Tag Archives: French

Kuri Squash Soup with Chestnuts

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One of my recent CSA deliveries included a red Kuri Squash.  The name inspired me to create a velvety squash soup with red curry and meaty chestnuts.  I started with my own broth, made from a mirepoix with oyster mushrooms and simmered with kaffir lime leaves and ginger.  (Note that the mirepoix & mushrooms method is a great way to make vegetarian soup broth in general.) The soup itself has the consistency of a vichyssoise or other creamy soup, with chestnuts adding some substance and is sort of Thai-French-American fusion…  I recommend serving each bowl with a bit of fresh cilantro.

Roasted chestnuts that are pre-shelled are often available at Japanese or Chinese grocery stores (like Nijiya or 99 Ranch) in vacuum sealed packages.  They’re pretty convenient and tasty!  One forenote…I’m not a big fan of Trader Joe’s red curry sauce (I didn’t have a chance to try it before this recipe), so if you make this I’d recommend using Thai red curry paste that comes in a tub.

The only reason I used the Trader Joe’s brand is because normally Thai curry paste is not vegetarian because it includes shrimp paste.  I now regret that decision…it would’ve been better with the sacrificed shrimp.  If I made it again, I might also add some sprigs of lemongrass to the both while simmering.

Curry Kuri Squash Soup with Chestnuts

Ingredients

  • 1 Kuri Squash (or other winter squash)
  • 1/2 yellow onion
  • 2 small carrots
  •  2 stalks celery
  • 1 cup oyster mushrooms (or other mushrooms)
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 2 kaffir lime leaves
  • 1 large coin fresh ginger
  • 3 cups water
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 can light coconut milk
  • 1/2 bottle of Trader Joe’s red curry sauce (or a few tbsp red curry paste instead)
  • 1+ tsp cayenne pepper
  • 2 tbsp fresh grated ginger
  • 2 cups chopped roasted, shelled chestnuts
  • fresh cilantro for garnish

Cut the squash in half and roast it in a 350 degree oven for about an hour, or until easily poked with a fork and soft.

Dice celery, carrots, and onions into about 1/4″ cubes.

Chop the mushrooms roughly and add them to a pot with the 2 tbsp of butter.  Mix it all up well.  Sautee them until the mushrooms are nicely browned.

Add the mirepoix and 2 cloves of garlic to the pot and mix it up so it gets coated with the butter.  Continue sauteeing until the onions start becoming browned and caramelized.

Add the water and soy sauce and mix well.  Let it simmer for about 15 minutes.  If you just want a vegetarian stock, once the broth tastes flavorful enough to you, simply strain out the liquid and you have a very good vegetable broth.  For the squash soup, continue on…

Add the coconut milk, kaffir lime leaves, and ginger coins.  Mix well and simmer for 15 minutes.  (I put a couple of tomatoes in with the broth just because…I don’t think it added anything special though.  Not sure why I added it.  But that explains that tomato you see floating there that isn’t included in the ingredients list…)

Strain off the liquid and dispose of the mirepoix/etc.

Time to get back to the squash…remove the seeds and scoop out the meat.

Add the squash to a blender along with the curry sauce and a bit of the broth you just strained.  Blend it up until smooth.

Return the broth to the pot and add the squash mixture.  Mix it all up well and let it simmer.  Add some cayenne powder.

Roughly chop up the chestnuts.  Add them to the soup.

Add the 2 tbsp of grated ginger.  Simmer the soup on a low heat for quite a while, stirring intermittently, until reduced as much as you’d like.

Serve with fresh cilantro, perhaps a wedge of lime.

 

Plottin’ au Gratin

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My mom has been hearing me talk about my plans for a gratin for almost a week now.  The idea came up when a coworker who has gone gluten free due to health reasons graciously paid for my dinner one night, and I offered to repay with something delicious and gluten free.  I got to thinking, of course.

…Who doesn’t like anything with cheese on it?

So I decided on a riff on scalloped potatoes, adding in butternut squash into the mix because I had both lying around and needing to be used.  With plenty of cheese.

The other day on my way to grab ramen with my friend Janette, I stopped at The Milk Pail, a family owned business in Mountain View, CA and home of my greatest weakness: an abundance of amazing and reasonably-priced cheese.   I hadn’t quite decided on which type of cheese I was going to use for said gratin. Needless to say I walked away with 5 different types, including: Wisconsin gruyere (almost holds up to the authentic stuff), English sharp cheddar, Wisconsin gouda, laughing cow light swiss, pecorino romano (for a separate dish), and a french soft ripened chevre (for general munching).  I decided eventually on the gouda for the gratin, with a bit of the gruyere on top.

Gouda gruyere gratin.  Oh Gee!

Anyway, so after gaining like 15 lbs in the past week from eating all the other cheese (kidding), I finally got around to making the gratin.  The (pretty successful) recipe is below.  I did try to make it a little lower-fat by using fat free milk and laughing cow wedges for some of the cheese sauce, but you could go Paula Deen style and use cream and all full-fat cheese if you want.

