Chipotle Butternut Squash Soup

Its a wonderful feeling when you have thrown together supper without having to visit a grocery store or open up a cookbook. It becomes one of those 'AHA' moments, and your so darn smitten with yourself you might as well pat yourself on the back. And you're right, your mother taught you good.

This was one of those nights. I perused through some favorite recipe-and-all-things-knowledgeable-gold mines and then set off on my merry way. Then this happened, and it was good if I say so myself. 

Chipotle Butternut Squash Soup

2 cups coarsely chopped leeks (from one giant leek, or two small), rinsed well

2 T olive oil

big pinch of salt

3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (from a can), coarsely chopped

1 t adobo sauce (from chipotle can)

4 cups chopped butternut squash

2-3 cups vegetable broth

1/3 cup heavy cream

1. Heat olive oil in heavy bottomed soup pot. Saute leeks and pinch of salt until softened. 

2. Add garlic and chipotle plus adobo sauce. Cook for just another minute or so until fragrant. 

3. Tumble butternut squash into pot and add broth until squash is mostly covered. 

4. Let soup come to a simmer, cover and cook for about 10 minutes until squash is very tender. You can't really over cook this. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.

5. Submerge your immersion blender into soup and puree until smooth. You can also use a regular blender, just make sure you leave the lid cracked so hot steaming soup doesn't blind you. 

6. Stir in heavy cream.

optional toppings: chopped olives, a swirl of adobo sauce in a bit of yogurt or sour cream, crumbled feta, chopped cilantro, or a drizzle of chili oil.

A God given right

"There are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread."

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

Bread.

Crusty, moist, warm, filling bread is the food of gods. Not ambrosia, but bread. I am kind of bread crazy right now. It's mostly because recently I was given a recipe (thanks Katie P) for no knead bread which turns out the most perfect, delicious, easy bread ever. In the past I have attempted to make bread and it always turns out to be a thick crusted, bland rock. Even more reason that I almost did jumping jacks when I pulled this lovely loaf out of the oven on Sunday eve. How appropriate? My very first perfect bread experience and it was on a Sunday! I'm almost compelled to head to the closest service, but I think another slice of heaven will do for now. Like I said, it's godly.

To continue with this obnoxious praising of a loaf of bread, here are a few fun facts about you guessed it:

-One bushel of wheat will produce 73 one pound loaves of bread

- Napoleon gave a common bread its name when he demanded a loaf of dark rye bread for his horse during the Prussian campaign. "Pain pour Nicole," he ordered, which meant "Bread for Nicole," his horse. To Germanic ears, the request sounded like "pumpernickel," which is the term we still use today. It may be the one food that every culture, race, religion and dietary leanings consumes on a daily basis.

-Scandinavian traditions hold that if a boy and girl eat from the same loaf, they are bound to fall in love.

-Legend has it that whoever eats the last piece of bread has to kiss the cook.

- Breaking bread is a universal sign of peace

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No Knead Bread
from New York Times, adapted from Sullivan Street Bakery

3 cups all purpose flour or bread flour (or any other combination of flours. Whole wheat, millet, oat, barley, rye, spelt)

1/4 teaspoon instant yeast

1 1/4 teaspoon fine salt

1 5/8 (1 1/2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons) water (does not have to be warm, but not HOT)


1. Stir together flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Pour water over flour mixture. Let sit for a second, then, with a wooden spoon, stir until well combined. It should form a rough ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 12-18 hours (18 is really what you should shoot for) in a warm (70 degrees) spot. After resting, you should see the surface dotted with bubbles.

2. Lightly flour a work surface and turn dough out onto it. Sprinkle a little more dough on top and fold it over itself once or twice. Cover with plastic wrap or a dish towel for about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking, quickly and gently form into a ball. Generously coat a kitchen towel with flour; put dough seam side down on towel. Sprinkle a little more flour on top and cover with another towel. Let rest for 2 hours. Dough should double in size and will not spring back easily when poked with your finger.

4. At least a half an hour before the dough is ready, preheat oven to 450 degrees. At the same time, place a dutch oven and its cover in the oven. When dough is ready, remove pot from oven, and flip dough in. Seam should be up. Gently shake the pot to center the dough. Cover and place in oven. After 30 minutes, remove lid and bake for another 15-30 minutes until top is golden. (Mine was perfect after 15 minutes). Cool on rack.

Now repeat, again and again and again.

It's all in the timing

As with a lot meals they are created in a flurry, with just barely enough time, in between having to do this and having to do that. Luckily I decided on two dishes that fit perfectly into the 'this' and the 'that'...and they weren't half bad.

