I’m slowly but surely starting to get back on with the normal routine of things after the craziness of the last month, which is something of a relief, because I think my head might have ‘sploded if things kept up at the pace they were at. As I mentioned, my friend’s mother died, but the full on crazy didn’t stop there, because shortly afterwards (like – the evening after the memorial) I came down with what can only be described as The Worst Flu Of All Time. ALL TIME.

The flu had me laid up for a week solid, at of course – the worst time possible, since it was the week before Pantheacon. As if I wasn’t already stressed out and nervous, I now need to be rushed and frantic trying to get everything done the couple of days before, because I had been sick. Thankfully, after a couple of long days, I was able to get everything I needed to get done, done, go to Pantheacon and have a (mostly) good time. Amusingly, I did end up attending a seminar entitled “Sacred Seasons, Sacred Meals: Seasonal Food & Sustainability”, and the best thing I can say about it is that it’s inspired me to consider applying to do a seminar next year on Sustainable & Seasonal foods. Who knows if it’ll get accepted… But I think I might have to try, because it was just that bad.

One of the things that I try really hard to do as a general rule is have low-maintenance things cooking in the background while I straighten up around the house, make dinner, or whatever. Roasting a whole squash is one of those easy background processes that after you’ve done it a couple of times – you’ll think to yourself, why did I ever buy canned pumpkin? I mean, it requires next to no babysitting, it’s really hard to mess up, and the results are so easy and delicious. Cooking beans or whole grains for later use is also a good use of down time at home. I’m pretty sure I’ve said it before, but – if you have a couple of hours where you’re going to be at home and can breeze through the kitchen every so often – you can make beans.

In my recent fascination with all things Legume, I picked up these beans at a trip to the bulk-bins. They were simply listed as “Baby Garbanzos/Chana Dal” – which tickled my fancy a little bit, because I love trying out new things, and I’d never heard of Baby Garbanzo beans before. Upon closer inspection and a google search or two, I discovered that they’re really more like split Garbanzo beans. I had half of the pound earmarked for a Hummus, that I haven’t made yet, but for the other half I needed a little inspiration – so I looked around for some ideas and came across this site that waxes eloquent about the wonders of Chana Dal, which is where I came across the inspiration for this soup.

All things considered, if you are like me, and try to keep cooked beans and other conveniences like roasted squash in the fridge, this soup will go together so fast it will make your family’s head spin. 0-to-soup in 15 minutes or so. Not quite as quick as Campbells, sure – but not shabby at all, and much healthier and tastier. Plus, if you like it spicier, you can always kick it up a notch by adding in some extra chili powder, or what have you. The measurements on the spices are rough estimates. I strongly recommend adding spices to taste, because a lot of things can affect the flavor – age of your spices, the particular blend of curry, how hot/spicy/whatever you like it, etc…

Ingredients:

• 1 quart Pureed Butternut Squash*
• 1 quart Cooked Chana Dal in Cooking Liquid**
• 1 quart Stock or Leftover Chana Dal Cooking Liquid
• 1 onion; sliced
• 4 cloves Garlic; coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup White Wine
• 1/4 cup Brown Rice Vinegar (or to taste)
• 2 tbs Butter
• 1 tbs Grated Ginger
• 1 tbs Curry Powder (or to taste)
• 2 tsp Cumin
• 1 tsp Chili Powder
• 1 tsp Sesame Oil
• 1 tsp Olive Oil
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• Heat the Olive Oil in a large pot over medium heat
• Add the Onions and saute until tender and edges are beginning to turn golden
• Reduce heat and add the coarsely chopped Garlic
• Gently cook for about a minute to heat the garlic thoroughly
• Working in batches, puree the Chana Dal, onions, garlic, and butternut squash together
• Return puree to pot and add the Stock (or leftover Chana Dal Cooking Liquid, if you have it)
• Heat on low, gently, until warmed through
• Stir in the White Wine, Rice Vinegar (to taste), Ginger, Butter and Kosher Salt (to taste)
• In a small bowl, stir together the curry powder, cumin, and chili powder
• Take a spoonful or two of the soup, and stir together with the spice mixture to create a paste, this will help keep the spices from clumping instead of mixing in smoothly
• Add additional soup until paste becomes thinned
• Working to taste, add the thinned paste mixture to the soup until desired spice/heat level is reached
• Remove from Heat and stir in the Sesame Oil
• Serve Immediately

*To make your own Butternut Squash Puree, roast whole butternut squash in a 400° oven until tender. Allow to cool, remove and discard seeds and peel, and puree. One medium Butternut = appx 1 quart puree

**To cook Chana Dal, (or any other bean for that matter) Soak overnight (or atleast a few hours), place in a heavy pot with lid. Add 1 quart or so of stock, a bay leaf, a sprig of rosemary (optional), a sprig of Thyme (optional), and enough water to cover the beans by at least an inch. Bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer, once beans begin to soften, add a couple of liberal pinches of kosher salt, and continue cooking, stirring occasionally until cooked to desired tenderness.

Before I start with my regular post, I just want to apologize for my less than stellar post rate the last week or two. Sadly, my dear friend’s mother passed away recently, and I have been spending much time and energy with her, trying to help in whatever way I can with this unexpected tragedy. I won’t dwell on sadness for this post, but I did want to offer up some small explanation. My heart goes out to my friend and her family.

This Chicken was three weeks in the making – lol! I had ordered a Gleason Ranch Chicken two weeks in a row before I finally received one on the third week. Frustratingly, Planet Organics ended up being out of stock on them the first two times I ordered – which left us without our weekly Meat-As-Main-Dish meal, since I didn’t order a back-up plan. Of course, on the third week, having learned my lesson about Chickens and being out of stock, I decided to order back-up meat, in the form of some Marin Sun Farms Sirloin, and I end up with both. Just my luck.

My initial plan was to portion up the chicken in to breasts, legs, thighs and wings – poach the breasts for chicken salad or casserole, freeze the wings until I had a couple more sets to make Buffalo Wings, and roast the legs and thighs. Unfortunately, the chicken arrived in a half-frozen state, leading me to believe it was previously frozen, so I decided not to risk the loss of quality by freezing the wings again. Boo. I was really bummed. I also broke my come-apart kitchen shears disassembling the chicken. Which also bummed me out. They weren’t anything special, but now I have to replace them. <sigh>

Roasting Chicken and Potatoes on a cold winter evening makes for a great comfort food – especially when there’s any kind of malaise making it’s way through your household. Miss Thing was home sick with some sort of bug yesterday, and it looks like Mr. Man has the same thing now. Fortunately, this dish is so nice and simple to throw together leaving plenty of spare time to clean up – and even watch some television while it roasted. Add a tossed salad, and you have a hearty meal, and only one dirty pot. When I first planned to make this, I thought I had some carrots to add to the pot as well, but I when I went digging in the fridge I realized I was mistaken. If you have them, I would say add them – they’d make a nice addition. But with or without them, it’s durn tasty. One other note – because I had been mucking about with the chicken for while, and then needed to start dinner, I didn’t have time for a proper brining. I’m going to list what I did and how I did it, but if you have the time, inclination, and Plan-ahead-ed-ness™, I’m sure your results would be much improved by an overnight brine in more flavorful liquid.

