Roasted Squash, Spicy Chicken and Caramelized Onion Risotto

I know the picture isn't beautiful, but I'm not a photographer, and risotto isn't exactly photogenic.  But trust me, this is a powerhouse of taste!  Sometimes piecing together a meal from the pantry and fridge is good enough, and although perhaps tasty, not going to be called back to the show again anytime soon.  And then there are dishes that after a long day of working hard (me at work, Matt showing the yard and leaves who's boss), come together in such a way as to boggle the mind.  This dish has just enough (but not too much) spicy heat to warm up on a fall day, the creamy comfort of risotto and the sweetness of roasted squash and caramelized onions.

I used a medium delicata squash for this, but use whatever squash you have and like.  You can easily double or triple this dish of course, but as usual, my proportions are for two people.  I'm going to presume, for purposes of efficiency, that you already know the process of making a basic risotto.  If not, please see my Green Apple and Bacon Risotto for instructions.

Take your delicata squash and halve it lengthewise.  Drizzle with oil, generously grind on black pepper, sprinkle on some kosher salt and generously sprinkle with dried thyme.  Roast in a 425 oven for 20 minutes, or until tender.  When cool enough to touch, remove skin and chop into 1/4" chunks

Take a 1/4 pound of boneless skinless chicken thighs and trim off any excess fat (this should be about two thighs of medium size).  Season generously with Northwoods Fire Seasoning (or your personal favorite blend of hot peppers and herbs and salt).  Pan cook over medium heat in a nonstick pan (don't bother adding any oil) until cooked through, about 10 minutes.  When cool enough to touch, chop into 1/4" chunks.

I used more onion than usual in proportion to rice to increase the flavor presence of the onions.  I used a medium onion (the size of a baseball), finely chopped to 2/3 cup of rice.

Start your risotto normally, melting butter and olive oil together, but instead of just sweating the onions until translucent, caramelize them.  Do this slowly, you want golden brown onions, not black or burnt.  When about half of the onions have a caramel color, proceed with toasting the rice, adding the white wine and cooking off, then adding chicken stock incrementally and stirring regularly.  When the risotto is tender and creamy, turn off the heat and stir in the squash, the chicken and a 1/2 cup of grated grana padano cheese or parmigiano.  For this risotto, due to the oil on the squash and the unctuousness of the chicken, I do not add butter at the end, only the cheese.

Sausage and Squash

I got the idea for this from an article on Salon, that involved butternut squash.  I had a beautiful delicata squash from my mother's garden, and a couple hot Italian sausages I took out of the freezer last night for today's lunch.  This is insanely simply, and a perfect fall lunch for two (multiply appropriately for more!).

Ingredients:

• 2 large sausages
• olive oil
• 1 Delicata Squash, cut in half lengthwise, seeds and pulp removed, then cut into 1 1/2" slices, do not peel squash
• pepper
• kosher salt

Directions

• Set oven to 425.  
• Put olive oil in an oven-proof pan and heat over medium low heat.  
• Prick sausages all over with a fork.
• Slowly brown the sausages on all sides, letting the fat ooze out into the pan.
• Remove sausages from pan, set aside.
• Put squash pieces into pan, and cook over medium low heat a few minutes per side.
• Grind a generous amount of fresh pepper over pieces, and a slight sprinkle of kosher salt.
• Place sausages back in pan.
• Put pan into oven for 15-20 minutes
• Half way through cooking, flip squash and sausages, but if you forget, no big deal.

Serve with some high quality crusty bread.

Ginger Lemon Scones

I have been making these scones for about ten years.  When I was in my last two years of college I lived with my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Tilman, and in addition to recipes for parmesan broiled fennel, spicy tomato-stewed cod, and the phenomona of eggy-brekky (on Uncle Tilman's mother Hanna's fine china on Sundays and birthdays), one of the best recipes I acquired was my Aunt Lisa's variation on a Gourmet magazine recipe for scones.  I have since added my own variations, making everything from tropical fruit scones to cranberry almond and so on.  If you've lived with me or near me, worked with me, or otherwise endeared yourself to me before mid-morning, you've likely had these scones.


Today we're having a broker open house to help sell our condo, and I thought I'd make these scones to help make the place smell yummy and otherwise charm potential buyer-agents.  I got up earlier than expected, so I had time to jot this down while the scones cool. I once set about to make these and didn't have a lemon, but did have a lime, and those turned out quite nicely as well.  You can use any sort of candied ginger, but the best is freshly candied slices of ginger you can dice up yourself.  But that can sometimes be hard to find (checking an Asian grocery is usually helpful), but I have had acceptable results with supermarket pre-diced candied ginger.  Just buy only what you need and if it feels like rock candy, don't use it.  The key to the tenderness in these scones is minimal handling.  This is a pastry, not bread.  Be careful to not overknead.  
The scones are moist and tender enough to serve on their own, but if you want to gild the lily, serve with jam or butter (I put out some cherry preserves with these).


Ingredients:
For scones:

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 TBS baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 8 TBS cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1/3 cup finely diced candied ginger
• zest of one lemon
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup milk (don't use skim, but 1% works just great, but whole milk makes a decadent scone, and if you have it, use it)

For glaze:

• juice of lemon
• 2 TBS sugar

Instructions:

• Mix together flour, baking powder and salt with a fork in a big bowl
• Using fingers, cut the butter into the flour mixture, making the mixture crumbly
• Toss in candied ginger, lemon zest and sugar
• Pour in milk and mix gently with fork/hands until just incorporated into a single ball
• Turn out onto a board
• Cut dough into two and gently pat each section into a six-inch diameter circle
• Cut each circle into 8 wedges
• Place wedges about 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet
• Dissolve the 2 TBS sugar into the lemon juice, and brush atop scones
• Bake at 425 for about 10 minutes, until golden, but not brown.
• Remove from pan immediately and place on a cooling rack under a tea towel for 15 minutes before serving

Saucy Lady Barbecue Sauce

For a while I have been wanting to make a house barbecue sauce with one of Matt's beers, and we are very pleased with this sauce. It's debut will be at a friend's barbecue this weekend. Now unless you are able to procure some of Matt's Lady in Red Irish Red, you won't be able to completely recreate this sauce. However, if you select a red ale that is malty, caramelly, a little nutty and not hoppy, you can get a close approximation. I also used honey from my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Tilman's bees, so you probably can't get that either, so just pick a good quality wildflower honey. If you don't make chicken stock at home, then use store bought, but make absolutely sure that it is as low sodium as possible.

