Harvest Quinoa with Apple and Walnuts

As my next dish as I count down to Thanksgiving, I made this meal this past weekend to celebrate fall flavors. And it only takes one pot and one pan! While you are making the quinoa, you can essentially finish off the rest of the stuff and just mix together- or do everything but the apple and fresh sage which you can add while re-heating the rest. You can also serve it cold too! It’s a great vegetarian (and gluten-free) option instead of stuffing, but also is a great side dish for any entree. I filled a 2 1/2 quart dish with this, so can serve a nice group!

This dish is inspired by the Webicurean’s Harvest Rice with Apples and Pecans, but I changed out the rice for quinoa and swapped pecans for walnuts (basically because F ate all the pecans so all I had were walnuts)! I also really upped the amount of apple, and added sage.  If you’d like, you can throw in some extra brightness with cranberries, or pomegranate seeds, etc. I mention walnuts or pecans, but hazelnuts would work, or you could roast some chestnuts to add a more earthy base, and/or add celery with the onions for crunch.

Recipe for a Thanksgiving that is vegetarian and gluten-free: sub stuffing with Harvest Quinoa with Apple and Walnuts Recipe for a Thanksgiving that is vegetarian and gluten-free: sub stuffing with Harvest Quinoa with Apple and Walnuts

This is the second of a series of posts of recipes I am going to cover on dishes to consider for Thanksgiving! They will all be vegetarian, so you might consider it for a side dish or if you have a vegetarian at your table like I do, be a way to provide something more hearty than the usual sides of rolls, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Check out my Recipes Index page for other dishes that I have covered in the past.

Harvest Quinoa with Apple and Walnuts

Recipe for a Thanksgiving that is vegetarian and gluten-free: sub stuffing with Harvest Quinoa with Apple and Walnuts

Ingredients::

  • 2 1/2 cups broth – for my purposes I used vegetarian broth
  • 2 cups quinoa – or you can choose to use wild rice if you’d like
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts or whatever nut you’d like
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 cup chopped onion (approximately 1/2 an onion)
  • 3 cups chopped granny smith or any kind of apple- sweet, or tart, or mix up both?! (approximately 2 apples)
  • 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • 1 tablespoon of fresh chopped sage (optional)

Directions:

  1. In a large pot, bring broth to a boil. Add quinoa and salt and simmer for 40-45 minutes, or until done per whatever package might instruct (I like TruRoots quinoa because it is organic, gluten-free, and . The one I used is from Costco and is a sprouted wild rice, brown rice and red rice and quinoa blend. Besides being good for you and tasty, their Enray Foundation works to educate and invest with quinoa growers in Bolivia. I am going to ignore the debate that because quinoa is in demand that the global economy is pricing South Americans out of eating it themselves because it’s such a good living – quinoa is hard to grow and perfect for their environment. At least the foundation helps make sure that this new boom in agriculture does not come at the price of their ecosystem. The idea of driving down the price of quinoa by us eating less to drive down demand so they can eat it but then they have less financial and economic growth sounds idiotic to me. Ok, off the soapbox.)
    TruRoots sprouted wild rice, brown rice and red rice and quinoa blend
  2. Anyway, while the quinoa is in progress, in a pan, melt the butter, then sauté the nuts in the butter until the nuts are golden brown. Remove your warm, golden brown nuts from the pan and set aside. Don’t turn your back on them because you don’t want burnt nuts!
    Recipe for Harvest Quinoa with Apple and Walnuts, toasting walnuts
  3. In the same pan, add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, and sauté the chopped onion until the onions are translucent. Remove and set aside.
    Recipe for Harvest Quinoa with Apple and Walnuts, Caramelizing some onion
  4. In the same pan, add the last tablespoon of the olive oil and sauté the cut apple. Sprinkle with nutmeg, salt and pepper.
    Apples and Nutmeg for the Harvest Quinoa with apples and nuts Apples and Nutmeg for the Harvest Quinoa with apples and nuts
  5. When the quinoa is done, stir in the apple/onion mixture as well as the nuts and the tablespoon of fresh chopped sage.
    Recipe- Harvest Quinoa with Apple and Walnuts Recipe- Harvest Quinoa with Apple and Walnuts

Recipe for a Thanksgiving that is vegetarian and gluten-free: sub stuffing with Harvest Quinoa with Apple and Walnuts Recipe for a Thanksgiving that is vegetarian and gluten-free: sub stuffing with Harvest Quinoa with Apple and Walnuts Recipe for a Thanksgiving that is vegetarian and gluten-free: sub stuffing with Harvest Quinoa with Apple and Walnuts Recipe for a Thanksgiving that is vegetarian and gluten-free: sub stuffing with Harvest Quinoa with Apple and Walnuts

Summary of the Vegetarian Thanksgiving Sides Series 2013:

Thanks for reading!

