Southwestern Butternut Squash Soup

About this butternut squash soup recipe, here's what you must know: it's simple, flexible, and full of amazing flavor.

And while that alone is enough, it also comes from a wonderful cookbook, Susie Middleton's The Fresh & Green Table, a kind and timely gift from my sister-in-law Lucy. Of course, it seems as though every recipe claims the three points listed above, but here's why this one genuinely deserves bragging rights.

Simple: Can be made in about an hour with minimal prep and clean up

Flexible:  Absolutely ok to swap squash with sweet potato

Flavor: With ancho chili, cumin, coriander, cocoa, apple cider, lime & yogurt, you get sweet & tangy & southwestern deliciousness.

Just cooking this soup, will bring major compliments your way!

And, as the photo indicates, southwestern butternut squash soup is great in a thermos for school, especially the day after you get your braces tightened.

Adapted from The Fresh & Green Table by Susie Middleton

Ingredients
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground ancho chili
1/2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon sugar
kosher salt
1/4 cup apple cider (not apple juice)
1 teaspoon low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped
1 1/2 pound butternut squash, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch chunks. If using sweet potatoes, aim for same overall weight and cut into similar size.
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 apple, peeled, cored, and cut into quarters
1/4 cup 2% or full fat plain yogurt. Non-fat isn't as good.
1/4 teaspoon lime zest
juice from 1/2 of a lime

In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients, coriander through sugar, plus 1 teaspoon salt, and set aside.

In a large soup pot or dutch oven, heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the onion and 1/2 teaspoon salt, stir well and cover, cooking for about 8 minutes until onions are tender and starting to brown. Add chopped butternut squash and another 1/4 teaspoon salt to the onions, stirring to combine. Cover again and cook until the squash is softened, about 12-14 minutes. The squash doesn't have to be completely tender since it will finish cooking once the liquid is added. While the squash is cooking, however, be sure to stir occasionally and scrape the bottom as the squash begins to brown.

Uncover the pot and add the minced garlic, combine and let cook for about 30 seconds.  Add the dry spice mixture  and stir well. Next, pour in the apple cider and soy sauce. Stir once more, scrapping up browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the apple quarters and 5 cups of water, stir and bring to a boil. As soon as you reach a good boil, reduce the heat and let the soup simmer for 20 minutes.

Let the soup cool for 10 minutes or more before you puree. You can use a blender or food processor, but my favorite soup tool is an immersion blender*. Good results and much easier clean up! If using a standing blender or food processor, work in small batches to puree the soup. If you have an immersion blender, puree the soup in your soup pot, chasing down all pieces of squash, apple, and onion.

Whisk in the yogurt, lime juice, and lime zest. Taste again and add a bit more salt if you think it's needed.

If soup is too thick, add some additional water or apple cider to thin. If soup seems too thin, simmer to reduce and thicken. The soup can be made earlier and reheated as the flavor just gets better.

Serve in warmed bowls with grilled cheese if possible.

*We had a very nice Kalorik immersion blender, but someone placed it in the dishwasher and it is no more. Now we have a robust Cusinart version that works perfectly–and will not visit the dishwasher.

BBQ Lentils

In our house, the love of lentils is as strong as ever and this is still a happy surprise for me. We've also discovered that BBQ lentils are the perfect match for macaroni & cheese. Opposites will always attract and therefore the sweet, tangy BBQ flavor is the perfect mate for a rich, creamy casserole. Thanks to lentils, indulgence is transformed into virtue–or so we like to think.

This all-veg dish was adapted from a recipe found on the great website, Food 52. The original recipe was from Joe Beef’s restaurant in Montreal and bacon played a starring role. You can always add the bacon back and, of course, it will be delicious, but your virtue will be on shakier ground.

 Ingredients

1 onion, finely chopped

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1clove garlic, minced

2 cups lentils, picked over and rinsed (French lentils preferred as they hold their shape better than red lentils. However, feel free to experiment.)

4 cups water

¼ cup ketchup

2 tablespoons maple syrup

4 tablespoons canola oil

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

1 tablespoon dry ground mustard

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed

Kosher salt

Preheat the over to 350° F.

In an ovenproof pot with a lid, heat 2 tablespoon of the canola oil and sauté onion with smoked paprika and kosher salt over medium-high heat for about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for 30 seconds longer. Add the lentils, water, ketchup, maple syrup, remaining 2 tablespoons of oil, cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and ground black pepper.  Stir well and season with another pinch of salt.

