Butternut squash ravioli with pancetta and vermouth sage cream sauce

 

 This isn't really a recipe, and thus I didn't intend to post anything about it. But Dave snapped a picture with his phone because he was in love with it, probably because he was the one who picked the sage blossoms for garnish when I sent him to the basement for fresh sage leaves.

It was a I-don't-feel-it evening in the kitchen, so I sauteed some red onions along with a few ounces of chopped pancetta until softened and browned, tossed in some vermouth, cream, salt and fresh sage leaves and put that sauce over some purchased butternut squash ravioli. I sprinkled some chopped fresh tomatoes and more sage leaves over the top.

If I had actually made the squash ravioli, I would have been pretty pleased with myself. As it was, I was pleased to expend minimal effort for an otherwise quite passable meal.If I'd been presented with it as takeout, I would have been fine with it. 

But I bet there wouldn't have been the sage blossom garnish. Can't wait until I can liberate that plant from the basement along with all of its herby friends.

Chicken tetrazzini

This is hot dish, '80s-style. For me, when I first made this it seemed a big step up over the standard casserole fare: It had a real sauce instead of creamed soup, spaghetti as the base instead of elbow macaroni and a fancy name. 

In retrospect, it's still hot dish. But I have an abundance of cooked chicken to use up (a byproduct of making broth for all those soups for lunch), and also lately the unsettled times called for a dose of comfort food.

Chicken Tetrazzini
Adapted from “The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook” by Zoe Coulson. At the time this book first appeared, it was a major departure from the standard "red book" compendiums like Betty Crocker and Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks. There were pictures, lots of pictures. One of every recipe, and in color, no less. In this Instagram-type cookbook era, that might not seem a big deal, but at the time it was. Sure, the photos were all at the front and the photos were in the back, but you could browse them up front, see something that looked good and it told you what page you could find it on. As a newlywed, I checked it out of the college library and later asked for it for Christmas. It still might be the cookbook out of which I've tried the most recipes, hot dish or not.

Ingredients
½ cup butter, divided
½ pound sliced mushrooms
1 small onion, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ cup flour
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon paprika, plus more for garnish
1 tablespoon salt (or less)*
3½ cups chicken broth
½ cup dry sherry
3 cups cooked chicken
1 cup half and half
3 ounces grated Parmesan
1 pound spaghetti, cooked until al dente

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13-by-9 pan. Spread cooked spaghetti in the bottom of the pan.

Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a large saucepan. Cook onions, mushrooms and lemon juice until onion is softened. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add remaining butter to the pan. When melted, stir in flour, salt, nutmeg and ½ teaspoon paprika, cooking for a minute or two until it picks up a slight color. Gradually stir in broth and sherry, stirring and cooking over medium heat until sauce thickens. Stir in reserved vegetables, chicken and half and half.

Pour mixture over cooked spaghetti in pan. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and paprika. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until golden and bubbly. Let sit a few minutes before serving.

Rating: As hot dish goes, this is still one of the better interpretations. It has actual flavor and everything. It might not make the best potluck fare, since spaghetti is a bit challenging to dish up tidily. I'd probably swap to a short pasta if I was ever in my life intent on taking a hot dish to a potluck, which I guess might be good for a joke. 

*About that salt. Clearly when this book came out in 1980, salt intake guidelines weren't quite the same thing that they are now. I dialed it back a bit and didn't notice a lack of salt.

Proscuitto smoked Gouda panini, baked ham and cheese with mornay sauce

Ham and cheese sandwiches don't necessarily need gilding. But when we're working from home and having sandwiches for lunch more often, sometimes I feel the need to branch out. Here are two of my latest meanderings down the ham and cheese path.

Proscuitto and smoked Gouda panini

Adapted from “200 Best Panini Recipes” by Tiffany Collins

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ tablespoon balsamic vinegar
4 slices Italian or country bread
2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto
2 ounces of sliced smoked Gouda cheese
4 thin slices of tomato

Method
Mix olive oil and vinegar. Brush on one side of bread slices. (You’ll probably have a bit leftover, depending on how thirsty your bread is.) Place bread slices oiled sliced down on a work surface. Top two slices with prosciutto, Gouda and tomato, sprinkling tomatoes with salt and pepper. Top with remaining bread slice, oiled side up. Place in panini press and cook until bread is toasted and cheese is melted.

Rating: Perfectly tasty, but how could it not be, really? Only demerit: The top of both sandwiches stuck to the panini press lid so I had to do some reconstructive surgery. I’ve never had that happen before with the panini press, even when it’s faced direct contact with cheese like in these yummy grilled cheese sandwiches, dubbed the diva of grilled cheese. Next time I think I'll try putting the tomatoes between the ham and cheese layers so the cheese is in direct contact with the top slice to see if the melted cheese can keep the bread on task.

 

This next recipe was so odd I just had to try it. I figured it could be either really good, or really, really not good. Only one way to find out.

