Butternut Squash Red Curry

I’ve had some butternut squash sitting on my kitchen counter for a while now…and it seemed like a good idea to use one in an interesting new curry. I also had a red curry craving at the time. So the decision for Butternut Squash Red Curry was pretty easy to settle on. I really like Curried Butternut Squash Soup….this couldn’t be too different, I figured. And it turned out well! We had some people over last Wednesday when I made this, and it was all devoured pretty fast. Between the color, the flavor and the heat (it is very spicy!), it was a decent hit.

All you really need is some squash, red curry paste, some fresh basil, and a thickener of some sort - I used light coconut milk. You can do a lot of things with red curry paste, so easily available in jars at asian food stores, or most grocery stores. Here is the recipe:

Butternut Squash Red Curry

You will need:
1/2 of a butternut squash, seeded, peeled, and diced into 1/4" cubes
1/2 cup sliced onions
1/2 tsp minced fresh garlic
1/2 tsp chopped fresh ginger
1 tsp fresh basil, chopped
2 heaped tablespoons red curry paste
1 serrano pepper
1 cup water, or more, as needed
1/2 cup light coconut milk
1 tablespoon veg oil

Heat up the oil in a wide, shallow skillet on medium heat. Saute the onions, and garlic until softened. Add the ginger, stir well. Add the diced butternut squash, and let sit covered on medium heat for about ten minutes, or until it is cooked halfway through. You can tell when it's halfway done when your spatula can squish the edges of a piece of squash but not go all the way through. At this point, add the red curry paste and stir until well combined, for one or two minutes. Add the water, it should be enough to cover the squash. Bring up to a boil. Once boiling, lower the heat to a simmer, then add the coconut milk and the basil. Simmer covered for 10 minutes. Butternut Squash Red Curry done!
You can put chicken in this, to please those who “like their meat” at your house :) Just add it in while sautéeing the onions. Also, substituting chicken stock instead of water will give it a richer flavor.

Serve warm, over hot cooked rice. (I served it with leftover fried rice, which worked out pretty well too.) You should really also garnish with some green stuff, like cilantro or green onions, which, in hindsight, I wish I had! Enjoy!



Butternut Squash Risotto

Who doesn't love a good risotto in the winter? An exquisite, slow-cooked, creamy bowl of bliss. This Butternut Squash Risotto came together last night, when I discovered that I had half a butternut squash sitting in the refrigerator, leftover from the Butternut Squash Red Curry I made last week, and needed to be used up. Boy, we have eaten a lot of squash lately. Eating in-season, indeed!

This recipe is definitely a keeper. Deliciously flavored with sage, and onions. Slow-cooked to creamy submission in white wine, and broth. You can use chicken broth or vegetable broth...or turkey broth, which was what I did (I kept the turkey bones from Thanksgiving last week, and made my own low-sodium turkey stock out of it last Monday night - super-easy - email me if you want the recipe). And, since it paired very nicely with the Turkey Cakes we had last night, this was a happy coincidence. Here is the recipe -

Butternut Squash Risotto

You will need:
Half of a butternut squash, peeled and cut up into 1/4"-1/3" cubes
2 tsp dried sage, divided
salt and pepper
7 or 8 cups low-sodium stock (any kind!)
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 tbsp butter
2 cups Arborio rice, uncooked
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped

This recipe makes approximately 6 servings.

Combine squash, half the sage, 1 cup of stock, and a sprinkling of salt in a skillet. Simmer covered until squash is tender but not mushy. This should take about 5-10 minutes depending on the size of the cubes.
Drain out the liquid and set squash aside.
Meanwhile, bring the rest of the stock to a boil in a another pot and leave it simmering.
Heat up the butter in a large skillet, and add sage. Cook about one minute over medium heat, then add the onion and cook until tender. Turn heat to 'low', then add rice, pinch of salt, and cook for 3 minutes stirring very well. Then turn heat up to 'medium', add white wine and cook until fully absorbed. Once this is done, add enough hot stock to fully cover the rice. Stir well and reduce heat back to low.
Simmer until stock is absorbed, stirring well throughout. Add another ladle full of stock (about 3/4 cup) and stir until absorbed. Keep repeating this process until all of the stock is absorbed and rice is fully cooked and tender. Time will vary depending on skillet size and heat - it could take anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes - this took about 30 minutes for me. When rice is cooked, add the squash, and parmesan cheese. Cook 3 minutes or so, until cheese has melted. Check seasoning, adding more salt and pepper if necessary. Serve hot, garnished with parley if desired. Enjoy!

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

You might ask, where have I been these past few months? I might say...having a baby. This blessed event occurred last November, but only now do i feel the fog of new motherhood lifting and am once again happy to resume experimentation in the kitchen. Content as I am to do little more than care for my precious baby boy, this foodie will go crazy if she does not get her kitchen zen in daily doses.

But back to this soup.

Despite a recent spike in unseasonably warm sunny days here in Seattle we're still enjoying various winter comforts, richly fulfilling squash soups being chief among them. This one has a few tart apples tossed in, giving it a nice lift in flavor. (Cooking with apples in savory uses is highly underrated, in my humble opinion.)

