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Butternut Squash Mac N’ Cheese with Gingersnap Crust

2.19.2013

…And we are back from Nashville, Tennessee. Wyatt played a show down there with is band over the weekend so we decided to round up a group and cruise down in his big red van. The weekend consisted of tacos, live music, day drinking, and sooo much exploring. All the pictures I took were with film so I’ll have to wait to get them developed before posting a real re-cap.

Nashville was oh so much fun but now that I am home, I can feel myself craving comforts. The comfort of not sleeping on a tiny couch in a 17 bedroom co-op. The comfort of knowing exactly where my food is coming from and what I am putting into my body. The comfort of eating massive quantities of macaroni and knowing I have a [clean] floor to hibernate on after. The comfort of spinning the new[ish] TSwift album and watching ‘Girls’ on my laptop without being judged by every hipster in the neighborhood.

Macaroni and cheese is the ultimate comfort food for me. I made a Baked version after returning from Portland / Seattle last spring and made a delicious Vegan version over the summer after we moved into our new home. This dish makes a great side but don’t hesitate to be like me and eat it for dinner right out of the pan [while on the floor listening to teen pop albums AND watching terribly dramatic sitcoms - at the same time]. It’s nice to be home.

Butternut Squash Mac N’ Cheese with Gingersnap Crust

adapted from LickMySpoon

1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed
1 pound of pasta (I used shells)
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup vegetable broth (I used homemade)
1 1/2 cups milk
1 Tablespoon butter
3 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 Tablespoons flour
1 Tablespoon sage, minced
1 cup grated cheddar
1 cup grated Gouda
1 cup grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 cup crumbled gingersnap cookies
1/4 cup chopped pecans
Salt / Pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Toss the butternut squash with 1 Tablespoon olive oil and a dash of salt / pepper. Let roast for 20 minutes or until the squash has started to brown. Remove from oven and let cook.

Turn oven down to 350 degrees.

Cook pasta according to package directions. While the pasta is cooking, heat the butter and 2 Tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the onions and cook for five minutes (or until translucent). Add the garlic and sage and cook for a minute. Next, add in the flour and stir. Add broth and milk; turn heat up and bring to a boil.

Once boiling, add the cheeses and mustard (you can also add a little cayenne or hot sauce at this point if you’d like a kick). Add in the roasted squash and use a whisk or wooden spoon to break up the squash (a few chunks are fine!) and stir until everything is combined. Season with salt and pepper.

Remove from heat and toss in drained pasta. Pour into a 9×9 baking pan and top with the gingersnaps / pecans. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until lightly browned.

Serve warm to all your favorite people!

Song Pairing:

Winter Bruschetta

1.16.2013

Oh man, I have been hit with spring fever. Between planning a March getaway trip and drooling over spring fashion, I am ready to be on a warm beach with a beergarita! And let me tell you – this is the worst possible time to be struck with this spring fever. Not only is vacation still 2 months away but it’s also been in the 20s here all week (and plans to stay that way).

So how in the world do I cope with this spring fever without quitting my day job and moving down to Austin, Texas where the sun always shines (that is a bit of an exaggeration but you know what I mean)? Well, let’s figure this out. What do I miss? Fresh Bruschetta, high-waisted shorts, laying in the grass with our tape player, and lake days. I can’t really think of a way to imitate laying in the grass…unless, of course, if I wanted to snuggle my hair into our huge cacti collection that resides in the kitchen (OUCH!). But I can drag Wyatt on winter lake picnics with warm soup and Mexican hot cocoa. And I can layer up with some tights and knee high socks under my shorts. Done and done. Now, onto the bruschetta? Gahhh…could you imagine traditional bruschetta in January? So filmy and flavorless…yuck. But what if we used winter vegetables? Like sweet potatoes and onions? And still stuck it on a warmed and buttered baguette? Now we are talking!

