During the fall I always get more squash than I know what to with in my CSA box. As I've mentioned before I'm trying to become a better baker, so I thought I'd try my hand at making a squash bread. I got lucky because the base recipe I used must have been damn good, because this bread was damn good.
Squash bread
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground allspice
2 1/2 cups mashed squash (I used a combination of honeynut, butternut and acorn)
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup water
1 cup dried cherries
Mashed squash: Cut the squashes in half, de-seed (keep the seeds for roasting!), and bake at 350 until they're soft (about 45 minutes depending on the size of the squash). Scoop out the guts and mash them with a potato masher.
Bread: Preheat oven to 350. Generously grease a 9x5-inch loaf pans (I forgot to do the greasing, they turned out ok though). In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, set aside.
In a large bowl, combine mashed squash, sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, and water until well blended. Add the flour mixture and stir until just blended. Lightly stir in the cherries.
Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for about an hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Makes 2 loaves.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Tater tot casserole (LOUDLY!)
That's right. You read that right, tater tot casserole. I mean...if a can of cream of mushroom soup, frozen tater tots and ground beef doesn't represent cooking with real food then I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK DOES!
Actually, this casserole was made mostly from scratch. Mostly because I didn't milk any cows, or ferment any soy beans, but if you're doing that then you SHOULDN'T BE READING THIS!
This whole recipe is pretty simple, I used some of the cream of mushroom soup that I've posted here before, I mentioned it's good to freeze and use for cooking AND THAT'S WHAT I DID!
I took a pound of grass-fed CSA ground beef and put it into an 8x8 baking pan, MAKING SURE TO PRESS IT DOWN AND OUT INTO THE CORNERS! Put about 2-3 cups of cream of mushroom soup on top of the beef, a point though, the soup needs to be thick, so if yours isn't that thick than THICKEN IT WITH CORNSTARCH!! Put about a quarter cup of soup into a cup and dissolve in some cornstarch, than MIX IT BACK INTO THE SOUP! This should THICKEN IT NICELY!
Now for the FUN PART! We're going to MAKE HOMEMADE TATER TOTS! This is actually pretty easy, and QUITE A BIT OF FUN! Take your potatoes, I'd say 5-6 good sized potatoes, because you're going to EAT A LOT OF THE TOTS WHILE YOU COOK THEM! Shred the potatoes, you can do this by any method you'd like, I USED A GRATER! Next, you need to squeeze excess water out of the potatoes, the easiest way to do this is with a potato ricer, but you could probably come up with some other CLEVER WAY TO DO IT!
After you've got your de-watered potatoes mix a small amount of flour and beaten egg in with THEM! Be careful with how much egg you add, the goal is to make the 'taters a little sticky, NOT GOOPY! Then add in your spices, I used salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder, PRETTY CLASSIC TOT SPICES! Stir the mixture and FORM IT INTO BALLS! DEEP FRY THOSE BITCHES! After you've fried the tots, hopefully you still have enough to make the casserole, COVER THE BEEF/SOUP MIXTURE WITH TOTS!
DON'T BE STINGY!
Put the casserole in the oven at 350 and bake it for about 45 MINUTES! The tots should be dark brown and the soup hot and bubbly when you TAKE IT OUT OF THE OVEN! Let it cool and EAT IT!
Actually, this casserole was made mostly from scratch. Mostly because I didn't milk any cows, or ferment any soy beans, but if you're doing that then you SHOULDN'T BE READING THIS!
This whole recipe is pretty simple, I used some of the cream of mushroom soup that I've posted here before, I mentioned it's good to freeze and use for cooking AND THAT'S WHAT I DID!
I took a pound of grass-fed CSA ground beef and put it into an 8x8 baking pan, MAKING SURE TO PRESS IT DOWN AND OUT INTO THE CORNERS! Put about 2-3 cups of cream of mushroom soup on top of the beef, a point though, the soup needs to be thick, so if yours isn't that thick than THICKEN IT WITH CORNSTARCH!! Put about a quarter cup of soup into a cup and dissolve in some cornstarch, than MIX IT BACK INTO THE SOUP! This should THICKEN IT NICELY!
