Borrowed: Roasted Corn Pudding in Acorn Squash

I generally consider myself an impartial vegetable lover. Lima beans? Brussels sprouts? I'll eat them with gusto. (We'll talk some other time about mustard greens). But if there's one wintertime vegetable that I've never really warmed to, it's the acorn squash. It's beautiful to look at, but it always strikes me as being awfully sweet. When James came home from working the market on Saturday carrying two good-sized acorn squash, I can't say that I was incredibly enthusiastic.  
Puzzlingly, many of the recipes that I see for acorn squash call for an addition of brown sugar or maple syrup. If I'm eating something sweet, the last thing I want to add is anything sweeter. I was beginning to  grumble when I decided to turn to my tried and true site for moments when I'm feeling like my dinner choice is looking a little...meh. Heidi Swanson's 101 Cookbooks always manages to offer a little twist that I wouldn't have thought of on my own. Unsurprisingly, her recipe for roasted corn pudding in acorn squash was exactly what I needed to give this winter veg a second (maybe a twentieth?) try. In the great tradition of sharing recipes, Heidi's recipe is borrowed from Karen Hubert Allison's The Vegetarian Compass. You can read more about both women and get the recipe for this squash on Heidi's blog.

I followed the recipe pretty nearly, except that I used frozen corn (from these guys) which I ran under warmish water to thaw.

Instead of using just anise, I ground up a tablespoon of this fennel citrus blend from The Girl and the Fig and added that instead: a combination of fennel seed, lemon peel, anise, lavender, sea salt, and thyme along with something that looks an awful lot like dried scallions.

The corn pudding was light and delicious and the smells of the scallions roasting away were enough to make this recipe a success no matter how I look at it. Like, Heidi, I had more filling than I needed and was able to fill both acorn squash with just one recipe's worth of corn pudding.

For the wobbly halves in the bunch, I shaved a small bit off the bottom to make them more stable. If you're as messy in the kitchen as I am, consider adding a piece of parchment paper to your cooking sheet. Having it there would have made clean-up much easier.

The finished product was delicious and delightful. Melted cheddar cheese and scallions sprinkled on top helped to cut back on the sweetness of the squash. Admittedly, no matter what you do to it, acorn squash will still be sweet, but this recipe offers an unexpected and delicious alternative to the maple glazes I've been stumbling upon. If you're still looking for a Thanksgiving side, you might consider this one.

Find the full recipe here.

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giving: boiled apple cider syrup

During the holidays, and always, it's nice to arrive to a place you've been invited to with a little something extra for your host. It should be known that I don't always manage to follow my own advice with this one, but I do try, I promise. It should also be known that I refuse to call these little tokens hostess gifts. The name is so old-fashioned that it should be scratched right out of Webster's. You have my permission to deface your dictionary.

This gift takes a little more planning and time than the mulling spices that I put together last year, but the result is delicious and inspired, and dare I say, better. Reserve this one for someone really special.

The concept behind boiled apple cider syrup is about as simple as it sounds. Boil your apple cider down until it becomes thick and syrupy. You'll need a few solid hours at home to make a batch, but the good news is that the simmering cider can be left largely unattended. If you put on a pot when you return home from work in the evening, it should be ready by the time you head off to bed, with only a few stirs in between.

Once my cider had thickened to syrup, I strained it through a sieve to trap any solid pieces. A tiny funnel helped me to fill a small glass bottle that I'd sterilized in a pot of boiling water.

Aside from the robust taste, the best part about this gift (in the eyes of this history-lover at least) is boiled apple cider syrup's place in the annals of history. Emily Horton's piece on the subject is a delightful and quick read. Make this and you'll have done your part to revive a classic American culinary tradition (go Pats)!

Once you've bottled your syrup, make a little tag for your bottle and tie it up with a bit of ribbon and a cinnamon stick for merry-making. Encourage your friends to drizzle this tart syrup into sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts, pie crust and hot toddies.

The stuff's so good that if you have a large enough pot, you might consider boiling down a whole gallon and keeping some for yourself. Kept refrigerated, the syrup could last until next Thanksgiving. I have a hunch it'll be polished off long before that.


Boiled Apple Cider Syrup
Recipe adapted from this one in the Washington Post.

1 1/2 gallon apple cider

1. Pour apple cider into a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Bring the cider to boil, stirring occasionally.

2. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook uncovered for 2-3 hours or until it has reduced to about 1 cup. Don't fear: it will take a long time for the cider to turn syrupy. I was convinced mine would just disappear rather than thicken, until finally, thicken it did. Persevere!

3. Once cider has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, pour through a sieve to strain any solid bits. (The original recipe didn't mention this step, but I had lots of little floating bits in mine and wanted them out)! Transfer syrup to a sterilized jar. Syrup is ready to use right away and will store indefinitely if refrigerated.

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my week in objects (mostly).

five little things that made my week.


1. these leaves.

{for catching the morning light, just so}.

2. my neighbor's crabapple tree.{for making it look kind of like summer in fall}.

3. this little parchment packet.{for roasting up so much delicious garlic. it's a love affair at this stage}. {update: details here}.

4. this hat.{for keeping me warm on morning walks}.

5. these stamps.{because they might be terribly tiny, but they always get it right}.


other things:

this is an excellent idea.
i need more winter goals.
bunny hats!
i want to dress like this pretty lady.
a thanksgiving-erator.
this pine cone.
mittens!

