Tips for cooking winter squash

Often times the biggest challenge to using a winter squash is cracking it open. Those squashes are hard! Even cooks with the sharpest knives and best knife skills can struggle making a dent. After the conquest of cutting open you still must contend with seeds and slippery, slimy strings.

Try these two approaches instead:

1. If the size is right, cook winter squashes whole in a slow cooker. Wash squash, make sure lid fits securely and cook on low for about 5 to 8 hours, until you can easily pierce a knife all the way through. I don't add water. Cooking period is about half that long on the high setting, although the low setting has the advantage of little risk of overcooking. You can pop a squash in the slow cooker in the morning and walk away. Once cooked, let the squash cool slightly. Cut in half vertically and easily remove strings and seeds. Then scoop away flesh from the peel. Use right away or freeze for later.

2. Soften squashes whole in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes to make them easier to cut. Then remove strings and seeds and cut into pieces for further cooking.

At this point you can go back to the slow cooker, stacking as many pieces as will fit. Or roast in the oven for about an 45-60 minutes, or loosely covered in the microwave checking after 20 minutes. I don't recommend cooking whole in the microwave, for obvious explosive reasons.

Here's one of my family's favorite squash recipes (named after my husband!):

Squash-haters' special request bisque

2 lbs. winter squash (butternut is especially good)
1 large onion
1-2 cloves of garlic
1-2 stalks celery
2 quarts good quality chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup cream (can also use evaporated milk)
Favorite herbs (sage or rosemary work well)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup chopped ham (optional)

Heat oven to 350. Prepare squash by removing seeds and stringy fibers. Place pieces cut side up in pan, uncovered, and put in oven. (It's OK if oven hasn't reached full temperature yet.)

Alternately, you can put prepared pieces in a covered dish in the microwave and cook for 20 minutes. This is quicker than oven method, but I think the roasted flavor the oven imparts is worth it if you have the time.

While squash is baking, mince garlic and chop onion and celery. Add vegetables, bay leaf and chicken stock to a large pot. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer, and let vegetables cook until extremely soft.

Check squash in oven for tenderness after about 40 minutes. When done, remove skins from flesh. (If it's too hot to handle, let cool while you do the next step.)

Remove bay leaf from stock mixture and discard. Ladle softened vegetables into blender or food processor and process until smooth. (Do so in batches if needed.) Puree squash with small amount of stock.

Combine everything back into your pot. Slowly stir in cream and warm over low heat. Adjust seasonings and add ham. Serves 8.

Roadkill pumpkin pie

"Baker in training" says my daughter's apron on this day of making pumpkin pie.

Maybe it's because my mother is such an excellent cook that we tease her relentlessly about her dubious specialty, fresh pumpkin pie. "Is this roadkill again?" someone is bound to ask when dessert is served this Thanksgiving.

Once --  mind you, ONCE -- my mother salvaged a pumpkin thrown into the street, cooked it, mashed it and baked it into a pie.

This was when I was a teenager, that time in life when I knew very little about the behind-the-scenes preparation of the food I ate, nor cared. Garden, can, ho-hum, it was all the same to me. My mom could have kept the pumpkin's origin her little secret. Hmm. I wonder ... why did she tell us? Was she proud of her resourcefulness? How did she so badly miscalculate the comical effect on our family? We've never let her hear the end of it.

Homemade pies have come and gone over the years. When my husband joined the family the story took on new life. "Ah, roadkill pumpkin pie," my dad coined for the newcomer's benefit, and we laughed, a bit in disgust, because we wished we had thought of it first. That session my mom produced new details in justification. It was an errand to drop off my brother somewhere, you see, and when she took the same route home mere minutes later, she spied the newly shattered pumpkin. It hadn't been there before. Thus she established that the pumpkin was as good and fresh as if she had carved it herself, right? 

When I learned my mother shared roadkill standards with National Public Radio contributor Bailey White, I about burst a gasket. Her mother is also an excellent cook, but White refuses to eat unless her mom can provide the model and license plate number of the striking vehicle. (See White's fabulous book, Mama Makes Up Her Mind.) Delicious!

This Thanksgiving I wish all of you chances to create new stories, and to be with those whose love is strong enough to laugh alongside you at the old ones.

Do you have a crazy Thanksgiving food story? Do tell!


Pumpkin pie (or winter squash)

1 1/4 cup fresh pumpkin or winter squash (butternut, banana, etc.) cooked and pureed*
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup evaporated milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Pastry for 1 9-inch unbaked pie crust.

