Chickpea, Greens, and Delicata Squash

To counteract the decadence of Thanksgiving, I invented this salad for the rest of the weekend.  I've never had delicata before, and not having to peel it was a huge draw.  They were cheap at Trader Joe's, and I haven't made squash for a while.

Total coincidence, Chewed Up made almost the exact same dish the day before.  Clinton did a honey mustard vinaigrette, but most of the ingredients overlapped with what I had planned.  I'm not making the croutons.  I was looking forward to a side of soft sliced bread, and roasted seeds for the crunch on the salad.

This salad has a lot of sub recipes in it, but it can be meal prepped in pieces and assembled later.

1 delicata squash
olive oil
5 oz container arugula, spinach, or any baby greens of choice
*1 can chickpeas, or 2/3 C dry soaked, simmered, and drained
*4 oz crumbled feta
juice of 1 lemon
*1 tsp date syrup or honey
salt and pepper
*1/4 tsp dried sage
pinch of allspice
4 oz feta
*1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

1.  Preheat oven to 375º.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Wash squash, then cut off the ends.  Slice lengthwise and scoop out seeds, reserving them in a bowl.  Slice crosswise into half-inch thick slices and arrange cut-side up on the parchment.  Drizzle with some olive oil and rub to coat.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast 20-25 minutes, flipping once during baking.

2.  While the squash is roasting, wash the guts off the seeds.  It takes a while.  Drizzle with a bit of olive oil.  Once the squash is out and in a holding container, you can reuse the parchment for the seeds.  Spread out in a thin layer.  Sprinkle with salt and allspice.  Roast until light brown and starting to pop, 10-15 minutes.  Check and stir every few minutes so they don't burn.

3.  For the dressing, whisk together 1/4 C oil, the lemon juice, date syrup, and sage.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  If not acidic enough, add a teaspoon or two of apple cider vinegar.

4.  To assemble, add greens to a serving bowl or plate.  Top with squash, chickpeas, and sliced onion.  Drizzle with dressing.  If desired, toss salad at this point.  Then garnish with feta and the roasted squash seeds.

Difficulty rating  :)

Farro and Spinach Salad

This was my side with the tuna, but it's a vegetarian main on its own.  I wanted an alternative grain to rice or barley.

Calling this a "salad" is kind of odd.  It isn't a casserole, not a rice dish, and I had it hot rather than chilled.  I couldn't figure out what other category worked.  Plus, it looked like a salad once it was garnished.

Farro is increasingly available in markets.  Kroger even sells a generic package of it.  The best price I've found is at Sprouts, and then you can get it out of the bins so you don't have to commit to a package until you know if you like it.  It's similar to barley or brown rice, and I find it makes a nice change that doesn't spike my blood sugar.

1 C dry farro
salt and pepper to taste
8 oz frozen spinach
1 Tb olive oil  
*1/2 C diced red onion
*sun-dried tomatoes for garnish
crumbled feta for garnish

1.  Rinse the farro and place in a saucepan with water to cover by one inch.  Season the water with a touch of salt.  Bring to a simmer, lower the heat, and cover.  Cook until the grains have expanded and split, about half an hour.  Drain.  This also makes a good do-ahead.  5am was a bit earlier than I had in mind, but it was done.

2.  Return farro to saucepan with a light drizzle of olive oil.  Add the spinach and return to a simmer.  The water the spinach gives off will be absorbed by the grains.

3.  Stir in the diced onion and taste.  Add salt and pepper as needed.  Transfer to serving bowl and garnish with sun-dried tomato slices and feta.  Serve warm or room temperature.

Difficulty level  π

Mediterranean-Style Pan-Roasted Tuna

I tend to approach fish steak as the Other "other" white meat, and treat them like lean pork chops.  This time, it got a healthy treatment to counteract all the decadent food this time of year brings.

The nice thing about marinated meat is you prep it up to a day before and can go about your life.  I do wish I had thought far enough ahead to harvest the herbs the afternoon before.  I was out there pre-dawn, in my robe, in the rain, snipping parsley and cilantro from the lettuce patch.  At least the basil is in the backyard.  No one drove by.

This marinade is a generic Mediterranean one that works with any fish, chicken, or pork.  You can use it as a salad dressing or on pasta.  Toss it with roasted or steamed vegetables.  It's tangy and flavorful, and the oil brings a nice mouthfeel to the dish.

