Butternut squash risotto with bacon

Last weekend we bid our wistful fond fall farewells to the fine folks of the Midtown Farmers Market who feed us all summer. And thanks to a stock-up buying frenzy worthy of a crazed squirrel or prepper, we'll be eating much of the winter off the contents of our orchard rack: butternut squash, acorn squash, spaghetti squash, yams, sweet potatoes, red onions, yellow onions, red potatoes, yellow potatoes, shallots and garlic. They'll keep quite some time on the basement rack, but not forever, so I got right to work on trying out another new squash recipe.

Autumn risotto with roasted squash and crispy bacon

Adapted from “Smitten With Squash” by Amanda Kay Paa

Ingredients

½ a medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into ½-inch cubes (about 3 cups)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

4 bacon slices

1 cup thinly sliced leeks, white and light green bits

2 garlic cloves, minced

Leaves from 2 sprigs of thyme

½ cups Arborio rice

¾ cup white wine

5 cups broth, warmed

½ teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1½ tablespoons butter

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

2 tablespoon minced fresh sage

Balsamic vinegar for garnish

Method

Toss squash with 2 tablespoons olive oil, maple syrup, ½ teaspoon salt and a generous sprinkling of pepper. Roast on a rimmed baking sheet for 30 minutes in a preheated 400 degree oven, stirring once or twice. Set aside.

Meanwhile, in a medium sauce pan, cook bacon slices until crisp. Drain on paper towels. When cool enough to handle, cut into small pieces and set aside.

Cook leeks in bacon fat over medium low heat until softened. Add garlic and thyme leaves and cook for 1 minute. Add rice and stir and cook until well coated, about 2 minutes. Add wine and cook until absorbed. Add a ladle or two of broth to just cover rice mixture. Keep stirring frequently and adding broth until all liquid is absorbed and rice is tender and creamy. Stir in squash, butter, 1/3 cup Parmesan, sage and half the bacon. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve garnished with remaining Parmesan, bacon and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

Rating: Damn fine risotto if I do say so. But really, with that ingredient list, how could it not be? Even that tiny amount of cinnamon comes through with its own note to a symphony of flavors. That's fall captured all in one bowl.

Slow cooker paella

My time-honored paella recipe is one I copied out of a book in Spanish in high school. It’s kind of a pain, but like many signature ethnic dishes like coq au vin, it’s worth a certain amount of fuss now and again, and it helps me brush up on my Spanish.

But it’s not something you serve on Halloween night when attempts at cooking – and eating – are interrupted frequently by insistent storm troopers and princesses. That’s when the crockpot version of anything seems called for.

Easy “Paella”

Adapted from “The Healthy Slow Cooker” by Judith Finlayson. She doesn’t profess it’s authentic paella, by any means, just the lazy person’s adaptation.

Ingredients

8 chicken thighs, bone-in (skin off if you want to be all healthy about it)

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 ounces fresh chorizo (about 1 link for the kind that comes in links)

1 onion, finely chopped

2 celery stalks or Swiss chard stems, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon dried oregano

½ teaspoon pepper

¼ teaspoon saffron threads

1 cup long grain brown rice

½ cup white wine

1 can diced tomatoes and juice

1½ cup chicken stock

2 teaspoons smoked Spanish paprika

1 cup frozen peas

1 red bell pepper, chopped

¼ chopped fresh parsley for garnish

Method

Arrange chicken across bottom of crock.

In skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add chorizo and cook until just starting to brown. Reduce heat to medium low and add onion and celery, cooking until vegetables start to soften and sausage is browned. Add garlic, oregano, pepper and saffron. Stir in brown rice until well coated, about a minute. Add wine and bring to a boil. Add tomatoes, stock and bring to a boil. Pour mixture over chicken in slow cooker insert. Cover and cook on low for 5 hours, or 2½ on high.

Sprinkle with paprika. Stir in peas and red peppers. Cover and let cook for another 30 minutes. Season to taste. Garnish with parsley. Serves 4 to 6.

