Butternut Squash with Fresh Ginger, Two Peppers and Fresh Basil

Side dishes.

Sometimes they can be such a bother.

And boring.

Don’t want to steam asparagus AGAIN?

Tired of the same old potato routine ?

Do you like garlic and shallots and red bell peppers ?

Don’t mind a bit of jalapeno?

Is fresh ginger a favorite?

Ready for the bright taste of fresh basil and a blast of lime?

Hmmmm?

Got it.


Butternut Squash with Ginger, Two Peppers and Fresh Basil
Adapted from The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper

1 large butternut squash, cut in half. Peel one half and refrigerate the other.
Coarse salt
A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
A large knob of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced and then the slices cut into matchsticks
1 large spoonful garlic confit, smashed (or just a few fat garlic cloves, sliced)
2 shallots, peeled and chopped
½ large red bell pepper, sliced thin
½ large jalapeno, seeded and sliced thin
2 scallions, sliced on diagonal
Freshly ground black pepper
Juice of 1 lime
About ½ cup chopped fresh basil

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Cut the peeled squash half in half again and slice ¼ inch pieces.
Add to the boiling water and cook at the boil for 10 minutes.
Drain.

In a large skillet over medium high heat add a couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil. When oil is wavy , add the ginger, garlic, peppers, scallions, shallots and season with the coarse salt and grind some black pepper in. Cook for a few minutes, stirring. Cover skillet and turn heat down to medium and cook for between 5-8 minutes.

Add the fresh basil and cook for just a bit. Remove from heat, season and squeeze the lime juice over and serve.

Serves 2 generously.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Two Years Ago on Feeding Groom

Butternut Squash with Fresh Ginger, Two Peppers and Fresh Basil

Pan Crisped Devilled Eggs on Baby Romaine

I love eggs.

Hardboiled eggs, fried eggs, omelets, scrambled eggs.

Ya’ll can keep all those half cooked runny egg things on top of pizza and pasta.

I had braces in the sixth grade.

I’m not going there again.

Now, devilled eggs?

I’d eat devilled eggs any time of the day.

They’ve been known to cure hangovers, hangnails and a broken heart.

Groom makes killer devilled eggs….green olives are the master touch. You know the kind of devilled eggs that when you’re eating them you don’t count the halves because you would probably take to your bed if you knew what a glutton you are.

This recipe adapted from The Splendid Table is a great twist on devilled eggs.

They’re elegant devilled eggs, sautéed in a bit of olive oil and pancetta drippings…and served on top of crispy baby romaine.

It’s a very grown up way to eat devilled eggs.

Which, if I haven’t mentioned lately, I love.


Pan Crisped Devilled Eggs with Pancetta on Baby Romaine
Adapted from The Splendid Table’s How to Cook Supper by Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift

EGGS:
8 large eggs, hard boiled and peeled
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp minced onion
2-½ tightly packed tablespoons fresh Italian parsley leaves, chopped
1-½-2 tbsp half and half
2 tsp Hellmann’s mayonnaise
1-½ tsp Champagne vinegar
A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
2 good slices pancetta, diced
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

DRESSING:
Leftover egg stuffing
A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
1 generous tsp Dijon mustard
2-½ tbsp half and half
2-½ tsp Champagne vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

SALAD:
4 generous handfuls baby romaine


Cut the eggs in half lengthwise and remove the yolks. Put in medium bowl and set the whites aside.
Add the mustard, garlic, onion, Italian parsley, milk, mayonnaise and vinegar to yolks. Mash into thick paste and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Pack mixture back into the egg whites so filling is even with surface of the egg not mounded. You are going to have extra…this becomes the dressing.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat a couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. Add the diced pancetta and cook until crisp. Remove from skillet and drain on paper towels.

Add the eggs face down and cook until golden brown, takes about 5 minutes or so. Sprinkle the back sides of the eggs with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper as they cook.

While the eggs are sautéing, combine in a large bowl the leftover egg stuffing with all the dressing ingredients. Add the salad greens to the bowl and toss.

