Meatball & Butternut Squash Penne

An easy weeknight pasta dish, Meatball & Butternut Squash Penne, uses up the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers without reminding anyone of last week's feast. 

Meatball & Butternut Squash Penne
Serves 4

For the meatballs
2 tablespoons bread crumbs (try panko for extra lightness)
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4-1/3 cup milk (buttermilk can be used) 
1/3 pound hamburger meat
1/3 pound mild or spicy bulk sausage
1-2 tablespoons olive oil to brown meatballs 
1/3 cup water (broth or white wine may be substituted)

Remaining ingredients
1/2 box (4 servings) penne pasta
2 cups cooked, cubed butternut squash (roasted or steamed)
1 small red bell pepper, seeded, roasted and peeled (canned roasted red peppers OK)
2 cups raw spinach, rinsed well, stems removed
2 tablespoons cream cheese
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Method

1.  Make meatballs: Combine breadcrumbs with next three ingredients.  Stir and let stand for 5 minutes for bread crumbs to soften.  Mix in ground beef and sausage.  Use a small spoon to form one-inch meatballs.  Heat oil in a wide skillet over medium heat.  Brown meatballs.  Add water and scrape up any drippings.  Cover skillet and lower heat to simmer for 5 minutes, until meatballs are cooked through.
2. Boil a large pot of salted water for pasta while meatballs cook.
3. When meatballs are cooked, add cooked butternut squash, red bell pepper and spinach to meatballs.  Cover skillet again to allow vegeatbles ot heat througha dn sinach to wilt.
4. Cook penne pasta as directed on box. 
5. While pasta cooks, finish meatballs by adding cream cheese and Parmesan cheese.  
6. Drain pasta reserving about 1 cup of the pasta water. Add drained pasta to skillet with half the past water.  Stir to combine all ingredients. Let cook a minute or two.  Add more pasta water if too dry.  

Tomato Pumpkin Soup

This year's anecdote to Thanksgiving transforms leftover pumpkin or winter squash into a creamy tomato soup.  It goes great with a turkey sandwich or a quick snack.

Mix leftover pumpkin puree with tomato juice as the base of this easy soup.  The pumpkin thickens the soup without adding cream, butter or flour.

Pumpkin Tomato Soup
Serves 2, recipe easily doubles

Ingredients
6 ounces tomato juice
1/2 can pureed pumpkin (about 1 1/4 cups)
salt & pepper 
optional: 1/2 cup cooked pasta like ditalini or cooked rice
optional garnish: garnish: sour cream, cream

Method

1. In a small saucepan, bring tomato juice to a boil, lower heat and simmer until reduced by about 1/3. 
2. Stir in pumpkin puree.  Use a whisk or  fork to create a smooth consistency.
3. Taste and add salt & pepper as needed.  Low sodium tomato juice will require a little more salt.
4. Add cooked pasta or rice.

Notes

• Leftover baked or roasted squash can be substitued.  Mash it before adding or use an immersion blender for a smooth texture.   
• Other seasonings for this soup, fresh or dried: basil, thyme, dill, cumin (best to try one to get the purest taste).

Filo-Wrapped Mozzarella Sticks

Filo-Wrapped Mozzarella Sticks are a quick and impressive hot appetizer to pass around or place on top of a simple green salad.  By wrapping each stick of cheese in prosciutto, you get extra flavor and prevent the cheese from oozing out before the filo is browned.  The saltiness of the Prociutto ham is nicely balanced by the sweetness of the quince paste.  If you cannot find quince paste, any good quality jam or an apple butter would work well.  Experiment with fig or apricot jam.

Filo-Wrapped Mozzarella Sticks
Makes 16 appetizers, recipe easily doubled

Ingredients
1/2 pound low-moisture mozzarella
8 slices prosciutto, cut in half
1/4 cup quince paste, apple butter or other not to sweet jam
16 sheets filo dough (wrapped well or covered)
1/4 cup melted butter