Let pumpkin sit in sieve over bowl while gathering other ingredients, to remove excess water. Combine pumpkin, sugar, salt, spices and flour in mixing bowl. Add eggs and mix well. Add evaporated milk and vanilla; mix well. Pour into pastry lined pan. Bake in preheated 425 oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake 45 minutes longer or until set.

*To cook pumpkin or squash, cut in pieces, remove strings and seeds and prepare one of three ways: microwave, covered (20 minutes, to start); in 350-degree oven (about an hour); or in a slow cooker (about four hours, but the benefit is you can stack pieces and leave unattended). When fork easily pierces pieces all the way through they are done. Puree with potato masher, mixer or food mill.

Eat the Seasons: Roasted tomato sauce and soup base

Small tomato varieties -- such as grape, cherry and yellow pear -- get typecast as salad fare. Harvest some greens, throw in these little tomatoes, BAM! Done.

Last year I had way more little tomatoes than salads in my future. I experimented with ways to cook and preserve the bounty.

My favorite was to roast the tomatoes with olive oil, salt and garlic, and then puree the mixture for pasta/pizza sauce or as the start to a delicious tomato soup. These are guidelines rather than specific quantities.

To make, spread tomatoes in a single layer in a pan or on a cookie sheet. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, then stir. You want enough oil to coat the tomatoes, but not so much that the tomatoes swim in the pan. If desired you may also add garlic cloves and herbs, although I like to throw the fresh herbs in at the end of cooking. Don't chop garlic, because the smaller the pieces, the more likely they will burn.

Cook in a 350 degree oven, checking after a half hour. You want the tomatoes to be wrinkled and release their juices, but only barely start to caramelize and show a bit of brown on the skin. Once they reach this point they can burn quickly. Behold, the pan of tomatoes that was almost there, and for which I decided to turn off the heat but leave in the oven when I picked up a child from school:

Oops! In the oven too long.

All the juice and olive oil cooked away, and the skins were papery. It was a mess! Not good.

In contrast, here's what you want the cooked tomatoes to look like:

Ah, perfect.

Roasting tomatoes will fill your home with the most tantalizing aroma. Puree in a blender or food processor to make the sauce. You may choose to run the sauce through a strainer to remove seeds and larger skins. I list this as an option, for if I plan to use the sauce on pizza I don't bother to do the straining step.

For sauce: Adjust seasonings, adding salt and pepper to taste. Some sauces made from larger tomato varieties benefit from the addition of sugar, but I have found that the grape tomatoes especially impart just the right amount of sweetness.

To make soup, add more liquid (water or broth) to desired consistency. Depending on how fine your strainer is, you may find it easier to strain the seeds AFTER adding more liquid instead of pushing the initial puree through a sieve.

When your soup start is nicely blended, season to taste with salt and pepper; place in sauce pan to warm. Add chopped fresh basil and a touch of cream (about a 1/4 cup per quart of tomato mixture) and serve as soon as cream is warmed through. OK, this makes a fine soup all by itself, but the cream sends it over the top on the yummy scale.

The roasted tomato puree freezes well.

Easy microwave summer squash recipe

This is one of my favorite ways to cook yellow summer squash. It takes longer to walk to the garden and harvest than it does to prepare.

In a 1-quart glass casserole or other microwave-safe dish mix:

1 squash, cut into 1/4-inch slices
About 3 Tablespoons chopped green pepper

Season with salt, pepper and paprika to taste.
Add pat of butter. (This is optional, but come on! It's butter, yum.)

No water is necessary. Cover with glass lid or plastic wrap. Microwave at high power, checking after 3 minutes. This is the amount of time to cook this in my 1100-watt appliance; adjust times accordingly for your microwave.



Be sure to check out Maple Hill's seed-to-table series today. This week's entry: Parsley.

Homemade ice cream basics

Making homemade ice cream is easier than ever with kitchen appliances that don't require ice or salt. It's an especially yummy way to enjoy homegrown berries and peaches.

There are many ice cream maker brands available with the premise of a bowl with cooling liquid inside an insulated wall. You freeze this ahead of time until the liquid is solid. It doesn't take much space -- so you can have this in your freezer ready at will for an ice cream craving. (Admittedly, if you don't have it frozen already that can be the hardest step to making a batch!) My maker rotates the bowl around the mixing arm to freeze the dessert in about 30 minutes.