Winter Bruschetta

1 fresh baguette, sliced into 1 inch thick pieces
1 large sweet potato or small butternut squash, peeled and cubed
1 onion, cut into large chunks
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded (omit to make vegan)
2 Tablespoon fresh sage, chopped + divided
Salt/Pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large oven safe pan, toss together the sweet potato or squash, onion, garlic cloves, half the sage, salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoon olive oil. Roast in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the squash/potato can be pierced nicely with a fork (but does not become mushy). Remove from oven and let cool while you prepare the bread.

To prepare the baguette: Brush the remaining olive oil on the baguette slices and top with cheddar cheese. Place under the broiler for a minute or two or until the cheese / bread is toasted. Top the bread with the potato/squash mixture and serve warm. Garnish with leftover age or, for a sweeter version, drizzle with honey.

Let’s get through the winter with Mikal Cronin:

Roasted Tomato and Feta Polenta

8.02.2012

This weekend is creeping up fast which means it’s time for me to start thinking about what I can knock off my August to-do list. I immediately thought of camping but the weather channel claims its suppose to rain both days this weekend (although I have my doubts…they have talked of rain for months now and it still manages to miss over us). But if rain really is in the forecast, perhaps its time to finally start working on my recipe zine?

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Polenta and I have a very weird relationship. It’s such a comfort food for me that you would think I had been served it for breakfast since I was a toddler. But truth be told, I only first discovered the stuff maybe 5 years ago. And still there is something about it’s velvety texture and versatile use that I seem to find comfort in. It manages to shine as a side (in the form of fries) or bring out a main (like under a pile of cheesy eggs) or take charge as the entrée (like in a lasagna and in this recipe below).

I’ve been a little stubborn (and probably a bit stupid) lately and decided it was time to just let go. We have two HUGE tomato plants that are growing in our backyard but they were fruiting at snail pace because of the heat waves and drought. I have a very large pile (that is growing everyday) of tomato recipes I want to try this summer but kept putting the off waiting for my tomatoes to be ready. And guess what? Tomato season is already half over and I have yet to indulge in any sweet yellow cherry or rainbow heirloom tomatoes this year! I had one of those ‘DUH’ moments the other day where I realized just because my tomato plants are taking their fine time to bloom does not mean I have to shun all other tomatoes during their peak season. This triggered the reaction to immediately take a walk to my local co-op (which his thankfully just down the street) and pick up a pint of my favorite sweet yellow cherry tomatoes.

I really didn’t even care what else I put the roasted tomatoes with but I just knew I had to roast them….I spent hours in the winter daydreaming about the sweetness that comes out when these little guys are roasted. From there, this recipe developed into a medoly of my comfort food at it’s finest.

Roasted Tomato and Feta Polenta

1/2 cup dried polenta
1 cup water
1 cup milk
1/2 pint of sweet yellow cherry tomatoes
2-3 ounces of crumbled feta (depends on how salty you like it!)
Salt/Pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice the tomatoes in half and stick on a cooking sheet with the sliced part facing up. Cook for about 30 minutes or until soft and juicy.

In a small saucepan, add the water and milk. Heat just until before boiling and add in the grits. Stir constantly for about ten minutes or until the polenta starts to thicken. Remove from heat and stir in half the feta and salt/pepper to taste. Cover and set aside for about ten minutes or until it sets.

Finally, top the roasted tomatoes and the rest of the feta on top. Serve with some warm Sky High biscuits and your favorite jam.

Sky High Biscuits and Sage Gravy

8.01.2012

After dozens and dozens of failed attempts, I am still trying to photograph a beautiful plate of biscuits and gravy (see here and below). I am starting to feel like it’s a lost cause…there is just no way to convey the rich and velvety flavor that go into this pile of grey gravy. I may sound frustrated but I am not going to give up; this is because biscuits and gravy is something I make more than I should probably admit. And here is why: I get really excited about food…like boy-crazy-school-girl-excited. Say, for example, you put a plate of baked Cajun sweet potato fries with a caramelized onion goat cheese aoili in front of me… I will get gitty and my eyes will light up like I am about to experience going to a new continent for the first time. This is how Wyatt gets about biscuits and gravy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him get as excited as he gets when I mention that I might make my sage gravy recipe. Heck, he even offers to help me! Woah.