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400˚F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly oil the sheet.
2.  Cut mozzarella cheese into 16 long sticks.  Lay each on a slice of prosciutto.  Place a small amount of quince paste, about half a teaspoon, along the cheese on the ham.  
3. Start rolling the cheese in the ham.  As you roll, the quince paste will spread along the roll.
4. Open the filo and follow package directions about keeping the sheets moist as you work.  
5. Take a single sheet of filo and lay it on a flat surface. Use a pastry brush to brush melted butter over entire sheet.  Do not worry about small tears in the filo.  It is more forgiving than it appears.
6. Place a wrapped piece of cheese at the bottom center of the buttered filo sheet.  Begin to roll the cheese stick until wrapped twice.  Stop rolling and fold in the sides.  Butter the top layer of filo and continue rolling until the cheeses is completely packaged.
7. Place each wrapped cheese stick on prepared baking sheet. You can place sitcks quite close to each other but not touching.  Give each sitck a final brush of butter.
8. Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly browned.  Let sticks rest 5 minutes before serving to allow them to firm up a little. 

Filo sticks may be preapred in advance and frozen.  No need to deforst; add 3-5 minutes of baking time.

Do not use fresh mozzarella in this recipe. The type of cheese used here is readily available at supermarkets and comes in whole milk and skim milk varieties.  You can also use a smoked mozzarella for this recipe.

Lemon Basil Chick Pea Balls

We made these Chick Pea Balls flavored with basil, parsley and lemon to go alongside a minestrone soup brimming with winter vegetables.  Guests popped them into the soup too.  Basil created a culinary bridge to the Italian flavors in the soup.

The base recipe is from Laura Washburn's Vegetarian Foods for Kids (2011). Anyone interested in learning to cook simple and pure vegetarian foods will appreciate her approach. The basic recipes are all kid-friendly and many recipes provide variations that amp up the flavor to match grown up palates.  Her basic chick pea bites are a case in point.  The child's version is made with orange juice and mild spices.  The adult version uses lemon juice and a more sophisticated herb and spice blend.

Chick Pea Balls are not just for appetizers and soup sides.  They can also be packed into pita bread with some salad ingredients and dressing for a vegetarian meal or tossed with pasta and your favorite sauce. 

Lemon Basil Chick Pea Balls
Yield: about twenty-five 1-inch balls

Ingredients
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped 
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cans drained chick peas (or 3 1/2 cups cooked and cooled chick peas)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons oat bran (or pulse rolled oats to create oat flour)
2 tablespoon whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup fresh, chopped flat leaf parsley
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
Note: If substituting fresh with dried herbs, use 1 tablespoon each
Spray oil

Method:

1.  Place chopped carrot and celery in a food processor and pulse until vegetables are finely chopped.  
2. Heat oil in a wide skillet over medium heat.  Cook the vegetables for 5-6 minutes, stirring frequently.  When cooked, place in a large bowl to cool while you prepare the bean mixture.
3. In the same food processor, process drained beans, mayonnaise, oat bran, flour, salt. and lemon juice.  Mixture should be fairly smooth.
4. Add bean mixture to bowl with vegetables.  Add herbs and combine all ingredients.  
5. Taste and adjust seasoning.  Add more salt, lemon juice or more herbs.
6. Make balls by scooping spoonfuls onto a parchment-lined or oiled baking sheet.  Moisten your hands with water and roll scoops into small balls.  You may also use a mini-scoop, the type used for drop cookies.
7. Bake at 375˚F for 25-35 minutes until balls are slightly brown.  Centers will still be moist.  
8. Serve hot or at room temperature.

TIP: Do you have some new vegetarians joining holiday dinners over the next few months?  Check out books like Laura Washburn's for inspiration.  We also point new vegetarians and the families they cook with to Italian cookbooks where vegetables and grains have always gotten their due.

Beef Chili Verde

Make pure and simple Beef Chili Verde in a slow cooker.  It's a variation on Chili Verde made with pork shoulder and is served with black beans and brown rice.  And salsa.  And sour cream.  And chopped avocado.  Perfect fall dinner.

No slow cooker?  That's fine.  Scroll to the bottom for directions to make it over the stove top or in the oven.

