Stuffed Acorn Squash

As promised, here is the recipe for that lovely stuffed squash I made last weekend (and again this weekend):

The cast of characters (minus the rosemary, which I forgot, oops):

Grate about 3/4 cups of the cheese of your choosing. I used cheddar and parmesan because that's what I had on hand. Pick your favorite cheese and go with that:

Cut the bread up into small, dice-size pieces. You'll need about a cup and a half of cubes:

Dice up a very small amount of onion. This is just one slice from the middle of the onion, cut up very finely:

Remove the sausage from its' casing and brown:

Take the sausage off the heat when done and, in that same pan, cook the onions until softened, then add the garlic (1-2 cloves, minced) and continue cooking until fragrant but not burnt.

Put the sausage, bread crumbs, cheese, rosemary, onions, garlic and 3 TB half and half in a large bowl and combine until moistened. Meanwhile, halve the acorn squash and scoop out all of the seeds, then rub some olive oil on them and season with salt & pepper:

Fill the hollowed out squash with the filling, make sure to really pack it in there. You want the squash to lay flat when flipped upside down:

Flip the squash into a baking dish and put in a 375-400 degree oven:

After a half hour, check on it to make sure the bottoms aren't burning too badly. If they are, add a little bit of water to the dish.

After approximately an hour (mine took 50 minutes today), remove the squash from the oven:

Flip them back over and serve:

One half is usually a perfect meal for one person. See how it's all browned and crusty on the surface? SO YUMMY!

Here's the ingredient list with exact measurements:
1 link italian sausage (or 2 slices bacon)
1 slice onion (or 1 shallot)
1-2 cloves garlic
2 tsp rosemary (or sage, or whatever your favorite spice is)
1.5 cups bread cubes
3/4 cup grated cheeses
3 TB half & half
1 medium acorn squash
olive oil
salt & pepper

Quiche for Christmas

First, Merry Christmas to one and all! I was responsible for the Christmas morning brunch, so I decided to go with one of my fall back, no fail dishes - Quiche. Here's how it starts:

The bowl on the left is a mix of eggs and 1/2 & 1/2, then the fillings I chose for the two separate quiches.

Step 2: Put the filling into the quiches. Quiche #1 (right) was broccoli, red pepper, and cheese. Quiche #2 was ham, onion, and cheese.

Me, putting filling in quiche number 1. Note my extremely large Twins Tshirt from the best sporting event I've ever been to.

Step 3: Add the egg mixture to the quiches until the come up to the top of the crusts.

Gracefully poured by yours truly. Or something. Special thanks to my photographer.

Here they are, ready to put into the oven:

Finally, bake them for about an hour or so.

Don't they look lovely? I think everyone enjoyed them. Here's the recipe for those who are interested:

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 3/4 cup half & half
salt
pepper
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
4 ounces grated swiss cheese
4 ounces grated mozzarellla cheese
1 pre-made pie crust (I like the refrigerated ones from Pillsbury)

Equipment: 1 pie or quiche pan

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and half & half. Season with the salt, pepper, and nutmeg. (Sometimes I also add a little garlic salt. Up to you).
3. Place the pie crust in the quiche/pie pan. Add any filling (ham, broccoli, etc.) and the cheese.
4. Pour the egg mixture over the filling.
5. Bake in 425 degree oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat in the oven to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 25 minutes or until crust in golden and the filling is set/no longer runny.
6. When set, take out of the oven and allow it to sit for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Sausage Potato Roast

As mentioned elsewhere on the tubes, I made an attempt at a sausage & potato roast a week or so ago. For a first try it wasn't so bad but I wanted to perfect it a bit before I put it on the blog. Tonight was my second attempt and I think it turned out well, so here goes:

Step 1 - Start out with some potatoes. I had Yukon Gold and some new red potatoes, so I used those:

Step 2: Cut them up in to bite size pieces and put them in a baking dish. Add some olive oil to coat them (not too much) and some salt and pepper. Then put them in a 400 degree oven to bake for about 20 minutes:

While the potatoes are baking, take out the rest of the ingredients. Sausage, about one whole sausage per person (I got pork/garlic/shallots from our local specialty butcher. YUM!), half an onion (color of your choice), and a package of mushrooms.

