The salad that should have been dinner: Roasted delicata squash, pecans, radicchio, and arugula salad

Well, that title is a mouthful isn't it, ragazzi?  And so was this salad.  And there is a lesson to be learned here.  Sometimes, "enough" is too much.  Let Annalena explain.  The salad which follows, was intended as a side dish to a main meal of scallops with a beet and cucumber relish (which Annalena will post, in due course).  She actually thought that the salad would be a good accompaniment. 
It was.  It would have been a better dinner.  And so it goes.  We learn.  So, as you go through this recipe, please keep in mind that this is substantial.  You can make it MORE substantial if you're REALLY hungry, but you better be really hungry.

We start with one of the early fall squashes, delicata:

The one pictured is very young.  As they mature, these will turn yellow, and orange.  They will do so on your counter top, but keep an eye on them.  In Annalena's experience, these, and spaghetti squash, do not keep as well as the butternut and acorn varieties, so try to use them sooner rather than later.  

After you've put your oven at 425, you'll cut this critter in half, lengthwise (careful.  The skin is not all that tender:

Some people like to roast these seeds, but Annalena ain't got time for that.  Whether you roast them or not, you have to scoop these out, with a big spoon.  Then, you'll have a semi hollow squash.  You can turn it upside down, and then cut each half, into semi circles:

While you're prepping the squash, and the oven is heating up, throw about a cup of pecan halves onto a baking sheet, and put them in the oven.  In the time it takes for the oven to get to 425, they will roast (Annalena forgot to take pictures of this).  

You now take these half moons of squash, and mix them with honey, and chili powder:

(Lest Annalena forget, the man who sells her honey, is a HUNK.  Let's go visit him sometime, ok?).  So, while you "reminisce" about Andrew, your honey man, put the squash, a big tablespoon of honey,  two tablespoons of olive oil, and a pinch of chili powder in a bowl, together with a scanty teaspoon of salt.  Toss it all together, and then dump it onto a baking sheet, covered with parchment, and smooth out the squash to a single layer.    Put this into the oven, and let it roast for about 30 minutes.  Turn the pieces over with some tongs, every ten minutes or so.  You'll get:

If you recall, we've already roasted our pecans, they're out of the oven, and now, we've roasted our squash.  You can see how much it has shrunk.  So, you can combine your pecans and squash on one baking sheet, at different corners if you like.  You should not mix them at this point, because the residual moisture in the squash, will undermine your toasted pecans.  You COULD also combine the pecans and squash, and eat them without the salad, or you could eat the squash as is, and forget about the pecans.  Remember, ragazzi, you always have options. 

Let us now address the salad greens.  We are using radicchio:

If you are not familiar with this beautiful, reddish purple vegetable, you would be forgiven for thinking that it must be sweet.  IT IS NOT.  Indeed, Annalena remembers when she first encountered radicchio in the 80s, bit into what she thought was going to be the sweetest lettuce she has ever tasted, and spat it out.  Radicchio is a cicory, and all of the cicories (endive, tardivo, etc), are bitter.  They are Italian, in fact, from around the Venice area, and they are very well favored by Italians.  Americans, well.... we'll get there.  And for what it's worth, they are very resilient, and you can quarter them, and grill or roast them, and they DO sweeten. 

NOT TODAY SATAN.  We're going to simply quarter these, and then slice them into thin slices:

Eyeball how much radicchio you have, and add about an equal quantity of - another bitter green - arugula:

For those of you who are concerned with "eating bitterness" (ask a Chinese friend.  Many of Annalenas readers have been doing so for 2 years plus), rest assured the pecans, the squash, and our dressing, which follows, will sweeten this.

Now, to the dressing.  Originally, this dressing was made, with buttermilk.  Annalena had no buttermilk, but she had.... creme fraiche.  And if you wish to go completely vegan (did you notice we are vegan so far?), get your hands on a thick nut milk, or make it  yourself (it is not hard), and combine about half a cup of your buttermilk/creme fraiche/nut milk, together with the juice of one lemon, and another scant teaspoon of salt.  