Baked ham and cheese sandwiches with mornay sauce

Adapted from Martha Stewart Living Everyday Food November 2003

Ingredients
1½ tablespoons butter
1½ tablespoons flour
½ cup milk
1½ cup shredded Gruyere cheese, divided
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Nutmeg, salt, pepper
3 ounces thinly sliced ham
4 slices bread

Method
Melt butter in a small saucepan. Stir in flour and cook for a minute or two. Whisk in milk and cook over medium heat until sauce thickens. Stir in ½ cup cheese, mustard, a generous sprinkling of nutmeg, salt and pepper. Transfer mixture to a bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degree oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Spread sauce on two slices of bread (you’ll probably have extra depending on how large your bread slices are; use common sense and don’t put on the entire thing or you just end up with a sloppy mess that’s oozed out onto the sheet instead of the sandwich). Top with ham and then ¼ cup cheese on each sandwich. Top with remaining bread slice and sprinkle remaining cheese on top of that, pressing in to help it adhere. Place sandwiches on parchment-lined sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is golden.

Rating: I made this recipe twice, because the first version was disappointing but I wanted to give it more of a fighting chance before giving up on it. I stepped up from a white sauce to a modified mornay sauce, cut back on the amount of sauce I spread on the sandwiches, and the result was a fine enough sandwich. The cheese on top gives it a nice crunchy topping. But really, that sauce is just a gimmick that doesn’t really add as much as it detracts. If you want a souped-up ham and cheese, just make a Monte Cristo or croque monsieur instead.This was more like croque monsieur meets creamed X over Y. It's possible they shouldn't have been introduced.

Southwest chicken wraps

 

Not as pictured. Don’t try this at home. This disclaimer should accompany some recipes, including this one when it was photographed in the magazine.

I’m drawn to recipes by both their ingredients, and often, their picture. I understand that food stylists have to take liberties to make a dish attractive, but sometimes there’s an enormous leap, kind of like the Sidney Harris cartoon of two scientists where one has drawn “then a miracle occurs” as part of the equation. This is one of those, and a case where it’s best to follow common sense instead of the recipe if you want to achieve the same visual result.

I first tried these with the specified 10-inch wraps and the preposterously mismatched quantities of food. There was no way to have the sides of the wrap even meet, much less wrap around. Dave was the sensible one and ate most of his as a salad before attempting to roll it up.

Since we had lots of the spread leftover, I tried it again, this time cutting back significantly on the ingredients, and managed to achieve a sort of taco effect. The third time I did the barest sprinkling of everything and could achieve the slightest amount of rolling. Basically, if you really want this to wrap elegantly, you might want to buy something bigger than the 10-inch size or go really lightly on the toppings.

Southwest chicken wraps

Adapted from Martha Stewart Living Everyday Food November 2003. You can watch the video where the cook manages to actually wrap up a respectable-looking 10-inch wrap. I noted that she was clearly using far less of each ingredient than was originally specified.

Ingredients
¾ cup sour cream
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped pickled jalapeños
2 tablespoons lime juice
Sandwich wraps, the bigger the better if you really want them to wrap
Cooked chicken
Cooked black beans, drained
Chopped fresh tomato
Thinly sliced red onion
Fresh spinach leaves
Sliced avocado

Method
Combine sour cream, pickled peppers and lime juice in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spread mixture as needed over sandwich wraps, leaving a two-inch border. Top sparingly with chicken, beans, tomato, onion, spinach and avocado. Fold in two opposite sides on the left and right. Fold in slightly on the ends. Roll up if you’re able.

Rating: Not bad. Probably not worth fussing with three times if I hadn't had leftover sour cream mixture to use up. If I try this again, I'll come armed with bigger wraps and sub in yummy guacamole sauce as the base spread.

Broccoli cauliflower soup

 

The garage roof is turning white again and it barely got above freezing. So tiresome. Thus it was soup weather again today.

Broccoli and cauliflower soup

Adapted from “Eating the Greek Way” by Fedon Alexander Lindberg

Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, sliced
1 head broccoli, separated into florets
1 head cauliflower, separated into florets
4 to 6 cups broth or water
½ cup parsley leaves
½ cup plain Greek yogurt

Method

In a large pot, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil. Add onion and cook over medium low heat until softened. Add broccoli and cauliflower florets and cook a few minutes to soften vegetables slightly. Add broth or water, using enough to cover the vegetables. Cover pot and simmer until vegetables are just tender.

Remove soup from heat and cool slightly. Stir in parsley and puree soup in a blender or food processor. Return to pot, stir in yogurt and heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serves 6 respectably.

Rating: Acceptable. Warm. It's a little creamier than my go-to broccoli soup when I'm looking to use up garden excess:  Broccoli soup with chive cayenne oil from Bon Appetit, April 2008.The latter has a more distinct flavor, so it depends on what flavor profile you're looking for in your meal. (It's also a more distinctly green color since there is no cauliflower to muddy the waters.)