Bring to the mixture to a boil on stovetop. Then cover the pot (use tightly tented foil if you have no lid), place it in the oven, and bake for about 45 minutes. Taste and add more salt or pepper if needed.

Serve hot or warm & serve later.

Turkey Nicoise Salad and Curried Orzo

School lunches that present themselves in the morning with little effort from me, thanks to dinner the night before, are still a hot topic here. About a week ago, fortune smiled upon me (thanks Chris Nielsen!) as a text with an amazing salad recipe arrived. Even better, a delicious sample followed the text. It so happened that the day fortune smiled was the same day I had already thrown together a simple curried orzo dish. The use of curry was my very modest attempt to honor The Hundred-Foot Journey, a great movie with French & Indian food at its warm heart. (Loved) That evening, my homage was complete as Turkey Salad Nicoise sat along side of Curried Orzo. Now, if I can only find a way to get to Saint-Antoin-Noble-Ans ...

Please note: both recipes are extremely flexible and you can add or subtract based on whatever appeals and/or is in your fridge. Also, almonds do not have a starring role in either recipe and may be removed if needed for the school lunch.

Turkey Salad Nicoise

Boston Globe Sheryl Julian and Julie Riven

2 lb. rotisserie cooked turkey breast (from grocer deli section)

1 lb. green beans, cleaned, trimmed, and halved

1/4 small red onion thinly sliced (if adverse to raw onion, use 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives)

3 stalks celery

1/2 cup pitted black olives, halved

3 tablespoons capers

1/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

3 eggs, hard boiled

Kosher salt, pepper

1. Add 1 tablespoon of salt to a large pot of water and bring to a boil. Place green beans in water, wait for it to return to a boil and allow beans to boil gently for 3 minutes. Beans should be tender, but with a bit of a snap remaining.

2. While beans are cooking, remove cooked turkey from the bone and cut into 1 ½ inch strips. Place in large salad bowl.

2. When beans are done, drain in a colander and run very cold water over them to prevent them from cooking any further. Place on clean kitchen towel to dry.

3. Peel the back of each celery stick to remove tough strings. Cut each stalk length-wise and then chop on diagonal. Place chopped celery in a large salad bowl with turkey.

4. Add cooled green beans, capers, olives, and parsley to the turkey and celery already in the salad bowl.

5. Sprinkle the salad with half the olive oil and toss gently. Add the remaining olive oil along with a pinch of salt and several grinds of pepper.  Toss again.

6. In a small bowl whisk together (fork will be fine if you're not in possession of a small whisk) the vinegar and mustard until combined. Sprinkle the salad with the vinegar mixture and toss again. Add the toasted almonds, toss once more and, if needed, add a pinch more of salt and pepper.

7. Peel the hardboiled eggs and dry off with paper towel.  Cut each eggs into quarter length-wise.

8. Arrange salad on plates and add egg quarters.

Curried Orzo

1 cup orzo

1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus a bit more to dress pasta

1 tablespoon butter, a bit more to dress pasta is optional as well

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ cup sliced almonds, toasted

2 cups broccoli florets, bite sized

2 teaspoon curry powder

1. Place butter and olive oil in sauté pan over medium heat. Add chopped onion, sprinkle with salt and sauté until tender and golden. Add the curry powder and sauté for about another few  minutes. Place on low heat as you await the broccoli.

2. Cook orzo as directed on box, but subtract a minute. Use a big-enough pot and plenty of salted water since you will be adding broccoli to the pot as the orzo cooks. When there is only 2 minutes left of cooking time for the orzo, add the bite-sized broccoli to the boiling water, allowing the broccoli to cook with the orzo. When the cooking time for the orzo is complete, turn off the heat. Use a slotted spoon to remove the broccoli from the orzo and place the broccoli with the curried onion mixture. You will carry some orzo over in the process, but that's ok. Drain orzo in colander. Then turn the heat back up to medium under the sauté plan

3. Once the orzo is drained, tip it into the broccoli and onion mixture. Pour in some extra olive oil and/or tablespoon of butter. Stir in the toasted almonds as well. Add an extra pinch of salt and pepper if needed.

Sesame Noodles with Asparagus

Bread and Jam for Frances is at the top of all the books I've read to my children. It's wonderful for many reasons, and sets the standard for school lunches. A standard I have failed to uphold.

During the school year, I seem barely able to place sliced turkey and cheese together, let alone live up to the school lunches in this book. One day, Albert, a friend of Frances, opens his lunch to find his mom has packed: a cream cheese-cucumber-and-tomato sandwich on rye bread, a pickle, a hard-boiled egg, a salt shaker, grapes, a tangerine, and custard. The next day is even better ... and she's a badger!