Now for the FUN PART! We're going to MAKE HOMEMADE TATER TOTS! This is actually pretty easy, and QUITE A BIT OF FUN! Take your potatoes, I'd say 5-6 good sized potatoes, because you're going to EAT A LOT OF THE TOTS WHILE YOU COOK THEM! Shred the potatoes, you can do this by any method you'd like, I USED A GRATER! Next, you need to squeeze excess water out of the potatoes, the easiest way to do this is with a potato ricer, but you could probably come up with some other CLEVER WAY TO DO IT!
After you've got your de-watered potatoes mix a small amount of flour and beaten egg in with THEM! Be careful with how much egg you add, the goal is to make the 'taters a little sticky, NOT GOOPY! Then add in your spices, I used salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder, PRETTY CLASSIC TOT SPICES! Stir the mixture and FORM IT INTO BALLS! DEEP FRY THOSE BITCHES! After you've fried the tots, hopefully you still have enough to make the casserole, COVER THE BEEF/SOUP MIXTURE WITH TOTS!
DON'T BE STINGY!
Put the casserole in the oven at 350 and bake it for about 45 MINUTES! The tots should be dark brown and the soup hot and bubbly when you TAKE IT OUT OF THE OVEN! Let it cool and EAT IT!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Beirrocks/Runzas/Hot Pocket thingyjobbers
Ok, I have actually been cooking in the past year or whatever since I posted something, maybe I'll try to do this more frequently. Or maybe I'll continue being a lazy turd, we'll see.
Anyways, this recipe is good enough that I have to share it with whoever I can. I'll post what I did the first time, but it's completely amenable to all sorts of filling changes, but more on that in a minute. This is basically a stuffed pastry, like a pasty or a stromboli.
Pastry:
1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3 cups flour
The filling is the fun part. Typically these are made with beef and cabbage. I made 2 different versions; a sausage/cabbage/onion one and a broccoli/potato/cheese one. Both were fantastic, and I'm going to make all sorts of different ones (feta, spinach, red onion and olive? Chicken, peas, and carrots? Bacon?), but this is what I did for the sausage filled one:
Anyways, this recipe is good enough that I have to share it with whoever I can. I'll post what I did the first time, but it's completely amenable to all sorts of filling changes, but more on that in a minute. This is basically a stuffed pastry, like a pasty or a stromboli.
Pastry:
1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3 cups flour
The filling is the fun part. Typically these are made with beef and cabbage. I made 2 different versions; a sausage/cabbage/onion one and a broccoli/potato/cheese one. Both were fantastic, and I'm going to make all sorts of different ones (feta, spinach, red onion and olive? Chicken, peas, and carrots? Bacon?), but this is what I did for the sausage filled one:
1 pound mildly spicy sausage
1 head of chopped cabbage
1 large onion, chopped
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Cook and stir beef until light brown. Stir in cabbage, onion, water, salt, caraway seed and pepper. Heat to boiling, reduce heat. Cover and simmer until cabbage is tender, about 15 minutes.
Punch down dough. Roll into a 16-inch square and cut into 4 inch squares. Place about 1/4 cup (these measurements are EXTREMELY rough, and I made several different sizes of pastries, since the filling is cooked already the size of the pastries doesn't really matter when you're baking them so you can play with size and shape all you'd like) filling onto the center of each square, bring corners up and together, then pinch to seal. Place seam side down on a greased cookie sheet. Shape into rounds. Let rise again until double, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375 °F. Bake until pastry is light brown, about 20-25 minutes. Brush tops with butter. They keep well in the fridge and they freeze like a boss.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Stuffed Green Peppers
A simple (but not fast) recipe for when you kinda think you'll be hungry in an hour, but you're not hungry yet, but hopefully maybe cooking will make you hungry? You think?
All the following measurements are enough for one serving.
