Pip's Plate

It’s soup season, for sure! Although this first November weekend in Minnesota has been 60 degrees so far, there’s nothing like have a comforting bowl of soup after spending the day raking leaves.

This butternut squash soup recipe is silky and delicious. I was inspired to make a squash soup like this after having lunch at one of my favorite places, French Meadow, and having to make the horribly difficult decision between tomato soup and coconut squash soup. I opted for the tomato soup, and I don’t regret it. But I was still craving coconut curry squash soup!

I suggest having this squash soup with a green salad tossed with a simple vinaigrette (or your favorite) with some goat or feta cheese and fall fruit (pears or apples). A nice hunk of toasted bread would be good with it too.

Coconut Curry Squash Soup
Makes: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

2 large butternut squash (5 pounds total)—halved lengthwise, peeled and seeded
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 leek, white and tender green part only, thinly sliced and washed free of sand
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger (use a microplane grater to do this if you have one)
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 cup dry white wine
6 cups water
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 thyme sprig

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Set the squash, cut sides up, on a baking sheet. Fill each cavity with 1/2 tablespoon of butter; season with salt and pepper. Roast the squash for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, until tender; cut into large pieces.
2. Meanwhile, in an 8-quart soup pot, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in the olive oil. Add the onion, leek, shallot, ginger and curry powder and cook over moderate heat until lightly browned. Add the wine and cook until evaporated, frequently stirring so as not to burn.
3. Add the cooked squash, water, coconut milk and thyme sprig. Simmer over moderately low heat for 15 minutes.
4. Discard the thyme sprig. Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender until smooth; season with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.

You can also freeze this soup if you want to make it on a Sunday and have it later in the fall or winter. It’s a great way to still have fresh homemade soup without having to spend all day in the kitchen. I recommend putting the soup in 1- or 2-serving size containers and freezing them. That way you can just take one out and have it without needing to defrost the entire 6 servings of soup.

Recipe from Food & Wine Magazine

Roasted potatoes are really easy and this roasted potato recipe is packed with flavor. I used a spice blend that was premixed from Lund’s/Byerly’s grocery store but you could buy one like this or check your local grocery store to see if they have something similar. The key ingredients are sea salt, lemon and herbs. You want to make sure there is salt in the seasoning; if there isn’t, you will probably want to add 1 teaspoon of sea salt to this recipe.

Serve these potatoes with your favorite roasted chicken. I served it with Roasted Chicken with Mustard-Thyme Sauce and Green Salad with Olives and it was superbly matched.

Mediterranean Roasted Potatoes
serves: 6

Ingredients
6 medium yukon gold potatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons Mediterranean seasoning

Directions
1. Heat oven to 375 degress F.

2. Cut potatoes into 1 1/2 inch chunks (about 6-8 pieces per potato). Mix with olive oil and Mediterranean seasoning then place on a roasting pan.

3. Bake in oven for 45-50 minutes or until crispy brown.

Note: if you’re making this with the Roasted Chicken with Mustard-Thyme Sauce recipe, you can add the potatoes at the same time that you start the 45 minute timer at the end of the chicken. The timing will be perfect.

This salad recipe is really simple and quite tasty. It takes less than 5 minutes to make and it packs in the flavor. Serve this alongside Roasted Chicken with Mustard-Thyme Sauce and Mediterranean Roasted Potatoes for a complete meal.

Green Salad with Olives
Serves 6

Ingredients
8 oz salad greens
1/2 cup mixed pitted olives
1/2 bulb fennel, sliced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Directions
1. In a salad bowl, place salad greens, olives and fennel.

2. To make the dressing, whisk together 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil and 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar.

3. Pour dressing over salad and mix to dress.

recipe from epicurious

Dinner is always fun when you randomly throw some ingredients together and hope they turn out. In last night’s case, dinner was a major success … and a surprise!

If I’m not making tacos, I’m thinking about tacos. And if I’m thinking tacos aren’t quite the right dinner option, I’ll figure something else out along the same lines: enchiladas, burritos, quesadillas. Last night, quesadillas won!

These quesadillas have a great balance of smoky, spicy, sweet and savory. Plus, there’s extra peach salsa left over to dip chips in. This recipe is a pretty healthy quesadilla if you make sure you purchase part skim mozzarella cheese.

Peach Salsa

Chipotle Chicken and Peach Salsa Quesadilla
Makes 2 quesadillas

Ingredients
Chipotle Chicken
1/2 pound hormone-free, skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1/2 Tablespoon canola oil
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, diced
1 Tablespoon adobo sauce
2 teaspoon ground cumin

Peach Salsa
1 ripe peach, diced
1 medium tomato, diced
1/2 small yellow onion, diced
1/2 jalapeno, minced (remove seeds for less spice)
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Quesadillas
2 8-inch tortilla shells (flour or spelt)
1/2 cup shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
olive oil cooking spray

Directions
1. Cut 1/2 pound of hormone-free, skinless, boneless chicken breasts into 1/2-inch dice.

