Pasta with Butternut Squash Cream Sauce

I was pondering what to do with half of a butternut squash I had left and decided to use it with pasta.  After some consideration and an internet search this is what I came up with.

With this recipe, the flavor of the butternut squash and the cheese blend in a rich creamy bit of goodness.  The cheese you use it up to you though a hard cheese like Parmesan or Asiago will do best.  I used Asiago because it was the first one I saw in the cheese drawer of the refrigerator.

Butternut Squash Cream Sauce

3 cups cubed butternut squash
8 oz bacon, cut in 1/2 inch lardons
1 medium onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
3 - 4 oz Asiago cheese, grated
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 - 3/4 cup heavy cream
6 sage leaves, fresh
1 tsp thyme leave, fresh
salt
pepper
6 - 8 oz dry spaghetti

Cook the pasta according to package direction.  Slowly cook the bacon in a deep skillet until the fat has rendered and it's almost crispy.  Remove the bacon to a bowl.  Add the onion and garlic to the bacon grease and sauté 2 - 3 minutes.  Add the butternut squash and stir then cook 4 - 5 minutes.  Add 1 tsp each of salt and pepper.  Add the white wine, sage leaves, and thyme then stir.  Let the wine cook down then add the chicken broth.  Let it simmer until the chicken broth is reduced by half.  Remove from heat and let cool a bit.  After it has cooled some, transfer to a blender and blend until smooth.  You may need to break it down into smaller batches.  Return to heat and bring to simmer.  Add the heavy cream and stir.  Stir in the grated cheese until melted and well incorporated into the sauce.  Stir in the reserved bacon.  Taste and add more salt if desired.  Once the pasta is finished cooking, add it to the sauce and mix well.  This will serve 3 - 4 people.

I was able to blend in one go since we have the Vitamix.  With the Vitamix running I was able to add the heavy cream followed by the Asiago in small chunks.  I used 4 oz of Asiago and 1/2 cup heavy cream initially.  After tasting, both the good wife and I liked it but I thought it could be a little better.  I added a heavy pinch of salt and another 1/4 cup heavy cream.  That slight change greatly boosted the flavor.

A rich tasty supper

I'd also made fresh bread from a No-knead recipe I've adapted to my own needs.  It is simple and you can make just about any crusty bread with this recipe.

Crusty Bread

3 1/2 cups break flour
13 oz warm water, 110 - 115F
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt

Put the yeast and salt in a large mixing bowl and pour in the warm water.  Stir and let sit for 5 - 10 minutes.  Add the flour and stir until is makes a soft dough.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the oven with the light on.  Let rise for 90 minutes.  Sprinkle a little flour around the edge of the bowl then use your spoon to push the dough away from the edge of the bowl then roll the dough ball around the bowl.  Dump out on a floured surface and cut into 2 - 3 equal pieces.  Roll each piece into a long rope and place on a parchment paper covered sheet tray.  Repeat for the rest of the dough.  Cover with a towel and let rise for 30 minutes.  After the 2nd rise, make 3 diagonal cuts in the top of each loaf.  Put into 400F oven and bake for 25 - 30 minutes.

This bread is great for soaking up the leftover butternut squash cream sauce.  These two are perfect together.  Give these a try and let me know what you think.

Uncle T

Taco Burgers

While we try to have a widely varied menu throughout the week we generally only have 4 choices for supper on Saturday night.  This past Saturday we opted for hamburgers since it had been a bit since we'd had those.  Hamburgers require little prep since I buy large chubs of ground beef and make 5 ounce patties with the burger press and freeze them.  So all I had to do was pull out a package and defrost them.


OK, the little prep is a bit inaccurate since I did make hamburger buns instead of buying some.  Using the stand mixer makes that go faster and most of the time in making hamburger buns is spent letting the dough rise.  I use the recipe found here, Hamburger Buns.  This recipe can be used to make great hotdog buns/hoagie rolls simply by altering the shape.  They are so much better than anything  you'll find at the store, both in flavor and texture.


Usually we have Saturday night leftovers for lunch on Sunday but with burgers we generally don't have any.  The main reason we don't have any is that I put 2 patties per package.  Yeah, I know I should package them by fours or thaw more.  Since I had a chub of ground beef to divide into 1 lb packages I decided to do something a bit different.  I made taco burgers for lunch on Sunday.


