Curried Coconut Butternut Squash Soup

I bet most of you thought that this blog was dead. However, luckily for you, it was only mostly dead, and now that my life has been reclaimed from campaigns and grad school apps, it's back!

 
Given that my first recipe post was a different butternut squash soup, it's perhaps fitting that I restart with another. I do love me some butternut squash. And one of my favorite things in the winter is soup (especially given my 56 degree apartment situation). So, about every other weekend I make a huge pot, put half into containers to bring to work during the week, and freeze the other half so I have quick and delicious homemade dinner when I come home from work and am too tired to cook. This recipe is one of my favorites, loosely inspired by a Mark Bittman creation.

Enjoy!

The finished soup in a recycled ice cream container, ready to take on the road.

Curried Coconut Butternut Squash Soup
Serves 6-8

Ingredients

2 large or 3 small yellow onions

1 tbsp + 2 tsp coconut oil or vegetable oil

3 tsp cumin

4 tsp curry

1.5 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

.5 tsp salt, or to taste

7 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash

2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

2 cups veggie broth

one 13.5 oz can coconut milk

Equipment

Vegetable peeler

Large knife

Cutting board

Measuring spoons

Measuring cups

Deep, heavy bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven

Pot holders

Silicone spatula

Can opener

Stove
Immersion blender, regular blender, or food processor 

Instructions
1. If not already prepared, wash, peel, and cut into cubes squash and carrots. Peel and dice the onion.
2. Place coconut oil in a deep saucepan (ideally a Dutch oven) and add the diced onion and all the spices, stirring to coat. Sautée over medium heat until the onion is soft and starting to brown, approximately 3-4 minutes, and the spices are fragrant.
3. Add the squash and carrots to the pan, and toss with the onion and spice mixture.
4. Next, stir in the vegetable broth and coconut milk, and turn the heat up to high until the liquid reaches a simmer. Then turn temperature down to low and cover the pot.
5. Cook, stirring occasionally until squash is soft and easily pierced with a fork, approximately 15 minutes.
6. Puree the soup in a blender, food processor, or in the pot with an immersion blender. [If you don't have any of these, I'm sure the soup will still be delicious in a chunkier form.] Add 0.5 tsp salt, plus more to taste. If the soup thickens too much as it cools, feel free to add a bit of water or vegetable broth to thin to the desired consistency.

Braised Leeks

Sorry it has been so long since I last posted new recipes. Never fear, I have been cooking away, and stockpiling food pictures and recipes, so there should be a number of good things coming your way soon.

Here is an excellent new recipe for braised leeks from Smitten Kitchen. It's supposed to be served as a side with her breaded chicken thighs, but I've made it twice now without the chicken, and it's great on its own. (In case you were wondering, braising is a cooking technique that involves searing or cooking at high heat to brown something, then cooking it for a longer time in the oven with liquid). It may not look like much, but the flavors are amazing and the leeks become soft and tender.

The recipe calls for chicken stock, but that could be easily replaced with veggie stock. Though I will say that the recipe was amazing when I used homemade chicken stock, and merely good with the carton one.

The recipe below reheats well, and can easily be cut in half since 6 leeks makes a lot of food.

Braised Leeks

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Serves 6-8


Ingredients
6 large leeks
About 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup peeled and sliced shallots
1 tablespoon thyme leaves or powdered thyme
3/4 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 to 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock or water
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Equipment

Stove

Pot holders

Oven

Knife and cutting board

Measuring cup and spoons

Tongs

Large saucepan

Relatively tall-sided baking dish that can go in the oven

Towel or paper towel

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Trim the roots off the leeks, but leave as much of the bottom bulb as you can. Remove any brown or nasty looking outer leaves. Trim the tops of the leeks to remove the tips and any dried-out green parts. Rinse the outside of the leeks and shake dry.

3. Cut the leeks in half lengthwise, and then in half widthwise. Rinse again, peeling the layers apart slightly to get out deeply embedded dirt (but try not to pull the leeks entirely apart - you still want them in their nested quarters for frying).

4. Place the leeks, cut side down, on a towel and pat dry completely. Turn the leeks over so their cut sides are facing up, and season with 2 teaspoons salt and a few grindings of black pepper.

5. Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Pour in 1/4 cup olive oil, and wait 1 minute. Place the leeks in the pan, cut side down, as many as you can layer to cover the whole bottom of the pan without overlapping. You will probably need to saute them in batches (it took me 4 batches with a pretty large pan). Add more olive oil to the pan as needed, for each batch. Sear them 4 to 5 minutes, until they are golden brown. Season the backs of the leeks with salt and pepper, and turn them over to cook another 3 to 4 minutes (until brown on the other side). When cooked, transfer them to a large baking dish.

