Tag Archives: butternut squash recipe

Time to Warm Up With Adaptable Winter Squash and White Bean Soup

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An easy soup with surprising depth of flavor.
An easy soup with surprising depth of flavor.

If this isn’t soup weather, I don’t know what is.

Between the hail, frost, snow-dusted city streets, and astonishing videos of people cross-country skiing through white-covered Wine Country vineyards, I feel like I need to pile on every wool sweater and down coat that I own just to walk out my front door.

The time is right to quash that chill — with squash.

With “Winter Squash and White Bean Soup” to be exact.

This hearty, velvety and nourishing soup recipe is from “The Complete Modern Pantry” (2022), of which I received a review copy, by America’s Test Kitchen.

This handy-dandy book features more than 350 recipes and tips to teach how to better cook from your pantry, as well as recommendations for ingredients to always keep on hand.

What I especially love about this book is that each recipe features a specific “pantry improv,” so if you don’t have a certain ingredient on hand, there’s a suggested alternative. For “Bucatini with Peas, Kale, and Pancetta,” for instance, you can sub in spinach in place of the kale, and frozen fava beans or edamame for the peas. For “Skillet-Roasted Carrots with Spicy Maple Bread Crumbs,” use honey or agave syrup for the called-for maple syrup or let parsnips stand in for the carrots. For “Caramelized Black Pepper Chicken,” feel free to mix it up and use pork tenderloin instead. And for “Tahini-Banana Snack Cake,” peanut butter or sesame paste can replace the tahini.

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Baked Eggs in Butternut Squash Rings

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Sweet, roasted rings of butternut squash make the perfect vehicle to spotlight eggs.
Sweet, roasted rings of butternut squash make the perfect vehicle to spotlight eggs.

Spring may have sprung, but winter squash hasn’t fallen out of favor yet. At least not in my kitchen.

So, how could I resist these darling “Baked Eggs in Butternut Squash Rings”?

The recipe is from the new “The Fresh Eggs Daily Cookbook” (Harper Horizon), of which I received a review copy. It’s by Lisa Steele, who has raised chickens for more than a dozen years on her farm in Maine, and is the founder of the blog, Fresh Eggs Daily.

It includes more than 100 recipes highlighting eggs in every which way. Now, you’re probably asking yourself, “Isn’t it bad to eat eggs every single day? Won’t my cholesterol go through the roof?” The answer is: No. Not if you’re a relatively healthy person. That’s according to the Mayo Clinic, which stated in an article last year, “Research shows that the cholesterol in eggs doesn’t seem to negatively affect the human body compared to other sources of cholesterol. For example, eggs typically are eaten with other foods high in salt, saturated fat and cholesterol, such as bacon, cheese and butter. These foods are known to increase the risk of heart disease, and they should be eaten sparingly.”

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Yotam Ottolenghi’s Butternut Squash with Orange Oil and Caramelized Honey

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A dazzling roasted butternut squash dish with a trick for making infused orange oil so easily.
A dazzling roasted butternut squash dish with a trick for making infused orange oil so easily.

A new Yotam Ottolenghi cookbook is always an occasion to rejoice.

After all, the London restaurateur is a seven-time New York Times best-selling cookbook author.

His latest, “Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love” (Clarkson Potter) of which I received a review copy, was written by him and Noor Murad, head of the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen.

Unlike most of his other cookbooks, which showcased dishes from his acclaimed Nopi and Rovi restaurants, and Ottolenghi delis, this one aims to show you more creative ways to cook from your pantry, fridge and freezer.

That being said, that doesn’t necessarily mean these are recipes that take barely any time or effort to put together. If you know Ottolengthi recipes, you know they often require a number of steps. But in this case, none are especially difficult or laborious. And in many cases, you’ll learn a new tip or technique along the way. Many of the recipes also list handy substitutions or additional ways to use a particular sauce or serve a dish.

Case in point, “Creamy Dreamy Hummus,” which Murad and Ottolenghi provide directions for making with the preferred dried chickpeas, as well as with, yes, canned garbanzos, often considered sacrilege. But, as they note, canned ones can still create a very creamy hummus — provided you first use kitchen towels to gently release their skins, then cook them briefly in water with salt, and a pinch of cumin.

Or take the recipe for “Very Giant Giant Couscous Cake,” a clean-out-the-fridge type of crispy, savory cake made in a pan that can be put together with leftover rice or pearl barley, if you don’t have couscous on hand.

Or the “Skillet Berries, Bread, and Browned Butter” breakfast, brunch or afternoon snack that makes use of half-opened bags of frozen berries, stale bread, and that forgotten container of rolled outs by turning it all into a delicious warm fruit crumble drizzled with cold heavy cream.

With a butternut squash languishing on my countertop for a couple of weeks, I was moved to try my hand at “Butternut Squash with Orange Oil and Caramelized Honey.”

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Yotam Ottolenghi’s Squash with Chile Yogurt and Cilantro Sauce

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Butternut squash gets drizzled with Sriracha-spiked yogurt and more.

Butternut squash gets drizzled with Sriracha-spiked yogurt and more.

 

He has been dubbed a genius with vegetables.

His cooking may not be vegetarian per se, but Yotam Ottolenghi, the chef-owner of four London restaurants, definitely is a champion of putting vegetables front and center, in especially vibrant ways.

His three previous cookbooks have all been best-sellers: “Ottolenghi,” “Jerusalem,” and “Plenty.” No doubt, his fourth one, “Plenty More” (Ten Speed Press), also will top the charts.

In this cookbook, of which I received a review copy, Ottolenghi continues his foray into dazzling veg-centric dishes such as “Steamed Eggplant with Sesame and Green Onion,” “Iranian Vegetable Stew with Dried Lime,” and “Grilled Banana Bread with Tahini and Honeycomb.”

PlentyMoreBook

At this time of year, I love roasting winter squashes. But I’m always looking for new ways to accent them. “Squash with Chile Yogurt and Cilantro Sauce” fit the bill perfectly.

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Not Your Usual Carbonara

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A very special version of pasta carbonara.

A very special version of pasta carbonara.

 

Yes, this one’s quite different.

And sure to become an instant classic.

“Pumpkin Carbonara with Paccheri” has no bacon. But you won’t miss it. Honest.

That’s because thin slices of onion are slowly caramelized until their golden char takes on a smokiness that almost mimics that of bacon.

Take your time cooking the onions. Don’t rush them. Be patient, because they are key to this simple, exquisite pasta dish.

The recipe is from the clever new cookbook, “Pasta Modern” (Stewart Tabori & Chang), which was gifted to me by its author, food historian and Italian food expert, Francine Segan, whom I’ve been fortunate enough to become friends with after doing some writing for her.

The book includes 100 recipes, many of them quite unusual ones that will open your eyes to the uses pasta can have if you let your imagination go wild. How about “Pasta Sushi”? Yes, big shells, the kind usually stuffed with ricotta and spinach, but here filled with raw fish, sea urchin or salmon roe. Or consider the method of boiling pasta in a pot of water mixed with cocoa powder for “Instant Chocolate Pasta with Orange-Basil Cream,” in which the noodles turn deep brown and take on an earthy flavor? Or “Pasta Pretzel Sticks” made from cooked, long strands of pasta that are coated in butter before being baked until golden and crisp?

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