Annalena added a grated clove of garlic, and wishes she didn't.  The garlic taste was very, very strong.  So leave it out if you don't want that strong a flavor.  Finally, add 1/4 cup of good quality olive oil, and mix the whole thing together:

And we're ready to literally toss this thing together.  Put the squash and pecans into a bowl with the greens, mix them together, add the dressing, and mix it again:

This is a rather substantial salad, ragazzi.  If you feel like you may be hungry, or there will be more, hungry people, you should add some fried tempeh or tofu, if you wish to keep the vegan or vegetarian aspect of it.  Scallops would be nice, and so would some very rare tuna, or even some steak.  As Annalena said, you have your options.  

And there we are for  this week.  Annalena wishes you all well.  Seriously, ALL of you, be well.  Take care of yourselves.  Share.  And be nice to each other.  Ultimately, all we have, is each other. 

A contemporary stone soup: celery, or celery root soup, with or without cheese

Ciao ragazzi.  A new week, and let us try to  forget the horrors of the week,  with a focus on some good things.  Ascolta:  Annalena was in the tower for the bomb threat, and she walked down 33 flights of stairs.  What sustained her was the woman next to her, who was even more frightened.  In summary, Annalena did what you would expect her to do.  She said to her new friend  'NO, YOU ARE NOT GOING TO DIE, NOW TAKE OFF THOSE HEELS AND GIVE THEM TO ME. YOU'LL WALK FASTER."  Because that, amici, is what we do.    And we cook.  So, let's cook.

Do any of you remember the old story "Stone soup?"  It is a story we might all do well to recall:  someone starts making a very impoverished dish by putting a stone in a kettle with boiling water.  As people go by, they add what extra "anything" they have.  At the end, our hero (sometimes a heroine) eats lavishly.

Annalena thinks of this as a stone soup, because you can pretty much make it from what you probably have in the house.  And, it also features a vegetable you probably have at all times, and never use:  celery.

Annalena is guilty of this.  While there are vegetables she does not like (kale, brussels sprouts, although she is trying on these.  Parsnips, not so much), she likes celery.  And it's in the house, to add "backbone" to dishes.  But she never eats celery as "CELERY."  Can we have a show of hands on that?  Yes, she thought so.  This soup celebrates the indispensable celery.

Or, its relative, celery root.  You will see it sold as "celeriac" at times.  Yes, it IS the root of celery, although what we see in the markets as celery root, is not the root of the celery we buy and don't use.  The actual green vegetable that comes up out of celery root, is stringy, and tough.  You will see it, sometimes, as "soup celery," or in those packages of "vegetables for soup, " where a savvy business person has put together a carrot, an onion, and so forth, and some celery s/he can't sell elsewhere, marked them up 200%, and POOF.  You can make your own soup.

So what else is new?  Annalena digresses.  Conversely, the root of what we buy as "celery," is tiny, and almost useless.    We are going to need one, or both of those today.  We are going to need, as well, some onions, and potatoes, some fresh herbs, and some water. 

What you see in this pictue, behind the box of the (optional) cream cheese, is a celery root.  To prep it, you're going to need to cut away all that brown stuff, and then cut the white stuff into cubes.  But to continue.  We are making four quarts of soup today (stone soup is meant to be shared), but you may cut all of these quantities in half.    And the measurements here, are very, VERY approximate.  You will need one large bunch of celery, preferably organic, leaves and all.  Also two large onions.  You  can also add one small celery root.  OR, you can substitute ALL of the celery, with about 4 pounds of celery root (before you clean it). 

You will need to cut the onions roughly,  and do the same with your celery, and/or the celery root:

You will also need about 2 pounds of potatoes.  You'll peel, and cube these:

These potatoes are a new variety to Annalena, and they are called "satina."  One day, if you are a true food geek, go look up how many varieties of potato there are, and try to learn as much as you can about them.  They are different. Annalena learned that today with these potatoes, as we shall see. 

