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

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.

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.

I went to my first LAN party a couple weekends ago at a coworker’s house. (Before you skip on to the next post, YES, there is a recipe included here.) It was SO MUCH FUN. Aside from the fact that a group of us play shoot-em-up video games over the lunch hour every day at work, it’s so much more fun to spend at least 8 hours playing on a Saturday. Yes, I officially reached geek status with this event. And I’m OK with that.

I said I’d bring something over and decided to make spring rolls (which were mediocre so I’m not even going to include the recipe here) and the recipe I’m about to talk about.

These were quite good, and you can make them gluten free if you want. Just use a gluten free flour. These were great because they were easy to eat in your hand but not greasy. These would be great as a brunch item too.

The recipe calls for a regular size muffin tin. If I were to make these again, I would make them in a mini muffin pan so there were more. In this case, I would cut the zucchini smaller instead of sliced, but keep a few sliced ones for the garnish.

Little Zucchini and Basil Fritattas

Total Time: 35 min

Active Time: 15 min

Makes: 12

Ingredients

2 T dry breadcrumbs*

2 T olive oil

2-3 cloves garlic, thickly sliced

2-3 zucchini, sliced into 4mm-thick rounds

8 eggs

8 basil leaves, sliced

3/4 cup grated parmesan

100 g feta (preferrably marinated)

1/2 cup self-rising flour**

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Butter a 12 hole nonstick muffin pan. Dust each hole with crumbs then tap out the excess.

Place the olive oil in a large skillet. Gently head the oil over medium-low heat for 1-2 minutes until the garlic starts to sizzle. Remove garlic and discard.

Increase heat to medium-high. Fry zucchini on both sides until golden. Drain on absorbent paper.

In a large bowl, lightly whisk eggs with a fork with the basil, salt and freshly ground pepper (enough to cover the surface of the mixture) until just combined. Stir in the Parmesan and flour until combined.

Divide the fried zucchini and feta throughout the muffin tin. Place 12 pieces of zucchini aside as a garnish.

Pour the egg mixture into each muffin hole (about 1/4 cup) and top with a slice of zucchini.

Gently tap the sides of the muffin tray to ensure the mixture has spread throughout the muffin hole.

Bake for 20-25 minutes – until the the fritattas feel firm when gently pressed and spring back.

Remove from oven and allow them to settle in the pan for about 10 minutes before gently easing them out.

based off of this chow.com recipe

*I typically bake in stoneware, so I don’t need to grease anything. I skipped the breadcrumb step altogether. If you don’t have stoneware, I use rice breadcrumbs as a GF alternative.

**Use gluten free flour here instead if you wish to make these GF.

Light and creamy usually don’t go together. But! If you substitute sour cream for heavy cream, then you still end up with a creamy consistency and cut off a lot of the fat.

This is another recipe that I whipped up from stuff I had on hand at home when I didn’t feel like going to the grocery store.

This recipe is vegetarian, but you could easily add shrimp or chicken to it if you like. Just add protein after the garlic and onion, cook for a few minutes till brown, then add the tomatoes and stew for about 5 minutes, then add the remaining ingredients and follow the instructions.

Light Creamy Pasta

serves 4

time under 20 minutes

8 oz egg noodles

1 T olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 small onion, sliced

14.5 oz canned whole tomatoes, crushed by hand

1/4 cup sour cream (any variety – soy, light, fat free, etc)

6 oz artichoke hearts, quartered, not marinated or packed on oil

1 T fresh chopped thyme

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook egg noodles for about 3 minutes (they should be al dente). Reserve the pasta water when draining.

2. Heat 1 T olive oil over medium heat in large skillet. Add garlic and onion – saute for 1 -2 minutes or until soft.

3. Crush tomatoes in a bowl by hand just to break them up so you don’t have huge chunks of tomatoes. Add to the pan with the sour cream. Mix well to distribute the sour cream.

4. Add artichokes and pasta. Continue to cook until everything is heated through and the pasta is cooked – about another 3-4 minutes. Add additional pasta water if you need more liquid.

5. Sprinkle with fresh thyme and add salt and pepper to taste.

At our last book club meeting for Petal Pushers (which I didn’t read after hearing is was just so-so), we had brunch at one of the women’s houses. I brought dessert this time. Again, it was another episode of “I have so much <blank> from my CSA…what can I make with it?”

I found some inspiration from epicurious.com for their Fig and Raspberry Galette recipe, but I didn’t want to make the crust (short on time and poor reviews) so I ran over to the store and purchased some frozen puff pastry.

I have to leave for book club in an hour. And I had just bought frozen puff pastry. I had no idea what I was doing, but I figured I make something work. Turns out…the how-to-thaw-frozen-puff-pastry on the back of the package works! WHY have I never tried this before? Essentially lay it out on the counter for 40 minutes.

I also didn’t want to make one giant galette, so instead I pulled out my Donna Hay cookbook (remembering seeing a galette recipe in there) and worked some magic into individual servings…

Fig and Raspberry Galette

serves: 12

time: 1 hour 30 min (includes puff pastry thawing time…exclude 40 minutes if it’s already thawed)

Ingredients

1 pound fresh ripe figs (about 10), sliced

4 T sugar, divided

3/4 cup fresh raspberries

1 large egg yolk beaten to blen with 1 t water (for glaze)

1 sheet puff pastry

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Slice figs and place in a bowl with 2T sugar. Toss together and let sit. Toss raspberries in another bowl with remaining 1 T sugar.

Roll out puff pastry to approximately 14 x 10 inches. Using a pizza cutter, cut into 12 even rectangles. Place on a jelly roll pan evenly spread out.

Put 4 slices of figs on each of the puff pastry pieces, leaving about 1/2 – 1 inch edge. Top with raspberries. Using a pastry brush (or your finger if you don’t have a pastry brush), brush the edges of the puff pastry. Sprinkle the remaining 1 T sugar on the edges.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the puff pastry is browned and the filling is bubbling.

ALTERNATIVE: I haven’t tried this, but I think soaking the raspberries in balsamic vinegar and honey instead of the sugar would give this some depth of flavor. Try soaking raspberries in 1 T balsamic vinegar and 1/2 T honey.

This is another recipe from the weekend menu for the Creative Retreat.

Grilled Chile Pineapple

serves 8

1 whole pineapple, peeled, cored, and sliced lengthwise into long sticks

1 T chili powder

1 T cayenne powder

Preheat grill to medium high.

Prepare pineapple by mixing the chili powder and cayenne together then rub onto pineapple. Grill for about 8-10 minutes, turning halfway through.