Quick "roasted" squash side dish

I think squash is best roasted, but sometimes, I'm just too hungry to wait that long. This was the case last night after a long day in the lab. The point of roasting a vegetable (or meat for that matter) is to get some browning reactions going. Browning reactions convert simple sugars and proteins into more complex flavors. This 1953 article in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry by John Hodge, one of the great food chemists, identified and integrated some of the early postulated reactions into a unified theory. Quite remarkable considering how much is still not understood about the mechanisms that make grilled steak or roasted veggies so delicious.



But back to the squash at hand... I decided to try to shortcut the research presented above; by first boiling the squash, then dehydrating it a bit, and then broiling, and making up for the lack of browning reactions with peripheral savory, sweet, complex flavors. I had one small, sad acorn squash that had been in the fridge for quite some time, and about 1/4 of a very large butternut, about 1/2 lb in all. Any firm winter squash would work. I left the skin on, cause again, I was hungry! I had picked up some thyme at the store the other day, having remembered how much I like it because Mary and Erin cooked with some at our Estes Park/RMNP mini-vacation last weekend. That along with some smoked sea salt takes care of the savory flavors; brown sugar is a shortcut to the sweet caramelized flavor roasting usually imparts, and the butter brings it all together. The bread crumbs are for a little crunch and visually, for some browning.



Ingredients
~1/2 lb. firm winter squash, sliced into fairly large chunks (peeling is optional)
1 T. butter
1 T. fresh thyme (leaves removed from twigs)
2 T. brown sugar
large pinch smoked sea salt
ground pepper to taste
bread crumbs (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 and boil some water.
2. Cook the squash in the boiling water, till just tender, about 10 minutes.
3. In a casserole or baking dish, toss the squash with the butter, thyme, 1 T. of the brown sugar, and the salt and pepper.
4. Sprinkle the remaining 1 T. of brown sugar, and some bread crumbs on top.
5. Cook for about 10 minutes in the oven (to dehydrate), and then switch to broil. Broil for a few minutes till the bread crumbs and squash are starting to brown.

Variations
I think it would also be great with some parmesan cheese in addition or instead of the bread crumbs. I used some homemade wheat bread crumbs I have stashed in the freezer, but I think the crunch factor would be improved with crunchy Japanese style bread crumbs (panko), which are available in most supermarkets.

BBQ'ed tofu

Not to toot my own horn, but I've heard more than one person say this is the best tofu they've ever had. Only 3 people, but I think that's significant, and I'm posting at the request of Tien. It's roughly based off a recipe from Lorna Sass's the New Soy Cookbook, which my mom gave me. The recipe says to cook under the broiler, I've only done it on the grill. Also, I never measure the ingredients for this. You'll notice that all the measurements are 2 T. or 1 T. So when I'm making it, I say it's 2 parts ketchup and mustard to 1 part everything else, and just make it by eye. The 2 cloves garlic is about 1 T. too.

Serves 2 as a main course.

1 12 oz. block of extra firm tofu, drained and press (see here for more on how (and why) to press tofu)
2 T. dijon mustard
2 T. ketchup
1 T. tablespoons soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced or put through a garlic press (it's important to get the pieces small)
1 T. molasses
1 T. sesame oil
1 T. minced, canned chipotle pepper in adobo (with the sauce from the can)

1. Drain and press the tofu as described previously.
2. Mix all the other ingredients together.
3. Slice the tofu into about 6 slices. Combine with BBQ sauce, and make sure all sides are sauced. Let marinate for a while, if desired. The longer the marinade time, the longer the flavors will have to permeate the tofu.
4. Oil the grill grates. The tofu definitely wants to stick to the grill, so this is key.
5. Cook on the grill for about 5 minutes/side, but keep a close eye out for burnage, cause of course grill temps can vary. If it's a gas grill, I would recommend medium.
6. Serve! I usually serve with a bunch of grilled veggies and a nice loaf of bread and salad.

Leftovers make awesome sandwiches, but there usually aren't any. When I'm cooking this for just me and Andy, I usually double it so there at least some leftovers. I've definitely tripled and quadrupled it for when we have BBQs at our house.

Spaghetti (squash) with smoked salmon and creamy tomato sauce

This is a quick and really tasty dinner. The sauce could be served over pasta instead of spaghetti squash. This is a little (okay a lot) like the recipe I wrote about here, but I think I like it better cause it's more filling due to the cream and fish. You might think smoked salmon in a sauce is weird, but the texture changes when heated. It goes from kind of slimy, salty, and soft to firm and flaky, like cooked fish; and the salty, smoky flavor is imparted on the rest of the sauce. It makes sense, since smoked salmon is essentially preserved, uncooked fish: if you heat it, it cooks and loses some of its juice.