So, now, we are going to cook.  Get your big old soup pot, and cover the bottom with olive oil.  Add the onions, and a big sprig of rosemary, or several of thyme (and if you don't have them, just make the soup without them)

Drop your heat to VERY low, and cover the pot.  Let these cook at low temperature, and stir them every 2-3 minutes or so.  When they just begin to brown, you're done.  Take the rosemary out after ten minutes.  The onions will take about 15:

At this point, if Annalena told you , you were pretty much finished "cooking, " you would probably believe her.  And you are.  What you do, now, is you add the potatoes, the celery, the celery root, and two quarts of water:

Raise the heat slightly, and cover your pot.   Come back after 20 minutes:

The Guyman would eat this soup as it is, and you can do so, too.  But we're going to go on.  And now that comment about potatoes.  Had Annalena used her usual yukon golds, they would have been tender and falling apart.  In contrast, the satinas essentially took her knife hostage and wouldn't give it back.  So, Annalena cooked the soup another 15 minutes (you will probably need to do that if you use only celery root too).  When she went to the internet, Annalena learned that satinas are an "all purpose waxy potato."

AH.  Waxies take longer to cook, and don't break up (sort of like Annalena and the Guyman).  So, when the potatoes had not disintegrated after 30 minutes, Annalena knew... BASTA. 

Now, if you are going to go the root of cheese,  you will need a package of cream cheese (8 ounces), and the same quantity of sharp cheddar.  

Did you know, by the way, that in Europe,  cream cheese is called "Philadelphia"  Seriously.  You may be able to buy other brands, but rather than call it "cream cheese," which is a very different product in Europe,  you will be buying "Philadelphia"  (and you will pay a lot of money.  It is NOT a big thing in Europe). 

So, whether you are going to use the cheese or not, you now have to puree the soup.  That means letting it cool, to lukewarm, and then doing it in batches.  You have a lot.  Three to  four total trips to your blender are probably needed: 

See that slightly green color to it?  It's beautiful.  You are going to lose it if you add the cheese, so that's something you should consider.  And what you do is you puree the pureed soup again, this time with the cheeses:

Did you notice that Annalena did not mention salt in this recipe?  She did not because , yet more food geek stuff, celery needs salty soil to grow.  It grows where other stuff won't.  And cheddar can be salty.  So at the end, taste your soup, and add the salt you want.    This is what Annalena got:

This is four quarts of soup.  Annalena and the Guyman will eat one.  They will share the other three.  Because, ragazzi,  that is what stone soup is about:  sharing.  And it's something we all need to learn, or learn better.  We HAVE  to start sharing what we have.  Honestly, in Annalena's view, the only thing that is keeping us together is the ability to share with others.  ALL of us have something in abundance.  SHARE IT.  

And  there.  Annalena was preachy ,but "thoughts and prayers" are not  going to cut it anymore.  So, make some soup, SHARE it, and you'll feel much better about things.    Annalena la promessa

Impress your friends: "Gateau Breton" with aromatic plums

 Ciao, ragazzi.  Today, we're making dessert.  We're making it with plums, which are still aplenty in the market.  As the weather turns closer to freezing,  it's good to know, though, that we can make this ultimately, very easy cake, with many things.

The cake we are making today, is a variation on a classic dessert called a "gateau breton".  The crust we use, is essentially what is used in that cake.  Traditionally, the filling is a mix of dried, spiced fruit.   Those of you who have had the fortune to eat Basque food, will recognize elements of gateau basque, where a custard is sandwiched between two layers of rich dough.  Use dried fruit, or apples, or pears, or if you want, get some of the wonderful products American Spoon makes, and do this.  It is really not that hard.

When Annalena read the recipe, the instructions were "you can make the components ahead of time, but make the cake the day you wish to eat it.  "YESSIR YESMAAM."  In fact, leftovers kept well for a day.  They didn't last beyond that.  Annlena does see, however, that this is a wet filling, and it will make your pastry soggy.  With that in mind, lets make the components when we have time, and then make the cake.   Here we go.

First, the filling.  You will need 3 pounds of plums.  Any variety will do.  Wash them if you must, and then cut them into slices.  No surgical precision needed.  You will add these to a pot, and add a few ingredients, some which are a bit unusual.  First, add a teaspoon of cinnamon (not so odd.  If you have cinnamon sticks, use one of those), then add 2 teaspoons of honey  (not so odd, but not common).  Here's the odd one:  a big stalk of fresh rosemary.  And, if you have it, a bit of grated fresh ginger doesn't hurt.  Put that all in a big, heavy pot, and add 1-3 tablespoons of sugar, depending on how sweet you like things (Annalena used 1).