2. Heat 1/2 tablespoon canola oil in a medium sized skillet over medium-high heat. When canola oil is shimmering, add diced chicken breast. Cook chicken breasts until cooked through, stirring frequently, about 8 minutes.

3. When chicken is about done, add 1 diced chipotle pepper, 1 tablespoon adobo sauce, and 1 teaspoon cumin to the skillet. Stir to combine and cook an additional minute. Salt and pepper the chicken mixture to taste.

4. While the chicken is cooking, make the salsa. Combine 1 diced peach, 1 diced tomato, 1/2 minced jalapeno, 1 Tablespoon chopped cilantro, juice of half a lemon, and salt and pepper to taste. Combine and let sit to allow flavors to meld. (This is a good opportunity to snack with chips too.)

5. Once the chicken is done cooking with the spices, remove from heat. Heat a medium-sized nonstick skillet over medium heat. Assemble the quesadillas like this:

• Lay tortilla on a flat surface
• Add 1 handful of cheese to half of the tortilla
• Add half of the chicken on top of the cheese
• Add 2-3 tablespoons of salsa on the chicken
• Add 1 handful of cheese over the salsa
• Fold the other half of the tortilla over
• Spray with cooking spray

6. When the nonstick skillet is hot, add one quesadilla to the pan, cooking spray side down. Lightly spray the top of the quesadilla (this is the half without the cooking spray). Cook the quesadilla for about 2-3 minutes per side. Remove from heat and repeat with the second one.

7. Allow the warm quesadilla to sit for a couple of minutes to let the cheese hold everything together. Enjoy!

note: peach salsa recipe inspired by this recipe

Today is my boyfriend’s birthday. And for such a celebration of him turning the ripe old age of 26 (a youngin, I know!) we’ve taken the day off from work. We’re having a couple friends over tonight for some Korean/Japanese food.

Keldon is from Hawaii, so we *must* have Spam! Did you know Hawaii is the largest consumers of Spam? Thank you, WW2 & Hormel.

Plus, with this menu we can use a lot of the great produce we got at the Kingfield Farmer’s Market this Sunday: cucumbers, zucchini, green onions.

This is what we’re planning:

Korean Beef Bulgogi rolled up maki style

Chicken Katsu rolled up maki style

Spam Musubi (hooray! it’s Spam!)

Kim Chee

Green Onion Salad

Zucchini Ribbon Salad with this Asian Dressing

Cucumber Salad

I suppose I’ll be making some sort of guava or passion fruit martini to go along with this, but I have yet to come up with something. Stay tuned.

And of course, I have to rival the Spam cake I made last year…. so there will be a surprise revealed later.

Here is another recipe included in the baby shower menu for my friend last week. It’s a Pip’s Plate original, and we sort of winged it last Sunday. It turned out incredibly yummy – this recipe is a great way to jazz up plain boring grilled asparagus.

We served this alongside Grilled Turkey, Bacon and Blue Cheese Sandwiches.

Lemony Grilled Asparagus with Goat Cheese

makes: 12 servings (6 pieces of asparagus per person)

Grilled Asparagus

3 bundles of asparagus (enough for 6 spears per person)

juice of 1 lemon

3 T olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Garnishes

1 lemon for zesting

3 oz chevre goat cheese

Directions

1. Prepare the asparagus by bending it from each end to determine the ripe part of the asparagus. Snap off the woody ends – you don’t want to eat these.

2. Whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Dress the asparagus and let marinate in a plastic bag for at least 20 minutes.

3. Heat grill to medium high heat. Put asparagus directly onto the grill. Cook for about 8 minutes, turning occasionally to avoid burning.

4. Remove from grill. You can place them on a platter or you can put them on individual plates for serving. Either way, once the asparagus is on a plate, use a microplane grater to zest the lemon over the asparagus. You should use the entire lemon. Then, take the chevre and crumble it on top of the asparagus.

Here is another recipe included in the menu for my friend’s baby shower last week. It’s refreshing, but make sure you are making this when watermelon is in season – the success of this recipe is heavily dependent upon a great tasting watermelon.