1/4 C olive oil
*juice of 1 lemon
*2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and white pepper to taste
1/4 C diced red onion
*1/2 C chopped herbs such as parsley, cilantro, basil, rosemary, and/or dill
1 lb tuna steak, about 1" thick

1.  Whisk together olive oil and lemon juice.  Stir in garlic, onion, herbs, and salt and pepper.  Taste and adjust seasonings.

2.  Place tuna in a freezer bag and add marinade.  Seal, then squish everything around to coat the meat.  Place on a plate in the fridge, in case anything leaks.  Marinate 8-24 hours.

3.  When ready to cook, drizzle a little oil on a skillet and preheat on medium-high.  Slide meat and marinade onto the pan.

4.  Cook 8 minutes on one side, flip, and cook another 8 minutes.  I made the mistake of leaving the meat almost 2" thick and had to put on a lid for several minutes in order to get the inside to finish.  If your tuna isn't cooking on the inside, turn down the heat to medium and cover for several minutes.

5.  When the sauce has caramelized and the internal temperature of the fish is 145ºF, it is ready to serve.  Slice if desired.  Garnish with lemon wedges, additional herbs, or a side of tzatziki sauce.

Difficulty rating  π

Apples in Syrup (Canning)

There was a sale on five pound bags of apples.  I brought home one Granny Smith and one Pink Lady.  Realizing that was more than I could eat or bake with before they turned, I decided to can some of them.

Apples can be preserved in more ways than I realized.  What I decided to do was hot-pack fruit in syrup, to use in baking, with yogurt or oatmeal, or mash it into applesauce.  Every source I trust had instructions for it, and the nchfp even had pressure-canning directions.  I went with water bath instead so I wouldn't have to pre-sterilize the jars.  You only have to do that for times under 10 minutes, and these would have been 8 in a pressure canner.

I used wide mouth jars because I thought it would be easier to fill them, but the apples get so soft that it isn't an issue.  If you're cutting wedges or slices instead of quarters, a regular mouth jar is big enough.

If you aren't into canning, just use the apples after the cooking part.  You likely won't be making anywhere near as much as I did.  You can also do them as poached halves, maybe adding some white wine to the syrup.

For quantities here, I'm using the Ball book.  They give them for canner loads.  I did slightly less, and ended up with 7 jars instead of 8.  It's a lot of apples to peel.

10 to 12 lbs apples, stemmed, peeled, cored, and quartered or sliced
6 cups hot syrup, sweetness as desired

1.  Set up canner for an 8 pint or 4 quart yield.  Get the water started, because it's going to boil around the time you finish preparing the apples.  Set up a large bowl of water with an acid in it such as ascorbic acid or lemon juice.  This will prevent browning.  Set yourself up with a podcast or movie, because it's going to take at least an hour to prepare the apples.

2.  Wash the apples in hot water to remove the waxy coating every orchard puts on them after harvesting.  As you finish peeling, coring, and slicing the apples, toss them in the acidic water.  I kept the cores and peels to make apple jelly later.  Not today.

3.  Once all the apples are prepared, set up a large stock pot with 6 cups of water and how much sugar you want in your syrup.  I did a very light one of only a cup of sugar, in case I turn them into applesauce.  I can add more sugar if I make a cobbler or pie.  Bring to a boil until all the sugar is dissolved.

4.  Drain the apple slices and add to the syrup pot.  Return to a boil, stirring often.  Boil the apples for 5 minutes.  Hot pack replaces the air in the fruit with syrup through boiling and allows you to pack more fruit into each jar.

5.  Ladle hot apples into hot jars to 1/2" headspace.  Add cooking syrup, debubble, and adjust headspace.  Wipe rims, center lids, and screw on bands finger-tight.  Process 20 minutes for both pints and quarts.

Difficulty rating  :-0

Red Lentil Polenta

This was originally called Lentil Tofu in the recipe I'm using from It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken.  Looking at the photos, I realized it's more like chickpea flour polenta, so that's what I'm rebranding it.  She does talk about polenta consistency in the recipe.  I see tofu as something fermented, with more of a cheese procedure.

The original recipe is only flavored with salt, and that's how I'm making it this time, but you could absolutely season it with herbs and spices, like the red lentil crepes.  It's kind of the same recipe in a different form.

I decided to shape these in the silicone muffin cups as sort of a flan shape.  This amount will make 8, so I put the rest in a mini-loaf pan.  One-cup ramekins will also work, which I thought of after they were in the fridge.  If you plan to slice it into slabs, use a loaf pan.  It could even go in a jello mold for a fancy shape.  Whatever the final use, remember that this is a do-ahead recipe that needs a minimum of two hours to set, and preferably at least four.

