Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Cheese Puffs

From delish.com
Very good and easy to make.  Bready and cheesy.  More bready than a Brazilian cheese puff.
Eric said it was too peppery, so add less next time or none.
Cook to eat with Italian dinner.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup water
4 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 tsp granulated sugar
1 tsp freshly ground white pepper (optional)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
1/2 cup freshly grated Gruyere, plus more for topping

Direction
1. Preheat oven to 400 deg and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
2. In a medium saucepan, combine water, butter, salt, sugar, and white pepper and bring to a boil.  Add the flour all at once and stir with a wooden spoon until a smooth dough forms.  Continue to cook until dough pulls away from the pan and forms a ball, and a film develops on the bottom of the pot, about 2 minutes
3. Transfer dough to a bowl and continue to mix with a wooden spoon to cool slightly, 1 minute.  Beat eggs, one at a time, mixing until smooth and fully incorporated after each addition.
4. Fold in gruyere
5. Transfer batter to a piping bag or use a small (2 tsp capacity) cookie scoop to create small, inch-wide mounds on prepared baking sheet (needs to be all same size), about an inch apart.  Top with more gruyere and bake until puffed and golden, 20-25 min

Monday, October 23, 2023

Butternut Squash Pasta with Homemade Sausage

Initially had recipe from skinnytaste.com, but I joujed a recipe from NYT better. Eric liked and said he would have again!
Homemade sausage recipe joujed from thebigmansworld.com (added fennel)


Ingredients:
-2.5 lbs butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 3/4 inch pieces (weighed 3 lbs)
-2 garlic cloves (used whole head)
-olive oil
-salt and pepper
-3/4 packed cup fresh sage leaves (used 1 bag from store which was more like 1/4 cup)
-3/4 cup chopped walnuts (used an old bag, but could use more at least 1 cup)
-1 lemon zested (about 1 Tbsp) (+ half a lemon juice)
-1 cup low sodium chicken or vegetable stock
-1 pound short pasta
-1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
-VEGGIES: 1 yellow onion, 1 red bell pepper, 1 bunch of asparagus

Homemade sausage:
-2 lbs ground turkey 
-2 tsp salt - used big 1 tsp salt
-1 tsp pepper - use more
-1 tsp dried sage - use more
-1 tsp garlic powder - use more
-1 tsp brown sugar
-1 tsp fennel - use more

Directions:
1. Peel and dice squash. Bake for 400 degrees with olive oil, salt, pepper for 35 min. Turn halfway.
2. Place squash + garlic + 1 cup of stock in blender until smooth and thick (stored in fridge)
3. Boil pasta al dente.  Reserve 1 cup pasta water aside. (stored in fridge)
4. Zest lemon onto plate + juice half of a lemon (set aside)
5. Grate parmesan cheese onto plate
6. Cook veggies in oven
7. Used large saucepan - heated avocado oil - added sage for about a minute. Then added walnuts + salt.  Cook until sage leaves are lightly browned and crisp.  Transfer to paper towel on plate.  Add zested lemon and mix
8. Cook ground turkey + spices.
9. Add pureed squash + lemon juice + pasta water + parmesan cheese. Can add more salt/pepper.
10. Sprinkle with sage/walnut/zest mixture. Didn't add extra parmesan.


Notes:
-Had about 3/4 cup walnuts in a bag, but could do more - try a full cup
-Only used juice from half a lemon, but try the whole lemon. Good lemon flavor from the nuts/zest.
-Use more spices for the sausage - I had sprinkled more on top of the ground turkey, but not sure how much
-try mixing spices in with turkey to marinate and store in fridge in bowl

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