6. Pour 1/4 cup olive oil into the pan and heat over medium heat. Add the shallots, thyme, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and a pinch of pepper. Cook about 5 minutes, until the shallots are just beginning to color.

7. Add the white wine and reduce by half (cook until half the liquid has evaporated). Add 1.5 cups stock, and bring to a boil over high heat.

8. Pour the liquid over the leeks in the baking dish. The stock should not quite cover them; add more stock if necessary.

9. Cook in the oven 30 minutes, until the leeks are tender when pierced. Serve hot with the liquid.

Fresh Fruit Tart

This fresh fruit tart recipe produces a beautiful and delicious tart (as long as you cut the fruit nicely), and is perfect for a party because you can make everything the day ahead (or even two) and just assemble right before serving. I failed to get any pictures of the ones I made for glee club because they were devoured too quickly, but this picture is from the one Taylor and I made the weekend before to test the recipe out (see why you don't use blackberry jam for the glaze).

I mostly followed the recipe from Joy of Baking, and found it works well with a mixture of fruit (mango, strawberry, blackberry, pineapple, etc.), or as an all-berry tart (your choice of strawberry, blackberry, blueberry, raspberry). This recipe has quite a few steps and separate pieces, but it's very much worth making.

Fresh Fruit Tart

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

Sweet Pastry Crust:
     1 1/2 cups all purpose flour + more for dusting
     1/8 teaspoon salt
     1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature + more for coating pan
     1/4 cup granulated white sugar
     1 large egg

Pastry Cream:
     1 1/4 cups whole milk
     1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
     3 large egg yolks
     1/4 cup granulated white sugar
     2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
     2 tablespoons cornstarch
     1 1/2 tablespoons Malibu (optional)

Apricot Glaze: (optional - I used it, but I'm not sure it's necessary, especially if you're assembling close to the time you eat)
     1/2 cup apricot jam
     1 tablespoon water

Topping:
     3 cups fruit, washed and cut into nice-looking, small pieces

Equipment

Measuring cup and spoons

Hand mixer

Large mixing bowl

Plastic wrap

9 inch tart pan with removable bottom (a pie plate might be able to be used in a pinch)

Freezer

Oven and oven mitts

Fork

Medium heat-proof bowl

Whisk

Saucepan

Stove

Wooden spoon or silicone spatula

Knife and cutting board

Optional if using glaze: small saucepan/heatproof bowl, strainer, pastry brush

Instructions

Sweet Pastry Crust:

1. Place the butter in a mixing bowl and beat on medium-high speed until softened with hand mixer. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat just until incorporated.

2. Add the flour and salt all at once and mix at medium-low speed just until it comes together and forms a ball.

3. Turn dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap and form into a ball. Flatten into a disk and fold plastic wrap around it to cover. Refrigerate for 15-30 minutes or just until firm (or place in freezer for about 10-15 minutes.)

4. Lightly butter and flour, or spray with a non-stick vegetable/flour cooking spray, the tart pan.

5. Remove pastry from freezer and unwrap. Use your hands to flatten pastry dough into large circle, approximately the size of the tart pan. Place dough in pan and press into bottom and up sides of pan. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for about 15 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F and place rack in center of oven.

7. Remove plastic wrap from tart shell and lightly prick bottom of pastry crust with the tines of a fork (this will prevent the dough from puffing up as it bakes). Bake crust for 5 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue to bake the crust for about 15-20 minutes or until dry and lightly golden brown.

8. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely before filling. Can be covered and stored for a few days.

Pastry Cream:

1. In a medium-sized heatproof bowl, whisk the sugar and egg yolks together. (Don't let the mixture sit too long or you will get pieces of egg forming.)

2. Add the flour and cornstarch to the egg mixture, whisking mixing until you get a smooth paste.

3. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, bring the milk and vanilla just to boiling (just until milk starts to foam up.)

4. Remove from heat and add slowly to egg mixture (Slowly is really important here), whisking constantly to prevent curdling. (If you get a few pieces of egg (curdling) in the mixture, pour through a strainer.) 

5. Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat whisking constantly. The mixture will slowly thicken, and then will suddenly thicken a lot. Keep cooking until this point, where it thickens significantly to just beyond a pudding-like consistency. [Make sure to be watching carefully because it will quickly go from too thin to the right consistency to too thick.]

