Stuffed Acorn Squash

Taking a break from Good & Bad posts, this is a recipe I made back in March. However, it does not really have a true counterpart that I can compare it to; I looked through my photos, but did not see anything that could really stand up as its equal. Thus, back to a more traditional post. And this one, like one or two I've had before, is more BASED on a recipe than actually following it.

Stuffed Sun Island Acorn Squash

Hari linked this recipe and I treated it with some skepticism. First off, I don't even KNOW where you can get a sun island squash around here, and furthermore, squash isn't my favourite thing. But I saved it anyway, since I do love mushrooms, and one day at the hippie grocery store I found some in-season squash. In particular, they had some large acorn squash, perfect for stuffing.

Had I only changed the squash type, we'd be good. But I didn't. This recipe is like that recipe only in that they both involve stuffing squash with vegetables and mushrooms. The rest is drastically different:



As this photo very much shows. So! This will be more of a legitimate recipe post.

Ingredients 1 large acorn squash
A handful of cherry tomatoes (who needs REAL measurements? Just use whatever seems like it'd fit. Any leftovers will be tasty eaten alone).
~1cup or so of raw mushrooms (if you use dried or canned, lower the amount slightly, since raw mushrooms shrink quite a bit.)
1-2 cloves of garlic (whatever suits you. I love garlic so I usually bump it up in recipes.)
Dried hearty herb of your choice (I think I probably used either oregano or basil, since I don't generally have thyme on hand)
Butter and/or olive oil
Crumbled goat cheese of your choice

First, scoop the insides out of your squash, but save the seeds! Rinse the seeds off to get them free of squash tendrils. Then, similar to the recipe linked, preheat your oven to 350F, wipe the inside of the squash with oil, then put it in the oven until the edges brown; this can take a while depending on the size of your squash.

From there, take your butter/oil and heat it in a pan, then add your mushrooms, tomatoes, garlic, and herbs. You only want these to be partially cooked; near the end or separately (whichever you prefer), add the seeds to toast for a couple of minutes. They don't usually pop for me, so just use your best judgement. Mix the goat cheese in after you saute everything, then stuff that squash full of the mixture.

Pop the stuffed squash back in the oven until it is wrinkled or, if your squash is a superhero like mine, until it looks like it is slightly drying out at the edges. Eat leftover filling while waiting for squash to be done. Serve with side of your choice; I chose roasted fingerlings because I needed to use them up anyway.

So how is the taste? Pretty good! The acorn squash can be tricky to eat since the skin is more like plate mail for the fruit, but the filling is tasty and lends itself to many vegetables, spices, etc. I'm not sure how smart an idea it was to stuff a squash with cherry tomatoes -- they take up a lot of room! -- but I didn't have zucchini so I went "Close enough." THe seeds also didn't add as much as I wanted; I think maybe they should be roasted alongside the squash initially, then mixed in. Perhaps that will improve the mouthfeel. Hard to go wrong with goat cheese, though.

I imagine almost any variation of mushrooms would do the job -- shiitake, bella, whatever -- but in terms of vegetables I recommend something with a good water content so it won't dry out. Pretty much ANY sturdy squash that can be squashed could be used.

Perhaps someday I will find sun island squash and legitimately try out the recipe. But until then, this will have to do, and it does just fine to me. 8/10.

Tschuess!

Good & Bad: Poaches Eggs & Fried Croutons vs. Food Network's Eggs Benedict

When it comes to creative food dishes, I struggle the most with breakfast. For some reason, my mind has latched on breakfast consisting of maybe a few basic foods: eggs, protein sides, and grains. Despite the fact that this obviously opens up limitless opportunities, I tend to be stuck thinking that my only option is eggs, eggs with veg bacon, or cereal. The last Good & Bad unintentionally showed off two unique approaches to a grain-based breakfast; this one, again unintentionally, highlights eggs.

Poached Eggs & Fried Croutons

This recipe was introduced to me by Hari, I think, and what caught my attention was the mushroom duxelle -- I'm sure this blog by now has highlighted my love for the fungi. Croutons are not something I keep in the house, so I knew I'd have to make those from scratch, but I don't usually back down from such challenges.

Food Network's Eggs Benedict

Ah, the classic Eggs Benedict. I had an eggs benedict of sorts at a diner that combined goat cheese and spinach with eggs benedict, and it was a match made in heaven. This isn't that level of creative, though -- this is just classic eggs benedict, done Food Network style. Perhaps it's unfair to use a professional recipe against something on a random blog... But this network is the same thing to feature Guy's Grocery Games, so I think it's a fair comparison.

