Here’s a recent meal that we had that was kind of based on a recipe I saw in Bon Appétit, but I changed a lot of it, so it ended up pretty different. It started with a butternut squash on the counter that I really had to use and a recent trip to Pok Pok shack for Khao Soi Kai (the noodly-chickeny-coconut soup) and its accompanying hot chili paste, plus extra tasty embellishments (cilantro, lime, pickled things, crunchy things). What to do with the leftover chili paste? Hmmmmmm…

Then I see a recipe for squash, coconut milk, lime, curry paste, jalapeno and noodles. The wheels start to turn. turn. turn. turn. I go to the store and pick up a few more things, defrost the shrimp I have in the freezer and here I am with:

Butternut Squash with Coconut, Lemongrass, Shrimp & Basil, etc…
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium white onion, chopped
1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cut into 1/2- to 3/4-inch pieces
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 - 1/2 tsp Thai chili paste (or 1 minced, seeded jalapeño chili, or some other kind of hot chili paste, or etc..)
1 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled
1 piece of lemongrass, cut in half
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can light unsweetened coconut milk
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 big handfuls of fresh baby spinach
1/2 lb shrimp, cleaned and if desired, tails removed (I do that when I put it in soups, just because it’s easier to eat)
Juice of 1/2 a lime
12 ounces dried udon noodles or linguine
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
Extra Garnissh: Chopped green onions

Shrimp waiting patiently…

Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, garlic and squash. Sauté until nice and slightly golden, about 7-10 minutes. Add the curry and cumin seeds and mix to combine.

If your skillet is big enough to hold everything, use it for the rest of the soup. If not, use a big soup pot for everything and transfer the squash, onion mixture to the bigger pot after you add the broth. So, add broth and scrape up any golden, cooked tasty things from the bottom of the pan. (Transfer here if needed). Add the ginger piece and the lemongrass. Stir in coconut milk and chili paste — just a bit here, you can always add more. I probably added about a 1/4 teaspoon total and it was plenty hot and spicy.

Simmer uncovered until squash is completely tender and liquid is slightly reduced, about 8-10 minutes. Season to taste with salt.

Add the spinach and shrimp. Cook 2-3 more minutes until spinach has wilted and shrimp is about done.

Meanwhile (and you should start this step when you add the coconut milk and everythign else to the squash), cook noodles in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite. Drain noodles. Add the noodles into the squash mixture and toss to blend. Give it all a squirt of lime and top with basil and green onions, if desired. Try to fish the lemongrass and ginger out. Serve. Have extra chili paste on the side for crazy people. Plan the next trip to Pok Pok for more soup and all the soup extras.

Edited to add, yay! It got there to Andrew at Spittoon Extra. It’s really cool to think that my art project from the basement last weekend is now in England!

I recently registered for What’s for Lunch Honey’s Blogger Postcards Around the World event. So fun. Buy or make a postcard for your secret postcard buddy, mail it off and receive another postcard from your own food blogging sender. I’ve received my recipient (not telling yet!), made my postcard this weekend, and it’s all ready to go in the mail Monday. Going to the post office and everything.

The one thing is as it’s a whole lot of acrylic paint and ink jet ink, I’ve decided to put the postcard in a vellum envelope, lest the receiver open their mailbox to a gloopy, wet mess if the postcard gets rained or snowed on en route.

I think I’m still honoring the spirit of the postcard as you can see the postcard clearly through the envelope, this way, it should just get there all intact. And cost a bit more in postage but no big deal.

The green smudgy thing is sort of the Hawthorne Bridge — eh, it’s expressionist!

The recipe on the back is for a quick pasta sauce that I make occasionally — it’s especially good with gnocchi. It’s also nice as you can add to it — feta, meatballs, sausage, more veggies, whatever you are in the mood for.

Spicy Valentine Tomato Sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup white onion, chopped
1/4 cup carrots, finely diced
Salt & pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
1/4 cup green or black olives, chopped
1 tsp fresh oregano
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes
1 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup red wine

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over high heat. Add the onions, a little salt and black pepper and sauté until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic, carrots, tomatoes, wine, olives, basil, oregano, and cayenne. Stir in the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.

