Recipes for Cook

Showing posts with label squash. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Red Quinoa with Butternut Squash Cranberries and Pecans

Red quinoa salad is gluten free and vegan and delicious

A dazilious red quinoa salad with fruit and vegetable jewels.

Today's recipe is perfect for Fall. It's a beautiful red quinoa recipe I tossed together one weeknight, featuring roasted butternut squash, cranberries and pecans. Classic Autumn flavors. Gorgeous color.

Serve this as a colorful vegan side dish. Or stuff a vegetable (it would be fab and hip served in roasted bell pepper halves).

Red quinoa has a milder taste than the standard quinoa. So if you think you don't like quinoa, try the Inca red.

I suspect you'll convert to quinoa love.

Read more + get the recipe >>

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Spaghetti Squash a la Susan

The best thing about food blogging? Sharing recipes and seeing how cooks and food bloggers interpret, tweak and improve upon your recipe. My talented friend Susan at Fatfree Vegan Kitchen has just posted her version of my Santa Fe Spaghetti Squash Casserole, and darlings, its not to be missed! Its gorgeous and inspired.

Moving Update::

Craziness ensues here. The oil tank is being drained, dismantled and replaced [with walls coming down and going back up]. Strange sweaty men are crawling around the attic and snooping in the cellar netherlands. Running hot water in the bath tubs. Leaving blackened finger prints on the ceiling. Do you imagine Ill be glad when this process is over?

What does this piece of technology cost, you ask? Darling, you dont want to know. Youll be thinking about all the wine, great meals and kitchen tools this could have bought...not to mention, air fare to Italy. Well, at least Napa Valley. Or Hawaii.

Bits & Pieces::

Were having an estate sale April 28th.
Closing May 4th.
Flying to Albuquerque May 4th.

What have we been eating?

Lots of Brown Rice & Roasted Vegetables, Balsamic Roasted Veggie Smothered Baked Potatoes, Spinach & Cheddar Quesadillas. Easy. Fast. Too tired to cook food.

I hope to post again soon. Until then, be well and eat well, and enjoy the first [longer] days of spring!

gluten free recipes vegetarian vegan roasted vegetables brown rice

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Squash Blossums Anishinaabeg Style

1 egg yolk
2 cups ice-cold water
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 2/3 cups white flour

Whip the egg yolk and baking soda into the water in a large dipping bowl. Sift in the flour, mix well. Batter should be thin, rather watery, run easily off a spoon. It should be used no more than 10 minutes after made, i.e. still bre quite cold when it hits the frying oil. Dip blossom, twirl to coat thoroughly, Turn after 1 minute and
fry 1 minute longer, lighter gold than the cornmeal coating in the Pueblo version. Sprinkle with sifted powdered sugar while still draining and hot from the oil. Keep warm in oven. Alternatively: omit sugar, serve with small dipping bowls of or berry syrup.
Traditionally, the flowers were used in soups and stews in 2 ways. In the commonest, they were thickeners -- put in at the beginning, the fragile flowers cooked away into the broth and had no individual identity. Put in near the end, they were heated through, softened a bit (especially th female blossoms, which have tiny squashes or
pumpkins forming at the stem end) as a sort of vegetable -- although the rest of the soup or stew was likely to be full of dried berries, so maybe I should say as another fruit.
Up north here, these fritters were traditionally made with pumpkin and squash flowers too. No chile or cumin was used, and about 1/2 tsp (or no) salt. A batter of flour would be more likely to be used than cornmeal if there was a good trade supply of it, because although some corn was raised, it was nowhere near as much as in the southwest, and a bit farther north of the Great Lakes, the growing season is too
short for curcurbitae.
The blossoms were most often eaten as a sweet with maple syrup or sprinkled with maple sugar -- and thats still a great way to eat these fritters, too -- blossom-beignets. You can also sprinkle them with sifted powdered sugar, as with New Orleans beignets.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Squash Birds of a Feather

Those of you familiar with competitive yellow squash carving know how intense these contests can get, and an event I recently co-hosted with Allrecipes in Seattle was no different. The tension was so thick, you couldve cut it with a swag-bag paring knife.

This battle royal took place at the conclusion of BlogHerFood weekend, and an exclusive group of foodies were invited based on their blogging experience, passion for edible art, and to a much greater extent, their availability.

The theme of the day was centered on my mascot and lifelong friend, the squash bird. After regaling them with the strange and mostly true story of how it came to be, and demonstrating how I make the bird, our honored attendees set to work creating their own renditions for fun and fabulous prizes.