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

This Butternut Squash and Apple Soup is simple to make with just a few ingredients, and has all the richness of a creamy soup without having any actual cream in it. (Two key factors to a new mother who enjoys food but has less time to devote to making it these days.) But it freezes like a dream, so make a big batch and let it feed you twice, or thrice. 

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

Serves 4 - 6

You will need:

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup finely chopped white or yellow onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon allspice

optional - 1/2 teaspoon red chili powder

3 packed cups mashed roasted butternut squash (Note: I roasted a medium sized butternut squash and had 2 cups leftover. Use it to make risotto or red curry!)

3 small apples, cored and roughly chopped, with skin on

4 cups vegetable broth

pinch black pepper

salt to taste

Sauté onions and garlic in olive oil in a fairly large soup pot on medium heat. 

Add the spices and stir a minute or two, until the onions are well coated and fragrant. Add the apples and roasted squash, stir well. 

Add pepper and broth, bring up to a boil, then cover and let simmer for 30 minutes. Carefully puree the soup in batches in a food processor or using an immersion blender, then return to pan and let simmer until serving. Salt to taste. 

If you like, top the soup with a little greek yogurt or roasted butternut squash seeds. (Save the seeds, rinse off any fibers, pat dry, stir in a little butter and salt, spread on a baking sheet and roast at 350 for 10 minutes or until they start to "pop.") Serve with crusty bread, or just plain ole' buttered toast. Enjoy! 

Butternut Squash Chocolate Chip Cookies!

It’s my turn to bring dessert to our life group tonight. So I woke up bright and early this morning all ready to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, a favorite recipe in our house. But I didn’t have any pumpkin! However, I did have about a quart of leftover roasted butternut squash. The recipe calls for 1 cup of pumpkin, so I substituted it for exactly 1 cup of the squash. And it worked! Hopefully everyone will like the cookies as much as my husband and mom did.

To the Far East and back in my kitchen

The pork shoulder I mentioned last week has been completely used up. I’m very happy to say, after having fed three people four meals each with two and a half pounds of pork, I can cook economically and the food can be interesting! Our journey to the Far East and back since last week:

Pork sandwiches w/ apple-cranberry chutney (Good ole’ fashioned American)

Layer on top of a burger bun, or other sandwich rolls: shredded pork, whole-berry cranberry sauce (from a can), and sliced apples sauteed for just a couple minutes with a bit of butter, pinch of cinnamon, and a little chilli powder, salt, and pepper (trust me, it’s very good). It was surprisingly good. Well, you’ve got pork, apples, and cranberries…how can you go wrong?

Bak-ku-teh (Vietnam)
My mother traveled to Vietnam earlier this year and brought me back some very interesting spice mixes, along with the cute little bowl and chopsticks that you see in this picture. I added the bak-ku-teh mix to some boiling water, and then threw in shredded pork, cremini mushrooms, and shredded napa cabbage.

Note 1: The grave mistake I made was throwing all the ingredients into the boiling water all at once. Next time, I would have blanched the cabbage first.
Note 2: I was not entirely happy with the flavor of the spice mix itself. I added soy sauce, fish sauce, and some vinegar to “fix” it. That seemed to work!

Spring rolls (er…generic Asian?)
A classic, family favorite! No picture because we ate them all before anyone thought to capture it. But, I must say, this is one of those extremely versatile dishes. Did you know that you can fill a spring roll wrapper with just about anything, deep fry it, and it will always turn out completely delicious? I have been making these for years, but always only for get-togethers or to take somewhere with us. I have never before made them just to eat at home, but then I asked myself “why the heck not?” so there you have it. I first learned to make spring rolls from one of my best friends, Gina, whose mother is a whiz in the kitchen (particularly in Asian foods since she is Thai). So these were made with the pork, and shredded napa cabbage. That’s all! Delicious.

Roasted Butternut Squash
Butternut Squash is clearly not pork, but I just have to talk about it since this is Fall. I mean, come on, when else can you put a pile of orange goo on a plate and call it yum?

We had some with our pork sandwiches last night, roasted with just a little bit of butter and brown sugar. So yum!

Three Days Of Curries

I have really been into curry these past few days. Quite inadvertently, too. What started out as an innocent attempt to serve a nice Indian meal to some friends turned in to a "curry frenzy" in an attempt to satisfy all sorts of sudden cravings (women will understand).

It all started last Friday. Some friends came over for dinner and, because they had never eaten homecooked Indian food before, I decided to serve them a variety. I wanted one of those things to be a good chicken dish. Unfortunately, I only decided this on Friday morning, a mere six hours before my guests were due to arrive. So, I did something I hardly ever do. I tried a chicken with 'thin gravy' recipe from one of the Indian cookbooks I have (without first testing it), and served that. It was okay, and was a nice accompaniment to the rest of the meal. But it was decidedly bland compared to what I was actually craving. I kept dreaming of the spicy chicken curries I ate growing up (it is hardly the same as your grandmother's or mother's when you attempt to make it yourself!) And, previously mentioned cookbook shall remain unnamed due to the fact that I have now tried four other recipes from it with which I have been equally unimpressed, to say the least. One good recipe for every four bad ones does not a good cookbook make. Hmph. A big fat NON-kudos to whoever published it.