Rating: It’s not paella, but it doesn’t claim to be. It’s a reasonable one-pot chicken rice casserole aided by chorizo and saffron. The chicken is moist and fallen off the bone, and it makes a hearty fall supper.

Pumpkin muffins with crystallized ginger streusel

Last night between gaps in trick or treat traffic, I warned my husband he was on door duty because I was going to take advantage of the lull and “sneak downstairs to get the brandy we need for breakfast.” For some reason he found that exquisitely humorous. What? Doesn’t brandy improve every Sunday breakfast?

The brandy was to soak the crystallized ginger and currants for pumpkin muffins. Pumpkin spice is everywhere this time of year, but I really only want to hear about it if it’s in baked form. (Well, or a really good mixed drink.) I had some canned pumpkin left over from making mini pumpkin cheesecakes and some crystallized ginger on hand, so I went looking for some combination to use them. I modified the recipe slightly based on the conflicting reviews (too much molasses, can’t even taste the molasses, etc.) and what I had on hand (no molasses).

Ginger-Pumpkin Muffins

Adapted from Bon Appetit, November 1995

Ingredients

5½ tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger, divided

½ cup dried currants or golden raisins

2 tablespoons brandy

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon allspice

¼ teaspoon cloves

1½ teaspoons baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons pumpkin puree

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

¾ cup plus 3 tablespoons brown sugar, divided

¼ cup dark corn syrup

¼ cup maple syrup

¼ cup vegetable oil

Method

Preheat oven to 357 degrees. Line 22 standard muffin cups with paper liners or grease liberally.

Mix 2½ tablespoons crystallized ginger, currants and brandy in a small bowl. Set aside. Mix 1 tablespoon brown sugar with remaining crystallized ginger in another small bowl and set aside.

Whisk together flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, baking soda and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together pumpkin, buttermilk and vanilla. In yet another large bowl, beat egg until light and fluffy. Beat in ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons brown sugar. Beat in corn syrup, maple syrup and oil. Add pumpkin mixture and dry ingredients, alternating in three additions. Mix in brandied ginger and currants.

Divide batter among muffin cups; I found a ¼ cup spoon worked out about right. Top with crystallized ginger brown sugar mixture; about a scant teaspoon in the center of each.

Bake about 25 minutes until a toothpick tester comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

Rating: Fine. Nice pumpkin and spice flavors. Gotta love crystallized ginger, which is what makes these muffins a cut above just ordinary. These muffins did seem more intent than most on sticking to the muffin tin liners, which I view as a drawback for company presentation. And if you really want a lot of streusel rather than a garnish, I suggest tripling the amount of streusel ingredients.

Dishes alert: There was a lot of whining in the comments sections on epicurious about how much work these were. Having chopped my crystallized ginger the night before, I didn’t find them particularly time consuming, but you are looking at five bowls and two muffin tins to wash by the time you’re done. But what better use of the extra hour from the daylight savings time switch than something that involves brandy for breakfast?

Pesto scones and pesto pinwheels

 In order to make room for this year's last-minute fall pestos in the freezer, I'm having to use up last year's. I found a jelly jar's worth of pineapple sage pesto, made using pineapple sage, walnuts and Gruyere in place of the basil, pine nuts and Parmesan. It works really well on pork or chicken, and I thought it might adapt well to baking. Here are two options:

Pesto scones

Adapted from RachelSchultz.com

Ingredients

3¼ cups flour

1 tablespoon sugar

2½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

¾ cup butter, cut into chunks

1 cup buttermilk, plus more as needed

½ cup pesto

2/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Method

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add butter and cut in with a pastry cutter or two knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add buttermilk, pesto and cheese. Stir until dough comes together in a ball. (I had to add about a tablespoon more than the recipe originally called for.) Knead briefly and turn out onto a lightly floured board. Flatten into a disk about a half-inch thick. Cut into 8 wedges. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes.

Rating: Nice texture, with flaky-biscuit like top to the scones. While I’m sure they would have been tasty enough with any pesto, the pineapple sage variety worked really well here.