Whole, dried red lentils have become easier to find.  If you're lucky enough to have access to red lentil flour, I put a weight measurement in grams and you can skip the blender.  Just let the flour sit in the hot water for the 15 minutes, then start cooking.

The sauce or use for the polenta is up to your imagination.  I served it cold with a quick tomato-basil sauce as part of a mezze meal.  Because it was 85º in November.  You can cube it up, roll the pieces in cornstarch, and fry them.  Slice and pan-fry or bake to make a firmer texture.  Basically, anything you would do to polenta or firm tofu.

1 C red lentils or 175g red lentil flour
3 C boiling water
1/2 tsp kosher salt

1.  Rinse the lentils and place them in the blender.  If your blender isn't heat proof, do this part in the saucepan and transfer it later.  Add the salt and boiling water and let sit for 15 minutes, to par-cook the lentils.

2.  Cover the blender jar and hold onto the lid.  Starting slow and working your way up, blend the lentils until smooth.  This will take a minute or two.

3.  Pour the mixture into a medium saucepan.  Over medium-high heat, bring to a low boil, stirring constantly.  It's going to happen fast, since the batter is already hot.  Stir until very thick, 5-10 minutes.

4.  Pour batter into a loaf pan, muffin cups, ramekins, or any mold you choose.  It will start to set immediately.  Refrigerate at least 2 hours, and preferably 4 or more.  I did this in half an hour before leaving for work, which is why the photos seem dark.

5.  Turn out of mold and serve as is, fried, baked, or however you choose.

Serves 4 as a main, 8 as an appetizer

Difficulty rating  π

Sweet Potato Soufflé

Got this one in under the buzzer for Thanksgiving.  Also, since it uses ingredients people shop for at the holiday, you shouldn't have to run back to the store for anything.

While I'm modeling this recipe on a half version of Paula Deen's, I'm making a few healthier choices.  For one thing, although I'm calling the ingredient maple syrup, I used keto monkfruit pancake syrup to reduce the added sugars.  I also reduced the amount of butter.  It's still more dessert than a side, which is common for a sweet potato casserole.  I made it for dessert, and included that label.

I know not everyone is a fan of cloves.  The same amount of nutmeg or double in cinnamon is a reasonable substitute.  You could also use pumpkin pie spice, if you want that flavor profile.

*1-1/2 C mashed sweet potato (either roasted or canned & drained)
1/4 C granulated sugar or *3 Tb maple syrup
*1 egg
1/4 C milk
4 Tb unsalted butter, divided
1-1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 C brown sugar
1/4 C flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
*1/4 C chopped pecans

1.  Preheat oven to 400º.  Grease or pan spray a loaf pan, 6" cake pan, or 4 one-cup ramekins.

2.  Melt 3 Tb of the butter and allow to cool slightly.  Let the other Tb come to room temperature.

3.  In a bowl, combine sweet potato, sugar, egg, milk, melted butter, vanilla, salt, and ground cloves.  Pour into prepared pan.

4.  In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, flour, baking powder, and pecans.  Work in other tablespoon of butter until it makes crumbs.  Top potato mixture with the crumble.

5.  Bake 20-25 minutes, until topping is browned and casserole is mostly set.  It will firm up more as it cools.  Can be served warm or chilled.

Difficulty rating  π

Philly Cheesesteak Strudel

I forget what recipe I was watching online when this idea came into my head.  I haven't made a savory strudel in a long time, and was pleased that there are a lot of variations of this online.

I'm choosing to use crescent rolls here, but puff pastry is a perfect alternative.  And less sticky to work with.  I went on a coupon binge at Ralphs, which included some Pillsbury and the shaved beef I'm using here.  You can also use pre-cooked deli roast beef, but shaved or thinly sliced beef is more traditional.

As long as we're talking traditional Philly, the provolone is borderline.  Cheese Whiz or American is slightly more authentic.  I prefer provolone or white cheddar, which are more popular outside Philly itself.  I get grilled onions on mine, but that's all the add-ons I believe in.  If you want to sauté up some pepper strips or mushrooms, go ahead.  In my book, that makes it a fajita on a bun.

1 Tb oil
*1/2 onion, thinly sliced 
8 oz thin slice or shaved steak
salt and pepper to taste
1 8-count package crescent rolls or 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
flour for rolling
4 slices provolone cheese

1.  Heat oil over medium heat in a large skillet.  Add onion slices and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.

