband for lunch today, and froze the rest. I also have another pound and a half of meat to make another recipe. So hopefully, in the long run, I've created some kind of grocery savings.

This chili recipe comes from the January/February 2010 issue of Cooking Light.

Beef and Pinto Bean Chili

A note on spiciness: You can make this chili as spicy as you wish. For a spicy chili, use the 1/4 cup of minced jalapeño peppers (about 2 large) with the seeds. Sour cream will help to create a cooling effect. My husband and toddler don't enjoy spicy foods, so I chose to use one jalapeño with the seeds scraped out, allowing the chili to have the jalapeño flavor without the heat. Remember: the more peppers with seeds you use, the hotter the chili.

Cooking spray

1 pound boneless chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces

3/4 tsp salt, divided

2 tbsp canola oil

4 cups chopped onion (about 2 medium)

1/4 cup minced jalapeño peppers (about 2 large)

10 garlic cloves, minced

1 (12-oz) bottle beer

1 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp ground cumin

2 tbsp tomato paste

3 cups fat-free, less sodium beef broth

1 (28-oz) can whole peeled tomatoes, drained and chopped

1 (15-oz) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup thinly sliced radish

1 avocado, peeled, seeded, and chopped

6 tbsp small cilantro leaves

6 tbsp sour cream

6 lime wedges

1. Heat a Dutch oven over high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle beef evenly with 1/4 tsp of salt. Add beef to pan; sauté 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Remove from pan. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onions and jalapeño; sauté 8 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in beer, scraping pan to loosen browned bits; bring to a boil. Cook until liquid almost evaporates (about 10 minutes), stirring occasionally. Stir in paprika, cumin, and tomato paste; cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Add broth, tomatoes, beans and meat; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 1 1/2 hours or until mixture is thick and beef is very tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in remaining 1/2 tsp of salt.

2. Garnish one cup of chili per bowl by equally dividing radish and avocado. Top each serving with 1 tablespoon of cilantro and 1 tablespoon of sour cream. Serve with lime wedges.

The Verdict: If you'd have asked me if I'd ever made chili before dinner last night, I'd have answered "of course." If you ask me now if I've ever made chili before, the answer is not before yesterday. This is chili. This makes me finally understand the rationale behind things like chili cook-offs.

The tlc you put into this chili raises it up to an almost beef Burgundy or coq au vin status. It takes work to create it. And like those famous French stews, this chili is created with many simple ingredients, in many simple steps. This kitchen dance creates layers of complex flavor.

Not surprisingly, the entire family enjoyed it.

This is not a throw-together after work chili. You'd probably want to make it on a weekend. And like good stews, I'm going to guess that if you made it Sunday afternoon for Monday or Tuesday's dinner, it would be even better as the flavors have even more time to mingle.

Love it. Good stuff.

Huevos Rancheros

When I came across this recipe, which first appeared in Good Housekeeping, I tagged it as a potential family meal. I've had some great huevos rancheros (ranch eggs) and thought this version looked easy and healthy.

Huevos Rancheros

4 (6-inch) corn tortillas

nonstick cooking spray

1 jar (16-oz) mild fat-free salsa

1 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup frozen corn kernels

3 green onions, sliced

1 tsp ground cumin

4 large eggs

1/2 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves, thinly sliced

1/2 avocado, sliced into thin wedges

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a 15 1/2- by 10 1/2-inch jelly roll pan, invert four 6-ounce custard cups. With kitchen shears, make four evenly spaced 1-inch cuts, from edge toward center, around each tortilla. Lightly spray both sides of tortillas with cooking spray and drape each over a custard cup. Bake tortilla cups 8 minutes or until golden and crisp.

2. Meanwhile, in a nonstick skillet, combine salsa, beans, corn, green onions, and ground cumin; heat to boiling over medium heat. Cover and cook 3 minutes to blend flavors.

3. With large spoon, make 4 indentations for the eggs in salsa mixture, spacing them evenly around skillet. One at a time, break eggs into a cup, then slip the egg into an indentation in salsa mixture. Cover and simmer 8 to 10 minutes or until eggs are set or cooked to desired doneness.

