Butternut Squash Soup

Posted on September 10, 2013 by poulosc

See that. That right there is Fall.

Corn on the cob roasting on a grill, the smell wafting down 3rd avenue as you stroll down the street, checking out the jewelry, food and weird stuff on display at a street fair.

I love New York Street Fairs. Great people watching, great fun finds, and, of course, great food smells. Sausage and peppers, kettle corn, gyros, and that tinge of fall in the air. Here’s a schedule of street fairs.

Walking the street fair on Saturday and feeling that tinge of a chill when the sun started to set had me thinking fall.

And when I think fall, I think butternut squash.

This time, in soup form.

Soup itself is such a fall food. Making a soup out of such a great fall vegetable just has me ready for scarves and sweaters and tights! I’m a sucker for tights and boots.

This is a ridiculously easy recipe and it’s a great make ahead too.

You will need 1 butternut squash, 1/2 a white onion, 2 cloves of garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and vegetable stock.

Start by roasting the squash like we did when we made the pasta sauce.

Let the squash cool completely, then scoop out the flesh into a large pot. Add the onion, chopped roughly, and two cloves of garlic peeled and halved. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium, stirring so that the onions and garlic brown a bit.

Add enough vegetable broth to cover the vegetables and simmer covered until everything has softened. You can use chicken broth, too, but I wanted to keep this vegetarian.

Puree the soup with a blender or immersion blender. For a little bit of that je ne sais quoi that will have people wondering what you could have possibly put in this soup, add a sprinkle of all spice. It adds a nice complexity of flavors and a touch of warmth that is perfect for cooler fall nights.

Ladle up big bowls and top with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.

This has me wanting pumpkin spice candles and cinnamon cookies.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts Salad

Posted on September 9, 2013 by poulosc

Whenever my fiance is away for the night, I take advantage of his absence and cook the things he can’t stand. Usually it’s zucchini. Tonight it’s Brussels Sprouts!

I love brussels sprouts. I always have actually. I was that weird child who enjoyed vegetables.

So I decided to roast some up, toss them with some baby greens and top it off with two fried eggs.

A yummy, light salad, so I could snack without guilt during the Giants game.

Preheat the oven to 400.

Trim the bottoms of the brussels sprouts and remove any yellowed leaves. Toss them in a baking dish, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Roast them for about 45 minutes until the leaves are crispy and the centers and tender.

Plate up some baby greens and top with the brussels sprouts.

Add two fried eggs, yolks still runny, to the top. The olive oil and the fatty yolk will act like a dressing for the salad.

He happened to come home while I was eating. I made him try a brussels sprout. And guess what? Not bad, he said!!

So if you have any picky eaters who aren’ts fans of certain vegetables, try roasting them. It brings out the sweetness in some and gives a smokiness to others.

Posted on September 5, 2013 by poulosc

Eggplant, Tomatoes, peppers, chickpeas.

I cook with these ingredients a lot.

Sometimes all together. Sometimes in different combinations with some other vegetables thrown in. But they’re pretty standard occupiers of my fridge.

We all go to the market and we all find ourselves coming back with the same things over and over again.

There’s not an infinite number of vegetables in the world. And there’s not an infinite number of foods to be tried.

BUT!

There are infinite possibilities when it comes to flavors.

Recently I’ve been exploring an aisle in the store I usually shied away from. Instead of picking up the usual salt, pepper and dried basil, I’ve been venturing out with things like coriander and ground ginger.

Mixing spices lets you transform your vegetables. Spices can take eggplant from Italy to Morocco and to your dinner table.

And that’s what I did with this dish. I took my usual suspects of tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and chickpeas and tossed them with some new spices. The result? The smoky and complex flavors of the dishes I’ve had in Moroccan restaurants.

For this dish you will need

1 eggplant, peeled and chopped
2 green bell peppers, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
olive oil
salt
pepper
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon coriander

Drizzle olive oil in a large pot and toss in the eggplant, seasoning with salt and pepper. Let the eggplant cook on its own for a few minutes until it starts to brown. Eggplant is like a sponge, so add more oil if it soak it all up.

Add the peppers and stir, letting them soften a bit.

Next add in the tomatoes. This is a one pot dinner that’s all about layering the flavors. The vegetables cook at different times, so by adding them in throughout the cooking process, each gets the chance to cook through without turning to mush.