Signature

Book Club Review: Apron Anxiety Book Review, and Buckeye Balls

Last month, I joined a new online book club, called the Kitchen Reader. There is a new book selected for every month, each book is related to food, and members write a review on their blog during the last week of that month. For October, the book club selected reading was Apron Anxiety by Alyssa Shelasky, based on her life/blog of the same name. So here is my Apron Anxiety Book Review!

My Summary: Apron Anxiety is the memoir of a young, pretty, popular and privileged “it” city girl Alyssa Shelasky and her complicated love affair a celebrity chef that introduces her to the kitchen and food appreciation. Expect the tone to be chick lit, with a wry New York humor to it. Essentially, the book is about her being able to find some center through food that grounds her previously flighty social life and her self-identity as she documents her time back and forth in New York City, Washington DC, and LA. She does “dish” a lot- lots of name dropping in all three cities of celebrities, and although she is vague on who her love, “Chef” is, you can google and find the answer pretty easily though I don’t think knowing his name is essential to the story. But, I know you will totally look it up.

My Humble Opinion: If you are hoping for a lot of stories about how she conquers the kitchen, you won’t see them here- not the way you are told tales by Julie & Julia–My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell. Alyssa only shares a few- though the few stories she does share (mac and cheese, banana bread loaves, and cherry pie) are great. I and probably everyone has major oops like that in a dish which still end up being served and eaten hoping no one will notice the screw-ups.

Overall, I thought it was an interesting take on the opposite side of what was Cooking for Mr. Latte by Amanda Hesser where she was the foodie trying to educate her man, but this time Alyssa is the one who knows nothing about food. Both books pair sharing recipes with personal stories of how that recipe fit in with her life.

As you would expect, all three of these books (Julie and Alyssa’s books both come from their blogs, Amanda’s from her column) are self-indulgent, and there were times I had to put each of them down to give myself a break from being irritated. This was particularly the case with Alyssa.

There are a lot more details about to be revealed about what happens through the book below the picture- I think most of the point of the book is not what happens, but the journey so I’m going to go into specifics. But in case you don’t want to know… stop now!

Alyssa Shelasky

You have to get through the first few chapters, before cooking gets into the tale, to get to the good part of the story. Apron Anxiety first few chapters were especially hard to get through (I did resort to skimming, and maybe put it down a couple times distracted or annoyed). For page and pages, she talks about essentially and incessantly being a popular fun girl in high school and all the partying she does in her 20s as a gossip and celebrity writer, being paid to essentially live it up on the edge of celebrity world and write about it.

That is, until she gets whisked away to Greece after 3 months of dating Chef and drops her life to follow him. Then for the next 9 months makes no friends and doesn’t work. She writes in these chapters essentially of shutting that social life/career down to be celebrity-supported eye candy that waits for him to get home in order to make sandwiches or cereal- she doesn’t even clean because they have a weekly housekeeper.

It’s amazing in that it seems she is able to paid/supported to be living it up not through any moment of hard work (just existing and dealing with the world already seems to be hard work for her), but mostly courtesy seemingly of her looks, the luck of being well-connected with influential people, wit and charm. Fortunately, these latter two characteristics spills over into the voice in her writing. Reading the book’s first few chapters you may want to skip it, but at least skim it – it does help establish a baseline of how crazy she was and how low she goes before food and cooking saves her.