Beef Chili Verde 
Serves 6-8

Ingredients
2 pounds beef stew meat, cut in 1-1/2 inch cubes
salt and pepper
3-4 tomatillos (What are tomatillos?)
3 Anaheim or poblano chilies (or a combination)
1 jalepeño pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil 
1  tablespoon chili powder (click here for my blend)
1 teaspoon oregano + 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (skip if using a commercial chili powder)
1 14-oz can low sodium black beans, drained 
1/2 cup fresh, chopped cilantro

Method:

1. Salt and pepper beef and place in slow cooker.
2. Preheat oven to 425˚F.
3. Peel husks from tomatillos. Wipe peppers with a damp paper towel.  Place vegetables on a cookie sheet or in a roasting pan and toss in oil.
4. Roast at 425˚F for 20-30 minutes, checking vegetables and turning using long tongs.  Remove tomatillos when soft and place in a large bowl.  Remove peppers when skin is blistered on all sides.  Cover bowl and let stand 5 minutes.  
5. Uncover bowl and remove tomatillos.  Chop coarsely and add to slow cooker. 
6. Peel cooled peppers.  Seed and devein then chop coarsely.  Add to slow cooker.  
7. Add chili powder and herbs.  Stir to incorporate all ingredients.  
8. Cook on high for one hour.  Reduce to low and cook another 2-4 hours, until beef is tender. If mixture is dry after first hour, add 1/4 cup water.  (You may also cook this on low 6-8 hours.)
9. Once meat is done, turn off slow cooker and stir in drained beans and cilantro. 

Make this without a slow cooker:
Follow recipe through step 7, adding ingredients to a heavy bottomed pot with a lid rather than a slow cooker.  Bring stew to a boil over medium heat then lower to simmer.  Simmer, covered, for 2 hours and check beef for tenderness.  Alternatively, the stew can be brought to a boil, covered and placed in a preheated 325˚F oven to cook for 2 -3 hours.  If using the oven method be sure to use a dutch oven or other oven-safe cooking vessel. 

Baked Scotch Quail Eggs

A platter of Scotch Quail Eggs makes a convenient do-ahead football tailgate or fall brunch offering.

A Scotch Egg is a hard boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat.  A portable meal, they can be found throughout Europe as a fast lunch, snack or picnic food.  In the U.S. it is common to find them at English-themed pubs, served either hot with dipping sauces or at room temperature to accompany a beer.

Daylight Savings Time ends here next Saturday night. With the clocks being pushed back an hour, next Sunday is the best day of the year for a fall-back brunch.  Take that extra hour to enjoy a leisurely Sunday featuring graze Scotch Quail Eggs.

Scotch eggs are usually deep fried to cook the sausage but they can be baked.  Baking is far less messy but creates its own challenges.  We found that chicken eggs were a little too large to wrap and bake successfully.  The sausage meat slipped off the egg by the time the meat was cooked through and the amount of sausage needed for one egg was a larger snack than required.

Using quail eggs, about a quarter the size of a chicken egg, turned out to be the solution.  Their small size makes them easy to wrap and because they require less sausage, cook quickly enough to hold onto the inner hard boiled quail egg through the process.  I also prick a hole in the top, through the sausage layer, that lets steam escape and keeps the sausage sticking to the smooth egg.

Baked Scotch Quail Eggs
Yield: 8

8 quail eggs, hard boiled and peeled*
3/4 pound raw bulk sausage meat
2 cups bread crumbs

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375˚F
2. Cover a cutting board with wax or parchment paper to protect the board from raw meat. Line a small baking pan with foil and coat with a thin layer of oil or spray oil.
3. Divide sausage into eighths.  Take a portion of sausage and spread it in a thin circle on board.  Lay egg in the middle and wrap sausage up around sides and top of egg.  Use your hands to form into a round ball.  It will look like a large meatball, about 2 inches in diameter.  
4. Repeat with remaining eggs and sausage.  
5. Spread breadcrumbs in a wide soup bowl or pie pan.  Roll each ball in the bread crumbs and place in the baking pan.  
6. Give the Scotch Quail Eggs a thin coat of oil.  This is easiest to do with a spray oil.
7. Use a skewer or toothpick to open a small hole in the top of each Scotch Egg.  This will prevent the inside from building up steam that could cause the sausage to slip off the egg. 
8. Bake at 375˚F for 30-35 minutes, until sausage is cooked through.  
9. Place cooked eggs on a paper towel to drain excess oil.  Let sit 10 minutes before serving. Cover and refrigerate leftovers.  Eat within 3 days.

Serving suggesitons:
Serve with a mustard-spiked mayonnaise dip.
Cut in half to add to an appetizer platter.  Their small size makes a manageable mouthful.
Slice Baked Scotch Quail Eggs to nestle inside a warm roll for breakfast.