After lunch was done I did a Google search for taco burgers and while I found lots of recipes I didn't find any quite like mine.  So, I'm taking credit for this one.


Taco Burger


1 lb ground beef
hot taco seasoning, 1 packet if using store bought
4 dashes Uncle T's Devil Sauce, use the hot sauce of your choice if desired
shredded Mexican blend cheese
1 cup salsa
leaf lettuce
cilantro


Mix the ground beef and taco seasoning thoroughly.  Add the hot sauce if desired and mix well.  Form into burger patties.  Drain the salsa of most of its liquid and set aside.  Place patties on hot grill and leave them alone for 5 minutes then turn them over.  Once they are turned over, place a pile of the shredded cheese on each burger and close lid to help cheese melt.  The buns can be split and put on the grill to toast at this time if desired.  Check after 3 - 4 minutes to see if the cheese is melted to your satisfaction.  Remove burgers from the grill.  To assemble the burger place 3 or 4 leaves of lettuce on the bottom bun.  Put the burger on the lettuce then top with 2 or 3 sprigs of cilantro.  Top with some of the drained salsa.  Put the top of the bun on and enjoy.

Fully Assembled Taco Burger

For these burgers I used my gas grill since it's a little quicker to get going.  The gas grill was preheated to 500F according to its thermometer with both burners on High.  Once the burgers were on and the lid closed the burners were reduce to Medium.  I know people like to fiddle with meat on the grill but leave them alone.  They only need to be flipped once and definitely don't mash the burgers with the spatula.

The lettuce and cilantro came out of the garden about 10 minutes before they got put on the burgers.  The taco seasoning I used was my own blend.  I combined parts of two recipes I found online and upped the heat a bit.  I'm still tweaking that recipe but I'm close to what I'm wanting.  I did use store bought salsa as we didn't can any last summer.  We had tater tots with the burgers since that is what I had in the freezer and didn't want to take the time to do homemade French fries.  The tots were seasoned with homemade seasoning salt.  We did the same thing with the regular burgers on Saturday night.

Taco Burger with Tater Tots

So if you are tired of the same old hamburger give the taco burger a try.  You can tweak the recipe to suit you and your family's taste.  Give a try and let me know what you think.


Uncle T

Canary Bean and Mussel Soup

A few days ago I wrote about getting mussels in a 10 lb bag in the post about Spicy Seafood Stew.  After I made that stew I still had 5 lbs of mussels in the refrigerator.  Being a frugal sort, I decided to go ahead and steam the remaining mussels in a pot with more white wine lest any go bad while I was deciding how to use them.  They were steamed using the method discussed here, Mussels in White Wine


After the mussels were steamed, I picked the meat from the shells and stored them in the wine broth for later use.  The wine and mussel liquor came to a little over 2 cups.


As for using the canary beans, I found them at our favorite ethnic grocery store, Grand Mart.  I was on the side of the store that is primarily foods from Hispanic regions and saw a good selection of dried beans.  Since the pressure cooker makes quick work of dried beans, I decided to see if there were some we hadn't tried before.  That's how I came to have canary beans at the house.


Of course with cold weather soup seemed to be a natural choice.  Having the primary ingredients on hand it was just a matter of deciding on additions to help flavor the soup.  This soup is the result.


Canary Bean and Mussel Soup


1 1/2 cup dried canary beans
meat from 5 lbs of mussels, steamed
4 - 6 oz bacon, diced
1 medium onion, finely minced
2 cups white wine broth from steaming mussels
2 cups water
2 - 3 bay leaves


Put dried beans in pressure cooker with the diced bacon and minced onion.  Pour in the white wine broth and water and stir.  Add the bay leaves and stir.  Put the lid on the pressure cooker and set timer to cook 40 minutes under pressure.  Allow pressure to naturally release.  Stir in mussels and let set until the mussels come up to the temperature of the soup.  Taste broth and add salt and pepper if desired.  Serve with hot crusty bread.  Makes 4 servings.




Canary bean and mussel soup

Cooking the canary beans with the pressure cooker for 40 minutes left them with a firm texture.  Next time I may add a few minutes to get the beans a bit softer.  They weren't under done they were just a bit firmer than we usually eat.  They were a nice contrast to the soft texture of the mussels.


If you don't have a pressure cooker then soak the beans over night and make the soup in a slow cooker.