6. Remove from heat and immediately whisk in the liqueur (if using). Pour into a clean bowl and immediately cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a crust from forming. Cool to room temperature. If not using right away refrigerate until needed, up to 3 days. Beat or whisk before using to get rid of any lumps that may have formed.

Apricot Glaze:

Heat the apricot jam and water in a small saucepan over medium heat until liquid (melted). (Can also heat in the microwave.) Remove from heat and strain the jam through a fine strainer to remove any fruit lumps.

To Assemble Tart:

1. To remove the tart from the fluted sides of the pan, place your hand under the pan, touching only the removable bottom not the sides. Gently push the tart straight up, away from the sides. The fluted tart ring will fall away and slide down your arm. If you want to remove the bottom of the pan, run a knife or thin metal spatula between the crust and metal bottom, then slide the tart onto your platter.

2. If using the glaze, spread a thin layer of apricot glaze over the bottom and sides of the baked tart shell to prevent the crust from getting soggy. Let the glaze dry (about 20 minutes).

3. Spread the pastry cream onto the bottom of the tart shell. Place fruit randomly on top of cream or in concentric overlapping circles, starting at the outside edge.

4. After arranging the fruit, rewarm the glaze, if using, and gently brush a light coat on the fruit. If not serving immediately, refrigerate but bring to room temperature before serving.

This fruit tart is best eaten the same day as it is assembled. Cover and refrigerate any leftovers.

Mini Caramelized White Chocolate "Cheesecakes"

Adam and I are making appetizers and baking dessert for 60 this weekend for the annual Glee Club banquet, so get excited for some awesome dishes coming your way over the next few days as I test out the new recipes and we do tons of cooking this weekend.

For the desserts, we wanted to do one chocolate dish, one fruit dish, and one non-fruit non-chocolate dish (without nuts because of allergies), so hopefully everyone would have at least one or two options they would like. We landed pretty quickly on Jeni's Darkest Chocolate Ice Cream in the World (which I make with espresso in place of coffee and is divine) and a fresh fruit tart (which I'll send out soon). The non-fruit non-chocolate recipe was a bit harder. Adam suggested cheesecake, but I wanted to go with something more exciting, so thinking back to David Lebovitz's recipe for caramelized white chocolate, I decided to try inventing a recipe for caramelize white chocolate cheesecake. I found a recipe for white chocolate cheesecake, and just substituted in the caramelized white chocolate.

While my office seemed to like it a lot, I thought the resulting cheesecake was good, but not great. I think it wasn't quite as dense and creamy as I hoped it would be, and the crust was a crumbly mess and too thick, and it got into the cream cheese part, ruining the texture. Given I didn't love it and I had forgotten how much of a pain in the ass cheesecake is (especially messing with cooking it for 2 hours in a water bath and cooling it for 4 hours before unmolding with only 1 springform pan to use for 6 cakes), we decided not to make it for the banquet.

However, I ended up with mini caramelized white chocolate cheesecake-souffles as a delicious accidental byproduct, which is what I'm sharing with you today, and is something that I probably would make again (even though it won't work for this weekend because it requires separate ramekins). Because I didn't have a tall-sided springform pan, I made the large cheesecake in a shallower dish that couldn't accommodate all the filling I had made. Not one to waste delicious caramelized white chocolate cheesecake batter, I poured the excess into 4 small ramekins and baked them alongside the big cheesecake outside of the water bath because there was no room in the roasting pan.

These mini desserts turned out quite unlike the large cheesecake, but very delicious in their own way. They baked up with a nice crust on top and a dense texture somewhere between a cheesecake and a fallen souffle - more cakelike than a cheesecake, more cheesecake like than a cake. The caramel flavor was much more pronounced, and without a crust getting in the way, the texture was significantly improved. Also, without the need to make and bake the crust, or to bake them in the water bath, these are much easier to make - and worth it.

Mini Caramelized White Chocolate "Cheesecakes"

Serves 12

Ingredients

8 oz good quality white chocolate (make sure cocoa butter is a listed ingredient, the more the better)

a pinch of sea salt

3 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
5 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch salt

Equipment

Knife and cutting board

Oven and pot holders

Stovetop

Baking sheet

Silicone spatula

Saucepan

Mixing bowl
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons

Hand mixer/standing mixer

optional: immersion blender

10-12 ramekins, depending on their size

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 250. If the white chocolate is in a block, chop it into relatively small pieces.

