Recipe #28 - Curried Butternut Squash Soup

Nothing says "autumn" quite like the sweet, delicate flavor of roasted squash. This yummy soup was created by Sheri' for a wonderful Sunday night supper. We had it with a Caesar salad and a warm flatbread dotted with poppy seeds, black sesame seeds and cumin seeds.

1 large butternut squash, cut in half and all seeds scooped out and discarded
1 Tbsp. olive oil

2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 sweet yellow onion, diced
1 rib celery, chopped
1 medium carrot, diced
1 cinnamon stick
Salt & pepper to taste
4 cups homemade vegetable broth (see note below)
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. curry powder
2/3 cup half-and-half or cream

4 Tbsp. sour cream or mascarpone cheese

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Brush the flesh of the squash with olive oil. Put the squash halves on a baking sheet in the oven and roast until very soft, about 45 minutes to one hour depending on size of squash. Remove from the oven and cool enough to handle.

In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil and add the onions, celery, carrot and cinnamon stick. Saute until the veggies are soft, about eight minutes. Add the stock, cumin and curry powder. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for a few minutes.

Scoop the flesh of the squash out of the shells and chop coarsely. Add to the soup pot and simmer for another fifteen minutes or so. Remove the cinnamon stick. Using an immersion blender, buzz the soup until smooth. Add the half-and-half or cream and keep warm on low heat until serving.

Add a dollop of sour cream or mascarpone to each bowl of soup.

* Note on vegetable stock:

We make homemade stock all the time. It's free and easy. Whenever you're trimming and chopping veggies, take the trimmings that you'd otherwise throw away and keep 'em in a plastic bag in the freezer. When you need stock, just take all the frozen veggie scraps, throw 'em in a soup pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for an hour or more. Strain the stock through a fine mesh strainer.

We omit certain veggie trimmings that can tend to bring bitter flavors into the mix when overcooked, such as brussels sprouts.

Then you can add the boiled-down veggies to your compost bin. That way they can have three levels of use (food, stock, compost).

In Praise of Great Films - Movies With a Food Theme

Sixth in a series.

The stories that are told in movies are first and foremost about people. But some of our favorite films are also about something else we all are fond of: food! If you think about it, there are certain elements in the motion pictures that we can all relate to. Love, sex, laughs, thrills, scares, music, colors, intrigue, etc. And sometimes, yes, even food.

Here are some films that have food and cooking at their core, but are enjoyable regardless:

BIG NIGHT (1996) – The story takes place in the 1950s in a restaurant run by two brothers (played by Tony Shalhoub and Stanley Tucci) who have come to America from Italy. They are struggling to survive in the business and come upon a plan to have a “big night” with an appearance at their place by a celebrity, Louis Prima. The centerpiece of the special meal they create is a timpano, an Italian dish you won’t want to make yourself after you see this film. But the visual experience of seeing this timpano being created is something to behold. While this is a film with food as a focal point, the story is really about the relationship of the two brothers. The final scene in the movie is a single wide static shot of the brothers eating scrambled eggs. The scene has no dialogue and lasts for several minutes. Sounds boring, right? No, actually, it’s a pitch-perfect way to end the film, and it resonates with genuine emotion.

DINNER RUSH (2000) – Danny Aiello plays the owner of an Italian restaurant in New York and the story takes place during a single busy night. An amazing ensemble of actors populate this film, which bounces from the kitchen to the dining room to the street and back to the kitchen. Lots of storylines are taking place simultaneously and things happen toward the end that you definitely would not have expected. To say more would be to ruin the movie for those who haven’t seen it. So if you haven’t seen Dinner Rush, check it out.

MOSTLY MARTHA (2001) – This is a German film so you’ll have to deal with subtitles, but it’s well worth it. A top woman chef is living a self-centered, lonely life when she ends up the guardian of her eight-year-old niece when the girl’s mom is killed in a car wreck. As the story unfolds, the relationship between the two goes from frosty to loving in somewhat predictable ways. But it’s an emotionally involving movie and worth the investment of time to watch. Plus it has some great music by jazzman Keith Jarrett. Mostly Martha was remade as a much more high-profile American movie called No Reservations, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Abigail Breslin and Aaron Eckhart. The remake isn’t bad, but the original German version is better.

EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN (1994) – Speaking of foreign films, this one’s a classic. It’s in Mandarin Chinese so again you’ll need to read subtitles. This is a classic, directed by Ang Lee, who would go on to make the Oscar-nominated films Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain. Eat Drink Man Woman is about a father and his daughters, with food as an inspiring thread that weaves its way through the story. This movie was remade as…

TORTILLA SOUP (2001) - …a Hispanic version of Eat Drink Man Woman. The father is played by Hector Elizondo, who loves to cook but is losing his ability to do so while maintaining a special relationship with his three beautiful daughters. Virtually every time the family gets together over a fabulous meal, one of the daughters makes an “announcement” to the family, which is what propels the story forward. This movie is a little on the “soapy” side, but the family relationships are a treasure and the food looks fantastic.

RATATOUILLE (2007) – This animated feature is a delight from first frame to last. It deservedly won the Oscar for best animated feature (and was nominated for four others). One might think a story about rats in a restaurant kitchen is a suspect idea, but it really works. A rat named Remy shows off his culinary prowess in a highbrow Paris eatery. Hilarious, goofy, heartwarming, colorful – this movie has it all.