Recipes are plentiful, but you can cobble your own fruit creations with a few guidelines. These tips are for a 2-quart maker. (Source: Cuisinart)

• Use 4 cups total of a milk/cream combination. For example 1 cup milk and 3 cups cream, or 2 cups each. Naturally a higher fat content will yield a richer and creamier dessert.

• Add 1 cup sugar (see note below)

• Add 1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract, to taste.

Use a hand mixer to combine liquid and sugar, making sure sugar is dissolved.

• Use 3 cups fruit.

This next step takes a bit of time, but the flavor impact is well worth it:

• Combine your fruit (stemmed berries, sliced peaches, etc.) with 1/2 cup sugar and 4 tablespoons lemon or lime juice. Stir and let the fruit macerate for 2 hours, which releases those tasty juices. This also makes the difference between white vanilla ice cream with raspberries floating in it, and pink ice cream flavored with the berries through and through. Strain, reserving the liquid, and mash half of the fruit. Add all to your milk/cream mixture.

• Note: Taste mixture before pouring into machine. Keep in mind that freezing can reduce the sweetness of fruit. If it tastes tart, add more sugar

That's it! What are your favorite ice cream creations?

Cooking radishes

File this one under "you CAN teach an old dog new tricks."

For decades I relegated radishes to relish trays and occasional salad garnishes. Nothing else. (Can I pause to say it's weird to be able to use the word decades?) I never considered cooking radishes. Then the recent discovery that the leafy tops are edible, too, opened the door to all sorts of possibilities.

I like to sauté radishes and their greens in a little olive oil. To clean, swish the radishes (tops and bottoms) in a bowl of water and let dirt settle to the bottom. Scrub the roots well, peeling or scraping off "whiskers" if needed. Separate roots from leafy tops, and cut the roots into equal size pieces. Coarsely chop greens. Heat oil in skillet over medium high heat. Cook roots first, since they will take longer than the greens. When the roots are lightly golden brown add the greens and cook until slightly wilted but still vibrant green. Season with salt. If desired sauté garlic with the radishes.

This method caramelizes the radishes and adds a mellow depth to their peppery kick. Try grilling or roasting, too. The slender, white radishes I cooked are icicle radishes.

Tell us, how do you like to eat radishes? Got any more tricks?

Rhubarb crisp

Rhubarb crisp 
* see below for gluten-free options

I hardly ever measure for stuff like this; these quantities are guidelines.

2 pounds rhubarb, sliced into 3/4-inch pieces 
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour*

Crisp topping:
2/3 cup margarine or butter, softened (not melted!)
3/4 cup brown sugar (or more, to taste)
1 cup flour*
1 cup whole oats
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease 9x13 pan.

Add cut rhubarb to pan, mix with cup of sugar. Let sit for a few minutes to draw out juices, then sprinkle flour and stir well. 

Meanwhile, use pastry blender or your hands to mix crisp topping into pea-sized crumbs. Crumble over rhubarb mixture and bake in 375 degree oven until top is lightly browned and rhubarb is bubbling, about 30 minutes. Serve warm or cold. Ice cream or yogurt are a delicious topping. 

*Gluten-free options: Replace flour in rhubarb mixture with 3 Tbsp. cornstarch. Replace flour in crisp topping with a cup of oats that you have processed fine in the blender or food processor. Add this to the other cup of whole oats with the rest of the ingredients.

Veggie Tacos

One of my favorite meals of the summer is vegetarian tacos. You can grill almost any vegetable and throw it in a taco and it will taste great. For this batch I used some sweet potatoes from the store and some onions and zucchini from the garden.

We had one of our best harvests of onions this year and the best thing is that they were all volunteers from a batch of Walla Walla Onions we planted last year. They are so sweet and almost too beautiful to eat.

We also planted 3 zucchini plants. As those of you that plant zucchini know, 3 zucchini plants provide enough food to feed a family of seven for two years. They are ridiculous showoffs in the garden and make many of the other plants in the garden feel that there yield is embarrassing.  Even though they are showoffs, zucchinis do grill up nice for tacos.

 

To make the tacos, add onions and zucchini to a bowl with a little olive oil, cumin, salt and pepper. After mixing them together I grilled them. The sweet potatoes were cubed, salted, and then sauteed in olive oil.