Serve the greens and place the eggs on top and sprinkle with the crispy pancetta.

Serves 4 ecstatic devilled egg lovers.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Pan Crisped Devilled Eggs on Baby Romaine

Santa Fe Summer Pot

It’s hot. Seriously hot.

It may be too hot to cook, but it’s never too hot to eat.

Yet again, I find myself standing in front of the fridge, thinking to myself….what the hell am I going to come up with tonight. All day long, saving the world, one loan at a time, and coming home and knowing I’ve got killer ingredients in house, but no idea what to do with them.

The last thing I want to do is heat up the kitchen. There are dogs and cats on every A/C vent they can find, while I’m enjoying the cool air from the freezer as I root around to see what might be good.

Then, the big light bulb goes off.

I remember a recipe I read by The Splendid Table chicks called Santa Fe Summer Pot.

I don’t have to turn on the oven, or thaw something out.

Brilliant.

Santa Fe Summer Pot
Adapted from The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper

The Summer Pot’s Sauce:

¼ cup fresh lime juice
3 green onions, trimmed and chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
½ jalapeno, seeded and minced
1- ½ tsp ground coriander
1-½ tsp ground cumin
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Combine these ingredients in a small bowl and let sit for ten minutes.

2 large tomatoes, chopped
About a 1/3 cup fresh cilantro

Put the tomatoes and cilantro in food processor and do a couple of pulses. Add onion mixture and pulse it five times. Set aside.


½ cucumber, peeled, sliced lengthwise in half and then in half moons
½ large ripe avocado, diced
1/2 pound left over roasted chicken, diced (can use cooked shrimp)
1 cup cooked black beans, rinsed
Tortilla chips
Goat cheese to taste
Extra fresh cilantro as a garnish
1 lime, quartered

Divide the cukes, avocado, chicken and beans between three large bowls. Put as much Summer Pot’s Sauce as you like on top, crush tortilla chips and sprinkle on top and garnish with a sprinkle of goat cheese, cilantro and serve with lime wedges.

Serves three generously.
And there’s plenty of Summer Pot’s Sauce left over to use as a dip with tortilla chips the next day.

Cilck here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Santa Fe Summer Pot

Plumped Ginger-Caramel Shrimp

Look at those shrimp.


Don’t they look like they’re having a great time….doing the backstroke for 20 minutes or so in a sweet and spicy chile powder brine waiting on you to chop fresh garlic and ginger and throw that in a very hot pan with a couple of swirls of extra virgin olive, freshly ground black pepper and a bit of salt.
This goes so fast, you know…the garlic goes a lovely warm gold, vanilla sugar is sprinkled on top, the shrimp do a swan dive into the hot pan and you cook them until they get that pinky soft color that makes you say…oh. My. god…now this is going to be a good supper!

You can also add a bit of blanched asparagus or sugar snaps in you’re of a mind to have a bit of veg with your dinner.

Plumped Ginger Caramel Shrimp
Adapted from The Splendid Table ‘s How to Eat Supper


Brine:
½ cup kosher salt (not iodized)
1/3 cup vanilla sugar
1/3 cup medium hot chile powder
2 cups warm water
1-½ pounds large frozen shrimp

Saute:

6 large garlic cloves,
1 4 inch piece fresh peeled ginger
A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
Coarse salt

In a medium glass bowl, blend salt, sugar, chile powder in warm water and add the shrimp. Let stand 20 minutes.
Drain the shrimp, peel off shells if you need to…pat the shrimp dry.
Chop garlic and ginger together. Heat oil in large heavy skillet over medium high heat. Add the garlic and ginger , pepper to taste and a good pinch of coarse salt. Cook for a minutes, stirring with wooden spatula, blend in the sugar and keep stirring until garlic is pale gold. Immediately add the shrimp and stir until the shrimp are pink and barely firm.
You can toss in a bit of blanched asparagus or sugar snap peas if you like.
You can serve over rice or eat straight out of the pan.
This is wondrous.

