teacher by day - chef by night
I have often talked about growing up and working at Quiet Valley – a place that is near and dear to my heart. At the farm, there is an 1800’s Bake Oven, which gets fired up weekly to cook/bake the most delicious breads & other …
Fall is in the air. We did our apple picking a few weeks ago and then last weekend we headed to the corn maze. After Fun Fall Frolicking we needed some tasty fall dishes.
I do not remember seeing this in my Food & Wine (either that or I did not have lots of fresh veggies sitting around at the time so it didn’t catch my eye). Right now we (as I am sure you do too) have a lot of fresh veggies sitting around on the counter (and my counters are not too spacious, so it is making cooking even more challenging) – but it is a “problem”I am willing to face!! This casserole is so easily adaptable – do not feel the need to run out to the store to get any new ingredients! If you don’t have eggplant ’cause you didn’t grow it: leave it out! If you want to add some other veggies to roast – go for it!
WARNING: You house will smell AWESOME while this is cooking, so you will be hungry the whole time this is baking (so you might want to have a fresh dip & veggies or Cucumber Boats or something ready while this is cooking so you can not starve).
If anyone can figure out a way to bottle the smell of roasting veggies, please let me know! Or maybe even a candle that smells like veggies and garlic roasting in the oven could be awesome?!? In search of such an amazing item, I was browsing and found “The Roasted Vegetable” cookbook which will at least allow for the smells of roasted vegetables to fill the house every day, anyone own it/opinions?
(as adapted from Food & Wine)
Preheat the oven to 425°. Oil 2 large rimmed baking sheets. Put the zucchini slices on one sheet and the eggplant on the other. Brush the slices all over with oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange the slices on each sheet in a slightly overlapping layer. Bake for 15 minutes, until tender.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil. Add the shallot and cook over moderate heat until softened, 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook over high heat until slightly softened and bubbling, 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper.
Oil a large, shallow baking dish (about 10 by 15 inches). Lay half of the eggplant in the dish and spread one-fourth of the tomatoes on top. Scatter with half of the cheese and basil. Layer half of the zucchini on top, followed by another one-fourth of the tomato and the remaining basil, eggplant and zucchini. Top with the remaining tomato and cheese. Mix the panko with the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil and sprinkle over the casserole. Bake in the upper third of the oven for 20 minutes, until bubbling and crisp. Let stand for 5 minutes, then serve hot or warm (perfect for leftovers too)
And I leave you with this, today’s Survey Question of the Day… What smell[s] do you love to have filling the house?
Quick and Easy – the hardest part of this recipe is peeling & chopping the squash up before cooking it (I didn’t want the roasted flavor of precooking today). AND the hardest part I got out of doing this time since while making breakfast I …
I know that we are well past Halloween, but before heading out for Halloween a few weeks ago we had friends over. I had seen a recipe for a Squash Soup in my November Food & Wine that I wanted to try, but then saw …
This week was the start of fall – but I think that someone forgot to tell the temperatures & atmosphere and all of those things that! Since fall is here, winter squash is starting to go on sale & I just couldn’t resist. I have had it sitting on the counter for a few days and when one of my best friends said she finally could squeeze time in to see me (its rough only living a few miles away & never having free time at the same time!) I decided to get inspired by this great recipe from Simply Recipes (another great resource for anything in the kitchen when you are low on ideas or inspiration or know how or whatever!)
I modified it a bit (so I didn’t have to stop at the store on the way home) and of course didn’t measure – but my version (while in the middle of my annual “back to school” cold and not having much of any sense of smell and dulled tastebuds (but still got a thumbs up from Jess) was…
Heat Olive Oil, saute onions & garlic until opaque, deglaze pan with some red wine. Add in the diced butternut squash (I pre-roasted mine in the toaster oven – cut side down with water in the bottom of the pan for just a bit for about 30 minutes) & about 1/2 cup of chicken stock (I use water & the powdered kind). Let that simmer for about 10 minutes, then start gently mashing it up. Add in the rest of your ingredients & start the pasta water. Once you put the pasta in (I would love to try this next time using whole wheat pasta for an even more ‘hearty/healthy” fall meal) give the sauce another taste test & do any last minute doctoring. Serve it up & grate some fresh parmesan (I go cheap and try to always keep some from the “regular” cheese aisle in the fridge – wrapped in tin foil it seems to do pretty well for quite a while!)
Bring on the cooler temps & fall cooking!