Ingredients:

• 2 Chicken Leg Quarters
• 2 Chicken Wings
• 3 lbs Red Potatoes; cut in to 1″ chunks
• 1 Onion; diced
• 3 cloves Garlic; minced
• 2 small sprigs of Rosemary; minced
• 1 tbs and 1 tsp Olive Oil; divided
• Kosher Salt
• Water

Method:

• Place the chicken parts in to a bowl
• Cover with atleast an inch of cool water
• Add 1 tbs or so of Kosher Salt (a very generous couple of pinches)
• Set aside while chopping and prepping other ingredients
• Preheat Oven to 350°
• Place the potatoes, onions, garlic and rosemary in to a dutch oven
• Toss the potatoes mixture with the tablespoon of Olive Oil and a generous sprinkling of kosher salt
• Press the potatoes in to the bottom of the pan
• Drain and pat dry the Chicken Parts
• Rub remaining Olive Oil and another sprinkle or two of kosher salt on to the chicken parts
• Place the Chicken on top of the potatoes
• Cover and roast for 40 minutes, or until juices run clear and potatoes are cooked through
• Uncover and broil for 1-2 minutes to crisp skin, if desired.

When I was growing up, we ate beans occasionally. Mostly from a can, and usually in the form of Soup, Chili or Baked Beans. It wasn’t until recently, however – that I really learned how yummy beans could be. I mean, when I would eat beans in chili, or soup – usually it was the flavor of the seasonings and spices, that carried the dish. Chili powder, tomato sauce, ham, etc… And the beans, ever willing to adapt to different situations, were the quiet partner in the back, soaking up flavors and adding protein. The “wind beneath the wings”, so to speak.

But beans can be more than the nearly-silent and supportive partner – and if you try out these heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo, I’m sure you’ll agree. I was first turned on to Ranch Gordo by this post about heirloom beans on the Kitchn. I told myself I’d make it a point to go out and get some as soon as possible. And I was floored by what I found. Unlike the background singers of my youth, opened from a can and added to other dishes – these beans are so delicious you won’t want to add anything to them, because they shine so brilliantly on their own. And it’s beyond simple to make – I don’t know if I’ll ever want to buy canned beans again. If you have a lazy Saturday afternoon hanging around the house and relaxing, you can have these beans for dinner.

Of course, like any dried bean – it does tend to work better if you soak the beans overnight. However, if you’re like me and you sometimes forget, just soak them for a couple of hours in the morning before cooking, and you should get most of the benefit. The picture above is the Rio Zape beans from Rancho Gordo after soaking and draining, but before cooking. They’ve plumped up a lot, and have this unique striping/swirling pattern that give them a distinctive look. After cooking, the color pattern becomes more subtle, but it’s more than made up for in flavor. I’ve never had anything quite like them, although the closest bean to the Rio Zape would probably be the pinto bean – so  in a pinch you can substitute pintos, but you’ll really be missing out, because these are much better than the pintos I’ve had in the past.

Okay, so I know I’m starting to sound like a star struck fan-girl, but you really do have to go out and give these beans a try. Or, if not these beans, then give making other beans from scratch – because the recipe I’m going to provide is pretty much the same for nearly any variety. I love to make up a batch of beans about once a week, stick them in the fridge, and use them for quick meals during the week. It does take a little bit of a time commitment in terms of someone actually being home, but they are really low on the work & complexity scale. Put in a pot, cover with liquid, simmer until done. It’s literally that simple. You can putter around in the garage, mow the lawn, watch a video, knit a sweater, or whatever else you would normally do during an afternoon at home – just popping in to the kitchen every so often to give the pot a swirl with a spoon and add water if neccessary. Then, when your significant other says “What’s for dinner?” You can dust a little flour on your nose, give them an aggrieved look, and tell them you’ve been laboring for hours making from-scratch beans just for them. Let the kudos come rolling in.

These beans would be suitable in any application where you might normally use Pintos – Chili, Soup, Refried Beans, etc… Although so far, my favorite way by far has been lightly dressed with a little bit of Feta Cheese, a drizzle of some fine quality olive oil, a sprinkle of Kosher Salt, and a thick slab of Mr. Man’s homemade French Bread. We had that for dinner the other night, with a side of sauteed mushrooms and kale from our recent FFTY box, and it was just a perfect and easy weeknight meal.

It was definitely a nice change of pace from our being-lazy-dinners we’ve had so many of lately. LOL – it feels good to be getting back in to the swing of things. We finally beat the video game we’d gotten sucked in to, and now I’m determined to try and get back in the kitchen (and on the website). I have a few things that I’m working on, and eventually I want to post about them, but for now I don’t want to jinx it by talking about it just yet.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb dried Rio Zape Beans (or other Pinto-Style bean)
• 1 quart Stock (I used Scrap Stock, but you can use whatever – even water, since the beans will create their own pot liquor, too)
• 1 sprig of Rosemary
• 1 Sprig of Thyme
• Water
• Kosher Salt
• Feta
• Fine Quality Olive Oil
• Crusty Bread

Method:

• Rinse and pick over beans, discard any debris
• If possible, soak beans overnight (or atleast for a couple of hours)
• Drain and rinse beans until water runs clear
• Pour the beans in to a heavy pot with a tight fitting lid
• Add the stock, rosemary, thyme and enough water to cover the beans by atleast an inch
• Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer
• Simmer, stirring every once in a while until beans begin to soften – (add more water if neccessary to keep an inch of liquid over the beans)
• Add a couple generous pinches of kosher salt and continue cooking until tender
• Cooking time will vary depending on type/age of bean and desired level of tenderness – cook to taste
• Before Serving, fish out the stems of the rosemary and thyme and discard
• Serving Suggestion: Sprinkle with crumbled feta cheese, drizzle with olive oil, and give it a light sprinkle of kosher salt (if desired) – and use the cooking liquid to dip your bread in!

Update – Used leftover beans to make refried beans – and they were the most awesomest refried beans I’ve ever ever had. Ever.