Remove from the heat and purée in a food processor or blender. Serve with pasta.

Thanks again to What’s for Lunch Honey for arranging this whole valentine postcard exchange. I hope my postcard gets to where it’s going safely and I’m also really looking forward to my postcard! Who will it be from??? Where will it be from???

Updated to add that my postcard is officially on its way! I even guessed correctly at the postage needed. Gave it to the mail man and everything. It should be there in about a week.

Stay tuned…

Yep, it’s another Friday so it’s time for another Super Food. This recipe is for a side dish, so I figured it was okay to only incorporate one super food in this one. Pumpkin. I love the pumpkin. I made this, however, with an acorn squash. Either will work and either are good for you.

This turned out very well and looked beautiful on the plate. It’d make a great side for almost anything — we had it with some rosemary pork tenderloin. Recipe is based on one from Mario Batali, aka: Comic Book Guy.

Sweet and Sour Pumpkin: Zucca Gialla in Agrodolce
1 pound sugar pumpkin or acorn squash
1/2 small white onion, sliced
4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
pinch of red pepper flakes
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tbsp honey
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 bunch fresh chopped basil
1 tbsp fresh chopped mint

Leave the rinds on and remove seeds from the squash. Cut the flesh lengthwise into wedges, each about the length of your hand from fingertip to wrist. In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the pumpkin wedges and onion. Season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes — just a few.

Cook until soft and deep golden brown, 7 to 8 minutes. Don’t toss the wedges roughly. Drizzle first the honey and then the red wine vinegar over the pumpkin pieces and cook until they reduce to a glaze, turning the pumpkin pieces as needed. Add half the basil and mint at the last second. Transfer pumpkin wedges to a platter and drizzle pan juices on top. Serve hot with the remaining basil and mint as a garnish on top.

Next week: an art project, pasta, another Super Foods Friday and more!

Actually, a better name would have been, “Sugar High I’m an Idiot Day.” I thought it was due on the 26th, (Friday) but entries were due yesterday.

*sigh*

I need to read directions better. Regardless, food bloggers everywhere (with good reading comprehension skills) have posted their recipes and they have been rounded up here. Please give it a read and feel the chocolate love!

What I chose to make was a recipe from the current Eating Well Magazine — Chai Chocolate Pots de Creme, using Dagoba organic chocolate from Ashland, Oregon. The type I used was Milagros 68% - Peru - Single Origin — two bars, $8.00 total at a store by my house. Well worth it, in my opinion. And actually, it was jwa’s $8 as he paid for the chocolate and a bag of rigatoni at Pasta Works last weekend.

A quick note on chocolates — if it doesn’t specifically say 68% cacao or some higher percentage like that right on the package, it’s most likely under 65%, so you’d use more chocolate and less sugar as noted below in the recipe.

Chai Chocolate Pots de Creme
It says this makes eight pots de creme but I say six — I guess it depends on the size of your ramekins.
2/3 cup whipping cream
4 cardamom pods, crushed
7 whole cloves
4 slices fresh ginger
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (if your chocolate is under 65% cacao, use 4.5 ounces instead), shaved, chips or other small pieces
1 1/2 cups fat free milk (or 2%)
1/4 cup sugar (again, if using less than 65%, use 3 tbsp sugar instead)
1 large egg
3 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
Garnish: Whipped cream
Garnish: Crystallized ginger

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place ramekins in a baking dish — if there’s a lot of extra room, place the ramekins on top of a tea towel or a few paper towels to keep the ramekins from moving around.

Heat the cream, cardamom, cloves and ginger in a small pot. Bring to a boil, remove from heat and let sit 10 minutes. Return to the heat and briefly bring back to a boil.

Place the chocolate in a large measuring cup and pour the hot cream through a strainer and down over the chocolate. Press down on the spices to extract as much of the cream as possible. Let the cream/chocolate mixture sit for three minutes. Don’t stir.