But anyway, I put away the first batch of chicken and was determined not to let the weekend go past without making a richer, spicier curry, one that WOULD put this craving to rest, and to have in the fridge for the coming week. So, on Saturday afternoon, I looked through one of my favorite cook books, Recipes For All Ocassions Part I, by Mrs. B. F. Varughese, and picked a new chicken curry recipe to try - she has two other ones in that book. (Mrs. B. F. Varughese was not only a great-aunt of mine, but also a well-known cook in India and probably the most trusted cooking authority within the extensive Syrian Christian diaspora.) So, I can't go wrong with this one! My mom brought me my very own copy of her Part I book on her first trip to visit me in the States. These books are not easy to find. I would love to get Part II and Part III as well (hint).

Needless to say, the second curry turned out really well, thanks to Mrs. B. F. Varughese's wonderful recipe. It is full of chili peppers...yum! So, here it is, with just three modifications - I left out the tomatoes because I didn't have any on hand, I didn't have fresh grated coconut so I substituted that with coconut milk, I don't cook with ghee (clarified butter) because the smell of it makes my husband want to hurl so I just used vegetable oil.

Chicken Curry

You will need:
All the meat from 1 good sized chicken
1/2 lb Potatoes
1 piece ginger
2 cups sliced onion
6 green chillies (I used 3 very large jalapenos, or you can use serrano peppers)
10 dry red chillies
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tbsp coconut milk
2 tbsp plain yogurt
4 tbsp veg oil
2 cups water
salt to taste

Grind the dry red chillies, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, garlic, and the turmeric. Fry the onion and then add the ground up spice mixture, ginger, and green chillies. After this is fried well, add the chicken pieces. Pour in about 2 cups of water, and add salt, put the lid on and allow the curry to simmer. Add the potatoes and cook covered. When the potatoes are cooked, blend in the coconut milk and yogurt. Bring up to a boil, then remove from heat. Serve hot, with cooked hot rice.

My next curry adventure will most likely be Butternut Squash Red Curry...hopefully, tomorrow night's dinner! Check back for the recipe.

Honey Ginger Chocolate Chip Cookies

It is Life Group season again! Our group starts tonight, and that means in addition to learning about love and respect in our relationships, we will be enjoying these Honey Ginger Cookies that I whipped up...don't you just love the smell of cookies baking?

This recipe is really simple. If you liked my Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, or the Butternut Squash Chocolate Chip Cookies you are sure to love these...

Honey Ginger Chocolate Chip Cookies

You will need:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Place oven racks in top third and lower third of oven. Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Beat butter in a large mixing bowl just until creamy using an electric mixer. Add brown sugar, mixing on medium until combined. Add egg, honey, fresh ginger, and ground spices just until blended. Gradually add flour mixture to this wet mixture beating on low until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto wax paper lined baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 F for 13 to 15 minutes just until cracked and lightly browned. Switch baking sheets between top and lower racks about halfway through baking time. Cool completely, then store in airtight containers at room temperature. Enjoy!

Turkey Cakes!

Thanksgiving has, undoubtedly, become one of my most favorite times of the year. Why? One word: leftovers.

My short list of happy leftovers includes leftover Thanksgiving turkey. An ongoing personal challenge of mine in recent years has become inventing new and interesting recipes incorporating leftover Thanksgiving turkey (not that the turkey needs any help, it is just so good on its own...or maybe with just a dab of cranberry sauce...okay, stop me from getting off track, people!)

Anyway, these little Turkey Cakes are this year's winner in our house, for leftover Thanksgiving turkey recipe of the year. If you like crab cakes, you are sure to love these babies. Very easy to make, they are crunchy on the outside but soft on the inside (just like my husband when he gets upset), and packed with flavor. Is there a piece of turkey at your house that nobody wants to eat. e.g. wings? Put it in the Turkey Cakes! (They'll never know it's there.) Here is the simple recipe:

Turkey Cakes

You will need:
2 cups cooked turkey, well-shredded
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1 serrano pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 egg
2 tsp chopped fresh parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
extra virgin olive oil for frying
1 lemon wedge
(This quantity of mixture makes about 8 cakes, depending on how big or small you make them.)

Combine all ingredients from turkey through black pepper together. Mix well. Shape into evenly sized patties and shallow-fry in a skillet in hot oil on medium heat, about 3 minutes on each side or until golden-brown. Serve warm. Drizzle with lemon juice just before serving. Enjoy!

If you need a meal-completer, these Turkey Cakes pair marvelously with Butternut Squash Risotto (simmered in turkey broth or chicken broth), but, I will only be blogging about that tomorrow as I am still full from this wonderful dinner and now need to go think about penance by way of my A.M. workout. Good night!