Poached Eggs & Fried Croutons vs. Food Network's Eggs Benedict: GO!





Those poached eggs on top of the croutons may be the best poached eggs I've done. Seriously. I don't think I could replicate that with hours of training.

Now, how did these recipes fare? Both decently. The problem with the eggs & croutons was, once again, that it did not impress me. I was expecting a much richer taste from the mushrooms, and also was very apprehensive about cooking mushrooms for so long. Why do so many recipes call for cooking mushrooms for 10-15 minutes? What is the goal? I do not understand.

As for the croutons, well, you can see my stable of whole wheat being used there. I'm sure if I followed the directions and used french bread, it would have worked out better.

Now, for the eggs benedict... First off, that weird pink flat stuff is veggie bacon, Morningstar Farms to be exact. I really like their stuff; they make a wide variety of veggie meats, though their veggie burgers are meh. Their breakfast foods and BBQ veggie ribs are awesome though. And so how did they fare in this recipe? Pretty good! Like any eggs benedict, the hollondaise sauce is what makes the dish hit or miss. This was my first time making hollondaise, which is why it looks rather goopy and unattractive up there, but the flavour was pretty solid; as I recall the lemon juice and yolk weren't quite mixed as well as they could be, but it didn't really detract from the tastiness. I also think that's all on me and not the recipe; you should have seen my first attempt at homemade French-style ice cream.

So which wins? Really, they're both decent recipes. I'm more partial to the eggs benedict because it was just pure fatty comfort food, but I am sure if you used French bread that the other recipe would come out fine. But for me, it's hard to beat that combination of carbs, egg, and butter.

Poached Eggs & Fried Croutons: 6/10 (giving benefit of doubt)
Food Network's Eggs Benedict: 8/10 (note sure if the Hollandaise fail was them or me, but either way tasty)

Tschuess!

Cooking Light's Hot and Sour Soup

Late Friday night (it was early Saturday morning by that point actually), my throat and chest seemed to burst into acidic flames. Pain burned at the base of my throat and seemed to travel until it ignited in my sternum. Recognizing it as heartburn, I tried my usual routines. They failed. And so, come Saturday morning, I found myself in the ER, pain radiating from my chest and back, absolutely miserable.

I have never had heartburn so awful before, and apparently it was awful enough to actually cause damage. A diagnosis of reflux esophagitis followed after they determined that my cardiovascular system is as healthy as a horse, and I was sent home with prescriptions for some heavy-duty acid-reducers and the instructions to eat a bland diet, without coffee, tea, chocolate, peppermint, tomatoes, citrus, or anything acidic.

Usually I ignore those types of instructions, since my GERD is usually not triggered by acid. But in this case? I am following it, because my esophagus needs a break.

Bland diet doesn't mean it can't be tasty, though, and so I present...

Hot and Sour Soup

There are millions of recipes for hot and sour soup out there, each with their own variations. I know I probably have at least three or four recipes among my books alone. This one is from Cooking Light Vegetarian, and it's incredibly simple. The soup's biggest player is its broth, with mushrooms, tofu, and egg being the only chunky aspects. I followed this recipe exactly, except I used only shiitake mushrooms (fresh, so no reconstituting in water), used ground ginger instead of fresh, and skipped on the scallions, cilantro, and sesame oil (sesame oil is strong stuff, and I thought it may be a bit much for my poor esophagus).



Does this not look like something you'd order at a Chinese restaurant? Though I do recommend you beat the egg white a bit like it recommends -- I didn't, and I had giant glomps of egg white in my soup.

This soup? Tastes incredible. It honestly tastes like something I'd order at a restaurant. I'm usually awful at making broths, but this has a very nice, earthy flavour that is perfect if you've spent the entire morning in the ER and need some comfort. The mushrooms add a unique meaty taste, and the tofu actually absorbs a decent amount of flavour, leaving it not tasting like water.

The only thing I will note is that is neither hot nor sour. Definitely add ginger or sesame oil to taste if you want something spicier. Also consider adding white vinegar in addition to rice vinegar -- the latter is known for being quite mild. Also, you can definitely use less than the number of egg whites requested; I cut the recipe in half, and as you can see, two egg whites took over the soup.

Otherwise though? 9.5/10. It was just what I needed to assure myself that bland does not have to mean "tastes awful".

Tschuess.

Roasted Portobello with Eggs

Spent most of today cleaning... Fun times as an adult!