After the inactive three minutes, stir away until the chocolate melts and it is all smooth and you just want to slurp it up with a straw. If it’s not melted completely, pop it in the microwave for about 15 seconds.

In the pot you used to boil the cream, add the milk and sugar and bring to a simmer. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Slowly pour about 2/3 of the hot milk into the chocolate while stirring.

In another bowl, whisk the egg, yolks and vanilla in a small bowl. Slowly, while whisking, pour the remaining 1/3 hot milk into the egg/milk mixture. Strain that into the chocolate mixture and mix it all to combine.

Evenly divide the custard among the ramekins. Place the baking dish on a low oven rack and slowly pour hot water into the baking dish so that it comes up about 3/4 inch up the sides of the ramekins. Bake until the tops of the custards are barely set — about 16-20 minutes.

Let cool for about 1 hour and then refrigerate for about three hours until well chilled. Or, enjoy them at room temperature — that’s what we did. Couldn’t wait for refrigerator time. So good.

Garnish with whipped cream and sliced crystallized ginger.

It was a success! It was also our appetizer during Life Aquatic Fest ‘07. We snacked on it while watching some Jacques Cousteau. I never really thought I liked calamari, then I had some a few years ago at the Monterey Bay Aquarium — at the restaurant, that is, I didn’t just grab some squid out of the tank or anything. Crunchy coating, tender inside — it was so good. Who knew? Well, lots of people, I suppose.

Now whenever I see calamari on the menu while we are out, I have to get some. The best so far: mbay, Pacific Way Cafe — cumin-dusted!, Jake’s and Iorio.

This is the first time I attempted it at home. Since it was an experiment, I just grabbed a bag of frozen rings at Trader Joe’s. Next time, since this attempt worked so well, I will go all out and find some with little tentacles. Regardless, these results using the defrosted, frozen rings were crunchy, tender and nicely seasoned.

Instead of the romanesco sauce WS paired these up with, I opted to try a curried tomato dipping sauce. Excellent.

This calamari recipe is one I came across on the Williams-Sonoma Web site and the dipping sauce is from Dan and Steve, who are awesome and who need a much better time slot.

Fried Calamari
1 lb. fresh or thawed frozen calamari, cut into 1/2-inch rings, tentacles left intact
1 cup milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Peanut or canola oil for deep-frying
1 cup rice flour or all-purpose flour
1/2 cup coarse yellow cornmeal or polenta
1 tbsp paprika
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste
1/4 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
Optional: Chopped, fresh parsley for garnish

In a bowl, combine the calamari, milk, and a pinch each of salt and black pepper. Cover and refrigerate for 1 to 4 hours.

Place an ovenproof platter in an oven and preheat to 150°F. In a heavy, deep fry pan or wide saucepan, pour in your oil to a depth of 2 inches and heat to 375°F on a deep-frying thermometer. Drain the calamari. In a large bowl, combine the rice flour, cornmeal, paprika, cayenne, parsley, salt and black pepper.

Add half of the calamari and toss to coat evenly, then transfer the coated calamari to a colander and shake gently to remove excess flour.

Add the coated calamari to the hot oil and deep-fry, using a wire skimmer or slotted spoon to push it gently into the oil occasionally, until crisp and golden brown, about 1 minute. Using the skimmer or spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain briefly, then place on the platter in the oven. Coat the remaining calamari and fry in the same way.

Garnish the calamari with some fresh parsley if desired and place a small bowl or ramekin holding the sauce in the center of the platter. Serve immediately.

Curried Tomato Sauce
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Pinch ground cloves

Put the tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, curry powder, salt, pepper and cloves into a saucepan and place over high heat.

Bring to a boil, stir to dissolve the sugar and cook until the tomatoes have broken down and the mixture is slightly thick, about 10 minutes.

Pour the mix into a food processor and pulse until smooth. Let cool to room temperature before refrigerating.