We served this along side the Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps as part of the first course.

served in ramekins so the juice wouldn't run into the lettuce wraps

Watermelon, Feta and Mint Salad

makes: 12 servings (about 1 cup each)

3 cups 2-inch chunks fresh watermelon

1 cup crumbled feta cheese

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

2 T chopped fresh mint

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients together in a bowl then serve. It’s that easy.

recipe adapted from epicurious

I’ve been on a healthy food kick lately – which is a good thing. My boyfriend has lymphoedema, so he has to have an extremely low fat diet. He has challenged me recently to cook very low fat recipes that still have a lot of flavor – as if I couldn’t! Ha! Turns out, we’re eating better than we ever have AND we’re sticking to the low fat diet.

I’ve never cooked pressed chicken before, and I have no idea why because this is a really great way to cook chicken. Often when I cook chicken breasts in a skillet on the stove, it splatters all over the place. This cooking style avoids all of the splatter and it cooks the chicken evenly while adding a nice crust without having skin.

Here’s another healthy and low fat recipe that is full of flavor.

Pressed Chicken Breasts with Squash and Tomatoes

Makes: 6 servings

Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

6 boneless, skinless hormone-free chicken breasts (about 4-6 ounces each)

2 T olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 package cherry tomatoes, halved

3 medium yellow squash

zest from half a lemon

3 T chopped fresh marjoram or thyme

Directions

1. Cut out a circle of parchment paper that will cover a large skillet.

2. Heat 1 T oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle one side of the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Add chicken breasts to the pan seasoned side down. Sprinkle the tops of the chicken with salt and pepper. Cover with parchment paper, then top with another heavy skillet (like a cast iron pan), and top with about 2 pounds of weight (broth cans work well).

3. Cook chicken breasts for about 8 minutes on first side, then turn. Place parchment paper, skillet and weights on chicken again. Cook for another 8 minutes or until done.

4. When chicken is fully cooked, remove from the pan and keep warm. You can either put them in a 200 degree F oven, or put them on a plate and cover with foil.

5. Heat the remaining 1 T olive oil in the same pan that you just removed the chicken from. When hot, add garlic, tomatoes, squash, lemon zest, and 2 T marjoram. Saute for about 4 to 5 minutes or until soft. Toss with remaining 1 T marjoram and pour over chicken breasts.

Recipe adapted from Epicurious

One of my favorite foods in the summer time is corn on the cob. I remember as a kid, my mom would give me and my sisters a paper bag and all the corn to sit on the back porch and shuck away.

It might be a bit early for corn on the cob and I spent a little more on it just to have it the other night. But it was totally worth it. The first nice day of 75 degrees in Minneapolis was begging for a grill out. So why not grill corn on the cob? It’s really easy and you can grill it while your burgers cook so you don’t have to go back into the house.

Chili Lime Grilled Corn on the Cob

Makes: 4 servings (easily doubled)

Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

4 corn on the cob, shucked

1/2 T adobo chili powder

1 T salt

1/2 T fresh ground pepper

1/2 stick unsalted butter (you may not use all of it)

4 slices lime

Directions

1. Heat grill to medium-high heat (around 375-400 degrees).

2. To make the seasoning, combine the adobo chili powder, salt and pepper in a small bowl. (If you have a shaker, make a lot of this and keep it for use throughout the summer.)

3. Place corn on the cob on the grill. Cook for about 8-10 minutes, turning every few minutes to ensure even cooking. The corn will blacken in some places – this is ok.

4. When the corn is done, remove from the grill and place on a serving plate. Set out the butter, limes, and seasoning. To finish the corn on the cob, butter the corn, then squeeze a lime over the corn, then sprinkle some seasoning over the corn. Now enjoy!

This recipe is a great side dish to serve with Garlicky Green Turkey Burgers and Strawberry Citrus Salad for a complete quick and easy grilling meal.

The latest issue of Bon Appetit magazine has a ton of great recipes in it, and this Strawberry Citrus Salad caught my eye and I just had to try it. It…is…AMAZING.

Talk about simple food being the best: this recipe has only 4 ingredients and it is packed with flavor. I think this would be pretty good over ice cream too…but I’m just sayin. Plus – it’s a super healthy salad.

Strawberry Citrus Salad

from Bon Appetit May 2009

Makes: enough for a small gathering (8-10 servings or so)

Time: 15 minutes prep + 30 minutes to marinade

Ingredients

2 packages strawberries, washed, cored and quartered

3 large navel oranges, segmented and cut into large chunks

3 T fresh chopped mint

1 T brown sugar

Combine everything together in a bowl, and let it sit for about 30 minutes to marinate and get mascerated goodness. I enjoy this salad by itself or as a simple dessert. In fact, it’s really good after a plate of fried eggs and turkey bacon.

This is a perfect side dish to Garlicky Green Turkey Burgers and Chili Lime Grilled Corn on the Cob for a complete quick and easy grilling meal.