Materials
• 1 large green bell pepper (or whatever color strikes your fancy)
• 1/2 cup dry couscous*
• 2/3 cup chicken broth
• A few cherry tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 of a mini-can of mushrooms
• 1 green onion, chopped
• Spices to taste
*That's how much couscous I used, and I had some that would not fit into my huge-normous green pepper. Your mileage may vary, but I'd rather throw away a little bit of couscous than screw up the math while trying to convert the appropriate amount of water to use for a 1/2 cup versus a 0.472 cup portion. (I also have a dog more than willing to help me with the extras.)
Methods
You can follow your own couscous's particular directions; for mine, I boiled the broth, added in the couscous and stirred it, then took it off the heat and left it covered for five minutes. Before I put the cover on, I threw in the diced vegetables and left them to sit on top of the hot couscous mush.
While my couscous cooked, I washed the enormous green pepper I got from my CSA and cut the top/core off of it. I put it in a cooking dish and added some more chicken broth to the bottom.
Presently the timer went off for the couscous, and I stirred the vegetables and a dash of spices into the mix. (I used a good dash of turmeric and some garlic powder, too, but it was still a little bland - could have used more turmeric, I think, but a lot of different spice combos would also have worked.)
I added the couscous into the open pepper and totally did not spill loose couscous all over the place. Then I covered the baking dish and put it in a 350º oven. All told, the pepper was in the oven for about 45 minutes to an hour, but I checked it a couple times to ladle chicken broth over the top of the couscous to keep it from drying out. When the green pepper had got tender, I took it out and ate the whole damn thing. Like I said, it could have used more spices, but I'm glad I cooked the couscous in chicken broth because it was delicious.
The bottom line: You don't need to be a doctor to like this pepper. (It's okay if you are, though. That's probably allowed, too.)
All the following measurements are enough for one serving.
Materials
• 1 large green bell pepper (or whatever color strikes your fancy)
• 1/2 cup dry couscous*
• 2/3 cup chicken broth
• A few cherry tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 of a mini-can of mushrooms
• 1 green onion, chopped
• Spices to taste
*That's how much couscous I used, and I had some that would not fit into my huge-normous green pepper. Your mileage may vary, but I'd rather throw away a little bit of couscous than screw up the math while trying to convert the appropriate amount of water to use for a 1/2 cup versus a 0.472 cup portion. (I also have a dog more than willing to help me with the extras.)
Methods
You can follow your own couscous's particular directions; for mine, I boiled the broth, added in the couscous and stirred it, then took it off the heat and left it covered for five minutes. Before I put the cover on, I threw in the diced vegetables and left them to sit on top of the hot couscous mush.
While my couscous cooked, I washed the enormous green pepper I got from my CSA and cut the top/core off of it. I put it in a cooking dish and added some more chicken broth to the bottom.
Presently the timer went off for the couscous, and I stirred the vegetables and a dash of spices into the mix. (I used a good dash of turmeric and some garlic powder, too, but it was still a little bland - could have used more turmeric, I think, but a lot of different spice combos would also have worked.)
I added the couscous into the open pepper and totally did not spill loose couscous all over the place. Then I covered the baking dish and put it in a 350º oven. All told, the pepper was in the oven for about 45 minutes to an hour, but I checked it a couple times to ladle chicken broth over the top of the couscous to keep it from drying out. When the green pepper had got tender, I took it out and ate the whole damn thing. Like I said, it could have used more spices, but I'm glad I cooked the couscous in chicken broth because it was delicious.
The bottom line: You don't need to be a doctor to like this pepper. (It's okay if you are, though. That's probably allowed, too.)
Monday, August 9, 2010
Beans and Greens and Stuff
Hey, look at that, it's been a year! I guess I should cook something again. No, check that - it's been a freaking year. I shall cook two things. Please, hold your applause till the end of the recipe.
Thing the First: Rosemary Cornbread
This is a combination of two recipes that I found: the easy parts from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (you know, that red-and-white checked one that is probably the cookbook you own if you only own one cookbook), and the yummy parts from the MACSAC cookbook, "From Asparagus to Zucchini". Here's how it goes.
Materials
• 1 cup flour
• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 2 beaten eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cooking oil
• Kernels from 3 small corncobs
• A few dashes of rosemary
Methods
Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Put the butter in one of those round Pyrex pie plates and put it in the oven for a couple minutes till it gets mushy.