Well the holidays are over – and I can’t really say that it’s a bad thing. It’s probably been both one of the best and one of the worst holiday seasons ever for me. For the first time I was able to host a celebration with a large group of close friends for the Solstice, and I also got my techy-foodie bankai on with some friends for New Years. (Even if I did feel like a moron next to all the super smart people there)

However, it’s also been the last couple of months of the year, where Mr. Man has been working like crazy trying to meet a pushed up deadline. Sometimes pulling twelve or fourteen hour days at work and essentially pushing aside some of the other activities we might have wanted to do. We’ve spent much of the last couple of weeks decompressing from that – which would account for the (very) delayed holiday January cards… that I still haven’t sent out. Or written up. Or the family pictures that I still need to get done. Or presents that need to be sent out. I know, I suck. The fact that decompressing ended up involving Me, Mr. Man, the couch and us restarting Final fantasy XII from the beginning might also be a factor… Mr. Man and I both tend to get sucked in to video games, pretty much until we beat them. So I’ll try to get those cards out soon, loved ones. Maybe while Mr. Man is grinding for some phatz lootz. lol

So I’d like to claim that I haven’t been posting very much lately due to busy-ness, but the truth is that it’s just the opposite. I haven’t been posting much  because of supreme laziness. I made up a big ol’ batch of soup a few days back which we leftover’d on for couple of days, I dug some things from the freezer that I’d put aside over the summer and we had some quick and easy meals from there, etc… Truth be told there’s been a lot of “Let’s quickly make something easy to eat so we can go back to playing the video game” going on. lol

But I did want to start getting shtuff done, so yesterday I mustered up some gumption and got in the kitchen to try making spätzle. Originally I was thinking of making Gnocchi, but ultimately I decided that would probably be a better … ah… family… activity. Assuming Mr. Man and Miss Thing manage to clear up those ‘scheduling conflicts’ that occur whenever I bring up making gnocchi together. Strangely, they seem to become inexplicably busy and/or occupied whenever I mention it. It’s très bizzarre.

Spaetzle seemed like a simpler one-person project to try out – and I’d been promising Mr. Man that I would make him some homemade Spaetzle for ages. Whenever we go to our favorite German restaurant in the city we always get a big heaping plate of Spaetzle – it’s one of our favorites. Usually served up with a big slice of Schnitzel and some mushroom gravy. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the foresight to put pork or veal on my last Planet Organics order to make a themed meal of it, but I don’t think Mr. Man or Miss Thing will be complaining, because this dish really shined on it’s own merits – no Schnitzel required.

My original plan, to make gnocchi, had stemmed from a desire to use up some Pumpkin Puree that I had leftover from making the Pumpkin and Collard Pasta a while back. Squash gnocchi is particularly common in the fall, and it seemed like it should be a simple enough swap – squash for potatoes. And it’s still on my list, methinks. I’ve managed to develop quite a backlog of squash that needs to be eaten. I imagine Mr. Man and Miss Thing are going to probably get quite full up on it before too long. Somehow I’ve managed to stock pile 3 butternut squash, 1 kabocha squash, 1 spaghetti squash, and several smaller squash. I’m not sure how that happened. Fortunately, they don’t go bad quickly – but that really isn’t an excuse, and I want to use them up and enjoy them – it’s one of the reasons I’ve taken a little bit of a FFTY hiatus the last couple of weeks. I figured not having more perishable produce would motivate me to use up the squash.

When I made the switch to Spaetzle instead of gnocchi, I decided that I still wanted to use the pumpkin puree – so I started looking around to see if anyone else had ever made spaetzle with squash puree before. I came across this post over at Serious Eats for a Squash Spaetzle and used it as kind of a proof of concept. Yes, you can use squash in spaetzle. However, I didn’t really use their recipe – opting instead to make my own, since it didn’t really seem like a complex set of ingredients. I started out by seeing how much squash puree I had, and then working the other ingredients around it. Originally, I thought it would be more complex, but honestly, I think that as long as you don’t throw the entire bowl of batter in to the cooking water at once, it’d be pretty hard to mess these up.

For hardware, you probably already have everything you need – I didn’t use any specialized tools to make them. I used the steaming insert for one of my smaller pans as my colander, because I liked that it had larger holes, but a regular colander would do just as well. Although it was fine with the colander, next time I make spaetzle, I think I’m going to try using my potato ricer. Pushing the batter through the colander resulted in very short, small spaetzle. They were yummy, don’t get me wrong – but I think that if I were to use the ricer I might get something more resembling longer strands. A lot of the recipes I looked at specified using a wooden spoon to press through the colander – which you can use, don’t get me wrong – but I had a much easier time when I switched to my silicone, heat resistant spatula. The batter didn’t stick to it as much, and it was a little easier for me to use. But whatever you have on hand should be fine. In fact, if you don’t have a colander, I saw several posts where people would just flick little dollops of batter straight from a spoon. I don’t really think there’s a ‘wrong’ way to make spaetzle.

If it’s your first time making it, set aside about two hours to get the feel for it. Next time, I think it will go much faster for me since I know a little better what I should be doing, and it won’t take as long. But I also made a pretty big batch. I wanted to have enough for (atleast) two meals. Fresh from the cooking water, the spaetzle were delicious – tossed with a little butter and a light sprinkling of salt, I would say they were highly nom-worthy. However, they really went to the next level when I did a little pan-frying to brown them up a little bit for dinner. They were amazing, and I can see homemade spaetzle making it in to the regular rotation of meals around here, especially with a little practice to cut down on the preparation time. They will also keep for a couple of days in the fridge, so if you need to, you can make them up before hand and then trot them out for guests or something – they’ll be all impressed and give you lots of kudos. Just don’t tell them how easy it is – it’ll be our little secret.

I would also add a couple of things – the pumpkin puree I used was pretty liquidy. Many, if not all, of the spaetzle recipes I saw called for milk. I skipped the milk because I felt like there was enough liquid in my pumpkin puree. If your squash puree is thicker and harder to work with, feel free to add some milk back in a little bit at a time. My batter was like a very thick muffin batter – sticky, and viscous – but holding together well enough to stick to a spoon when lifted out and not terribly drippy. But remember, it’s pretty easy to make up a test batch and add more flour if you want to. It’s a little harder to try and take the flour out if you decide there’s too much.