Every August, resolve that I'll make better school lunches. But mostly I don't. This year I have a new approach. I'm looking for hearty pasta or grain salads that need neither refrigeration nor heat to taste wonderful in the school cafeteria or office cubicle. An oil &vinegar-based dressing is involved to keep the salad safe throughout the morning-with a small freezer pack thrown in if needed.

This is a streamlined recipe from Deborah Madison, whom I love. The ingredient list is pared down and I decided against diagonal-cut asparagus though that would look very nice. I endorse her note that many other veggies would work well here. Can easily see myself adding last night's leftover veggies before the noodles head out the door.  Would like to think Albert's mother would approve. 

Photographer & lunch eater: Elisabeth Heissner

Ingredients

Marinade

¼ cup light sesame oil

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

7 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

4 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon sriracha

1 clove garlic finely chopped

10 green onions (including the greens), cleaned and thinly sliced

Pasta and Asparagus

2 lbs asparagus, trimmed and sliced in 1 inch sections

Spaghetti or linguine (16 ounce box)

¼ cup sesame seeds toasted until lightly brown

Preparation

Stir marinade ingredients together in a microwave proof bowl. Cover bowl with wax paper and pop in microwave. Cook for about a minute. You can always put the marinade in a saucepan and cook on the stovetop for a minute or two as well. I do this to mellow the “rawness” of the garlic and green onion.  We’re kind of wimpy about too much bold flavor around here.

Fill your pasta pot with water and about 1 tablespoon of kosher salt. Bring to a boil and add cut-up asparagus. Let asparagus cook for about 3 minutes. You want the asparagus tender, not mushy. When the asparagus is done, fish it out of the pot with a slotted spoon and place it on a paper towel-covered plate to catch excess water. Set aside.

Bring water in your pasta pot back to a boil and add the pasta. Cook according to the time stated on the package. Once pasta is done, drain into colander and run cold water over it if you prefer the dish closer to room temperature. Drain very well as you don’t want to carry extra water back to the pot.

Return pasta to the pot and add the asparagus, marinade, and toasted sesame seeds. Toss well to combine. A good dose of ground black pepper is always welcome. Serve warm or at room temp.

Homemade Granola: Dried Cherry & Almond

Some foods beg to be made at home and granola is one of those foods. Ingredients are pretty inexpensive, especially compared to store-bought granola which is not. Add to this the fact that the actual cooking is simple and results delicious. Even if eaten with little or no restraint, a batch of the good stuff lasts much, much longer than a store-bought bag.

It's also true that any Monday morning beginning with a bowl of homemade granola & yogurt is instantly a better Monday morning. It helps that this recipe tastes great on ice cream or as a snack as well. And, if you're a kind and thoughtful gift giver, homemade granola is a well-received hostess or holiday gift.  Pack it in a freezer-friendly storage bag and your lucky recipient will think of you kindly some Monday morning.

Source: Wall Street Journal, Sarah Karnasiewicz

Ingredients

½ cup almond butter

½ cup honey

¼ cup light brown sugar

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup sliced almonds

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¾ cup dried cherries

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.

In a small saucepan on low heat, mix almond butter, honey light brown sugar until combined and stir until melted.

Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla and cinnamon.

In a large bowl, toss together the oats, almonds and salt. Pour almond mixture over the dry ingredients and toss well. This will be stick & messy, but you want everything well coated. Hands may be used if needed– it’s very therapeutic!

Using a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, pat the sticky granola mix into a single layer. Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes.  At the 10 minute mark you want to push the granola around a bit with a wooden spoon for more even baking. The granola will be soft when warm, so this isn’t hard to do Whe you're done pushing it around, don’t worry about flattening it out perfectly. Just do the best you can; this is not a fussy recipe.  Also, while the granola is soft while it's warm, it become crunchy when it cools.

Remove the granola from the oven after 20 minutes and scatter the cherries on top, using the wooden spoon to push the cherries into and around on the granola. You don't want to add the dried fruit before baking or it will get too dried out. Broken clumps and general messiness after you scatter & push around since you will breaking up the granola further when it cools enough for storage.

My original WSJ recipe notes that cooled granola keeps for 3-4 weeks in an airtight container. However, I prefer to store it in the freezer in storage bags, digging out a scoop when needed. Defrosting isn’t necessary at all. There, the granola keeps longer and tastes fresher.

Credits
Photo: Elisabeth Heissner
Ceramic bowl: Susie Heissner