squash risotto (with bacon)

many moons ago in new york, when he and i had just started dating and i was depressed and not eating (not because he and i had just started dating, of course), he would make valiant efforts to feed me. one dish he plied me with was a blue cheese and squash risotto at some quaint little restaurant on the upper west side. for some reason, that dish has always stuck in my head.

well, actually, two things about that dish have always stuck in my head. 1) it was a cold, dark, possibly snowy night, and risotto with squash was the best idea ever. 2) the blue cheese in it was awful.

i’ve made risotto on the blog before, so i won’t bore you with that part. but i did change it up a little:

first, i roasted up a small-cut butternut squash tossed in olive oil, garlic powder, rosemary, salt and pepper. (400 degrees until really soft)

i also started by frying three strips of bacon (the maple kind?!) and using the fat to cook the onions.

i was planning to crumble the bacon over the top of the finished risotto, but then i decided it would be better to stir it in at the last minute so it had time to melt in a little.

you could obviously leave it out, though, and do your onions in butter and/or olive oil.

finally, you are traditionally supposed to use chicken stock in risotto, but i didn’t have any. instead, i used five beef stock cubes and made up the rest with water.

that added a nice depth of flavor without being overpowering.

cook the rice, then add the squash.

all in all, four and three quarters stars out of five. really great.

when i first tasted the cooked rice, i was concerned that it didn’t have enough flavor, but after stirring in the squash and bacon and letting it all oomph together for a couple minutes on low heat, the dish really sparkled.

shepherd’s pie

i don’t why i’ve been wanting shepherd’s pie recently! my last experience with shepherd’s pie was probably my high school cafeteria and i promise it was nothing to write home about.

but there’s something about the darkness, and the cold, and the northern-ness here that make me want dishes like this.

when i told him what i was making, he was confused as to why i didn’t use a recipe.

i dunno.

i started by making mashed potatoes. boil them with garlic and salt

drain, and mash with sour cream, milk, butter, greek yogurt… pick your poison. i used buttermilk because i had it leftover.

meanwhile, brown your meat of choice (turkey, beef, lamb if you want to go super traditional – i used ground angus beef) with garlic,

and remove from pan onto a plate covered with paper towel to drain it.

then, keeping some (or all – your preference) of the meat juice/fat in the pan, brown up half an onion and a container of sliced mushrooms.

when everything is soft and brown and fabulous. push it to the side, and add a little more oil and three tablespoons of flour. stir and cook until it doesn’t smell like flour anymore, but don’t let it burn.

you just made a roux!

then add chicken broth, beef broth, water… about 2 cups, stirring well.

let it simmer and bubble until thickened to gravy consistency, and add a package of frozen peans/corn/carrots/beans.

semi-homemade!

fill a baking dish or deep pie plate with the gravy

top with mashed potatoes

and bake at 400 degrees until browned on top and warmed through and bubbly.

that’s cozy food right there.

onion, ricotta and chard pizza

since melted onions and ricotta and pizza are three of my favorite things, i saw this recipe and thought it would  be amazing.

i took a lot of pictures of the process as i made it. high hopes.

but you know what? it’s not worth the blog space.

i mean, it was ok, but it wasn’t worth it. as he put it, “it didn’t have the flavor you would think it had by looking at it.” exactly.

how could something that looks like that be BLAND??

sorry, new york times!

squash and kale pizza

this was an unexpected really big hit.

first, i peeled and cubed a small butternut squash, and tossed the pieces in olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and rosemary.

i roasted them at 300 degrees for as long as i was at the gym – about 45 mins. you want them very soft, but not totally fallen apart.

then spread out your trader joe’s crust, scatter at least half a red onion (finely sliced), cover in torn kale, and top with the squash.

bake at 425 degrees until the crust is golden.

so incredibly delicious! you don’t miss the cheese, tomato sauce, or meat… it’s like a mouthful of autumn in your mouth.

black bean and sweet potato chili

generally i’m too rushed or lazy or winging it on the fly to get all my ingredients set before i start cooking, but sometimes i like doing it. it makes me feel like a celebrity chef on tv when i start cooking and just have to dump.

anyway, this fabulous recipe caught my eye because my grandmother had made me turkey chili with sweet potato in it a couple weeks ago and it blew my mind:

sweet potato in chili. delicious. brilliant. (she got the idea from an article abut sneaking veggies into your kids’ diets. i guess my grampy and i qualify….)

so you start by sauteing your onions and peppers.

then you add the garlic, chili powder, and cumin…and then the tomatoes, beans, chipotle pepper (i used two instead of one but tried to omit most of the seeds…), cilantro stems, and salt.

(have you ever used the STEMS before? brilliant. they hold up much better than the leaves after cooking.)

then beer! (i also added just over a cup of water. you’ll have to decide for yourself if it looks too thick.)

and sweet potatoes. (i left the skin on because it’s so good for you.)

simmer until they are tender. i also added some leftover roast chicken i had shredded right at the end.

i served with lime and greek yogurt.

wish i had some chips… but even without, it was so good. probably my favorite chili i’ve made recently.

veal calzones

yes, i have made calzones before on the blog, but these were prettier and i just wanted to share.

they were trader joe’s crust, tomato sauce, ground veal (his choice… i said, i’m making calzones this week, if you want meat in yours, you have to pick it out! and this is what i was handed. definitely cook it before you put it in), mozzarella, thinly sliced onion and a pile of arugula.

seal the edges well and cut slits in the top to let steam out.