Apron Anxiety at least has the bonus that  Alyssa can write well, turning phrases such as “As I cope with the collapse of us, Zagat is my Zoloft” which keeps you reading for how she might describe something dramatically next. She also has a knack for writing honestly and openly like a girl friend in your early-mid 20s talking all night at a sleepover after you’ve opened your third bottle of wine and are getting into the “confessional/emotional truths” part of the late night. Example: her admitting that rather than dining out a lot because she loves exploring, she is using lists of Best Bloody Mary or Favorite Fish Taco “as arrows, as I have no idea what else to do with myself, or where I belong”.

Come on, I know you know what part of the night I am talking about. This whole book is basically Alyssa and you having that part of the night- with only Alyssa doing the talking.

Alyssa Shelasky, Apron Anxiety blog header

She does a pretty good job of capturing the ups of the relationship with chef (that she dubs “relationchef”) which they just watch reality shows and toasted cheese sandwiches when he is around, and the disappointment and hurt of being second after his push for his career and fame because most of the time, he is not around. I think every woman can relate to at one point, putting herself second to a man, and defining herself by trying to live in his world- it’s an easy mistake of youth that in using society as a mirror, when that first intense love comes along he becomes the entire mirror.

The kitchen and food are what pull Alyssa up finally from her way too dependent life she was existing in for almost a 9 months since moving to DC. Great… but seriously, it took her the amount of time that other women might have a baby to figure out she needed to do something with herself instead of waiting for him to come home from work.

She talks about how she is lonely in DC, but you are told early on about all the people she knows that she leaves behind when she moves, but yet are told not much at the same time. We are mostly told rather than shown friends and family. Their personality is summarized by her in a few sentences, and then it boils down to what they are doing for/to her. I think that is probably understandable in a blog entry, but in a book, her feeling abandoned is an important theme of the story. Yet being told about her amazingly awesome her close friends are for a page or two and then they disappear so long I started forgetting/mixing them up until they appear again to help her out. It is a fracture in the narrative.

At the same time, she is quickly judgmental, dismissing her neighbors when she moves to a new city as too ordinary and all possible friends in DC as profoundly conservative or crazy (she does eventually take back the neighbors judgement, calling it one of the dumbest moves of her life).

For me, that makes it difficult to build a lot of empathy for her as I was reading the book as it presents her as a character who seems so self-centered as she wrings her hands about how she’s frustrated and sad and alone, but then her friends seem to do her giant, selfless favors and provide access to elite connections and opportunities. She even describes herself at one point as “I am the stray who C Street has taken in”, and when hearing a real tragic situation, feels ashamed for “whining about my utterly pathetic bubblegum BS” but then returns to it a few pages later. I kept wondering how long this quarter life crisis was going to go on- and she was having it in her late 20s/early 30s.

It wasn’t until I thought about how I just read Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking that I began thinking of her in another perspective- someone who keeps really going to the extreme ends of the scale of an extrovert needing the energy of others to feed from- which certainly seems to explain why she fades so much in being alone and is not very introspective. Yet, she seems to also have an awkwardness like an introvert where she just wants to stay inside from the world. Making that connection helped me see this book at an interesting level.

The only way she seems to be able to give to others is through food, once she begins- which is already 1/3 of the book in. In Alyssa’s case, you follow along to see how cooking and food becomes an outlet for her to take the edge off, and is way for her to provide for those she cares about. She doesn’t spend much time talking about the flavors of food as much as the process  and care of cooking, and the enjoyment she sees when her friends are taken care of by the food. Food tells a story, or evokes emotions for her. Because of this, even when she is alone, she can find energy through food. This seems to be the prime intent of the book, and a fine subject to explore. The way she writes it though, there’s just a lot more of her than writing about food.

Apron Anxiety book cover

She is a maddening mess of totally un-relatable and relatable.

In visiting a lot of dodgy dive-y cheap hole in the walls, she  writes “Our bills are always under thirty bucks; I am always too scared to use the bathroom””, but also admits that he opens her eyes to secret gems.

After ducking out of a NY food industry party and changing out of her Louboutins, she walks through the streets of the Village “looking for fresh air and maybe a falafel”.

For the first time she attempts a home-cooked meal, she writes a list in a fuchsia Sharpie, spends $200 and takes multiple selfies to text to Chef, and describes the drive with feeling “pretty cool pretending to be a home cook, with my important grocery list and Made In Brooklyn bag. The car windows are down, the National is playing, and my long, layered hair is pinned up just right. I look good in foodie.”