I used a jar of tomatoes from MM Local, a small company in Boulder that cans local Colorado fruits (yes, tomatoes are fruits) in the height of the season and sells them all year long. They were awesome!

P.S. - I am very excited to have 6 followers - thanks guys! I apologize for the lack of pictures lately, I keep forgetting to pull out the camera. Usually, it's cause I'm hungry :)

Serve about 3

2 T. olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
a little bit of salt
4-6 cloves garlic, chopped
16 oz. jar tomatoes, preferably MM Local tomatoes with basil (you could also use two small cans or 1 large can, it'll still taste good, maybe add a little more cream and/or double the salmon.)
3 oz. (one package) smoked salmon, roughly chopped
about 1/4 c. heavy cream, or to taste (could substitute half and half)
lots of freshly ground pepper
about 1/3 c. chopped fresh herbs, I used mostly parsley with some mint. Basil, rosemary, tarragon, thyme would all be nice. Maybe sage.
1 small package goat cheese for serving at the table

1 medium spaghetti squash (or in my case, 1/2 of an ENORMOUS spaghetti squash, yes, from the CSA)
1.5 T. butter

1. Heat oil in a non-reactive skillet over medium and cook onions with a pinch of salt (remember, a lot of salt will get into the sauce from the fish, so don't put in as much as you usually might), stirring occasionally.
2. Once the onions are starting to caramelize, add in the garlic. Stir for a minute, then add the tomatoes. If using whole tomatoes (like MM Local), break apart with your wooden spoon. Simmer over low heat for a while, about 15 minutes, or till tomatoes have lost some of their acidity.
3. Add in the salmon, cream, pepper (to taste) and a bit more than half of the chopped herbs. Stir for a minute, then kill the heat.

Meanwhile, while the tomatoes are cooking
4. If using spaghetti squash, slice in half, scoop out seeds and place cut sides down in a microwave safe casserole with 1/4 inch water. Microwave for at least 6 minutes, probably more. It's done when you pretty easily dig in with a fork to separate and pull out the strands. If using pasta, just cook according to the direction on the box.
5. Toss the spaghetti squash with the butter and the remaining chopped herbs. Butter is probably not necessary if using pasta.

6. Serve the sauce over the squash, and mix in some goat cheese at the table.

Brown rice and portobello risotto

This is a very non-traditional take on risotto. It happened because I really wanted risotto for dinner tonight, but I only had short grain brown rice on hand. Typically, risotto is made with Arborio rice, a short grain white rice. But it's also a bit non-traditional in the preparation. I intentionally did not stir it as much as is called for in traditional risotto recipes to see if it would still work. One caveat on all the hypotheses postulated below; they may not be at all correct, but I think they probably are.

Risotto 101 - basic techniques and science
Risotto is essentially (in order of decreasing volumes used) liquid, rice, bits & pieces (chopped veggies, meat, seafood), and seasonings (usually including freshly grated parmesan cheese). What makes it special is the preparation. When you make most non-risotto rice dishes, you are going for fluffy, separated grains that are cooked till tender. In contrast, with risotto, you are going for a creamy, heavier texture and an al dente bite to the grains themselves. To accomplish the non-risotto texture, you boil/steam the rice with the lid on, without any perturbations to the system. To accomplish risotto-texture, it is exactly the opposite: lid off, adding in liquid a half cup at a time all the while vigorously stirring. What happens is that while the rice is cooking all that stirring-induced agitation causes starch molecules to leave the rice grain, and get cooked in the liquid. Since the starch molecules are released slowly, and you're stirring constantly, it's similar to a roux, but better. Lumps and burning cannot occur (whereas it's quite easy to make lumps and burnage while combining starch and liquid at a more macro-scale - think gravy). Alton Brown had an excellent Good Eats episode explaining most of this with a few more details, if you're interested.

Risotto 201 - brown rice risotto, mechanisms for desired outcome
Everyone knows brown rice is better for you. Less processed, more good fiber, etc... My thoughts on using brown rice for risotto were that:
a. it would take longer, because brown rice takes longer to cook in general.
b. otherwise it should work just as well.
Point a. is fairly obvious but point b. is more complicated. See, what makes brown rice brown is that the bran and germ are intact. White rice, at a point in its life after harvest and before the conclusion of processing, was brown. The bran and germ were removed, leaving only the endosperm. So when making risotto, I was somewhat concerned of the ability of water to pass through the bran, dissolve some starch molecules, and for those starches to leave the grain to return back to the cooking liquid to make that sought-after creaminess. Furthermore, since brown rice takes longer to cook, I was concerned about my arm having to stir the pot for 45-50 minutes. Luckily, and logically, I didn't have too. I probably stirred the pot for 15 of the 50 minutes of cook time. This makes sense, if the water can enter the grain, logically starch can leave it. Yes, starch molecules are larger than water molecules, but once the rice is cooking for a while, the bran splits, exposing the endosperm and allowing for free passage of starch molecules.