Note: I opted for 8 good-size wedges since I was serving these as a side along with a hearty beef stew and green salad for supper. But if you wanted to serve this as a savory at tea, I’d cut them into 12 wedges and cut down the baking time.

Pesto pinwheels

Adapted from The Guardian

Ingredients

1 sheet puff pastry (half a package), thawed until workable

2 to 3 tablespoons pesto

Toasted pine nuts

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Method

Roll puff pastry out on a lightly floured board. Spread pesto on top, leaving a half-inch border. Scatter pine nuts over the top as desired and then sprinkle on cheese. Roll up pastry, starting at the long edge. Chill for 30 minutes (this helps make slicing easier).

Cut into 3/8-inch thick rounds. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake in preheated 425 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes until puffed and light brown.

Rating: Nice enough, and fairly fast to fix. Stuff you're likely to have on hand if guests show up with short notice. I'd show you pictures, but my camera chip took a dive that day and is unrecoverable.

Spaghetti squash with fresh herbs and Gruyere

Poor spaghetti squash. It’s gone from being the “fun” squash that kids will (OK, might) actually eat because of its namesake-like appearance to being the misappropriated underpinning for pasta sauces consumed by the gluten-free or low-carb dieter. Having fallen into that latter category myself, I’d gone from liking spaghetti squash to resenting its existence. It’s not that it’s horrible with pasta sauces over the top; it’s just that it’s so not pasta and shouldn’t be pushed into service unless you’re truly desperate for some variety from zoodles. It falls into the category of “Well,I guess that wasn’t so bad,” which is just not the level of food to which to aspire.

Blessed with two spaghetti squashes we managed to save from our ravaging squirrels in the garden, I turned to this book that’s all about squash to see if I could redeem spaghetti squash back to its former golden roasted glory.

Fresh herb and Gruyere spaghetti squash saute

Adapted from “Smitten With Squash,” by Amanda Kay Paa.

Ingredients

1 spaghetti squash, halved and seeded

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

Kosher salt and black pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

2 teaspoons white wine vinegar

¾ cup shredded Gruyere cheese

½ cups pine nuts

Method

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush squash halves with ½ tablespoon or so of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake, cut side down, on a rimmed baking sheet for 25 minutes  or until tender. Let cool about 10 minutes, then use a fork to remove the flesh from the skin.

Toast pine nuts in a large saute pan. Remove and set aside. Heat remaining olive oil in the pan. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Stir in herbs, vinegar, squash, cheese and nuts. Adjust seasoning to taste with salt and pepper.

Rating: Nice. Repeatable. What spaghetti squash was meant to be when it gets dressed up.

Quinoa salad with mango, cucumber and lemon shallot dressing

This weekend we took out most of the tomato plants and cucumbers that are done producing, I was left with one last lemon cucumber to use up. This dish was like one last blast of summer.

 

Quinoa salad with lemon shallot dressing

Adapted from the Oprah Magazine, August 2015

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa (multicolored helped with the prettiness factor)

¼ cup white balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Zest of one lemon, plus 2 tablespoons fresh juice

¼ cup chopped shallots

2 garlic cloves, minced

¼ cup olive oil

1 large orange

4 hearts of palm, thinly sliced (about half of a 8.8-ounce jar)

1 mango, peeled, pitted and chopped

½ cup cucumber, sliced into half moons

1/3 cup toasted pine nuts

Method

Prepare quinoa according to package directions. Fluff and let cool.

Combine vinegar, mustard, salt, black and cayenne peppers, lemon zest and juice, shallots and cloves. Whisk in olive oil.

Zest the orange. Peel and remove pith. Cut into chunks. In large bowl, combine cooled quinoa, orange and zest, hearts of palm, mango, cucumber and pine nuts. Toss together with dressing and serve.

Rating: Really nice flavors and good mix of colors and textures. The tropical notes smack of summer. It’s nice as is, but I might try it again and sub in water chestnuts for the hearts of palm for additional crunchy contrast. Definitely worth making again.

Note: Could be a decent meatless main dish if you added chickpeas. I added some grilled chicken to some of the leftovers to make a main dish lunch for Dave.