You will cook this, at very low heat, for 20-30 minutes.  You're looking for something jammy, and thick.  Please read what Annalena says about this, below.   Here is what things look like after 15 minutes:

And then, after 30:

That doesn't look particularly jammy, does it?  Well, as it cools, the magic happens.  So pluck out the rosemary, pluck out the cinnamon stick, if the cooking released any plum pits, pull those out, and store this stuff until it's cold.  Now, we're going to make the dough.  We start with a cup of sugar.  You put this in  your food processor, and pulse to make it fine (DO NOT take a "short cut" and use confectioner's.  Annalena would rather you not do the step than make that change)

 You then add to this, 2.5 cups of flour, more cinnamon (a teaspoon of ground this time), and a bit of salt.  Pulse this, and you'll get what we have above.  

Now, we add our rich ingredients.   We need half a pound of unsalted butter, and 5 eggs:

Separate one of those eggs, so you're adding four eggs, and one egg yolk.  See how Annalena cut the butter in cubes?  Yup.  Do that.  Add the butter first, and pulse until  you get really granular stuff:

Add the eggs and egg yolk to this.  First, pulse.  You'll get what looks like a hopeless mess:

Pazienza.  You'll eventually get:

Dump that out, form a ball, and then cut that ball into halves:

Wrap each half, and let it chill.  You want this to be at the same temperature as your filling. 

The wonderful thing about this dough, is that it remains very soft.  So, while you CAN use a rolling pin, what will follow is something  you can do with your fingers. 

Get a springform pan: 8 inches is better, but 9 inches is just fine.  Seal it up, and put it on a baking sheet.  Grease it, perhaps with the butter from the paper of the butter used in the dough.  Start pressing the first piece on the bottom.  You'll be amazed how easy it is to do.  Don't get fancy, it's not important.  It IS important that you cover the whole bottom.  Then dump the filling in.   Then, you have to press out the rest of the dough.  Use the plastic or foil you just used to wrap the stuff.  Not sure if you have a big enough piece?  Put the pan over it.  You want something just a little bit bigger, and if it's not right, then just keep pressing with your fingers.  YOU CAN DO THIS.

Put that on top of the filling, get a fork, and seal the layers.  Don't worry about plum juice escaping.  It's all good.  

Finally, get one more egg, and beat it with a tablespoon of water.  Make a little pattern on the top, brush it with egg, and get it in the oven .  Your temperature is 350, and your baking time is an hour.   And....

Let this cool, and run a knife around the edge to break the carmelized layer, which you can see.  Leave it at room temperature, and serve it with something on the sweet side, because the tart will be rich, but not that sweet.  Annalena used raspberry ice cream, sort of as a homage to late summer.  Whipped cream is fine.

So, there we are ragazzi.  Annalena  hopes you like the two recipes this week.  She has no idea what the week will bring, but she'll be back with something new.  Until then,  INTO THE KITCHEN WITH ALL OF YOU!!!!

Use it while you have it: yellow squash soup with spinach

 Ciao ragazzi.   Remember that Annalena told you she would be gone last week, and wouldn't be able to post?  Well, she hopes you missed her, and that you had plenty to consider with the recipes she left.  We're back in session this week, and we're working with end of summer produce.  First, we are going to make a vegetarian (but not vegan) soup.

All summer long, we have had "zucchini".    Some of you may think  "at times, that's ALL we had," and yes, they CAN take over a garden, can't they.  But now, we are at the point where, sadly, we will be saying "ciao" to them for about 8 months.
As the careful reader of Annalena's blog knows, "zucchini" just means "small squash."  One of them, is a zucchino.  And while it is more correct to use zucchino/i to refer ONLY to the long, green ones, we have in fact started using the word for all of the summer squashes.  Annalena is not sure how she feels about that.  It is true that, flavor wise, most of the summer squashes taste pretty much the same (in Annalena's mind, cucuzza does not); however, the textures are really different.  We are working today with one of the pattypan/sunburst squashes.  You can get them in green or yellow.  Annalena favors the yellow ones, again for reasons she cannot fathom.  But she does.  So if you have only green, or a mix of yellow or green, use that.  You will also find white ones available, and you can use those too.   You will need 2 pounds for this recipe, but you CAN cut that in half if you are not cooking for an army.   "Size matters" here.  Try to get your squash at the size where about 3 of them weigh a pound.  (You should not need your calculator to figure out:  that's  6):

 You are going to need an equal quantity of potatoes.  We thus, will need 2 pounds, unless you are cutting the recipe in half.  Here, size does not really matter, nor does the type of potato.  Annalena had yukon golds (her favorites) and some Peruvian blues.  You can use a mix, but try not to use ALL blue potatoes, unless you are inordinately fond of blue colored food.  Peel the potatoes, and cut them into chunks.