*To hard boil quail eggs, place eggs in a medium pan and add enough water to cover by an inch.  Bring the water to a boil then remove from the heat and cover the pot for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, drain and add cold water to stop the cooking process.  Peel eggs immediately.  Their skins are very thin and will be easier to peel right away.  Be patient, they are more delicate than chicken eggs.  Do not be surprised by the greenish-blue color under their shells.  This is the inner membrane and commonly has a blueish tint. 

What else can we wrap in sausage? ¡Scotch Jalepeños!
Cream Cheese-Stuffed Jalepeños can be baked alongside Scotch Quail Eggs.  Allow these to cool completely so that the cream cheese is firm when sliced.  Or enjoy an oozing Scotch Jalepeño. 
Core seeds and membrane using a grapefruit knife. Tin foil allows you to bake the whole pepper without tearing.  Peel the blistered skin after baking at a high temperature, 400˚F, turning the pepper once or twice. 

Sausage sticks to a peeled jalepeño better than an unpeeled one.  An uncooked pepper will not cook further once wrapped in sausage.  Use a plastic sandwich bag to squirt cream cheese or any filling into the pepper.

Slow & Low Baked Salmon Fillets

Cooking slow and low is a controlled technique for protein.    Our salmon version uses a very low temperature oven (300˚F) to cook the fish to a delicate, silky texture.  The fish is lightly flavored with black pepper, scallions and lemon zest.

Season salmon or any other large fillet of fish with your favorite flavors and enjoy a perfectly cooked tender fish every time.  The key is to allow the fish to soak in the flavoring and some olive oil for 10-15 minutes before baking and to bake uncovered at a low oven temperature so the fish cooks evenly.

Slow and Low Salmon Fillets
Serves 4, recipe may be halved.

Ingredients
4 eight-ounce salmon fillets
zest of 1 lemon
black pepper
4 scallions, sliced thinly
2 tablespoons olive oil

 Method

1. Preheat oven to 300˚F.  Be sure to allow at least 15 minutes to preheat the oven for even cooking.  
2. Line a roasting pan or baking sheet with tin foil and coat with a thin film of olive oil.
3. Lay out the fillets and top with lemon zest, a good coating of freshly cracked black pepper and scallions.  Drizzle with remaining olive oil.
4. Let fillets sit 10-15 minutes.
5. Bake, uncovered for 18-20 minutes.  If cooking a whole fillet, bake for 25-30 minutes.

Serve immediately.  

When is fish done?  The flesh of the fish will turn from transluscent to opaque at its thickest section.  Use a fork to probe into the center of the fish.  Cooked fish will flake easily. 

Zucchini Noodles

This is not a new trick but with gardens in their final moments you may find yourself with an awful lot of zucchini just as cool weather recipes beckon.  Substitute zucchini "noodles" for egg noodles and papardelle in stews, spaghetti dinners and soups. 

All you need is a vegetable peeler to get started  If you like the results, look for some of the slicers coming out of Asia and Europe where vegetable pastas are so popular that traditional wheat pasta manufacturers are starting to offer them.  Here is is a shredder I bought in a Korean grocery several
years ago that makes thin oval zucchini noodles.

To make a great noodle using a vegetable peeler, wach the zucchini and start peeling.  As you near the seeds, turn the zucchini to start a freash side.  A small zucchini will yield about a cup of peeled noodles.   Boil a pot of salted water and place the zucchini in the hot water.  Lower the heat and simmer 45 seconds, until the zucchini is limp.  Use it to repalce all or some of your noodles.  Enjoy it cold douced with a light rice vinegar as part of a salad with other greens or grains. 

Grilled Shishito Peppers

Shishito Peppers and other thin skinned peppers like Spain's Padron Pepper are easy to grill on an open fire, charcoal grill or a grill pan on your stove top.  All the rage as an appetizer, sprinkled with coarse salt to accompany a cold beer, these also make a simple, pure side dish to grilled steaks or a topping for a burger.  The key is to use high heat to blister the skin and get a light char.

If you have some thin-skinned peppers, whether hot or sweet, in your garden try them grilled like this. Even if the variety is not thin-skinned, home grown peppers tend to have a thinner skins since these varieties are not bred for travel to supermarkets. 