For the bread I used the same recipe referenced in the link above with the same changes.  The changes are after proofing and bake time.  After proofing divide the dough in half and roll into long loaves.  Use the same time for the second proofing.  Bake at the same temp but only for 25 - 30 minutes.


We finished this soup last night.  It reheated well and as usual the flavors melded to make the soup better the second time.  A slow reheat also kept the mussels from getting tough.


Give this soup a try as a way to get more beans into your diet, not to mention an excellent use for mussels.  I think you'll like this soup.  If you fix it, let me know how you liked it.


Uncle T

Mussels in White Wine

One of our favorite ways to eat mussels is to cook them in white wine then serve them with some fresh hot crusty bread.  This is a simple method but the results are outstanding.  I wasn't going to write about this but it was requested.


You need to make sure your mussels are clean and still living.  If you are lucky, you can get your mussels at a fish market where they are loose and the fish monger will cull them for you.  Most places seem to sell them in 2 lb bags.  I recommend getting 1 lb per person.  The culling process is simple, make sure they are closed tight.  If they are gaping, tap them on the counter to see if they close.  If they don't, set them aside.  I'll also say wait till you're ready to cook them before you cull them so you can clean them at the same time.  To clean them, rinse off any loose sand or barnacles and remove the beards.  The beards look like wiry tangles sticking out of the shell.  Just grab it and pull.  Once you have culled and cleaned all your mussels give them a final rinse.

Mussels cleaned and ready to steam

 As for the wine, use one that you would like to drink.  As a matter of fact, a glass of the same wine you cook them with is a nice accompaniment.  Remember, don't think you have to look for a certain price point on a bottle of wine to get a good one.  A really good wine can be had for $10 - $12.  If you are not familiar with white wines, go to a store that has a Sommelier or at least a store that wine is their business.  Let them know what you are wanting the wine for and your price range and they'll be able to point you to some good choices.

A good white wine for mussels

You will also need some fresh herbs for your bouquet garni.  There are specific herbs and amounts to use if you want a traditional French bouquet garni but you can use what you want in your own cooking.  A bouquet garni is nothing more than a bundle of fresh herbs to provide flavor and aroma that is removed prior to serving.  The simplest way to make it is to put your herbs together and tie the bundle with two pieces of cotton kitchen twine.  Make sure you use 100% cotton twine.

Thyme, Sage, Rosemary, Basil

Mussels in White Wine


Mussels, cleaned, 1 - 1.5 lbs per person
4 - 6 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 - 3 Tbs olive oil
bouquet garni
     Sage
     Basil
     Thyme
     Rosemary
White Wine, 1/2 bottle


Put olive oil and garlic in a large skillet and turn on medium heat.  Cook garlic until it starts smelling good.  Add the bouquet garni and heat it, turning it so all sides are in the heat.  Pour in the half bottle of wine and increase heat to med-high.  Once the wine starts to simmer, add the mussels and cover the skillet.  Let the mussels steam for 2 minutes then remove lid and stir the mussels around and replace lid.  Let them steam another 2 minutes or until all the mussels are open.  Spoon the mussels into wide bowls and divide the broth between them.  Serve with hot crusty bread.

Freshly steamed mussels ready to serve

I've also done them adding a minced shallot along with the garlic.  Looking at recipes online a lot of chef types like to add lots of things to the pan.  My method lets the mussels and wine combine so they are the stars.  After all, why add chicken broth or red pepper flakes, as they'll change or over power the flavor of the mussels.  I think chefs sometimes let their training get out of hand and they try to do too much.  Sometimes they need to remember a classic is a classic for a reason and not every dish needs a new flair.

A wonderful supper

The bread I usually make is a variation on this recipe, Skillet Bread.  I alter the final process and make French bread loaves.  The changes are after proofing and bake time.  After proofing divide the dough in half and roll into long loaves.  Use the same time for the second proofing.  Bake at the same temp but only for 25 - 30 minutes.This bread also reheats well if you happen to have any left.


Nothing here is new or innovative when it comes to mussels but I do believe that the simplicity of this recipe is what makes the dish worth it.  Sometimes doing less is more.


If you've not tried mussels before then this is a good dish to start with.  It comes together quickly and it gets you involved with your meal by having to hold the shell while you get the meat out.  Give this a try and let me know what you think.


Uncle T