2.  Add beef to the pan and continue to cook until done, moving it around frequently.  Season with salt and pepper and stir again.  Set aside to cool at least 15 minutes.

3.  Preheat oven to 375º while you prepare the roll.  Open the crescents or defrosted puff pastry and roll into a rectangle 12" x 16", using flour as necessary.  If using crescents, you may have to pinch shut the perforations.  Place on prepared baking sheet.

4.  Place beef mixture along the center of the long ways of the pastry.  Top with the slices of cheese.

5.  Cut 1" slits along each side of the meat, then fold over the middle to make a kind of braid design.  If you want a shiny finish, brush with an egg wash.  I left mine plain.

6.  Bake until the pastry is cooked through, approximately 18-20 minutes.  Allow to rest ten minutes before slicing.  Serve while still hot.

Serves 4 as a main, 8 as an appetizer

Difficulty rating  π

Butterscotch & Pecan Oatmeal Cookies

As a reduced-carb person, I haven't bought cookies in a while.  Wow, they got expensive.  All I wanted was a box to throw in the freezer and pull out a couple when I wanted a sweet snack.  Time to make my own.  There were butterscotch chips in the mix-ins box and I had bought pecans for the muffins.  Oatmeal cookie time.

I decided to try a different recipe, one with two eggs in it so I could cut it in half.  It still made two dozen.  Sunset Easy Basics for Good Cooking came out in 1982 and is surprisingly available used on Amazon.  I don't open it often, but it has a lot of good recipes for the comfort foods everyone makes.  It's also a bit of a textbook, which was great in the days before the internet.  The first cookie recipe is oatmeal chip.

*1/2 C chopped pecans
1/2 C margarine, room temperature 
3/4 C lightly packed brown sugar
1 egg, room temperature 
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 C flour
1 C + 3 Tb rolled or quick oats
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
*1 C butterscotch chips

1.  Lightly toast the pecans, either in a dry pan over medium heat or in the oven, stirring every minute or two.  Nuts go from not done to burnt in a blink.  Set aside to cool.  Preheat oven to 350º and line a cookie sheet or two with parchment paper or a Silpat.

2.  Cream together margarine (butter is ok, but margarine or shortening makes a crisper cookie) and brown sugar until smooth.  Scrape down bowl.  Add egg and vanilla and beat again until smooth.  Scrape down again.

3.  Add flour, oats, soda, and salt and mix until combined but not over-beaten.  Stir in chips and pecans.

4.  Drop by rounded tablespoons on the prepared sheets.  I used the small cookie scoop.  At this point, you can freeze them to bag up and bake later.  I don't have room in the freezer right now for a cookie sheet and baked them all.

5.  Bake 12-14 minutes, rotating halfway through.  Let sit on the sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool.  Store airtight at room temperature up to 3 days, or freeze for longer storage.

Makes 2 dozen

Difficulty rating  π

Khoresh Fesenjan

Techie Smurf told me about this Persian recipe.  He made it with duck for Rosh Hashanah.  It's a special-occasion recipe that I figured I could make for Chanukah with duck or turkey if I liked it with chicken thighs for myself.

Thus began my quest for the specialty ingredients.  Ralphs carries pomegranate molasses, so I didn't have to go to an ethnic store.  It's pomegranate season, but I know that Pavilions carries frozen arils if I ever want to make this when fresh aren't available.  I decided to get basmati for the Persian rice, as long as I was spending on this one anyway.  A $2 pack of chicken thighs turned into a $20 meal very quickly.  It really made me appreciate the way I have stocked my pantry with ingredients I use regularly.

Making this and the rice at the same time was a bit exhausting.  I was toggling between recipes on computer tabs, trying to get everything to finish at the same time, and blogging.  There were elements I could have prepped in advance, like both the onions and walnuts.  Once those are done, it's just putting everything in the same pot and simmering until tender.

I think this would have become even more tender if I had used bone-in chicken, either with or without skin.  I'll do that next time.  Using the boneless thighs was on my wish list for the month, before restocking during a very good sale on chicken dark meat.

And this is another one that's going to land you with a ton of pots and things to wash.  Not necessarily from the stew itself, but the food processor and everything that goes into the rice.  Plus, it was my challah baking day.  After a month or so of phoning it in, I was overdue for some elaborate recipes.

3 Tb vegetable oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1-1/2 C walnuts
1/4 C water
*4 chicken leg quarters (or 1 chicken, cut up)
1 C pomegranate molasses
1 tsp sugar
salt and pepper
pomegranate seeds for garnish

1.  Heat oil on medium-high in a wide skillet or large pot.  Add onion and cook until well browned, stirring frequently.  This isn't caramelized onions.  You want them fried.  It's going to take 15-20 minutes.

