Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Glazed Acorn Squash

When you've got good produce, it takes very little in terms of both ingredients and cooking technique to make an absolutely delicious dish, and this recipe is a prime example. Acorn, festival, and butternut squash all take particularly well to sweet glazes containing honey, brown sugar, or maple syrup and what are probably mostly commonly thought of as baking spices, like cinnamon and nutmeg. The combination of fat, sweetener, spices, and a touch of salt is a dependable combination for preparing winter squash for elaborate holiday meals and weekday dinners alike. With those expert pairings in mind, I was able to quickly put this side together while attending to all other facets of the meal and watch it be eagerly gobbled down with all the other trappings of a hearty Thanksgiving meal. Although squash wasn't a part of my Thanksgiving dinner as a kid, I've made it for at least the last two holiday meals I've hosted and I can see it becoming a part of the traditions I'm crafting as an adult.

Like so many of the recipes I share, this recipe is open to myriad interpretations, depending on what ingredients you have hand and what you'll be pairing with the squash; roasting the squash and pureeing the flesh with the same ingredients also produces a splendid result. With such a bounty of squash in my CSA box I don't always have time for elaborate and highly creative dishes, but I can also to come back to solid simple recipes like this one without being disappointed.

Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Glazed Acorn Squash
serves 4

2 small to medium acorn or festival squash
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Cut squash in half and then into 1/2-inch-thick rings, discarding end pieces, and place in a single layer on a prepared baking sheet.

2. In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sea salt together. Brush the top half of the squash rings with half of the melted butter and sprinkle with half of the brown sugar mixture. Flip rings over, brush with the remaining melted butter, and sprinkle with the remaining brown sugar mixture.

3. Roast squash rings for 10 to 12 minutes. Flip rings over and continue to roast until the squash rings are caramelized and tender, 10 to 15 minutes, depending on desired level of tenderness. Remove from over and serve warm.

Oatmeal, Coconut and Sunflower Seed Cookies

These cookies are yet another experiment in my search for delicious mid-morning snacks to keep me going through the work day. I've made many kinds of bars (see here, here and here) and cookies recently that have fulfilled this need with great success, but the scientist and enthusiastic chef and eater in me just won't leave well enough alone so I've taken to the kitchen again, armed with another recipe from Whole Foods to make oatmeal, coconut and sunflower seed cookies. This recipe immediately peaked my interest because I have a deep love for Grace's Best Cookies, and although this is not a clone recipe (Grace's Best Cookies don't contain coconut), this delicious collusion of ingredients does not disappoint. As these are, for my purposes, a snack rather than a dessert, the hint of sweetness combined with the richness of the butter and coconut and the nutty sunflower seeds achieves a wonderfully satisfying balance that keeps my stomach from growling until nearly lunchtime. If these are intended as a special occasion dessert I would recommend increasing the amount of sugar, adding a bit of honey or serving them with a scoop of good vanilla ice cream. Although I certainly go all out and indulge myself with desserts made with sugar and white flour (although I generally find myself preferring the taste of whole wheat) from time to time, I love being able to treat myself in a small way every day with a cookie that feels like a indulgence, but is still filled with nutrition.

Oatmeal, Coconut and Sunflower Seed Cookies
from Whole Foods
makes about 2 dozen cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup grated unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 1/4 cups rolled oats, either quick-cooking or regular (quick cooking will make a finer cookie)
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2. Put butter and sugar into a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add egg, vanilla and salt and beat again just until combined. Stir in coconut and sunflower seeds. In a separate bowl, combine oats, flour and baking powder, then add to butter mixture, stirring until thoroughly combined.

3. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bake until lightly browned and cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes, then set aside to let cool. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container. 

Wasabi Mashed Sweet Potatoes

I love sweet potatoes pretty much any way you can prepare them-fries (see here, here, and especially here), roasted, in hash and soup, stir-fried, candied, mashed (see here, here, and here). In the past the additions to my mashed sweet potatoes have always been sweet, but this time I tried the contrasting flavor of horseradish with these wasabi mashed sweet potatoes. I'm a big fan of wasabi, and horseradish in general, but even I was a little wary of trying out this unconventional pair. The pungency of wasabi varies greatly from brand to brand, but I found that in my wasabi mashed sweet potatoes, the sharp wasabi blended nicely into the background, contrasting, but not overwhelming the sweet potatoes. If I go the horseradish route again with sweet potatoes, I'll try prepared horseradish or wasabi paste as the wasabi powders with artificial colorings or preservatives often have a bit of an off taste. Although it certainly won't replace my favorite additions of butter and maple syrup, this recipe was a nice change of pace and a great side for an ahi tuna steak with wasabi mayo, well-worth filing away in my recipe box.