Serves 3 generously. The Splendid Table says 4...but they don’t live at our house!!!

Click here for a printable recipe!


One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

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Plumped Ginger-Caramel Shrimp

Provencal Oven Onion Saute

These days, inspiration in the kitchen has been hard to come by. A long winter probably hasn’t helped, but the promise of spring has me reaching for different cookbooks to read, different flavors to explore and getting myself excited about the food to come.

One of the most inspiring cookbooks whose inspiration is hidden in the simple, straightforward directions and hints, uses normal ingredients and allows you to end up with the most fabulous dinners is The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper.

This Provencal Oven Onion Saute is perfect for an easy, easy dinner that can impress friends as a pasta sauce, or as a bed for a beautiful piece of grilled steelhead trout, or as a topping for a quick homemade pizza, or whirled together with a bit more olive oil as a spread for crusty bread, or a stuffing for baked tomatoes….

See what I mean?

Inspirational!

Provencal Oven Onion Saute
Adapted from The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper by Lynne Rosetto Kasper and Sally Swift

5 oil packed anchovies
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
5 good swirls extra virgin olive oil
6 large garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
½ tsp fennel seeds, bruised
½ large orange
2/3 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
4 canned San Marzano tomatoes, coarsely chopped
3 medium onions, all red or a mix of red and sweet yellow, sliced ¼ inch thick
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 450. Cover a large pan with aluminum foil. Slid into the oven to preheat.

In large bowl, mash the anchovies into the balsamic vinegar olive oil and garlic. Shred the zest of the orange into the bowl. Add fennel seeds, olives, tomatoes, onion, salt and pepper and toss with your hands to mix. It’s easier that way.
Spread mixture over the pan and roast, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes. Squeeze the lemon over to taste. Let your inspiration guide you!

Serves 3 generously.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Provencal Oven Onion Saute

Crispy Tortilla Eggs with Avocado and Lime

Well, to look at this picture, you’d think this meal was a hot mess.

By looks alone, it may appear that way. But taste wise…this simply rocks.

This is an adaptation of a recipe from The Splendid Table‘s: How to Eat Supper by Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift.

Crisped corn tortillas, eggs, Vidalia onion, then let your imagination go…this version has avocado, tomatoes, green tomatillo salsa, a bit of Manchego…and then a spritz of fresh lime juice.

Great ingredients that come together fast to make one of the best and easiest busy night suppers you’re gonna eat. You can virtually clean out your fridge and be lazy at the same time.

Multi tasking at it’s best.

Brilliant concept.

Brilliant book.

Crispy Tortilla Eggs with Avocado and Lime
Adapted from The Splendid Table‘s: How to Eat Supper by Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift

A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
4 stale corn tortillas, cut into long narrow strips
½ medium Vidalia onion, chopped
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup green tomatillo salsa
A couple of mini Bradley tomatoes, quartered
1/3 cup grated Manchego cheese
1 large ripe avocado, sliced
1 lime, halved
¼ cup sour cream, Greek yogurt or crème fraiche
Chopped fresh cilantro for garnish (I didn’t have any but it would be fab on this)

Swirl the olive oil in large nonstick saute pan and heat over medium high heat til oil looks wavy. Add tortilla strips and try until they begin to crisp, about a minute. Don’t move around too much , let crisp on one side and then turn them.

Add the onion and continue frying until the tortilla strips are crispy and nicely browned. Season with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper. Remove from heat and if there is any extra fat, pour off and reserve 1 tbsp in pan .

Return pan to burner, reducing the heat to medium. Move the majority of the strips to the edge of the pan, leaving about three inches clear in the center. Pour the eggs in the center and partially over the strips. Allow the eggs to set, and then gently pull them apart, letting the uncooked egg reach the surface of the pan. Once the eggs are firmly set, turn them in large pieces to finish cooking.

Serve with the salsa, cheese, slices of avocado, a squeeze of fresh lime and the sour cream.

Serves 4.
Halves well.
Tastes divine.

Crispy Tortilla Eggs with Avocado and Lime