I can’t help but sometimes roll my eyes as she writes that her wishlist changed from Lanvin flats ($500-$900) to pizza stones and spoontulas or mentions she is walking into an event where her first Herve Leger bandage dress. But then I’m lured back into continuing to read as I laugh at how goofy and self depreciating she can be as she admits into walking into a glass door, undershooting the distance between a car and a wall, or thinking about Madonna as she targets her upper arm muscles while whisking. She also talks about cheese many times.

Basically, how much you will enjoy of this book depends on your ability to enjoy the obnoxious but also fun, emotional somewhat drunk evening with Alyssa.

Food Focus: Very few of the recipes are original- they include a few from her family (a simple “The Pasta”, Banana Bread, 3 ingredient salad dressing, 3 ingredient cocktail among a few)  and , and then really common ones like the Neiman and Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies, and excerpted from others repertoire, like Sarabeth’s tomato soup, a turkey BLT from Gwyneth Paltrow’s My Father’s Daughter cookbook, Nigella’s Fusilli with Toasted Pine Nuts and Feta from Nigella Lawson’s book Nigella Kitchen, etc. I mean one of the recipes is for making cheese toast or making homemade pizza- with pizza dough and tomato sauce from a pizzeria or store-bought. It’s clear her roots as a home cook – and which is refreshing for a book of someone writing about food to not have been culinary trained and schooled in Europe.

One of the recipes is for “Herb-Crusted Chicken for Hungry and Important People”, and she calls it her signature chicken dish.  I scaled the recipe down from the original 6 servings to 2, and made this my test of her taste, because who doesn’t love toasted cheese on bread, duh. You can find the recipe here on Elle’s site. I plan to make that sometime in the future.

Along with name dropping of all the amazing restaurant industry people who give her tips (including tweeting with Gael Greene on what to cook!), she also shares a home cook family recipe for Buckeye Balls. I decided to make these as well because they seem to represent her life, a wild juxtaposition of the glamorous with the simple living. And this is probably what you would be doing while draining the bottles of wine and listening to her tell you these tales from her book. I brought these to work for Halloween and they were gone in 10 minutes!

Buckeye Balls

Makes about 60 Buckeye Balls
Buckeye Balls - peanut butter, vanilla, sugar, then dipped in chocolate
Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter (this is the whole 18 ounce jar)
  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature (so yeah, a stick of butter. It gets to room temp faster if you slice it up)
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 4 cups good quality semisweet chocolate chips (2 12 ounce bags)
  • 2 teaspoons vegetable shortening or vegetable oil

Directions:

  1. In  a large bowl (or the bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment), combine the peanut butter, butter, and vanilla extract. Gradually add the powdered sugar until it is well incorporated. It should be a smooth firm dough. If you don’t have an electric mixer you can supposedly mix this with your hand but yeah, I used the electric mixer or who knows how much peanut butter I would have eaten!
  2. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper. Using your of course clean washed hands, roll the mixture into round balls using 1.5 teaspoons of dough (about the size of strawberries) and place them on the baking sheet. Stick a toothpick to be used as a handle for dipping later in the top of each of the balls, and then place the whole baking sheet in the freezer for about 30 minutes at least.
    Buckeye Balls - going into the freezer to harden after I put in the toothpicks Buckeye Balls - going into the freezer to harden after I put in the toothpicks Buckeye Balls - going into the freezer to harden after I put in the toothpicks
  3. When the balls are firm, it is dipping time. First, the dip. She talks about using a double boiler, which I don’t have. She also mentions filling a small saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Reduce it to a simmer and set a heatproof bowl that fits over the pot. Another way is to use a microwave at 50% power at 30 seconds until melty, and then rewarming at 15 seconds or so. I like to use a small ovenware dish at 250 degree F which is deep so I only need to do a cup of chocolate chips at a time with 1/2 teaspoon veg oil for smoothing. Whatever way the point is to melt the chocolate chips and vegetable shortening/oil, stirring frequently until smooth (you might not tell how melty it is unless you stir because the chips keep their shape until stirring).
    Melted Chocolate for dipping
  4. Holding each peanut butter mix ball by the toothpick, dip into the melted chocolate, leaving a little bit of peanut butter showing at the top of each ball. Place the finished buckeye back on the baking sheet with the wax paper still underneath to catch dripping chocolate to cool and remove the toothpick and smooth over the holes by using the toothpick to refill/roll it. Refrigerate everything for at least 2 hours to set before serving.
    Buckeye Balls - going into the freezer in order to set after being dipped in chocolate and the toothpick removed and hole smoothed over

