Warm Squash Salad & Winter Squash Dip

I seem to be blessed when it comes to squash: there is always one lying around the kitchen ready to inspire me. This week I had two and a hankering to transform them into something new.  Enter the winter squash dip recipe. Actually this was well timed since the Superbowl is fast approaching and this dip would please any snacker. Those with dairy intolerances, watch out! This dip contains enough cream cheese, sour cream, Parmesan and butter to shock any cow.

The salad was not only the healthier option, but another lunch idea. It served me well this week. Lentils, goat cheese and a few walnuts make this a complete meal.  

Warm Squash Salad

Source: My head, although I'm sure I've seen versions of this while perusing through other food blogs.

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 1 Head green leaf lettuce, washed and torn into pieces
• 5 oz Goat cheese, crumbled
• 1 Whole squash of your choice (I had a Hubbard Squash..I think)
• 1/4 cup Chopped walnuts
• 3/4 cup French lentils, cooked

Dressing

• 3 T Balsamic vinegar
• 1 T Dijon Mustard
• 3 T Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Method

To prepare the squash, preheat over to 400F. Cut the squash into wedges, scooping out and discarding the seeds and stringy flesh. Brush the squash with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 45 minutes or until flesh is brown on the surface. Remove from oven and slice the skin from the flesh. Chop into 1 inch cubes.

Combine salad ingredients and set aside.  Combine the dressing ingredients and mix well with a fork or whisk. I would suggest adding a little water to the dressing to thin it. Toss the dressing with the salad and serve.

Winter Squash Dip

From: Martha Stewart Living Magazine. October 2007. p 242

Serves 12

Ingredients

• 1 Squash (this one was a Kabocha)
• 2 Garlic heads with tops cut off 
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 10 T unsalted butter
• 8 green onions, white and pale green parts only, sliced 1/4'' thick
• 2 Chipotle chili (canned in adobo sauce)
• 2 cups sour cream
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 4 t lemon juice
• Roasted pumpkin seeds for garnish

Method

Preheat oven to 400F. Place squash on a baking sheet. Brush with oil, season with salt and pepper and toss. Spread squash in a single layer. Place garlic on a piece of parchment-lined foil. Drizzle with oil and wrap loosely. Place on baking sheet with squash. Bake until squash is soft and golden brown, about 45 minutes. Let cool slightly.

Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 4 minutes. 

Scoop flesh from squash and transfer to a food processor. Squeeze garlic from skins and add to squash. Add onion and chipotles and pulse until smooth. Add remaining 6 tablespoons of butter, the sour cream, cream cheese, Parmesan and lemon juice and pulse until combined but not smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve in a hollowed-out squash or dish and top with pumpkin seeds. I chose warm pita wedges as my accompaniment of choice. 

Crab Salad Rolls

There is something about chef Michael Smith's haircut that just doesn't jive. I was watching his show Chef at Home at the gym and this hairdo he had going on seemed to overshadow his fabulousness. Didn't help that Pearl Jam's Eddie Veder kept appearing on an adjacent screen with his yummy tousled curls falling all over his face. I still managed to drool over Smith's  parchment paper-baked fish and tuna salad rice paper wrap creations. Only, I wanted something a little different. 

I doubt imitation crab has ever been chic, but if I was serving real crab in a prairie city such as Edmonton, I would be serving it for a special occasion. It is pricey! This isn't that occasion. I needed lunch food and a Vietnamese-style wrap sounded like the perfect item. Instead of a typical wrap filling, I opted for the crab salad recipe below. Awesome! Light, delicious and I wasn't tired of it after three days. 

Adapted From: http://www.skinnytaste.com/

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 1 medium avocado chopped
• 2 cups chopped imitation crab 
• 2 T chopped red onion
• 2 T capers
• 1 lime, juice of
• 2 T chopped cilantro
• 1 t olive oil
• salt and pepper
• rice paper sheets

Method

In a medium bowl, combine onion, lime juice, olive oil, capers, cilantro salt and pepper. Add crab meat and toss well.