 You will also need one large (about 12 ounces) white onion.  Again, you can choose a red one if you have it, but don't turn to Vidalia's or any of the sweet ones.  Go smaller, if you're making less soup.  Peel and roughly chop that onion:

 Now, we can begin cooking.  You will want from 1/2-3/4 of a stick of butter, unsalted please, in a big pan.  Melt it, and saute' the onion in it, until it begins to turn white and translucent.  It will happen quickly.  Annalena is weird, but she loves when this happens:

 While that onion is cooking, we are going to make our "stock. " Our stock is a mixture of water and milk.  Your ratio is 3 parts water, to 1 part milk.  The milk should be whole, or 2%.  We will be using 2 cups of milk, and 6 cups of water:

 If Annalena told you most of your work were done, would you believe her?  Well... please cut those squash into chunks, and add them, with the potatoes, to the sauteed onions, and add the milk/water mixture.  You'll cook this, for about 20 minutes.  Milk DOES bubble up, so keep the heat low, and do not cover the pot.  You'll know you're ready for the next step, when the squash and potatoes are so tender that a knife goes right through them:

 How did she get a green soup from those ingredients?  AH.  Now we find out.  You will need 8 ounces of baby spinach.  It is almost impossible to find an 8 ounce portion of baby spinach, unless you wish to take a detour and cook some yourself.  Annalena wishes you well in that case.  She took a package of 10 ounces of baby spinach:

 And then she added them directly to the hot liquid.  The spinach will collapse almost immediately.

 NOW, all you have to do is wait for the soup to cool, and puree it in your blender:

There is sentiment to cook a couple of cups of soup pasta (like pastina, stelline, or ditalini), and add it to the finished soup.  Annalena sees no reason for this, given the quantity of potatoes. She does like to add some dried tomato pesto to it, if she has it.    One thing you MUST do at this point, is taste the soup for salt, because we haven't added any.  We saved it to the end because our flavors here are not strong.  Also, we have just made approximately four quarts of soup.  Your salt preference will be different from the people with whom you will share it.

Soups based on potato and milk do not freeze well, so please plan to share this with friends.  Or have a big dinner party, based on this soup and some pizza, or a quiche, or something along those lines.

We get jaded during the squash season (like during corn season, or tomato season, or peach season, etc).  This is the tale end, ragazzi, and we will be switching to winter squash soon. So, make this while you can.  You will enjoy it.  And if you have picky eaters, they will, too.