Spaetzle Ingredients:

• 5 eggs
• 2 and 1/2 cups Pumpkin (or other Squash) Puree
• Appx 3 cups Flour
• 1 tsp Kosher Salt
• softened butter

Spaetzle Method:

• Whisk together the eggs and the Pumpkin Puree until well combined
• Stir in the kosher salt and a scant cup of the flour, whisk to combine
• Continue adding flour, a quarter to half a cup at a time until batter reaches a thick muffin batter consistency. (Sticky, viscous and holding together well when a spoon full is lifted out of the bowl)
• Set batter aside to rest for a few minutes while bringing a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil
• If using, place colander over the pot of boiling water
• Working in batches, press the spaetzle batter through the holes of the colander (if using – alternatively ‘flick’ drops of batter from a spoon in to the water or use a ricer) until the top of the water is full of bobbing spaetzles
• Allow to cook for 30-60 seconds (depending on size) then scoop out the spaetzles and place in a bowl.
• Repeat until all batter has been used up – refreshing cooking water as neccessary.
• When all the spaetzle has been cooked, drain again to remove any excess water, then toss with a little bit of butter
• Refrigerate until ready to use

After I made the spaetzle and chilled it – I had to decide on something to do with it. Bacon was of course, the obvious choice – since everything is better with bacon… Plus I had some thick slices of Fatted Calf bacon that I’d picked up last time I went to the Farmer’s Market. But if you’re anti-bacon, you could just sub the bacon grease for a little butter, and skip it. They’ll still be delicious, I promise. I was also thinking of tossing it with cheese and baking it, but to be honest – it didn’t end up needing it. In fact, it probably would have overwhelmed the spaetzle. Instead, I just did a light sprinkling of cheese on top and baked it just long enough to brown – and it was perfect. Both Mr. Man and Miss Thing also dubbed it a huge success. Miss Thing didn’t even realize it had <gasp> squash in it until I told her. At which point she kind of shrugged and said “So? I can’t taste it.” I think we’re making progress there. Of some kind. Not really sure if that response was on the positive or the negative side though. lol

Spaetzle with Bacon Ingredients:

• 1/2 a batch of Spaetzle (recipe above)
• 3 slices thick cut bacon
• 1 small onion; finely diced
• 3 cloves garlic; minced
• 1 sprig of Rosemary; finely minced
• 1/3 cup shredded Gouda

Spaetzle with Bacon Method:

• Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crispy
• Remove bacon to a paper towel to cool
• Pour off all but a teeny bit of bacon grease
• Add the onions and saute until translucent
• Clear a space (or transfer onions to a bowl)  and add the garlic and rosemary
• Heat the garlic and rosemary until fragrant, then add to the onions
• Working in batches if neccessary, lightly brown the spaetzle in residual bacon grease (can add more if pan starts to dry up or spaetzle starts to stick)
• Cut the bacon in to thin ribbons
• Toss spaetzle, bacon, onions and garlic to combine
• Spread in to an oven safe baking dish and sprinkly lightly with shredded gouda
• Place under broiler for 2-5 minutes or until cheese is golden and bubbly
• Serve immediately

The weather turned cold today – I mean, it had been getting chilly for the last couple of weeks… but today it actually turned cold. I could even see snow off in the distance on Mt. Diablo, and a couple of my sisters reported having snow near their houses or on their way to work… Kinda trippy… I mean, it’s not supposed to snow in California, well – outside of Tahoe it isn’t, anyways – it’s allowed there. That’s far enough away to not be an issue.   You see, I like snow. I like to look at it outside of my window and say “awww… pretty”. But I hate driving in it, walking in it, or touching it in any way.

So enough on the weather – I suppose ya’ll might be wondering why posting has been so light. Well I don’t really have a good excuse for you… during and around thanksgiving, we were busy with that, and I kinda figured there was probably enough people out there blogging all their thanksgiving family recipes, so I decided to focus on just having a nice meal and not stress on getting perfect pictures… then afterwards… well, I guess for the last couple of weeks I just kinda got a little bit lazy and a little bit busy, and we ended up eating out a little more frequently than usual, but hopefully I’m turning the corner and getting back in to the swing of things. I’m starting to work on getting things done around the house – we had the drywall guys out here today, actually – patching up the cracked seams in the rest of the den.

We were kind of toying with the idea of jumping right in to painting and trim right after the patches had finished setting, but after thinking about it a little more, we decided to wait until after Yule. I’m hosting, and I’m not 100% sure that I can get everything done before then – and although I’m sure everyone would understand, I’m just not keen on the idea of having everyone show up and seeing my desk shoved in to the corner of the living room, furniture covered in sheets, in a corner of the den, etc.. know what I mean? Now I’m going to shoot for starting on the painting and trim on Christmas (shhhh… don’t tell Mr. Man). It’ll be a busy few days, but I think if we push hard, we can get the painting and trim done during that time.

Unfortunately, it looks like doing something about that hideous parquet might have to wait. We were discussing getting the floor done, but it looks like it might be out of the budget right now, unless we were willing to compromise a great deal, which I’m not really. I’m going to get a few more bids, and we’ll see where we end up. (cross your fingers for us!) I’d like to get some sort of eco-friendly carpet in there. We talked about hardwood or something a little longer lived – but to be honest, that room is one of the coldest in the house during the winter, and getting a nice warm carpet in there sounds pretty awesome, although I’m a little worried about it getting stained, since we have the coffee machine in the den/bar area by the fireplace… and my hobby area is (eventually) going to live in the den… Anyways, we have some decisions to make on the flooring still, so it might be best to sit on it for a while.

So back to the lasagna – since the weather has started to go colder, when I have been cooking I’ve been opting for more hearty, comfort food things. We had a lovely soup (similar to the Savoy Cannellini Stew) several days this week, since I ended up making a big batch of beans… lol. I thought I was making 1lb, since that was what I ordered from Planet Organics, but I wasn’t paying attention, and I didn’t weigh it – so I think it was a lot more than a pound, because when all was said and done, I ended up with a HUGE pot of beans. Enough to pull off an entire quart to save for later, and STILL be eating beans for most of the week. (Thats what I get for not paying attention…)

The squash was actually leftover from when I made roasted squash puree for Pie on Thanksgiving – between having the beans already cooked in the fridge, and the squash on hand, it was by far one of the quickest lasagna’s I’ve ever put together, and using Fresh Pasta sheets made it go together even faster, since I didn’t need to pre-boil the sheets. Not that I do normally – if fresh pasta isn’t available, I usually cheat and get the no-boil lasagna noodles… pre-boiling lasagna noodles is just not something I’ve felt is worth the hassle. It was a nice little experiment, too – because honestly, I haven’t really explored the world of lasagna outside of the red sauce world, and I’m thinking that has been an oversight I definitely need to fix, because this lasagna was GOOD. If you don’t happen to have pre-cooked beans and squash on hand, you can substitute canned beans and pumpkin puree, it should work almost as well.

When I first started to make it – Miss Thing came over and asked about what I was making, and I told her Lasagna. At first she was all excited (lasagna is a treat), but then she saw me pulling squash and beans out of the fridge and she got… ah… a little unhappy with me. lol – “Ewwwww! You’re ruining it! Don’t put that in there!” etc… But anyways, long story short – she loved it, and had two helpings (and some leftovers again this afternoon for lunch). So there you go – even squash-haters like this lasagna.