Our kids loved them, even our son that would only eat protein if given the choice. You can change the ingredients as different vegetables come into season. Grilled or roasted tomatoes can be added as they ripen, tomatillos can be used to make a green sauce, corn adds a nice sweetness, and even eggplant and potatoes are a great addition to veggie tacos. Make sure to add some guacamole to really put the meal over the top.

~Michael~

Eat the Seasons - Rustic Potato-Leek Soup

With the changes in the air, nothing - and I mean NOTHING sounds better than a good hearty bowl of soup. So, this past week I made a healthy, simple, and yummy Potato & Leek soup. And here's the recipe(taken from The New Best Recipe):

Serves 6-8

4-5 pounds leeks(clean them well!)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
5 1/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 bay leaf
1 3/4 pounds red potatoes(about 5 medium) - peeled and cut into 3/4 inch dice
salt & ground pepper

1. Cut off the roots and tough dark green portions of the leeks, leaving the white portions and about 3 inches of the light green portion. Slice the leeks in half lengthwise and chop into 1-inch pieces.
2. Heat the butter in a large stockpot or dutch oven over medium low heat until foaming. Stir in the leeks, increase the heat to medium, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the leeks are tender but not mushy, 15-20 minutes; do not brown the leeks. Sprinkle the flour over the leeks and stir to coat evenly. Cook until the flour dissolves, about 2 minutes.
3. Increase the heat to high; whisking constantly, gradually add the broth. Add the bay leaf and potatoes, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to med-low and simmer, covered, until the potatoes are tender and the flavors meld, 10-15 minutes. Discard the bay leaf and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately. (The soup can be refrigerated in an airtight container for a day or two. Warm over low heat until hot; do not boil.)

This made a good amount of soup so it was able to warm us up for a few days. I also added a sprinkle of cheese on top.

What's in season? Potatoes & Leeks

(Originally posted October 2009)

More Uses for Zucchini

Since our garden got a late start this year, we are still harvesting a ton of Zucchini.One of the many quests of my life is to find good uses for this mutant vegetable that proliferates like the bunny of the vegetable world. In the past we have posted articles on Zucchini Fritters, Microwaved Zucchini Bread, Zucchini Frittatas, and Zucchini Brownie's. 

This past weekend we found a really good  recipe on www.cooks.com. We tweaked it a little bit and my family really liked it. I don't like to be too surreptitious and sneak veggies into my kids food. I prefer to let them know that veggies help us feel good and live healthy. I find that if our children know the veggies are from our garden, they like to eat it. In this case however, our kids are burnt out on Zucchini so when Mason asked us what the green things were in the meatloaf, I said herbs. There are herbs in there so who am I to say whether he was referring to Zucchini or herbs. It was an honest mistake.

Here is the tweaked recipe taken from the original recipe here.

1 lb. ground beef

1 lb ground turkey

2 c. finely grated, unpeeled zucchini

1 c. whole wheat bread crumbs OR regular bread crumbs 

1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1 small onion, finely chopped

2 cloves chopped garlic
2 tsp. instant beef bouillon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. milk
1 lg. egg, beaten

Combine all ingredients in large bowl; mix thoroughly. Pack into 9'x5"x3" loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1hour.

The meatloaf came out very moist and flavorful. My oldest said "I don't usually like meatloaf but this is really good." Hopefully this gives you all another use for the deluge of Zucchini that is overtaking your garden. If you don't have any Zucchini just ask your neighbor that has a garden for some. Chances are that they have extra.

~Michael~

Strawberry Sandwiches

In the spring and summer our meals tend to shift and change. We are busy in the yard and don't have time to prepare elaborate meals. After working and playing outside the last thing we want is a hot meal from the crock-pot or oven. We are always on the prowl for some new recipes, especially ones that use produce from the garden. This one was such a hit with the kids, I just had to share it.  (notice the little baby hands in the picture, just waiting to grab the sandwich)

Strawberry Sandwiches
Mix a little bit of honey with a brick of cream cheese
Spread cream cheese on whole wheat bread
Slice strawberries, place on sandwich
Enjoy!

Ham

Michael and I acquired a ham during the Christmas season, it got tucked away in the freezer until this week when I needed the extra freezer space. It is very rare for us to eat ham, and I was pleasantly surprised with all the meals we were able to come up with to use the ham. 

Ham and eggs for breakfast

Ham sandwiches for lunch

Ham and potatoes for dinner

When all the ham was gone, I was able to make a soup with the ham bone.