Do you have a favorite movie with a food theme that wasn’t on this list? Click on the ‘comment’ button at the end of this post and send us your thoughts.

Recipe #27 - Mediterranean Green Salad

"Mediterranean" can mean many things to many people. When it comes to cuisine, we like the flavors that seem to represent the Mediterranean area. Lemony. Salty. Tangy. Fresh. Light. These are delightful flavors associated with Greece, Italy, southern France, and all the sun-drenched coasts of the Mediterranean Sea.

As with most things we cook and prepare, this recipe is highly adaptable.

Makes four servings.

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt & pepper

6 cups mesclun salad greens
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed well
1 cup kalamata olives, drained and sliced
1 cup canned marinated artichoke hearts, drained and sliced
1 ripe avocado, diced
1/2 cup pepperoncini, drained and thinly sliced
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

Put the lemon juice and feta cheese in a small blender or food processor and buzz briefly. Add the olive oil and buzz until well blended. Add salt and pepper to taste (being careful with the salt, considering the feta is salty and so are the olives you'll be adding to the salad later).

Put the salad greens in a large bowl and add 1/2 cup dressing. Toss well to coat the greens. Put a mound of greens on each of four chilled salad plates. Add the rest of the ingredients decoratively on top of the greens and serve.

This salad goes well with lots of dishes, including pizza, spaghetti, ravioli, pesto-based dishes, some soups, etc. You can also boost the flavor of this salad by adding things like sun-dried tomatoes, radicchio, endive or grated hard cheeses (asiago, parmesan, romano).

Recipe #26 - Ratatouille with Cheesy Polenta

First of all, if you haven't seen the movie Ratatouille, by all means check it out. How much of the movie is actually about the French vegetable dish ratatouille? Very little, actually. But it's a delightful animated feature and highly recommended.

As for cooking ratatouille, there are probably thousands of variations that have been done over the years (centuries?). It's also a dish that usually isn't eaten on its own, but rather as an accompaniment or filling. We paired it with a rich, creamy, cheesy polenta, which is a perfect foil for the herby, acidic ratatouille vegetable stew.

Makes six servings.

RATATOUILLE:

2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 yellow onion, peeled and cut into small dice
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 tsp. minced fresh thyme
1 cup finely diced fresh fennel bulb
1/2 large eggplant, diced
1 cup diced red bell pepper
1 cup seeded and diced poblano pepper
1 cup diced zucchini
1 cup diced yellow squash
5 fresh ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
1 portobello mushroom, stem removed and diced
2 Tbsp. finely shredded fresh basil leaves
2 Tbsp. minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and when it's hot, add the onion and garlic. Saute until the onion is cooked and somewhat caramelized. Add the chopped fennel and saute for two more minutes. Add the eggplant and cook the mixture for five more minutes, stirring frequently. Then add the peppers, zucchini and squash and saute for a few more minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook for a couple of more minutes until the mushrooms begin to give off some of their juices. Finally, add the tomatoes, herbs, salt and pepper. Simmer everything for a few more minutes and serve hot over the polenta.

POLENTA:

1 cup yellow cornmeal
3 cups rich vegetable stock
1/2 cup grated asiago or other hard cheese
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
3 Tbsp. half-and-half
1/2 tsp. sea salt

Stir together the cornmeal with one cup of stock in a small bowl. Heat the other two cups of stock on a saucepan until boiling. Add the cornmeal-stock mixture to the pan and stir thoroughly. Simmer the polenta for about ten minutes until it's thick and pulling away from the sides of the pan.

Add the cheese, butter, half-and-half and salt. Stir well and allow to heat over low flame for just a couple of more minutes before serving.

Recipe #25 - All-Day Daal

Indian food is fabulous, and when it comes to feasting on it, the more varieties of dishes the better. A typical Indian meal around our kitchen consists of sag paneer (creamy curried spinach with cubes of paneer cheese), curried vegetables, garlic naan, mint-cilantro chutney, yogurt-based raita, and of course daal (or dal, or dahl, or however you want to spell it).

Our favorite way of cooking daal, a rich curried lentil stew, is to simmer it for hours, or if you have the time and foresight, all day (thus the name "all-day daal").

You'll almost certainly have leftovers of this dish, and if you do, you can thin it with lowfat milk and have a lovely curried lentil soup.

Makes six servings.

3 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1 carrot, cut into fine dice
1 rib celery, cut into fine dice
1 shallot, cut into fine dice

1 tsp. black mustard seeds
1 tsp. turmeric
1 Tbsp. curry powder
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. garam masala

1.5 cups brown lentils

3 cups vegetable or chicken stock

1/2 cup half-and-half

Heat the butter in a large saucepan and add all the vegetables. Saute for a few minutes to sweat and soften the veggies. Add all the spices and stir well. Add the lentils and stir to combine everything.

Add the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 25 minutes, until lentils are softened. Cover the pan tightly and put it on the lowest possible heat. Simmer for as long as possible, checking occasionally to make sure it's not sticking or drying out. Add a bit more stock as needed to keep it moist and a little soupy.

Just before serving, adjust seasonings, stir in the half-and-half, and simmer for just a few minutes more.