Category Archives: Food

Stuffed Squash Instead of Turkey or with it–as you prefer!

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Not my recipe, but I am traveling and don't have a picture of this dish. This one looks close to mine though.
This picture is not my recipe, but I am traveling and don’t have a picture of this dish on hand. This one looks close to mine though.

This recipe is the result of trying to make something vegetarian and vegan for various members of my family over the years around Thanksgiving. I wanted something complex and that takes time, not as much as a turkey does, but still, not simple, something special so they feel included in the festivity. This recipe is the result of that and I have made it vegan many times for when I have vegan guests. It does take some time and has lots of ingredients, so don’t try to do this at the last-minute.

  1. anywhere from 3–5 delicata or 1-2 other larger squashes like butternut or acorn or red kuri or hokkaido
  2. 3–5 celery stalks or fennel stalks or a combination of both (chopped in long thin sections lengthwise and then into tiny chunks)
  3. 1–2 onions (chopped finely)
  4. ½–1 cup of chopped in small to tiny pieces of dried apricots, prunes, nectarines or other dried fruit (you can do a combo, or just one)
  5. 1-2 cups of finely chopped shiitake or other wonderful mushrooms
  6. 2–5 tablespoons of butter (or olive oil for the vegans)
  7. Omit this ingredient if you are doing gluten-free or use gluten-free bread instead, but this recipe is fine without bread (see ingredient 8, below). 1–2 cups of stale or older dried bread chopped up tiny (by hand or in a food processor) or toast up some bread & chop into tiny chunks
  8. (optional) 1 cup or more of cooked quinoa, barley or wild rice can be used instead of the bread crumbs. Don’t do bread and grain, use one or the other or neither.
  9. 1 cup or more of almonds coarsely chopped
  10. 1–2 apples cut up into tiny pieces, with the skins on, you can use Asian Pears instead or pears or some combination of apples and pears
  11. 3–5 leaves of freshly chopped sage, if you have it, otherwise a dash of dried
  12. 1/2 cup or more of cooking sherry (I prefer the really good stuff, not the cheap kinds, but even a cheap cooking sherry will do)
  13. 1 cup or more of roasted root vegetable or other vegetable stock, apricot juice (for a very sweet stuffing) or water
  14. ground white pepper to taste
  15. salt to taste
  16. dashes of dried marjoram, oregano and/or savory to taste
  17. dash of mace or nutmeg if you want that flavor (some do, some don’t)
  18. fresh feta (sheep or goat milk preferred by Nicole) obviously don’t add this ingredient if you are making this for vegans.

The first step is to bake the squashes while they are whole. I really do not like working with raw squash. You can easily cut yourself if you are not adept in the kitchen or with cutting raw squash. They are large, bumpy, hard and complicated to work with raw. If you cook them first and let them cool down a little bit they are a hundred times easier to work with. So, cook them first in the morning or something, this part is easy. Preheat the oven to 375º. Wash the outside of the squashes and while they are still wet, pour a little oil into your hands and rub around the squash. You are giving them an oil rub. Place them on a baking sheet with the stems up or on the side, do not puncture them. Cook for 20–40 minutes depending on the squash and the number of them on a baking dish. When they are pretty soft, but not all the way cooked, take them out of the oven.

If you didn’t do this step hours ahead of time, then leave your oven on, but reduce heat to 350º. While the squashes were in the oven, you should have been preparing the stuffing. If you did this step hours ahead of time, then start preparing the stuffing part now.

The key here is your preparation ahead of time, before you start cooking ingredients together it is best to have everything chopped up and in small bowls or piles on hand, so you can add the ingredients when you need to. In a large heavy–duty frying pan or cast iron frying pan heat the butter or the oil. When it is warm (almost brown for butter, just hot for oil) throw in your onions and sauté for 10 minutes or if you have lots of time and are doing this ahead of time, go ahead and carmelize them, which means cooking them on medium to low heat for at least 30-50 minutes with a lid and stirring frequently. It’s okay to just cook them for the shorter time, I give you permission, if you are in a hurry to just sauté them for the shorter time.

Add in the celery and the mushrooms and the fresh herbs, sauté for five minutes, add the apples, nuts, dried fruit, sherry and ½ cup or so of water or vegetable stock, mix it all up cook for a minute or so, then add the bread crumbs. You may need to add more cooking sherry or water if this is sticking to the bottom of the pan. You can also add more butter or more oil. Taste often and adjust your spices.

At this point your squashes will have had time to cool down. Cut the delicatas or butternuts in half lengthwise (this should be easy, now that they are cooked), remove seeds. For the other kinds that are more pumpkin or rounder shaped, cut a circle around the stem and take the top off and remove the seeds with a spoon. In a nice baking dish, place your squash halves or whole rounds and then ladle the stuffing into them, pack the stuff in.