Ingredients:

• 1 qt Roasted and Pureed Butternut Squash (or other type of squash)
• 1 qt Cooked Navy Beans (in liquid)
• 1 lb Lasagna Noodles (Fresh pasta recommended)
• 16 oz Small Curd Cottage Cheese
• 12 oz Manchego Cheese; shredded
• 1 large Onion, diced
• 5 cloves Garlic
• 1 sprig Rosemary;
• 1 large sprig Thyme
• 8 Sage Leaves (or so)
• 2 inch Piece of Fresh Ginger; peeled
• 2 tbs Butter
• 1/4 cup White Wine
• 1/4 cup Cider Vinegar
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• Preheat Oven to 350° and butter a 9″x13″ Baking Pan
• De-stem the thyme and rosemary
• Finely mince together the ginger, rosemary, garlic, sage, and thyme
• Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat
• Add the onions, and saute until beginning to turn golden
• Clear a spot in the the center of the pan and add the minced ginger-garlic mixture
• Stir and heat until fragrant (about 30 seconds)
• Clear a spot in the center of the pan again and add about 1/2 the Navy beans
• Smoosh the Navy beans a couple of times with the back of a spoon or a potato masher, then add remaining beans, bean liquid and the squash puree
• Reduce heat to low and stir
• Simmer for 3-5 minutes, then add the Cider Vinegar, White Wine, Cumin, Cayenne Pepper and Kosher Salt (to taste)
• Place a layer of noodles in bottom of pan
• To assemble the lasagna, start with a noodle layer, then a sauce layer, then a cheese layer. Repeat. After the second or third layer (depending on how many layers you are going to have), spread the Cottage Cheese out evenly on top of a layer of noodles, then top with sauce and cheese and atleast one more layer. Cottage cheese layer should be situated as near as possible to the center of the lasagna, and the top should be sauce and shredded cheese
• Bake assembled lasagna in oven for 30-45 minutes, or until cheese is golden and lasagna is heated through

Well, Thanksgiving is over and tomorrow Miss Thing goes back to school, Mr. Man goes back to work, and life continues on – albeit with the extra fun stress of holiday shopping, and if your family is like mine – you probably still have an entire fridge full of leftovers – and if you’re anything like me, leftovers aren’t your favorite thing in the world. I mean, don’t get me wrong, everything was super yum, and I enjoyed it. But I don’t (usually – there are exceptions of course) like eating the same thing two (or three, or four) days in a row. I told Mr. Man next year we either have to have guests over that we can send food home with – or we are only going to get a turkey breast or two. We’re going to be eating leftover turkey for the rest of the month, I swear.

However, when life hands you an entire refrigerator full of leftovers and a box of fresh produce from FFTY that you forgot to reschedule – you can either whine about it (like I was just doing) or get creative. It’s not a problem – it’s an OPPORTUNITY. Yeah, I know – I’m not buying it either, but hey what can ya do. In any event, these stuffed collard leaves were a way for me to kill two birds with one large stone. I got rid of some of the leftovers (there’s still entirely too many if you ask me), and I was able to use up some of my weekly veggie box. It’s a win-win.

It’s fortunate that we have so many leftovers in one way though – my sleep schedule is seriously pooched right now, between the week of vacation and staying up all night for Black Friday sales – which has kind of become my habit over the last couple of years. I’ve found that I’d almost invariably rather stay up really really late, than get up really really early. This year, however – I made one huge mistake that … well, it kind of ruined black friday for me. <sigh> This year, Miss Thing wanted to go. And in a moment of weakness, I caved and let her go with me. Big Mistake. Huge Mistake. It was completely impossible to shop for her while she was you know… THERE. She had assured me that it would be fine, that she could just go to a different area when I shopped for her – but it seriously didn’t work out that way, and I’m NEVER doing it again. Atleast, not until she’s all growed up with kids of her own that we’re shopping for. Because that was super lame.

Er… wait, where was I? Oh – right, leftovers. Fortunately, even though I’ve been keeping some really odd hours, the leftovers in the fridge are helping make sure that Miss Thing and Mr. Man stay fed, so I haven’t really spent too much time in the kitchen post-thanksgiving, but I did take the time to make this dish the evening of Black Friday (after I woke up, naturally), and I can assure you it won’t be the last time I make something like this, because it was fantastic. I know the pictures don’t really do it justice, but it was really good. It’s an absolutely fantastic way to transform your thanksgiving leftovers in to something completely different (and tasty!) for those of you like me who just need a little variety.

I honestly can’t remember where I saw the idea for stuffing collard leaves, I’m sure it was on another blog (and it had prettier pictures than mine), but I must be super lame again, because I seriously can not find the site that I saw it on. But I immediately grasped the implications of it, and I’d actually been waiting for the next time I received Collards to try stuffing them. Considering I had all this leftover stuffing – it seemed rather like a no-brainer.

The Tomato sauce was loosely inspired by enchilada sauce – I was shooting for a tangy, tomato-y, spicy sort of thing, and I  think I nailed it. Although, I would strongly recommend making the sauce to taste. I was using a Green Hot sauce that I made for Mr. Man a while back, and it’s actually fairly mild, so depending on the hot sauce you use, you might want to add less (or more – if you like it spicy). If you’re pressed for time, or just sick of being in the kitchen, you could also probably use a prepared tomato sauce. When it was done, you would never have guessed that this used to be Thanksgiving Leftovers, and it was surprisingly filling. I only had two, and that was more than enough of a meal.

Ingredients:

• 1 Bunch Whole Collard leaves; blanched and stems removed
• 2 cups Leftover Stuffing or Dressing
• 1 cup Cooked Turkey; coarsely chopped
• 2 cups Cheddar Cheese; Shredded
• 1 bunch Kale; stems removed and chopped
• 1 tsp Olive Oil

For the Sauce:

• 1 quart Whole Stewed Tomatoes
• 2 bell peppers; chopped
• 1 onion; diced
• 4 cloves garlic; minced
• 2 tbs Cider Vinegar (or to taste)
• 3 tbs Green Hot Sauce (or to taste)
• 1 tbs Olive Oil
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Butter a 9×13 inch Pan
• Place the tomatoes (with liquid) in a saucepan and bring to a simmer
• Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add 1/2 the tbs of Olive Oil
• Saute the onions until translucent and beginning to turn golden
• Add the Garlic to the onions and continue to saute until fragrant
• Transfer the onions and garlic to the tomatoes
• Add the remaining olive oil and the bell peppers
• Saute until bell peppers are tender
• Transfer the bell peppers to the tomatoes
• Simmer for ten minutes or so, then puree in blender (working in batches if neccessary)
• Return the sauce to the pan and return to a simmer
• Add the Cider Vinegar, Green Hot sauce, and kosher salt – all to taste. Set aside.
• Return the large skillet to heat over medium and add the tsp of oil
• Add the Kale and saute until kale is bright green and tender
• In a large bowl, stir together the stuffing, sauteed kale, turkey, and 1 and a 1/2 cups of the Cheddar Cheese
• To assemble, lay out one blanched Collard leaf, layering the sides of the leaf over one another (over where the stem was)
• Place Stuffing mixture near the top of the leaf, and fold the collard up, rolling and tucking the leaf (kind of similar to a burrito)
• Place the stuffed leaves in to buttered 9×13 inch Pan
• When all the leaves are stuffed and arranged in the pan, pour the tomato sauce over them – then top with remaining Cheese
• Bake for 30 minutes, or until cheese is golden and bubbly