Cut up the onions and mushrooms then, after 20 minutes, add all of this to the potatoes. Nestle the sausages down in the middle. Cook for 20 more minutes and then turn the sausages. Cook for still 20 minutes more or so and everything should be done and look fantastic, kind of like this:

Enjoy!

Spaghetti Carbonara

When I was studying abroad in Nantes, France, I took the opportunity to do some traveling around Europe, as many of you know already. For spring break that year, some friends and I went to Italy where I discovered my favorite pasta dish of all time - Spaghetti Carbonara. Turns out they have it in France too, I just hadn't been paying attention. It quickly became my default order any time I happened to see it on the menu. When I got back from France, it became something of a personal quest to learn how to recreate it. I started with some recipes I found online and then adapted them to my liking. Here you go:

Ingredients:
1 pound spaghetti
8 ounces bacon, cut into 1-inch segments
3 large eggs
3/4 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup half and half
garlic salt
Coarse salt & freshly ground pepper

Directions:
1) Cook spaghetti according to package directions in a large pot.
2) In a large skillet, cook bacon until crisp but not burnt (I sometimes have to start over with the bacon, oops!) then transfer to a paper towel lined plate.
3) While pasta is cooking, whisk together the eggs, parmesan and half-and-half. Season with the garlic salt as you prefer - the amount of garlic is something of a personal preference. Or you can use actual garlic and cook it with the bacon. It's entirely up to you. It's good both ways.
4) Once pasta is done, drain well but do not rinse. Transfer to a large bowl and immediately add the egg mixture. Stir rapidly - the heat from the pasta will cook the eggs but if you don't stir it, you end up with scrambled eggs instead of a creamy sauce.
5) Add the bacon, season with salt and pepper to taste, and toss to combine.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do - it's pretty rich and you will have leftovers if you're only cooking for two people. Sometimes I try to split it but 1.5 eggs is a little hard to measure. :-)

Macaroni & Cheese (and eggs)

For my inaugural post, I think I'll go with a recipe that has family roots. It came from my dad, who assured me that it was a family staple back in the day. It certainly was a fixture in my childhood and I still make it all the time. I've brought it to work several times for lunch and one of my coworkers asked for the recipe. Since it had never actually been written down before, I had to improvise. Here is what I was able to come up with. Feel free to modify as you see fit:

Ingredients:
1 lb rotini pasta
3 cups grated mozzarella cheese
3 cups grated other cheese (I usually use a colby jack or something orange)
3 large eggs
1/2 cup milk (or so)
dill (LOTS)
salt & pepper to taste

Note: You'll need a large pot with a a cover that seals well to make sure this turns out ok.

Cooking Instructions:
1. Cook rotini according to package directions in a large pot.
2. While pasta is cooking, combine the egss and milk and beat well, the same as you would for scrambled eggs. Add salt & pepper as you see fit.
3. To the egg mixture, add more dill than you think you could ever possibly need. Seriously, add a lot of dill - it needs to be enough to season the whole dish, not just the eggs.
4. Once the pasta has finished cooking, drain well but DO NOT rinse. Return it immediately to the pot it cooked in and remove from heat. Add the egg mixture and stir around a couple of times to mix well - don't stir too much or you'll end up with scrambled eggs. Cover the pot.
5. Let the pot with the pasta + eggs sit for about 5 minutes so the eggs can cook. Stir once about half way through to make sure the eggs aren't just sitting on the bottom, but resist the urge to check on it a lot - that releases too much heat and the eggs won't cook all the way. No one wants salmonella.
6. Add the cheese to the pasta + egg mixture and stir well. Turn on VERY LOW heat if the pot has started to cool. Re-cover and cook for 5 more minutes or so or until the cheese is all melty and gooey.
7. Enjoy!

Typing this out has made me very hungry for mac. I always have the ingredients in my cupboard if I can help it, so I may need to make it when I get home... Yum!

P.S. - There really is no such thing as too much dill, per the original chef.