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make-believe: thanksgiving outfit.

1. silk blouse 2. scarf 3. necklace 4. apron 5. triangle hoops 6. skinny cords 7. sam sifton's thanksgiving 8. flats

Thanksgiving is such a good holiday. No presents, but hefty portions of good food and good cheer. I'm a big-time fan. This year I'm a little sad that we'll be missing my two younger sisters who will be celebrating down in Asheville, but I'm glad to be headed to my mom and dad's in Connecticut for some proper feasting. If I wasn't already resigned to wearing the same ol' thing as last year, I'd like to sport these goodies, please and thank you. An apron would be especially handy for all the butternut squash and pumpkin pie I plan to gobble make. What about you guys? What will you be whipping up for the big day?

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< two fifty: life in a tiny apartment

Set your table for two.

I get a lot of questions about dinner guests in this tiny apartment. With Thanksgiving just around the corner, we're hurtling toward that time of year when invitations to people's homes for dinner come fast and furious. I am not complaining. I love this time of year. I wish it lasted straight on through February. Anything to get me through winter.

Enthusiasm for dinner parties aside, dinner guests in our tiny apartment is tricky. It has mostly to do with the lack of counter space and my fear of a sink overflowing its dirty dishes directly onto our guests.

It's not that we've never had people over for dinner, but we've always ordered in sushi, or picked up a pizza. Anything that doesn't require the kitchen table to serve simultaneously as prep station and serving board. There's nothing wrong with those nights, but sometimes it's nice to host something where you actually serve something you've made. I think that instead of trying to have guests for a sit-down dinner, we need to stick to appetizer-y kinds of gatherings where guests can mostly stand. If they're New Yorkers, I'm hoping rush hour subway rides will have at least partially prepared the company (all two of them) for the squeeze.

For seated dinners, I think we'll stick to just the two of us. We have all sorts of lovely table trimmings that need more attention. When your best friend lives in India, you become the proud owner of very beautiful hand-blocked textiles. It's not a rule or anything, but in my case it happens to be true. Only two placemats fit on our table at once and really, it's better this way.  It wouldn't be very polite to ask our guests to please refrain from spilling their food.

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butternut squash: roasted and mashed

If you've been reading these tea leaves for awhile, you might recall that there's a somewhat unusual allergy in our house. James is allergic to potatoes.

Yes, that means no french fries. Yes, it means haranguing waiters about the presence of potato starch in soups. Yes, it means realizing that just about every restaurant in Brooklyn uses potato rolls for their burgers. But perhaps most painfully, it means no potatoes at Thanksgiving.

I know.

But before you send letters of sympathy and posies to console me, let me present a potato-less Thanksgiving side dish that actually does not disappoint. If you're one of the .0002% (according to my calculations) of the population that can't eat potatoes, consider this your savior. A potato alternative so good that no one at Thanksgiving dinner will miss the buttery fluff they're used to (or at least they'll abstain from telling you). If you can eat potatoes, consider making this anyway. Tonight.

Like most things I cook, this is a bare-bones, no-nonsense, add-come-heavy-cream-and-call-it-a-day recipe. It's the kind of dish that you start while the sun is still in the sky and by the time you've finished it's already gone. It's not because it takes so very long, but because at this time of year the hours just work that way. Dinner is prepared after dark. Think of this as your bright spot once the sun goes down.



Roasted & Mashed Butternut Squash with Garlic & Cream:

1 large butternut squash (or more, depending on the crowd)
1 head garlic
a half cup (or so) cream, to taste
sea salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
olive oil, a drizzle or three

You could make this something much more sophisticated, but the easy version is so tasty that you'll be tempted not to.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

2. Cut your squash length-wise down the center. Scoop out the seeds. Drizzle a bit of olive oil on a baking pan, and place the seedless-squash face down on the pan.*

3.  Cut the very top off of your head of garlic and discard. If you're using a hard-necked variety you might have to use some force to get through the stem. If there's a thick papery layer around the garlic head, remove the outermost layer of skin but be sure to leave enough so that the whole head remains intact. Drizzle with olive oil and wrap in a piece of parchment paper. Place packet next to the squash and put the whole baking dish in the hot oven. Let roast for roughly one hour.

4.  When squash and garlic are both soft, remove baking sheet from oven. Using a spoon, scoop softened squash out of its skin and into a medium bowl (be careful not to burn your fingers). Add roasted garlic to the squash--with a little pinch, the cloves should easily slip out of their papery shells.

5. I use a pastry cutter to mash the cloves and squash together. If you have an immersion blender, you could give that a go, too. Add salt, pepper, and cream to taste.

6. Enjoy. {If you're in the mood for a simple dinner, sauté some greens to have on the side and enjoy your purée with a hunk of bread and strong cheese}.

*Strangely enough, handling raw, peeled butternut squash actually gives both me and James a slight allergic reaction, Unlike being allergic to potatoes, this allergy is fairly common. Read more about it here, and avoid the whole mess by only making a single slice down the center of your squash before it's cooked (there's no need to cut the squash into cubes)! I hardly touched the stuff and avoided a reaction this time.

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birthday brunch.

We celebrated a birthday brunch on Sunday for my James and my mama. There were sweet buckwheat pancakes and a savory chard tart and just the right amount of coffee and cupcakes to finish things off. Birthdays are the best days, especially when they last all week long.

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