Mix together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Now check the butter; it should be getting runny by now. Take the dish out and swirl it around so the butter covers the bottom and sides of the dish.
Now you can pay attention to the actual food part again. Mix together everything that's left (eggs, milk, oil, corn, rosemary) and add it to the original bowl. Stir it up but leave it lumpy - this is cornbread you're making, for Christ's sake. Put it in the baking dish and bake it for about 20 minutes (mine took slightly longer till a fork inserted in the middle came out clean).
I actually made this on Saturday night, and there was one metric crapload left over. (Believe me - I measured.) So today at lunch time, I looked around what we had left over in the house and threw something together that seemed to go well.
Thing the Second: Beans and Greens (and stuff)
Materials
• 2 slices of bacon
• 1 can of black beans
• a little vegetable oil (something flavorless, or olive oil would probably be okay too)
• smoked chipotle peppers (1-2)
• some spinach. How much? I dunno, as much as you want. How well do you like spinach?
Methods
Cut up the bacon (I use scissors because it's easier) and throw it in the pan. While it's cooking to done-ness, rinse and drain the black beans in the sink. I also opened up a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and diced 2 of them into small pieces. (In retrospect, one probably would have been plenty.) Finally, I tore up a bunch of spinach.
By this time the bacon was done; I added the oil and then the drained beans and chipotles. When they seemed to be getting hot, I added the spinach and cooked until it was soft.
When everything was done, I served it over a slice of leftover cornbread. It was kinda spicy (two glasses of water spicy, to be exact) but still pretty yummy. I bet this would be even better with collard greens instead (I got this idea from a ham, collard greens, and white beans dish I once had at Cracker Barrel, although that was a fair sight blander than what I made).
The Bottom Line: A dish long on southern charm, made without much trouble by this very northern lady.
Thing the First: Rosemary Cornbread
This is a combination of two recipes that I found: the easy parts from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (you know, that red-and-white checked one that is probably the cookbook you own if you only own one cookbook), and the yummy parts from the MACSAC cookbook, "From Asparagus to Zucchini". Here's how it goes.
Materials
• 1 cup flour
• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 2 beaten eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cooking oil
• Kernels from 3 small corncobs
• A few dashes of rosemary
Methods
Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Put the butter in one of those round Pyrex pie plates and put it in the oven for a couple minutes till it gets mushy.
Mix together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Now check the butter; it should be getting runny by now. Take the dish out and swirl it around so the butter covers the bottom and sides of the dish.
Now you can pay attention to the actual food part again. Mix together everything that's left (eggs, milk, oil, corn, rosemary) and add it to the original bowl. Stir it up but leave it lumpy - this is cornbread you're making, for Christ's sake. Put it in the baking dish and bake it for about 20 minutes (mine took slightly longer till a fork inserted in the middle came out clean).
I actually made this on Saturday night, and there was one metric crapload left over. (Believe me - I measured.) So today at lunch time, I looked around what we had left over in the house and threw something together that seemed to go well.
Thing the Second: Beans and Greens (and stuff)
Materials
• 2 slices of bacon
• 1 can of black beans
• a little vegetable oil (something flavorless, or olive oil would probably be okay too)
• smoked chipotle peppers (1-2)
• some spinach. How much? I dunno, as much as you want. How well do you like spinach?
Methods
Cut up the bacon (I use scissors because it's easier) and throw it in the pan. While it's cooking to done-ness, rinse and drain the black beans in the sink. I also opened up a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and diced 2 of them into small pieces. (In retrospect, one probably would have been plenty.) Finally, I tore up a bunch of spinach.
By this time the bacon was done; I added the oil and then the drained beans and chipotles. When they seemed to be getting hot, I added the spinach and cooked until it was soft.
When everything was done, I served it over a slice of leftover cornbread. It was kinda spicy (two glasses of water spicy, to be exact) but still pretty yummy. I bet this would be even better with collard greens instead (I got this idea from a ham, collard greens, and white beans dish I once had at Cracker Barrel, although that was a fair sight blander than what I made).
The Bottom Line: A dish long on southern charm, made without much trouble by this very northern lady.
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