I, for some reason, had always been terrified of roasting root vegetables. The few times I had they either didn't crisp up or they burnt the deepest shade of brown. I had no idea what temperature, how much olive oil, salt, how long...I was lost and it bothered me. Then I received a wonderful cookbook called Fast, Fresh and Green: More than 90 delicious Recipes for Veggie Lovers at my bridal shower that just lays everything out so beautifully. The recipes are simple, easy and definitely not boring. It sections off the book by cooking methods, and low and behold they had a section on oven-roasting. I had my hand to lead me through it like an elementary grader. Here are the two things I learned:

1. My oven was defiantly not hot enough.
2. I would use WAY to much olive oil
3. I wouldn't rotate my pan

Easy enough, and I feel like an idiot.

Oven Sweet Potato Fries with Saffron Roasted Red Pepper Remoulade

1 lb or 1 large Sweet Potato
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp sea salt flakes

1/4 hot water
8 strands of good saffron
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup roasted red peppers
1 big and fat garlic clove
1/2 tsp paprika (what ever kind you like, I used sweet spanish)
salt to taste

1. Pre heat oven to 475 F. Wash and dry the sweet potato. Slice into 1/4 in rounds, and then into 1/4 in think sticks. Try to keep all the pieces about the same thickness so they roast evenly. Toss with the olive oil and salt. Turn out onto a rimmed baking sheet or roasting pan. Make sure the fries lay in a single layer.
2. Roast for 20 minutes; rotate pan half way through. Use a spatula to flip the fries, then return to oven to roast for another 10 minutes.
3. While the fries are roasting, make the remoulade sauce. Combine the hot water and saffron in a small bowl for 10 minutes to let the saffron dissolve. In a blender puree the roasted red peppers, garlic clove, salt and paprika. Add the saffron water to the red pepper mixture and process until combined. Pour the mixture into a small mixing bowl and stir in the mayonnaise until combined. Serve with the fries as a dipping sauce.

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This tart is gorgeous when finished. Make sure to take a second and (visually) savor the beauty of what you just created. Also, it is very simple English fare and I felt like it was lacking a little bit on spice so I may have added a bit more freshly cracked pepper. The recipe did call for 1/4 freshly grated nutmeg, but I forgot this and I don't think it suffered.

Asparagus and Potato Tart adapted from Jaime at Home

*note: to remove the woodsy ends of asparagus, grab the tip with one hand and the bottom with the other and bend. Where ever it breaks is the good part, toss the lower half in the compost. Also, make sure you refreeze the remaining Filo in a well sealed bag or wrapped in cellophane.

5 sheets of thawed Filo pastry (thawed, in package, in fridge for 5-7 hours, or overnight)
1 lb potato (I used one large Russet, but you could use any you have laying around), peeled, and cubed
1/2 cup grated swiss cheese
1/2 cup sharp white cheddar
1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper
8 oz heavy cream
3 large eggs
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 lb asparagus, woody ended removed

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Line a large jelly roll pan (rimmed baking sheet) with parchment paper.
2. Lay one sheet of Filo at a time down onto the pan, brushing each with a bit of melted butter, making sure to leave a little hanging over the sides. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl whisk together the cream and eggs. Set aside
4. In a small saucepan of boiling salted water, blanch the asparagus for 4 minutes. While they are cooking, prepare a small bowl of ice water. Remove the asparagus and drop into the water bath for a 2 minutes, remove and set aside.
5. Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water for 15 minutes. Drain, return to pan, mash with a fork or potato masher. Mix in the grated cheeses. Drop a few tablespoons of the hot potato mixture into the cream egg mix, and then whisk together. Then stir into the remaining potato cheese mixture until combined.
6. Spread the potato mixture evenly over the filo dough. Then lay the asparagus over the top of the potato mixture in cute little rows.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the center is set and the filo starts to brown. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes, cut into big squares and serve with some wild arugula with a little olive oil drizzled over.

...and all I can think about is what's for dinner

I am getting married in 24 days and all I can think about today is what's for dinner.

But that's to be expected from me. When my soon to be betrothed, Benjamin, takes on dinner for the evening he does everything shy of fluffing a pillow in an attempt to help me take a load off. And my first response is to grab the closest cook book and start flippin.

I can't help it, I love food. More specifically, I love the colors and smells, I love the choices, I love the rush of suspense when you wait for that slight change in expression on a person's face after their first bite. Will it be a yay or a nay? But really it is about the process. From beginning to end, I find it so peaceful.

So this is to be a place for me to share this obsession with cooking, but also with eating healthful, interesting, fresh, local food. There will be some meat dishes from time to time, but mostly everything will be vegetarian. Now this is not to say I don't like meat...I love meat. The smell of a perfectly grilled steak triggers much more than just my salivary glands. The only restriction I put on myself when it comes to meat is I need to know for sure that the animal's were treated humanely, without any antibiotics or hormones, pasture raised or allowed to forage. I won't go into why since I feel like most people have an inkling if not more (check out Michael Pollan if you don't), but I will say anything else grosses me out.

thank you for reading this far, and double thanks if you continue to read. keep on cooking...

nora.