So these hypotheses/observations can give us a road map for successfully making risotto out of brown rice. The basic plan: make it in a similar fashion to traditional risotto, but there's no need to stir it for the first 10 minutes or so of cooking, since it is the heat and expanding endosperm that ruptures the grains, not the stirring. Once you see the grains opening to any degree, or swelling substantially, stir to your heart's content. I'm still a bit impatient, so I didn't stir constantly after that. The more stirring the better, but with white or brown rice I'm too lazy/disorganized to stir the whole time.

Another thing that's nice about this, is that since it takes longer to cook, but my above observations relieve me from constant stirring, you can start cooking the rice before prepping the other ingredients (chopping garlic, mushrooms, sage, grating the parm in the food processor). You can even use the down time to make side dishes, and depending on your sides, everything can be ready in an hour. I served it with a spinach, apple, and red pepper salad, and a Brussels sprouts and apple dish very loosely based off of this one. So in the end, this shouldn't take much more total time than Arborio rice risotto.

The end product was very tasty. The characteristic nuttiness of brown rice pairs nicely with mushrooms and sage, and though it maybe could have used a bit more stirring, there was ample creaminess. Like most risottos, especially those made with red wine, it's not much to look at:



A few notes on ingredients:
Using red wine as a cooking liquid is also a bit unusual, but according to the Gourmet Cookbook, it is traditional in the Piedmont region of Italy. With these ratios, the flavor is not at all overwhelming, it just imparts a nice, deep flavor (as well as a slightly funny color).
For the rice, make sure it's short grain. Long grain simply won't give off as much starch. I use a brand called Lundberg that I think is excellent. It also happens to be the only kind I can find out here, and it's only at the King Sooper's, not the Safeway, in Golden.
For the veggies, I probably would have gone with 1/2 an onion and 3 mushrooms, but I didn't have any onions.

4 c. water plus more for deglazing your pan and as needed
1 c. red wine
2 T. olive oil, separated
1 T. butter
5 cloves garlic, minced and separated
2 c. short grain brown rice (don't rinse)
4 portobello mushrooms, sliced thinly (~1/4-1/3") then chopped into chunks
salt and pepper
2 T. fresh sage, thinly sliced
1/2 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese (plus more for serving)
optional, a touch of cream or milk

Start the rice
1. Combine the wine and 4 c. of water in a 2.5 qt. saucepan over high heat. When it comes to a simmer, reduce heat to low.
2. Heat 1 T. of the oil and the butter in a 3.5 qt. saucepan over medium heat. Add half the minced garlic and stir till fragrant. Add in the raw rice and stir for 3 minutes.
3. Add enough of the simmering wine/water mixture to cover the rice by less than half an inch (maybe a quarter inch). Reduce heat to low, cover loosely, and let it cook for 10 minutes.
4. After the initial 10 minutes, or once you see some grain rupture, add 1/2 c. of the liquid at a time, stirring frequently. I like to think if I stir extra vigorously, I'm releasing as much starch if I stirred more frequently and less vigorously. Add another 1/2 c. when the last 1/2 c. is absorbed. Continue like this till the rice is tender and al dente, about 45-50 minutes including the initial 10.

In the meantime... prep and cook the veggies

4. Heat 1 T. oil in a skillet, add the other half of the garlic, stir till fragrant, and then add the mushrooms and some salt. Cook till the mushrooms are done, about 6 minutes.
5. Move the veggies to a serving bowl and add the sage.
6. Pour 1/2 to 3/4 cup of boiling water into the skillet to deglaze all of those tasty mushroom flavors. Use this hot water as your next addition to the rice pot.

Combine it all

7. Once the rice is done, add it to the veggies. Stir in some salt and pepper to taste, the parmesan, and the cream or milk if desired. Serve immediately with extra parmesan at the table.

Rosemary ginger snaps

I'm writing this from the Albany airport (free wifi, thanks Google), in the throes of Christmas cookie withdrawal. I have eaten soooooo many Christmas cookies in the last ten days. To ease withdrawal systems (and cause Mom asked for it), I am posting one of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes. It comes from a King Arthurs cookbook, I think one called "the Baker's Companion" or something like that.

It makes 10 - 12 dozen, and can be halved. I love the combination of rosemary in these cookies, and go towards the higher end of the 4-6 t. spectrum.