4. To serve, invert each tortilla cup onto a plate. Spoon an egg with some salsa mixture into each tortilla cup. Spoon any remaining salsa mixture around and on eggs in cups. Sprinkle with cilantro; serve with avocado slices.

The Verdict: Good, easy, but not the recipe I was hoping for.

My husband liked it and my son ate it as well. I ate it and liked it, too, but just felt that something was missing. If you Google "huevos rancheros" about a trillion recipes pop up. Many call for something a little more than just salsa, beans and corn--whether it be a homemade salsa simmered in chicken stock, covered in green chile sauce, or embellished with smoky chiles in adobo. This lacked pop.

I did like that it was open this, dump that, toss in eggs and walk away. It's always smart to have some easy recipes in your arsenal.

Two thoughts on the recipe: First, when it asks to make indentations with your spoon, don't be too frustrated that you can't. Unless your salsa was super-chunky, you've got a lot of wet in your skillet. You are basically pushing the solid ingredients aside under a layer of tomato sauce. That's perfect. You're just trying to make sure the eggs don't melt into one four-yolked monster. Secondly, corn tortillas are a lot less pliable than a flour-based tortilla. The cuts and the cooking spray will help to "drape" the tortillas over the custard cups, but don't get it in your head that you're going to make corn cups. They will flop enough to hold your salsa and eggs; leave it at that.

So I'm not sure. I think I'll continue to find a huevos rancheros recipe that really wows me over.

Chicken in Lettuce Cups

It was Thanksgiving here in the U.S. yesterday, which meant for this American I could be thankful for not having to cook. My aunt, with the help of my uncle, roasted a giant turkey for ten of us. It came out beautifully brown and incredibly moist. Add to that lots of fall sides like mashed turnip and succulent stuffing, it was a Happy Thanksgiving indeed.

But before the holiday, we here at our house tried a new recipe that first appeared in Good Housekeeping: Chicken in Lettuce Cups. It's a simple stir fry served in large leaves of Boston lettuce. My ingredient amounts differ slightly from the original recipe.

Chicken in Lettuce Cups

3 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce

2 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger

1 tbsp honey

2 tsp toasted sesame oil

1 1/4 lbs chicken tenders, cut into 1/4-inch chunks

1 cup frozen shelled edamame

2 medium stalks celery, chopped

12 large Boston lettuce leaves

1. In cup, combine soy sauce, ginger and honey. Set aside.

2. In a 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat sesame oil on medium for 1 minute. Add chicken chunks and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Add edamame to chicken in skillet; cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in celery; cook 3 minutes longer. Add soy sauce mixture; cook 2 minutes or until chicken is cooked through; stirring occasionally to coat chicken in sauce.

4. Arrange lettuce leaves on dinner plates. Divide chicken mixture among lettuce leaves, about 1/4 cup per leaf. Fold leaves over chicken mixture and eat out of hand.

The Verdict: Fun, delicious and easy!

My husband and I both liked the taste of this simple stir fry and loved the idea of wrapping the chicken around a lettuce leaf. My son's hand were too small to successfully eat the stir-fry wrapped in the lettuce and I don't think he was into the idea of eating a big green leaf anyway. No matter, the stir fry itself had lots of edamame and celery, giving him plenty of vegetables.

I didn't bother to divide the lettuce leaves among our plates. Instead, I just brought a plate of lettuce and the stir-fry in a bowl and served it family style.

This was much better than Chinese take out!

Lahana Sarma (Stuffed Cabbage Rolls)

Although this is a Turkish dish, you probably can find an equivalent in most cultures. I remember my mom making this growing up, though I think our stuffed cabbage rolls were topped with tomato sauce.

One difference is the use of dill. Dill is a favorite spice in Turkey. I hardly use fresh herbs in cooking, but this is one I'd suggest making the effort for. Dill is so aromatic and flavorful; a little goes a long way.

Lahana Sarma (Stuffed Cabbage Rolls)

1 large savoy cabbage

1/2 cup cooked brown rice

1 small onion, diced

2 tsp chopped dill

1 tsp dried tarragon

1/2 lb ground lamb

1/2 lb ground beef

salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook brown rice as directed on package. Set aside and let cool.

2. Remove outer leaves from the cabbage and submerge the rest of the cabbage for 10 minutes in boiling water. Immediately submerge in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process.