2.  While the onions are cooking, run the walnuts in the food processor until ground.  Slowly trickle in water to make a paste.

3.  Add chicken pieces to the pot and arrange the fried onions on top.  Smear with the walnut paste.  Pour in the pomegranate molasses, the generous sprinkle of sugar, and top everything with a dusting of salt and pepper.  Heat on medium until everything comes to a boil and the chicken starts to give up its juices.

4.  Cover pot, reduce heat to low, and cook until chicken is fall-apart tender.  Stir every fifteen minutes or so, to make sure the molasses isn't scorching and the chicken is basted.  This could take anywhere from 30 minutes to over an hour, depending whether you use bone-in or boneless, skin on or off, etc.  My boneless/skinless thighs took a little more than half an hour to cook.  Also, I ended up with far more sauce than I expected.  Once the walnuts melt into the molasses and chicken fat, you're going to end up with a pool of gravy.  You can remove the chicken and turn up the heat to reduce it if desired.

5.  Serve chicken and sauce hot, with Persian rice and pomegranate arils to garnish.

Difficulty rating  :)

Vegetarian Swedish Meatballs

This is my adaptation of a vegan recipe I found.  There was nothing wrong with the original.  I didn't care if I was having vegan or gluten-free and wanted to put yogurt in the sauce.  I'm not sure if the Worcestershire sauce I bought is vegetarian, but it's the cheap store brand and doesn't list any fish ingredients.  I haven't used the stuff in years and didn't want to get the expensive bottle if it's a one-off.

I will definitely make the meatballs again, to use with any sauce.  Maybe cut back on the Worcestershire and soy sauces, but the texture and general flavor were perfect.  I would bake them on parchment, though.  Adding an egg made them stick to the Silpat.  I couldn't flip them like you were supposed to.  They did cook all the way through.  The crispy bits were only on the bottom.

Warning, you're going to have a lot of dishes to wash.  I actually combined two steps to reduce the number of pots used.  Another option is to make the entire meatball mixture ahead of time, to divide when dishes are washed.  It could easily sit in the fridge for up to 24 hours.  The sauce is best when freshly made.

Meatballs

1 Tb olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
1-1/2 C mushrooms, chopped
*4 cloves garlic, minced
*1/2 C lentils
1 C unsalted vegetable broth, or water
3/4 C rolled oats
*2 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp pepper
*2 Tb soy sauce
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce 
1 egg

1.  In a large skillet, cook the onion and mushrooms in the oil until both are softened and the water from the mushrooms is gone.  Add the garlic and cook an additional 2 minutes.  Set aside to cool slightly.

2.  Add the lentils and broth and simmer until the lentils are tender and most of the liquid is absorbed, about half an hour.  Remove from the heat.

3.  Pulse oats in a food processor to break them up, then run half a minute to make a coarse oat flour.  Add the onion/mushroom/lentil mixture (and any remaining broth) and all remaining ingredients.  Pulse together, then run into a coarse paste.  You still want enough chunks to mimic ground meat.  Set aside 15-30 minutes to thicken.

4.  Preheat oven to 400º and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Scoop rounded tablespoons of batter onto the sheet, to make about 20 meatballs.  I used a cookie scoop.

5.  Bake for 5 minutes, then turn down the heat to 350º and continue to bake another 18 minutes or so, flipping halfway through if they're firm enough.  If not, no worries.  They will still bake through.  If serving with pasta, get the water boiling and cook according to package directions.  While all that's going on, make the sauce...

Sauce

3 Tb butter or margarine
1/4 Tb flour
1 C vegetable broth
1 C milk
1 Tb soy sauce
1 tsp mustard
1 Tb Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp garlic powder 
1 tsp onion powder 
pepper to taste
1/2 C Greek yogurt or sour cream

1.  In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the flour and briskly stir into a roux.  Cook until all of the flour is lightly browned.

2.  Add the vegetable broth slowly, stirring well after each addition and allowing sauce to thicken.  Add the soy sauce, mustard, Worcestershire, garlic powder, and onion powder.  Slowly add the milk, allowing to thicken as you go.  Taste and add pepper as needed.

3.  Remove the saucepan from the heat.  Beat the yogurt until smooth and add to the sauce.  Stir well to get it to melt into the sauce.  Add baked meatballs to the sauce, then pour over your noodles.  Serve hot.

Difficulty rating  :)