It’s hard to believe that it was only recently that we started having Polenta around Casa la Del, because it’s quickly become one of my favorite dishes to make. It’s such an easy, simple and hearty dish to make. The first time I made it, I just kinda glanced at the ‘basic’ directions on the side of the package and jumped in feet first, and the results surprised me. It was so good. Since then, we’ve had polenta quite a few times, and I’ve been slowly tweaking my way around to find my favorite method of preparation.

When I first made Polenta, I was surprised at the liquid to cornmeal ratio – I mean most rices and grains typically stop at a 2:1 … maybe 2.5:1. A ratio of 4:1 seemed awfully high, but having never made it before I just went with it, thinking I could drain it if neccessary. But it ended up working out – in fact the first time I made polenta, I ended up with quite a bit of leftovers, because I made a double batch, thinking it wouldn’t make that much. Although, sometimes I’ll make a double batch on purpose now. It is very handy to have some cooked grains ready to be warmed up in the fridge.

The Delicata Squash had been sitting on my counter for a couple of weeks now. I had picked some up when they first started showing up at the Farmer’s Market, but just hadn’t had an opportunity to use it yet, although I’ve been kicking around some ideas of what to use it in for a while. (Incidentally, a melon baller seemed to make an excellent pulp-scooper.) Anyways, the inspiration for part of this dish came from a post I saw on another site where someone had sliced and roasted the Delicata – they had sprinkled theirs with spices and feta cheese, and it looked lovely. Sadly, I forgot to bookmark them so I don’t have the link handy anymore, but thats somewhere on my agenda to try sometime, too. However, for this dish, I wanted to use up some of the greens that I had in the fridge. In our FFTY box this week, we received sooooo many Greens – Rapini, Kale – and of course Arugula. It’s definitely one of the challenges you face when you eat seasonally. At some point you become inundated with one or another type of fruit or vegetable and you have to get creative. lol

I’ve also found myself in the unfortunate predicament of having more of the types of fruits that we don’t tend to eat as quickly – such as apples and oranges, so I (sadly) decided this week that I would need to switch back to the smaller ‘regular’ box – atleast until I come up with a better method for using them. (or until other fruits come in to season) Fortunately, I’ll be able to supplement with Planet Organics and Spud – both of which are quickly becoming near and dear to my weekly shopping experience. Planet Organics is starting to edge out Spud, I think, but I haven’t made a true decision yet. When I do though, I think I’ll post a blog about it. I think it’d make an interesting post to compare them.

I already had the lentils cooked and waiting in the fridge to be used, which made this dish go together quickly once the Polenta was done. I’ve tried to make it a habit to have atleast two to three (mostly) vegetarian meals a week, and I’ve found that it’s frequently easier to do that if I have cooked beans sitting in the fridge. This week, it was lentils, which you can probably guess – considering I also used them in the Browned Butter and Pumpkin Lentil Pasta dish I made a few days ago. If you don’t have lentils though, you could easily use any other cooked (or canned I suppose) bean instead. Although, I like the lentils here so I recommend that if you have them available that you use them.

Like many other vegetables that I’ve tried since joining a CSA, Winter Squash has truly joined the ranks of my favorite veggies, and Delicata Squash is leading the charge. When we had this for dinner the other night, I only made up one squash, but I know next time I’ll have to make more. I had my timing off a little bit the night I made this, underestimating the time the squash would take to cook. So it was ready well before the polenta. While it sat out on the counter, waiting for everything else to finish cooking, I ended up sneaking a couple of slices to snack on while I was making dinner, and thinking that this would make a lovely snack to have ready to go in the fridge. If that doesn’t convince you though – even Miss Thing owned up and said that the squash “wasn’t that bad”, which considering her long standing and deep rooted hatred for all winter squashes, is very high praise indeed. As for Mr. Man and myself, we both adored this dish. For my part, I was quite frankly stunned at how delicious it turned out. I highly recommend eating it all together, as I’ve shown, because eating them separately just doesn’t provide the same melding of flavors. The tangy vinaigrette perfectly complements the sweetness of the squash, the meaty lentils – I mean, it all just WORKS.  It’s in the top ten meals I’ve made in the last few months. Seriously.

Ingredients:

• 1 Delicata Squash; halved, seeds removed and sliced in to 1/4″ slices
• 1 bunch of Arugula; torn in to bite size pieces
• 4 cups Broth or Stock (I used Scrap Stock)
• 1 cup Coarse Ground Cornmeal
• 1 cup finely shredded Parmesan Cheese
• 1 cup Cooked Du Puy Lentils
• ½ cup Milk
• 3 tbs Good quality Olive Oil
• 1 tbs Champagne Vinegar
• 1 tbs Cooking Olive Oil
• 1 tsp Coarse Ground Mustard (I used Homemade)
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Toss the squash slices with the cooking olive oil and sprinkle liberally with kosher salt
• Spread in to a single layer on a roasting pan
• Bake for 20 minutes, or until tender and beginning to brown
• While the squash is roasting, cook the polenta
• Bring the broth or stock and a couple pinches of kosher salt to a boil
• Pour the cornmeal in to the broth in a steady stream, whisking constantly
• Reduce heat and simmer, stirring often, until polenta is nearly tender
• Add the milk to the polenta and continue to simmer until polenta is cooked through, and just beginning to set up
• Stir in the Parmesan. Cover and remove from heat until ready to serve
• Whisk together the mustard, vinegar and good quality olive oil, along with a pinch or two of kosher salt (to taste)
• Toss the vinaigrette with the Arugula
• To serve: spread the polenta on the plate, top with arugula – then Lentils and the roasted Delicata Squash slices

So the last twenty-four haven’t been particularly fun – I had a bout of insomnia on Wednesday night, which is always super-fun… and just as I was beginning to recover, I find out that Miss Thing has Miss-placed her phone. Her iPhone. Her iPhone that she’s only had for about six months. Her iPhone that she didn’t tell us was missing until about 11PM. Four hours after the GPS tracking shows that the battery died. Needless to say we’re unhappy with her.