2. Distribute the white chocolate on a rimmed baking sheet and heat in the oven for ten minutes.

3. Remove it from the oven and spread it with a clean, dry spatula (it's okay if it doesn't spread nicely, just do your best).

4. Continue to cook for an additional 30-60 minutes, stirring at 10 minute intervals. At some points it may look lumpy and chalky (and even unpleasant), but keep going.

5. Cook until the white chocolate is deep-golden brown, and caramelized. It's okay if it's still a bit lumpy - we'll fix that later. Stir in a good pinch of sea salt and set aside. [If you want to make the caramelized white chocolate to use in other things, you can now store in a jar, at room temperature, until ready to use. It should keep for several months, if stored in a cool, dry place.]

6. Increase oven temperature to 325°F and bring the 1/2 cup of cream to a simmer over medium heat in a small sauce pan. Remove from heat and scrape in caramelized white chocolate, stirring gently until melted completely and combined. If there are lumps that won't dissolve (like in mine), use an immersion blender to smooth it out. If you don't have an immersion blender, you could probably pour into a regular blender, or tough it out and deal with a few tiny lumps in your final cakes.

7. With your hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth and lump free. Add the sugar and mix, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
8. On medium speed, slowly add the white chocolate mixture. Once combined you can add the eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed until each egg is incorporated. Once you've added all the eggs, mix in the vanilla and salt.

9. Fill ramekins about 2/3 full with the batter. Bake for about 60 minutes or until puffed up and slightly browned on the top, and no longer jiggly.

10. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack. You can store for several days in the fridge, and bring to room temperature to serve.

Mango, Avocado, and Sesame-Seared Tuna Salad

My regular rule when I eat out is that I don't order anything I think I can make as well or better at home. I gravitate instead towards dishes with hard-to-find or very fresh ingredients, difficult preparation techniques, ethnic foods that I don't know how to make, or very involved recipes. A several fancy restaurants I've been to in the last few years have featured ceviche-like dishes with slices or cubes of raw tuna, often accompanied by avocados, mangos, and citrus fruits. Fearful of doing raw fish at home, I had not attempted to recreate this myself. But when the grocery store had beautiful, essentially sushi-grade, frozen tuna steaks on sale, I knew I had to buy them and give it a try. This delicious recipe is the result. While fancier than I would normally cook on a regular night, it's actually not that expensive if you're buying the raw ingredients, and is great if you want a nicer meal for a special occasion at home. Also, other than searing the tuna, it's really more assembly than cooking, and hard to screw up.

Mango, Avocado, and Sesame-Seared Tuna Salad

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 mango (champagne/atauflo are my favorites)

1 avocado

1 cup cherry tomatoes

2 tuna steaks

1 Tbsp sesame oil

baby greens or other lettuce (optional)

toasted sesame seeds (optional)

Equipment

Knife and cutting board

Saucepan

Stove

Tongs

Instructions

1. Peel mango. Slice fruit from both sides of the pit and along the edges of the pit, then cut into 1/2 inch cubes.

2. Peel avocado, remove pit, and cut into 1/2 inch cubes.

3. Wash and chop cherry tomatoes in half. Toss tomatoes with mango and avocado to combine.

4. Wash and pat dry tuna steaks. Pour sesame oil into saucepan on stove over medium heat. Place tuna steaks in saucepan and cook until the bottom side has become opaque and begun to develop a golden crust on the edges but middle is still raw. Flip and cook on other side, again until opaque and with a slight golden color, but with the middle still pink along the sides (like in the photo below).

5. Using tongs, carefully rotate the tuna steak so it is standing on its short edges. Cook briefly on each edge until the sides are no longer raw (but the middle remains uncooked). [I love my tuna not really cooked, but if you want yours more cooked, then it's fine to cook longer until pink but not raw in the middle. Just don't cook it until gray throughout, you will ruin it.]

6. Remove from the heat and let cool for a few minutes, then slice (see how lovely and raw it still is in the middle!).

7. Plate your greens and top with half the mango mixture or place the mango mixture in a bowl, and arrange the seared tuna on top. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds if desired.

Romesco (Roasted Red Pepper) Sauce

I had never heard of romesco until I ate at Veggie Planet in Harvard Square and fell in love with their Portobello Redhead pizza. It features slices of portobello mushroom slathered in a delicious roasted red pepper/almond sauce - sauce I learned was romesco. Now, whenever I go there, I order the sauce by the cup with their bread, a method which has on several occasions enabled Taylor and me to put away an embarrassingly large quantity of this magic spread. Now that I no longer live in Cambridge, I thought I'd try my hand at making it. It was good but not great the first time, but this further modified batch was excellent.