3. In a large bowl, combine ground meats with onion, dill, tarragon, rice, and salt and pepper. Mix well.

4. Drain cabbage and remove leaves. Flatten the leaves out on a cutting board and remove the tough center ribs. You should have two pieces of cabbage for rolling after doing this.

5. Make small sausage-shapes with the meat mixture and place one on each cabbage leaf. Roll the leaf, folding the ends inside as you work. Place in a large pot and add water; enough to cover cabbage rolls about halfway. Cook on medium until water begins to boil, then turn heat down to a simmer. Cook for approximately 40 minutes, watching to assure that cabbage does not disintegrate. Arrange on a serving dish and serve immediately.

The Verdict: The cabbage rolls end up being a little over two inches long each. It's fun to have a square meal--meat, vegetable and rice--in one little package.

Because I usually use brown rice, I would suggest cooking your rice first if that's your choice as well. This recipe called for soaking the rice for 30 minutes only, which I did, and it didn't cook thoroughly. It might work for white rice, but coarser brown did not.

I would suggest buying a large cabbage so that you have larger leaves to work with. You may not use the entire cabbage, but at least you won't be trying to create cabbage origami with tiny leaves. You can always save the extra cabbage for side dish later in the week. If you find that your cabbage is still raw as you get towards the middle, you may wish to blanch it a second time for a shorter cooking time.

For a different spin, and an extra vegetable, you can top your rolls with a mixture of a can of tomato sauce, a can of diced tomatoes, a tablespoon of sugar and a splash of vinegar. Place the cabbage rolls into a large baking dish, ladle the tomato mixture on the top of each roll, then add water so that it covers the rolls to about halfway up their sides. Bake, uncovered, in a preheated 350 degree oven.

Lahmacun (Turkish Pizza)

Lahmacun (pronounced lah-mah-jhoon) is probably the only recipe that calls for copious amounts of parsley that I love. For whatever reason, the mix of meats, vegetables and spices seems to negate some of that sharp parsley taste that disagrees with me.

Lahmacun is a very thin pizza without cheese. It's topped with ground lamb, onions, garlic, parsley and spices, then baked until golden brown. You can use store bought pizza dough, or if you have a bread machine, you can make your own. (You can, of course, make your own without a bread machine but I like dumping it all the ingredients into one place and letting it do all the work for me.) My pizza dough recipe comes from The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys homemade bread. Furthermore, Beth Hensperger suggests using SAF yeast when making breads. After some experimentation, I've come to realize she knows what she's talking about. If you're going to make your own anything in the bread machine, get yourself a bag of this yeast. It lasts forever and makes beautiful doughs and breads.

The recipe for lahmacun is a combination of many different recipes. If you find that you like lahmacun, play with the ingredients yourself. Just remember to stretch your dough very, very thinly to create very thin crust. It still tastes great with a thicker crust, but it's not as authentic.

Beware! This makes a LOT of pizza--six or eight smallish pizzas! Because it's thin, more than likely you'll eat one per adult. But with a small family, you'll definitely have leftovers.

Lahmacun

For the dough:

1 1/3 cups water

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp SAF yeast or 2 1/2 tsp bread machine yeast

1. Add ingredients to your bread machine according to the manufacturer's directions. Set to dough cycle. Take out of the machine immediately and divide into desired number of portions. Flatten each portion into a disc. Cover with a damp towel and let rest for 30 minutes until the dough has increased in size by 20%.

2. Roll out and shape dough. Lahmacun are not perfectly round, so the more lopsided, the better. Or place dough in plastic food storage bags and refridgerate for up to 24 hours. To use, let rest for 20 minutes at room temperature before rolling out.

For the lahmacun topping:

1 lb ground lamb (or 1/2 lb ground lamb, 1/2 lb ground beef)

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 tbsp garlic, chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

1 bunch parsley, finely chopped

1 large tomato, peeled and finely chopped

2 tbsp tomato paste

1/2 jalapeño pepper, finely chopped

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili pepper

salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Heat olive oil in a skillet and add onion and garlic. Cook until onion is translucent. Set aside and let cool.

2. In a large bowl, combine rest of ingredients as well as onion and garlic mixture. Mix very well until mixture resembles a thick paste.