also, i left the pan in the oven while i was preheating it, and put them on it hot. i think that helped make sure the bottom crust was done well.

autumn vegetable skillet

i was craving veggies AND cozy, warm dinner, which is always a hard combination. but it’s important to get some of these recipes in the bag for fall and winter. i was thinking of veggie risotto when i came up with this, so keep that in mind.

i started with a veritable bounty of autumn vegetables:

i was going for colorful!

chop everything into bite-sized pieces, and salt and drain your eggplant.

i forget why you are supposed to do that, but you are…

heat some oil in a cast iron skillet, or other large frying pan, and i started by adding halved garlic cloves (which came out so sweet and smooth and roasty) and slices of red onion.

for the rest of the veggies, cooking time really depends on what you are using. i wanted things soft, but not super mushy, so i decided the eggplant would take the longest (went it first),

followed by the two squashes,

followed by the red pepper, which just got a spanking. i hate mushy red pepper.

i also kept adjusting the heat between medium low and medium high because i wanted the veggies to not only cook, but maybe even get a little char on them.

while this is all going on, cook up your polenta, or open a package of trader joe’s premade finest.

i stirred about a 1/4 cup of shredded mozzarella into it, just because i had it lying around.

colorful, quick, healthy fall veggie dinner!

savory pumpkin souffle

i was home alone for dinner one night, and instead of scraping up whatever was at the bottom of the refrigerator, i decided to try something cool.

i had some leftover canned pumpkin (’tis the season!) and for some reason decided i wanted to make a one-serving souffle with it. don’t ask me why. i’ve never made a souffle before. and i’ve probably only eaten one a handful of times in my life. totally random.

i checked out my trusty fannie farmer cookbook, but not surprisingly, there wasn’t a recipe for pumpkin souffle. but i do know that you can make fruit souffles, so i turned to that page, and it turns out you make them with fruit puree. like pumpkin puree. perfect. i’d just leave out the sugar and TA DA!

i started by heating 1/3 cup of canned pumpkin in a small sauce pan. added a pinch of salt and garlic powder and a tiny bit of dried rosemary.

then i decided it looked a little thicker than fruit puree, so i added 3 tablespoons of water, as well.

while that was heating, i beat 2 egg whites until very stiff, but not dry.

and i prepared my dish. this was a challenge because for the sweet souffle, you are supposed to butter and sugar it. so i olive oil-and-floured it. we’ll see…

mix the hot pumpkin with the egg whites (right about now, i’m thinking this is never going to fit in that dish.)

and spoon it in. (the dish holds 1 1/2 cups, according to the underside)

pop into 375 oven for 10 to 12-ish minutes, until golden.

yum! i was really pleased with it! sort of a better variation on eating scrambled eggs for dinner. i thought i’d never finish it all, but it was pretty light (duh) and i did.

of course, pumpkin is more than just a savory vegetable, and you could easily turn this recipe back into a sweet souffle for a tasty and seasonal dessert. use lemon juice and sugar – and pumpkin pie spice?! – instead of garlic powder and rosemary, and butter-sugar your dish instead of olive olive-flour. oooh. maybe i should have made it that way instead…

“single girl” dinners

lest you think i eat well all the time, when it’s just me and my computer and the tv, sometimes i cut a corner (or four…)

here we have one leftover chicken sausage (there were no leftover buns), and half a can of kidney beans mixed with some leftover broccoli and dressing.

a salad, hummus toasts, wine…

breakfast for dinner is my favorite meal of the day, and here is my idea of an egg-and-cheese: one scrambled egg mixed with leftover ricotta cheese and basil, sandwiched between two leftover blueberry pancakes (i made too many last weekend, so i cooled them, froze them, then reheated in the oven)

cheese and bean taquitos (from the frozen food section of trader joes) and half a red pepper because i was feeling guilty about my veggie intake. i also made a really yummy dipping sauce with half a shallot (minced) salt, pepper and cumin to taste, mixed into some low-fat plain greek yogurt. it added that creaminess you want with mexican food, but without the full-fat sour cream.

polenta pizza

this recipe is not only a great way to give a little variation to a classic (and one that i turn to fairly often…) it’s also a great alternative for someone who is gluten-free to still get a pizza experience.

first, make polenta with 1/2 cup milk, 2 1/2 cups water (i also added tablespoon of butter because the recipe calls for whole milk and i only had skim) and one cup of cornmeal.

spoon it into a oiled cookie sheet

and smooth with a spatula.

sprinkle with salt and pepper and let cool, then refrigerate for at least an hour, up to overnight.

when you’re ready for dinner, you bake it for 20 minutes, then layer on the bacon, onions, cheese and greens (see notes below).

then back in the oven for a couple minutes to get everything warm and the cheese gooey.

couple notes… i would have liked my polenta layer a little thicker. the first slice i tried to take out ended up as a pile.

so next time i will probably double that piece of the recipe. although i do have to say, overnight, the polenta “set” more, so the leftovers were even more pizza-y. (and he didn’t care about the pile anyway… he was too busy raving about the taste.)

instead of plain spinach that is called for, i used “greens for sauteing” from olivia’s organics. (this is my favorite brand of pre-packaged greens.) it’s a mix of baby collards, kale, spinach, chards, which make for more complex flavor than plain spinach.

we (i should say, HE) doubled the amount of bacon, and i used goat cheese crumbles instead of gorgonzola, which isn’t my favorite.

overall, i’ll definitely use this technique again with a few adjustments.