Anyways, as much as I could wax eloquent about how annoyed and frustrated and disappointed and everything else that I am right now – there isn’t much I can really do except wait, check the GPS occasionally and hope that a good samaritan turns it in. Of course, the longer it’s missing, the less likely that becomes. At any rate – a replacement phone will be coming out of Miss Thing’s allowance, should it come to that.

The one bright spot in yesterday evening, was this lovely pasta we enjoyed for dinner. I’ve been kicking around a lot of ideas in my head for different winter squash recipes – and in particular, the flavors of sage, browned butter and pumpkin had been coming up frequently as something I really wanted to do. Unfortunately, something or other was always coming up and I kept putting it off. Well last night, I had cleared out everything else that was queued up ahead of it, and was finally able to put my ideas in motion.

I had leftover roasted pumpkin already prepared from when I made the Ginger Pumpkin White Chocolate Blondies, and the lentils I made up as a background process earlier in the day, which made this dish simply fly together in about a half an hour. Although Miss Thing made her usual ‘winter squash blech’ face, she did eventually own up and say that it was pretty good, and Mr. Man enjoyed it as well. As for me, well – perhaps it was the anticipation… the week or so of kicking the idea around and planning for it, because I thought it was durn near one of my favorite pasta dishes evar. It was supah yum.

If you don’t have pumpkin – I’m sure you can use any other winter squash you like – butternut, acorn, delicata, etc… with equally yummy results. Because I was using pre-cooked pumpkin, I was slightly at the mercy of it’s texture – next time I would probably peel the pumpkin and roast it in chunks in the hopes of retaining some structure. When I tossed the pumpkin I had in with everything else, it kind of broke down and coated the pasta, almost like a sauce – which was good, but not quite what I had originally intended. In any case, I’m sure it would be good either way – although it might require further testing… in fact, I believe I have some butternut on my counter from my most recent FFTY box… I wouldn’t want to appear as if I’m not being thorough… Do you think Miss Thing will revolt if I make winter squash two nights in a row?

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of Whole Wheat Pasta
• 1 qt Roasted Pumpkin; cut in to Chunks
• 1 and 1/2 cups Cooked Du Puy Lentils
• 1 stick of Butter
• 1/2 cup Feta Cheese; crumbled
• 1 large Shallot; minced
• 1 small onion; diced
• 4 cloves garlic; minced
• 1 tbs peeled, finely minced ginger
• 2 tbs Finely minced Sage
• 1/4 cup Cider Vinegar
• Kosher Salt to taste

Method:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil
• Add the pasta and cook until Al Dente
• Drain the pasta and set aside
• Return the pot to the stove over medium heat
• Add the butter and cook, stirring occasionally, until butter turns golden brown in color and begins to smell nutty
• Add the onions and shallots and saute until onions are cooked through
• Stir in the ginger and garlic and cook for about 30 seconds.
• Remove from heat, and stir in the pasta, pumpkin, lentils, feta, sage and the Cider Vinegar
• Add Kosher Salt to taste

Over the weekend, I ended up having to run a few more errands than I would really have liked – which definitely isn’t really conducive to my Stop-Being-So-Busy-All-The-Time strategy. Fortunately, it didn’t end up being too inconvenient, and I got quite a few things done. Saturday, I ended up spending most of the afternoon shuttling Miss Thing around. She had a thing for her team that she needed to attend, which ended up taking a huge chunk out of my day. It was also unfortunate in that directly afterwards her coach tried to guilt me in to letting her go to an extra practice session that evening. blergh.

Anyhow, the next day – Sunday, Mr. Man and I decided that we were going to get back to home brewing – so we decided to take a trip over to our local brewing supply store. Our inspiration for it started in the form or a recent post I saw on Homemade Hard Cider over at The Paupered Chef. I mean – we’d been thinking about making another batch of beer for a while, but it hadn’t actually occurred to us to make Hard Cider before. Which, in retrospect, seems like a GINORMOUS oversight on our part, considering how frequently I end up buying a six pack of Hornsby (or similar). Not that I’m a lush – but you know, buying by the six pack isn’t exactly cost effective. So one thing led to another and we ended up at our local brew shop – and we walked out with two vials of yeast, hops, malt extracts and who knows what else. One vial for Mr. Man to make in to an IPA, and one vial to make Hard Cider.

So when we got home, we started the Hard Cider – and then realized that we still had Apple Mead from the year before to rack. Kind of an ‘Oh yeah!” moment. So we started to sterilize some bottles and get things moving on that while I was making dinner, and then after dinner I went out to the garage and made the cider. Which was super easy! I simply poured brown sugar, apple juice and yeast in to a Carboy and ta-da! We have Cider started. Mr. Man helped – a little. I mean, he only sterilized and washed all the brewing equipment, got everything set up for me, told me how and what to do and when to do it, transported everything around, and shook the carboy up. Thats all. But I made the Cider.

Anyways, by the time that was all done, we checked on the dishwasher and found that the load was done, so we started to get ready to rack the Mead. Atleast – we were going to, until Mr. Man asks “Oh, did you use Soap on those bottles?” Because apparently, you aren’t supposed to use soap to wash them because it leaves behind a residue. A little tidbit he could have shared with me beforehand. So we decided to wait until Monday to rack, and run the load again. And have a celebratory glass of Apple Mead. That turned in to several celebratory beers. Anyhow, long story short – the next night we bottled and now have fifty-two fifty bottles of Mead, and then tonight Mr. Man started his IPA. So in a few weeks, we’ll have some homemade Hard Cider, home brewed Beer and the Apple Mead. Yay!

The night that We, I mean I, made cider  was the same night we had this stew. It was a great night for it – we had lots of other things going on, and cooking beans is such a background process that you don’t really have to fuss with very much. Aside from the cooking time for the beans, this dish could really be thrown together in less than half an hour. For the majority of it, I was chopping and prepping one ingredient, while the one before it was cooking. It made life very easy. (Ie… while the bacon was cooking, I was chopping the leeks, while the leeks were cooking, I was mincing the garlic… etc…) Initially, I’d thought about adding arugula and maybe some carrots to this, since I had both sitting in the fridge, but then I saw this beautiful Savoy Cabbage that I received in my most recent FFTY box and just knew I wanted to do something with it. I also had the last couple of late season tomatoes that I’d picked up a week or two ago at the Farmer’s Market that I needed to do something with, so I tossed them in to the pot as well.