We skewer the peppers whole using the double-skewer method that keeps narrow items like small peppers and asparagus from rolling between the grates and into the coals.  The peppers get a light coating of vegetable oil and cook once the steak is off the grill and resting.  Keep an eye on your peppers since these tender mouthfuls cook quickly.  Turn as the skin blisters, remove and salt lightly before serving. 

It is OK to eat these with your hands. 

To get the effect on a stove top, use a very hot grill pan.  Place the oiled peppers in the pan and turn as they blister  remove, salt and serve immediately.

On open coals (or a bonfire) use a long skewer or a "frank fork" to keep you cool and unblistered while the oiled pepper cooks over the open flame. 

Croissant Strawberry Shortcake

Presentation can make a simple, pure dessert shine.  For example, supermarket croissants can be split open like butterflies to make open-faced strawberry "shortcake" desserts.  This is lovely because the croissants are not sugary sweet and will let the lingering summer berry flavor star.

To cut a croissant into a convincing butterfly, use a long bread knife to cut from the inner part of the curved pastry.  Stop cutting about 3/4 of an inch from the far edge to create a small hinge.  Open the croissant and warm the butterflied croissant in a toasted oven.  We toast them just enough to brown the edges and crisp the cut edge of the pastry's layers. Serve topped with a 1/2 cup of yogurt, a tablespoon of strawberry jam and 1/2 cup fresh, sliced strawberries. 

Farmers Market Nectarines

Nectarines are overflowing their baskets at farmers' markets and its hard to resist this true taste of summer as the days grow shorter.  With an abundance of ripe fruit in the house we needed something fast that would compliment stone fruits at their peak.  Try this for breakfast or a snack-- sliced nectarines with good quality ricotta cheese drizzled with honey.  Whole grain bread goes with the ensemble perfectly.

If you have fresh basil in your garden, add a sprig to your breakfast plate.  Basil loves nectarines and so will you.

Peanut Butter Mousse Cupcake Filling

Pure peanut butter mousse is not only possible but very simple, making it a top choice to fill or frost cupcakes.  The secret ingredient is ricotta cheese which lends volume and helps create a spreadable consistency.  Ricotta adds a subtle complimentary taste to peanut butter and vanilla flavors.

Filling cupcakes may sound difficult but all it really takes is the patience to wait for the cupcakes to cool.  You can frost the cupcakes immediately after filling them.  Use a apple corer to pull a small plug of cake out of the top of each cupcake. Hang onto the plugs to reinsert before frosting.   You can also dig a little hole using the handle of a teaspoon.  Fill using a small spoon or better yet, place the mousse in a plastic sandwich bag, seal and snip off a corner to use as a pastry bag to fill the little cakes.

A plastic baggie makes a great piping bag.

The vanilla (yellow) cupcakes are from an all natural mix that replaces about half of the liquid with ricotta cheese.  The cupcakes taste great and have improved structure for holding fillings. Use your favorite mix or from scratch recipe for 12 cupcakes.

Make the mousse while the cupcakes bake.  Frost with a simple chocolate ganache of chocolate chips and cream.  The technique is included below.

Peanut Butter Mousse
Yield 1 cup, enough for 12 cupcakes or 4 servings

Ingredients
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1 teaspoon coconut oil*
1/2 cup ricotta cheese, whole milk preferred
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon honey or golden syrup

*skip if using regular peanut butter which already contains an oil

Method

1. Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.  Use a whisk to create a smooth texture, whipping for about 30-45 seconds.  
2. Taste and adjust for sweetness.  You can add more honey or a pinch of salt to bring out a bit more sweetness.  
3. Use immediately and store any leftovers, covered, in the refrigerator. Use within three days.

NOTE: The cupcakes must be refrigerated since the filling includes dairy.

You can also eat it as a mousse in a small cup with some dark chocolate shavings.


Chocolate Ganache
To make a chocolate ganache to glaze your cupcakes, place 1/3 cup good quality chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl with enough cream or whole milk to barely cover the chips.  Microwave on high for 30 seconds.  Remove and stir to finish melting the chips into the warmed cream. Cool for 3-4 minutes and spread on cupcakes.  The chocolate ganache will set within a few minutes to a smooth and glossy finish.