Butternut Squash & Spinach Gratin

1 medium butternut squash -- peeled and cubed
3 cloves garlic -- peeled
1/2 large mayan sweet onion -- cut in large chunks
1 1/2 bags baby spinach
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup feta cheese
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon sage
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1 teaspoon grated ginger root

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Scatter cubed squash and garlic on lightly greased cookie sheet. Lightly sprinkle with salt. Roast for 35 minutes.
3. In a large skllet, cook onions until nearly soft. Add spinach and lightly stir until wilted.
4. In mixing bowl, combine cream, feta and spices. Scrape roasted garlic out of skins and into the cream mixture. Stir thoroughly.
5. Mix roasted squash with onions and spinach and dump into lighly greased 9X13 baking pan.
6. Pour cream mixture evenly over vegetables.
7. Turn oven down to 375 and bake for 35-40 minutes.
8. Serve.

Breadfruit

Here is my breadfruit. Any suggestions?

Moroccan Soup Addendum

I forgot to mention that the entire soup is pureed before serving....that may help with your texture question Ceri!

Cheez!

After reading Barbara Kingsolver's book "Animal, Vegetable, Mineral," I became intrigued with the idea of making one's own cheese. Last week I finally attempted to make paneer, an Indian cottage cheese. I'd seen so many recipes for this particular cheese that I'd decided it must be easier to make than most, and the recipes seemed pretty simple. It turned out pretty well, so I took the next step and attempted to make feta.

Here's my feta, it tastes SO good!



Next up I'm going to work on curing tofu feta-style for a vegan option.

Moroccan Tomato Soup

1 medium onion
4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
28 oz canned tomatoes, crushed
1 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon Frank's Hot Sauce
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/3 cup catsup
2 cups water -- as needed

In a food processor, blend onion and garlic cloves

Fry mixture in olive oil until cooked

Add crushed tomatoes with liquid, peanut butter, cumin, hot sauce, cayenne, salt and pepper, vinegar and catsup. Add water until soup is desired consistency. Simmer until heated through. Blend soup with a hand blender.

NOTES: I replaced Cayenne with Paprika. Added more salt and pepper to taste. In the future, try half as much vinegar. Perhaps reduce peanut butter slightly.

Serve with a rustic bread

Makes Approx 4 servings

Baklava Recipe

By popular demand...ok, Amanda's demand...

Melinda's Baklava.
Need:
2 quart saucepan
pastry brush
towel to cover phyllo dough between laying down the sheets
9x13 pan

Preheat oven to 350.

1 lb Phyllo dough, thawed and cut in half to fit a 9x13 pan.
1 c unsalted butter, melted (I use my small crockpot, works great)

In a small bowl, mix
1 1/2 c. finely chopped nuts (I like walnuts or pistachios)
3/4 c. finely chopped dates
3/4 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1/4 t. ground cloves

Peel off 10 sheets of phyllo and place in buttered 13x9x2 inch pan brushing with butter after each second sheet. Spread with 1/3 of nut-date mixture.

Place 5 more phyllo sheets in pan, buttering after each one. Add 1/3 of nut-date mixture.

Place 6 more phyllo sheets in pan, buttering after each one. Add remaining nut-date mixture.

Top with remaining phyllo sheets, buttering after each one.

Cut into diamond shapes. Pour on remaining melted butter.

Bake at 350 Degrees for 30 minutes, then turn oven down to 300 degrees for 1 hour.

After turning oven down, mix:

2 c. sugar
3 c. water
2 T. fresh lemon juice
1 stick of cinnamon

in a 3 quart saucepan and bring to a slight boil. Simmer on stove until baklava is ready to come out of the oven.

When baklava has reached a nice golden color, remove from the oven. Remove cinnamon stick from the syrup and mix in 1/2 cup of honey (I prefer mesquite honey) just before pouring the hot syrup over the baklava.

Cool and serve.

Zucchini Mushroom Lebanese-style Pies

bread dough (see earlier post for pizza dough recipe)
1 large zucchini, grated
4 ounces mushrooms, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 Tbsp sumac
1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup fresh oregano leaves

1. Divide dough into 24 balls; then cover with damp cloth. Allow to stand for 30 minutes in a warm place.
2. In the meantime, make filling by mixing remaining ingredients, except 3 tablespoons of olive oil; set aside.
3. Roll dough into 5 inch rounds (about 1/4 inch thick).
4. Place one heaping tablespoon of filling on each circle and fold over to make a half moon shape and firmly pinch edges together. Place on well-greased baking sheets and brush generously with remaining olive oil.
5. Bake in an oven preheated to 400 for about 20 minutes or until light brown.
6. Serve hot

Notes:

Sumac sounds all deadly and poisonous, but I buy mine from a local middle-eastern grocery store. (and there have been no food-related deaths as a result)

I like to use the Williams-Sonoma pizza crust recipe.

Also, for convenience can be made as one pie with the edges folded up like a rustic apple pie.

Fruit-Sausage Pizza

Tonight's pizza was a variation on a pizza that Scott and I made while we were in college.

On the pizza crust (recipe in the February 29 post) I spread a thin layer of room temperature
**cream cheese.

I cut into small pieces
**1 medium apple
**1/2 large pear
**3 Morningstar Farms veggie sausage patties

In a bowl, I mixed the above ingredients with about
** 3 ounces of sheep feta (add more if desired)

I spread the mixed ingredients onto the pizza and covered with a light sprinkling of
** sharp cheddar cheese (add more if desired)

Then baked the pizza at 400F for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned.

Sorry Jonathan, I didn't take a picture of this one!

Pizza

I've become pretty obsessed with pizza lately...and by lately I mean the last 2-3, oh maybe even 30 years. I've finally found a favorite crust recipe (which I'll include below) and now I'm experimenting to find toppings that up the health factor of pizza. Tonight I made a keeper.

I used my mandolin slicer on the thinnest setting to cut up:
**1 small zucchini &
**1/2 orange bell pepper

Then I chopped approximately:
**3 oz of fresh spinach &
**2 sprigs of fresh basil
into large pieces.

I mixed the vegetables in a large mixing bowl with approximately
**5 ounces of fresh sheep feta
and mix it up thoroughly using my hands.

Set the oven to preheat to 425F. After preparing the pizza dough (directions say to let it raise, but I never do) I press the dough out into a 12-inch pizza pan sprayed with olive oil pan spray. I brush the dough with olive oil I've infused with garlic, then dump and spread the vegetable mixture. It will be tall, but it cooks down.

Put in the center of the oven and turn the heat down to 400F. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until crust is nicely browned and vegetables are cooked.


Williams-Sonoma Pizza Crust (with my changes included)

1 T active dry yeast
3/4 c + 2 T lukewarm water
2 c of all-purpose flour
3/4 c of corn flour (can use all-purpose flour)
1 t of salt

Dissolve yeast in the water until the sponge (the foamy stuff) develops. Gradually mix in the flour and salt until thoroughly mixed into a good dough consistency.

The camera on my flash hasn't been working so in the picture below, the peppers are orange and the other vegetables are green. Use your imagination.