Roasted Portobello with Egg

So I love portobellos, and so the idea of pairing them with eggs with tempted to me. Hence me trying out this recipe. It's extremely straightforward, and in a fantastic fit of laziness, I just microwaved some scrambled eggs to go with it.



The bowl I made them in perfect fit the mushroom. Which makes for a very amusing picture.

As for the dish?

Meh. So very meh.

The thing is, the mushroom had almost no flavour; you can't even tell I ROASTED it. Maybe I just got a freakish portobello, since they are usually fantastic, or maybe it should have had a marinade.

Paired with the eggs, it really wasn't the most fantastic meal. Maybe it would have helped if I made the scrambled eggs the nonlazy way, but since the two are cooked separately, then thrown together, I doubt it would have mattered much.

It's possible that it may test better with eggs with a liquid yolk, though; then maybe the yolk would give the portobellos a boost. Or just try marinating it. As it is, though, there are way better uses for portobellos.

5/10. Giving it some benefit of the doubt since microwaved eggs are not exactly gourmet or fantastic. Otherwise, though, not going to try it again.

And that's about all I have to say about that.

Tschuess.

Red Quinoa with Mushrooms and Kale

So I've been having nasty insomnia lately, and right now am all happy to finally have talked with people who are up when I am (most of my friends are East Coast), and also possibly wired up from stress. This means, of course, I should write a blog post, right?

Red Quinoa with Mushrooms and Kale

Once again, my boyfriend linked a post that led me to this one. It has everything that drives me nuts about food blogs: long story, moaning about food, and too many pictures. But I love quinoa, and mushrooms, and kale, so I had to try it out.

I used regular quinoa since I do not have red, along with a chopped portobella cap instead of shiitake. I used this No-Chicken broth by Imagine instead of chicken stock because it's a fantastic substitute. I also added a tomato because I need to use them up, and once again pearl onions instead of diced because I have still failed to buy real onions. Followed the same instructions on that blog post though (basically sautee onions in butter, then add quinoa to toast, then add broth and simmer. Then sautee other vegetables, then add kale until wilted).

This is sounding like those annoying comments on recipes that go "LOL it was great I substituted the apples in the pie for blueberries and used cake batter instead of a crust!" Sorry about that.



So enough babbling, here's the food. I added goat cheese after this photo (SERIOUSLY what was I doing).

Overall? This was quite good. The kale was cooked properly unlike the last recipe I had, leaving it quite crunchy while still having a great colour and flavour. Portobella mushrooms worked well here. Once again, though, be careful about tomatoes adding a lot of extra liquid; you may want to consider draining some of the liquid before combining the vegetables to the quinoa if you use them. Otherwise, it shouldn't be a huge problem as mushrooms and kale shouldn't release too much moisture.

Goat cheese was a good addition, but if you're vegan and want to add an extra bit of flavour, I'd recommend dried cranberries. Moosewood has a recipe involving kale and cranberries, and it is EXCELLENT. I imagine cranberries would do well in this recipe as well.

I will note, however, that overall this was more filling than expected. I only ate half of it in one sitting even after halving the recipe. This is probably because 1 cup of dried quinoa makes FOUR cups of cooked quinoa, and two cups of quinoa is apparently just too much for my stomach.

This reminds me: I have a nice, simple lentil/rice recipe I should share sometime.

So basically? This recipe was good, filling, but I'm not sure on its own, without my additions, it would have been amazing. So it's getting a 7.5/10. I like being able to give recipes good ratings; world, MAKE DELICIOUS FOOD.

I'm so sorry for this post.

It appears I forgot to put two recipes up on this blog, since their pictures are on my photobucket. I will try to do those next. Not tonight, though, this insanity has gone on long enough.

Tschuess.

Arabic Lentil Soup with Mushroom Schnitzel

So to kick off going through the recipes I have saved, I decided to make TWO of them last night using ingredients I had available: Mushroom schnitzel with some arabic lentil soup. I've actually made both of these recipes before, but things didn't work out as I wanted, so I tried them again.



Tada.

Mushroom Schnitzel

So when I was in Germany, I fell in love with schnitzel. The problem is it is a meat dish, and while Germany had some great vegetarian options for it, The US does not. I found this recipe to my delight and was like "OMG FINALLY."

I didn't have scallions so I just subbed pearl onions that I managed to haphazardly chop up, while the matzo meal is actually matzo ball mix. Also, no lemon, and egg whites instead of whole egg.



I'd love to sing this recipe's praises. But honestly? It really didn't do much for me. First, do not cook mushrooms for 10 minutes! They will become gross! I cooked them for only a few minutes and got them to be tender but still able to hold form, same with the onions. But I had to use twice the amount of matzo ball mix recommended to make the patty stick in any way decent, and so in the end the flavour was sort of odd -- kind of salty, a bit dry. Most of the flavour seemed to come from the butter.