You can add a drop of butter or oil to the top of each for more richness or not. I also put fresh sheep or goat milk feta on top of mine, which I think makes this recipe, but my husband cannot abide goat or sheep milk feta. His squashes don’t ever get that on them and he still loves them. So, do whichever appeals to you. Put them back in the oven and cook for another 15-20 minutes or so. If you have left over stuffing put it in a small well oiled baking dish and bake it with the squash. I make this dish at Thanksgiving or whenever I get fresh squashes from my local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm Redwood Roots. This is a great alternative to a Turkey for your vegetarians. I also recommend doing this a day before any large feast, so you can work on other dishes if you are making a variety of foods. This dish keeps well overnight and you can just warm these up in the oven before serving them.

Another variation that looks close to how mine do.
Another variation that looks close to how mine do.

Batata Ben Lamoun-That’s Potato Lemon Soup to you!

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Batata Ben Lamoun soup in a Fire&Light dish, next to coasters made by Paul Barchilon
Batata Ben Lamoun soup in a Fire & Light dish, next to coasters made by Paul Barchilon

Ingredients: for a large pot of soup, you can cut in half for a smaller soup, but it freezes well and most folks want seconds and thirds. This recipe was adapted from Sephardic Cooking: 600 Recipes Created in Exotic Sephardic Kitchens from Morocco to India by Copeland Marks (in my top ten cookbooks list).

  1. 4-6 carrots (large)
  2. 6-8 stalks celery
  3. 6-12 Yukon gold or other yummy potato (peeled and sliced or cut into chunks so that they will cook fairly quickly and mash down)
  4. olive oil
  5. 8 or more cloves of garlic (prepared properly with the centers removed)
  6. juice of 2-3 lemons
  7. 1/2-1 tsp turmeric
  8. salt to taste (use good salt)
  9. Several quarts of water or if you have time make Roasted Root Veggie Stock (see recipe for this nested in my post for Brazilian Sweet Potato, Tomato and Carmelized Onion soup).

Fill your soup pot 3/4 of the way full with water, or stock. Place on stove and start the heat. In a food processor grind up the carrots and celery. Add them to the water and let the whole shebang boil vigorously. Skim the scum off the top and discard.

Serious scummy stuff
Serious scummy stuff

 

Removing scummy stuff from the soup
Removing scummy stuff from the soup

In a small saucepan heat the oil on low and add the garlic, cook until foamy. Don’t let the garlic get brown. Add this to the scum-free soup, turn the heat to medium, let cook for 5–10 minutes. Add potatoes and cook on low to medium for twenty minutes, stirring occasionally. Soup is ready for the other ingredients when you can mush up the potatoes in the soup with a masher. Mash up the potatoes in the soup, then add the turmeric, lemon juice and a salt. This soup is better with mashing then with food processing. You want to have small bits of potato and carrot and celery, occasionally engaging with your spoon. My daughter doesn’t food process the celery and carrots, she just cuts them really tiny. I do prefer my version, but go ahead and try hers if you want. Let the flavors blend together and cook at least another ten minutes after you’ve mashed the potatoes in the soup, serve with other yummy foods, Esti’s Parsley, Garlic, Lemon, Jalapeno Supremely Special Sauce or by itself with bread.

Sapta Rachel’s Eggplant with Balsamic, Black Pepper and Parsley

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Balsamic Parsley & Black Pepper Eggplant
Balsamic Parsley & Black Pepper Eggplant (four layers of rounds)

This dish is fairly quick, can be made hours or days ahead, and will bring you and your guests within inches of Heaven. You can only get to Heaven, once you’ve left your body, which we don’t want this recipe to precipitate. If anything, this dish, reminds you of how great it is to have taste buds and be ALIVE!

I learned this recipe from my daughter who got it from her Israeli-Italian grandmother (Sapta Rachel Heller). She is an amazing artist and cook and all credit should accrue to her for this dish!

  1. 1–3 eggplants, not Japanese–style, un–peeled and cut into ¼– ½ inch rounds
  2. A lot of good olive oil
  3. One bunch or more of fresh parsley (Italian flat leaf is preferred) minced finely
  4. Good salt (see my Let’s Talk Salt post). Current favorite salts are Maldon and Himalayan Pink Salt
  5. Freshly ground black pepper (optional, I love pepper, some folks don’t)
  6. Your favorite balsamic vinegar (not cherry or fruit flavored, just good balsamic vinegar and not balsamic syrup)

If the eggplant is fresh you can skip this step, if not, you need to do the following: Salt the eggplant rounds in a strainer and let them sit for a 1/2 an hour or so. When you salt them ahead of time make sure you pat each piece dry of the sweated salty liquid before you fry them in the oil. You will need to use less salt in between your layers if you do this step.

Have all your ingredients ready and in bowls nearby before you begin. Heat  ½ an inch or more of good olive oil, a fairly liberal amount, in your heavy cast–iron skillet or in a good non–stick one.

Sauté the eggplant circles until they are reddish/dark brown on both sides. You may have to heat up more oil to finish all your eggplant slices. Have an attractive glass serving dish with a rim of at least an inch on it, or a small sort of casserole or round deep dish pie plate next to your stove.

