Archive Page 2 of 13
Stacie gently reminded me that it has been a very long time since I updated. Can you tell there’s been a bit of a shift in the way I run this site? I started out with a very specific goal in mind, then decided I was trying too hard. Now, I’m going in completely the opposite direction 
What I need to do is find a happy medium.
I promise, soon there will be food! I have this evening free–I’ll get some posts set up then
Yours,
The Common Culinarian!
How’s that for a post header, huh? One of my favorite things to do is to roast vegetables in the oven. There’s just something about the deep, rich flavor of roasted anything that is incredibly satisfying. Around this time of year, you can find all kinds of delicious things to roast: potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, squash…
We bought an acorn squash a few weeks ago, not really sure what we going to do with it, but it was on sale. We’ve had it for a few weeks, so I knew that I needed to use it–but what for? Suddenly, I had this great idea to make a soup! We’ve also been eating a little less healthfully lately (notice that there haven’t been any posts on Wednesdays for the last several weeks?), so a soup seemed to be a good choice, rather than some deep fat fried thing.
But, of course, it’s that time of year, so I’ve been working late and haven’t had time really to cook. Thus, my sous chef has been helping me out:
She tells me this is my blog, even after I’ve implored her to write about some of her trials and tribulations, so that’s why she doesn’t really post here. But, she’s working just as hard as I am in the kitchen, and she deserves some credit. So, there you have it!
Anyway, we bought this squash, and we’re making soup. I was just thinking of pureeing the squash with some chicken stock, but I’m glad I looked up a recipe–there’s more too it than that, but it’s still relatively simple. Just get a few basic ingredients together, and you’ll have roasted squash soup in no time!
Roasted Squash Soup
Adapted from Michael Chiarello.
Ingredients
- About 3 pounds of squash (such as butternut, acorn, pumpkin)
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon fennel seed
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/8 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1/2 cup diced carrot
- 1/2 cup diced celery
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Optional
- 1/2 cup half-and-half
- 1/4 cup mascarpone cheese
- 2 tablespoons toasted pumpkin seeds
Procedure
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Peel the squash and cut into 1-inch cubes.
- Melt the butter in a small sauce pan. When the butter has melted, combine with the next six ingredients (do not add the olive oil).
- Toss the butter-spice mixture with the squash and spread in a single layer in a shallow baking dish.
- Roast in the oven about 45 minutes to an hour, until the squash is soft and has begun to caramelize (turn brown around the edges).
- When the squash has finished roasting, allow it to cool. When it has cooled, use a blender to puree the squash. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, heat a medium-large saucepan over medium heat and add the olive oil.
- When the oil is hot, add the onion, celery, carrot and cinnamon stick. Stir continuously, allowing the vegetables to get soft, but not to brown–about 10 minutes.
- Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Simmer for several minutes, then add the squash puree.
- Simmer for about 10 minutes, then discard the cinnamon stick and add the vinegar.
- Use a blender to homogenize the soup in batches. Once the soup has been through the blender, reheat it gently before serving.
- Add this point, add the half-and-half if you’re using it. Garnish with the cheese and seeds, if desired.
Some observations: This soup is already really rich between the butter and the oil. You really don’t need the half-and-half–it’s creamy enough without out. Also, when you run the soup through the blender, fill the blender less than half way, leave the pour spout open, and cover the top loosely with a clean towel. This soup will expand to at least double while the blender is running and the soup is hot. Trust me! Finally, we served with with some white wine and it when perfectly–squash is a little on the sweet side, so go for a sweeter wine. We chose a Yellow Tail Riesling. Enjoy!
Roasting vegetables isn’t nearly so scary, and it’s a great technique for coming up with a quick side dish or using up something that might otherwise go bad. The trick is to use a vegetable that’s not going to dry out, and has enough natural sugar to aid in the caramelization process. Following these steps will yield you some delicious meals and/or sides that you can whip up in a snap:
- Find yourself some vegetables that have natural sugar and enough moisture that they can stand prolonged high, dry heat (potatoes, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, squash, onions, parsnips, carrots, turnips, brussel sprouts, etc…)
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
- Get a bowl and cut your vegetables into even, like sized pieces (into the bowl, of course).