Anyways, I am telling you this because it leads me to making biscuits and gravy on the regular. It makes me feel better about getting excited about food when I know I can make someone else feel that way. I’ve probably made the sage gravy and mushroom gravy a dozens times each but I had never (weirdly) made biscuits from scratch. My B&G breakfast is always triggered by me seeing my favorite organic biscuits on sale. But instead this time it was triggered by fresh sage in my CSA box.

I decided it was time to tackle my own biscuits. I kept it simple this time because I wanted to focus on achieving big and tall biscuits but I can’t wait to experiment with cheddar and dill biscuits in the near future.

See here is the recipe for the Sage Gravy I put on these biscuits (or try out this Mushroom Gravy or even this Chickpea Gravy).

Sky High Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon of baking powder
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 Tablespoons cold butter, cut into chunks
1 1/2 cups of buttermilk (or I didn’t have buttermilk so I made some with whole milk and vinegar using this method)

Extra flour
2 Tablespoons butter, melted

Start by preheating the oven to 500 and greasing a 9 inch circle cooking pan and a 1/4 cup measure.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Using your clean hands, add in the butter and rub mixture between your hands to combine into a coarse dough. Next, make a well in the center of the mixture and add in the buttermilk. Fold the dough into the buttermilk just until combined (the dough will be SUPER wet but don’t worry).

Spread out about a cup of flour onto a clean counter top or cutting board. Using that greased measuring cup, scoop out 1/4 cup of dough, roll in the flour, and place in the greased cooking sheet. The dough is super sticky so work fast so that it doesn’t have a whole lot of time to expand in the pan. After you are done, they should all fit very snugly in the 9″ pan.

Pour the melted butter over the top of the biscuits.

Cook for five minutes and then reduce the temperature to 450 and cook for another 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool slightly.

Later with delicious gravy and enjoy with a big glass of freshly squeezed orange juice!

Rustic Cakes with Red Wine Onion Relish

5.15.2012

I pulled out this recipe book the other day because I had stumbled upon this Vegan cookbook when I was at Powell’s in Portland a few months back. The pictures are gorgeous and I am just in love with the fact that he adds a little play list to go with every recipe. Anyways, this is the only recipe I’ve tried out of the book so far and I was blown away. These little cakes are soooo delicious. I lathered them with this caramelized onion relish for dinner and then ate the leftover with maple syrup the next morning (honestly, I can not tell you which version was better- they were fantastic both savory and sweet!).

I’ll admit- I’m biased when it comes to breakfast food (and particularly when it comes to being able to serve it for dinner without any regrets). But to be completely honest, I think that the onion relish may have been my favorite part about the whole thing. Although the cakes are super delicious by themselves, the onions practically melt in your mouth and have the most beautiful color from being soaked in the red wine. I’d recommend putting this relish on everything- crackers, sandwiches, rustic cakes, imitation meat, etc.

Also, I upped the corn meal a lot so that the batter was easier to work with. This made the cakes denser so if you like yours thin then feel free to use a little less cornmeal when making your cakes.

Rustic Cakes with Red Wine Onion Relish

For the cakes:

2 cups cornmeal
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cup almond milk
Coconut oil (for frying)

For the onion relish:

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 onions, thinly sliced 1 tablespoon sugar
3 Tablespoons red wine
1 tablespoon water

Combine, all (except the coconut oil) in a bowl and mix until a thick dough forms. Stick in the fridge for ten minutes or until it’s chilled.

Warm the olive oil over low to medium low in a small skillet. Saute the onions for 10 to 15 minutes or until they are browning and starting to caramelize. Add the sugar, wine, and water and bring to a bowl. Let it simmer over low until the wine has evaporated.

In a large skillet, warm a thin layer of coconut oil. Make golf ball size dough balls and small down. Place 3 to 4 cakes in a skillet and cook for about 3 to 5 minutes on each side (depending on how hot the oil is).

Serve warm with the onions piled on top and maybe some asparagus on the side.

Oh! And don’t forget to eat your leftovers the morning after with maple syrup!