I covered the ham bone with 3 quarts water

and boiled it for 30 minutes.

While it was boiling, I chopped some carrots, 1 onion, and a few stalks of celery,

I threw the veggies in the pot along with 2 bouillon cubes, 3 bay leaves, salt, pepper,  and 1 large can of chopped tomatoes (including the juice)

I let that simmer for 2 hours and the last 10 minutes I threw in a handful of macaroni. 

I removed the ham bone and cut any remaining meat from it and put it in the soup.

It was delicious!
I think I may need to get some little piggies.

What do you do with a ham?

~marisa

Asian Salad

Marisa and I attended the Utah County Beekeepers association potluck earlier this month. We thought it would be good to rub shoulders with other beekeepers as we are preparing for our first beehive. I was a little nervous to go to a potluck with beekeepers.

Be honest, what do you think of when you think of beekeepers? A few words that come to my mind are (and I know I am stereotyping) holistic, healthy, vegetarian, natural, earth conscious. So I had to figure out something to take to the potluck that I thought beekeepers would approve of. I found a nice healthy recipe and added honey (since I figured beekeepers don't eat anything without honey.)

I found this recipe for Asian Salad on Food Network. I tweaked it some to fit what we had at home, and came up with this version of it. It was really tasty and Marisa loved it. She has made me make it twice since. Here is my version. I doubled this recipe to get a salad bowl full but if you are feeding 4 or 5 people I don't think you need to double it.

Ingredients

1/2 Cucumber cut into matchsticks
1 14 oz bag Broccoli Slaw ( or 10 oz Broccoli stems cut into matchsticks and 4 oz carrots cut into matchsticks)
1 14 oz can baby corn

3 Tbs Rice Vinegar
1/4 Cup Chopped Cilantro
2 Tbs Soy Sauce
1 Tbs Honey
1 Tbs Sesame Seeds
1 Tbs Grated Ginger
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon grated garlic
1/2 tsp Sriracha Hot sauce

Add Cut baby corn into fourths lengthwise.
Add Corn and veggies to bowl.
In separate bowl mix remaining ingredients.
Pour dressing over veggies immediately prior to serving
Enjoy

I think any crunchy veggie would be good in this salad. One ingredient that I would not omit is the sesame oil. It adds a nice nutty flavor that I don't think you can substitute for. Make sure you don't add the dressing too far ahead of serving as it will soften the vegetables up a little bit and they won't be as crunchy. I am telling you, this is a yummy easy recipe that will go into your long term recipe book. I am excited to have another recipe to use when we have more veggies coming from the garden.

Mike

Wild Rice Soup Recipe

Claudia over at Get well. Live well. Be well sent us this wild rice soup recipe. Not only does it look and sound delicious, it is really good for you! I can't wait to try it. 

Minnesota Creamy Wild Rice Soup

1/4 cup sprouted wheat flour

1/2 chopped onion

1/2 cup raw or organic butter

3 (+) cups water with 1 tsp salt

(or use 3 cups chicken broth)

1 cup wild rice, cooked

1 cup brown rice, cooked

1 cup diced ham

3/4 cup shredded carrots

1/4 cup sliced almonds (optional)

2 cups raw milk

salt to taste

pepper to taste

snipped parsley (optional)

Saute onion and butter until onions become tender. Whisk in flour. Continue whisking as it simmers for a few minutes. Add water (or broth) and 1 tsp salt. Allow to cook until it simmers - it will thicken as you stir it. Add ham, rice, carrots, almonds, extra salt and pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes. Lastly, add milk and parsley and heat to serving temperature.

What a wonderful creamy soup!

Send your favorite soup recipe to backyardfarmingblog@gmail.com

Stove Top Sweet Potatoes

If you are like us at thanksgiving, your oven is the most popular appliance in your kitchen and it is like the popular girl at a dance. Everyone wants a dance with her but there might be too many suitors and too little time for everyone to get there dance in. That is why I came up with the following sweet potato recipe that can be cooked in a skillet or a frying pan on your stove top. Before giving you this simple recipe let me tell you some Thanksgiving rules that I hold to be self evident. You may or may not agree with me.

