Roasted Butternut Squash Pasta

Roasted Butternut Squash Pasta

1 peeled and cubed butternut squash
2 tbsp Olive oil
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Cracked Pepper
1 tbsp fresh chopped rosemary

On a baking sheet toss the squash and seasonings together. Bake at 300 for about 1/2 hour or until the squash is tender, stirring it up once or twice with a spatula.

While the squash is cooking, saute slowly 1 large onion, sliced, in olive oil (or butter) until it becomes soft and translucent. Then add the mushrooms and sautee at a little bit higher heat until done and slightly browned. Salt and pepper and set aside. If the squash is done, throw it into the sautee pan and cover or put back into the oven that has been turned off. Just to keep the veggies warm

Boil the pasta in well salted water. If you can get whole wheat bow ties even better. Drain and add to the sautee pan. Toss until well blended and top with toasted pine nuts and fresh parsley.

Add some grated Parmesan or Romano cheese if you like at this point and serve with crusty french bread, fresh green salad and white wine.

Fava Beans Sautee

Fava Beans are a success. See my posting below:

It is so satisfying to be able to create a meal or side dish with fresh ingredients that you have grown yourself. With the exception of the tomatoes, which are not yet ripe and the olive oil which I conveniently buy at Costo and didn't press myself or the Asiago Romano Cheese from Costco (the best I have ever found), the ingredients come from my own garden.

/pats self on the back

FAVA BEAN SAUTEE

• 3 cups of prepared fava beans (I tell you how below)
• 1 whole large french shallot, chopped (not minced)
• 3 coarsely chopped roma tomatoes
• 1 tbsp fresh minced tarragon
• 2 cloves minced elephant garlic
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• shaved slivers of Asiago/Romano cheese

To prepare the beans: Plan on this taking some time. First pour yourself a glass of wine to sip on while shelling the bean pods. A nice Chianti? Or in my case a chilled Gewürztraminer. Split the bean pods apart and place the beans in a large bowl. This is actually kind of neat. The insides of the bean pods are fuzzy and white, almost like the beans have been lovingly encased in soft cotton.

Meanwhile start a pot of water, liberally salted with Kosher salt to boil. Once you have shell the beans put them into the boiling water and simmer at a low boil for about 4 to 5 minutes. Scoop the beans out of the boiling water and dump them into a large bowl full of ice water. This will shock the beans and stop the cooking. Let the beans cool.

Fava beans have a very tough skin covering the delicate green bean inside. To shell them, just pinch off a section of the tough sking and gently squeeze the inside bean into a bowl. They should just slip right out. If you moosh a bean or two. No problem......eat them while you are shelling the rest.

At this point, you can freeze the beans like Lima Beans are done in the grocery store or set aside covered in plastic wrap for maybe a day in the fridge. But the best way is to cook them immediately.

Preparing the dish: This part goes really fast. Coat a small sautee pan with a tbsp or so of olive oil and over medium low heat slowly cook the shallots and garlic until it is soft and slightly caramelized. Turn the heat up a bit and toss in the beans and tarragon. Toss them around in the pan. Maybe do a few Emeril Lagasse flips of the pan and contents to show off. Season with Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Throw in the chopped tomatoes and stir/flip the contents of the pan over medium heat until the tomatoes start to wilt.

Serve with some shaved slivers of cheese on top of the warm beans.

Very pretty with the red and green coloring. Tasty. I served these as a side dish to some sauteed Red Snapper with a fresh green salad and warm french bread.

Ricotta Spinach Gnocchi

These tasty little dumplings are a great side dish with roasted chicken or any other roasted meat. We are having prime rib for Christmas dinner and in addition to the traditional baked potatoes I plan to have these on the side. For those who are watching their carbohydrates, these are a nice substitute because they are high in protein due to the cheeses.

When cooked and served in a broth and topped with a bit more grated cheese they make a great and satisfying soup. Easy to make and yummy to eat.

Ricotta Spinach Gnocchi

1 Tbs minced onion
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs finely
chopped ham
1 package frozen chopped spinach thawed
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
2/3 cup flour

1 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 egg yolks
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 tsp pepper

Saute onion in butter until translucent. Add ham. Squeeze water from spinach and add to onions. Saute 5 minutes or until very dry. Place in large bowl.

Add the flour and ricotta. With a wooden spoon blend. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. It will be like cookie dough.

Shape into balls the size of walnuts. Dust with flour. Bring a large amount of water to boil. Drop the gnocchi into the water and simmer at a low boil for 4 minutes or until the gnocchi float. Drain

Serve with melted butter and fresh grated Parmesan. Or....place the cooked gnocchi's in a shallow casserole, dot with butter and parmesan and bake in the oven until warmed through and bubbly.....OR use the dumplings in a soup made with browned beef bones and onions.

Preserving Food for VICTORY

If we think times are hard now that we have to pay extra for milk, eggs and butter. Now that flour has gone up in price from 1.29 for 5 pounds to 2.79 ...we might want to reconsider what we think of as hardship. Here is a book from WWII when there were actual food shortages and people dealt with it.


"Despite the wonderful mass production by the commercial canners, the smaller supplies that cannot get to market, when multiplied by the efforts of forty-five million women, will be a notable addition to the winter food supply and will release just that much more to feed staring nations and our own men bearing arms in the far corners of the world. The prices of canned goods are rapidly rising. Moreover, commercial canned foods may not be available next winter an you must feel your family. Even when the war is over, we must never again be as wasteful as we have been, as the devastated counties will still be underfed." By Anne Pierce 1942


How soon we forget. We take the abundance that we have now and throw it away. People who live in rural areas still can and preserve, but unless you are a real "foodie" in an urban area you are in a distinct minority. During WWII food was rationed and people established Victory Gardens in their communities or in their yards.

Meatless Menu from Sunset Kitchen Cabinet
Circa 1942

• Garbanzos Espanol
• Tomato Aspic Ring- Filled with Vegetable Salad
• Hot French Bread
• Olives and Pickles
• Orange Pudding Cake (sans frosting)

Garbanzos Espanol

1 pound dried garbanzos

1 8 oz can tomato sauce

2 tbsp oil1 small onion sliced

1 clove garlic minced

few whole cloves

salt and pepper to taste

Wash and pick over garbanzos: put in a deep heavy kettle with 1 teaspoon of salt and lukewarm water to cover. Soak overnight. The next day add more water, if necessary, to cover garbanzos. Bring to a boil; skim off white foam; repeat 2 or 3 times or intil water is clear. Then add tomato sauce, oil and sesaonings. Cover and simmer gently for about 2 hours or until garbanzos are tender. Do not stir or disturb while cooking but watch to see whether more ater is needed to keep covered.

If the resulting sauce is thinner than you'd like it, drain it from the cooked garbanzos. Add a little smooth flour paste (allowing 1 tbsp flour for each cup of sauce) and simmer until thickened. For extra flavor, a sprinkling of herbs- basis, oreganok thyme or marjoram - can be added too. Then pour the sauce back over the beans and heat thoroughly before serving. Serves 8 generously.

In the 1930s to 40's anything with tomato sauce was considered "espanol". I would add some spice to this stew with about 1/8 tsp of red pepper flakes while cooking with the tomato sauce.