Last, add in the chickpeas and the spices. Give the pot a big stir, cover and let simmer for about 10 minutes. This is a great dish if your significant other is going to be late because it can just hang on the stove over low heat until everyone is home.

Dish up heaping bowls and top with a scoop of tzatziki.

The noise of the city fades as the spices transport you to a far off village…

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Posted on September 4, 2013 by poulosc

I’m not one for diets and deprivation, but I’m going to be trying on a wedding dress in a few weeks, I don’t want to have a break down on the pedestal.

I want to be crying because I’m going to marry the man of my dreams in my dream dress, not because I’m a fluffy cake-topper and need to order a size up.

But still, deprived is not a word in my dictionary.

I always try to eat healthy – eating the rainbow, lots of yogurt and veggies and fruits, limiting foods from a package – but if I want a Buttercup Cupcake, I will get it.

So it’s not about giving up. It’s about eating a little smarter.

With dishes like this. A slimmed down broccoli cheddar soup.

The killer in traditional broccoli cheddar soup is the heavy cream and the cheese that’s piled on.

So when I saw this lightened up version in Cooking Light Magazine, I was stoked. Heavier on the veggies, with just a swirl of half and half to keep things creamy. I can’t do low fat cheese, so I stuck with full fat cheddar. And as always, I made a few tweaks to make it mine.

You will need

1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
3 ribs of celery with leaves, chopped
1/2 a white onion, chopped
1 large bunch of broccoli, cut into florets
1 carton vegetable stock
olive oil
salt
pepper
half and half
grated cheddar

Drizzle a heavy bottomed pot with olive oil and toss in the carrot, celery and onion. Simmer over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until the veggies start to soften a little. Season with salt and pepper.

Add in the broccoli.

Give the pot a big stir then add the vegetable stock. You can use chicken stock, but I wanted to keep this vegetarian.

Put a lid on the pot and let the vegetables and the stock cook for about 10-15 minutes, until the broccoli is soft.

Use an immersion blender, blender or food processor to puree the soup. Stir in a few tablespoons of half and half to give the soup a bit of a creamy hint.

Ladle big bowls and top with shredded cheddar cheese.

There are so many vegetables in this light and healthy soup that you won’t feel the least bit guilty having a brownie later.

London Broil and Green Beans

Posted on September 3, 2013 by poulosc

Every cook should have one of those recipes in her back pocket that she can just whip out, whip up and impress.

Oh you must have cooked all day!

Actually. It took me about thirty minutes to throw this all together, but of course, I’m not going to tell you that.

This is something my mom always made, that I loved and found somewhat magical. It’s one of those dishes that look and taste and just seem like they took a ton of effort and some secret concoction of seasonings.

Come in close. Closer. Okay. This is just between us.

All it is, is a good bottle of red wine.

Most of life’s great things begin with a good bottle of red wine, n’es-ce pas?

To make this London Broil you will need, 1 pound of London Broil ( for 2 people, adjust accordingly), black pepper, salt and good red wine. London Broil is a fairly cheap cut of meat, so it’s something that can be an everyday dress, but jazzed up with the right shoes and necklace, can be a real showstopper.

Pick a fairly hearty red wine. A chianti or a merlot will work just lovely. As always, pick something you would drink.

Place your hunk of London Broil in a baking dish with fairly deep sides.

Season liberally with salt and pepper, and glug glug glug, pour in the wine, enough to cover the bottom of the pan, plus a little more.

The wine is one trick. Here’s the second. Stick the tray in the fridge for a few hours. Better yet, put it in the fridge in the morning before you go to work and then come home to a wonderful red wine smell that has escaped from your fridge and permeated the kitchen.

Preheat the oven to 400 and bake the London Broil for about 30 minutes. Cooking time will depend on thickness and desired doneness.

The smell of wine will waft down the halls of your building.

This side dish, which pairs so nicely with the London Broil, is brought to you courtesy of my fiance. I believe it’s a variation on something his mom made.

In a frying pan, toss in fresh green beans (washed and trimmed), a diced tomato, 2 cloves of minced garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Sautee the mixture until the beans are cooked, but still crisp.

Plate the London Broil and the green beans, pouring the red wine sauce from the pan liberally over both.

Everything has the taste of a meal that has been lovingly and painstakingly prepared over hours in the kitchen.

Only you and I will know that it’s just the wine talking!

Lemon Cheesecake Squares

Posted on August 31, 2013 by jacky grace

A few years ago my cousin Diane gave me this fantastic book called the Cake Mix Doctor.

