Pureed Butternut Squash Soup

I made this out of some leftover cooked butternut squash so it was fast work. The squash broke down in the pan so I didn't puree it, but it was still super good. I usually add sugar to my butternut squash soup, but the orange juice made it sweet enough and the ginger was super tasty!

from Everyday Food (Martha Stewart for the common man)

2 Tbsp. butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 2" piece ginger, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 3/4 lbs butternut squash, peeled, seeded, chopped (1" cubes)
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
salt and pepper
sour cream (optional)

1. Melt butter in saucepan over medium. Cook onion 2 minutes; add ginger, garlic and squash and cook 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in 4 cups water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until squash is tender (20 minutes).

2. Puree soup in two batches. Stir in orange juice and 1 1/2 tsp. salt. Season with pepper and serve with sour cream if desired.

Spaghetti Sauce

This recipe is from Once A Month Cooking by Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg (so it goes without saying that you can freeze the part that you don't use).

Karen Eckardt gave this recipe an A+ and Ken called it "awesome." :) It's so good you don't need cheese on top!

1 lb. bulk Italian sausage
1 1/2 c. finely chopped onion
1 12-oz can tomato paste*
3 28-oz cans crushed tomatoes
2 cups water*
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 bay leaves
2 Tbsp. sugar
4 tsp. dried basil
2 tsp. dried oregano
4 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
2 tsp. salt

In a large pot, cook and stir the sausage with the onion until meat is brown. Add remaining ingredients; bring to a boil; reduce heat. Partly cover and simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Makes 12 cups sauce.

*I omitted the tomato paste and the water. It was still a good consistency though obviously made less - maybe more like 10 cups sauce.

Fish Amandine

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs. sole, flounder, swai, perch, whatever
1/2 c. Sliced almonds
1/4 c. Butter
2 Tbsp lemon peel, grated
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Method
1. Preheat oven to 375. Grease 9x13 baking dish.

2. Rinse and dry fish. Cut into 6 servings. Place in baking dish (skin side down, thin ends tucked under)

3. Melt butter. Mix in almonds, lemon peel, salt and lemon juice. Bake 15-20 minutes. Serve with rice and a plain green vegetable (broccoli?) and maybe bread to soak up the good salty sauce.

Mushroom Stroganoff

Ingredients
4 Tbsp. butter
2 medium onions, sliced
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 c. sliced mushrooms (12 oz?)
1/4 c. white wine
1/4 c. chopped parsley
Pinch thyme
Dash cayenne pepper (optional)
Salt and pepper
1 c. Sour cream

Hot cooked egg noodles, for serving

Method
1. Saute sliced onions in butter in a large pot on medium-low heat, for about 20 minutes or until golden-brown. Add a bit of brown sugar toward the end of the simmerage.

2. Add sliced mushrooms and sauté until tender (15-20 minutes). Add the wine and bring back up to a simmer, stirring to deglaze. Stir in parsley, Season with salt and pepper, thyme and cayenne if desired.

3. Remove from heat; stir in parsley and sour cream. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve over hot egg noodles.

Orange Marmalade Dipping Sauce

This is from Elise at Simply Recipes, to go with her sesame fish sticks (which I thought were great but Claire thought she could do without). Whatever Claire, I still think it is cool that you can make your own fish sticks. Maybe we will try them again sometime without the sesame.

Anyway, the Orange sauce is amazing. To die for. It would also be amazing on chicken, or just rice...if you have some orange marmalade hanging around you have got to try it.

Ingredients

1/3 c. orange marmalade

1/3 c. rice vinegar

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. minced fresh ginger (can use 1/4 tsp. powdered)

pinch of salt

Method

Place all ingredients in small saucepan. Bring to a boil; simmer uncovered for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool before serving.

Spinach-Walnut Pesto Tortellini

This is really yummy. Thank you Rachael Ray.

It was also really easy. I just got out my food processor, chopped up 10 oz. spinach, then put a cup of walnuts in there and 2 garlic cloves, chopped them up, then switched out the chopper blade for the grater and grated some Parmesan (2/3 cup) right in there, then stirred in salt and pepper. So - didn't bother with the chicken broth, olive oil, nutmeg (although I'm sure that would be tasty) or edible flowers (come on).

I made the pesto the night before, then in the morning I cooked the tortellini, tossed it (along with a little pasta water) with the pesto and brought it to the church potluck in a 9x13. The dish was like licked clean. Winner.

Savory Scallion Scones

This recipe is from Moosewood. The cookbook calls it "dependable." I totally concur.

2 c. flour (can use up to 1/2 c. whole wheat flour)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. oil
1 c. yogurt
1/2 c. minced scallions
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill
1/4 tsp. black pepper

1. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. In separate bowl, combine oil, yogurt, scallions, dill and pepper. Blend yogurt mixture into flour mixture quickly and thoroughly to form a soft dough.

2. On floured board or countertop, pat dough into 3/4" thick circle and cut it into 8 wedges. Separate wedges and place on oiled baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees, until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Serve warm.

Recipe Re-Do: Fish Tacos!

The weather is getting warmer...how exciting! So of course, I revamped Fish Tacos thanks to Jorge Cruise's magnifique sauce recipe. Check it out.