The beauty of this sauce, in addition to its stellar flavor, is its diversity. It's amazing served over oven roasted portobello mushrooms, on shrimp, over pasta, or almost any way you might use tomato sauce. Also great with pita chips or toast. Or a spoon.

Romesco Sauce
6 servings

Ingredients
3 large bell peppers (all red or 1/2 red 1/2 yellow)
1.5 Tbsp olive oil
1.75 cups (15 oz) cherry tomatoes
7 cloves garlic
3/4 cup ground almonds (or 1 cup whole almonds)
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 chipotle pepper in adobo

Equipment
Knive and cutting board
Oven
Stovetop
Measuring cups and spoons
Baking sheet
Silpat or aluminum foil
Tongs or fork
Large saucepan
Silicone spatula
Blender/Food processor/Immersion blender*
Large bowl

*If you do not have a blender, food processor, or immersion blender, you could do a chunkier version of this if you use ground almonds and chop the roasted vegetables into very small pieces before mixing with the other ingredients. Whole almonds will probably not grind well in a blender, so be sure to use ground ones if you don't have a food processor or immersion blender.

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or foil.
2. Wash, de-stem, and de-seed the bell peppers, cutting them into halves or quarters if they are particularly large.
3. Place peppers on lined baking sheet and drizzle with the olive oil. Use your hands to rub the olive oil into the peppers, lightly coating both sides.

4. Roast for 40 minutes, flipping pieces after 20 minutes, until skin is somewhat blackened and the peppers are very soft.

5. While the peppers are roasting, place tomatoes, garlic, (and whole almonds if you're using them) in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring vigilantly, until there are nice brown spots and nearly all the cherry tomatoes have popped (about 6-8 minutes).

6. Place roasted peppers, pan roasted tomatoes and garlic, ground or pan roasted almonds, red wine vinegar, red pepper flakes, and chipotle pepper in a food processor, blender, or large bowl with an immersion blender. Blend until desired consistency (I recommend until there are no large chunks, but it's not totally smooth).
7. Serve hot or cold over veggies, meat, or bread.

Pesto Quinoa

Sorry I have been delinquent in posting for the last few weeks - too much work and campaign stuff going on. To apologize, I have one of my favorite recipes to share with you. I first made it several summers ago from 101 cookbooks, and have loved it ever since. It is a particular standout in that not only is it delicious and healthy, but also vegan and gluten free (and highly acceptable to those who are neither).

There is some flexibility in the ingredients if you don't have or don't like them, but I find the flavors here are great as is (except for the 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds called for in the original which I have never once remembered to include).

Pesto Quinoa (Adapted from Heather's Quinoa at 101 Cookbooks)

Serves 6

Ingredients

several splashes of extra-virgin olive oil

a pinch of fine grain sea salt

1 shallot, minced

2 cups dry quinoa [you could probably use brown rice, bulgar wheat, or another grain if you want]

1 cup corn, fresh or frozen, removed from the ear (raw and cooked both work)

2 cups kale, finely chopped [you can use spinach or another green if you want]

2 blocks extra-firm nigari tofu

1/3 cup pesto

2/3 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes

Parmesan cheese to garnish (optional)

Equipment

Knife and cutting board

Medium saucepan

Medium pot with lid

Wooden spoon or silicone spatula

LARGE pot for easy reheating, or a bowl in a pinch

Instructions

1.Rinse dry quinoa in a fine-meshed strainer or bowl. In a medium pot heat the quinoa and 4 cups water until boiling. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until water is absorbed and quinoa fluffs up, about 15 minutes. Quinoa is done when you can see the curlique in each grain, and it is tender with a bit of pop to each bite. Drain any extra water and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, slice tofu into medium sized chunks and pat dry. Brown in a saucepan over medium heat with a little olive oil until golden and crispy on all sides (this is important because it keeps the tofu from crumbling when you mix it with the quinoa). Remove the tofu from heat and set aside.

3. Add a bit more olive oil and salt to the saucepan, still on medium heat, then stir in the shallot and cook for a minute or two. Add corn and kale and continue cooking until kale is wilted and corn is cooked, 2-3 minutes.

4. To the large pot, add cooked quinoa and pesto, mixing until the pesto is distributed throughout. Add the browned tofu, shallot/corn/kale mixture, and chopped sun-dried tomatoes and stir again to distribute. Serve warm, with grated parmesan if desired.