- Get some of your favorite spices and some olive oil or melted butter. Drizzle the oil over the vegetables, and add a little bit of your spices (Some good combinations: potatoes and rosemary, squash or sweet potatoes and cinnamon, garlic and/or garlic powder on just about anything. Experiment and see what works for your tastes).
- Place the coated veggies in a shallow baking dish and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until they are nice and soft and just caramelized.
See, that wasn’t so hard! There’s nothing to this technique at all; however, I will give you a word of caution: leafy veggies might work, but they need a lot more attention. Don’t let them hang out for 45 minutes, or you’ll be eating charcoal. Zucchini and summer squash work well, too, when cut into quarters (like a pickle spear). Have fun, and happy roasting!
As if we haven’t been spending enough money lately, Stacie and I decide that we were going to grab a quick bite to eat after we picked her her car from the shop. We did this partially because I needed to go back to work to finish some things up for the day, which meant I wouldn’t be getting home until late–almost too late to prepare dinner, really.
So, we tried to go to a Chinese restaurant across the street from Midas, but they only took cash (Stacie and I are notorious for never carrying cash). Instead, we decided to check out the sushi restaurant next door, Asuka. Needless to say, entering this Asian food establishment started out better for us this time than it did the last time we opted for Asian. The place was clean and brightly decorated with walnut colored wood and bright paint.
The hostess/waitress asked us where we’d like to sit: in the Sushi Bar or at a hibachi table. You have to understand, we are terrible with making choices. Stacie and I had the “deer-in-headlights” look, but Stacie snapped out quickly and said “Sushi!”
We’re not expert sushi eaters by any stretch, so we stick to some pretty basic things: tuna, salmon, cooked shellfish. About the most exotic thing we get from a sushi bar is eel (though, I do like roe sushi). However, I do know the difference between sushi and sashimi (For those who are not in the know: sushi is just dressed rice, so it’s prepared a particular way and dressed with fish or something else; sashimi is just the fish, no rice). So, of course we ordered…
- 2 pieces of salmon sushi
- 2 pieces of yellowfin sushi
- An eel roll (cut into 6 pieces)
- A crab roll
- A yellowfin roll
- A shrimp roll
- A sweet potato roll
The sushi came out very quickly and beautifully prepared. The fish was perfectly fresh and light. Sweet potato was an interesting choice–essentially, a stick of sweet potato about the size of a french fry, dipped in tempura and fried. It was perhaps just the right amount of sweet to end our meal.
The entire experience was delightful, though it could have been better on our pocketbook. I’m not complaining, because the prices were reasonable and fair–we just should have eaten at home rather than spending even more money. For two soft drinks, and effectively 34 pieces of sushi, the total was $33 after tip. They were running a 20% off sushi today, otherwise it would have been closer to $38. Not sure if that is a regular thing, or if it’s because all the kids are out of town, Spring Breaking it, but I’ll take it.
Asuka is on the corner of 3rd Street and College Mall in Bloomington (IN). Look for it next to the Panera.
I set a bulb of garlic on fire tonight.
Because Hal has been working a little later during this busy season, I have been making dinner some nights.
Cooking is bad for me. Oftentimes Rachel Ray’s 30 minute meals take me more than an hour. When I cook, I usually feel as though I am running a marathon — and I cannot cook without a recipe!
Tonight we realized that we had an eggplant that needed to be cooked, so I set about making a roasted eggplant pasta dish. This dish included, among other things, an entire bulb of roasted garlic. This is just the kind of dish we like!
Now, I have a terracotta garlic roaster. We got this awhile ago. I have a long-time love for roasted garlic, one that first began at Andriolla’s restaurant — a now-closed FABULOUS Italian place in Erlanger. The restaurant had a antipasta that came with many cloves of roasted garlic to spread on bread (or just eat whole, which I often did).
So I dug our garlic roaster out of the cabinet (thankfully, it wasn’t in the closet like most of our kitchen stuff). Unfortunately, I have no idea where all of our directions are. We have them somewhere, but I didn’t feel like looking for it.
I prepared the garlic like I was supposed to and put the thing in the microwave. Now, you CAN put these things in the microwave. I remembered that to cook them in the over, it took about an hour, but in the microwave, like everything in the microwave, takes a lot less time.
I set it for 10 minutes. Then I checked it at 3 minutes. It wasn’t finished. So I left it in the microwave and sat in the dining room.