Rules
1. It is good to eat healthy and fresh but during Thanksgiving, health and freshness take a back seat to convenience and a little indulgence.
2. Turkey is the low man on the totem pole for thanksgiving foods. The most important Thanksgiving foods are in the following order; sweet potatoes/yams, stuffing, gravy, pies, potatoes, drinks, salads, veggies, casseroles, turkey.
3. The people you celebrate thanksgiving with are even more important than the food.
4. If you aren't watching the Lions lose a football game, it's not Thanksgiving.
5. Companies (other than retailers) that make people work on the Friday after thanksgiving need to be boycotted.

That being said here is my simple stove top recipe for sweet potatoes.

Ingredients

4-5 medium sweet potatoes/yams
1 15 oz can sliced apricots
1 cup brown sugar
olive oil
Salt
Candied Pecans

Add the can of apricots with juice to a small saucepan with 1 cup brown sugar. Stir until the brown sugar dissolves. Simmer on medium low heat. You will need to let it cook for a while as we want it to reduce and make a sticky glaze for the sweet potatoes. While the apricots are cooking cube the sweet potatoes. Heat skillet to medium high. Add a little olive oil to skillet. Add cubed sweet potatoes to pan and fry turning periodically. The potatoes should start to brown. Add Salt to potatoes. Once they are fork tender transfer them to a serving dish. Once the apricot has reduced to a syrup pour it on top of the sweet potatoes and stir. Add chopped candied pecans and stir them in.

I personally love any type of sweet potato including the mega desserty casseroles that have more sugar and marshmallows than sweet potatoes. I know that this recipe isn't the healthiest but it is a nice compromise between plain sweet potatoes and the marshmallow concoctions that make my eyes hurt because they are so sweet. My wife and kids rave about these every time we have them. The sweet, tangy apricot glaze really goes well with the smoky, salty sweet potatoes. I know this recipe sounds really basic but the flavors are really complex and the best thing is that you don't have to use the oven.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving

Michael

Karina's Butternut Squash Soup

Karina sent us her version of Butternut Squash Soup. I can't wait to try it!


My butternut squash soup recipe in a crock pot is super easy and everyone loves it.

2 T. marg or butter
1 med. onion, chopped
1 butternut squash (2 lbs.)
2 cups water
1/2 t. dried marjoram leaves
1/4 t. pepper
1/8 t. cayenne
4 chicken bouillon cubes
1 (8-oz) pkg. cream cheese (I use less)
1-lb bag of cooked, mixed broccoli/cauliflower or veggies of choice

Cook onion in butter until crisp-tender.

Peel the squash and chop it up. Mix everything in crock pot except cream cheese. Cook low heat 6 to 8hours until squash is tender.

Put mixture in food processor or blender until smooth. Return to crock pot, add cream cheese, and whisk the soup until smooth. Dump in the cooked veggies.

So easy! 

Send us your soup recipe and we will post it here on Backyard farming. 

Email it to backyardfarmingblog@gmail.com

Butternut Squash Soup Backyard Farming Style

I don't think I appreciated it as a child, when my Dad would make homemade chicken noodle soup, or my Grandma made her hamburger soup with shredded carrots. I always felt like soup was an adults way of tricking kids into eating stuff that we normally wouldn't eat. I would skip out on the soup and fill up on bread.

As I have grown up and my palate has grown more refined I have come to appreciate soups and stews. As the winter months approaches, I love adding root vegetables and squash to yummy broths. I love the earthy flavors they provide, and the fact that root vegetables and squash last through the winter if they are in a cool place, means their soups can warm us up throughout the cold months. Marisa loves butternut squash soup so I make it for her a couple of times a year. This recipe will give you a soup with a nice clean butternut taste.

Butternut Squash Soup

2 medium to large butternut squash
Olive Oil
4 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
2 medium onions sliced
6 garlic cloves sliced
2 cups cream
1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
2 Tablespoons Honey
Salt to Taste
Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400
Halve butternut squash and bake in a baking dish or on cookie sheet for 40 to 50 minutes until squash is fork tender.
Add olive oil to saucepan over medium heat
Add onion and garlic to saucepan and cook until onions begin to caramelize
Add Chicken Broth, Squash, nutmeg, honey, salt, pepper
Simmer for 15 minutes
Add Cream and then lend with an immersion blender or a food processor until completely smooth.

I like a little texture in my soup so I toast shelled pumpkin seeds in a frying pan and add them as a garnish. Shelled pumpkin seeds can be found in most Latin markets and are labeled as pepitas. If you can't find pepitas you can also add croutons.

This soup has a few variations that I like to play with. Marisa likes the soup when it is sweeter so I add a few tablespoons extra of honey for her. If you want the soup more savory, you can exclude the honey all together.