Every recipe in the book begins with a box of cake mix. I can’t tell you how fantastic this is if you entertain a lot or if you have kids and have to bake for school function a lot. A box of cake mix and some extra ingredients and you are on your way to a great dessert!

We’re heading to a family Labor Day barbecue. And we were asked to bring a dessert.

This means two things.

1. We’re engaged and so are adults and need to contribute

and

2. We’re engaged so I’m part of the family and can’t just hang out anymore (which is not a bad thing!)

SO I turned to the Cake Mix Doctor. And found this recipe for Lemon Cheesecake Squares.

I like lemony desserts at barbecues because they’re light and cut through all the richness of all the foods you ate throughout the day.

So here it is.

You will need

1 box classic white cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup of sugar
1 8 oz package of cream cheese
The juice from 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a 9×13 baking dish.

Pour the cake mix, vegetable oil and one egg into a large bowl.

Stir until combined. The mixture will be crumbly. Almost like sugar cookie dough.

Pour the mixture into the baking dish and press it down. This will be the crust. Pop it in the oven and bake for about 13 minutes.

While that bakes, stir together the cream cheese, sugar, remaining egg and the lemon juice until the mixture is smooth.

Remove the cake from the oven and pour the cream cheese mixture over top.

You get a cakey crust on the bottom and a tangy lemony cheesecake on the top. Two desserts in one.

Pop the pan back in the oven and bake for another 13-15 minutes, until the cheesecake is set.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Then slice up into bars. I got 24 out of the pan. (The below is only half)

Red Wine Mushroom Ragu

Posted on August 30, 2013 by jacky grace

It’s been a long week. I don’t know why. It hasn’t been particularly busy or stressful, but it just felt never ending.

Maybe it’s the anticipation of hanging with family over the Labor Day Weekend.

Whatever the case, we needed a comforting meal.

When I think comfort food, I always first think pasta. I’m Italian. I can’t help it.

The second thought is usually some kind o warm and earthy sauce.

In this case, it’s a chunky red wine and mushroom ragu.

You will need one pound of mushrooms (I’m using baby portabella, shiitake and oyster mushrooms) olive oil, black pepper, red wine and parmesan cheese.

Give the mushrooms a rough chop and toss them in a large skillet with some olive oil. Let them brown and cook down and then add a few grinds of black pepper.

Pour in about a half cup of red wine. If you wouldn’t drink it, then don’t use it is the general rule for cooking with wine. You want a nice red that can stand up to the mushroom flavor.

Let the wine reduce. Then top your pasta. Add some parmesan cheese. I used penne because it’s what we had. Any kind would do. Though I suggest staying away from angel hair as it’s a bit flimsy for these hearty flavors.

Roasted Tomato and Poblano Soup

Posted on August 28, 2013 by jacky grace

It’s in the air.

This time, I’m not talking about Fall (It’s a hot sticky humid day here in the city!)

Nope. This time I’m talking about Back to school.

That’s right, it’s the time of year for notebooks, paper, pencils and cool backpacks. (And papers and tests and detention boo!)

I’m not just feeling nostalgic. I’m actually heading back to school myself.

And that has me in the mood for a childhood favorite. Something warm and comforting as I face the terror of first day and making sure to pick out the right outfit and not sitting in the front row.

What’s more reminiscent of school days than tomato soup and a grilled cheese?

My parents will tell you that I pretty much subsisted only on grilled cheese during the first years of my life. I liked other foods. I wasn’t a picky eater. I just had a favorite and wanted as much of it as I could get.

There’s nothing like some Kraft singles melted between two pieces of white bread and dunked into a steaming bowl of Campbell’s tomato soup.

But I’m an adult now. So I wanted a more grown up version.

So here’s my take – roasted tomato and poblano soup.

It has the smoky flavor of a tortilla soup but the classic tomato bursts of the bowls we lived on as kids.

This is also a super fast and easy recipe, which makes it perfect for those nights shuttling between school and football practice and play rehearsals.

You will need:

1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 pint cherry heirloom tomatoes (you can also use yellow tomatoes or just 2 pints of regular cherry tomatoes. I like the complexity of flavor the heirlooms give)
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 poblano pepper, seeded and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, halved
olive oil
salt
pepper

Cover a cookie sheet in aluminum foil and lay the veggies and the garlic on the cookie sheet.

Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and black pepper. Pop the veggies under the broiler for about 15 to 20 minutes until the skins of the peppers and the tomatoes start to blister. This will give the soup a smoky taste.

Now, you have two options. You can dump everything in a blender or a food processor, add some water or broth and whir it up. Or, you can dump the vegetables in a pot, add some water and hit the mixture with an immersion blender.

The immersion blender’s my favorite kitchen gadget so I went with the latter.

Either way, blend until smooth. If you used a blender, pour the mix into a pot to warm it up and let the falvors bubble together.

Even if you didn’t have to face a pop quiz and an oral presentation today, this soup will calm you after a long day.

I don’t know what Shawarma is, but I wanna try it!

Posted on August 27, 2013 by jacky grace

We’ve been on a comic book/ action movie kick lately and last night was a Thor night.

I was trying to figure what to make for dinner that would be fitting when watching the story of the god, and bam! It hit me like Thor’s hammer! (Only not really, because I wouldn’t be conscious to write this post if Thor’s hammer hit me.)

Shawarma!

If you’ve seen Avengers, you know the scene at the end where they’ve just saved the planet and are all sitting around eating shawarma.

Tony Stark, after almost dying, gets up and rambles on “Alright. Hey. Alright. Good job, guys. Let’s just not come in tomorrow. Let’s just take a day. Have you ever tried shawarma? There’s a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don’t know what it is, but I wanna try it.”

And so, off for shawarma they go.

Shawarma is seasoned meat, chicken, beef or lamb, that is seasoned and then cooked on a rotating spit. The term also refers to the sandwich or wrap made with that meat.

Now, I don’t have a spit in the apartment, so this was made in the oven. But with the seasoning mix, you still get the flavor.

SO let’s start with the spices. I’m usually not one for a spice concoction, but trust me, you need it if you want this to have that Middle Eastern flavor.

In a small bowl, mix together 1 tablespoon each of smoked paprika, ground ginger, and coriander and one teaspoon each of ground cinnamon and all spice.

This spice rub is good for 1 pound of meat. If you’re making more, adjust accordingly.

I decided to make chicken shawarma pita sandwiches. This is a great weeknight dinner because the chicken cooks in about 20 minutes, during which time you can chop up the toppings for the pita pockets. This is a build your own dinner night, which we tend to do a lot, so I’m going to share our topping bar, but feel free to adjust to your tastes.

To get started, preheat the oven to 350.

Place your washed and dried chicken in a foil-lined baking dish. You can use breasts, but I used 1 pound of these tenderloins. They’re thinner so they cook faster. Which means we can get to Thor battling Loki faster.

Drizzle the chicken with vegetable oil and the spice mixture and bake for about 20-25 minutes. When it’s done, the chicken will take on an orangey reddish color from the spices. Shred the chicken into bite sized pieces, small enough for pita stuffing.

Then, it’s just a matter of laying out your spread. We used whole wheat pita pockets, shredded cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, hummus, and yogurt lemon sauce (squeeze the juice of one lemon into a small container of Greek yogurt, add a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt).

Cut the pita in half, open up the pocket and stuff away.

Hey, saving the world works up an appetite!

Ok. Watching the super heroes save the world works up an appetite. Sort of.

Adrenaline. Or something.

Right?

Caprese CousCous Stuffed Tomatoes

Posted on August 23, 2013 by jacky grace

It’s in the air.

You can smell it.

You can feel it.

Fall is coming.

There’s that hint of a chill when the sun goes down that has me grasping at summer.

And to me, summer is a bowl of peaches and some ripe juicy Jersey tomatoes. While I would be satisfied with peaches for dinner, I know my fiance would not.

So I turned to Giada DeLaurentiis’s cookbook and found a lovely recipe for tomatoes stuffed with rice.

I used my creative license and switched out the rice for couscous and so was born Caprese Couscous Stuffed Tomatoes!

One of the best things at an Italian restaurant in the summer is a caprese salad with ripe, bright red tomatoes and fresh mozzarella.

I took that concept and, instead of layering it nicely on a plate, decided to stuff it into a tomato.

For this recipe you will need

Tomatoes (I did 2 per person plus one extra as a lunch for someone the next day)
Couscous (I used the quick cook kind because, well, who wants to use long cook couscous?)
Basil
Mozzarella
Black pepper
olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350.

Prepare the couscous according to the package directions and set aside in a bowl.