Butternut squash chili

Tonight I made butternut squash chili. I got the idea from my sister-in-law, but that was last year and I didn't get a recipe, but I found this one:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Butternut-Squash-and-Turkey-Chili/Detail.aspx?soid=recs_recipe_seed

I cut up a sweet onion, two cloves of garlic and prepared a butternut squash. I only used half of a large squash, the rest is in the fridge.
I started the onion and garlic in oil, then added the squash. When the onion looked translucent, I started to add the tomatoes, beans (rinsed slightly), and green Chiles. I also defrosted some frozen corn in the microwave and added that instead of hominy. Then I added some cumin and chili powder. I simmered everything for 20minutes, but the squash was still a little hard, so turned up the heat for another 5 minutes. The squash was in 1inch chunks, so smaller chunks might have cooked faster.

I added some shredded cheese and sour cream on top. Served with the multigrain bread, since I have a lot leftover. Cornbread would also taste good with this.

Mussels with beer broth

Yesterday we tried making up a recipe for mussels. At least that is how I felt. Bert might have been working from a recipe. We cut up 1/2 a medium onion, 2 cloves of garlic and cooked those in some olive oil. Then we added 12oz Sam Adams Lager and 2 pounds of mussels. We used our Dutch oven for this one.

We purchased the mussels at Wegman's. They sent us home with mussels on ice. Bert washed each one and threw out about 3-4 for broken shells. Two pounds is about right for two entrees. You also want to throw out ones that are already open and won't close if you tap them.

The mussels sat in the beer for just a few minutes it seems like before they popped open. Bert sprinkled in some basil, I think the recipe called for parsley but we didn't have any. We served with Wegman's whole grain baguette. The mussel meat was good. I liked the bread. Tough to cut, but soft in the inside. The beer broth was too sour. Next time I want to try a white wine broth instead.

Potato Leek Soup

Our summer CSA may be over, but I am still cooking up recipes in the kitchen. Today was soup.

Potato Leek Soup
1 Leek, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
1 TBS butter and 1 TBS olive oil
8 TJ baby Dutch potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 cups low sodium chicken stock
2 cups milk, 1%
1 bunch kale, stems removed and cut into small pieces
Salt
Peppercorn
Thyme
4 pieces bacon, cooked, chopped
I sauteed the leek with the butter and oil blend in my Dutch oven. Then added the potato and enough stock to cover the potatoes. Simmered until potatoes were tender. Then I transferred to my little pitcher for my hand blender. I puréed most of the soup in two batches. Then added milk. I added salt, ground peppercorn and tasted....I didn't taste much. So, I decided to add some thyme, dried and fresh. And I still didn't taste much so I added the kale, and more salt and peppercorn.  Then I added the bacon. I let simmer for 15minutes.

Bert liked the soup. I still didn't taste much flavor, so added a bunch of pepper once I served it. The pepper helped some. We'll see how it reheats.

The cabbage did not reheat well at all.

Cabbage casserole

I had a GIANT head of cabbage in the fridge from two weeks ago, and finally I had an evening to prepare something.  I found a recipe for scalloped cabbage casserole on-line:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/beths-scalloped-cabbage/detail.aspx

I used 1/2 of the GIANT head of cabbage, used breadcrumbs instead of crackers and sprinkled paprika on top for color.  Bert liked it okay. I think it was kind of boring. I think that smaller pieces of cabbage might have worked better than chunks of cabbage. I think I needed to either drain the cabbage more or use more cheese in my roux. The final product was kind of runny. I sprinkled curry on mine which helped a little.

I served this with grilled pork chops.  I think some butternut squash would also taste good with these two items.

Butternut squash and kale soup

Have barely cooked all week so I still have a fridge full of food. On Wednesday I took the time to peel and chop a butternut squash. This was a good use of time. I was able to quickly prepare one serving for lunch on Friday and two servings for dinner on Friday by microwaving for 3 minutes then mashing with cinnamon.

The whole reason I prepared the squash was to make soup with the kale.

Butternut squash and kale soup
2 large tomatoes, cut into quarters,
1 leek, sliced in half lengthwise, almost to tip, but keep intact
1/4 onion, cut in half
6 garlic cloves whole,
2 1/2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into cubes
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 4-5 pieces
Celery root, peeled and cut into chunks
1 Yukon potato
Olive oil for roasting
6-8 cups chicken stock
3 leaves crinkle kale, cut into small pieces
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs thyme
1 can cannellini beans, rinsed
1 can kidney beans, rinsed

I brushed a jelly roll pan with olive oil, added my vegetables and then add more oil to the vegetables and stirred it around. Maybe a real roasting pan would have been a better choice... easier to stir. Stir a couple times while cooking.

Vegetables roasted at 400degrees for 30minutes, until tender.

I put 5 cups chicken broth in my Dutch oven with the thyme and bay leaf. Brought to a boil.

Picked through the roasted vegetables. Put the onion, garlic without the peel, and tomato into my blender and blended until smooth.

The rest of the vegetables I transferred to the cutting board and sliced into smaller pieces. Maybe I should have roasted them as small pieces, so I didn't have to cut them again while hot. As it was I still had big chunks of vegetables.

I put everything in with the kale and stock, then added the beans. I then added a couple turns of the salt grinders and peppercorn grinder. My stock was low sodium, so not a lot of salt except for what I added.

I simmered this for 15 minutes.

Served hot with crusty French roll. Yum!

Bert liked the soup fine. I thought it was still kind of bland. In my second helping I added some curry powder, and that helped. I like curry flavor. Also need to figure out the right size for the vegetable cut.

Our last box!

I guess summer is over now that the Summer CSA has ended.
Our last box:
1 head of romaine lettuce
Bunch of kale
1 colored head of cauliflower
1 green pepper
1 medium onion
1 butternut squash
2 tomatoes
4 apples
2 pears
1 really giant head of cabbage
2 leeks
1 celeriac bulb

Unstuffed Cabbage

They gave me a giant head of cabbage, so I had plenty for another recipe.

Unstuffed Cabbage- makes about 6 servings
1 pound chicken sausage (apple chardonnay flavor)
1/2 onion chopped
14 oz can diced tomatoes
3oz tomato paste
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon chili powder
Salt to taste
Red pepper flakes to taste
5 cups shredded cabbage

In my large non-stick skillet I started by heating the sausage with the onion until the onion was a little soft. I cut the onion into half rings, because I wanted to match the size with the cabbage pieces. Next I added the tomatoes, vinegar, salt and pepper. Then I folded in the cabbage. I cooked that for about 10minutes.

I actually used red chili pepper flakes, which made the dish super spicy so I added a little sugar to try to balance the flavor.

This was okay. I served it with roasted potatoes (which I thought were a little burned). The dish was very spicy. The sausage was tasty. If I made it again I would leave out the red pepper flakes.

We ate this for leftovers a couple nights later. We served it with rice, which really improved the flavor.