Buckeye Balls - peanut butter, vanilla, sugar, then dipped in chocolate Buckeye Balls - peanut butter, vanilla, sugar, then dipped in chocolate

Coming up for my reading for this book club in November: Best Food Writing 2013, edited by Holly Hughes. If you are interested in joining the book club, check out the Kitchen Reader.

Signature

Butternut Squash Lasagna Recipe in Béchamel sauce

This recipe is my take on the butternut squash lasagna recipe by Giada de Laurentiis. The fact she includes amaretti cookies has always been very curious to me, so this has been bookmarked for a while. Now that the Indian Summer is over and it is cool and the leaves browning from their previous glorious colors of red, orange, and yellow and falling, this comfort dish moved up to the top of my list. It seemed appropriately perfect for a Sunday night dinner at my house as we were making plans for Thanksgiving. This dish yields about 8 servings.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, this will be the first of a series of posts of recipes I am going to cover on dishes to consider for Thanksgiving! They will all be vegetarian, so you might consider it for a side dish or if you have a vegetarian at your table like I do, be a way to provide something more hearty than the usual sides of rolls, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Check out my Recipes Index page for other dishes that I have covered in the past.

Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce

The original recipe calls for basil, but I love the taste of sage for fall, not to mention when I buy a bunch of fresh sage, I love just crisping them up in a brown butter sauce for a simple weekday dinner. So I switched out the basil for sage.

Also, the original recipe also instructs you to take a 2 pound butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1 inch cubes which are then tossed in oil on a skillet then boiled/steamed until the squash is tender. The whole end result is to make a squash purée though, and I just didn’t want so spend all that to clean and cut. So I just cut it in half and roasted it in the oven until it was soft and I could scoop it into the food processor. If you wanted more of a shortcut you could probably start out with frozen squash.

Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce

In retrospect, although the recipe calls for no boil lasagna noodles, at least with the way mine turned out they were not the texture I was looking for- they were still firm and very doughy. If I make this again in the future I would take the time to use regular lasagna noodles and boil them before the layering step.

To lower the fat, you could do a mix of skim or fat free milk instead of whole milk, but I think having some portion of creaminess is nice for the sauce, not sure you would get that with a 100% substitution. Giada calls for whole-milk mozzarella cheese, but I used Tillamook Part Skim shredded mozzarella, and you could do a variation of using skim ricotta, or Gruyere or whatever cheese you’d like. For gluten or paleo diets I’ve heard of using zucchini instead of the lasagna noodles, and you could even use scrambled eggs instead of the cheese, and she suggests spinach lasagna sheets!

The amaretti cookies add a hint of nuttiness and crunch to the butternut squash- amaretti cookies are almond paste cookies, so you could switch it out for just using nuts instead if you can’t find the cookies. Honestly, I think I would add more cookies!

Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce

Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 (~2-pound) butternut squash
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 amaretti cookies, crumbled
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 3 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
  • 3/4 cup lightly packed fresh sage leaves
  • 12 no-boil lasagna noodles
  • 2 1/2 cups (10 ounces) shredded whole-milk mozzarella cheese
  • 1/3 cup grated Parmesan
Instructions
  1. First, making the squash purée. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Trim the stem part at the top and button, then cut the squash in half lengthwise. If you have a hard time cutting it, peel some of the skin. Scoop out the strings and seeds until the skin is clean and smooth. You can roast the seeds if you want, but you don’t need them for this lasagna. Rub each half of the squash flesh with 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil,. On a pan lined with foil, place each half flesh side down for about 45 min or so, until the flesh is soft, so that you will be able to scoop them into the processor. Cool slightly and then transfer the squash to a food processor, since of course you don’t want to process hot food in there! Add the amaretti cookies and blend until smooth. Season the squash puree, to taste, with more salt and pepper. Set aside.
    Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce
  2. While the squash is roasting, this can be béchamel sauce making time. Melt the butter in a heavy medium-size saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the milk. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, whisking often, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the nutmeg. Cool slightly for at least 5 minutes.  As usual when blending hot liquids, when you transfer the liquid to the blender or food processor make sure you fill it no more than halfway (the food processor may have a marked liquid line). If you are using a blender, release one corner of the lid to prevent the vacuum effect that creates heat explosions! I didn’t have this problem because around this time I was processing the squash with the cookies, which gave time for the sauce to cool down some before getting to this part. Anyway, put half the roux in your blender, add the sage and blend until smooth. Return the now half a batch of sage sauce to the rest of the sauce in the pan and stir to blend. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste.
  3. Position the rack in the center of the oven and set the oven to 375 degrees F.
  4. Lightly grease a 13 by 9 by 2-inch glass baking dish. Spread about a cup of the sauce over the dish, and arrange 3 lasagna noodles on the bottom. Spread about 1/3 cup of the squash puree over the noodles. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese. Drizzle 1/2 cup of sauce over the noodles. Repeat layering 3 more times.
    Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce
  5. Top with the rest of the sauce, and then tightly cover the baking dish with foil and bake the lasagna for 40 minutes. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses over the lasagna. Continue baking uncovered until the sauce bubbles and the top is golden, 15 minutes longer. Let the lasagna stand for 15 minutes before serving.

This dish looks gorgeous with the colors- and I cursed that all I have is my point and shoot camera and the dark late October lighting because I don’t think these pics do it justice. I think it’s time to commit to making a light box/light tent with cardboard  and some white plates at least!

Every week until Thanksgiving I plan to post a recipe for a vegetarian dish that can served, so stay tuned! Have you ever had butternut squash lasagana? Did you have it with white sauce or marinara? And what do you think of the addition of amaretti cookies?
Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce Giada's vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce

Summary of the Vegetarian Thanksgiving Sides Series 2013:

Thanks for reading!

 

Signature

Smoked Beer Cheese Recipe: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar

Now that the weather is turning cool and the leaves are turning, I turn to cooking again and wanting something warm. Let’s make that warm and oozy and… for Octoberfest, with beer?

I’ve also been thinking about Halloween food. I have to admit, I am not much a fan of Halloween, although I am of autumn. I love the colors of the leaves and the crunch sound they make as you walk on them that makes me think of mac and cheese with panko topping, the cooler temperatures that encourage layering of clothing and scarves and layered casserole and a glass of red wine for dinner. I do love autumn and comfort food.

But, sadly, not Halloween. I’m not that big into candy, I’m allergic to latex so the smell is revolting to me. Even when I was young, I was more into the dressing up and collecting candy, but not into eating the candy itself. The most memorable parts were waiting in line for Toys R Us to open with my mom and siblings, and then when we walked in, they had a whole aisle of costumes, with the sample up at the top to show the outfit, and then all these boxes stacked underneath like shoeboxes with the mask on top, peering through hopefully at you through the plastic window at the top of the box. When you opened the box, you could smell that aroma of new new new plastic.

Halloween of my childhood Halloween of my childhood
I am the one to the far right, Strawberry Shortcake. Superman and that bizarre blond princess are my younger brother and sister (I have on other sister not yet born). Seriously, those trick or treat containers really set a high expectation of how many treats a child will get in one night no?

It also marked the season when we would start decorating the house- for Halloween, we were just hanging things on the door and window decals which were real 3d posters, not the cling stuff you usually find now. My family didn’t do jack o lanterns, and I carved my first pumpkin in 1st grade with the help of 8th graders who came to assist at school, which then got thrown and destroyed in the street a few days later. Traumatized, I’ve only carved pumpkins one other time (an old boyfriend when I was in my 20s tried to bring the charm of Halloween jack o lanterns to me… it didn’t work.)

Pumpkin gore, and people gore, is not my cup of tea. Some of the gory presentations that I’ve seen on Pinterest for Halloween food are unappealing to me personally- food that looks like bleeding fingers or teeth or eyeballs, I don’t get it. However I saw one photo of using bell peppers to make mini jack o lanterns, and thought it was adorable!