At the 7 minute mark, I smelled a bad smell and noticed smoke. I opened the back door quickly (we have a very sensitive smoke alarm) and approached the microwave.
Burning garlic stinks. I didn’t see flames, exactly, but the garlic bulb was very burnt and stinky. The whole roasting pan was giving off dark colored smoke.
Thank goodness I caught it or I would have had to use the fire extinguisher!
Dear readers,
I have neglected you for the last several days. My sincerest apologies. I’ve been terribly busy with work (it’s that time of year for an accountant!), but I haven’t stopped cooking.
There are four or five posts in the queue that need to be finished. So, content is coming, I promise!
In the meantime, some things to look forward to:
1. I took the ads off the site. Why isn’t terribly important, but the end result to you is that things are cleaner. Hopefully you’ll appreciate it!
2. I’m now participating in a food-blog search engine. I’ll be replacing the search widget soon to reflect that
3. I’ve updated the Legal page, indicating some of the information that is collected as a result of you viewing this site. None of this should be a surprise to anyone, but I thought it needed saying.
4. I’m also looking at a mechanism that will allow me to keep multiple blogs on this site. Which means: when I implement said mechanism, this site will go down for a few hours while I’m upgrading. I think I’d decided on a tool, but I need to research how to implement it with minimal disruption.
So–thank you for sticking around! I will have some original content soon; maybe even Mrs. Culinarian will get in on the act (ahm… *hinthinthint*).
Always,
The Common Culinarian
Sometimes the best trick in the kitchen is perhaps the simplest. An egg is perhaps a wonder food, fat and protein all bundled into a neat package, that’s just the right size for a balanced part of a meal or a meal in its own right. But people get really frightened of cooking them.
I’ll let you in on a little secret: just like the tortoise beat the hare, slow and steady is the key to preparing the perfect egg. Be patient and don’t use too much heat and you’ll be enjoying delicious eggs in no time. Here are my hints for preparing two classic preparations:
Scrambled
Set a couple of eggs out on the counter for about 10 minutes to bring them up in temperature. Pre-heat a skillet over medium-low heat; add a little butter or a spritz of oil to the pan, if you wish.
In a bowl, crack the eggs, add a pinch of salt and a dash of pepper and splash of milk. Whisk them together, then pour into the pre-heated skillet. Then, walk away.
No, I’m serious. Go wash your hands, walk up the stairs and back, just get away for a few minutes to let the pan start to work. You don’t want to be gone too long, but you need to resist the temptation to touch the eggs right after you put in on the heat.
Once you start to see the eggs firming up, use a rubber spatula to fold everything toward the center. Do this a few more times until the eggs are set, but still a little glistening. Don’t go too long, or you’ll end up with dry, rubbery yellow something that isn’t good eggs. If you head my advice, you’ll have delicious yellow pillows to compliment some delicious biscuits and some breakfast meat.
Hard Boiled
In a small sauce pan (1 1/2 quarts), place no more than four raw eggs. Cover with cold water, just enough to keep the eggs submerged. Bring the water just to a boil (even a vigorous simmer would be better, but it’s a fine line), then cover and removed from the heat.
This time, I want you to walk around the block. Come back 10-12 minutes later, and transfer the eggs to cold water. When you can handle them comfortably, use a spoon to break the shell and remove eggs.
You can serve these as a compliment to a salad, or scoop out the yolks for deviled eggs. Either way, follow my tips and you’ll have perfect hard-boiled eggs, done just right and without an icky green ring around the yolk.
I’ve just barely scratched the surface, but the cooking methods are endless: there’s poaching, frying, souffle-ing… Any number of uses and preparations for this versatile, and, honestly, not so scary common ingredient.
Stacie and I really like food, and I really enjoy cooking (that’s part of how this blog came about). But, sometimes I just don’t want to cook, or I say “the kitchen is a disaster after last night and we need to clean it before we can prepare dinner tonight.”
This, my friends, is how Stacie and I managed to spend just over $400 on going out to eat last month. Now, to our credit, we also spent about as much money on grocery food. But, of course, we hosted a large party at the beginning of the month… And, then, we had a $130 grocery bill Sunday–but $40 was because of meat; almost enough to make me go vegetarian, really! (I should also note that $400 is really easy to hit–neither of us have been particularly diligent about not going out during lunch, though we really should be bringing or eating leftovers. We’ll be watching it a little better in March).