Dip the rice sheets in warm water to soften (follow package instructions and take advantage of this useful tutorial on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfI1wMeDXhg&feature=fvwrel). 

Drop a few tablespoons worth of the crab salad into the centre. Fold the edges into the centre of the wrap and roll the paper into a tube-like creation. Seriously, just watch the tutorial.

Tuscan White Beans with Spinach, Shrimp & Feta

Heavy meal, light meal, heavy meal, light meal. I don't post everything I cook, so the cycle may not be as obvious on this blog, but I have a tendency to make a heavy meal and follow it with a light meal. This isn't any astounding observation, just a little build-up to my dinner menu for this evening. Ta-da!!

From: http://www.skinnytaste.com

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined (weight after peeled)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp chopped fresh sage
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup low sodium, fat-free chicken broth
• 15 oz can cannellini beans rinsed and drained 
• 5 cups baby spinach
• 1 1/2 oz crumbled reduced-fat feta cheese

Method

Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook shrimp until just opaque, about 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Heat remaining oil in the same skillet over medium-high heat and add onion, garlic and sage; cook 4 minutes stirring occasionally until golden. Stir in vinegar and cook 30 seconds.

Remove from heat and stir in shrimp. Top with feta cheese and divide in 4 bowls.

Kale & Blood Orange Salad

If you glance at the original recipe you'll notice I've substituted a number of ingredients in order to make it easy on myself. While I do at times enjoy hunting for original ingredients in various little neighborhood grocers, I just wasn't up to that task today. I also didn't think my substitutes would compromise the flavour. 

Adapted from: http://theincuisition.com

Serves 6

Ingredients


Salad

• 1 Bunch kale, stems removed, coarsely chopped
• 1 T Olive oil
• 3 Blood Oranges, peeled and sliced into rounds
• 1 Avocado, pit removed, diced
• ¼ cup Raw Pumpkin Seeds, lightly toasted in a dry skillet
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta 

Dressing

• 1 Shallot, diced
• 3 T Olive oil
• 1 t Honey
• 2 T Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 T Poppy Seeds (didn't have them!)

Method 

Place kale in a large salad bowl and add 1 T olive oil. Toss kale lightly to coat and then slowly massage the oil into the leaves until they are a darker green and tender. This should take about five minutes. Add blood orange rounds, avocado, feta and pumpkin seeds.

Make the dressing: whisk the olive olive, honey, and cider vinegar with shallots and poppy seeds until well combined. Dress salad lightly in 2 stages, tossing salad in between. Serve immediately.

Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Soup

What a difference daylight makes to my poor food photos! Man I need to cook mid-day more often. I also need more soups like this hearty multi-dimensional delight. This could use a little heat, perhaps in the jalapeño or hot sauce form. Anyways, I thought a little heat was in order considering that we are experiencing the coldest day so far this winter.

Adapted From: http://eclecticrecipes.com

Serves 8

Ingredients

• 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1 t salt
• 1 t pepper
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 medium red onion, diced
• 1 yellow pepper, diced
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2, 15 oz cans of fire-roasted tomatoes
• 1, 15 oz can of black beans
• 1 litre of chicken stock
• 1 t chopped chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
• 1 T smoked paprika
• 1 T cumin
• 1 t chili powder
• 1 t dried oregano
• 1 medium avocado, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
• handful of tortilla chips

Method

1. Combine chopped chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Preheat a large soup pot. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add chicken to soup pot. Add red onion, green pepper, red pepper, yellow peppers and garlic. Cook over medium heat until chicken is done and no longer pink.
2. Add fire roasted tomatoes, black beans, chipotle chili peppers and adobo, paprika, cumin, dried oregano and chipotle chili powder. Add 1 quart chicken stock. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 25 – 30 minutes.
3. Garnish soup with chopped avocado, crumbled feta, and tortilla strips.