Another variation that I like is to replace the nutmeg with curry powder and the cream with coconut milk which gives it more of an Indian slant.

I have other soup recipes to share in the future but as we continually state at Backyard Farming, we like to learn from all of you.

If you have a favorite soup recipe that you would like to send us with an article or pictures we will post it them on our website. Send them in. I am excited to try some of your recipes as well.

Email your soup recipes to backyardfarmingblog@gmail.com

Michael

Cooking Acorn Squash

I got some acorn squash in my bountiful basket last week, when we ate them for dinner, my kids were fighting over them. So, when we got more in the bountiful basket today, I decided to share how I made them, and maybe your kids will fight over them too.

I first cut the top and the bottom off so that they would have a flat surface to sit on while they cooked. 

Next, I cut it in half....like so, and scoop out the seeds, like you would a pumpkin.

 Brush on olive oil and sprinkle with some sea salt.

If you need it quick, microwave on high for about 7-10 mins, you know when it's done when it will squish a little bit (technical....I know.)

Most things are better when baked, so if you have the time, bake at 350 degrees for an hour to an hour and a half.

Enjoy!

~marisa

Sweet Potato Fries and Garlic Aioli

I wrote an article about planting garlic the other day and I started thinking about garlic and then I started craving one of the favorite snacks/appetizer that Marisa and I love.

I love sweet potatoes in any form, baked, mashed, but one of my favorite ways to cook them is by making homemade fries and eating it with garlic Aioli. The first time Marisa and I had this we were in Jackson Hole at a hoity toity restaurant and we loved them. Here is the recipe.

Sweet Potato Fries

2 medium sweet potatoes cut in to 1/2 to 1/4 inch strips.
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Rock Salt

Preheat oven to 450
Toss Sweet Potatoes in a bowl with oil and salt
Line baking sheet with aluminum foil and line it with Sweet potatoes in a single layer
Bake for 20 minutes on lower rack of oven.
Turn potatoes with spatula
Bake for 10 more minutes on top rack in oven or until crispy

Garlic Aioli

6 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 egg
1/2 cup olive oil
pinch of salt

Heat olive oil in saute pan over medium heat
Add garlic cloves to oil and cook until light brown and soft
Allow garlic and oil to cool down
Add garlic cloves, egg, lemon juice and salt to food processor or blender and puree
Add cooled olive oil to food processor in a slow steady stream and blend until emulsified.

Hint: make sure you allow olive oil to cool to room temperature before adding to food processor so you don't cook the egg.

The sweet salty potatoes and the rich garlic aioli go together perfectly. You might think that you died and went to heaven.

Mike

Brussel Sprouts - bleck or yummy?

I say yummy! But, you have to know how to cook them!

When I was in high school, I was curious about those cute little cabbage looking veggies. How could everyone hate it so much when it is so cute? I asked my mom to buy some so I could try them. Being the good mom that she is, she obliged, knowing full well that I would hate them. She bought a bag of frozen brussel sprouts that I popped in the microwave, pulled out with great anticipation, took a bite, and went right to the sink to spit it out.

Fast forward a few years later. I was at a little cafe downtown with some girlfriends and  the vegetable served with my meal was none other than brussel sprouts. Being the adventurous eater that I am, and again being drawn to the cuteness of a brussel sprout, I took a bite. Holy Moly, they tasted delicious!

Fast forward again a few years, to just a few weeks ago when I received brussel sprouts in my bountiful basket. I remembered from a few years back that they DID have the potential to be good. I just needed to prepare them correctly. I did some research and now I'm going to pass this yumminess onto you!

Step 1: Peel the top layer of leaves off the sprout, and if the base of it is really large, chop it off.

Step 2: Cut those bad boys in half, and if they are really large cut them in thirds or fourths. You basically want them all to be similar in size so they cook at the same pace.

Step 3: Slice the base of the sprout as shown in the picture. I twisted my knife a little to open it up. This will allow the base which tends to be more firm than the top leafy part to cook at the same speed as the top.

Step 4: Boil those babies. I boiled them for about 5 mins.

Step 5: Saute some onions in a little butter.

 Step 6: Drizzle a little red wine vinegar in with the onions and then saute the brussel sprouts for a few minutes.

Enjoy! Brussel sprouts are now one of my very favorite veggies, and I hope they will be yours too.

~marisa