This smoked beer cheese recipe and presentations is inspired by that idea, plus then is my version of the Beeroness’ Roasted Garlic & Parmesan Beer Cheese Dip but I decided to use a Tillamook smoked black pepper white cheddar cheese, and then used a Red Alder smoked salt rather than her suggested smoked gouda, although that also sounds delicious.

Smoked Beer Cheese Recipe: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar in bell pepper jack o lanterns

Ingredients

  • 2 large heads of garlic
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 12 ounces of cream cheese or Neufchatel (1 1/2 packages) or you can use tofu cream cheese
  • 14 ounces or 1 3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
  • 6 ounces Tillamook smoked black pepper white cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 1 cup IPA beer – I picked 10 Barrel Brewing’s ISA, which is mildly hoppy but also has citrusy grapefruit and pine notes because I still have some in the fridge
  • 1 teaspoon of Sriracha or other red chili sauce or hot sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste – I decided to kick it up with alder smoked salt from The Meadow
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1/4 cup chopped green onions
  • Bread or crackers or pretzels or whatever vehicle for the cheese you’d like for serving it to your mouth!
  • 6 Bell peppers – red, orange, yellow for serving (optional)

Ingredients gathering for Smoked Beer cheese in bell pepper jack o lanterns Ingredients gathering for Smoked Beer cheese in bell pepper jack o lanterns smoked salt and smoked cheddar

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Take your two heads of garlic and carefully cut the top of each head garlic off, just enough to expose all of the cloves. Place each head on a separate piece of tin foil. Drizzle each head with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and seal the foil around the garlic. Place both wrapped garlic head on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 30 minutes. The garlic cloves should be really softened to a point that you cold squeeze the cloves out. Remove both roasted garlic heads from oven and allow to cool. It’s ok if maybe you eat a warm clove or two to test it… I did!
    roasted garlic
  2. Meanwhile, while your garlic is roasting, shred your cheeses and take out your cream cheese or Neufchatel out, cut into small pieces, and let warm to room temperature- if you’re using tofu cream cheese it will already be soft, yay! It is better to shred the cheese yourself rather than use preshredded cheese because the preshredded has additives that I think make it taste not quite as good, and it doesn’t melt as well. Besides, you can get better tasting cheese in the block cheese form, and it will last longer, especially when you have odd amounts like what was used in this recipe (unless you get the cheese cut for you by a cheesemonger, you will inevitably be buying 8 ounces). While my garlic was roasting I just grated while watching the Mindy Project. I love Mindy Kaling. Love. I love show she portrays a neurotic woman but unlike many other neurotic female characters often seen in TV or the movies, is only partially clueless about social cues instead of apparently so unaware that she’s clueless about basic social rules, and she is still warm and giving rather than being closed off=independence and bitchy and controlling and unreasonably demanding=smart and a leader. I can always take some more Mindy, just like I can always take more garlic or cheese, thank you.
  3. In a food processor, add the softened cream cheese/Neufchatel/tofu, 1 1/2 cup parmesan (so save 1/4 cup for later. It makes for a slightly crispy topping!), smoked cheddar, beer, red chili sauce, salt, and corn starch. Squeeze the roasted heads of garlic until the soft cloves comes out and also add these to the food processor. This is why you need really large heads of garlic, as maybe one or two cloves will be a little too soft when squeezing out and you may licking roasted garlic off your fingers. Yum. Oh, back to the recipe. I already had black pepper in my cheese, but if you are using another cheese you may want to add a teaspoon of pepper. Process everything until well combined.
    Smoked Beer cheese in process Roasted garlic + Smoked Beer cheese in process
  4. Place the mixture into a baking dish. At this point, I would recommend letting it chill overnight in the fridge to let the flavors develop more. Meanwhile, drink the rest of your beer bottle- unless you did already while grating your cheese. When you are ready, top your cheese mixture with the remaining 1/4 cup cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees F until melted and the top has started to turn a light golden brown and is bubbly and ooey gooey, about 35-40 minutes.
    Smoked Beer cheese about to go in oven Smoked Beer cheese about to go in oven
  5. Remove from oven, top with green onions, serve warm with chips or bread. For fun, I decided to cut the top portion of two bell peppers for F and I and clean out the inside so they were reminiscent of mini pumpkins, and spooned some beer cheese into them for serving.
    Smoked Beer Cheese Recipe: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar in bell pepper jack o lanterns Smoked Beer Cheese Recipe: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar in bell pepper jack o lanterns

I thought my lil cute faces on my bell peppers (which I had cleaned out) were adorables!