It turned out far better than I could have imagined. I don’t know what I was doing wrong all these years before, but I have developed an amazing love affair with beans the last month. Every pot of beans I’ve made lately has just been golden – and this dish was no exception. The Savoy and the Cannellini’s just worked so well together. Now, before anyone asks – yes, of course you can probably use canned beans. However – that said, I don’t recommend it. The cooking liquid for the beans was what made up the liquid of the stew, and it was amazing. I’m just not sure that you can get the same flavor from canned beans. So you know… be warned and all that jazz. If it makes any difference, I’m sure you could make the beans up several days before hand, and then just heat them up the day you wanted to serve them. For the tomatoes though – since I know not everyone is blessed to have fresh tomatoes when hovering around the beginning of November – In your shoes, I would absolutely throw in some canned, stewed, tomatoes. Chop ‘em up and toss them in. Heck, add the juice from the tomatoes as well, cuz that’s what I would do.

Actually – if we’re being fair here… There probably isn’t much you couldn’t change out if you wanted. The cannellini’s are so mild and easy to work with, that I think they might just become my like, favorite bean ever. Of course, I’m pretty sure I said that to Mr. Man about the last batch of beans I made, too – so, you know… I mean, I can’t help it – I’m enthused about beans! (And there’s a sentence I never saw myself saying before). I never really saw myself as getting excited about beans – but lately I have been. I see a new variety or idea for them, and I’m all “NEAT! Wonder how I can work them in!”

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Dried Cannellini Beans; rinsed, picked over, and soaked overnight
• 1 head Savoy Cabbage; quartered and chopped in to fine shreds
• 1 small fennel bulb; cut in to thin slivers
• 3 lbs fresh tomatoes (about 3 cups); diced (or appx 1 quart canned tomatoes)
• 2 leeks; whites and light green area only; thinly sliced
• 5 cloves garlic; minced
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• 1 quart of Scrap Stock (or other Broth)
• 8 oz Back Bacon
• 2 tbs Olive Oil
• 1 tbs White Wine
• 1/4 cup Cider Vinegar
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• Pour the Stock and the drained and soaked beans in to a dutch oven with a tight fitting lid
• Add enough water to cover the beans by 2 inches
• Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat until a gentle simmer is reached
• Cover and simmer until beans begin to soften
• Add the Sprig of rosemary and some Kosher Salt, then  simmer until beans are tender (cooking times may vary depending on age of beans, length of soak etc…)
• Remove the Rosemary Sprig, Reduce heat and keep warm while preparing other ingredients
• In a large skillet; brown the bacon.
• When the bacon is done, remove from pan and set aside to drain
• Add the leeks to the pan and fry in the bacon drippings
• When the leeks are tender and beginning to turn golden, add the garlic
• Cook the leeks and garlic until the garlic is aromatic
• Add the White Wine to the Leeks and garlic and deglaze any remaining bacon bits
• Add the Leeks and garlic to the Cannellini Beans and return skillet to heat
• Add 1/2 a tbs of Olive Oil to the skillet and then add the fennel
• Saute until fennel is tender and aromatic then transfer to the cannellini beans
• Add remaining Olive Oil to the skillet, and saute the cabbage until golden and tender (can do in two batches if neccessary)
• Add the cabbage to the beans and bring to a simmer
• Chop the reserved bacon in to fine bits
• Stir in the tomatoes and cook until heated through
• Add the Cider Vinegar and Kosher Salt (to taste)
• To serve, top with crumbled Bacon Bits

Things are starting to look like they might be settling down a smidgen, finally. My mother has come and gone, Miss Thing’s sport will  be coming to an end soon, and we have just been trying to take it easy the last few days. For more information about what’s been going on and what we’ve been doing, check out the post here. We have one more big thing to do next weekend, and then I’m hopeful that things will be more relaxed around here.  But I did have enough time today to sit down and work on this Ratatouille post I’d been sitting on for a few days. Yay!

During all the busy-ness, I received a bunch of eggplant in my FFTY box. I had kind of thought I would make Ratatouille for my mother while she was visiting, unfortunately – I didn’t have a chance to make it before she had to leave. But I did make it a day or so later, and Mr. Man, Miss Thing, and I enjoyed it immensely. I had actually never had Ratatouille until just recently, when I started getting eggplant from FFTY. Like many other veggies that FFTY has gotten me to try, I had just never really had a lot of eggplant before. But I can say that without a doubt, it will be making rounds on my table from now on.

The making of Ratatouille coincided with Mr. Man taking up an interest in bread baking – and I can’t say they’re completely unrelated because, dude – his fresh bread and my Ratatouille is like a match made in heaven. It’s a warm, hearty tummy-filled-to-bursting adventure in happiness. The only sad part of this tale is that, like so many other things in life – tomato season has pretty much ended for this year. The first time I made Ratatouille, I started out with the recipe on Simply Recipes found here. I don’t make it exactly the same, (I always gotta put my own spin on it, donchyaknow) but I really liked the method of preparation she offered. This recipe is almost no fail. Any combination of tomatoes, summer squash and eggplant is bound to work out in to something tasty. I’ve given the measurements of what I used – but feel free to experiment.

Ingredients:

• 2 Globe Eggplants; cut in to 1-2″ chunks
• 3 Japanese Eggplant; cut in to 1-2″ chunks
• 1 lb Sweet Peppers; cut in to 1″ chunks
• 1 lb Yellow Summer Squash; cut in to 1″ chunks
• 3 lbs Tomatoes; cut in to 1″ chunks
• 1 large onion; diced
• 5 cloves garlic; minced
• 1 quart Broth; chicken or veggie
• Olive Oil
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• Toss the Eggplant chunks liberally with Kosher Salt and place in a sieve. Set aside for 30-60 minutes. (I do this step first, then chop and assemble remaining ingredients)
• Preheat Oven to 350°
• Rinse the eggplant and drain.
• In a large, heavy, oven safe pot with a tight fitting lid (recommend: Cast Iron Dutch Oven) heat a little olive oil over medium heat
• Brown the eggplant in batches, adding more olive oil as neccessary.
• Once all the eggplant has been browned, repeat for the Summer Squash – browning in small batches, adding more olive oil as neccessary
• Set aside the squash and eggplant
• Saute the onions until translucent in whatever olive oil happens to be in the pot still (or add a little bit of oil if neccessary)
• Scooch the onions to the side to make space and add the peppers. Saute the peppers until tender.
• Stir in the garlic and return the eggplant and squash to the pot. Add the broth, and a couple of liberal pinches of kosher salt.
• Cover and place in the oven.
• Bake for 1 hour.
• Remove from oven and stir in tomatoes
• Gently heat until tomatoes are warmed through
• Transfer the Ratatouille to a sieve that has been placed over a bowl and drain, reserving juices
• Return the juices to the pot and heat over medium heat
• Simmer until reduced by half – adding any juices that have continued to drain off the veggies
• When all the juices have all been reduced, return the veggies to the pan, stirring to combine.
• Add Kosher Salt to taste