So, I’ve been looking at making some of the food that we enjoy when we go out to eat. There have been two amazing salads that are sort of the same thing, one from Chili’s, the other from a local pub here called “Yogi’s.” The Chili’s version is called a South Western Cobb salad; it’s not a true Cobb salad, since the cheese isn’t marbled. That’s fine with me, however, because I don’t really like marbled/moldy cheese. The Yogi’s version is called a Yucatan Salad. Basically, it’s a romaine based salad with black beans, corn, avocado, salsa, and cheese. Delicious.
So, knowing that Stacie and I spent a small fortune on food last month, tonight I decided to recreate this favorite from these two restaurants. But, not before I watched this:
Yes, that’s exactly right This “salad” is probably a loose interpretation of the word, but it was still pretty tasty. And, it’s definitely better than a taco salad. So, I’m okay with it. Again, this is probably an occasional treat (unless you leave out some of the bad stuff), but just as tasty and definitely cheaper than the restaurant version.
Ingredients
- 1 head of romaine lettuce, washed and chopped
- 1/2 cup of tomato salsa, pico de gallo, or 8 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 8 slices of bacon, crisped and crumbed
- 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar, or blended, cheese
- 1/2 cup of thawed, frozen corn kernels
- 1/2 cup of drained and rinsed black beans
- 1/2 cup of rotisserie chicken, shredded
- 1 avocado, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 3 medium eggs, hard-boiled
Procedure
Layer half the lettuce on a dinner plate. Then, in rows, layer half of the remaining ingredients. Repeat for the second serving. Toss and serve with your favorite dressing.
It won’t get me a mention in a Bud Light commercial, but darn it, it was a valiant try!
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There’s nothing that starts your day better than a good Southern Style biscuit. And, nothing better to end your day really. Biscuits are a versatile bread for nearly any meal, and most everyone likes them.
They don’t really take very long to make, but people insist on buying ready made biscuits from a can. Sure, these biscuits are convenient, but have you looked at the ingredient list? Real biscuits have only six basic ingredients: flour, butter (or shortening), baking powder, salt, sugar, and milk. Who knows what the rest are?
Another problem I have with biscuits from a can is the cost. These five ingredients cost me as much to buy as 1 can of biscuits, but I can make 3 or 4 times as many from those ingredients, they’re bigger, and they taste better, too!
Of course, though I love biscuits like no other, I don’t really make them all that often–between the flour and the butter, these are not the most figure friendly of pastries. However, for an occasional treat, they are just fine.
So, this morning, I decided to make this treat (and, have a real home cooked breakfast to go along with it–bacon and scrambled eggs!). It’s very simple, and takes only an extra 10 minutes, plus cooking time. I promise, the extra effort is well worth the end result.
Ingredients
- 3 cups of all purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons of baking powder
- 1 tablespoon of sugar
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 3/4 cup (1 and a half sticks) of unsalted butter, cut into a small pieces; if you use salted butter, omit the salt above.
- 1 cup of milk
Procedure
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Stir together the dry ingredients until they are combined. Using a pastry blender, or a couple forks, blend in the butter until the mixture looks like coarse meal. You can also perform this step in a food processor, using the pulse option.
Make a well in the center of the flour-butter mixture and pour in the milk. Stir with a fork, just until the mixture is combined. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the mixture 5-6 times, until everything has come together.
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Flatten by hand, until the dough is about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick (about the width of your index finger). Do not roll the dough, because you’ll risk creating gluten strands, which are not good for the flaky texture we’re going for. Using a lightly floured 2 1/2 inch round, cut biscuits out from the dough and place on a baking sheet. If you place the biscuits together, they will rise higher; if you place them apart, they will develop more crispiness on the outside. The choice is yours.
Bake for about 10-12 minutes, until the biscuits are golden brown on top and done inside.
If you have leftover dough after cutting your biscuits, you can reshape and cut again–try to work the dough as little as possible, to avoid creating gluten and making a tough biscuit. This recipe yielded me nine, slightly larger than 2 1/2 inch biscuits. Serve with butter, jam, or even sausage gravy!