Wasabi Mashed Sweet Potatoes
from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics
serves 4 to 6

6 cups cubed peeled sweet potatoes
water to cover
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon wasabi powder
1/4 cup butter
salt to taste
pure maple syrup or brown sugar to taste

1. In a covered pot, bring the sweet potatoes, water, and salt to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the sweet potatoes are very soft and easily pierced with a fork. Drain, reserving some of the cooking water.

2. Mix the wasabi powder with about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the potato cooking water to make a paste. Combine the drain sweet potatoes, wasabi paste, and butter and mash well. Add a little more of the cooking water, if needed. Add salt and maple syrup or brown sugar to taste.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

Tis' the season for warm and comforting soups and with a bounty of inexpensive winter squash at the grocery store and farmers' market, I offer up yet another recipe for butternut squash soup. Although I've been the recipient of a plethora of winter squash in my CSA box, I haven't tired of it yet and been delighting in its ability to blend with Asian flavors, as in Thai Red Curry Squash Soup. With this soup I took a little journey to another part of Asia, melding smooth, sweet butternut squash with fragrant, exotic curry spices. Although certainly not redolent of my childhood, the beautiful melange of spices is extremely comforting and quite welcome in the deep cold of winter. For adventurous palates you may want to add even more curry powder, conversely reducing it for children or flavor-phobes, using this soup as a subtle way to introduce a new suite of potent spices. This soup is healthy, hearty, and bursting with flavor, and rounded out perfectly with a piece of naan for dunking. Hopefully this simple-to-prepare soup will find a place on your winter table next to more traditional American fare and transport you, if even only for a few minutes, to a sunny and beautiful land far away.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup
adapted just slightly from Ellie Krieger, via Food Network
serves 4

1 tablespoon canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (2 1/2-pound) butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 quart low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth, plus additional broth or water, as needed
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more, to taste
2 tablespoons honey
Freshly ground black pepper
Freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice
4 teaspoons plain low-fat yogurt, for garnish (optional)

1. Heat oil over medium heat in a 6-quart stockpot. Add onions and garlic and saute until soft but not brown, about 6 to 7 minutes. Add the butternut squash, broth, curry powder and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until squash is tender, about 12 to 15 minutes.

2. Remove from heat stir in honey and puree with an immersion blender or in batches in a blender until smooth. Add additional broth or water, as needed, to achieve desired consistency. Add lemon or lime juice and salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm.

Oat-Date Bars

In my continuous search for alternatives to commercial granola bars, I decided to try out another recipe from Whole Foods, one of my favorite source for "healthy" cookies and the like. For both their taste and lack of artificial ingredients, Larabars are one of my favorite commercial granola bars, and they use dates as one of the primary binders. These simple bars also use dates to help bind the bars together, imparting structure and sweetness, though they get a little help from egg as well. Sweet, sticky dates are a splendid companion to nutty whole wheat flour and together with chewy oats and for a satisfying and quick to prepare, albeit tame, healthy snack.

As is my typical strategy, I started with the original recipe, but I immediately saw myriad possibilities for adding flavor and nutrition to this solid snack bar foundation (dried fruit, seeds, nuts, flax, coconut, honey, maple syrup, spices etc.) but this recipe's greatest attribute is its potential for adaptation and that's what makes it worth sharing. As I'm constantly telling other people (and doing myself), experiment! Too many people are fearful of making mistakes while cooking and baking, but sometimes in the culinary arts, just as in science, errors often create the most amazing results, and even if they don't, you've learned something for next time.

Oat-Date Bars
adapted from Whole Foods
makes 10 bars

2/3 cup chopped pitted dates, divided
1/2 cup water
1 large egg
1 1/4 cups quick-cooking oats(or old-fashioned oats for an especially chewy bar)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 375°F and grease an 8 x 8-inch baking pan. In a blender, combine 1/3 cup of the dates and water; blend until very smooth. Add egg and blend just until combined. In a medium bowl, combine oats, flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt and whisk until combined. Add date-and-water mixture and remaining 1/3 cup chopped dates; stir until moistened.

2. Scrape into prepared pan, level the top with a spatula, and bake until firm and lightly browned around the edges, about 17 minutes. Cool in the pan and cut into 10 bars. Bars keep in an airtight container for about a week. They can also be individually wrapped and frozen until ready to eat; allow about 2 hours for them to thaw.