Ingredients
* 1.5 cups, (3 sticks) butter, brought to room temperature
* 2 cups sugar
* 2 eggs
* 0.5 cup dark unsulphured molasses
* 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 4 – 6 teaspoons rosemary, crushed or powdered
* 1 teaspoon ground ginger
* 0.5 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* granulated sugar, I like a raw brown sugar (like sugar in the raw), or you can use red or green colored sugar to make them more Christmasy.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, or prepare the dough a day ahead and chill before baking.

In a large, standup mixer, cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs, one a time, and continue to beat in until each egg is mixed well. Add the molasses and continue to beat until well combined.

Sift together the flour, soda, salt, rosemary, ginger, cloves and cinnamon. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, one cup at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Roll nickel-sized pieces of dough into balls between the palms of your hands. Then roll them in granulated sugar and place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes.

Stuffed squash

This is a great winter recipe. We’ve been getting a lot of cabbage and squash in the CSA. I’ve written this recipe calling for all fresh ingredients, but when I made it, I actually used about half a recipe of leftover plain sautéed squash in place of the fresh cabbage and brown sugar. If you make it in that manner, just stir in the cooked cabbage in the mixing bowl step and heat the assembled squash a little before broiling, so everything is warm.

Serves 8 as a side or 4 as a main course

4 acorn or kabocha squash – acorn squash has a better shape and I prefer the texture for this application.
oil
1 c. bulgar wheat
2 T. butter
1 onion, chopped
1 apple, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 half head green cabbage, thinly sliced or shredded
1 t. caraway seeds
2 t. brown sugar
salt and pepper, preferably Maldon smoked sea salt
Slices cheddar cheese, preferably Cabot Hunter’s extra sharp, enough to cover the 8 squash halves.

1. Preheat the oven to 375.
2. Cut the squashes in half at their equators. Remove the seeds and dribble some oil onto the cut sides. Use your fingers to coat all the exposed squash flesh with the oil. Place the squash, cut side down, on a foil lined baking sheet. Cook for about one hour, until the skin can be indented with a spoon. If in doubt, cook for extra time… it is difficult to overcook the squash at this step, and no one like undercooked squash.
3. Cook the bulgar: bring 2 cups of water to a boil, add the bulgar, simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Melt the 2 T. butter over medium-low heat, add onions and apples and a few pinches of salt. Cook till thoroughly soft and beginning to caramelize (10-15 minutes), stirring occasionally.
5. Turn the heat up a little and add the garlic, cabbage, and caraway seeds. The goal is to cook the cabbage quickly (hence the thin slices). Since the cabbage is bulky, but cooks down, it is easiest to add it in a few handfuls, stirring the whole time. Cook till the cabbage it is tender, but still has a textural bite to it.
6. Combine the bulgar and the veggie-apple mixture in a mixing bowl, add in brown sugar, and salt and pepper to taste. Undersalt a little, as we’ll add some more in the stuffing stage.
7. Assemble the roasted squash halves cut side up on the same foil covered baking sheet (you may need to pour off the juices liberated during cooking). Fill each one with the stuffing. Sprinkle a little more of the smoked sea salt on top, and finish with some slices of cheddar cheese.
8. Return to the hot over if the ingredients have cooled, otherwise, placed under preheated broiler for 4-5 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Variations – Kind of like the summer grain and veggie salad, this stuffing is very adaptable to varied vegetables and herbs. Cooked sausage or toasted nuts may also be added. A bread crumb topping could be used in place of the cheese (though I think the cheese makes this a winner!)

Plain sauteed cabbage

I’ve made this a lot lately cause we’ve gotten so much cabbage in the CSA! At first I was making a lot of cole slaw, which is okay, but I’ve really been preferring my cabbage cooked lately. This recipe is super simple and adaptable to other flavors… and was conceived when there was little other produce in the fridge! Most recently, I served it alongside roasted carrots and parsnips, and our first elk roast that was the fruit of Andy’s hunting trip in Montana. It is good as written, but can be even better if you cook some onions (substitute for onion powder), garlic, and apples first and toss in some caraway seeds.

I like to quarter the cabbage, core it, and cut it in half across its equator before slicing, so the slices are thin and not too long. The idea with thin slices is to cook it quickly. Long cooking times produce the bitter off-tastes that many people associate with cabbage. This side dish can accompany meats or potato or squash dishes.

Serves 6-8 as a side

2 T. butter
2 t. onion powder
Salt
1 head green cabbage, cored and thinly sliced.
1 T. brown sugar
2 t. soy sauce
Freshly ground black pepper

1. Melt butter over medium heat in a large skillet; add in onion powder.
2. Add in salt and cabbage in handfuls, stirring constantly.
3. Cook for a few minutes till the cabbage is tender but still retains some crunch.
4. Stir in the brown sugar, soy sauce, and pepper to taste.

Use leftovers to make stuffed squash.