Butternut Squash and Potato Gratin with Caramelized Onions


Ingredients

  • 1 medium butternut squash (peeled, seeds removed, cut into thin 1/4″ thick slices)
  • 4 medium gold potatoes (skins on, cut into 1/4″ slices)
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • 3 cups cold fat-free milk (2 c for sauce, 1 c for finishing)
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1/2 red onion, minced
  • 2 cups grated gouda cheese
  • 4 laughing cow light swiss wedges  (or substitute another soft cheese like brie if not calorie-conscious)
  • salt to taste
  • pepper to taste
  • cayenne pepper to taste
  • 1/2 cup grated gruyere cheese (or more gouda)

(Bake in a 9×9″ pan.)

1.  If you haven’t already, prep your potatoes and squash. Preheat the oven to 350.

2.  Place them on a large plate as shown above.  Dampen two large paper towels and cover the plate.  Place in microwave and microwave on high for 10-15 minutes, or until slightly soft.  (This cuts down on the baking time.)

3.  If you haven’t prepped the cheese yet, do that while the squash/potatoes are microwaving. Also mince the onion and slice a tablespoon of butter.

4.  Whisk the tablespoon of cornstarch into 2 cups of the cold milk.

5.  If your potatoes/squash are done, you should probably take them out of the microwave to let them cool for a bit.  Next, add 1 tbsp butter and the onion to a pot.

6.  Stirring frequently, caramelize the onions in the butter on a medium high heat until nicely golden brown and translucent.  Reduce the heat to medium-low.

6.  Add the cornstarch/milk mixture to the caramelized onions.  Stir well and bring it to slightly bubbling.

7.  Add the cheese (gouda, laughing cow).  Mix well, breaking up the laughing cow wedges.  Keep mixing until gouda is melted.  Make sure it stays just below a simmer, not bubbling in the pot too much.

8.  Add the salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste.  At this point, you may want to use a whisk to break up any chunks of the laughing cow cheese.

9.  Turn off the heat to the pot and let the sauce cool and thicken for a minute or two.  Then ladle a bit of the sauce into the baking pan, spreading it in a thin layer on the bottom.

10.  Layer the thinly sliced potatoes and squash in the pan.  I did a layer of potatoes, a layer of squash, then a layer of cheese sauce, then a layer of potatoes, then another layer of cheese sauce, but you can probably do it however you want.  Just watch the amount of cheese sauce you have left, because there’s not much extra to spare.

11.  The last layer should be cheese sauce, and then sprinkle the gruyere (or more gouda) over the top.

12.  Bake in 350 F oven for 20-30 minutes.  Then raise the heat and broil it for a couple of minutes, until the top is crispy golden brown cheesy goodness.

13.   Let it cool 10 minutes before digging in, otherwise you might burn your face on the molten cheese.  And everyone knows a burnt tongue is a major party pooper.

So after writing all this, I was thinking about how this isn’t only great as a main dish or side, it’d probably also be awesome as a contribution to a potluck brunch!  Mmm..

Happy Birthday, Princess J

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My best friend’s birthday was this week.  We threw a birthday potluck picnic for her.  I learned that whipped cream is probably not a good choice for frosting unless you’re going to eat the cake immediately.  As we drove to the park, I frantically kept scooping up the frosting as it melted, flowing down the sides of the cake and taking the strawberries with it, threatening to douse my lap in sweet fluffiness…

Recipes used:

  • Heavenly White Cake I added a couple tablespoons of sour cream to this.  I think the cake was a little too sweet, personally, but it held together really well and didn’t give me any problems when I cut the layers in half.  I was terrified it wouldn’t rise because I added stuff to the egg whites before beating them because I hadn’t read through the recipe entirely.  Luckily it still worked out, so you know this is a pretty foolproof recipe!
  • Pastry Cream This was my first time essentially making cream puff filling.  This stuff was amazing…I added a little orange liqueur and because I only had non-fat milk, I used a mixture of non-fat milk and sour cream to give it the necessary richness.  It worked out well, actually.
  • Frosting: whipped cream, vanilla extract, lemon zest, and powdered sugar.  Only use this as frosting if you intend to eat it immediately or freeze it and eat it as soon as it comes out of the freezer.
  • Tip for working with strawberries on a cake: to get them to stick well, slice them and then dry them between some paper towels.  Though if you use the whipped cream frosting, that forethought won’t be worth it…

At least it tasted awesome!

Naan grilled cheese

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I bought some garlic naan at Trader Joe’s last week.  It’s certainly not authentic naan, but it’s nice and fluffy and has a very garlicky flavor.  Marco, who apparently wants to see my thighs turn into the Hindenburg, gave me some brie as a thank you for helping him in his job search.

What does this all mean?  Grilled cheeeese!

Ah, this sandwich was sexy. Fluffy garlicky bread, melty brie, fresh basil.  Adding anything besides a little sea salt and fresh ground pepper would make it harder to appreciate, I think.  For an extra crispy sandwich, grill it with a little melted butter or bacon fat spread on each side.  You can get all of the ingredients for this in Trader Joe’s, but I’m sure you could pick up stuff elsewhere over multiple locations and make the same sandwich.

Président now makes a brie log, bless their hearts.  So if you just want to gnaw on a stick of brie, you damn well can. Or, it’d probably be perfect size for slicing onto a baguette or crackers.  While Président may not have the most character of the bries out there, it’s still got that brie-y goodness and intense meltability.

I recommend you try this garlicky wonder someday.  Your socks may be knocked off.