Cranberry, Ginger and Orange Chutney

Even though I'm clearly someone who loves to experiment in the kitchen, when it comes to holidays, I'm mostly a traditionalist. It doesn't mean that every dish on my holiday table is completely simplified, but I just don't think this is the time of year to be throwing chili powder into my cranberry sauce. This cranberry sauce nicely bridges traditional flavors with creativity, using the classic combinations of cranberry and orange and cranberry and ginger to great effect. My love for Joanne Chang was well-documented on this blog just earlier this week, and if you've come to trust in her palate after trying Thai Red Curry Squash Soup, I encourage to try her cranberry chutney recipe for your next holiday celebration. This cranberry sauce is a perfect balance of sweet, sour, and acidic flavors, but not too exotic that those with not-terribly-adventurous palates will run from the dinner table. That being said, if you're feeding people who truly flavor-phobic, this recipe sans balsamic vinegar and ginger is still a wonderfully balanced combination of cranberries and oranges, which would be delightful served with turkey, chicken, or even pork. While I enjoyed a healthy helping of this on Thanksgiving day, perhaps my favorite use was the cranberry chutney, sharp cheddar, and turkey melt I made on black Friday while tucked safely away in my home, as far from the madding crowd of shoppers as humanly possible.
Cranberry, Ginger and Orange Chutney 
from Joanne Chang via Food and Wine
makes about 5 1/2 cups

2 large navel oranges 
2 pounds fresh cranberries

1/2 cup water 
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 
3/4 cup granulated sugar 
3/4 cup light brown sugar 
1/4 cup minced fresh ginger 
Salt and freshly ground pepper 
   
1. Using a sharp knife, peel the oranges, removing all of the bitter white pith. Working over a bowl, cut in between the membranes to release the sections. Squeeze the juice from the membranes into the bowl. Cut the orange sections into 1-inch pieces.

2. In a large saucepan, combine the cranberries and water with 1/4 cup of orange juice from the bowl and bring to a simmer over moderate heat. Cover and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until the cranberries have popped, about 10 minutes. Add the vinegar, both sugars, the ginger and orange pieces and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until thick, about 5 minutes. Let cool slightly, then season with salt and pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature.

   

The chutney can be refrigerated for up to 1 week.

Thai Red Curry Squash Soup

When faced with pounds and pounds of beautiful organic squash from my CSA, my thoughts immediately turned to soup, and strangely specifically, curried soup with coconut milk. A quick search through Food and Wine recipes revealed that I am certainly not the only one to think of this as a perfect combination and was delighted to fine a recipe from Joanne Chang, owner of Flour Bakery and Cafe and co-owner of Myers + Chang with her husband, Christopher Myers, both in the Boston area. Although I've not been lucky enough to visit Boston and dine at either of her restaurants, I have had great succcess with her recipes in the past and I have immense respect for her diverse skills as a baker, pastry chef, and chef. My opinion of her is also greatly elevated by the fact that in every TV appearance she seems like a truly wonderful person with no ego and is a Harvard graduate who left her career to pursue a passion for cooking, one of those dreams that is constantly swirling around in my head. 

But on to the food! The sweetness of butternut squash is the perfect foil for curry spices, and the coconut milk makes everything irresistably creamy and smooth. I tend to eat a copious amount of soup in the winter, particularly since I started getting my winter CSA and this is nice change of pace from minestrone-type soups and dense stews (though they most certainly have their place, as well). The soup is unmistakably hearty and satisfying, but the Asian spices and ingredients keep the soup light and bright. When the days turn even colder, this soup is a fabulous taste of warm lands far, far away to transport you from the icy winds and dark skies of winter.

Thai Red Curry Squash Soup

from Food and Wine

serves 12 (as a first course)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 large onion, thinly sliced

1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh ginger, plus 1 cup slivered fresh ginger

2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste

3 pounds kabocha, kuri or buttercup squash—peeled, seeded and cut into 2-inch pieces

5 cups water

Two 13 1/2-ounce cans unsweetened coconut milk

2 lime leaves or 1 teaspoon lime zest

1 large stalk of fresh lemongrass, smashed and cut into 2-inch lengths

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Salt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 large scallions, thinly sliced

1. In a large, heavy pot, melt the butter. Add the onion and sliced ginger and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened, 7 minutes. Add the curry paste and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 2 minutes. Add the squash and water and bring to a boil. Cover partially and simmer over low heat until soft, 25 minutes. Add the coconut milk, lime leaves and lemongrass, cover partially and simmer for 30 minutes longer. Discard the lime leaves and lemongrass.

2. Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender; add it to a clean pot. Stir in the sugar and lime juice and season with salt.

3. In a medium skillet, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the slivered ginger and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until golden brown and crisp, 5 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer the ginger to paper towels to drain.

4. Reheat the soup; ladle it into bowls. Garnish with the fried ginger and scallions and serve.

MAKE AHEAD The soup can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.