Late summer vegetable soup, or okra soup, or gumbo soup. You decide

Ciao ragazzi.  As Annalena promised, she is giving you four recipes today.  Here is the finale.  It's a good one too.
Years ago, when Annalena was a vegetarian (the late 70s, through the early 90s), it was not that easy to find sources for cooking GOOD vegetarian cooking.  And if you keep in mind that GOOD is a relative term, one book that we all used, was "Laurel's Kitchen."  This book came out of the time when books of this type included very heartfelt, well written essays on why the writers had become vegetarian, what their philosophy was, etc.  You could take all of it, or part of it,  and you always had the recipes.
For Annalena,  the book was somewhat sanctimonious about the sacred nature of the home, and how women should consider giving up careers for something much more important:  sustaining their families.  Indeed, many of Laurel's recipes involved agonizing amounts of time.  For heaven's sake, she made her own FUCKING PHYLLO.  And she thought nothing about searching for an hour, two hours, etc, to get whole wheat pasta.  SHE MADE HER OWN FUCKING FIG NEWTONS.    Now, again, this could get very intimidating and scary for the beginning chef, but there is an honesty, and a "heart" to the recipes,  which led you back, time and time again.  Ok, so maybe you did NOT want to make the Indian "desam" starter which took three weeks of daily care, and maybe the tin foil did melt on the fruit cake which aged for four months, but there were other recipes that were either starters to more adventuresome cooking, or were end points with very good dishes.  For example, Annalena learned how to make "chilaquiles" from this book.  When she ate chilaquiles in an authentic Mexican restaurant, Annalena learned that the ones she made, were related as second or third cousins of the real thing, but at least there was a leg up in learning how to make them.
And there WERE recipes which did NOT involve tremendous amounts of time.  And Annalena goes back to Laurel, over and over.  This soup is based on one in the book, called "gumbo soup."  It mentions, early on, that some may not consider this "gumbo."  Indeed, Annalena does not.  There is some sentiment that says any dish which has okra in it, is "gumbo."  Others feel that naming any dish other than the complex creole "file' gumbo" as gumbo, is sacrilege.  So Annalena  gives you several names for this dish.
Also, because many of you will turn  your nose up to okra, Annalena suggests two things.  First, get to know okra better.  Annalena knows why you avoid it.  It's slimy.  And indeed, it CAN be.  It does not HAVE to be.  There are tricks, which Annalena will outline in this recipe.    Or, if you like the idea of this soup, make changes.  Substitute the okra with something else.  Annalena did that with a vegetable which revolts her:  lima beans.  Soup making is very much like that.  As Laurel says  "all you really need is vegetables, an onion and water."    We'll use water and onion, but we will use much more than that.  And here we go. 

There IS a somewhat intimidating list of ingredients, but when  you go through them, you probably have most of them, or can get them very easily.  Here's pics of all of them:

In the first photo, you will see a large onion, chopped,  three gloves of garlic, also chopped, five peeled and chopped plum tomatoes, and a serrano chili , cut in half lengthwise. 

The tomatoes are fresh.  If all you have are canned, use them.  Drain the liquid and use it for your stock, and chop up the tomatoes until you get a good two cups.  The serrano is optional. Don't use it, use a jalapeno, or use nothing.

The second photo contains the kernels from two ears of fresh corn, a chopped green  pepper, and two cups of peeled fava beans.  Those fava beans were supposed to be lima beans.  Nope.  Not on Annalena's watch.  She had favas, and in they went.  If you don't have favas or lima beans, think about the two options and find something similar.  You can do it.  (maybe canellini beans?)

And finally:

This soup was actually motivated by Annalena finding some beautiful organic okra and bringing it home, thinking she'd do something with it.  

Now, we start cooking.  We begin by sauteeing the onion, in two tablespoons of oil - any kind.  Annalena added half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper.  You don't have to:

After two minutes, toss in the garlic, and cook it for another two minutes.  Now, add the green pepper, the serrano if you are using it,

,  and the tomatoes

You want to add a teaspoon or so of salt, and cook these at low heat, for about five minutes.  You'll see the tomatoes begin to disintegrate into a small amount of juice.

NOW, and ONLY NOW, cut the okra into circles.  Start by getting rid of the blossom end at the top, and cut small circles.  You don't need the point either.  You want about two cups of the stuff:

While you are slicing the okra, you may feel a bit of the sliminess.  You won't get too much of it  (By the way, that sliminess is something called a "saponin."  These molecules are in the same family as are soaps). 

So after the five minutes of the pepper/tomato mixture cooking, you add the corn, the beans, and the okra:

That looks good, doesn't it?  We add another teaspoon of salt, and cook this gently, for about ten minutes.  All of these vegetables contain a great deal of water, and we're releasing it. 

Now, we add six cups of plain old water to the mix:

If you can lower your heat even more, do so, and let the stuff cook for another 10-15 minutes.    At that point, your soup is ready:

What you will find is that that "sliminess you expect from okra, has instead transformed this soup into something thicker, and silky.  You can eat this now, or you can let it sit, and it will thicken even more, to form almost a stew. 

Annalena will serve this with popovers. If you want to do that, check your search engine on this blog. Annalena gave you a recipe.  Popovers are rich, but go back and review:  there are two tablespoons of oil in this recipe, which produced three quarts of soup for Annalena.  She thinks you can have a rich side dish with this. 

Annalena will see you in two weeks, maybe with more recipes.  Hopefully so.  Now, she asks you all to go out, and cook.  And let her know how it goes.