This sauce is tangy, sweet, smoky, with a hint of mole flavor and just the right amount of spicy heat. If you don't want the spicy part, omit the ancho chile, and halve the amount of cayenne, but don't omit cayenne entirely. Also, I prefer a thick barbecue sauce, but if you prefer a thinner sauce, simply simmer for a shorter time.

The ingredient list is lengthy, and I suggest that before starting to cook, excepting the first 8 ingredients, measure all of the wet ingredients into one container and all of the dry ingredients into another.

Since there is sugar and honey in the sauce, don't marinate anything in this sauce, for once you put it on a grill, it will burn before your meat is cooked. It is for brushing on in the last minute of grilling, or as a condiment on cooked meats and vegetables. You can also heat a little in a saucepan, add shredded cooked chicken, then pile it onto a toasted bun for a quick, tasty dinner. The sauce will keep about a month in the fridge, tightly sealed, and you can also freeze it.

Makes about 1 quart.

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces Lady in Red Irish Red beer
• 3 TBS chopped garlic
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 ½ cups ketchup
• 1 Ancho Chile, stemmed and seeded
• 3 tsp liquid smoke
• 3 TBS apple cider vinegar
• 3 TBS Worcestershire sauce
• 2 TBS low sodium soy sauce
• 2 TBS Lukas honey
• 1/2 cup homemade chicken stock
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
• 4 TBS dry mustard
• 1 ½ tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 ½ tsp mexican oregano
• ¼ tsp cayenne
• ¼ tsp ground chipotle
• 3 TBS cocoa
• 1 bay leaf

Process:

• Put oil into 4 qt. pot, heat over medium-low heat.
• Add onion, salt and black pepper, cook stirring regularly until onion softens.
• Stir in garlic, cook for about a minute.
• Pour in the beer, bring to a boil and boil for one minute.
• Add the ancho chile, ketchup and all remaining wet ingredients, dry ingredients and bay leaf.
• Stir until smooth (excepting for the chile and bay leaf)
• Bring sauce to a low simmer.
• After simmering for 5 minutes, remove ancho chile.
• Continue to simmer sauce, stirring from time to time for an hour or hour and a half, until thickened to desired consistency.
• Strain sauce through fine mesh strainer

Mexican Chocolate Cake

This cake is THE chocolate cake. If I ever baked you a chocolate cake, or you ever ate my mother's chocolate cake you know this cake. It is moist, light, but not too light, and super chocolatey. In my family we call it "Mrs. Gude's cake" (after the woman who gave my mother the recipe in 1967) or "mom's chocolate cake" or "the chocolate cake".

This weekend we were invited to a Mexican-themed BBQ at our friends' Jason and Caitlin's place (Caroline's bean dip and Jason's tacos al pastor were both dynamite!). I was assigned dessert and tried to think up a good dessert that would transport easily and hold in hot weather without detriment. The chocolate cake always traveled well, but how to make it fit the theme....add some cayenne and cinnamon and you get....

Mexican Chocolate Cake! Because there is a little kick to this cake, you definitely want to serve the cake with ice cream or maybe some whipped cream, too cool things off a bit. If you want a regular chocolate cake, just omit the cinnamon and cayenne and enjoy!

This cake is very forgiving, if you don't want a 9x13 cake, just halve the recipe evenly on all ingredients and make an 8 inch round or 9 inch square. However, since the cake freezes so well, just make the whole recipe and freeze it in single squares. It is yummy straight from the freezer, or defrosted.

For one cake, 9x13:

• Butter a 9x13 cake pan, line the bottom with parchment paper and butter up that too.
• Preheat oven at 350.
• Measure 1/2 cup milk and add a splash of cider vinegar, let sit while you prepare everything else.

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 12 TBS butter
• 1 cup water
• 12 TBS cocoa powder (I use Hershey's)
• 2 tsp high quality cinnamon (I used Extra-Fancy Vietnamese Cinnamon from Penzeys)
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup sour milk (see above- milk plus vinegar)
• 2 eggs

Process

• On a sheet of parchment paper, sift together flour and baking soda, set aside
• Combine sugar and salt together into mixing bowl, set aside
• In a saucepan over low heat, melt butter and water together
• When butter is completely melted, while mixture is still hot, immediately whisk in cocoa, cinnamon and cayenne
• When smooth, immediately add to sugar/salt in mixing bowl and whisk until sugar is melted completely and batter is smooth
• Either by hand or with an electric mixer (standing or hand held), mix in flour mixture until batter is smooth
• Pour in sour milk and beat until batter is smooth
• Beat in the eggs (if by hand, for 200 strokes or 2 minutes, if using mixer, beat for 1 minute)
• Immediately pour into prepared baking pan and bake for 30 minutes.
• Test doneness by putting a toothpick into the center of the cake, if it comes out clean/dry, the cake is done
• Let cake cool in pan on rack for 5 minutes, then turn out cake onto the rack, peel off paper, and flip over carefully
• Dust cake with a mixture of confectioner's sugar and cinnamon, serve with ice cream