Pork with Gorgonzola Sauce & Wine-Sauteed Portobello Mushrooms with Polenta

This was the entree that went with the scallops and yes we actually moaned when we ate this meal. Hello rich food! Actually, the only thing rich on this plate is the gorgonzola sauce. This sauce was the highlight of my Christmas vacation. We made so much of it that I had plenty to top grilled vegetables with it, baked spuds and other items. Definitely worth the experiment!

http://www.epicurious.com

Ingredients

Pork

• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 T dried thyme
• 2, 3/4-pound pork tenderloins
• 
  

Gorgonzola sauce

• 1 T butter
• 1 T all purpose flour
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup canned low-salt chicken broth
• 1 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese 

Pork

Oil large rimmed baking sheet. Whisk Dijon mustard, olive oil and thyme in small bowl to blend. Sprinkle pork tenderloins with salt and pepper. Heat heavy large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add pork and sear until brown all over, turning occasionally, about 10 minutes. Transfer seared pork to prepared baking sheet. Spread Dijon mustard mixture over all sides of pork. (Can be prepared up to 2 hours ahead. Refrigerate pork uncovered.)

Preheat oven to 425°F. Roast pork until thermometer inserted into thickest part of meat registers 150°F, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes.

Sauce

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in heavy small saucepan over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon flour and whisk 1 minute. Gradually whisk in whipping cream, white wine and chicken broth. Boil until mixture is thick enough to coat spoon, whisking frequently, about 1 minute. Add crumbled Gorgonzola and whisk until cheese is melted and smooth and sauce is reduced to desired consistency, about 5 minutes.

Slice pork and transfer to plates. Ladle some sauce over pork. Serve, passing additional sauce separately.

Wine-Sauteed Portobella Mushrooms and Polenta

Adapted from: Martha Stewart Living. October 2007 p. 102.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 portobello mushrooms
• 1 garlic glove, coarsely chopped
• 2 T coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 t kosher salt
• freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/8 cup and 1 T of olive oil
• tube of ready-to-serve polenta (feel free to prepare your own. I wasn't able to find anything but the ready-made variety)

Method

Toss portobellos with garlic, herbs, salt, pepper, vinegar, and 1/8 cup of oil in a large bowl. Let stand at room temperature, tossing occasionally for 1 hour. Pour portobellos and marinade into small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Stir in remaining tablespoon of oil and remove mushrooms only from pan.

Slice polenta into 1/2 inch disks and place in pan on medium heat. Coat with remaining vinegar and oil mixture in pan. Let simmer for 3 minutes on each side. Place the polenta on a plate and the portobellos on top. Add the sauce over the combination and garnish with chopped parsley.

Scallops with Celeriac Puree

This is definitely a party menu item. It wows in terms of presentation and tempts foodies to dream of the next course. My mother-in-law sent us a box of fresh produce from her neck of the woods over the holidays and one of the items was a celeriac bulb. Having had no experience with celeriac I immediately went to Tastespotting to peruse all celeriac-related pics. This was definitely my favorite and gave me another reason to whip out my new food processor. I made this as a starter, but the original recipe suggest serving three scallops on each dish if you are using this as an entree. Enjoy!

Adapted From: http://www.juliegoodwin.com.au

Serves 12

Ingredients

• 1 medium sized celeriac bulb, peeled and grated or processed into small pieces
• 1 cup milk
• 50g butter
• Salt
• 100g smoked bacon
• 12 scallops
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped chives

Method

Into a medium saucepan over medium heat, place the celeriac and add enough milk to cover. Simmer for around 10 minutes or until tender enough to squash between your fingers. 

Add half the butter and a pinch of salt and puree to a smooth consistency. Taste and add more salt if required. Keep warm.

In a non-stick fry pan over medium-high heat, sauté the bacon until the fat is rendered and it is crispy and golden. Remove from the pan and drain on paper towel. Wipe some of the fat out of the pan, but leave a couple of tablespoonfuls in.

To the bacon fat add a little butter. When the butter is foaming and starting to brown, add the scallops (they may need to be cooked in batches depending on how big your frying pan is). Cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute on the first side, then flip and cook for only 20 or so more seconds.

To serve, put a circle of puree on a warmed dinner plate. Top with 1 scallop and scatter with bacon and chives.