Despite bottomless Mimosas, I thought the birds these “gordiators” produced were extraordinary. Here are a few of the highlights.

I only had my cell phone to take pictures with, so the blurry shots are mine. Thankfully my friend Irvin at Eat the Love was there, and graciously shared some of the pictures he took.

The winning bird was from Michael Procopio, the blogger/food writer behind the always entertaining Food for the Thoughtless. The classic combination of huge beak and fabulous hat proved irresistible to the judges. More subtle was the upright posture, which gave the bird an almost regal stance.

In addition to being a squash bird boss, the hilarious Mr. Procopio also gives good Twitter, so be sure to check him out there. By the way, be prepared to look stuff up on Wikipedia.

Speaking of fabulous, the inimitable Linda Nicholson, aka Salty Seattle, was also in attendance. As you can see, she was clearly trying to distract the competition with her choice of footwear, which mimicked the bird’s bright orange feet. Did it work? Not really, but who cares? Look at those boots!

Her squash birds were almost as striking. The saline siren attempted an ambition scene consisting of what appears to be two squash birds trying to land on the same rock.

Unfortunately, during the lunch break, some mayo from her sandwich must have fallen on the birds, and she was disqualified for violating Chapter 3, Section 7 of the official rules, which covers inappropriate use of condiments.

Many attendees utilized "hair" and other eye-catching accessories to make an impression. Sean Timberlake from Hedonia tried to pull off the rarely seen cock’s comb/toupee combo; and DPaul Brown from dpaulbrown.coms follic affectations not only dressed up his entry, but also helped indicate what kind of cigarette was in the beak.

Another favorite was this submission from Andrew Wilder at Eating Rules. I thought it was a smart approach to make the bird look like it was bending over feeding.

We assumed Andrew was trying to show movement, although he did spend a lot of time making sure everyone saw just how anatomically correct the tail end of his creation was, so there may have been ulterior motives.

Anyway, we really did have a great time, and I want to thank everyone who participated. Also, a huge thanks to my friends at Allrecipes for hosting and organizing such a fun event!

If you want to learn how to make your very own squash bird, check out this video, and as always, enjoy!

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Spaghetti with Squash Heirloom Tomatoes and Grilled Shrimp

I knew this dish was going to be good but I didnt realize how good! I made it in the beginning of September when I could still find heirloom tomatoes. They are so sweet and full of flavor! The recipe calls for cherry or grape tomatoes so this can be made any time of the year. I bet it would be delicious with winter squash as well!

If you like veggies I would definitley double up on the zucchini and the yellow squash. We definitely lost some pieces before they got tossed with the pasta. That bowl of roasted veggies was hard to resist!

This is a great dish to make when you are having company. The recipe can easily be doubled, the shrimp can be marinated ahead of time and the veggies can be cooked ahead of time. They will heat up again when tossed with the hot pasta.

Spaghetti with Squash, Heirloom Tomatoes and Grilled Shrimp

Adapted from Tyler Florence

Ingredients:

Kosher salt

1 zucchini, sliced into thin rounds

1 yellow squash, sliced into thin rounds

1 pint baby heirloom tomatoes

1/2 onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
1 pound spaghetti
1 cup arugula leaves
3/4 cup freshly grated Romano Cheese, plus more for serving
Grilled Shrimp, recipe follows

Directions:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat for the spaghetti.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine the squashes, tomatoes, onion, garlic, in a large bowl. Add the olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and give it all a good toss. Dump that out onto a baking sheet and roast for 10 to 12 minutes, until the squash is tender and caramelized. Scrape the vegetables into a large pasta bowl and cover with a plate to keep everything warm.

The pasta water should be boiling by now. Add the spaghetti and stir to separate the strands. Cook for 8 to 9 minutes, until al dente.

To finish, scoop out about 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water, drain the pasta, and toss gently with the roasted vegetables and Grilled Shrimp. Add the pasta water if needed.

Grilled Shrimp:

2 large cloves of garlic, chopped
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
16 large head-on Jumbo shrimp in the shell, shells split down the back
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Mix garlic, lemon, oil, salt and pepper in a bowl and add shrimp. Marinate for 1 hour or more. Heat a large outdoor grill and wipe down with oiled paper towel to create a nonstick surface. Add shirmp and grill for 3 minutes per side baste with marinade as you go.

Click here for a printable recipe.