Remove each piece of eggplant, once it is cooked, and place it in a single layer on the bottom of your dish. Add a sprinkling of the sea salt, a liberal sprinkling of the parsley, freshly ground black pepper, and sprinkle each round with balsamic vinegar, so that each round is getting a light shower of the stuff for each single layer. Repeat this process with each layer until all of your eggplant is cooked, and layered. On the final layer, drizzle a little bit more olive oil. This dish should marinate or sit for at least 1/2 hour, and is best served warm or at room temperature. If you are going to put it in the fridge please remove it a few hours before serving. Keep it covered with a plate or lid when it is in the fridge. Serve with a summer tomato salad, rice or on good bread. It’s hard to stop eating this one, you’ve been warned!

Orange, Garlic & Herbed Butternut or Delicata Roasted Squash Supreme

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Roasted Butternut Squash

Roasted Butternut Squash with sage and parsley

  1. One or Two Butternut squashes, peeled, seeded, halved and sliced into 1/4 to 1/2 circle slices or double this amount of delicata squash, similarly prepared. You can leave the skins on if you want, but most folks prefer to eat their squash without the skins. I like them both ways, but find that my guests prefer no skins and eat around the skin, so I’ve taken to peeling these so that all of the squash gets eaten.
  2. Juice of one or two fresh oranges (if you have to use orange juice concentrate that is okay, but fresh is always better)
  3. Fresh herbs, whichever ones you have on hand or prefer (cilantro, parsley, tarragon, thyme and sage are the ones I use most frequently)
  4. Five to six cloves of garlic or more (as you wish), prepared with the centers removed as per all of my recipes using garlic
  5. Olive oil (1/4 cup – 1/2 cup, depending on how much squash you are making)
  6. Good Salt and White Pepper

Pre-heat your oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl so that all the sliced squash is coated with the herbs, olive oil, orange juice and garlic. Arrange the squash half-circle slices on a cookie sheet. You can either line the cookie sheet with parchment paper or just put them straight on it.

Squash rounds on baking sheet ready to go into the oven, covered with garlic, oil, herb and orange juice marinade
Squash 1/2 circle rounds on baking sheet ready to go into the oven, covered with garlic, oil, herb and orange juice marinade

 

 

 

There is no need to add more oil, the oil already coating the squash is sufficient. Bake for 1/2 an hour to forty-five minutes, depending on the squash. Turn the slices once, half-way through the cooking. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven to do this, so you do not lose all the heat in your oven while turning all the slices. This dish goes great with everything and is a different way to enjoy winter squashes. If you bake the squash longer they will get roasted and dryer or take them out when they are soft. Either way they are great, slightly different ways to enjoy the same dish. These are sweet without any sugar, vegan and flavorful. You can omit the garlic for folks who don’t like garlic (but, who can imagine such a thing??!!!!)

As always, ENJOY!

A Good Egg

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Free Range Chicken Eggs, multicolored and cracked open, this is the color you want your yokes to be
Free Range Chicken Eggs, multicolored and cracked open, this is the color you want your yokes to be

My favorite way to eat a Good Egg

(a free range organic one)

A good egg is one that has a yoke bordering on orange, on strong orange. It is not a pastel yellow. A good egg has heft and weft and will make your mouth water when prepared properly. It can be from any particular fowl, but if you don’t like to feel or interact with your food, then you should just stick with chicken eggs. I only get eggs from friends, my local farm-share or I buy the ones that I know are free range and allowed to roam. This means they are more expensive, a real meal in a small container. If I cannot get good eggs, I don’t bother eating eggs in the following way. I only recommend this recipe with a GOOD egg. This recipe is for ONE person, just increase amounts of stuff if you are doing this for a friend. Slice an onion in half and cut the half into thin slices. Sauté it up in butter* until the onion is soft.  Throw in a few leaves of fresh basil or parsley or tarragon and only sauté for ten seconds. Put more butter in your pan if you need to. Move the onions over to the side of your frying pa and then crack your egg or eggs over the butter. Cook them either over–easy (how I like mine) or over hard (how Kevin likes his). Sprinkle some good salt and pepper on top of your egg. Toast up a piece of really good rye bread, the dark stuff or some other favorite bread or a half a baguette.* Spread white goat cheese or cream cheese on the bread and put one chipotle chile over this and spread it all around. You can buy canned chipotle chilies in most stores if you aren’t the home chile canning kind of person. These are smoky flavored spicy peppers. If you aren’t a pepper lover, omit the chipotle. My parsley sauce or my pesto also work well if you don’t want the chipotle flavor. Place your cooked egg on the bread, put the onions and the basil over it and enjoy with your hands. This is a messy egg, a yolk spilling over the onions and bread and your fingers kind of egg. It’s an egg I engage with my whole being and I feel it in my blood and in my tummy saying yummy, yummy, yummy!

The Good Egg, with onions, goat cheese and chipotle peppers, gooey, messy and perfect!
The Good Egg, with onions, goat cheese and chipotle peppers, gooey, messy and perfect!

*Dairy-free option is to omit the cream-cheese or goat cheese and instead of frying in butter use olive oil for onion and egg cooking. Gluten-free option is to omit the bread. I love this egg with fresh kale, so you can make the sloppy mess and put it over your lightly sautéed kale.