I imagine some more spices may be able to help it out, but I'm not sure which, and honestly, I'm willing to just let the recipe go and search out another vegetarian schnitzel. All the same? It wasn't horrible, just rather meh. Thus, 5/10.

Arabic Lentil Soup



This recipe is from here, and it was followed exactly except pepper instead of carrot, and also I forgot to add the cumin in until half-way through cooking (whoops).

I'd like to sing the praises for this recipe too, as I love lentils, and soup, and lentil soup. But unfortunately? It's very watery and the only real flavour is the earthy lentils. I did not find that mashing the lentils up added any sort of thickness, and I did not add any water from the initial 3 cups, and it STILL doesn't have good body to it.

However, I think this could be easily fixed if a) some additional cumin, along with a bit of pepper and salt, was added and b) if less liquid is used. The option of chili flakes that she recommends sounds like a good idea, and I'd try halving the amount of water, and just doing what she recommends and adding some as needed. Also, instead of water, using a high-quality broth should add some great flavour.

So basically, I think this soup recipe is a good starting point, but needs some changes to make it truly slurpable. These changes are pretty easy, though, so I'll still give it a 6.5 or a 7/10. I may keep a hold on the recipe and try fiddling with it again later, and report if it helps.

There should be another post from me later today or tomorrow, as I am currently making some Coconut Farro Porridge, another recipe I needed to use. Stay tuned!

Tschuess.

Indonesian Red Rice Salad. Sort of.

This is a new idea I have: when I'm near my best mentally, or just feeling antsy and wanting to get it out, I cook. Antsy!me cooks less extravagent foods. Well!me pulls out one of my many cookbooks and makes an impressive meal. Dinner Time posts will be of those meals. With a review of them, and where I can, a recipe. The posts will be pretty short and picture and garbage-talk free. Seriously I hate blogs that talk on and on; just show me the food and the recipe dammit!

So to begin:

Indonesian Red Rice Salad with Boiled Eggs and Macadamias The original recipe is from the fantastic cookbook The New Whole Grains Cookbook", which introduced me to a world of weird whole grains that taste good. The original recipe is also here. But I don't have red rice, macadamias, molasses, or fresh basil. And I HATE green beans and carrots. Soooo.... Bam. Follow the same instructions as the recipe above, but I used this instead:

1/4 cup long-grained brown rice, cooked as desired
~1/2-1 tablespoon peanut oil
~1/2-1 cup frozen chopped onions (but 1 fresh onion would be better)
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/8-1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon Chinese Five-Spice powder
1/4 teaspoon coriander
~1/2 of a large, fresh green bell pepper
~1/2 package of fresh white mushrooms (but baby bella or any type will do)
~1/8-1/4 cup coconut milk
~1 tablespoon of this weird soy sauce substitute I made (just use soy sauce, seriously)
~2 tablespoons of dark brown sugar (I used 3 but it was much too sweet)
1 boiled egg
Lime Juice (I don't know how much, maybe about 1/2-1 tablespoon)

Basically you stirfry the vegetables and spices until they are starting to get tender, or if you've cooked for ages like I have, until they just SEEM ready. You then add the coconut milk, soy sauce, and dark brown sugar, swirl it a bit to mix, and then slice the egg lengthwise and put it in the pan in a space reserved for it. Simmer for a few minutes (I recommend until the liquid level has dropped somewhat, otherwise you'll have liquid sitting in your bowl like I do!), then mix it with the rice and bam. Dinner.

Flavour-wise? Pretty complex! Unfortunately I put in too much brown sugar so I mostly taste that, but upon swallowing there's a very good kick from the cayenne pepper. So I imagine if the sweet was toned down a bit, you could get the rich coconut flavour with a nice kick.

The vegetables still have a good bite to them, and the egg is pretty solid despite all it had to go through. However, I'm not sure the egg adds much to the flavour, so if you're a vegan and want to try this out, go ahead; you won't be missing anything by keeping out the animal products.

Since it does have quite a bit of flavour I'd recommend something cleansing after for a drink or dessert, but if you're crazy you can always have a sorbet with it:  

But I won't be because that cherry sorbet? Freakin' STRONG. I don't know why it needed sugar with it. OR water. or ANYTHING other than sauteed and pureed cherries.

So overall rating for this recipe? 7/10 for now, I need to fiddle with it more, but feel free to check it out.

Tschuess