3. Roll out dough into ovals that are approximately 6-x 8-inches in diameter. Spread about 4-5 heaping tablespoons of lamb mixture over each. Place one or two on a large cookie sheet (whatever fits) and cook for 10-15 minutes; crust should be golden brown and topping should be browned as well. Cover cooked lahmacun with a towel as subsequent pizzas are cooked. Serve immediately.

The Verdict: Gosh, these are yummy. Like, "my belly hurts because I didn't stop eating in time" yummy.

Kind of like pancakes, I find that my first couple of crusts that I roll out aren't quite right. In my case, they're too thick. But like I mentioned above, while that's not traditional, it still tastes fantastic.

My husband and I both enjoyed them immensely (hence "my belly hurts"...although that might just have been me) and my son ate a couple of small slices. He recognized it as pizza by site, but his American senses weren't fooled by taste. The excitement of pizza for dinner quickly faded. If you have a child who loves pizza, call it lahmacun to avoid any disappointment.

I know some people see lamb as an ingredient and keep searching for a dinner recipe. Before you dismiss this because of that, consider making it with just ground beef. I've even made it with ground turkey before. While I try to limit our lamb consumption (yeah, I'm one of those suckers who can't separate "but it's a lamb--a fluffy, cute lamb!"), I do still love it. And if given the choice of turkey or lamb, I'm going to choose lamb. That slightly gamey flavor is part of the appeal of the dish.

Lebanese Eggs with Sumac

From Washington, DC to Ethiopia to Lebanon in 10 minutes. Ready?


On Friday afternoon, I was watching Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations with Amir. Bourdain is probably not the most appropriate viewing for a 2-year-old, but since this isn't a parenting blog, we won't go there. Anyhow, he was visiting and eating his way around Washington, DC. He and his companion are at one point dining in an Ethiopian restaurant, eating raw grass-fed beef with injera, the spongy bread served with Ethiopian meals. The injera (but definitely not the raw meat) make me suddenly hungry for doro wat, a really fantastic stew. So I hunt down my The Frugal Gourmet On Our Immigrant Ancestors cookbook.


You may remember Jeff Smith, or the Frugal Gourmet, as the funny-voiced PBS cook who fell from grace in the early '90's and died a few years later. Whether the allegations brought against him were true or not, I loved watching him cook and have quite a few of his recipes I go back to time and again. Unfortunately, his recipe for doro wat was too complex for my taste, so I began flipping through the book, landing on a recipe for eggs fried in oil with sumac.


See the world tour?


Anyway, I love sumac and have sumac but hardly ever use sumac. No, it's not made from poison sumac, the stuff you find in your backyard that makes you itch like poison ivy. They are related, but the spice comes from the berry of a different plant. It's a beautiful dark red color and the taste is hard to describe. Smith calls it "tart and tangy," good adjectives. But there aren't too many recipes that call for it. So with extra eggs around for holiday baking, I thought this easy recipe was just the ticket for a lazy Sunday dinner.

Lebanese Eggs with Sumac

4 tbsp olive oil
4-6 eggs, depending on how many you're serving
1 tbsp sumac
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Heat a 12-inch nonstick skillet and add the oil. Break the eggs into the oil, being careful not to break the yolks. Sprinkle the sumac and salt and pepper on top. Cover and slowly cook until done to taste. Serve with fresh pita bread.

The Verdict: Nothing to write home about, but definitely easy and something new to do with my jar of sumac.

There's not much else to say about this recipe. I made five eggs; two for each adult and one for the kiddo. I wanted my yolk runny, my husband's slightly runny, and my son's hard. Kind of impossible when five eggs have cooked together in a pan. Ironically, my son's egg was the runniest of all.

Pita bread is not only delicious, but the authentic choice. If you have no pita bread on hand, you can obviously serve with whatever bread, toasted or not, that your family enjoys.

I forgot to take pictures again last night but I think that's OK; my guess is you've all seen a fried egg before! Oh and last night was meatless Sunday as we'll be eating meat for the rest of the week. We were lucky enough to have lunch with my husband's friends yesterday and they are both vegetarians from Southern India. The wife made homemade dosas which were amazing. We'll have to see if that recipe will eventually make it to the roster...