Smoked Beer Cheese Recipe: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar in bell pepper jack o lanterns Smoked Beer Cheese: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar in bell pepper jack o lanterns Smoked Beer Cheese Recipe: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar in bell pepper jack o lanterns

How does this compare to the other beer cheeses I made before, the ranch cheddar beer dip version and the blue cheese and extra sharp cheddar beer spread version that I made around this time last year?

beer cheese recipe beer cheese recipe

Well here’s the cheese! It has the thicker consistency like the beer spread shown in the second photo, which makes it great for putting on bread or crackers. After I took my first bite or so I decided to add a little more smoked salt on top to taste. I admit when it comes to it, even though I really like smoked cheese, my favorite beer cheeses include blue cheese in the mixture as I like the complexity of the slight sourness and fuller body it offers, though I understand not everyone loves blue cheese’s saltiness. I definitely like this recipe over the ranch cheddar version as that smokiness in this recipe gives it more oomph for me, and this was more peppery than salty (from the ranch).
Smoked Beer Cheese Recipe: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar in bell pepper jack o lanterns Smoked Beer Cheese Recipe: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar in bell pepper jack o lanterns Smoked Beer Cheese Recipe: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar in bell pepper jack o lanterns

And… that is as Halloween as I’m going to get! what do you think of Halloween food? Do you have a favorite costume from your past you still think about fondly?

Signature

Pineapple Bread Pudding Recipe

This pineapple bread pudding recipe is easy to put together. I brought it to a hot dog potluck party in which I prepared it the evening before, and then left the house to travel to Selah, Washington to judge the Saturday categories at the Tree Top Skewered Apple BBQ competition. Then, this bread pudding dish came out at 7:30pm. So I needed a dish that was going to keep! Also, I specifically picked this because I figured with all the meat going on, it would be nice to have something sweet. This dish also can be served warm, room temperature, or cold.

Pineapple Bread Pudding Recipe

I paired it with an Abacela Grenache whose peachy strawberry flavor was a compliment to my piece of pineapple bread pudding. This can probably serve 12, and I cut mine small once it cooled so once it opened everyone just could help themselves to a sample, which was 24 small “2-3 bite” sized squares.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups of white bread cut up, crusts removed. I cut them into about 1 inch sized cubes
  • 2 large cans of crushed pineapple (40 ounces all together)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup of melted butter or margarine
  • 8 eggs
  • 1 teaspooon + to taste of cinnamon

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13×9 casserole dish.
  2. In a large bowl, beat the 8 eggs, 1 cup sugar and mix together. Also combine in the melted butter/margarine and pineapple and the 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the contents in the bowl. If you’d like to add some more texture to your bread pudding, you might consider adding in nuts here. Other options to consider- some shredded coconut, or adding some heat via diced jalapenos! I didn’t do any of these as I know my friend isn’t a coconut fan, and I didn’t want to worry about nut allergies at the potluck, and I figured after bbq fellow eaters of this dish might want a break from strong flavors like spiciness.
    Eggs, sugar, butter, bread for Pineapple Bread Pudding recipe
  3. Fold in the cut bread pieces, and then pour the pineapple bread pudding into the greased baking dish. Sprinkle the top with cinnamon. If I had been clever, I could have had a few slices of pineapple to top, although that would have made it harder to slice it into the small pieces that I did for my purposes.
    Pineapple Bread Pudding recipe, folding in the bread Pineapple Bread Pudding Recipe- about to go into the oven
  4. Bake for one hour, uncovered. A toothpick inserted should come out clean. This pineapple bread pudding can be served warm, room temperature, or cold. If you are going to serve it warm, let it cool at least for 15 minutes first- you know the difference between burning hot and warm!
    Pineapple Bread Pudding Recipe - out of the oven

easy Pineapple Bread Pudding recipe easy Pineapple Bread Pudding recipe easy Pineapple Bread Pudding recipe

Signature